My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 487 Stalemate
The battle of Gaoque broke out suddenly at midnight, and about two hours later, a streak of white gradually appeared on the horizon.

The inner side of the southern gate wall of Gaoque had already become a river of blood.

——The bodies of the Han and Xiongnu soldiers were piled up in two or three layers inside the wall, and were frozen solid in the cold wind.

The South Gate was wide open, and the wall inside the gate had become the front-line position of the Han army.

After two hours of tug-of-war and fighting, the situation on the battlefield finally reached a delicate balance.

The Han army occupied the South Gate and the South Wall, and built positions inside and on the wall, firmly nailing it to the southern "cortex" of Gaoque.

Two hundred steps inside the wall, the Huns had recovered from the sudden outbreak of battle, the emotional ups and downs caused by the Han army's midnight attack, and the panic caused by the surprise attack on Gaoque.

The two sides used the southern quarter of Gaoque as the boundary and at dawn, they tacitly suspended the fighting.

Huyan Dangtu had a gloomy expression and his eyes were spitting fire as he looked towards the south gate wall!

However, he had to suppress his anger and allow his soldiers to rest for a while and replenish their energy.

The South Gate Wall presents a completely different scene.

——Under the wall, Han soldiers kept going in and out of the gate, carrying the bodies of the dead on both sides piled under the wall to the outside of the wall.

The bodies were moved out of Guanmen and sorted on the spot - the bodies of the Han army soldiers were neatly arranged on the river bank, waiting for their identities to be confirmed after the war.

The bodies of the Xiongnu defenders were recorded one by one by the military supervisors, and their heads were cut off on the spot.

The collected heads were piled up where the bodies of the Han soldiers were placed, as if to commemorate the heroic spirits of the Han people.

As for the remaining headless corpses, they were piled up in remote places and waited to be burned after the war.

Of course, all these things were done a few hundred steps outside the wall, close to the river bank.

In the area just outside the wall, wisps of smoke were rising.

——This morning, both the vanguard army under Zhidu and the main force of the central army under Cheng Bushi had the rare opportunity to eat a hot meal.

Although the food was not very good - the white flour pot cakes that were already cooked but frozen hard due to the weather were boiled and made into soup pot cakes, but for the Han army soldiers in this weather, it could still be considered a rare "delicacy".

When the weather is freezing cold, the food that soldiers on the front line most want to eat actually has nothing to do with the type of food itself.

As long as the food is hot, freshly cooked, and has a smell of stovetop, it is the perfect delicacy at this time.

It wasn't a big deal - the soldiers, in groups of tunqu, threw the frozen pot-cakes they were wearing into the pot one by one and then waited.

Wait for the cook to pour water into the pot, then add some salt - if conditions permit, throw a piece of frozen fat into the pot.

When the pot boiled, the soldiers walked to the pot one by one and asked the cook to scoop a spoonful of salty and greasy pot cakes for them to soak in the soup.

You don't need a spoon or chopsticks, just find a place to squat and sip the tea like you would drink tea.

You don't have to lie down so much, and you can drink the softened pot cake and soup in big gulps.

After a meal, even if you are not sweating profusely, you will at least feel warm from the inside out.

This is enough.

In this horrible weather and this horrible place, it is enough to have a hot meal and feel the warmth radiating from the inside out.

After just one meal, the soldiers - especially those in the vanguard camp under Zhidu - suddenly felt sleepy.

Zhidu also discovered this problem and went to Cheng Buzhi to discuss it.

In the end, the two men reached a conclusion, or rather, Cheng Buzhi was persuaded by Zhidu, and ordered the vanguard camp to retreat to the south bank of the river and set up camp for repairs.

The battle of Gaoque will be temporarily handed over to the main force of the central army under Cheng Buzhi, and the vanguard under Zhidu will be decided based on the situation after the rest.

The soldiers under his command could finally sleep soundly, set up camp openly and light bonfires without restraint. Zhidu finally felt a little relieved.

Although his soldiers were pushed to the second line to rest, Zhidu did not push them to the south bank of the river.

Instead, he stayed by Cheng Buzhi's side, and took advantage of the fact that the two sides tacitly stopped fighting around dawn. He stood on the south gate wall with Cheng Buzhi, and looked into the distance in the direction of Gaoque.

Again, before this station, no one in the Han Dynasty had ever seen Gaoque, especially no one had seen the internal structure of Gaoque.

As for last night, although the Han army captured the South Gate Wall in one fell swoop, it was windy and snowy, and it was the middle of the night, so they could not see clearly.

