Han Dang is stronger

Chapter 534
The main reason why Xiangzhuang is not confident enough is that Shanwu’s battle is the first time that Xiangzhuang has encountered a large-scale invasion by the main force of the Huns since he went north to the frontier, and it is also the first time that Xiangzhuang has faced off with so many Huns. He didn't have a clear understanding of the enemy's situation. In addition, Xiang Zhuang was a steady person with a strong sense of responsibility. He had to be responsible for the safety of tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians in Shanwu City. so big.

At the same time, the momentum of the Xiongnu army this time was indeed astonishing. In the afternoon after the pass of the Great Wall was breached, the front team of the Huns approached the northern suburb of Shanwu. Thirty thousand cavalry were shouting and running around the city, and soldiers, horses and flags could not be seen at a glance. At the end, the billowing dust and smoke covered the sky and covered the sun, and set fires and demonstrations outside the city. The flames were raging and the smoke filled the air, which set off the momentum of the Huns cavalry. Xiang Zhuang has never seen it before, and even many gray-haired veterans on the frontier have rarely seen it.

Not only that, the extremely arrogant front team of the Xiongnu even sent envoys, rushed directly to the city of Shanwu and shouted loudly, demanding that Li Zuoche, the commander of the northern border of the Han army, come out to answer, and threatened that if the army and the people of Shanwu did not immediately open the city gate and surrender unconditionally, They will carry out the massacre after breaking the city.Xiang Zhuang was furious, and when he was about to order to shoot arrows to kill the Huns envoy, he suddenly felt agitated, and immediately sent someone into the city to deliver an order to let one of his followers, who was about the same age as Li Zuoche, put on a Confucian shirt, and immediately drive away. Come to the city to obey.

After a while, Xiang Zhuang's retainers rushed to the city wearing Confucian shirts, and Xiang Zhuang immediately told him: "Hurry up, pretend to be Lord Guangwu, come forward and answer the envoy of the Huns and barbarians, and say that our reinforcements will arrive soon." We will reach Shanwu and tell the Xiongnu barbarians to leave immediately, otherwise, once our reinforcements arrive, we will guarantee that they will all die without a place to bury them."

"General, are you joking?" The doorman said in surprise, "The villain and Lord Guangwu don't look alike at all. I pretended to be Lord Guangwu and came forward to answer the envoy of the Huns. If he knew Lord Guangwu, wouldn't he just glance at him?" Can you tell that the villain is a fake?"

"Time is short, and it's too late to find someone who looks similar to Lord Guangwu, so I can only gamble." Xiang Zhuang said: "But I guess this Hun envoy probably doesn't know Lord Guangwu, and he didn't expect to be able to really get along with him. Lord Guangwu met and asked to answer with Lord Guangwu, it should be just a chance, we can make a big bet with the Xiongnu."

Seeing Xiang Zhuang's insistence, the retainers had no choice but to stand at the top of the city surrounded by Xiang Zhuang and Xiang It, and shouted through the translator: "Listen, Huns envoys below the city, my official is Li Zuo, the chief of the three counties in northern Xinjiang of the Great Han Dynasty. Che, you wait for the barbarian clown to jump on the beam and dare to invade my Han territory..."

According to Xiang Zhuang's predictions, the Huns envoy obviously didn't expect that Li Zuoche would actually come out to answer him. He reined in his horse and listened carefully to the fake Li Zuoche's threats under the city, and then threatened each other with the fake Li Zuoche. , and quickly steered his horse to turn around and leave, without pointing out to his face that Li Zuoche was impersonated by someone else. Xiang Zhuang was also relieved when he saw it, and said: "Fortunately, it seems that this Hun barbarian really doesn't know Mr. Guangwu. .”

"Uncle Qiu, don't get too excited." Xiang Ta jumped out again and said, "Perhaps the Hun envoy just now recognized that Mr. Guangwu was a fake, but he didn't point it out on purpose and wanted us to think they had been fooled." , and then kill us by surprise."

"I'm talking about Xiang Ta, can you say something auspicious?" Xiang Zhuang smiled bitterly and said, "I finally used a trick, why can't you say something nice."

"Hey." Xiang Ta smiled and said, "The main reason is that you never plan, Uncle Qiu, so I don't have much confidence in you."

Xiang Zhuang was speechless, and could only turn his gaze to the Huns to the north, and murmured, "I hope we don't see through, otherwise we will be in big trouble."

