At the same time, the Battle of Yijing in Hebei is also coming to an end.
Compared with the Battle of Linzi, the Yuan army's siege of Yijing was far more difficult than the Han army. Although Yijing is between Yishui and Juma River, Yijing is located on a high hill and cannot use the method of flooding the city with water.
It can withstand the flying arrows of the archery tower on the city, build a hill of earth in front of the city, and then set up another archery tower on the hill, so that the soldiers can climb the city under cover.
In March, Yuan Jun established 277 archery towers, enough to shoot at each other in Yijing City. Both sides had enough arrows, so during daily battles, arrows rained in the air as densely as locusts, and the two armies went back and forth in front of and behind the city wall.
, they all had to carry wooden poles while walking, so the number of casualties was no less than ten thousand.
But even so, the Yuan army still could not capture Yijing. The height of the walls of Yijing alone was as high as five feet. After being surrounded by the Yuan army, Gongsun Zan organized people to build wooden sheds on the wall and raised it another ten feet, making it almost impossible for the Yuan army to use it.
Conventional methods such as ladders and ants were used to climb the city wall. The so-called inaccessibility refers to this situation. Therefore, although the casualties of the two armies were heavy, the war was in a stalemate, and there was no progress for three months.
In mid-July, Chen Chong ordered the general Duan Xuan and Colonel Wuhuan to leave the county from Lingqiu, march south with 30,000 men, and settle in Zhuoxian again. The northern side of Yuan's army received a threat, and Yuan Shao had no choice but to
Only 20,000 troops were allocated, led by Qu Yi, who went north to confront Duan Xuan in the Fangcheng area.
Although Duan Xuan could not attack, what followed was a sharp increase in the pressure on Yijing to attack the city, which forced Yuan Shao to think of another way.
He first fired arrows at Yijing in an attempt to recruit the soldiers and civilians in the city, and instigated them to open the door and offer sacrifices to the city. However, the guards at Yijing were all Gongsun Zan's confidants, and they were richly rewarded and rewarded. He also felt that Yijing was difficult to attack, so he surrendered.
Without any objection, Gongsun Zan also ordered people to write a reward for shooting on the back of the arrow book and return it, claiming that the court had said that anyone who killed Yuan Shao could be granted the title of Marquis of Ten Thousand Households. This was widely spread among the army, which made Yuan Shao furious.
So Yuan Shao changed his strategy and deliberately revealed the news that Han troops had appeared in Zhuo County in the north. Yuan's army could not support it and had to send a large number of troops to stop the attack. He then ordered the besieging troops to postpone the attack on the city, pretending that the three armies were exhausted and could not be defeated.
The illusion of a battle of abilities lured Gongsun Zan out of the city to fight in the field.
Unexpectedly, Gongsun Zan learned the news, but he only sent people to contact the north, and had no intention of leaving the city. Yuan Shao intercepted one of the letters, but saw that it said that there were still 50,000 guards in Yijing City, and there were 50,000 soldiers inside.
The well water has accumulated food and the arrows can last for a year. It is absolutely impossible for Yuan Shao to break the city. Please ask the court to send more reinforcements to contain it. As long as it lasts until the end of the year, Yuan's army will naturally withdraw.
Yuan Shao had no choice but to re-attack the city. However, at Tian Feng's suggestion, Yuan Shao changed his siege strategy. Instead of attacking the city with ants, he dug tunnels instead.
Cui Juye, the magistrate of Tang County, was responsible for this matter. Within a few days, Cui Juye was ordered to supervise the construction of 21 tunnels, with remarkable results. They used ropes to measure the length of the tunnels, and most of the tunnels should have reached the city wall. While they were using
The beams and columns were pressed against the ground while they continued to dig forward in order to penetrate the wall and enter the city.
The tunnels are not very high and only allow people to crawl forward with their knees and hands on the ground. If they want to rest, they can only sit on the ground with their heads down. Digging the tunnels is very hard. Excavation, lighting and earth transportation are all very tiring. Yuan Jun is at every step.
They took turns digging and resting. Their whole bodies were covered with loess, and even their eyelashes were covered with dirt, making them unrecognizable.
Just after midnight, Yuan Jun in one of the tunnels was still digging. There were two people digging at the front. Their pickaxes went down almost at the same time. It felt like the hard loess in front of them had become brittle and collapsed all of a sudden.
