The two sides have been in a stalemate for five or six days.
Although the friction continued, it was always limited to a small area. Although the Yuan army neither broke the city nor made any progress, the Heavenly Army mobilized its troops every day, but the thunder was loud and the raindrops were light, and it never provoked a bigger battle.
Wen Chou couldn't hold himself any longer.
Even if he could afford to wait, the army rations brought from Linzi could not continue to be wasted like this.
He climbed up to the watchtower again, stared at the city in front of him, and fell into thought.
The rain is getting lighter and lighter, and the dark clouds overhead have dispersed a lot. When the daylight becomes brighter, the outline of the rising sun becomes much clearer.
Although the distance is not close, Wen Chou is also very comparable to others. With his extraordinary eyesight, he can still see the scenery in the distance.
Surrounded by green hills and fields, with dense slanting rain, the city wall is like a belt. There are several slender and towering protrusions in the city, which should be temporary watchtowers and high platforms.
Several rivers meander like lines, flowing past the city.
Farther away, you can see the western edge of the wilderness, covered with mountain shadows.
Xuzhou is indeed a good place.
Thinking of his hometown Jizhou, Wen Chou secretly compared it in his heart.
In terms of rich population, Xuzhou is inferior to Jizhou, the largest state in the world, but it is not far behind.
Compared with Qingzhou, where people's livelihood is in decline, it is much better.
What's even more rare is that this is Xuzhou not long after it was massacred by Cao Cao.
How could a group of yellow turban bandits be qualified to occupy such a treasured land?
Thinking this way, Wen Chou became more and more jealous.
What I was thinking about at this time was not only to kill the enemy I had never met before, but also to think about what would happen after the city was broken.
You can’t really think that your hard work in February and March was in vain, right?
You can take advantage of the situation!
Although Jizhou and Xuzhou are separated by Qingzhou and Yanzhou, when Wen Chou thought about it, Cao Cao was so incompetent. Not only Yanzhou was aggrieved, Qingzhou was also causing great turmoil. What could he do?
It's better to let the lord send someone to take care of it.
One of the current governors of Qingzhou is from Yuan Shao's camp. Once they are connected, they will be connected with Langya County.
But that’s all for later at this point.
The first thing to do is to kill Wang Zheng and his Yellow Turban bandits!
Thinking of Wang Zheng, Wen Chou was always a little confused.
It stands to reason that this guy is so bold and so young and so energetic, why has he not done anything yet?
He only has 10,000 troops now, and more than half of them are new soldiers.
A gust of cool wind blew up the drizzle, which slanted down the watchtower and stained his body.
Small raindrops slid down the iron armor, and the beard on his face was wet, making him look more and more rugged, like a lone wolf.
He didn't realize it, he just concentrated on guessing the other person's thoughts.
The Yellow Turban bandits who came to attack the camp last night, as well as those who left the city, were both small in number...
Is this an attempt to spread suspicion?
If you deploy suspicious troops, it is nothing more than to cover up your true intentions or make it difficult for your opponent to distinguish reality from reality.
Assuming that the intention of the Yellow Turban thieves is to cover up, then what exactly do they want to cover up?
Although the city defenders should not take the initiative to give up the geographical advantages, the geographical advantages of Kaiyang City are mediocre, not to mention what are the Yellow Turban Thieves?
What a disgusting thief!
The Yellow Turban thieves in Xuzhou had long been wiped out by Tao Qian, and they had no other allies, so what was the point of being trapped here?
If we wait for the armies of other princes to come, wouldn't we just sit there and wait for death?
According to common sense, they should rush to counterattack and make a rescue!
Could it be...
An idea suddenly flashed in Wen Chou's mind, was he delaying time?
The opponent is the defender, and the reason why he has not attacked for so long is not because of his sudden change of attitude, but...
They are already at a disadvantage!
It’s not that we don’t want to take the initiative, but that we are stretched thin and unable to do anything!
The more he thought about it, the more he felt that this was a possibility. Wen Chou's breathing became a little heavier. He urgently called for his own soldiers and immediately returned to the commander's tent, summoning all the generals at the same time.
