I seek economic hegemony in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 149 Confident Cao Shuang

After writing the letter to Li Heng, Zhuge Liang wrote to Wei Yan again, asking him to stay put and observe the situation.

The Wei army came out in full force, although they could use the majesty of Luoyang to force the local families in Longyou to provide them with food and grass to wait for the opportunity.

However, the rear of Liangzhou is empty. Once the Wei army reaches a deadlock in Longyou, the Liangzhou Qiang Di can take advantage of the opportunity to rise.

This is the fundamental reason why Zhuge Liang is not worried about Longyou.

On the tenth day of April, Ji County, Tianshui County.

"Captain, are we really not going to reinforce Xiangwu City?" Lieutenant General Gao Xiang asked.

Wei Yan replied simply and decisively: "No reinforcements."

"The official is worried that Xiangwucheng's 6000 troops cannot support it!"

"Don't worry, the main force of the Wei army will not go to Xiangwu City."

Gao Xiang wondered: "Didn't the news come from Xiangwu City? Why did the governor assert that the main force of the Wei army would not go to Xiangwu City?"

"An attack on Xiangwucheng will have no practical effect on the Wei army. Just like last year, the Wei army wants to come to Tianshui."

"But the news came from Xiangwucheng yesterday that the Wei army has arrived at Xiangwucheng."

"That's a suspected soldier."

Gao Xiang was startled, and his mind suddenly changed. Seeing Wei Yan's words so firmly, he didn't know how to refute it for a while, but he was full of doubts in his heart, so he had to insist: "Cao Shuang himself is in Xiangwu City at this time!"

"That doesn't mean the main force of the Wei army is there!"

"If the governor makes a mistake in his judgment, I'm afraid..." Gao Xiang said reluctantly.

"It doesn't matter if you make a mistake in judgment. Xiangwu City cannot be breached so quickly!" Wei Yan said proudly, "There is no need to discuss this matter again. Go down quickly to prepare the defense of Ji County in preparation for battle."

At this moment, Zhuge Liang's letter arrived.

After reading it, Wei Yan smiled and said: "The Prime Minister and I coincidentally are waiting for the opportunity. If the Wei army in Liangzhou comes out in full force, the Qiang and Di in Liangzhou will definitely rise up!"

Early in the morning on April [-]th, Cao Shuang had just finished his breakfast and led his people out of the camp.

"Mr. Cao, the Shu army rejected our attempt to surrender and even shot our envoys with arrows to persuade them to surrender!"

When Cao Shuang heard this, he was furious: "Gather the main force to attack the city!"

The horn sounded over the Wei army camp. The Wei army quickly assembled and all siege equipment was ready, including twenty improvised trebuchets.

The Wei army was the first to attack with trebuchets, and stones rained down on the city.

After the first blow was made to the Han army's defense, subsequent siege equipment was pushed up.

There are ladders and nest carts.

Before the siege vanguard just set off, the Wei army's archers fired three intensive bows and arrows at the top of the city.

After suppressing this for several times, the striker's offensive rhythm began to speed up.

Naturally, the Han army at the top of the city also had long-range weapons to fight back, which were just crossbows.

The Han army's crossbows were very powerful. After the Wei army's forward approached, they covered them densely, which put great pressure on the Wei army and many Wei soldiers fell to the ground.

When Wei Jun, who was pushing the ladder and chariot, arrived at the bottom of the city, wood began to fall from the top of the city.

The two sides reached an extreme stalemate. The Wei army's vanguard bravely climbed up the ladder. When they reached the top, they were driven down batches by the Han army.

The two sides fought like this all morning, but still failed to make smooth progress, so Cao Shuang could only order the troops to withdraw.

"Cut off all water sources entering the city." Cao Shuang ordered, "Cut it off with great fanfare. After cutting it off, tell the Shu army in the city that they have no water source!"

After finishing speaking, Cao Shuang added: "There is also a food road!"

"In addition, you contact the major families." Cao Shuang pointed to Wang He, the prefect of Jincheng County, and said, "Take three thousand soldiers and horses to lobby all the powerful families in Longxi and make a heavy promise to them. If they are unwilling, Then send troops to attack!" "Here!"

Wang He thought in his heart that Cao Shuang was obviously much better at using troops than Xu Miao.

Just as Wang He was about to leave, he suddenly turned around and asked, "Your Majesty, the Shu army has not gone out to fight. We can't keep wasting it, right?"

"It doesn't matter, what I want is not this Longxi County. We are now going to encircle Xiangwu City with great fanfare. If I am not wrong, reinforcements will definitely come from Tianshui County within a few days. Once this happens, the main force of our army will be Straight into the sky!"

Only then did Wang He realize that Cao Shuang actually had a backup plan.

But Wang He was a cautious man, and he asked again: "What if the Tianshui Shu army does not come to reinforce?"

"It's impossible not to come with reinforcements!" Cao Shuang said with a smile, "I don't believe that the commander-in-chief of the Shu army will watch us capture Xiangwu City!"

"Your Majesty, there is one more thing that I must remind you."

"What's the matter?"

"Those Hu Qiang are not good people. This time our troops are out in force. If time passes, the rear may..."

"I killed a group of people last year, but they don't have the guts this year!"

"My lord..."

Cao Shuang waved his hand impatiently: "I know this matter well, so I'll go and do it quickly! If anything goes wrong, I won't let you go!"

"Here!"

On April [-], under Cao Shuang's strong siege, the crossbow arrows in Xiangwu City were quickly exhausted, and the subsequent siege battle entered a close-quarters fight.

In the afternoon, Wang He sent someone to send good news. There were several big families in Longxi who were willing to cooperate with the court and even provide some food when necessary.

This made Cao Shuang excited.

But Cao Shuang felt uneasy because two days had passed without any news of reinforcements from the Shu army coming from Tianshui.

When Cao Shuang got up early in the morning on April [-], the first thing he did was to pay attention to the Tianshui reinforcements.

The answer was no. The scouts did not see even a hair of the Shu army's reinforcements.

When Cao Shuang got up early in the morning on April [-]th, he was immediately concerned about Tianshui County's reinforcements.

The answer I got was still not a single hair was seen.

Damn it, I have been besieging Xiangwu City for five or six days, and I made a big fanfare before arriving at Xiangwu City. Tianshui has known about it for at least seven or eight days.

They didn't even send a single soldier?

Seeing that there is no time left, another main force of the Wei army has entered Tianshui County. I am afraid that their whereabouts will be exposed tomorrow!
Sure enough, when he woke up early in the morning on April [-], Cao Shuang still felt lonely.

He smashed the wine glass on the ground angrily: "Since the Shu army from Tianshui County will not come to Longxi, I have sent an order to Uncle Zhao to encircle Ji County immediately after arriving in Ji County, and wait for me to go to Ji County to fight in person!"

"Here!"

On April [-], the main army of [-] troops commanded by Cao Shuang's brother Cao Xi arrived in Hebei County.

At this time, after Gao Xiang saw it clearly, he realized that what Wei Yan said was true.

He sighed: "Fortunately, the governor has a clever plan. If we reinforce Xiangwu City, I am afraid that Ji County will have been occupied by the Wei army by now!"

The failure of Cao Shuang's strategy of attacking from the east to the west means that the battle in Longyou may enter a stalemate stage.

However, the news that Liangzhou was sending troops had already reached Chang'an.

Even Du Yu already knew this, and he sighed with emotion: "The imperial court will really have to fight again this year!"

(End of this chapter)