Chapter 154: Xuchang Offensive and Defensive Battle Opens
Cao Cao was troubled by the current situation. He was reluctant to give up Xuzhou to Yuan Shao, and he was even less likely to give up the Han Emperor who was under his control.
However, if I don't make a decision soon, I'm afraid that the hegemony that I have worked so hard to create will soon come to an end.
Sun Jian, who was marching and setting up his formation far outside Xuchang City, would not worry about Cao Cao's dilemma, and was now attacking Xuchang City with all his strength.
Sun Jian's army divided its 60,000 troops into four groups, each with 15,000 men, and besieged the four gates of Xuchang.
The defenders also made various moves. Cao Ren was at the east gate, Yu Jin was at the west gate, Li Dian was at the south gate, and Xu Rong was at the north gate, each leading five thousand men to defend to the death.
Bows and arrows, wood, falling rocks, and boiling oil, facing Sun Jian's army coming up from the bottom of the ladder, the defenders on the city used all means to prevent the enemy from climbing to the top of the city.
There were endless screams and calls to kill.
Although the city defense of Xuchang was not particularly strong and the number of defenders in the city was not very large, Sun Jian also knew that it would not take two or three days to conquer Xuchang City.
However, Sun Jian was not in a hurry, he had plenty of time.
It is impossible for Cao Cao to return reinforcements. This does not mean that he does not want to return reinforcements, but Yuan Shao's army is on the side. If Cao Cao does not want to end up with the entire army annihilated, he has no possibility of withdrawing his troops to rescue Xuchang.
Without reinforcements, there was a moment when Xuchang City could no longer hold on.
So facing the city of Xuchang in front of him, although Sun Jian was very excited, he was also very calm at the same time.
He was excited because various fantasies were unfolding in Sun Jian's mind at this time. After conquering Xuchang City, he would have the opportunity to compete in the world. By then, he would gather the power of the Central Plains and Soochow, even if he was as strong as Yuan Shao in the north, he would probably not be able to win.
He may not be his opponent. Unification of the world is very possible! How can Sun Jian not be excited by such a beautiful situation?
He was calm because Sun Jian was fully confident that he could capture the city of Xuchang in front of him. If it couldn't be conquered in two or three days, it would take five or six days. If it couldn't be conquered in five or six days, it would take seven or eight days. In short, Sun Jian had already conquered Xuchang City.
Seeing it as something in your own pocket, it is only a matter of time before you take it.
After attacking for a day and leaving about a thousand corpses in each of the four gates, Sun Jian ordered the troops to retreat and return to the camp.
At night, Zhou Yu came to Sun Jian and offered him advice.
"My lord is attacking the city tomorrow. You can choose three of the four gates to attack with the majority of troops, leaving the other gate to attack with a small number of troops. In this way, after a few days, the enemy's defense against that gate will inevitably be improved.
If it weakens, then our army will concentrate its forces again and storm this gate. The enemy will be unprepared and Xuchang will be able to capture it easily."
Not only was Zhou Yu extremely handsome, he was also elegant and generous, and his tone of voice was calm and elegant. He was worthy of being a first-class handsome man during the Three Kingdoms period.
"Is it necessary?" After hearing Zhou Yu's plan, his brother Sun Ce said casually, "The capture of Xuchang City is just around the corner, so why bother?"
Sun Ce exudes a heroic spirit between his eyebrows, and his behavior is chic and comfortable. Compared with Zhou Yu, Sun Ce is no less generous and is a rare handsome man in the world.
"Having said that, according to Yiyu, although Xuchang City is not a fortified city, Cao's army in the city is very determined to defend the city. If our army wants to attack the city by force, it will take at least ten days.
And within these ten days, our army's losses must be considerable, at least 20,000 casualties. Although 20,000 casualties are not unbearable for our army, it is still a lot.
If we want to reduce some casualties, it is better to reduce them as much as possible." Zhou Yu knew Sun Ce's temper well and expected that he would say such things, so he explained.
"What Gong Jin said is very good." Sun Jian heard this and stroked his beard and said, obviously agreeing with Zhou Yu's point of view.
Yes, after capturing Xuchang, Cao Cao will probably be finished, and he will probably have to face Yuan Shao by then. In order to better deal with Yuan Shao, if the casualties of his own army can be avoided, it is better to avoid them as much as possible.
