Warrior in Turbulent Han Dynasty

"Squeak..." The lever bracket of the giant catapult rubbed against the bearings and made a piercing sound. The twisting force of the thick hemp rope made the catapult at the rear fly into the air. "Bang!" A large stone immediately flew up into the air.

Guo Shao and several generals and their own soldiers rode horses and patrolled around. The water in the moat has been drained, and more and more catapults and ladders have been rushed out and sent to the front line, and the whole wilderness is full of spectacular noise. There used to be a lot of fields in the south of the city, but now they have been trampled into flat wasteland by countless people, and the crops are gone. Only far away can we see some undamaged paddy fields, only rice piles left; the rice was harvested by Zhou soldiers and used as army rations.

They rode slowly for a long time before they circled the south of the city from the east and reached the northwest of the city. Now the siege is mainly done by catapults. In addition to damaging the wall stacks, it can also kill and injure some Southern Tang soldiers from time to time. Although it is slow, it is constantly consuming the opponent's troops. If the Southern Tang army showed signs of retreating from the wall, Guo Shao's generals would arrange a feint.

These are just small things. In order to satisfy the people above, and the water in the moat has dried up, Guo Shao and other generals are planning a general attack from three fronts.

"The ladders are not enough, wait a few more days." Guo Shao couldn't help but said, "Once you attack, the ladders will be damaged and consumed quickly, so you must be fully prepared."

The oil used by the Southern Tang Dynasty was indeed a powerful weapon for defending the city, but Guo Shao didn't know where they dug it up. In this era, only open-pit oil mines can only be exploited, and wells cannot be drilled.

Li Chuyun also followed Guo Shao around the city many times. For the group of them, they might be more familiar with the outskirts of Shouzhou City than their own home. The city wall surrounds the city in an approximate square shape, with Feishui River to the north and Bagong Mountain on the opposite bank. According to the estimated distance by Guo Shao and others walking, the circumference of the entire city is at least fifteen miles; a wall is three or four miles long.

At this time, Li Chuyun said: "My lord, I think of a reminder. In addition to thinking about how to attack the city, we also have to defend. Beware of Liu Renzhan rushing out of the city to attack us."

After hearing this, a general laughed and said: "The Southern Tang army has been defeated repeatedly, so they just huddled in the strong city. This Shouzhou city has become an isolated city. How dare they come out to fight? Anyway, I don't believe it!"

"But that's Liu Renzhan!" Li Chuyun emphasized, "To defeat an opponent, one must first respect the opponent, not to mention that Liu Renzhan is a respectable general in the first place, and everyone is their master."

Guo Shao said: "I think Brother Li is right. Although there are many people besieging the city, most of them are town soldiers, town soldiers, and a large number of civilians who have not been trained in battle. There are loopholes in the first place, and we must be more careful. Brother Li, is there anything wrong with our army's siege fortifications?"

Li Chuyun said: "These fortifications were built by the predecessor, and the officials have also inspected them. Any experienced general would besiege the city like this. There is no problem with the fortifications. I am only worried about the combat effectiveness of the soldiers when they are attacked."

"Although I am the capital of the left wing of the Hujie Army, I only have about 6,000 soldiers from the First Army and the Second Army. The rest are in the hands of Li Chongjin, not in Shouzhou." Guo Shaodao, "Instead, Li Jixun, the Commander of the Guards Division and Infantry Division, has as many as 20,000 elite infantry and cavalry in his hands... In the direction of the Huai River in the northwest, you can see a large camp in the past, which is the garrison in the right wing."

Li Chuyun said softly: "Li Jixun wants to wait there and fight for reinforcements from the Southern Tang Dynasty."

Listen to it, everyone who understands it... Li Jixun's department has never been to Shouzhou City.

Guo Shao frowned and said, "I'll go to the camp in the right wing and ask Li Jixun to transfer troops to the front line to garrison. After all, if he is really attacked by Shouzhou soldiers, Li Jixun is also responsible for stationing so far away."

"I can only try." Li Chuyun nodded and said, "Shouzhou City's peripheral battle line is so long, not counting the Feishui in the north, the east, west, and south sides are more than ten miles away. If the 6,000 soldiers are stationed separately, the force is too thin."

After Guo Shao heard this, the more he thought about it, the more he felt that there was a loophole, so he rushed to the Hujie army's right wing camp... In order to show his sincerity, he did not send someone to go, but went to recruit soldiers himself. After traveling all night, he arrived at the camp of the Chinese army in the right wing in the middle of the night. He waited until dawn before being let in to meet Li Jixun.

But Li Jixun said that Guo Shao was a mediocre person who worried about himself, "Guo Dushi has a military force of 100,000 troops, and he can't attack the city. He is afraid that the defenders in the city will attack you in turn? Is this plausible?"

A general next to him laughed even more: "Guo Dushi must think he is Han Xin... Haha, the more soldiers Han Xin leads, the better." Another person said: "In Huainan, we have won consecutive battles. If Guo Dushi is really defeated by the defenders who have retreated into the city, he will really be famous in the whole army!"

Guo Shao came in person, and after running for half the night and freezing outside for half the night, he was very annoyed. After he and the general's personal soldiers left the camp, they couldn't help turning their heads and spitting, "You're paralyzed!"

