Chapter 622: Burning Pillars and Destroying the City and Recovering Chang'an
In the palace city of Chang'an City, Xia Houmao came to Cao Zhang with excitement on his face.
"Ziwen, I think the catapults of the rebel army today will not be able to cause any major damage to the city wall."
This was the first thing Xia Houmao said after he came to Cao Zhang.
From this sentence, one can clearly feel Xia Houmao's delighted tone.
After seeing the dozens of catapults launched by the Han army at the beginning, Xia Houmao was actually full of worry.
Because the catapults launched by the Han army were different from those he had seen before.
Importantly, Xia Houmao also learned from Cao Zhang how powerful the catapult was.
Compared to Xia Houmao, Cao Zhang naturally recognized the dozens of catapults.
After all, not long ago, those catapults were the siege weapons of the Wei army.
After explaining the power of the continuous catapult to Xia Houmao that day, Cao Zhang actually had worries in his heart.
But the subsequent progress was enough to make Xia Houmao and Cao Zhang overjoyed.
The strength of the Chang'an city wall is far superior to that of ordinary wooden tents.
The strong city wall withstood the fierce attacks of the Han army's catapults many times.
And this also brought a great sense of security to Xia Houmao and Cao Zhang.
Originally, Ma Jun's improved catapult would not have caused such damage to Chang'an City.
Mainly because Mi Yang issued an order to ask Ma Jun to adjust the range of the catapult and try not to let the boulders hit too far into the city, so as not to cause a lot of damage to the people in the city.
Cao Zhang had disdained Mi Yang's "pedantic" behavior more than once in the past few days.
After hearing Xia Houmao's words, Cao Zhang also smiled on his face.
"When the thieves wanted to attack my west wall, I was still a little worried.
As you know, the western wall of Chang'an City suffered serious damage during Li Guo's Rebellion and Ma Chao's Rebellion.
I just didn't expect that the newly repaired city wall would be so strong.
Judging from the strength of Chang'an City Wall, it can be compared with Ye City."
Seeing Cao Zhang comparing Chang'an to Yecheng, Xia Houmao's sense of security increased even more.
According to common sense, the city defense of Chang'an City should be higher than that of Ye City, but in fact this is not the case.
As Cao Zhang said, Guanzhong has been in a state of turmoil for decades.
Chang'an City must be the center of the turmoil.
Under this circumstance, the city walls of Chang'an City have been damaged many times, especially the west wall.
On the contrary, since Cao Cao captured Yecheng, he was determined to make Yecheng his base camp.
Therefore, for decades, Cao Cao continued to spend a lot of manpower and material resources to increase and repair the city defense of Ye City.
In terms of the strength of other city walls, Chang'an and Yecheng may be on par with each other.
But if we just talk about the west wall, Chang'an is definitely inferior to Yecheng.
This has always been what Cao Zhang was most worried about before.
Of course, Cao Zhang also knew why the Han army knew this - it must have been Zhang He, the traitor to Wei, who leaked the secret.
It was just that the worries in my heart gradually disappeared after the Han army took action to attack the city.
There is a saying in later generations that a skinny camel is bigger than a horse.
What I’m talking about is the current situation of the city wall on the west side of Chang’an.
Perhaps the west wall is the weakest compared to other walls, but it is not comparable to that of an ordinary small city or camp.
After the two of them laughed, Xia Houmao, who had a calm personality, became worried about one thing again:
"The bandit army is digging a tunnel. I hope Ziwen will take precautions against this in advance."
Xia Houmao originally reminded him well, but Cao Zhang suddenly burst out laughing after hearing Xia Houmao's reminder.
"How could I not know about this?"
"It's just that I want to laugh at the thief's plan!"
"Seeing that a frontal attack was not possible, the bandits thought of digging tunnels and sending troops to attack the city from the tunnels. This is common sense.
But he should definitely not let the soldiers and civilians work day and night in a hurry for success.
In this case, how can this matter be hidden from me?
And since this matter is known to me, I naturally have a way to deal with it."
Cao Zhang's confidence surprised Xiahou Mao.
Xiahou Mao didn't understand military strategy, so he certainly didn't know how to deal with the Han army's authentic tactics.
Seeing Xia Houmao's confusion, Cao Zhang said with a teaching heart:
"Our army does not need to go out of the city to stop the rebels. Our army only needs to build many trenches in the city.
In this way, once the rebels dig tunnels into the city, they will naturally have no way of hiding in front of our army.
The tunnel is narrow and it is bound to be difficult to accommodate a large number of bandit troops to pass through.