Especially since the battle was fierce at that time, the generals of the Han army had no time to observe the terrain and structure inside Gaoque.

Until this moment, the fighting stopped temporarily, and the Han soldiers on the wall took turns retreating outside the wall to eat - most importantly, the sky gradually brightened, and the internal structure of Gaoque was fully revealed to the vision of Cheng Buzhi and other Han soldiers.

Very deep.

Gaoque, although it is called "que", has a very exaggerated depth.

The South Gate Wall, which was now controlled by the Han army, was only about one mile long from east to west, and extended in an "eight" shape toward the river bank.

Inside the wall, the Han army soldiers controlled an area of ​​less than a hundred steps.

There is another two hundred steps, or more than half a mile, of empty space, which is the vacuum zone between the Han and the Huns, and is also the next battlefield.

These three hundred steps are already a full mile in depth.

However, the Xiongnu Gaoque defenders on the opposite side were not squeezed inside the northern gate wall just because they lost control of the mile-deep wall.

——As far as Cheng Buzhi could see, the front line of the Xiongnu defenders, the position closest to the Han army, all the way to the vaguely visible outline of the northern gate wall, was still two to three miles in depth.

This means that the distance between the south and north walls of Gaoque is four miles.

One li is three hundred steps, and four li is over a thousand steps.

In addition, the width of the battlefield was one li from east to west, or three hundred steps, which meant that the area controlled by the Huns at this time was three hundred steps wide and seven to nine hundred steps long.

Even if the area is one step long and one step wide, and can accommodate one person, the area controlled by the Xiongnu defenders at this time can still accommodate nearly 100,000 people.

In other words, once the battle starts again, the Hun defenders will not need to enter or exit the North Gate, and can deploy tens of thousands of people on the front battlefield at any time.

On the other hand, the Han army's situation was undoubtedly much more difficult.

The top of the South Gate wall, which is 300 steps long, is only 30 feet, or 5 steps, wide.

Similarly, assuming that one step in length and width can accommodate one person, the South Gate Wall under the control of the Han army could only accommodate 1,500 people at most.

Even at this moment, the Han army soldiers on the wall were almost packed together, like the scene of people squeezing into a bus in later generations, and there were only barely more than 2,000 and less than 3,000 people.

It is much more spacious behind the wall.

Although it was still three hundred steps wide, the Han army had already gained a depth of one hundred steps inside the wall after opening the South Gate.

Assuming that one person can be accommodated for each step of length and width, this 300 steps by 100 steps of depth can also accommodate 30,000 people.

But it is obvious that it is impossible for soldiers to gather in high density on the battlefield.

Just like at this moment, the area controlled by the Huns can accommodate more than 100,000 people, but there are still only more than 10,000 people inside the pass, and the rest have been pushed outside the north gate wall.

At this moment, there were less than 10,000 Han soldiers in the area within a hundred steps of Gaoque controlled by the Han army, and they were stationed in positions divided into tun and qu.

Moreover, unlike the Han soldiers on the wall, who could rely on the wall and the stone steps of the upper and lower walls to build their direction, the Han soldiers inside the gate and under the wall were almost equivalent to building a field defense line in an open area without any tactical support. This kind of defense line, let alone whether it was stable or not, was bound to change hands repeatedly as soon as the battle started and the two sides collided with each other.

Perhaps a charge by the Huns would push the Han army back to the wall or even outside the gate.

After a counterattack by the Han army soldiers, the originally controlled area of ​​​​100 steps was expanded to 200 steps.

So at this moment, although both the Han and the Xiongnu sides in Gaoque were surprisingly quiet and the soldiers on both sides were eating intensively to replenish their energy, the generals on both sides knew very well: when the battle broke out again, the outcome of this battle in Gaoque would most likely be decided today.

The worst situation for the Han army was that all the positions within the city walls were lost. Even the gates were blocked by the Huns. Only the city walls could still be barely controlled by the Han army.

The most optimistic scenario is to push the front line forward step by step and push the Huns step by step to the northern wall of Gaoque.

In the end, it was the same: the Huns were pushed out of the north wall and the north gate, leaving only the Huns on the north wall to survive.

The Han army only had the South Gate Wall left, so there was a high probability that they could still fight for it again - after all, the beginning of this war was when the Han army captured the South Gate Wall.

But if the Huns only had the North Gate Wall in their hands, the battle would basically be declared over.

Because once they are pushed back to the northern wall, the Huns' military spirit and morale will surely fall to the bottom.