Back at the front camp under the city, Li Chuyun heard that the right wing refused to deploy troops to assist in the defense, so he sighed and had nothing to say.

Guo Shao was also in a dilemma, and said, "If you send someone to ask Li Chongjin for instructions, you probably won't be able to please him."

Li Chuyun said: "For the current plan, the only way is to have the First Army and the Second Army stationed in the southeast and southwest corners, so that if any place is attacked, a part of the troops can be nearby to reinforce... In addition, the 'disbanded soldiers' eliminated from the various armies in front of the temple are still useful, and some soldiers from Jiezhen can also fight. They can be selected and assembled into an army and deployed in various locations."

Guo Shao thought it was a good idea, first ordered the second army of the left wing of the Hujie army to change places to station, and then called all the generals to the central army to discuss matters, so as to deploy offensive and defensive methods.

...

Liu Renzhan also inspected the city walls every day. After watching for several days, he finally couldn't hold back and discussed with the generals: "If the old man goes out of the city, he will definitely defeat the Zhou army."

The Ministry will dissuade you on the grounds that you have not received an answer from Shangfeng. Everyone doesn't want to go out of the city to attack... Damn, the people in the city are like a sea, and there are hundreds of thousands of people in the city? On the Huaishui side, there were still stretches of tents from a distance, and it was hard to tell how many people there were. The disparity in military strength is too great, and everyone feels that it is not easy to defend the city for two months.

Liu Renzhan had been observing for a long time. At this time, he no longer listened to the advice of the generals. He tried his best to resist all opinions: "Anyone who defends the city must defend it to death! These days, the Zhou army has cut a lot of wood from Bagong Mountain and made so many siege equipment. They must prepare to attack Shouzhou. Waiting for them to attack? Not necessarily the way to defend the city."

Liu Renzhan pointed to the company battalion in the northwest again, and said: "There must be Li Chongjin's elite guards over there. The tents in the camp are much better than the soldiers in the city. The camp is so far away that we can't rescue them. This autumn is when Gao Qishuang is deploying troops on the battlefield, and he can take the initiative to attack under any situation that is beneficial to me. The right time, the right place, the people and the people are all in place, and if I dare not use troops, the world will laugh at me for being cowardly!"

He said again: "There are many soldiers in Zhou's army, but the elites stand still and watch the fire from the other side. The ministries under the city are no more than mediocre. Don't be afraid."

Although the generals were still worried, they believed in Liu Renzhan, who was extremely prestigious, and they all bowed to him after hearing it.

Liu Renzhan then ordered his determination to go to battle, selected elite cavalry from the army, and quietly prepared. He also appointed his own son Liu Chong as the forward commander, and led the elite troops to prepare for the attack.

Liu Renzhan once again carefully observed the deployment of Zhou's army for a whole day, and made a decision: "The elite soldiers leave the city from Dinghumen (west), and after they succeed, they first burn the equipment by the Feishui River, then turn around and attack south, burn|burn the frontal siege equipment, and then enter the city from Tongfeimen (south)."

He pointed to a camp in the southwest corner: "This group of troops seems to be well-disciplined, or capable of fighting. The cavalry will catch him off guard first, and disperse the camp. Don't let them gather together."

Liu Renzhan was condescending on the city tower, pointing with his hands, and flicking his sleeves as if pointing the sky and the earth. He stood tall, bowing his head to face the wind, and the thousands of troops and horses below the city seemed not to be the crowd that could threaten him, they had already been trampled under their feet.

At this moment, Liu Renzhan frowned, and saw that general of the Zhou Army walking around in the distance again. Although he couldn't see his face clearly, Liu Renzhan recognized that guy...the man who rushed to the city on horseback and wanted to shoot himself with a bow and arrow. Many generals in the Zhou Dynasty were good at shooting. Legend has it that a general of the Zhou army directly shot and killed the general defending the city wall at a distance of more than two hundred steps. He didn't want to play such trivial tricks with the opponent's general.

"Bring the bed crossbow here, the old man will see if he dares to approach." Liu Renzhan immediately ordered.

The general was two or three hundred steps away, and he seemed to have spotted Liu Renzhan again, sitting on his horse and looking up. Liu Renzhan also looked at him with a frown, and the two looked at each other from a distance.

But this time the general didn't come, so Liu Renzhan ordered the general to scold him. I saw the man put his hand next to his ear immediately, and turned his ear to him, as if to indicate that he couldn't hear clearly.

Liu Renzhan couldn't help but muttered: "After two days, the old man will show you how well-informed you are, so I'll argue with you again."

He ignored it and ordered Liu Chong to select elite soldiers from various ministries and gather the troops in the west of the city, ready to act at any time. However, Liu Renzhan had to personally observe when to attack the city to catch what he thought was a favorable opportunity.

At this time, the sun had gradually dropped on the horizon, and Zhou Jun's slingshots also stopped one after another. Those tall and heavy equipment stand in the afterglow of the setting sun, forming black shadows, and some levers are still rotating...At this moment, anyone who has seen the oil extraction machine on the oil well will definitely think of the scene of the setting sun on the oil well. .

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(Mid-Autumn Festival, I wish everyone a happy family... There will be another update in the evening.)