At the end of the Han Dynasty: a stingy husband from his hometown

Chapter 190 Battle in March, Siege of Xiangyang

Outside Yicheng.

Zhou Qi took Dian Wei and a group of soldiers to patrol around Yicheng, wanting to find out what's true in the city.

However, the defense in the city is very dense, and the flags and drums are quiet, and the traffic inside and outside the city is completely cut off. It is impossible to find out the details of the city, and it is difficult to guess the strength of the city.

However, the four gates of Yicheng are all guarded by sergeants, and every section of the city wall has soldiers and horses.

Looking at the heavily guarded city, Zhou Qi couldn't help sighing: "There is a saying in the art of war: the first is to attack the enemy, the second is to attack the enemy, the second is to attack the army, and the next is to attack the city."

"Even though Yicheng is just a small city, if Jingzhou soldiers defend this city, it may not be easy for us to conquer it."

It is not so easy for the real two armies to fight and siege cities and land.

Just like the disputes among princes at the end of the Han Dynasty, even if they wanted to eliminate the weakest princes, the wars would often last for several years, and sometimes it would take several months or even several years to encircle a city.

Even if Cao Cao was good at fighting, his attacks against Tao Qian, Yuan Shu, and Lu Bu were not always smooth sailing, but instead experienced many twists and turns.

Even though Lu Bu was finally defeated and trapped in the isolated city, Cao Cao used the strategy of water attack, but still besieged the blank for more than three months.

You know, at that time, Lu Bu's internal army was weak, the soldiers were centrifugal, and there were no reinforcements from outside, so he was at the end of his rope.

Rao is so.

If it weren't for the rebellion of his generals, Cao Cao might not have captured Xiapi so easily.

The reason why Zhang Liao captured Lujiang so easily in the first place was that he used the strategy of advancing troops to attack Lujiang. He first confused Huang Shao, and then relied on his bravery to attack Lujiang in one fell swoop.

It was not that the governors of Lujiang County, Lu Kang and Huang Shao, were too incompetent, but that Zhang Liao was too bold. He dared to seize a county in a surprise attack with only [-] troops.

Not to mention Lu Kang and Huang Shao, I am afraid most people would never have imagined that Zhang Liao dared to do this.

It is precisely because of Zhang Liao's surprise that he has achieved brilliant results.

After that, Zhou Qi regained Lujiang, but also had the same effect. First, he deceived Lv Bu and pretended to form an alliance with him, and then sent Zhou Yu back to secretly instigate rebellion against Lv Bu's newly recruited soldiers.

In the end, Zhou Qi even marched day and night, leading only [-] cavalry, taking advantage of Lu Bu's unstable foothold and unpopularity, he attacked Lujiang in one fell swoop.

Both of these events were extremely random and were not suitable for the current battlefield in Jingzhou.

Now that Zhou Qi came to Jingzhou with troops for no reason, he lost his morality first, and Jingzhou soldiers and horses had been prepared for a long time. He relied on the advantages of the city, and made a concerted effort to defend Yicheng.

After all, Jingzhou was Liu Biao's home ground, and both the common people and the soldiers regarded Zhou Qi as an invader.

Therefore, the strategy of repeating the old plan, disintegrating the opponent from the inside, and conquering Yicheng will not work at all.

Zhou Qi saw this, so he didn't rush to attack the city, but asked people to build siege equipment, and prepared to take Yicheng with an upright army.

No matter how well defended Yicheng is, it cannot be compared with Xiangyang after all, and it is not hopeless to conquer it.

In the next ten days, Zhou Qi had already sealed the siege of Yicheng, and worked hard to build siege equipment day and night.

Zhou Qi first ordered people to push the cart, trying to smash the city gate open.

The car was specially built, covered with a conical roof made of hardwood, and wrapped in iron.

In this way, it can not only prevent arrows and fire, even if a stone hits the top of the car, because of its special conical structure, it can also greatly remove the impact force and preserve the car itself to the greatest extent.