Seeing that his father had spoken, Sun Ce had no objection. In fact, he just said it casually out of confidence in Sun Jianjun. Sun Ce was extremely convinced of Zhou Yu's strategy and would never really question the other party.
"But with this arrangement, will Cao Jun fall into the trap?" After confirming Zhou Yu's idea of reducing casualties, Sun Jian also raised questions about the possibility of the success of his strategy. After all, he suddenly relaxed his attack on a certain door and wanted to use it.
The signs of obstruction are too obvious and may easily arouse the other party's suspicion.
"Besieging three and missing one has always been a way to siege a city since ancient times. It is not too surprising for the enemy that our army suddenly withdraws its offensive on a certain gate." With a confident smile on his face, Zhou Yu slowly said
Said, "And even if the enemy has doubts, it doesn't matter. When the pressure on the other three gates is increasing day by day, they will eventually be unable to help but withdraw the defense of that gate."
"Father, the camp posts have been set up, and the defenses are very thorough. There is no danger of the enemy successfully hijacking the camp." While everyone was discussing, a young man entered the tent, saluted Sun Jian, and said loudly.
.
I saw this young man with brown hair and blue eyes. Although his appearance was quite handsome, his appearance also looked a bit strange against the background of his hair color and eye color.
This young man is Sun Quan, the second son of Sun Jian. Sun Quan is fifteen years old this year, which is not too young at the end of the Han Dynasty. Therefore, Sun Jian also brought Sun Quan with him on this march in order to let him receive training.
Looking at the two sons in front of him and Zhou Yu standing aside, Sun Jian felt very good for a moment.
His eldest son, Sun Ce, was brave and good at fighting and could not be defeated by dozens of people; his brother-in-law, Zhou Yu, was resourceful and capable of commanding an army; although his second son, Sun Quan, was still young, he had already shown some good talents.
These young people with a bright future are the future of Jiangdong, and even the future of the world is unknown.
Thinking of Cheng Pu, Huang Gai and others who have been following him for a long time, as well as Taishi Ci, Zhou Tai, Zhang Zhao, Zhang Hong and other civil and military officials who have joined him in recent years, Sun Jian is very high-spirited. All of my subordinates, Sun Jian, are the best in the world.
Sir! With so many talents under my command, Sun Jian, and Jiangdong now having enough troops, horses, and food, who will be the one who will dominate the world in the future, if not me, Sun Wentai?
———————————————————————————————— The next day, Sun Jian’s army continued to attack the city.
However, what is different from yesterday is that the offensive in the west, south and north cities is still fierce. About 17,000 to 18,000 troops were invested in each city gate to attack the city. However, the east gate guarded by Cao Ren endured
The pressure suddenly eased, and the number of troops attacking the east gate was only about 3,000.
"There are three in the siege but one is missing..." Looking at the not fierce, or even sparse, offensive at the bottom of the city, Cao Ren frowned and thought hard about whether to mobilize the troops from the east gate to help the other three gates defend the city.
After all, the number of troops attacking one's own sect is sparse, which means that the pressure faced by the other three sects will increase.
The enemy army concentrated its forces to attack the other three gates, while our own troops were equally distributed on all four sides. In this way, although our east gate was as secure as a mountain, it was hard to say for the other three gates.
Currently, the number of troops guarding the East Gate is about 4,500, which is one and a half times the number of Sun Jian's troops under the city. In a siege, the siege party is destined to be at a disadvantage. At present, Sun Jian's army attacking the East Gate only has as many troops as the defenders of the East Gate.
Two-thirds of the time, East Gate can be said to have peace of mind.
Should we take out 3,000 men from the east gate garrison, and then send one thousand of them to each of the other three gates to support the other three gates? Cao Ren fell into deep thought.
If we do that, there are still 1,500 people in the East Gate garrison. In the battle to defend the city, 1,500 versus 3,000 can sustain them for a long time.
But Cao Ren is the number one general named Cao, and he is also very knowledgeable. If the enemy is really surrounded by three and one is missing, that would be fine. But what if this is a trick of the enemy to lure the enemy, and the purpose is to allow him to seize the east gate.
The defensive force of the east gate is diverted away, and then when the east gate's protective power is weak, it can quickly mobilize troops to attack the east gate. What should we do?
Cao Ren was unable to determine whether the weakness of the east gate's offensive was a trick by the enemy to lure the enemy, or whether the enemy was really implementing the siege method of surrounding three and missing one. For a while, he was confused as to whether he should allocate troops to the other three gates.