The Most Romantic of the Three Kingdoms

When the reinforcements sent by Bo Cai arrived at the battle field, Xun Zhen had already retreated to the city with his followers.

Because Bo was not expected to set up an ambush, dozens of guests who followed Xun Zhen out of the city suffered no small casualties. The last time we fought out of the city, only a dozen people were injured or killed. This time, more than half of them were wounded. Less than 40 people returned to the city, and most of them were wounded.

Although the casualties on one's side are not small, the casualties on the other side are even greater.

Needless to say, ordinary Yellow Turban soldiers, not long ago, they were mostly farmers working in the countryside, and the number of casualties was not worth mentioning. The power is not too strong, but it is definitely the elite of the Yellow Turban Army, not only the greatest reliance of Po Cai, but also the greatest source of courage for ordinary Yellow Turban soldiers.

In a short confrontation, Xun Zhen outnumbered the enemy and defeated hundreds of Yellow Turban soldiers with dozens of troops, and at least killed hundreds of people.

For the defenders, it greatly improved their morale; for ordinary Yellow Turban soldiers, it greatly reduced their morale. No matter who it is, after watching their "most elite" troops be beaten by a small number of enemies and unable to counterattack, I am afraid they will be horrified.

However, for Xun Zhen, the morale "I rise and the other falls" is not the most important thing. The purpose of his night attack was not to improve morale, but to change the rhythm of the battlefield and regain control of the initiative in the battlefield. hands.

Judging from the subsequent reaction of the Yellow Turbans, he achieved this goal.

Until dawn, Bo Cai did not send out the second harassing troops, and the guards in the city spent a quiet night and slept well.

...

After this night, for several days, the fighting was lackluster.

Nothing more than one side to attack, the other to defend.

In fact, in the battle a few days ago, although the two sides were coming and going, often changing positions on offense and defense, Xun Zhen even led people out of the city to counterattack twice.

War is a profound knowledge, whether it is Xun Zhen or Bo Cai, both of them are newbies in this field and have no actual combat experience. Xun Zhen had read some military books, and Bo Cai was quite resourceful, but this was not enough to make them instantly good at fighting and experts in war. A qualified commander needs not only enough courage and wisdom, but also enough experience.

For example, outside the city at this time, if Bo had a certain amount of experience in siege, with his absolute superiority of tens of thousands of troops, I am afraid that Yang Zhai would have already taken down. Another example is in the city at this time, if Xun Zhen had a certain amount of combat experience, although there were few guards in the city, but it was better than years of training and well-equipped, I am afraid that the "rabble crowd" outside the city who had poor weapons and had not received military training would have been eliminated. "Broken.

It is a pity, however, that there is no Ruo in this world. At the same time, Xun Zhen is surrounded by talents like Xun You, Xi Zhicai, Zhong Yao, and Guo Tu.

Although Guo Tu was at odds with Xun Zhen, he did his best in a critical situation involving his life. Because Bo Cai's main attack direction was on Xun Zhen's side, the guards on Xun Zhen's side suffered a lot of casualties. In the following days, Guo Tu sent three teams of county soldiers from the west city wall he was in charge of to come to help. .

Xun Zhen used the army officers as the main force, with the guests, Zhuang Yong, and Xin's guests as the reserve team. At the same time, at night, he would beat drums and raise flags from time to time, and occasionally pretended to open the city gates, pretending to attack at night, to counter-harass the Yellow Turbans.

Day by day the war passed, the Yellow Turbans' offensive became more and more violent during the day, and the two sides continued to harass each other at night.

...

The war lasted until the sixth day.

This morning, Xi Zhicai woke Xun Zhen.

From the outbreak of the war to the present, for six days and five nights, Xun Zhen ate with his armor, wrapped himself in wounds and resumed the battle. Except for two attacks outside the city, he never took the first step in the city.

The night wind was icy cold, and the top of the city and the outside of the city were silent. After Xun Zhen woke up, she listened carefully, only to hear the footsteps of the night guards patrolling, but there was no other sound. He felt that his whole body was aching, and the wound was like being stabbed with a knife, and it was painful. With the help of Cheng Yan and Xiao Ren, he sat up from the ground and asked, "What's wrong?"

"The thieves have changed."

Xun Zhen's already tired body was suddenly full of strength. He broke away Cheng Yan and Xiao Ren's hands, jumped up, and approached the crenel in three or two steps. He stood side by side with Xi Zhicai and looked out of the city.

