Big man: I am the Champion Marquis!

Chapter 94 Conditions of Surrender

Zhao Anguo was a little excited and ran over happily, "General, about 500 more cavalry entered Guishan City today."

Huo Xian, who was still developing gunpowder, looked up and asked, "How many have been rushed over in the past few days?"

"About 2,300 cavalry and 4,000 to 5,000 infantry." Zhao Anguo said, "General, I'm afraid the Dayuan people have all rushed over, right?"

Huo Xian thought for a moment and said, "I'm afraid there are more. We didn't hide our whereabouts along the way, so they had plenty of time to deploy their troops. This is what we saw, and there are certainly more that we didn't see."

Zhao Anguo also thought it made sense. It seemed that more and more Dayuan reinforcements were rushing to Guishan City, and these people rushed back to the capital to provide assistance.

Huo Xian smiled and said, "So, most of Dayuan's troops are gathered in Guishan City!"

Zhao Anguo nodded first, then he became a little worried, "General, Guishan City already has a lot of people, and now there are nearly 10,000 more soldiers and horses, will it work?"

Huo Xian said confidently, "I brought a lot of infantry this time. I just want to stop these Dayuan people."

Guishan City is backed by a dangerous peak, which means that they can only enter and exit the city from the front.

There is no need to worry about the strength of the Han army. Although there have been some casualties along the way, there are enough cavalry and infantry. The Han army is not inferior in numbers, and they also have sufficient weapons and supplies.

Huo Xian thought about it and said, "The reinforcements from Dayuan have arrived, and the soldiers who need to rest have also rested. Order the army to speed up!"

After passing Yucheng City, the army almost slowed down its march, giving the Dayuan people some time to rush to the rescue and serve the king.

But this is also a time for the Han army to rest, and all of this is to be able to face the next battle in better condition.

It was only about 200 miles from Yucheng City to Guishan City. If they marched quickly, the cavalry could reach the city in one or two days. A normal march would not take more than five days.

However, after stopping and starting along the way, it took the Han army nearly ten days to reach Guishan City.

Looking at the fortified city under the towering mountains, Huo Xian was somewhat expectant. "This is my first siege battle. It will be quite interesting."

As soon as the Han army arrived, envoys from Dayuan arrived.

"The Han army raised an unjust army and was defeated by Dayuan last year." The Dayuan envoy said in fluent Chinese, "General Huqi, please consider the Han army and withdraw your troops!"

There were quite a few Han Chinese in the Xiongnu, and some in the Western Regions. And now there are also people in Dayuan who can speak Chinese, which is not surprising.

Huo Xian looked serious and said, "King Wugua of Dayuan killed our Han envoys and seized our Han property. What's the reason for this?"

Huo Xian directly put forward his conditions, "I will make peace with you now. You must open the gates of Dayuan and all the property and horses in the city will belong to the Han Dynasty. I will order the King of Dayuan, Wu Gua, to commit suicide and apologize, and all the descendants of Dayuan will be returned to the Han Dynasty as hostages and be canonized by the Han Dynasty. Only then can I spare your lives!"

The Dayuan envoy's face turned red with anger. This Guanjun Marquis was really unreasonable. These conditions were not for withdrawing troops at all, they were for the destruction of Dayuan!

The Dayuan envoy looked at Huo Xian angrily, "General, you should know that Dayuan has tens of thousands of soldiers and horses! General, you can think about the disastrous defeat of the Han army under Yucheng City!"

"When two armies are at war, envoys should not be killed." Huo Xian said calmly, "There is no point in saying more. Go back and prepare for battle."

It is obvious that there is no way to reach an agreement. The differences between the demands of both sides are too great. So let's fight first. Negotiating here now is just a waste of words.

After the Dayuan envoy left, Huo Xian immediately went to his tent to plan the next tactics.

"The capital of Dayuan is less than 20 miles away from our army. General Ershi will lead his troops on the left wing, and General Yucheng will lead his troops on the right wing." Huo Xian began to make arrangements directly. "General of the Imperial Guards, lead 3,000 cavalry to protect our rear."

Zhao Anguo was promoted again. He was originally a General of the Central Army who did not even have the title of general, but now he is the General of the Central Army of the Yulin Army.

Gongsun Ao received the order and asked, "General, do you have any vanguards?"

Huo Xian pointed at Guishan City in the distance and said, "Why do you need the vanguard? I will be the center army and directly block the front of Guishan City."

Huo Xian looked at Hu Chongguo and said, "You lead the craftsmen to make siege equipment, cut down trees, and demolish houses. Anything is fine."

Huo Xian then looked at Ren An and Tian Ren and said, "There are still rangers and evil young men accompanying the army. You two should lead them and the craftsmen to directly cut off the river leading to Guishan City!"

No wonder the Champion Marquis had been marching in a rather leisurely manner before. This was not only to destroy Dayuan's war potential in one fell swoop, but also to continuously increase the burden on Guishan City.

There is no well in Guishan City, and drinking water is provided by a river. Now there are nearly 10,000 more troops, so the burden and pressure will naturally continue to increase.

To attack Guishan City, it seems that there is no need to consider too many tactics. At this time, all we need to do is to trap the Dayuan people and advance steadily.

