The first thousand three hundred and tenth chapter is the hesitant military minister
Outside the Yuyang Fortress, the military official stood on a tall tower, looking at the Yuyang Fortress which was riddled with holes and even the city walls had collapsed in several places. His eyebrows were tightly knitted.
In order to conquer Yuyang Fortress, he concentrated five thousand horses and placed three on the outside to surround this Han Dynasty county.
At first, the military minister’s idea was to capture Yuyang within one day!
In his conception, even one day is very slow!
With the size of his army, he could conquer this Han fortress city with probably only two or three thousand defenders within half a day.
But it turned out that the defenders in Yuyang Fortress were not two or three thousand at all!
From the very beginning, the firepower in this city was terrifyingly intensive!
There were at least five thousand crossbows firing at the charging Huns cavalry!
Later, the military ministers dispatched their own royal court elites to dismount and shoot at the defenders. Finally, they found out that there were more than 10,000 defenders in the city!
This frightened and frightened the military officials.
Just like a man who originally planned to go to a health care clinic, when he opened the door and took a look, he found that the person lying on the bed was not a soft girl at all, but a brown bear walking down from the mountains!
He was almost so scared that he wanted to withdraw his troops.
However, he did not dare to withdraw his troops!
Because, for this southern invasion, he and the entire Huns paid too much.
The gathering of such a huge cavalry group, the consumption along the way, and the destruction of the grassland alone forced both him and the Huns to bite the bullet and continue the war.
Because, if you can't grab enough loot to make up for the losses and boost morale.
Then, the Xiongnu will definitely decline!
Even towards the end!
This is no joke...
No one in the Huns will forget how Touman Chanyu died.
Even out of concern for their own lives, military officials did not dare to retreat.
There was no other way. Since it couldn't be captured immediately, the military officials had no choice but to bite the bullet.
In these days, in order to capture the Yuyang Fortress of the Han Dynasty, the military officials tried every method.
Traditional methods such as cloud ladder siege, ant attack, and even wall digging were tried one after another, and more than three thousand people died. In the end, they could not even climb the city wall of the Han Dynasty.
The crossbows of the Han Dynasty were stronger than before!
They even had a powerful crossbow that could shoot arrows a hundred steps away!
Moreover, it is different from the large yellow crossbow that could only be equipped in small quantities in the past.
This brand new crossbow was almost used as standard equipment in the army of the Han Dynasty. In this Yuyang Fortress alone, there were at least seven or eight hundred similar crossbows!
this is too scary!
The Hun nobles suffered heavy casualties in the past days.
So much so that even nobles of the highest rank would not dare to show their heads easily in an open area, because that would likely attract dozens of powerful crossbows!
Even if you hide in a tower with a wooden shield, you may encounter misfortune.
Just yesterday, the military minister's cousin, Wu Limu, the prince of the Shache Kingdom in the Western Regions, was shot into a hornet's nest by more than a dozen long-range crossbows next to a tower.
He even died before he had time to call for help!
This painful lesson made the current high-ranking Xiongnu nobles dare not approach the range of the powerful crossbows of the Han Dynasty.
Since the traditional method did not work, the military officials decided to use the new method learned from the Western Regions, Daxia, Kangju and other places.
The Huns spent two days clearing all the woods within a ten-mile radius outside Yuyang Fortress, transported a large amount of earth and stone, and built dozens of towers made of wood and stone outside the city of Yuyang Fortress.
This kind of tower is four to five feet high and is fixed outside Yuyang City. It is higher than the city wall of Yuyang City.
It can accommodate more than twenty archers at the same time, and it is also protected by wood and stone.
The Xiongnu soldiers stood on the tower and fired at the Han troops at the head of Yuyang City.
At first, this method was very effective, almost suppressing the firepower of the Han Dynasty, allowing infantry and slaves to approach the Han Dynasty's fortress, and filling in the moat.
However, the Huns did not have time to be happy yet.
The Han people in the city came up with countermeasures.
They moved more than fifteen crossbows onto the city wall overnight.
This terrifying ultimate city-defending weapon launches a crossbow arrow that is one meter long and has no arrowhead. Its head is an iron ball and is launched in a parabola. Once it is hit, the impact force caused by the huge inertia will
It can easily destroy the tower that the Huns worked so hard to build, and even kill the soldiers inside!
Relying on this terrifying long-range weapon, the Han army quickly killed the Huns soldiers who stood on the simple towers and fired at the Han army. Many of the towers were even destroyed.
