Li Yan followed the plan and first ordered Feng Jin to lead the navy to clear the pontoon bridge, cut off the connection between Xiangyang and Fancheng, and then defeat them one by one.
This task was not easy at all. Although the Wei army's navy was not as strong as the Han army's navy, under the cover of Xiangyang, Fancheng and the floating bridge, relying on the pre-deployed defense line, it still caused a lot of trouble for Feng Jin.
The Wei army planted a lot of wooden stakes in the Han River, leaving only a gap about ten steps wide in the middle. When the Han army's warships entered this space, they could only move forward in a single boat, and they had to be careful, otherwise they would collide if they were not careful.
Go up to the wooden stakes. This formation is convenient for the Wei army to launch an attack. The thunderbolt chariots on the walls on both sides can accurately attack the warships. This passage, which is no more than a hundred steps long, becomes the death passage for the warships.
Only through this passage of death can the Han Navy confront the Wei Navy. Facing the superior strength of the Wei Navy and the crossbow positions on both sides of the strait, the Han Navy, which survived the disaster, was at an absolute disadvantage and could not defeat the enemy.
Very hard.
After losing the first battle, Feng Jin resorted to the unique trick of sailing on land. It took him a few days to go around to the lower reaches of the Han River again and attack the Wei army from behind. The Wei army did not expect this and was blocked by Feng Jin in a hurry.
At this time, the death channel became a fatal obstacle for the Wei navy to escape. There was no hope for the Wei army to escape. Some of the Wei army went ashore and fled into the city. The other people and ships became Feng Jin's spoils.
It took Feng Jin a few more days to clear the pontoon bridge and remove the wooden piles planted by the Wei army in the Han River one by one. These tasks are not technically difficult, but require time and patience, and they can also cope with the stone throwing by the Wei army.
The price that must be paid for the machine. Fortunately, Feng Jin captured many Wei warships, which somewhat made up for some of the losses.
After controlling the Han River, Li Yan formally surrounded Xiangyang City.
However, attacking Xiangyang City is definitely not easy.
As an important fortress at the forefront of the Jingzhou theater of the Wei army, Xiangyang city walls are tall and strong, and it is a double city. The city itself is impregnable. Coupled with the long preparations, sufficient food, and high morale of the soldiers, it is obviously impossible to conquer Xiangyang in a short period of time.
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Li Yan also realized this. He was not in a hurry to attack the city. Instead, he ordered dozens of mounds to be built outside the city that were higher than the city wall, and then mounted the repeating crossbow carriage on them, and marched into the city from a high position.
Shooting, the soldiers responsible for the lookout stood on the mound, observed the situation on the city, and directed the thunderbolt chariot to attack. Under the cover of the thunderbolt chariot and the crossbow chariot, giant shield chariots were used to protect the soldiers. Approach the city wall and build the mound again.
Approaching Xiangyang City step by step.
Although this method is clumsy, it is safer. The Wei army on the city had no better way to deal with the soldiers hiding behind the giant shield chariots except using thunder chariots to fight back and smashing the ballista chariots. They could only watch Shu
The army is getting closer and closer. As long as Li Yan is given enough time to pile the mounds of soil under the city wall, the Shu Han army can attack the city wall along these mounds.
Around these mounds, both sides launched an attack.
The Wei army was protected by city walls. However, the Han army was superior in numbers. Li Yan deployed more than 500 thunderbolt chariots and ballista chariots, more than 10,000 people, and attacked day and night. Five thousand engineers and soldiers from the baggage battalion worked day and night to transport earth and build the city.
, there are also a large number of soldiers cutting down trees to build ladders, siege engines and other siege equipment.
What Li Yan lacks now is only time and the resulting consumption of food and grass. As long as there is enough food to allow him to persist, if no reinforcements arrive, the fall of Xiangyang City will be a matter of time.