After hearing Wen Chou's guess, everyone lowered their heads and thought about it, and they all thought it was reasonable. The deputy general was the first to speak: "What the general means is that there are not many bandits in Kaiyang now? Is it a plan of General Xingfei to hide his horse by sending troops out of the city so many times?"
There is such a story in "Historical Records: Biography of General Li", which can be regarded as the Western Han Dynasty version of the Empty City Strategy.
The Huns invaded Shangjun in a large scale. The emperor sent a eunuch to follow Li Guang to learn military affairs and fight against the Huns. The eunuch led dozens of cavalry and galloped. When they encountered three Huns, they fought with them. The three Huns turned back.
He fired arrows, wounded the eunuch, and almost killed all his cavalry. The eunuch luckily escaped and returned to Li Guang.
The emperor's ministers were injured, and Li Guang could not sit idly by. To save his life, he led a hundred cavalry to chase the three Huns. Finally, Li Guang took action himself, shooting two of them and capturing one alive.
But on the way back, they met thousands of Huns cavalry. In the wilderness, they were all cavalry. The enemy was ten times as many as themselves. They would definitely not be able to defeat them. Li Guang's hundreds of cavalry were also frightened and wanted to return to Ma Fei.
We ran away. But Li Guang said: "Our army is dozens of miles away from here. According to the current situation, it is too late to call for help, and we may not be able to escape. And as soon as we run away, the Huns will definitely chase and kill us."
We will be killed immediately. If this is the case, if we stay here and cannot leave, the Huns will become suspicious and think that we are here to lure the enemy deeper, but they may not attack us."
Instead of retreating, they asked the whole army to advance. When they were about two miles away from the Xiongnu position, they stopped and ordered all the troops to dismount and even take off their saddles.
The cavalry were puzzled: "There are so many enemies and they are so close. What should we do if there is an emergency?"
Li Guang said: "Those enemies thought we would run away, but now we have taken off our saddles to show that we will not run away. This will make them more convinced that we are soldiers who lure the enemy."
As expected, the Xiongnu cavalry thought that there must be a large army ambushing the Han army nearby, so instead of pursuing it, they turned around and ran away.
...
"exactly!"
Wen Chou stood up, walked around in a circle, clapped his hands and smiled ferociously: "I think Wang Zheng is very different from others. When he first started to cause trouble, he took the risk of gathering a crowd with "Zhang Jiao Reincarnation". Later, thousands of people dared to
Attack Zhao County, then gather a group of thieves from all directions to descend to Linzi, and in the dead of winter, drag hundreds of thousands of refugees across the state to walk on ice, go deep into Xuzhou, and surprise Kaiyang. Not to mention other things, this is a bold strategy.
It is worth mentioning that it is bright and bright among the people, far better than other thieves."
"My army suddenly arrived, but it would be a great disadvantage for him to surround him without attacking. Logically speaking, this son would not be willing to be trapped..."
After summarizing Wang Zheng's understanding, Wen Chou said decisively: "He sent several groups of people to disperse around. What did he do?"
"Could it be that they abandoned the city and fled to cover the main force's evacuation in separate groups?" the deputy general guessed.
"Absolutely impossible!" While flatly denying it, Wen Chou tilted his head and asked with a smile: "Everyone can find this yellow scarf bandit and kill him. Where can he escape from Kaiyang?"
What Wen Chou said made sense. The deputy general put aside his own judgment for the time being and asked, "What do you think, general?"
"Whether they attack the camp, drive away my sentries, or divide their troops around, the Yellow Turban thieves have only one purpose, and that is to delay time!"
"To show the enemy strength is to show arrogance; to show the enemy weakness is to bully the enemy!"
Wen Chou glanced at the people in the tent and snorted coldly: "It must be that our army's intelligence collection was incomplete. Before coming to Kaiyang, the main force of the Yellow Turban thieves had left the city to attack elsewhere. At this time, the city is empty!"
"Destiny favors us, and at the right time, our army of divine soldiers descends from the sky and completely surrounds Kaiyang. The thieves are in a dilemma, so they have to pretend to be pretentious in an attempt to delay the return of reinforcements!"
Having said this, he let out a sneer, which seemed to be extremely contemptuous:
"What a fool, I almost let you deceive Naigong!"
