Most of the county towns in the Sui Dynasty were built along the water. Almost every county town had one or two rivers passing through the city, so every county town had water gates, large or small, with different shapes.
Jiangling City is no exception. There are two water gates in Jiangling City, one north water gate and one south water gate. The south water gate is one foot eight feet high and one foot five wide. It can accommodate a cargo ship of 500 stone to enter and exit. There are secret passages on both sides of the door.
Directly to the city head.
Like all water gates, the South Water Gate also opens up and down. The thick iron fence is slowly lowered from the top of the city on hinges. The bottom of the fence is a spearhead, which is very sharp and goes straight into the river bottom.
But unlike other ordinary county towns, the water gate of Jiangling City is a double gate, that is, there are two fence gates inside and outside, which are extremely tightly defended.
Despite this, compared with other gates in Jiangling City, the Water Gate is still slightly weak, especially the Sui warships can sail to the city and rush directly from the bow to the city wall, which is a loophole in defense.[
Therefore, the defense of Shuicheng was extremely tight. A thousand soldiers were deployed inside Shuicheng Gate. In addition, several private houses near Shuicheng Gate were requisitioned to store kerosene for the Tang army.
Once the Sui army attacked Shuimen, the Tang army would put kerosene in the water and burn the warships outside the city.
At night, Chai Shao, surrounded by hundreds of soldiers, came to inspect Nanshui Gate. Nanshui Gate was guarded by Yu Shouren. A thousand soldiers were divided into three squads to defend day and night, changing squads every four hours.
"Where is General Yu?" Chai Shao looked around and didn't see General Yu Shouren coming to pay his respects, so he couldn't help but frown.
A school captain came forward and saluted, "This is for the general. General Yu stayed on guard all night last night and another day today. He couldn't stand it any longer, so everyone persuaded him to go down and rest."
Chai Shao nodded, this answer satisfied him. At this time, an officer came running from a distance. "General, I am here to serve you!"
The officer rushed to the top of the city, and it was Shuimen guard Yu Shouren. He knelt down on one knee and saluted, "See you, General!"
Seeing his haggard look, Chai Shao couldn't help but feel touched. He quickly helped him up and said, "General Yu, thank you for your hard work in defending the city."
"This is a matter of humble duty. I dare not express my sorrow."
Chai Shao patted his shoulder approvingly, "Yes, this is the way to be a general!"
He walked to the city wall and stared outside the city. He saw the Jingshui River flowing out of the city and winding into the Yangtze River in the distance. The stars reflected the river water, making it sparkling.
"General Yu, do you think there are any loopholes in Watergate's defense?" Chai Shao turned around and asked.
"Reporting to the general, two days ago General Liu was worried that the Sui army's large ship would arrive directly at the city. The Sui army would go directly to the city from the bow of the ship, but I think this is impossible."
Chai Shao was also worried about this problem. He became energetic and asked quickly: "Why is this?"
"This is because the river outside Jiangling City is narrow and can only accommodate a ship of 500 stone at most. And the ship of 500 stone is actually only one foot and three feet high, which is still some distance from the city gate, let alone the upper city.
"Although the ships with ten thousand stones are level with the city head, they cannot sail into Jingshui."
Chai Shao was from the north and was not very familiar with ships. Yu Shouren's explanation suddenly made him realize and his heart suddenly relaxed.
"I understand, thank you General Yu for clearing up the doubts."
Chai Shao felt better. He encouraged the soldiers a few more words, and then left Shuicheng Gate to inspect other places.
Seeing Chai Shao walking away, Yu Shouren couldn't help but sneered, waved his hand and called the captain on duty forward, and whispered a few instructions to him.[
The captain nodded and led several of his men quickly to the gate winch. Several soldiers worked hard to move the winch. With a slight creaking sound, the two iron gates inside and outside slowly lifted upward.
ruler.
Everything fell silent again, and Nanshuimen became quiet again.
About a quarter of an hour later, about a few hundred steps away from the South Water Gate, a man in black wearing a tight-fitting swimsuit quietly dived into the water and swam toward the water gate like a fish. When he was still thirty steps away from the water gate, the black man
The man in clothes came to the shore to take a breath, then dived deeply into the water.
When he dived out of the water to take a breath again, he was already outside the city. He swam forward with all his strength and disappeared into the dark night... At this time, the Sui army's cavalry had returned to the Jiangling camp, and
The garrison of the camp increased from 50,000 to 100,000, and 50,000 prisoners of war were added successively. This put great pressure on the Sui army's food supply. In the big tent, Yang Yuanqing was listening to the marching Sima Wei Yunqi's food report
supply situation.
"Your Highness, there are currently more than 20,000 stones of food stored in the camp. Each soldier can be divided into two buckets, which can last for about ten days. The fleet returned to Jiangxia yesterday to transport food. If the journey goes well, they should be able to return in ten days.
However, food supply is still a little tight."
Yang Yuanqing nodded and asked, "How much fodder is left?"
"The fodder can last for about half a month."
Yang Yuanqing walked a few steps with his hands behind his back. Ten days was enough for him. He thought for a moment and then said to Wei Yunqi: "Among the 50,000 prisoners of war this time, all the Jingxiang prisoners of war can be released back to their hometowns.
The prisoners of war from Guanlong were left and reorganized into the Sui army, and they were promised that they would be released back to their fields after the world was pacified."
"I understand, my subordinates. In addition, what should we do with the Xiangyang and Jiangling prisoners of war?"