Six days passed. During this period, followers of Taiping Dao, homeless people, and rogues from the countryside continued to join Bo Cai's team. So far, there are about 70,000 to 80,000 people outside the city.

However, these 70,000 to 80,000 people are not all young men, many of them are old and weak, women and children. This is also a feature of the peasant uprisings of the past dynasties. Whenever there is a rebellion, in order to make a living, many people bring their families to participate together.

The 70,000-80,000 people were divided into three camps. The main force was outside the east city wall where Xun Zhen was located. There were about 20,000 to 30,000 people. The northern city wall of Yangzhai faced the Yingshui River, and Bocai did not garrison the army here, only more than 1,000 people were put there for surveillance. Looking at it at this time, in the night, outside the city of Yangzhai, there are bonfires on three sides, and a river on one side.

Xun Zhen looked at it for a long time, but did not see anything unusual, and asked, "Where is the change?"

Xi Zhicai pointed to the position of the Yellow Turbans on the opposite side, and said, "I watched the Yellow Turbans at night and found that except for the bandit army outside our city wall, the bandit soldiers outside the other two city walls had retreated a little distance to varying degrees, and the thieves' troops outside the city wall had retreated to varying degrees. Before and after, a lot of people went to Bocai's handsome tent from various formations with torches. Until just now, these people came out and scattered back to their own formations.... Look, you see that team is headed to the west wall with torches. Are you a thief?"

"Saw."

"They just came out of the Pocai tent. ... And over there, the group of thieves that went to the southern city wall also just came out of the Pocai tent."

"You mean, the thieves just opened a military meeting in front of the tent?"

"In my opinion, it is."

Xin Ai and Wen Pin also woke up, they slept not far from Xun Zhen, and when they saw Xun Zhen and Xi Zhicai pointing out the city, they got up, picked up the sword under their head, and moved closer. . After listening to the analysis, Wen Pin interjected and said, "The thieves have just finished the military meeting before the account? So, they are going to make a big move? Are they going to increase their offensive on our side, or change the direction of the attack?"

From the beginning of the siege of Bocai, the main direction of the Yellow Turbans' attack has always been the east city wall, and they can harass and contain the other three city walls at most.

Although Xun Zhen, Xi Zhicai, Xun You, Zhong Yao, Du You and others did their best to repel their attacks one after another, they could be replaced if they were injured or killed, but the damage to the city walls and gates was difficult to repair quickly. Fortunately, the city gate was already crumbling after being continuously hit and burned by the Yellow Turbans, and it seemed that it could not hold up for too long.

To be on the safe side, last night, Xun Zhen had already ordered Gao Su and Feng Gong to take some guests and hundreds of migrant workers to dig trenches and make mountains inside the city gate, and ordered Xu Zhong and Jiang Qin to lead people to supervise them. Build a wooden parapet. In order to prevent the city gate from being broken by the yellow turban.

If at this time, Bo Cai took the initiative to change the direction of the attack, no longer focused on the east city wall, but instead attacked the other three city walls, it would be a piece of good news.

Xi Zhicai shook his head and said, "Our city gate won't last long. At this time, Bocai will definitely not change the direction of the attack."

Wen Pin said disappointedly: "If they don't change the direction of the attack, then they are going to increase their attack on our side?"

In the middle of the night, a military meeting in front of the tent was suddenly held, and the discussion must be a major event. For the Yellow Turbans, there was only one major event in front of them: the capture of Yangzhai. Then, since they are not discussing changing the main attack direction, the only thing left is to increase the attack.

Xi Zhicai shook his head again, paused, and nodded again.

Wenpin was inexplicable and asked: "Xijun, what do you mean by shaking your head and nodding again?"

"I nodded because you are right, the thieves will definitely increase their offensive tomorrow."

"What do you mean by shaking your head?"

"Let me ask you, how many troops are there now outside the city?"

Estimating the number of enemies is a technical task. It is impossible for the enemy to stand in line and let you count them one by one. Especially in the case of the Yellow Turbans, there is no formal organization, and the camps are set up in a mess, one in the east and one in the west. Some camps have many people, some have few people, some camps have military flags, and some camps don't even have flags. , making the estimation more difficult.

At first, Wenpin, Xin Ai and others could not calculate the number of enemies at all, they only knew a lot. Through these few days of combat, observation, and exploration, they began to find a way to estimate.