At that time, as long as our army stays outside the tunnel, intercepts and kills, or releases water and fire into the tunnel, all the traitors will die without a burial place!"
Cao Zhang's explanation made Xia Houmao suddenly realize.
After understanding Cao Zhang's countermeasures, Xia Houmao couldn't help but admire Cao Zhang.
Full of sense of security!
The next thing they have to do is to remain unchanged in response to all changes, and just wait for the rebel army to come and die.
Thinking about it, if they can defend Chang'an in the end, they will definitely be remembered in history for this battle!
Thinking of this, both Xia Houmao and Cao Zhang were very excited.
...
When Xia Houmao and Cao Zhang in Chang'an City were discussing countermeasures and belittling Mi Yang, Mi Yang was not idle either.
Several days have passed since Liu Bei arrived at Chang'an City.
In the past few days, Han generals came back one after another to report that the tunnel had been opened to Zhangcheng Gate.
And just when those Han generals who had completed the mission earlier thought they no longer had to enter the tunnel, Mi Yang assigned them a new mission.
This task is a bit dangerous, so it requires personal supervision by the Han generals.
This task is for the Han generals who opened the tunnel to dump a sufficient amount of stone grease and a large amount of flammable materials into the tunnel.
Mi Yang's order made all the Han generals even more puzzled.
But due to Mi Yang's prestige, they could only obey the instructions honestly.
As early as after the Battle of Jieting, Mi Yang knew that he might use stone fat again in the future, so he issued orders many times to remind Han generals about the precautions of stone fat.
Although stone grease is flammable, fortunately it is winter and the temperature in Guanzhong is extremely low.
In addition to unrefined petroleum grease, the flammability is still quite different from that of later generations of petroleum.
Therefore, as long as there is no open flame, the stone grease is within control.
With Mi Yang's reminder, except for Wei Yan, all the other Han generals completed the tasks assigned by him today.
Today, Mi Yang is in the tent, waiting for Wei Yan's report.
After the sky gradually darkened, Wei Yan, who had been cursing all the way, finally returned to Mi Yang's military tent.
However, Wei Yan, who was still spouting sweet things outside just now, became quiet as soon as he entered Mi Yang's military tent.
He followed the rules and came to Mi Yang to report:
"General, I have completed my mission!"
Since Wei Yan was the last to come back, he hadn't had time to wash up yet, and he had the pungent smell of stone fat on his body.
But Mi Yang did not dislike Wei Yan.
After hearing the words "mission accomplished", Mi Yang's face was filled with joy!
Mi Yang suddenly stood up from his seat and issued a military order to the Han generals in the tent:
"Starting tomorrow, all of you will fall into the city together with Gu!"
Mi Yang's impassioned tone excited the generals in the tent.
But after being inspired, the generals could not help but have doubts.
Among them, Wei Yan was the most confused:
Could it be that he had been underground for so long in the past half month that he didn't know where the hole in the city wall was made by the catapult?
Otherwise, how should we capture the city?
...
Night fell, but the lights in Liu Bei's tent were brightly lit.
The old eunuch was kneeling in front of him.
Amidst Liu Bei's violent coughs, the old eunuch's words became more and more urgent in begging Liu Bei to return.
"Your Majesty, even if we don't return to Nanzheng, it would be better to return to Huaili!"
Compared with the outdoor military camps with difficult living conditions, the city was undoubtedly the most suitable place for Liu Bei to recuperate.
But in the face of the old eunuch's loyal advice, Liu Bei never said a word.
Liu Bei's persistence made the old eunuch even more anxious.
In desperation, he couldn't help but say: "The few days the general said have passed, now..."
When the old eunuch said this, Liu Bei finally reacted.
He slapped the table angrily and said, "That's enough!"
“Zisheng said it’s a few days, it’s a few days!
It will never be months, nor years!
No need for further persuasion, I have made up my mind!"
This was the first time Liu Bei got angry in front of the old eunuch.
Just when the monarch and his ministers were in a stalemate, the Yulin army outside the door reported that it was the general who wanted to see him.
After hearing this report, Liu Bei quickly let Mi Yang in.
After Mi Yang came in, he immediately saw the old eunuch kneeling on the ground. After thinking about it for a moment, he knew why the old eunuch was like this.
When Liu Bei saw Mi Yang, a smile appeared on his face.
"I have told you so many times, I believe in you, there is no need to comfort me."
Liu Bei thought Mi Yang was here to stabilize his mood.
