Three Kingdoms: Jiangdong is no longer a rat

Chapter 136 Siege
At this time, the Qiantang city wall was already full of soldiers defending the city, and their eyes were cast towards the most conspicuous center of the enemy army.

Watching the enemy passing by the city wall in an almost humiliating manner, some defenders couldn't help but show anger on their faces, while most of the defenders were terrified.

When they saw Zhu Zhi, tied to a white horse and slowly advancing, their faces froze in an instant, turning into shock and horror. Then, a commotion broke out on the city wall, spreading rapidly like a plague, spreading throughout the walls.

None of the defenders expected that Zhu Zhi would not only be defeated, but also captured alive!

Those soldiers who still refused to believe that Zhu Zhi was defeated were stunned by the cruel reality and could not help but tremble all over.

Zhu Zhi lowered his head, his face was pale, his lips trembled slightly, his nails dug deep into his palms, and his eyes had lost all their luster, like a pool of stagnant water.

Zhong Jin rushed over upon hearing the news. Seeing Zhu Zhi's miserable state, he could not help but shed tears and shouted, "Yan Yi, a soldier can be killed but not humiliated. Quickly let the captain go!"

Yan Yi turned a deaf ear to it, but carefully observed the situation of the city wall and exchanged views with the generals beside him from time to time.

The Qiantang City Wall is incredibly strong, built of blue bricks, solid as a rock. Its battlements are sharp like teeth, its arrow towers are towering, and it's surrounded by a moat of unfathomable depth.

What is particularly tricky is the height of the city wall.

The city wall of Qiantang is ten meters high!

This was the first time Yan Yi had seen such a high city wall since he traveled through time. Standing beneath the wall, he felt a sense of insurmountability.

The ancients said: "The higher the city is, the more dangerous it is."

This is absolutely true.

Every foot higher the wall is, more lives are needed to fill it!
In addition, Qiantang’s city wall also has an urn city.

The wengcheng, or gatehouse outside a city gate, is a semi-enclosed space connected to the city wall. Its shape resembles an inverted jar, hence the name "wengcheng." Most are located outside the gate, while a few are inside.

In addition, the word "weng" also means "catching a turtle in a jar." This is because after the attackers break through the jar, they still have to face the defense of the main city gate. If they fail to fully control the jar, the inner and outer gates will be closed, and the attackers will be trapped in the dilemma of "catching a turtle in a jar", with a narrow escape from death.

Even if the attackers completely controlled the city wall, capturing the main city gate would be much more difficult than usual, because the existence of the city wall effectively limited the space in front of the main city gate, making it difficult for the attackers to deploy their troops and use siege equipment.

In addition, the city wall also added soldier hiding holes on the basis of arrow towers and corner towers, making the difficulty of siege gradually increased.

Yan Yi took all these situations into consideration and secretly thought about how to break into the city.

Si Qing frowned and suddenly said, "Young Master, I came to the city yesterday to take a look. At that time, there weren't that many defenders. But overnight, there have been quite a few. I'll go around the city again and take a closer look."

Yan Yi nodded slightly and said, "Wen Xiang, you lead a hundred cavalrymen to protect us along the way!"

Xu Sheng clasped his fists and accepted the order, then rode away with Si Qing and a hundred cavalrymen.

The two men circled the city, sometimes galloping, sometimes reining in their horses, watching carefully for half an hour before returning to report.

The entire army was now approaching the South City Gate. Si Qing returned to Yan Yi, his face somewhat grim. He clasped his fists and said, "Young Master, I have completed my investigation. The defenders have indeed increased significantly, by at least five thousand men!"

Xu Sheng also said solemnly: "It should be the new troops recruited overnight in the city."

Yan Yi felt a little more worried, but his face remained calm and he didn't show it. He said in a normal tone, "The population of Qiantang is not comparable to Yuncheng and Rencheng. The garrison recruiting new troops in the city is within expectations. You don't have to worry."

The generals nodded one after another, their expressions relaxed a lot.