Wen Pin replied: "Seven or eight thousand people."

"70,000 to 80,000 people, people eat horse chews, how much food do they need a day?"

"You can't fight on an empty stomach. In terms of two meals, one person needs at least half a catty of rations a day. Seventy or eighty thousand people are 40,000 catties."

"It has been more than five days since the thieves arrived under the city, how much food has been consumed in total?"

"Twenty thousand pounds."

"Most of the thieves are poor families with no surplus food. Even if Po can plunder a little from Simian Township, if he can plunder some from Jia County and Xiangcheng County, which have already been captured, how much can he plunder? Seven or eight? Ten thousand people are trapped in the city, unable to move an inch, food is consumed day by day, and the casualties of the thieves are increasing day by day. It has been almost six days since they rebelled, and the capital must have received news that reinforcements may come soon. Under such pressure Next, Zhongye, do you think the thieves can continue to persevere?"

Wen Pin said in surprise: "What Xijun means: Are the thieves discussing the withdrawal of the army tonight in front of the tent?"

It's been almost six days since Bocai's uprising. He has gathered 70,000 to 80,000 people, and there are quite a few people, but there are only two county towns that he has conquered so far.

Without the county seat, there would be no large amount of food, no large amount of supplies, and when reinforcements from the imperial court arrived, there would be no line of defense to rely on. Since Emperor Guangwu withdrew and reduced the county soldiers, most of the elite troops of the empire were stationed around Luoyang, and the combat effectiveness of these troops was much higher than that of the county soldiers. In this regard, Xun Zhen, Xi Zhicai, Xun You and others knew it, and Bo Cai and other "thieves generals" would not be ignorant either.

Under such circumstances, no matter who will lead the Yellow Turbans, as long as they don't want to find their own way, it is impossible to spend too much time in a city. The correct approach should be: before the court reinforcements arrive, seize the time to quickly expand the territory and strengthen the strength.

Only in this way can we have the capital to fight against the elite troops of the imperial court.

From Luoyang to Yingchuan, one or two hundred miles away, if reinforcements were to come, they would come very quickly. Counting the selection of generals, the entire army, and logistical support, it would take at most a month, or even half a month if it was fast. In other words, the time left for Pocai is only ten days to half a month.

"Yes. That's why I shook my head just now to say: the thieves will probably retreat soon. But before they retreat, they will definitely attack my city again."

Wen Ping was confused and asked, "Since they are going to retreat, why do they have to make another attack before retreating?"

Xin Ai laughed and said, "Tens of thousands of people attacked my city~www.wuxiaspot.com~ I fought for four or five days, and I couldn't even get on the top of the city. How could Bo Cai Shuzi be reconciled? Kuang Bocai and Xun Jun With the revenge of killing his younger brother, of course he was reluctant to leave in such a disheartened manner."

Xi Zhicai pointed to the yellow turban soldiers outside the city wall far and near, and said: "The thieves outside the city walls in the west, south, and north all retreated to varying degrees, but the thieves outside our city wall did not retreat. It can also be seen from this. When I left, the thieves outside the west, south, and north walls had their intentions to go, but they couldn't beat Bocai, so they reluctantly stayed. After dawn today, Bocai will definitely launch a fierce attack on my east city wall. …, Zhenzhi, The final victory is today!"

Xun Zhen was originally a person who didn't talk much and was good at listening. During the past few days of defending the city, Prefect Wen stayed at the city wall for a while on the first day. In the remaining days, I basically did not leave the prefectural mansion. I just kept in touch with the city head through Chen Lan and the others. It can be said that the safety of the entire city and tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians is at stake. It was on his shoulders, which made him even more reticent.

When Xi Zhicai was talking with Wenpin and Xin Ai, he never made a sound. He nodded slightly, looked up at the deep night sky, and then looked at the Yellow Turbans' positions outside Xiacheng. On the eve of his death, he was not as passionate as Wenpin and Xin Ai, nor did he have a calm and wise light in his eyes like Xi Zhicai's. His expression hardly changed. He said slowly: "The order goes on, ordering Xu Zhong, Jiang Qin, Gao Su, Feng Gong and others to step up digging trenches to build mountains and build wooden women's walls. Prepare for the onslaught of thieves after dawn."

Xi Zhicai said: "Zhenzhi, I have a plan to ensure a great victory today."