But what Liu Bei didn't expect was that Mi Yang did not respond to his words, but instead slowly took out a jade pendant from his arms.
Under the flickering candlelight, the jade pendant shines brightly.
And that jade pendant was very familiar to Liu Bei.
"I hope that in the future you can use this jade pendant as a token to connect me to Chang'an City like I did back then."
This was a promise made between Liu Bei and Mi Yang.
Mi Yang's action of taking out the jade pendant foreshadows something. How could Liu Bei not know?
Due to the excitement in his heart, Liu Bei couldn't help but stand up, and his eyes slowly became moist.
"Your Majesty, uncle, mentor.
Let’s go home together tomorrow!”
The shadowy candlelight reflected on Mi Yang's body gave Liu Bei, whose eyes were full of tears, an illusion.
He seemed to see the figure of an elk emerging from Mi Yang's back.
There is a Han in the east and a Han in the west: it is not difficult for a deer to enter Chang'an.
The great man is about to be revived!
...
Early on the next morning, the sound of powerful drums sounded in the Han army camp.
Under the guidance of the powerful drums, tens of thousands of Han troops quickly put on their armor and held weapons in order to form an array outside Chang'an City.
For the Han army, which had experienced hundreds of battles, they knew that the sound of drums meant a full-scale attack.
The stalemate for more than half a month also made every Han army aware of how difficult Chang'an City was to attack.
If they wanted to attack a fortified city like Chang'an head-on, they would definitely pay a heavy casualty today.
But looking at the two figures in front of them, they didn't even flinch in their hearts.
Of those two people, one is the emperor Liu Bei, and the other is the general Mi Yang.
With these two men leading them, what kind of battle would they not dare to fight?
Tens of thousands of Han troops formed tight phalanxes and continued to advance behind Liu Bei and Mi Yang.
There was no need to ride a horse for a distance of hundreds of steps. Mi Yang was supporting Liu Bei as he walked towards Chang'an City step by step.
Surrounding the two of them tightly were powerful Han generals.
Compared with ordinary soldiers, many Han generals were curious about why Mi Yang took Liu Bei to the city.
At present, the gate of Chang'an City has not been breached, and His Majesty is old and frail. Is it possible that the General will let His Majesty charge personally?
Although the Han generals were puzzled, Liu Bei's pace of advancement was firm.
In his eyes, the majestic gates of Chang'an City still stood upright.
But he was holding the jade pendant tightly in his hand, and the warm touch of the jade pendant gave Liu Bei full confidence in Mi Yang.
Maybe as he followed Mi Yang, the city wall of Chang'an collapsed on its own?
If this is the case, the big man really has his destiny.
Not long after Mi Yang helped Liu Bei out, he led Liu Bei to a tunnel entrance.
When Mi Yang and Liu Bei stood still, a dozen Han generals who had received orders in advance went to other tunnel entrances and stood there.
Naturally, the overwhelming force of the Han army could not be concealed from Cao Zhang in the city.
After learning that the Han army was going to launch a general attack today, Cao Zhang hurriedly mobilized his troops and came to the city wall in person.
Standing on the city wall, Cao Zhang saw Liu Bei and Mi Yang at a glance.
Looking at the strange formation of Liu Bei and Mi Yang in front, with tens of thousands of Han troops behind them, Cao Zhang, who did not understand the meaning, couldn't help laughing.
Is it possible that Mi Yang personally takes Liu Bei into Chang'an City through the tunnel?
This is really ridiculous.
Cao Zhang's laughter was wanton and wild, and his laughter also aroused the laughter of many Wei troops on the city wall.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Their laughter spread along the wind to the ears of the generals below the city.
Liu Bei could certainly hear it.
But just as the laughter of Wei Jun on the city wall became more intense, Mi Yang took a torch from the side and handed it to Liu Bei's hand.
"Your Majesty, throw the torch into the tunnel."
Mi Yang's words made Liu Bei even more puzzled.
But there was no hesitation in his actions.
He took the torch from Mi Yang's hand, and then, under the gaze of tens of thousands of people, threw the burning torch into the tunnel.
Following Liu Bei's actions, more than ten Han generals standing at the entrance of the tunnel also threw their torches into the tunnel.
Due to the structure of the tunnel, the torches thrown by Liu Bei and other Han generals would not be able to go too far into the tunnel.
But as long as it's a few feet away, that's enough.
Because more than ten tunnel entrances are covered with stone grease.
The stone fat lying quietly inside the tunnel is as dark and indistinguishable as soil when it is not exposed to open fire.
