After the first wave of attacks failed, Zhang Ji withdrew his troops.
His attack was actually quite hasty. After all, he was escaping from the melee in Guanzhong, and the army was short of food. In order to plunder food and grass as quickly as possible, he had to rush straight to Nanyang with great speed.
Therefore, there was no time for him to prepare siege equipment along the way. These ladders were temporarily built during the two days of rest in Champion County.
However, although there are not many ladders in stock now, Zhang Ji has been ordering the craftsmen in the army to rush to make them. From yesterday to now, another night has passed, so there must be some stocks.
After retreating at this time, Zhang Ji urged the craftsmen in the army and asked them about the progress of making ladders. When he learned that more than ten new ladders had been built, he asked them to send them for use first.
After resting for more than an hour, the desolate horn sounded again, and Zhang Ji reorganized a new wave of attacks.
Soon everything that happened before unfolded again, and Zhang Ji successfully attacked the city.
After a long battle, time passed quietly. After the noon time, it was already twilight in the afternoon, and countless figures suddenly appeared on the distant horizon.
Zhang Xiu was leading a group of troops in the south of the city to create pressure in the city. A scout team quickly came to report to him.
"Report, reinforcements from Liu Biao are coming from the south."
The scout captain dismounted and reported the incident to Zhang Xiu, who was supervising the battle in the south of the city at this time.
Zhang Xiu was shocked and said: "How many people are there?"
"About four to five thousand people."
As professional scouts in the Xiliang army, they found a hilly place and looked far away, so they could know the approximate number of people on the other side at a glance.
"Four to five thousand people?"
Zhang Xiu pondered for a moment and said to the soldiers around him: "My uncle is currently storming the city. It is related to our life and death. We must not give up halfway at this time and be harassed by enemy reinforcements."
Hu Che'er on the side said: "General, tell us what to do, we will all listen to you."
"Yes, General, tell me."
Everyone shouted.
Not only was Zhang Xiu very brave, he also avenged his ancestor Liu Jun in his early years and assassinated his enemy. His loyalty was praised by everyone, and he became a prestigious hero in Liangzhou from then on.
Therefore, among this Xiliang army, he is second only to Zhang Ji, otherwise he would not have become the commander of this Xiliang army.
Seeing that everyone's morale was available, Zhang Xiu looked around and said: "The enemy came in a hurry and would not expect us to take the initiative to attack, so it is better to gather the dead soldiers and attack them head-on. What do you think?"
In fact, Jia Xu was not with Zhang Xiu at this time.
Jia Xu used to be attached to Duan Xuan, but later Zhang Ji's situation was not good, so he suggested that Zhang Ji go to Nanyang. Firstly, it was to leave a way out for himself, and secondly, because he and Zhang Ji were from the same hometown, so he sold a favor to Zhang Ji.
he.
It was not until the second half of this year, when Jia Xu felt that Duan Yan was suspicious of him, that he was invited by Zhang Xiu to come to Nanyang.
Therefore, Zhang Xiu had no way to discuss strategies with Jia Xu, but he himself was not a mediocre person. He had followed Zhang Ji for many years, so how could he not know how to fight?
He felt that although the enemy had reinforcements, they had come all the way and must be quite tired. Therefore, a sudden attack at this time would definitely disrupt the enemy's formation and buy time for Zhang Ji.
Upon hearing his words, Hu Cheer immediately said: "General, what are you waiting for? Just kill him."
"Kill, kill, kill!"
The Xiliang army was very brave. Even though Zhang Xiu only had more than a thousand people with him, he was not afraid at all.
Zhang Xiu said: "My uncle is storming the city with the front and middle armies, and the rear army is responding. We are small in number, and I am afraid that we will not be able to annihilate them all. I plan to call in the troops from the north gate and the east gate, a total of three thousand people."
Hu Che'er, you are going to bring another thousand rear troops. When we charge, we will attack from the flanks and be sure to defeat the enemy."
"clear!"
Hu Che'er immediately took the order and left, galloping his horse very fast.
Zhang Ji's army was small in number, barely ten thousand men. Compared with Li Jue and Guo Si's thirty or forty thousand men each, their strength was limited.
The number of soldiers required to attack the city was even greater. In addition to arranging about a thousand troops at each of the other city gates to exert pressure, the rest of the main force was at the west gate, attacking Rangcheng fiercely.
The front army and the Chinese army work together as a commando to attack the city wall. The rear army has about 2,000 people. As a response force, if the battle at the front does not go well and the retreat is to prevent the enemy from pursuing, the rear army can come up to block the rear cover.
Former army.
This is a very conventional tactical arrangement. In addition to the role of support, the rear army also has the role of supervising the battle, so they are all very elite veterans.
Hu Che'er quickly rushed to the rear army and used Zhang Xiu's order to mobilize a thousand troops.
It would definitely not work if it were someone else, but Zhang Ji had no heirs and always treated Zhang Xiu as his son. This meant that Zhang Xiu's status in the army belonged to that of a successor, so he was completely able to mobilize the army.