"If they are prisoners of war in Xiangyang and Jiangling cities, they can be temporarily detained, but those who live in the suburbs may as well be released together."
Wei Yunqi quickly calculated and said with a smile: "If calculated this way, the released prisoners can save some food, then our food can last for half a month, and there should be no problem."
Yang Yuanqing shook his head, "The released prisoners of war will also be given two buckets of rations, and each person will be given another two buckets of money as a repatriation fee. We should not regard them as prisoners of war, but as self-cultivators, and we should take a longer-term view."
"
Only then did Wei Yunqi understand what Yang Yuanqing meant, and felt a little ashamed in his heart, "I understand what His Highness means, and I will try my best to make arrangements so as not to disappoint His Highness."
At this time, a soldier appeared at the door of the tent. Seeing Yang Yuanqing talking to Wei Yunqi, he couldn't help but hesitate. Yang Yuanqing glanced at him and asked, "What's the matter?"
"Your Highness, a person came from outside the camp and said he was sent by the Xiao family to deliver a letter with a token."
The soldier presented half of the jade pendant. Yang Yuanqing took the jade pendant, looked at it, and took out the other half of the jade pendant from the box. This was a token given to him by the Xiao family, and it was perfectly integrated with the jade pendant in his hand. Yang Yuanqing nodded.
He smiled and said, "Bring him in!"
After a while, the soldiers brought in a person in black clothes wearing a tight-fitting waistcoat. It turned out to be a young woman, about sixteen or seventeen years old, with slightly dark skin, but she looked very healthy and full of vitality, which made Yang Yuanqing frown slightly.
, why did the Xiao family send a woman to deliver the letter?
The woman bowed and said, "Xiao Yu meets His Highness the King of Chu!"
Yang Yuanqing sat down and saw that she was covered in water, so he ordered a soldier, "Get her a robe!"
A soldier handed over a civilian military robe, and the woman put on the outer robe, saluted and thanked: "Thank you, Your Highness!"
"What letter does the Xiao family have for me?"
The young woman took off a black bracelet from her wrist, opened it, pulled out a roll of silk yarn from inside, and presented it: "This is a personal letter from the head of the family."
Yang Yuanqing took the letter, glanced at it, and couldn't help but glance at the woman in front of him again. He still couldn't figure out why the Xiao family sent a woman to deliver the letter?
The young woman blushed. She understood the confusion in Yang Yuanqing's eyes and explained: "The reason why the Xiao family sent the little girl to deliver the message is because I have the best water quality and can swim a hundred steps underwater. The Xiao family can swim a hundred steps underwater."
My right hand."
"I see!"
Yang Yuanqing heard that she could actually swim a hundred steps, which was not an easy feat, and asked with a smile: "Then how do you get through the iron gate of the water gate? It is said that the iron gate enters the water to the bottom and is only half an inch wide from the bottom of the river. How did you do it?"
"Reporting to Your Highness, the head of the house has an explanation with General Yu who is guarding the water gate. General Yu specially raised the water barrier two feet so that I could sneak through."
Yang Yuanqing nodded. That's it. It seemed that the Xiao family had a tacit understanding with the generals who defended the city. He opened the letter and read it. The content in the letter made him happy. Liu Fangzhi, the deputy general of Jiangling City, was willing to surrender the city. The time was set at Hai hour the day after tomorrow.
Since each city gate was controlled by Chai Shao's confidant, only Nanshui Gate was controlled by Liu Fangzhi's confidant, so Liu Fangzhi could only open Nanshui Gate to let the Sui army enter the city.
Although it was only Water Gate, Yang Yuanqing still felt extremely pleased. He had been looking forward to this news for a long time... From the very beginning when he decided to attack Jiangling City, Yang Yuanqing never thought of using a hard attack to capture Jiangling City.
Not much heavy equipment.
On the other hand, Jiangling City is tall and solid, and there are 60,000 troops guarding the city. With only 50,000 to 60,000 people, it will be difficult to capture the city. Even if Jiangling City is captured, a heavy price will be paid.
"The first is to attack the enemy, then the second is to attack the enemy, the second is to attack the enemy, and then the second is to attack the city; the method of attacking the city is the last resort."
After many years of war in the late Sui Dynasty, the world's population has dropped by more than half, and the military strength is all young and strong people, which is especially valuable after the war in the late Sui Dynasty. General generals may not have this awareness, but Yang Yuanqing, who is in charge of the overall situation, has to consider it.
A five-thousand-stone ship was moored at the mouth of Jingshui River. On the ship, Yang Yuanqing stood on the bow with his hands behind his hands, looking at Jiangling City in the distance. Under the starlight, he could clearly see the Water Gate in the distance.
Yang Yuanqing watched from a distance as a dark figure entered the water about two miles away from the water gate and quietly dived into Jingshui.
At this time, Xie Ying came forward to report: "Your Highness, I inspected Jingshui the day before yesterday. Although the mouth of the river is very wide, it becomes narrower as it goes up. Only a warship of 500 stone can pass."
This is also what Yang Yuanqing is worried about. Their fleet has gone to Jiangxia to transport grain, and there are only three large ships left in the river. How can he enter the city from Shuimen? After pondering for a while, he asked: "The more than 100 ships in Gong'an County
Is there a sentinel ship?"
"Reporting to Your Highness, the ship is still anchored in Gong'an County."
Yang Yuanqing nodded and immediately ordered: "Immediately send an eagle letter to the Public Security County, ordering them to have more than a hundred sentry ships sail to Jiangling City no later than tomorrow night... To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome
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