As long as the traffic can get close to the city gate, unless the opponent has completely blocked the city gate, it will definitely not be able to block the violent impact of the rushing car.

Unexpectedly, Wenpin already had a countermeasure.

He made people throw rolling stones and wooden poles, directly blocking the way of the rushing car.

The rush car is huge and difficult to move. If you want to move forward, you must clear the obstacles in front of it.

The soldiers hid under the ram car and were protected by the roof, so they were naturally relatively safe.

If you go out to clear obstacles, you will be exposed to the rain of arrows on the city wall.

Seeing that the rushing car was blocked, Zhou Qi made people form a shield and went to clear the obstacle.

Wenpin took advantage of the shield formation approaching and smashed it with the ring, and then let the city shoot random arrows, causing heavy losses to the shield soldiers.

Zhou Qi couldn't help but look gloomy when he saw this.

However, Xi Zhicai advised: "My lord, there is no need to think too much. Yicheng has already been prepared. At this time, there are sufficient supplies to defend the city. It is reasonable for the attack to be blocked."

"However, the city of Yi is small, and the materials for defending the city must be limited, especially things like rocks and logs, which must be consumed less and less."

"In these days, I have heard that there are only about [-] defenders in the city. My lord can divide the troops into four groups, and attack Yicheng with a combination of fiction and reality. They don't want to destroy the city, but only consume the supplies in the city."

Zhou Qin accepted his words and attacked Yicheng from all directions, and the consumption of supplies for the city's defenders increased.

After three months of continuous siege, the city's supplies were almost exhausted, and even reached the point of demolishing private houses.

Zhou Qi gathered his troops again and wanted to break through the city wall with a chariot, but he didn't expect that the gate of the city was already blocked by rocks. Even if the gate of the city was smashed, the army still couldn't get in.

Zhou Qi was helpless, and ordered people to build a ladder, and dispatched warriors in the army to storm the city.

The real ladder is not as simple as the one in the TV series.

If such ladders were really used to siege a city in a war, the opponent would only need to overturn the ladder, and the siege soldiers on the ladder would be thrown to pieces.

The real ladder is also a large-scale engineering equipment. It is somewhat similar to a right-angled trapezoid. The height is almost equal to the city wall, and there are many wheels and brakes underneath.

After pushing the ladder to the foot of the city wall, the right-angled side was close to the city wall, all the wheels were braked, and the soldiers began to climb the ladder to attack the top of the city.

This kind of ladder cannot be pushed down at all, and it also has a certain fireproof function. As long as it is built strong enough, it is not easy to destroy.

This kind of ladder is expensive and takes a long time to build. Once it is destroyed by someone, the loss is not small.

Unexpectedly, the two large ladders had just been pushed down to the bottom of the city, and before the soldiers climbed to the top, Zhou Qi saw that the defenders in the city began to dump kerosene.

"No, let them retreat quickly!"

Although the exterior of the ladder is specially treated, it will have a certain fire protection function.

But kerosene poured on the ladder, no matter how fireproof it is, it can't be prevented.

Some soldiers climbed halfway, but before they had time to retreat, the fire engulfed the entire ladder. Many people screamed and fell to the ground, but the fire was still not extinguished.

Seeing that the ladder built at a huge cost was so easily burned down, Zhou Qi couldn't help but look livid.

He originally thought that after two months of onslaught, the defense supplies in the city should have been exhausted.

Unexpectedly, Wenpin secretly stored a lot of kerosene just waiting for this moment.

After three consecutive months of siege, Zhou Qi already knew that the defenders in the city were Wenpin and Li Yan.

Both of them were skilled in both civil and military affairs, and it was difficult to deal with just one of them. With two people guarding Yicheng together, even Zhou Qi was at a loss what to do.

Seeing that the ladder was burned, Zhou Qi could only think of another way.