The navy was once again wiped out. After the news of Li Yan's siege of Xiangyang City reached Xinye, Sima Yi was very surprised. He remembered the strange situation that occurred during the last joint battle with the Wu army, and he couldn't help but suspect that there was someone else coming from the west of Xiangyang.
The waterway can reach the lower reaches of the Han River, but he searched the map and asked many local soldiers in Jingxiang, but could not find this waterway.
Puzzled, Sima Yi had no choice but to put the matter aside and rush to Fancheng with 20,000 troops. At the same time, he reported the situation in Xiangyang to Emperor Cao Rui of Wancheng and asked for cavalry support. Sima Yi didn't have much now.
Cavalry, for the Battle of Guanzhong, most of the cavalry were transferred to Zhang He. However, the Wei army had much richer horse resources than the Shu Han. A heavy general like Sima Yi still retained more than a thousand cavalry as bodyguards, but this
More than a thousand cavalry were fine if they were to protect the general, but they were ineffective if they were used to attack. Sima Yi could only ask Cao Rui for support.
Li Yan learned that Sima Yi had arrived, and ordered Wei Feng to lead 5,000 troops to cooperate with Feng Jin's navy to block the coast to prevent Sima Yi from crossing the river. At the same time, Li Yan ordered Meng Da to lead 10,000 troops to the southeast of Xiangyang City.
They set up a blocking formation to prevent Sima Yi from breaking through the Han River and driving all the way to Xiangyang City. He also ordered Zhao to lead his 10,000 troops to station on Xian Mountain southwest of Xiangyang City. He himself commanded the remaining 30,000 people and continued to attack Xiangyang City.
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The geography of Xiangyang City is very unique. The Han River comes from the west, flows through the north of Xiangyang City, and then turns a big bend to the south. The north and east sides of Xiangyang City are surrounded by the Han River, and the south of the city runs north-south.
To the southwest of Xian Mountain is Wangchu Mountain, which runs east-west. The mountains are like a screen, the peaks face each other, and the terrain is steep. If the enemy from the south wants to approach Xiangyang, they can only pass through the narrow passage between the two mountains.
In addition to the land route to the south, Xiangyang is only connected to Fancheng on the other side of the Han River through pontoon bridges. They are at the horns of each other. It was originally foolproof. However, after the Wei navy was wiped out again, Xiangyang became an isolated city and could only rely on reinforcements.
Cross the Han River and reach the city.
Without the protection of the navy, facing the Han navy that had just won a great victory, and Wei Feng and others who were watching eagerly across the river, Sima Yi could not find a solution for a while. But he was not in a hurry. He knew very well that Xiangyang
The city is not easy to break down. Even though Li Yan is so busy right now, he may not have even touched the city wall.
However, Sima Yi wrote military reports in a hurry, asking Cao Rui for help almost every day, as if Xiangyang was about to be destroyed.
…
Zhang He led 10,000 fine cavalry to Wancheng, and Cao Rui met him immediately. The monarch and his ministers looked at each other for a long time, and said in unison:
"General, you have lost weight."
"Your Majesty, you have lost weight."
The two were stunned for a moment, then smiled. Cao Rui gave him a seat and asked about the situation in Guanzhong. Zhang He suppressed his resentment and told the situation about Guanzhong. Although he endured it again and again, he still couldn't control himself in the end.
mouth, and said: "This time I betrayed your majesty's trust and failed to conquer Guanzhong in one fell swoop. I gave up halfway. Guanzhong may not be owned by me. As long as Zhuge Liang takes another one or two years, the fields in Guanzhong will be self-sufficient, and by then he will have enough troops."
If you have enough food, you will be able to protect yourself."
Cao Rui sighed softly and explained: "I also know these situations. It's just that Li Yan's troops left Xiangyang and no general came here, so I felt uneasy."
Zhang He was grateful and regretful at the same time. He didn't know what to say, so he could only sigh with the emperor for a while. On the way here, he had already thought of some reasons. Now seeing that the emperor was so helpless, he explained to him tactfully.