Under his arrangement, in addition to the 5,000 front and center troops led by Zhang Ji, 2,000 harassing soldiers who were exerting pressure on the north gate and the east gate were also transferred.
In this way, he has 3,000 men, plus the 1,000 rear troops mobilized by Hu Che'er. Even if the number of troops is less than the opponent's reinforcements, it is enough.
Soon the army began to gather.
The Xiliang troops from the north and east gates quickly moved toward Zhang Xiu's south gate, and their movements were quickly reported to Wenpin by the guards at the gates of Rangcheng.
"This must be the arrival of our reinforcements, and they had to choose to divide their forces to attack."
Wenpin knew exactly what was going on.
The soldier asked: "Are we going to leave the city to pick up the reinforcements?"
"Just pass on the news of the reinforcements' arrival."
Wenpin's face was as dark as water. The Xiliang army fought with more force than he expected.
If we go out of the city and fight in the wild, there is no way we can be our opponents.
Therefore, leaving the city at this time is a dead end.
Now we can only stick to the city and wait for news from reinforcements.
"Deploy another 300 people from each sect to come over."
After thinking about it, Wenpin added: "Bring all the bows and arrows from other sects. At this time, one more person will give you more strength."
"only."
The soldiers took the order and left.
Wenpin lowered his head and looked at the Xiliang army swarming toward the city wall like ants from the city below, feeling deeply how powerful the enemy was.
Over there, Zhang Xiu quickly gathered 3,000 people and galloped toward the southeast.
What they encountered was Deng Ji's army.
Deng Ji, Liu Wei, and Wang Jie set out at almost the same time after receiving the order yesterday.
But Huyang is closer to Rangcheng. It goes northwest past Xinye County. The straight-line distance is only 60 kilometers, about 150 miles.
Fancheng, where Zhang Yun is located, is much further away. The straight-line distance is more than 80 kilometers, about 200 miles, and the journey takes just two days.
Therefore, although they both set out yesterday, Deng Ji was much faster than Liu Wei and Wang Jie who set out from Fancheng, and arrived at the battlefield at noon the next day.
Deng Ji originally wanted to stay on the outskirts and send scouts to see the situation in Rangcheng.
However, the quality of the scouts of the Jingzhou Army was vastly different from that of the scouts of the Xiliang Army.
The men he sent out were intercepted and killed by the Xiliang Army scouts in the wild. Before he could receive a reply, his troops were discovered by the Xiliang Army scouts, who reported it to Zhang Xiu.
So until now, Deng Ji didn't even know what was going on there, and was still rushing to Rangcheng.
One is unaware of the situation ahead, and the other is calculated mentally but not intentionally. Naturally, there is no suspense in this battle.
Zhang Xiu ordered his soldiers to hide in the forests and hills on both sides of the official road from Xinye to Rangcheng. When Deng Ji's army was still marching normally, enemies suddenly came out from the left and right wings.
Caught off guard, Deng Ji was defeated.
Seeing that the enemy was vulnerable, Zhang Xiu was overjoyed and quickly ordered the chase to continue.
Although the Xiliang army was not all cavalry, Zhang Xiu still had more than a thousand cavalry troops. After several rounds of offensives, Deng Ji's army was almost killed and dispersed.
The battle only lasted less than half an hour, and most of the time Zhang Xiu was chasing Deng Ji.
After chasing for more than twenty miles, they stopped.
Because Liu Wei and Wang Jie arrived.
The two of them had seen Deng Ji's defeat from a distance, and looked at each other. Liu Wei sneered and said, "Deng Ji leads the army on his own and has never taken us seriously. We thought he was very capable. Bah."
"I saw that there are only two or three thousand people on the other side."
Wang Jie also smiled coldly and said: "He was defeated with only two or three thousand people. He is really incompetent."
"What should we do now?"
Liu Wei asked: "Can we save this guy?"
Wang Jie thought for a while and said: "Deng Ji is just a waste. If he dies, he will die. But it would be bad if the army is wiped out. If we can defeat the enemy and save the defeated army, wouldn't it be a great achievement?"
"you're right."
Liu Wei nodded and looked from afar: "They are coming straight to the official road. We can kill them by taking a detour through the wilderness on the left and right."
"good."
The two people discussed it and decided to outflank them.
The Nanyang Basin can be said to be a vast expanse of land. Apart from plain forests and hills and hillsides less than 20 to 30 meters high, there are basically no other obstacles.
However, there are many villages and fields, as well as some ditches and small rivers.
The official road is actually a road that connects nearby village pavilions. It is not very wide, so it is actually very difficult to fight on the official road. You can only go through the wilderness on both sides.
It's just that because the field of vision is very broad, they can see the situation in the distance, and Zhang Xiu can also see it.
Seeing another reinforcement coming from the other side, with more people than before, Zhang Xiu was also shocked, but at this time it was too late for him to make any other choice. He could only grit his teeth and point to the right and said: "Run or you will die."