Nowadays, the Han Dynasty people simply tie a rocket soaked in some kind of grease to the arrowhead of the bed crossbow. Once it is hit by it, it will often set the entire tower on fire.
As a result, the Huns can only water each tower continuously and prepare wooden barrels filled with water inside.
Even so, these towers did not last very long.
There was no other way, so the Xiongnu had no choice but to use all the methods they could find from the west.
They even built several siege vehicles made of giant wood and used more than a dozen oxen to pull them, in an attempt to rely on the protection of the wood to access Yuyang Fortress.
This idea is perfect, because in the Western world, as long as this kind of siege vehicle can get close to the city wall, it is a success!
Because of its huge body, it will form a slope on the edge of the city wall that is conducive to the siege.
But unfortunately...
The Han Dynasty people got a large amount of strong grease from nowhere and poured it down the city wall for free. Then a rocket made all the efforts of the Huns come to naught.
Since the siege, many gaps have appeared in the walls of Yuyang Fortress, and corpses are everywhere under the walls.
But the Huns never made any progress.
And the situation became increasingly unfavorable to the Xiongnu.
Reinforcements from the Han Dynasty came in a steady stream from all directions.
There were even tens of thousands of cavalry moving around the battlefield.
And their number is increasing every day.
Ten days ago, there were probably only about three to four thousand cavalry that were active around Yuyang Fortress, conducting reconnaissance and harassing the Huns.
But today, the number of these cavalry has increased four to five times!
Moreover, its rate of increase is accelerating.
As for the number of infantry, in Yuyang and the Pinggu area behind Yuyang, it is conservatively estimated that the number of infantry in the Han Dynasty is at least more than 50,000!
The originally planned raids and surprise attacks turned into a war of attrition.
This made the military officials worried.
On another battlefield, on the east side of Yuyang County, his army's progress was very limited. They only uprooted the Han Dynasty's cities before the Great Wall and controlled the roads in and out of Yuyang and the main rivers.
However, it was unable to break through Yanshan's defense.
Even if they occasionally occupy and open a gap, they will be driven out again by the Han Dynasty the next day.
Sometimes, I can’t even keep it that night!
Although the local Han Dynasty garrison is said to have suffered heavy losses.
But his army wasn't much better.
At least 6,000 people have been lost so far!
Only the direction of Youbeiping has made good progress. Except for Pinggang, the seat of Youbeiping, because there are too many defenders, and the Huns will be unable to do anything for a while, other cities have basically been captured.
But he could no longer make any progress, because soldiers from the Liaodong and Liaoxi counties of the Han Dynasty came in a steady stream and blocked the local roads and key points, blocking the vanguard of his army in an unknown road.
In front of the famous river, I couldn't move.
The idea before the war was to advance in three directions and take Jicheng directly. But now, three directions have been blocked and all three have failed.
However, the number of troops in the Han Dynasty was increasing day by day.
What made the military officials even more uncomfortable was the rapid and accurate supply of food and ordnance to the Han Dynasty.
Scouts often reported that groups of hundreds of giant vehicles, protected by the Han army, were approaching Yuyang Fortress.
Military ministers also tried to send cavalry to attack and seize supplies.
But the result is...
Beaten into a pig's head!
The vehicles in the Han Dynasty's supply convoy were tall, large, and extremely sturdy. These luxurious Han Dynasty people even installed iron sheets and strong wooden shields around the carriages.
In this way, once the army transporting supplies encountered danger, they would surround these carts on the road. Under the cover of the carts, the soldiers would unscrupulously shoot arrows at the oncoming Huns' light cavalry.
But the Huns cavalry could not approach and attack them!
As time goes by, the Han cavalry roaming around the battlefield will come to support, and then the attacking Huns cavalry will be chased for dozens of miles, often with heavy losses!
At first, the military officials were furious.
Since you can't get it yourself, then don't let the Han Dynasty defenders in Yuyang Saili get it.
So the army was strictly ordered to blockade the vicinity of Yuyang tightly to prevent reinforcements from the Han Dynasty from approaching.
However, no one expected that the Han Dynasty people simply seized this opportunity for the Xiongnu to divide their troops. Taking advantage of the opportunity, they took a bite out of the weak areas of the Xiongnu. The most successful one even had more than 2,000 Xiongnu.
The cavalry died in battle!