Tian Feng suggested: "The city is heavily guarded and it may not be easy to attack by force. We might as well dig a tunnel secretly and lead directly into the city."

Zhou Qi followed his words, while continuing to order people to attack the city, while having people quietly dig tunnels into the city in the hidden mountains and forests.

Inside Yicheng City.

Both Wenpin and Li Yan looked tired.

For three months in a row, tensely guarding the city, even most of the residents' houses were demolished, the two of them exhausted their energy, and the defenders in the city lost a thousand or two thousand.

Now the defensive supplies in Yicheng have been almost exhausted, and even the people are resentful.

If it weren't for the fact that the two of them are really talented and can barely maintain the situation, and Cai Mao from Xiangyang came to support from time to time, boosting the morale of the city, I am afraid that Yicheng would have collapsed without attack.

Li Yan looked at Wenpin, and said with a serious face: "Has the general noticed that the state of the Zhou army's siege has been abnormal in recent days?"

Wenpin pondered for a moment, nodded and said, "I also feel it. The Zhou army seems to be attacking the city with great fanfare these days, but there is no pressure like the pressure it put on me in the past few days."

Li Yan said: "I have been patrolling the city wall in the past few days and found that in the dense forest in the northwest, I can occasionally see soldiers from Zhou Dynasty."

"If my prediction is correct, the opponent must be unable to attack for a long time and plans to dig a tunnel directly into the city and launch a surprise attack."

Wenpin asked: "Does the affirmative have a solution?"

Li Yan said: "It can be broken by listening to it."

The so-called urn listening method, also known as ground listening, is a military interception method.

There is a plan in "Mozi Bei Chengmen": The hole is like a well, two feet deep, not reaching the spring. The person who is listening and judging is asked to cover himself in the well with a new urn and sit down to listen.Anyone who digs a tunnel within a few hundred steps can hear the sound in the urn, and can tell the direction, distance, and distance.

This is how the ancients used the principle of resonance in military affairs.

Wenpin then adopted Li Yan's strategy and ordered people to dig a hole two feet deep, put a new urn in it, and let people with excellent hearing monitor it day and night.

After finding out the direction to dig the hole, Wenpin asked someone to dig a deep ditch horizontally in the city and pour water into it.

After the tunnel was dug into the city, the water in the deep ditch poured into the tunnel, and the craftsmen and soldiers who were in charge of digging the tunnel were all drowned in it.

After Zhou Qi heard the news, he summoned his subordinates to discuss matters.

"Yicheng has been attacked for a long time, and we don't know how much food and grass there is in the city. If we continue to be blocked by Yicheng, we may have to withdraw our troops after Cao Cao, Yuan Shu, and Tao Qian are victorious." He looked around. The crowd's eyes were as bright as fire, and then they slammed the table and shouted: "If you lead an army of tens of thousands alone and retreat without even gaining an inch of ground, wouldn't you make the world laugh at you!"

The generals looked ashamed.

But Dian Wei said: "At the end of tomorrow, you will be wearing heavy armor, and you will be the first to attack the city. If you can't attack the city wall, you will never retreat!"

When the rest of the generals heard the words, they also issued military orders one after another, and stepped forward to ask for a fight.

Seeing this, Zhou Qi felt slightly less depressed.

He originally planned to conquer Jingzhou in one fell swoop when the northern princes were fighting and had no time to look south.

The reality gave him a slap in the face, letting Zhou Qi know that it is not so easy to conquer the city.

The reason why we have won many battles before is because most of them were field battles, and we paid great attention to the general's command and strategy.

But now, facing a tough battle, and the generals defending the city are quite knowledgeable in the art of war, it would be very difficult to storm the city.

Yicheng was unable to attack for a long time, and Zhou Qi was a little out of balance before, so he lost his temper.

But he also knew that this incident was no wonder to the generals under his command.