Come on, divide them and attack them, follow me to that side first and kill them!"
"Kill!"
The Xiliang army behind them, like wolves and tigers, burst out with a terrifying sound wave.
The reason why I chose the right side is because there is a village on the left with a lot of fields and obstacles. Most of the Xiliang army are infantry, but there are still some cavalry.
If you go to the left, the cavalry will be restricted by farmland and villages, making it difficult for them to exercise mobility.
On the right is a plain grassland, which may have been a forest. Many trees were cut down by the people, exposing a large piece of flat land, which was suitable for cavalry to gallop.
It must be said that Zhang Xiu's military general's intuition is still very keen, and he found a way to use his own strengths to attack the enemy's weaknesses in a short period of time.
The Xiliang cavalry did not launch a charge, but lined up first and then shot arrows on horseback.
The cavalry of the Han Dynasty did not have stirrups, so their use was not on the frontal battlefield, but as roaming cavalry and outflanking to cut the enemy's formation from the side.
After several rounds of arrows, the Xiliang infantry went straight towards the Jingzhou army on the right.
That was Wang Jie's army. How had he ever seen the Xiliang army's field tactics? As soon as they met, he was stunned by the rounds of arrows.
You must know that it is the tradition of the Xiliang Qiang people to shoot arrows first in battle. Ju Yi is a Xiliang war general and is proficient in Qiang people's fighting methods. In the Battle of Jieqiao, he used a crossbow to defeat Gongsun Zan's white horse followers. You can know that bows and arrows are
weight among Xiliang people.
After the rain of arrows, both sides quickly engaged in hand-to-hand combat.
Although the brave Xiliang people were outnumbered, they were very brave and launched round after round of fierce attacks on the Jingzhou army without fear.
Zhang Xiu was the first to rush.
He had just cut down two Jingzhou soldiers, and the blood on the blade had not yet been wiped clean. He was about to continue facing the fierce battle, but he found that the enemies around him were very frightened, and they suddenly started laughing ferociously.
There had been no war in Jingzhou for many years. These soldiers were obviously not as brave as the Xiliang army in the battle, so they roared and rushed forward again.
However, it is true that the Jingzhou Army was not as brave as the Xiliang Army, but they were three times as powerful as the enemy. Upon seeing this, Liu Wei sent people to collect Deng Ji's defeated troops, and began to attack Zhang Xiu's flank.
The battle between the two sides suddenly became fierce.
As the initial momentum was blocked, Zhang Xiu's army gradually lost momentum, and the Iron Man sometimes fell. Moreover, they had been chasing Deng Ji for a long time and were somewhat exhausted.
At this moment, all the soldiers around him fell down one by one. Even Zhang Xiu himself was besieged by dozens of people and had to retreat. For a moment, he felt a little resentful and was about to withdraw his troops.
At this moment, suddenly there seemed to be thousands of troops coming from behind, Hu Che'er roared: "General, Hu Che'er is coming!"
"Reinforcements have arrived, kill!"
Zhang Xiu suddenly became energetic, summoned up his remaining courage to kill with all his might, and stabbed to death two more enemies who wanted to attack him.
In fact, he had already lost a lot of troops here, but Hu Che'er brought a new force, and after joining in, he quickly stopped the decline. Seeing that the situation was not good, Liu Wei and Wang Jie quickly raised money and retreated their troops.
Both sides retreated. Zhang Xiu's side dispatched 4,000 people, and suffered more than 1,000 casualties.
Liu Wei and Wang Jie plus Deng Ji's troops totaled 13,000 men, and more than 2,000 were killed or wounded. Deng Ji's fled more than 2,000 troops, and there were heavy casualties on both sides.
But at least he defeated the enemy.
Zhang Xiu immediately led the remaining troops to evacuate toward Rangcheng.
On the way, Hu Che'er said to Zhang Xiu: "General, why don't we take advantage of the victory and pursue it?"
Zhang Xiu shook his head and said: "Our army is exhausted and cannot pursue us."
"But what if they come after me?"
Hu Che'er was a little worried.
Zhang Xiu smiled and said: "They have been defeated by us, and they will definitely not come in a short time."
Hu Cheer felt relieved: "That's good."
"Hu Che'er, how is my uncle doing?"
Zhang Xiu asked.
"The Hussars are still attacking Rangcheng. They can no longer resist."
"They can't resist anymore?"
"Yes, when I came here I saw the hussar general rushing towards the city wall."
"Hahaha, it seems that Nanyang is going to be ours."
Zhang Xiu laughed loudly and said to Hu Che'er: "You have made great achievements this time. When you defeat Rangcheng, you will be rewarded. You can choose the gold and silver of the women in the city."
Hu Che'er said happily: "Thank you so much, General."
Just chatting.
Suddenly, several cavalrymen came from the distance. Before they could get close, they shouted: "General, the hussar general is dead!"
"ah?"
Zhang Xiu's face instantly turned pale, and his whole body swayed slightly, as if he was about to fall from his horse.