, no matter how much resentment he has, he can only keep it in his stomach. Although there is not much resentment on his face, there is not much relaxation in his eyes, and the whole person looks very depressed.
"What does the general think of the war in Nanyang?" Cao Rui changed the topic.
"Li Yan did not overestimate his own capabilities. For his own selfish purposes, he did not help Zhuge Liang to defend the pass. Instead, he attacked the fortified city of Xiangyang. He was bound to be defeated." Zhang He breathed out a breath, as if he had vomited out all his unhappiness, and concentrated on analyzing the current situation.
"But for me, the Wei Dynasty, this is a good opportunity. If we can severely damage Li Yan and annihilate these 50,000 or 60,000 people, Yizhou will be empty. If Zhuge Liang wants to keep Yizhou, he must send his main force back."
Aid Hanzhong, and then perhaps there will be another opportunity in Guanzhong."
"How can we severely injure Li Yan?"
"Since Li Yan came here to fight for merit, he probably won't leave easily unless Xiangyang is conquered. In this case, let him attack Xiangyang. When it cannot be attacked for a long time, the main force will attack and annihilate it in one fell swoop."
Cao Rui nodded slightly, he thought the same thing, but he was a little upset because of Sima Yi's military reports every day for the past two days. Now that he heard what the veteran Zhang He said, he felt at ease. What made him even more reassured was,
With these ten thousand elite cavalry arriving, even if Li Yan captured Xiangyang, he might not be able to attack Nanyang, let alone threaten Wanluo.
When he thought of this, he couldn't help but regret a little. Originally, he only focused on intelligence about the situation in Guanzhong, and didn't know what the situation was. He only thought that Zhang He's defense of Xiaoguan was ineffective in attacking. Now after listening to Zhang He's words, he knew that Zhang He was
While waiting for Zhuge Liang to come to rescue Chen Shi, he had to wait for work and defeat Zhuge Liang's main force before entering Guanzhong. It was his own imperial edict that interrupted Zhang He's plan, and also wasted a great opportunity, a great opportunity that Cao Zhi paid for with his life.
Thinking of what happened before and after, Cao Rui felt very uneasy. Cao Zhen was seriously ill, Cao Zhi died in the battle, and the power of the clan was already weak. The family he had been guarding against became more and more bold and began to interfere with him.
The decision has been made. In order to fight for power and gain, it is tolerable to ignore such an important overall situation of regaining Guanzhong. Which one is intolerable?
However, Cao Rui also knew that no matter how big a role Sima Yi and others played in this matter, he made the final decision after all, and a war was imminent. Discord between the emperor and his ministers would only give the enemy an opportunity. He ordered Zhang He to station in Xinye.
Provide support from the center, and at the same time let Man Chong be careful about the situation in Soochow.
Although Wei had an agreement with Sun Quan, Cao Rui knew Sun Quan's temper. No one could guarantee that Sun Quan would not turn fiction into reality and falsehood into truth. Sun Quan was used to treading two boats. On the one hand, he and Wei
Guo An secretly maintained an alliance with Shu Han, and Zhao Tong's ability to enter Nanjun was a clear proof. And news came that Wei Ba himself would lead an army into Nanjun and reach Xiangyang to help Li Yan.
In this case, once the weakness of Wei State is revealed, Sun Quan will definitely take the opportunity to take action, perhaps by sending troops to Jianghuai alone, or perhaps with Wei Ba, by sending troops to Nanjun, depending on the extent of the trust between him and Wei Ba.
Even though Sun Quan's daughter had just married Zhao Tong, the hatred between Sun Quan and Wei Ba was not easy to resolve. Sun Quan's willingness to let Wei Ba go north through Nanjun was a strategy to divert trouble to the north and add fuel to the flames.
Cao Rui didn't trust Sun Quan, and Sun Quan didn't trust Cao Rui either.