However, Huo Xian knew that this was not enough, and he needed to add fuel to the fire and continue to force the Dayuan people to fight. "The army will march out tomorrow to see if the Dayuan people will leave the city!" Huo Xian gave a decisive order, saying, "Be on guard tonight to prevent the Dayuan people from attacking the camp."

The Han army has begun preparing for the next battle, apparently preparing for the next siege, and they are already at the gates of the city.

Inside Guishan City, although King Wu Gua of Dayuan was somewhat anxious, he was not particularly nervous. He had the impregnable Guishan City, with nearly 30,000 soldiers and horses, and tens of thousands of civilians.

Therefore, the seemingly powerful Han army was not necessarily invincible. After defeating the Han army, King Wu Gua of Dayuan could command the countries in the Western Regions.

When that time really comes, Kangju, Wusun, Dayuezhi, and even the former Daxia, etc., should all be ruled by Dayuan and become common rulers!

Nothing happened that night and Dayuan did not attack the camp, so when a new day began, the Han army began to leave the camp and form a battle line.

There were 5,000 cavalry on each wing, and more than 20,000 Han troops pushed Wugang chariots forward. The Han soldiers holding spears, hooks, and ring-handled swords began to approach Guishan City.

Huo Xian was riding on a horse with a mask with green face and fangs on his face.

"Beat the drums!" Huo Xian ordered, "Pay attention to the positions of all troops, and order the heavy cavalry to charge forward. If the Dayuan people attack, just charge and kill them!"

We were getting closer and closer to Guishan City, fifteen miles, ten miles, nine miles, and seven miles.

Not only Huo Xian was confused, but other Han soldiers were also confused, because the Dayuan army did not leave the city, and they allowed the Han army to keep approaching.

"Stop marching and form a battle array!" Huo Xian ordered again, "Each unit should form a battle array and wait for Dayuan to attack."

Less than five miles away from Guishan City, Huo Xian ordered the entire army to stop. They still had to leave some space, not necessarily to prevent the arrows of the Dayuan people, which did not have such a long range for the time being.

The main purpose is to leave some space for cavalry combat. Even if it is an infantry battle, some space is needed as a battlefield.

The people of Dayuan really intended to be cowards. They thought that since the city defenses were strong, they would be invincible. They thought that as long as they could delay the Han army until they ran out of baggage and food, they would take the opportunity to counterattack.

The Han army was at the gate of the city, but the Dayuan people didn't seem to be in a hurry at all and just waited it out.

"General, these Dayuan people can really sit still!" Chen Ju said in surprise, "My Han army has arrived, but they don't even come out."

Huo Xian smiled and said, "I'm thinking of waiting for the enemy to come out. It doesn't matter if these people don't come out. I'll light a fire to urge them."

The people of Dayuan now do think that they will win if they hold their ground, but this is only temporary. They will only become more and more anxious.

The Han army was busy, and Hu Chongguo was leading the craftsmen to make siege equipment. The Dayuan people knew about it but were not in a hurry, as they did not think any equipment could break through the impregnable Guishan City.

But suddenly someone returned to Guishan City from a small path and heard that the Han army had begun to cut off the waterway, which made the Dayuan people a little worried.

Faced with such a situation, the Dayuan people were a little panicked, but they believed that the water supply was sufficient for the time being. They only needed to wait until the Han army's baggage was exhausted first.

Moreover, they had previously requested reinforcements from Kangju. If Kangju's troops arrived, they could cooperate inside and outside and attack from both sides. By then, the Han army would inevitably be defeated at the gates of Guishan City!
"Hurry up!" Seeing that the river was still flowing, Huo Xian was very unhappy, "Just break the dike and change the river's course! As long as the river doesn't flow to Guishan City, we don't care where it flows to!"

This is causing ecological destruction and so on, but we can’t take care of that because we are at war.

Zhao Anguo came again and said, "General, the Wusun cavalry has retreated and is still thirty miles away from our army."

Huo Xian said, "You are really hedging your bets. You don't want to offend anyone. Ignore him. If there are any more reinforcements from Dayuan, you should destroy them all."

At this time, there is no need for Dayuan reinforcements to continue entering the city. Protecting the rear and preventing the formation from being broken up is also one of the preparations that must be made when facing the enemy.

On the fifth day of the Han army's siege of Guishan City, the flow of the river flowing into Guishan City began to decrease continuously, and the water level was seen dropping at a speed almost visible to the naked eye.

The plan to cut off the waterway has been initially completed. Now we need to continue to reinforce some dams so that not a drop of water can flow into Guishan City.

"Have General Ershi send a group of troops to challenge them." Huo Xian adjusted the plan again. "If the Wan people still don't come out, send another group of troops to test the number of arrows in Guishan City."

Li Guangli sent Lieutenant Li Duo to challenge, but the Dayuan people still held their ground.

Before the military commander Zhao Shicheng and a small group of troops got close, arrows rained down from Guishan City. Fortunately, the army retreated in time. This was itself an exploratory mission.

The army has besieged Guishan City for ten days. The river has been completely cut off, and the drinking water problem in Guishan City will gradually become prominent.

The Han army would send out a small force every day to test and consume the Wan people's arrows.

Huo Xian was already depressed before the direct battle even started. These Dayuan people were really patient!
(End of this chapter)