"Calculating the time, the flood season of the Han River should be coming soon."

At this moment, a voice sounded, and everyone looked up, only to find that the speaker was Xi Zhicai.

Zhou Qi's heart moved slightly and said: "Zhi is planning to destroy the city with water?"

Xi Zhicai smiled bitterly and said: "This matter will harm the peace of the world. Once the city is diverted and the city is destroyed, no chickens or dogs will be left in the city, and the lord will only gain nothing more than a ruin."

"If it is not necessary, I am not willing to offer this strategy."

There is indeed heaven and heaven for the flooding strategy. Even if all the people and animals in the city are not drowned, it will destroy a large area of ​​nearby farmland.

Without food, even if some people survived the flood by chance, it would be difficult to survive the ensuing plague and famine.

Zhou Qi also frowned when he heard this.

He really wanted to annex Jingzhou, but he didn't want to get a piece of ruins either.

However, it had been three months since the siege of Yicheng, an unknown amount of food and grass had been consumed, and thousands of soldiers had died in the siege battle, but they still could not advance an inch.

Today's Zhou Qi can't afford it anymore.

Mercy does not control soldiers, and justice does not control wealth.

If there is a strategy to defeat the enemy, but refuses to adopt it because of kindness and softness, then it is irresponsible to the soldiers under one's command.

He took a deep breath, then looked at Zhou Tai, and said: "You led the water army under your command to build dams, and when the time for hearing comes, the embankment will burst and the city will be flooded."

"When building a dam, you don't need to deliberately hide your tracks, but let the defenders in the city know with great fanfare."

Seeing doubts on many people's faces, Tian Feng explained: "My lord wants to conquer Yicheng, but he also gave them a chance."

"If the guards in the city take pity on the people and learn that our army is storing water to flood the city, he will definitely abandon the city and leave."

"In this way, we can take Yicheng without bloodshed."

"If the guards in the city don't take pity on the people, we won't be too late to flood the city."

When everyone heard the words, they suddenly realized.

as predicted.

Seeing that the flood season is approaching, Zhou Qi's navy builds a dam upstream to store water, which immediately attracts the attention of Wen Pin and Li Yan.

The two hurriedly gathered together, and Wen Pin said with a serious face: "It seems that Zhou Jun is planning to flood Yicheng."

"Does Zhengfang have any countermeasures?"

Li Yan smiled bitterly and shook his head, saying: "The soldiers and horses of Yicheng can only barely protect themselves, and they are completely unable to stop the opponent."

"Although there are many troops in Xiangyang, there are still navy troops. However, Cai Mao fought several times with the Yangzhou navy, and they lost more than they won. Now I am afraid that they have lost their courage. How dare they send troops to stop Zhou Tai?"

With a sad face on his face, Wenpin asked, "If he decides to flood the city, what can we do?"

Li Yan was silent for a long time, but he said, "Let's withdraw our troops. Only in this way can we save the people in the city and the farmland outside the city."

Wen Pin remained silent for a long time, but finally he said with a wry smile: "Zhou Tai built a dam with great fanfare to store water, isn't it just to force us to withdraw our troops?"

"Have you ever thought about it, if the city is not flooded and we have already withdrawn our troops, how will we explain to the envoy?"

Li Yan looked directly at Wenpin and said, "Aside from this road, is there any other choice?"

"Withdrawing the troops at this time can also save the soldiers and horses under his command as well as the people in the city."

"When the other side breaks the dyke, not to mention the people in the city, even you, me and the soldiers under our command will probably be buried in the belly of the fish."

Wenpin was silent for a long time, and finally sighed deeply and said, "In that case, let's find an opportunity to withdraw our troops."

Seeing that the flood season is getting closer.

That night, the west gate of Yicheng, which had been closed for a long time, suddenly opened wide.

Wenpin and Li Yan, leading all the soldiers under their command, took a little dry food and retreated towards Xiangyang at night.