But when they encountered open fire, a sudden change soon occurred in every tunnel.
A ferocious fire instantly rose inside the tunnel, and under the guidance of a large number of flammable materials, the boiling fire instantly turned into unstoppable fire dragons, rushing towards the inside of the tunnel.
It didn't take long for the fire dragon, which seemed to be able to devour everything, to wrap up the entire tunnel.
The fierce flames can even burst out of the tunnel entrance, causing all the Han generals to retreat.
Under the scorching fire, the many wooden pillars that originally supported the tunnel were becoming brittle at an extremely fast rate.
While the wooden pillars inside the tunnel were burned to the ground, dozens of catapults outside Chang'an City never stopped attacking.
The fierce catapult attack was not enough to directly smash a big hole in the west wall of Chang'an.
However, the west wall of Chang'an was attacked by a large number of catapults for more than half a month, and many places on it had long been cracked.
Especially those city walls that have been reinforced in recent years.
It is not easy to destroy the Chang'an City Wall, which is more than ten miles long.
But what if we focus on the weak spots in the city wall that are more than ten miles away and attack them day and night?
If this isn't enough, what if the foundation supporting the Chang'an City Wall collapses?
What Cao Zhang didn't know was that when he was laughing, the foundation beneath the city wall where he was standing was supported by wooden pillars.
And those wooden pillars, now being burned by the fierce fire, have long been getting more and more shaky.
Finally, after a crisp sound that no one else could hear, a wooden pillar could no longer withstand the fierce fire and turned into ashes.
And when the first wooden pillar was burned, the second and third wooden pillars soon appeared.
And this situation is spreading at a speed that is unimaginable to ordinary people.
Not long after, Cao Zhang, who was standing on the city wall, suddenly stopped laughing.
Because he found an abnormality.
He found that the originally solid city wall seemed to be shaking.
But how is this possible?
Cao Zhang thought this was an illusion at first, but as time went by, this illusion became stronger and stronger.
The important thing is that not only Cao Zhang had this illusion, but also the Wei army standing on the city wall had a similar feeling.
At this time, the Han army under the city wall also saw a spectacular scene that they had never seen in their lives.
The originally flat ground became undulating for some unknown reason.
It seems like there are dozens of giant dragons rolling underground.
This phenomenon was caused because some wooden pillars fell down, but there were still some wooden pillars that were holding on tightly.
The ground that loses the support of wooden pillars will naturally collapse, while the ground that is still supported by wooden pillars can barely remain flat.
But this scene will soon disappear.
As more and more wooden pillars were burned, more and more ground collapsed, and this collapse moved towards the bottom of the Chang'an City Wall at an alarming speed.
When the ground supporting the Chang'an City Wall was also pushed into an unstoppable state of collapse, a scene that shocked tens of thousands of Han troops occurred.
Huge cracks visible to the naked eye appeared on the majestic Chang'an City Wall.
And as those huge cracks spread rapidly, the walls in some places could no longer hold up and collapsed in an instant.
As the saying goes, a thousand-mile embankment breaks down in an ant nest.
When a part of the city wall begins to collapse, the collapse will soon spread to other walls.
So under the incredible gaze of tens of thousands of Han troops, the Chang'an City Wall, which was originally indestructible in their hearts and insurmountable in their hearts, was rapidly and violently collapsing in an irreversible manner.
This scene is like a miracle!
When the city walls collapsed, the Wei army who had been standing on the city walls panicked and thought about escaping into the city.
It's just that they want to escape now, but it's too late.
Thousands of Wei troops, like sinners reviled by the gods, fell one after another from high altitude into the flames below.
The wails and screams of the Wei army continued to reach the ears of tens of thousands of Han troops.
It was in sharp contrast to their wild laughter just now.
The bodies of many Wei soldiers were rolling in the blazing flames below, or being crushed by falling boulders.
The collapse of many city walls caused smoke and dust all over the sky, and even made bursts of loud noises.
Waves of shocking sounds rose into the sky, directly encompassing the entire city of Chang'an.
The people in Chang'an who heard this frightening sound thought that a rolling dragon had happened, and ran out of their houses in fright. Then they looked towards the place where the sound was coming from.
Wherever hundreds of thousands of Chang'an people looked, bright colors gradually appeared in the dust.
That was a red Han army flag!
Mi Yang, who was outside the city wall, took the lead in bowing to Liu Bei who was still in shock before anyone could react:
"Congratulations to Your Majesty, you can take back Chang'an with your own hands!"