Wen Chou analyzed it carefully: "I estimate that the number of Yellow Turban bandits in Kaiyang at this time is only a few thousand at most, and there are thousands of people on the river. In recent days, they have sent people out of the city one after another and placed them in the fields to form a siege. This has made our army even more afraid.
Don’t dare to attack!”
"It's just a cocoon to tie itself up. He has only a few troops, but he still disperses like this. In this way, he stays in the city, and it's like a sky-high, more than a thousand people!"
"Kaiyang, you are a small city. Except for a moat that is in the way, there is nothing to protect you..." Wen Chou stood up and slapped the case, and said with a ferocious smile: "Once we cross the river, there will be a thousand yellow turban bandits. I, the son of Jizhou, am so majestic that I can turn my hand."
Destroy!"
"How to cross the river?" the deputy general asked again: "Our army is rushing all the way from Yunting. We don't have many siege equipment. Should we order people to make them now?"
"The opportunity is fleeting, how can we waste time again?" Wen Chou waved his hand, then looked at Yan Chu and said: "Master Yan, how did the thieves overcome the moat when they broke through Linzi?"
Hearing Wen Chou's question, Yan Chu felt an ominous omen in his heart. He forced a laugh and replied: "General, I was the first to send the refugees to fill them with earth bags. Then they crossed the river and built slopes. Finally, Linzi was conquered."
The city head, then enter the city."
"It's a good idea." Wen Chou nodded: "The sun wall is low, so there is no need to build a slope, which saves time."
"But we don't have any refugees." The deputy general was about to speak, but he suddenly realized that he started laughing.
"There are no refugees, but there are new soldiers." Wen Chou laughed and said: "I was going to go on an expedition to help the people of Xuzhou defeat the bandits, but unexpectedly, Tao Qian, an old man, just stood aside and watched?"
"Then it's my general's fault. If these rabble-rousers are to blame, it's their state pastor's cowardice and incompetence."
Hearing this, except for Yan Chu, the others had no reaction. This was a common thing and nothing surprising.
In troubled times, both princes and generals know that their own army is their greatest support, and when attacking a city, they are rarely willing to let their elites waste away in the face of equipment and favorable terrain.
Wen Chou visited various counties along the way to attract young men, and everyone knew his purpose in advance.
"General." the deputy general asked again, "In that case, when will we attack the city?"
"Sooner rather than later." Wen Chou snorted: "Who knows when the rest of the bandits will return. We have already spent five or six days on our own, and we can't wait any longer."
"Just tomorrow!"
As he spoke, he seemed to have thought of something, and then smiled at Yan Chu and said:
"Mr. Yan, of course I will remember what I promised you. After the city is broken and the king's thief bows down, the sisters will naturally return to Zhao intact."
"However, nowadays in the military tent, rewards are only based on merit, not family background."
"To make you, the young master of an aristocratic family, never forget you, these two sisters must also be outstanding in appearance. If the gifts of the boudoir are given for nothing, the soldiers will inevitably not be convinced."
All I want now is to stay as far away from you as the god of plague!
It's just that Yan Chu asked Wen Chou several times but never agreed. Yan Chu was too lazy to ask for trouble anymore. He just smiled awkwardly when he heard this:
"The general will reward the meritorious sergeants, and I have no objection."
"This is inappropriate." Wen Chou smiled solemnly: "Isn't it true that this general has broken his promise?"
"Well, you can come and supervise these new soldiers tomorrow. If you can break the city, it will be considered a great achievement, and it will naturally be a matter of course."
ah?
Yan Chu was stunned for a moment, and was about to refuse, but in the end he didn't dare to speak out in the face of the cold eyes.
ps:
Thank you to the book friends who have been following your orders. Because of your encouragement, the recent 6k per day seems to have attracted the editor's attention.
The writing of this cute novel is average, but the attitude is great.
I gave you a recommendation, number 22.
The 6k update will continue on the 19th, but the 4k update will be temporarily suspended on the 20th and 21st. 2 chapter drafts will be saved, and it will explode on the 22nd.
(^-^After all, it’s almost 7k these days)
(The number of words has not been reached, so this paragraph will not consume additional starting points for book friends)