The situation may be explained by the crow's mouth. After more than 3 former Huns camped outside the city overnight, in the afternoon of the next day, not only did a larger number of Huns come from the north, but at the same time, Mao Dun The white-haired Ao flag also appeared in the Xiongnu army, which represented that Maodun had come to the Shanwu battlefield and commanded the battle in person. At the same time, it happened to be in the evening of the same day. It's the first winter snow of the year.

Seeing this scene, the Xiongnu army, which is far more adaptable to the wind and snow than the Han army, burst into cheers. They all thought that this was God's blessing for their own army, and their morale was boosted. However, the Han army was in an uproar, thinking that this was not a good thing Xiang Zhuang was even more frowning, and said helplessly, "I hope it doesn't get too cold all of a sudden. If the moat freezes, you can cross the river directly on ice, and this battle will be even more difficult."

The talented and bold Mouton is indeed an incomparable military genius. He is very good at attacking the heart. After he personally led the army to the outside of Shanwu City, Mouton first deliberately asked the Huns soldiers to light countless bonfires in the hilly area far away, densely covered with flags, and then In the early morning of the second day, countless cooking smokes were generated, and the number of fireworks intimidated the Shanwu defenders, which also prevented the Shanwu defenders from judging the real strength of the Huns through the number of fireworks flags, and could not know themselves and their enemies.

That’s not to mention, at noon that day, a group of leading party members in Han clothes, under Zang Tu’s personal leadership, came to the outside of Shanwu City to survey the terrain and study siege tactics. At the same time, they shouted loudly in Chinese to persuade the city wall When the soldiers of the Han army left the city and surrendered, Xiang Zhuang's face was ashen when he saw it on the city, but he was helpless. At the same time, he was extremely worried that the Xiongnu would really attack Shanwu City.

Not to mention that Xiang Zhuang was worried in the city, but Zang Tu led a group of leading party members to carefully survey the terrain of Shanwu City outside the city, and then returned to the Huns camp located far to the west to report to Maodun , Jin Yan said that Shanwu City is quite strong. If you want to attack the city, you must make sufficient preparations and build all kinds of siege weapons before you can launch the attack. It is also suggested that Maodun immediately send people to cut down trees and start building the siege immediately. arms.

To Zang Tu's surprise, after listening to his suggestion, Mo Dun laughed out loud and said, "King Donghulu, do you think this Khan really wants to fight Shanwucheng?"

"The Great Khan doesn't intend to attack Shanwu City? Why?" Zang Tu asked in surprise.

"Of course it's because the confidence is too small." Mao Dun sneered and said: "Shanwu is the county government of Yanmen, and the city is the strongest. In addition, we have confirmed that Li Zuoche, the barbarian from the Central Plains, is in Shanwu City, which shows that the people of the Central Plains are very strong. The main force on the frontier is Shanwu, if we forcefully send troops to attack, not only will we not have much confidence in winning Shanwu City, but on the contrary, we may suffer heavy losses in the battle that we are not good at."

"Khan, where are we going to fight?" Zang Tu hurriedly asked.

"Of course it's Mayi in the south!" Mao Dun said with a smirk, "Although there is Pingcheng to the east of Shanwu that you can choose to attack, but Pingcheng is next to Daidi. It is possible to increase troops in Pingcheng in advance as a precaution, and Pingcheng will definitely be difficult to take down."

"But Mayi is different. Mayi is located in the south of Shanwu. Li Zuoche barbarian would never have thought that we would bypass Shanwu and attack Mayi directly. We must not have deployed too many troops in Mayi beforehand. It is definitely better than Shanwu. Heping City is easy to fight! In addition, Mayi is the only way to connect Yanmen and Taiyuan, and there must be countless military supplies in the city, so we will be able to solve the problem of food and grass for this southern expedition immediately after taking down Mayi!"

"Khan is wise, that's the truth!" Zang Tu suddenly realized, and quickly flattered: "I dare to bet my head, Li Zuoche will never think that we will attack Mayi directly. We will take Mayi, it will definitely be easy!"

Mao Dun smiled, and then ordered casually: "Pass down the order. At the second watch tonight, our main force will go south to Mayi overnight. When we set off, we will wrap up the horseshoes. All soldiers will have stones in their mouths. They must not be exposed." Our whereabouts. The former army led by Youxian King stayed in the camp, trying to light as many bonfires as possible every day to generate more smoke, and then suddenly went south to join our main force two days later!"