Yan Yi secretly felt fortunate. If he had not quickly marched to the city gates and cut off the connection between the city and the townships before the defenders could react, the number of defenders in the city would have been far more than five or six thousand.

It should be noted that the real source of troops is in each township, pavilion and village.

A quarter of an hour later, the entire army arrived outside the Qiantang South Gate and began to form up.

Because the cloud chariots and flying towers were moving extremely slowly, they were still on the way and had not yet reached Qiantang. There were only more than 20 cloud ladders and several battering rams in the formation, and they were all pushed under the city wall.

The defenders on the city walls were on high alert, their gongs ringing throughout the city. Yan Yi was about to issue the order to attack the city when a scout arrived on horseback with a report: "Young Master, the garrisons of Yongxing and Fuchun have already left the city walls and are heading towards Qiantang."

His face darkened slightly, and a hint of anger flashed in his eyes. Wang Lang was not good at anything else, but he was a master at taking advantage of others. He was going to fight with him for Qiantang.

Yongxing is the Xiaoshan District of Hangzhou in later generations, and Fuchun is the Fuyang District of Hangzhou. The two cities are very close to Qiantang and can be reached in the afternoon.

Yan Yi asked calmly, "How many enemy troops are there?"

The scout quickly said, "A total of four thousand people, about two thousand soldiers in each city."

Fan Yan asked, "Young Master, judging by the distance they're traveling, the enemy will arrive at Qiantang City this afternoon. Should we continue to attack the city as planned?"

Yan Yi nodded slightly and glanced at He Gong: "Attack the city."

He Gong's face turned pale upon hearing this. He had originally thought that Yan Yi would give up the siege if Wang Lang sent out his troops, but now it seemed that he couldn't avoid this blow.

There is no doubt that Yan Yi is going to use him as cannon fodder.

This was also the token of his allegiance that he had to submit to the Yan family. Only after passing this hurdle would Yan Yi gradually begin to trust and employ him.

He Gong did not dare to disobey Yan Yi's order, so he could only bite the bullet and lead his 500 soldiers out of the formation.

He originally had 700 men, 200 of whom had been dispersed by Yan Yi and sent to various strongholds.

Also coming out were Wang Chao's five hundred soldiers.

These 1,000 troops are the two weakest divisions under Yan Yi's command.

"Beat the drums! He Gong's troops attack the west gate of the city wall, and Wang Chao's troops attack the east gate of the city wall!"

Following Fan Yan's order, a thousand soldiers pushed ladders and rushed towards the Qiantang South Gate City with shouts.

Wengcheng has two city gates, located on the east and west sides respectively. The main city gate in the south faces the south. The three city gates are not in a straight line, but in a triangle. This structure is mainly for defensive considerations.

"The central army advances two hundred paces and suppresses the enemy troops on the city wall with arrows!"

Fan Yan immediately issued a second military order.

A thousand elite infantrymen quickly stepped forward, drew their bowstrings, and poured a rain of arrows onto the walls of Weng City.

The two armies then engaged in a fierce exchange of fire, with arrows flying back and forth in the air as dense as locusts.

Yan Yi and other generals carefully observed the shooting situation of the defenders.

click!
When the grappling hook of the ladder was hooked on the city wall, the rain of arrows shot at Wengcheng suddenly disappeared, and the suppression target was quickly changed, and the arrows began to be shot at the city walls on both sides of the south gate.

A soldier holding a shield in his left hand and a knife in his right hand climbed up the ladder, and the siege began.
All the generals stared at the battlefield.

The battle ended quickly. In less than a quarter of an hour, Yan Yi issued the order to retreat.

He Gongru was pardoned, and Wang Chao was relieved. He hurriedly led the remaining troops back to the camp.

Three or four hundred corpses lay beneath the walls of the city wall.

Yan Yi withdrew his gaze expressionlessly and began to discuss the battle situation with the generals.

This siege was not a real siege, but just a test to observe the fighting strength of the defenders.

(End of this chapter)