They didn't know that Zhang Liao had been lying in ambush for a long time on the way they had to go to Xiangyang with five thousand soldiers.

Wenpin and Li Yan had just led their troops to a forest, but Wenpin raised his spear and signaled everyone to suspend the march.

He carefully looked at the forest in front of him, picked up a stone from the ground, and threw it towards the forest, but there was no movement.

Wen Pin couldn't help but look ugly, he turned his head to look at Li Yan, and said, "Now that the city has been abandoned, there is an ambush ahead, how should we deal with it?"

Li Yan's expression was not good either.

It has just entered summer at this time, and according to common sense, the sound of insects and birds should not be lacking in the forest.

But now, the forest in front is completely silent. Even if a stone is thrown in, it will not stir up any waves.

Obviously, there must be ambushes in the forest.

"Meeting on a narrow road, the brave wins, and the road ahead is closed. If we don't fight to the death, we will definitely not survive tomorrow."

Although Li Yan is a scholar, he also showed a ruthlessness at this time.

Wenpin nodded emphatically, and then said to the people behind: "Set fire to the forest!"

But Zhang Liao led five thousand soldiers and horses, and was hiding in the forest to ambush, but he didn't expect to be noticed by the other party.

Seeing that Wenpin was going to set fire, Zhang Liao simply stopped hiding and led his soldiers and horses to rush out.

In this way, the two sides started a fierce battle in the night.

The number of soldiers and horses under Wen Pin and Li Yan's command even exceeded that of Zhang Liao's.

However, Jingzhou's soldiers and horses are not good at fighting, and now they are fleeing in a panic, so their morale is naturally not as good as Zhang Liao's.

Fortunately, Wenpin is also considered a famous general in the world, and he led his troops to the front, which greatly boosted the morale of Jingzhou soldiers.

With Li Yan commanding from behind, the two sides fought in the middle of the night before Zhang Liao defeated the Jingzhou soldiers.

Wen Pin and Li Yan led the remnants of the army to break through the encirclement. Zhang Liao pursued them until dawn.

In this battle, Zhang Liao beheaded more than a thousand enemies, took two thousand prisoners, and obtained countless armors and weapons. It can be described as a great victory.

Zhou Qi took Yicheng as he wished, and after seeing the defenses inside, he couldn't help sighing: "Wen Pin and Li Yan are really extraordinary, they can make me three months without an inch of merit, and they can be regarded as the generals of the world."

Zhou Qi first set up a list to appease the people, searched and arrested the old troops of Jingzhou, and then ordered Xiang Hong to lead [-] troops to garrison Yicheng and guard the prisoners.

But he personally led the army and went straight to Xiangyang.

However, it is said that Cai Mao led troops to meet Yicheng several times, but they were all defeated by Zhou Jin and Zhou Tai. Although the soldiers and horses under his command did not suffer much loss, the morale of the Jingzhou navy was greatly reduced, and they did not dare to take the initiative to attack again.

On this day, Cai Mao, who was inspecting the city wall, was surprised and angry when he learned that Wen Pin and Li Yan had abandoned the city and were ambushed on the way, losing most of their troops and horses.

He summoned two people and asked, "Why did you abandon the city?"

Li Yan explained: "Zhou Tai built embankments to store water in order to flood Yicheng."

"If we don't retreat, the people in the city, as well as the soldiers and horses, will all be buried in fish belly."

Cai Mao calmed down after hearing this, but he seized the military power of the two men and temporarily detained them.

On the one hand, he sent people to patrol around and strengthen the city walls, and on the other hand, he sent people to work hard to report what happened in Yicheng to Liu Biao.

Within a few days, Zhou Qi had already led the army to arrive, and the water around Xiangyang was blocked.

　In the book review area, there are pictures of siege equipment found on the Internet. If you are interested, you can take a look.

　　The book friend group is in the introduction, you can join and brag together.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)