"Khan, is this necessary?" Zang Tu asked strangely: "The tyrant's army dare not go out of the city to fight with us. Why should we go south so carefully? We also need to set up false appearances so that the tyrant's army thinks that we are the main force." Are you still in Shanwu?"

"Of course it is necessary." Mao Dun's smile became even more ferocious, and he said, "First, we should fake the illusion that our main force is still in Shanwu, so that Li Zuoche's barbarians would not dare to send troops south to reinforce Mayi immediately. If our reinforcements rush to the battlefield quickly when we have no chance to gain a firm foothold in Mayi, and rush into the city to defend the city, it will make it more difficult for us to attack Mayi. Second, let Li Zuoche Manzi think that our main force If he is still in Mayi, he may deploy troops from Mayi to reinforce Shanwu, if he really does, we will definitely have greater confidence in defeating Mayi."

"Great Khan!" Zang Tu hurriedly complimented him loudly, and said: "With the wise command of Khan, let's not talk about Mayi Yanmen this time, even the entire Taiyuan County will definitely be able to take it!"

Needless to say, the commander-in-chief ability of Maodun, the founder of the Xiongnu hegemony, was the night when the elite main force of the Xiongnu, which numbered as many as 100, went south quietly. After completing the assembly, Maodun gave full play to the high mobility of the Xiongnu's elite cavalry. It took only one day with [-] elites to forcibly rush from Shanwu to the city of Mayi more than [-] miles away to the south.

The result of the sudden raid made the Xiongnu army overjoyed. Even after they had seen the city wall of Mayi, the last group of people outside the city rushed into the city and closed the gate to save their lives, leaving behind daily debris all over the place. Let the Huns cavalry loot, and at the same time, there were few banner defenders on Mayi City, and the soldiers kept shouting. It was obvious that they were extremely panicked by the sudden arrival of the Huns cavalry.In addition, Zang Tu, Zhang Sheng and other leading parties came forward to check the situation, and were extremely happy to find that there was only one Han army's captain's flag and four thousand-man flags on Mayi City. From this, it was judged that there should be only more than 5000 Han troops in the city.

After the situation report arrived in front of Mao Dun, Mao Dun was naturally very happy, and immediately ordered the Huns cavalry to set up camp outside the city, cut down trees and prepare various siege weapons.Zang Tu, Zhang Sheng and other leading parties couldn't wait any longer. As soon as it was dawn the next day, they rushed to the vicinity of Mayi city to survey the terrain, and studied the siege tactics for Maodun. They soon thought that the main attack should be on the east of Mayi, which has the most open terrain. The length of the siege ladder only needs to be about three feet.

Of course, the Xiongnu army, which lacked siege technology, fully adopted the siege plan of Zang Tu and others. On the same day, they hurriedly organized people to move earth, rocks and firewood bundles to fill the river to open the way. There were a lot of casualties, but they still couldn't stop the Huns from filling the river. On the same day, the Huns army filled up a section of the moat outside the east gate of Mayi.

Three days later, the Xiongnu's false army led by King Youxian successfully arrived at Mayi to join the main force. In addition to reporting that the Shanwu defenders did not dare to send troops to fight and pursue them, they also brought good news that the Huns' rear army had successfully met King Zuoxian. The Daijun Puppet Army led by him joined together, and soon they will go south to provide beef, mutton and meat for the Xiongnu elite, as well as to undertake auxiliary logistics tasks.At the same time, thanks to the hard work of the leading party and the Xiongnu soldiers day and night, the first batch of siege weapons have also been manufactured, and they can launch an attack on the small city of Mayi at any time.

Mao Dun was not only talented, but he was also very persuasive. Although there was not much food in the army, Mao Dun decisively adopted Zang Tu's suggestion not to rush, and spent more than a day continuing to rush to build siege weapons. Filling up the moat to open up roads, sharpening the firewood knife as much as possible, and then it was the early morning of the seventh day after arriving in Mayi City that Mao Dun personally led the army to Mayi City to launch the first siege battle of the Southern Expedition.