Moreover, many of the towers, wooden chariots and siege towers that were built with so much hard work were burned by the Han Dynasty.
This made the military officials really angry.
But now, the Han Dynasty has completely eliminated the danger on the road from Pinggu to Yuyang. The forts and camps of their reinforcements are rising and falling one after another on the road from Yuyang to Pinggu.
Until now, even the military officials are unwilling to withdraw.
But his nobles and army did not want to fight anymore.
Just under the city and in the mountains in the Yuyang and Pinggu areas, more than 9,000 Huns cavalry are sleeping.
At least more than 5,000 people were injured, and more than 2,000 others died from their injuries.
More than forty Qu commanders, seven Gudu lords, and two Wanqi commanders were killed in the battle. One Zuo Danghu was seriously injured, and a prince from the Western Regions was shot to death.
The Huns lost more than 10,000 horses.
In addition, in order to boost morale and maintain the combat effectiveness of the army.
More than 30,000 cattle and sheep were slaughtered, and thousands of cheese and salt were consumed.
The slaves were also overwhelmed.
In the past half month, he and his army had suffered more losses than the previous two Western Expeditions combined.
And the Western Expedition can capture slaves, wealth, craftsmen, and women.
But in the Han Dynasty, what the Huns have received so far is only a few thousand dan of grain and a thousand dan of salt, wine and sauce.
The nobles of the tribe were complaining, and the officers of the army were depressed.
More than one of the Wanqi chiefs said to him, "We should withdraw from the Great Chanyu. We will rob Daxia next year, and we will definitely be able to make up for the losses this time."
This is not nonsense.
Since the war started, except for the soldiers who died in battle and the horses that were lost, the strength of the soldiers and ministers has not suffered much damage.
It's nothing more than the tribes in Munan suffering.
But it doesn't matter. Judging from the experience of the past Western Expeditions, these losses are just another battle.
If the capital of Daxia can be attacked, the military officials believe that it can completely make up for all the current material and personnel losses, or even double it!
But the military officials were still hesitant.
Because he didn’t dare to withdraw!
To withdraw would mean admitting defeat and the total defeat of the Han Dynasty.
The Xiongnu will completely lose all their fig leaves, and it will also make the entire Makunan tribe furious.
The angry nobles and army are likely to choose a coup.
And even the tribes and troops in Mubei may not be on his side this time.
Because, on the grassland, people are accustomed to changing leaders if they encounter failure or setbacks.
At the beginning, Touman Chanyu failed to show his strength, so Maodun Chanyu decisively killed him, and then led the Xiongnu to fight against Donghu, laying the foundation of the empire.
Now, if he retreats, the military ministers are worried that if the army returns to the grassland, there will be a coup.
The nobles in the southern part of the country will take the lead, while the tribes in the northern part of the country will watch.
Just changing to a Shanyu, how big a deal is it?
I'm afraid that even the Twins won't be able to help him by then!
The other three major clans will also add fuel to the fire behind the scenes.
Therefore, he cannot withdraw!
Moreover, the consequences of withdrawing troops are not just that.
The military minister knew very well that if he withdrew, not only his own life might be ruined.
The Xiongnu Empire is more likely to completely lose control of Munan.
And that bastard will definitely take the opportunity to seize Dragon City with the support of the Han Dynasty and establish Shan Yuting again.
After the tribes in Munan suffered such a defeat, many, many people would choose to take refuge.
the reason is simple.
They may have concerns about taking refuge in the Han Dynasty and cannot afford to lose face.
But there was no obstacle or psychological pressure in taking refuge with the former King Youxian.
Don't look at these guys now saying that they want to eat him and let him go, skin him and cramp him.
However, once Qi Zhi returns to the grassland with the support of the Han Dynasty, everything will change immediately.
In fact, even the bastards from Mubei might come over to flatter you.
To seek refuge with the strong and to rely on the victor has been the rule of the grasslands that has not changed for millions of years.
No matter how bastard he is, no matter how lowly he was born, his master is the strongest, and he has obtained the authorization from his master. At the same time, he is still a pure twin and a member of the sect.
And once the situation develops to that point, the whole world will change.
The decline of the Xiongnu will be inevitable.
And his rule and the hegemony of the Twins will also collapse!
However, what can he do if he does not withdraw his troops?
The military minister's heart was full of mixed feelings at this moment, and the sour and bitter taste made him feel uncomfortable.