In addition, the Huns did not know how to attack or defend a city, which made the North Gate Wall under the control of the Huns no different from the complete loss of Gaoque.

"We have to find a way to make bows and crossbows usable."

"Otherwise, if we just fight hand-to-hand, even if our Han army soldiers are not afraid, it will not be a solution in the end."

Looking far away in the direction of the northern wall, Cheng Bushi said this, which caused Zhidu to nod in agreement.

"Indeed."

"First, there were too many casualties."

“Second, there is too much uncertainty.”

"If we can use bows and crossbows to suppress them, then after today's battle, the worst situation for our army will be the current one: occupying the southern wall and controlling a hundred steps inside the pass."

"If we still fight in close combat, we may lose the area within the pass within a hundred steps, and even the southern wall may be in danger."

As he spoke, Zhidu took a deep breath with a serious expression, and shook his head slightly: "The Xiongnu reinforcements will surely arrive at Gaoque continuously."

"After our army captures Gaoque, we must maintain sufficient combat power to defend Gaoque."

"Although Gaoque is easy to defend and difficult to attack, it still needs people to guard it."

"If the casualties are too great, the morale of the army will inevitably be damaged. Even if Gaoque is taken, it will no longer be easy to defend it."

While Zhidu was speaking, Cheng Bushi lowered his head with a serious expression and looked at the standard longbow produced by the Shaofu in his hand.

He did not raise the bow, but held it horizontally, as if checking it, and gently pulled the bowstring with his other hand.

As expected, the bowstring was difficult to pull open.

As for what would happen if he pulled hard - just look at the soldier next to Cheng Buzhi, who had a slanting bloodstain on his face, and you can see it.

——The weather is really too cold.

It was so cold that the bodies of those who had just died in battle were still steaming half an incense stick of time ago, but would be frozen solid half an incense stick of time later!
Not to mention the bowstring - it looked no different than usual, and it wasn't so cold that it couldn't be pulled at all.

But if you dare to pull it hard, it will break.

In addition, the technical action of bending the bow and drawing the arrow requires the upper body and face to be close to the bowstring. As long as the bowstring breaks, it will hit the face and neck.

If you are lucky, you will just have a hideous scar on your face, or your chest or abdomen may be whipped by your own bow.

If one is unlucky enough, the bowstring may break and hit one's eyes or the weak part of the neck, and the consequences will be basically the same as the explosion of hot weapons in later generations.

"Why not light a bonfire on the wall and inside the wall?"

"If it's warmer, maybe the bowstring will..."

Zhidu's slightly hesitant proposal only made Cheng Buzhi shake his head helplessly.

"If you heat the bowstring suddenly, it will become limp and powerless."

"The arrows can be shot, but they can't cause any harm."

After saying this, Cheng Buzhi lowered his head, thought again and again, and finally expressed his thoughts.

"I mean, build some catapults."

"They stood outside the southern wall and threw huge stones and wooden blocks at the Xiongnu inside the wall."

"It's a long-range kill anyway, so it's better to have it than not."

This proposal won the recognition of the system.

Unlike a crossbow that relies on the tension and elasticity of the string to provide kinetic energy, the kinetic energy of the catapult is provided by a huge stone based on the principle of leverage.

Perhaps the only impact of cold weather on trebuchets is that the materials are harder to find.

"I'm afraid we won't be able to find any trees outside the wall for a while, and the army doesn't have enough ropes."

Zhidu raised his doubts, but Cheng Buzhi let out a long sigh and looked towards the north wall again.

"These past two days, most of our central army officers and soldiers have been cutting wood."

"We also made three or five catapults."

"But they are all in the South Bank. It will take some time to transfer them here..."

Cheng Buzhi said it easily, even with a hint of disappointment that "it's too slow, I have to wait".

But Zhidu widened his eyes in surprise and looked sideways at Cheng Buzhi in disbelief.

——Not buddy!

——It’s like this, right?!
Do you know that you will make me look stupid?

While Zhidu was complaining in his heart, Cheng Bushi was thinking about another question at this moment.

"catapult……"

"Are you going to throw stones or wood at people?"

"still……"

Thinking back to the forbidden things he had witnessed a few days ago, Cheng Buzhi felt conflicted.

It has nothing to do with harmony between heaven and man.

But Cheng Buzhi was thinking: Should he destroy part of Gaoque in order to gain time and capture it as soon as possible?

If we are not careful and destroy the northern wall too thoroughly, will the subsequent Gaoque defense battle become even more difficult?

(End of this chapter)