"Decree to the whole army! After entering the city, the whole army will be disbanded for one day, and only half of all the things that have been robbed need to be handed over. The women that are robbed can be handed over for three days at will, and then handed over to the distribution! If you want to make a fortune, you want beautiful women from the Central Plains , let Ben Khan do his best to attack the city! Kill him!"

Accompanied by Mouton's roar, countless cowhide war drums sounded almost at the same time, and thousands of Huns soldiers lined up in a neat line, pushing and carrying various siege weapons, and rushed forward with shouts, Like the tide rushing, flocking to the "poor" small town of Mayi madly, and falling down like an iron fist, it seems that the "poor" small town of Mayi can be smashed into powder in an instant...

…………

At the same time, in Shanwu City, thanks to the scouts' efforts, Xiang Zhuang and Xiang It's uncle and nephew finally confirmed that the Hun army that suddenly disappeared had indeed appeared on the Mayi battlefield. It was the one who smiled brighter than the other, and Xiang Ta said to Xiang Zhuang with great admiration: "Uncle Qiu, it seems that you also have a talent for tricks. The Huns and barbarians were really fooled. I really thought that Lord Guangwu was still alive." Shanwu City."

"It's a good thing your crow's mouth is not right, otherwise we will be in big trouble." Xiang Zhuang reprimanded angrily: "Be careful what you say in the future, and don't just talk about frustration for me!"

Xiang It smiled awkwardly, and quickly changed the subject: "Uncle Qiu, what should we do next? Should we send troops to reinforce Ma Yi, and pretend that we are very anxious."

"No." Xiang Zhuang shook his head and said, "It's time to do the mission that Lord Guangwu entrusted to us. From now on, send more scouts to scout around the city. No matter what method you think of, no matter how much you pay, you must do it. Find the Huns cattle and sheep brigade for us, as well as those old and weak Huns who drive the cattle and sheep! Then keep an eye on them and know where they are every day!"

…………

The screen turns back to the city of Mayi. In the wind and snow, amidst the deafening sound of war drums, thousands of Xiongnu soldiers lined up in a neat horizontal line, undulating like sea waves, rushing one after another to the city whose height is less than three feet. In the small town of Mayi, they are scrambling to put the siege ladder tower on the top of the city, stepping on the ants to attach it, tall ladder vehicles and heavy siege vehicles are also approaching the city wall, and the feathered arrows shot at the city are like a storm , Never stop, the scale of the siege is huge, creating the highest record in the history of the Huns in one fell swoop.

But it is strange that even though the Xiongnu have used [-]% of their strength to attack the city, the small town of Mayi still stands like a pillar of rock in the sea. Countless feathered arrows are always rising from behind the city wall. Under the guidance of the command flag, it covered the siege team of the Xiongnu army quite accurately, taking away the precious lives of the Xiongnu soldiers all the time.The stone beating wood on the city wall fell one after another like hail and raindrops, crazily hitting the heads of the attacking Huns who stepped on the ladder. During the period, nail boards were thrown from time to time, piercing the insteps of the Huns, making the Huns howl He was seriously injured and basically lost his combat effectiveness, and the huge wooden collision knocked over the flying ladder that had been built on the city wall one after another, causing the Huns soldiers on the ladder to scream and fall to the bloody ground that was already stained red with blood.

Finally, a ladder car entered the range of the bow and arrow of the Han army. Countless rockets had been concentrated on the ladder car. The ladder car continued to move forward while burning blazingly. It was attacked by countless swallow-tailed torches, and finally turned into a huge ball of fire. Completely lost the siege effect.

Not to mention the crash cart, just approaching the city gate, countless stones fell from the top of the city gate, quickly crushing the crash cart, and smashed the Hun soldiers who were pushing the crash cart forward, to death. It looks like meat sauce.

Seeing this scene in the distance outside the city, Mao Dun's face gradually became ashen, and then he couldn't bear it anymore, and he roared at Zang Tu and asked: "King Donghulu, didn't you say that there are the most Central Plains troops in the city?" Is there only 6000 people? It seems that there are only so few defenders in the city now?"

"This..." Zang Tu couldn't answer, and he wiped his sweat for a while and said to himself: "Isn't it right? Although the tyrant army can mobilize ordinary Guizhou heads to participate in the defense of the city, those Guizhou heads who have just entered the battlefield are not Is it possible to use the defensive weapons so proficiently? It is even more impossible to fight the counterattack rhythm so well?"

(End of this chapter)