The pickaxe collapsed when I picked it up. And suddenly a bright light suddenly appeared in front of me, which made me unable to adapt to it, and I could hardly open it.
After digging through, it took them a while before they could see clearly what was going on outside the tunnel. It turned out that they had dug to the northeast corner of Yijing. No one happened to be paying attention here, and they could only see a few faint figures cruising back and forth in the distance. They hurriedly dug again
Cover up the loess and crawl back to the camp along the tunnel.
That night, many tunnels were dug into the inner city of Yijing. Some of them were discovered by the Yan army, who immediately poured hot water into them and put wild dogs and rats into them. Many civilians were
They were scalded and then bitten to death. But this was not all. There were about six tunnels that were not discovered by Yan Jun, but Yan Jun was searching hard along the corners, leaving Yuan Jun little time.
Yuan Shao made a prompt decision and mobilized 2,000 elite troops from the army. They were led by Cui Juye and Zhu Han and divided into six lines to attack the city. As a cover, Yuan Shao would beat drums elsewhere to feint attack as their cover.
As a general, Cui Juye knew that a sneak attack in a tunnel must move forward wholeheartedly, so he entered the tunnel third and asked Zhu Han to take care of him from behind. The whole group wore heavy armor, covered their heads and necks with iron pockets, and raised their knives.
Changsha, let the tunnel digger lead the way and climb into the tunnel together.
Above them, the rumbling drums and shouts of the siege could be faintly heard.
In the tunnel, Yuan Jun's soldiers were holding their weapons and half-kneeling on the wall. While watching the diggers in front of them digging with pickaxes, they nervously watched the falling loess, waiting for the moment when the wall suddenly collapsed. p>
Cui Juye stood in front. Seeing that the soldiers around him were a little uneasy, he smiled and said: "Every time you win, the side with the determination to die wins. Don't be afraid. When you are not afraid of death, the ghosts and gods will not be able to lead you."
Let's go." Then he said loudly: "This battle will be won!"
Before everyone could think about it, they heard the person in front shout: "It's over!" Then he picked up his pickaxe and struck it down. There was a sudden crash, like a wall collapsed, and dust flew up.
It’s gone, and the light from the front has shined in.
Dust and dirt rushed towards his face, and Cui Juye immediately rushed up against the autumn wind. The sound of fighting between the mountains and the city wall outside suddenly sounded in his ears, and the light outside seemed to be within reach.
At this moment, there was a bang, like a thunderbolt exploding in front of their eyes. The two soldiers in front felt that a ball of fire came in from the hole, and then they could no longer see anything.
Cui Juye lay on the ground. He felt that his heart and lungs were burning, and he felt that his eyelids had been burned off, which made him unable to see anything. He didn't understand how the fire was blown in, but it was obvious that this tunnel had been
It was found that it could no longer be used. Several hooks came in along with the noisy sounds outside and hooked his armor. Cui Juye knew his fate, and without waiting for others to react, he opened the basin collar and took out his waist with one hand.
He inserted the short knife into his throat without hesitation, and with one stroke, his soul fell into the Nine Springs.
In addition to this tunnel, there were three more tunnels that were found by the Yan army. Of the 2,000 people who set out, only 600 were able to enter the city. Of course, this could not break the Yan army's defense. They fought for a while, and finally had to leave.
He retreated into the tunnel.
This time the attack did not work, but Yuan Shao became ruthless. He ordered the generals: "Keep digging! In the worst case, I will dig down the city! Can he still defend it like this!?" So Yuan Jun continued to work, and under the city there were another
Dig multiple tunnels.
In addition to the 21 tunnels dug into the city and occupied by the Yan army, Yuan Jun stepped up the digging of 68 tunnels in January, but they no longer dug into the city and only reached the foot of the city.
At the end of these tunnels, Yuan Jun dug out a space almost one foot high and several feet wide, and used beams to hold up the city wall above his head.
At this time, Yuan Jun filled the pillars with oil and set them on fire. When the beams and pillars were burned and collapsed, the corresponding city wall of Yijing also collapsed. Counting it down, there were no less than 30 gaps that had collapsed enough for people to pass through. Yuan Jun took advantage of the momentum to attack.
The deadlock in the city was finally broken. Senior cadres led Deng Sheng to seize three gaps, and then successfully occupied two outer walls of Yi Jing. The Yan army in the city resisted desperately, and finally the inner city was not lost in one day.<
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But at this point, the fate of Yijing's fall was probably doomed. After Gongsun Zan learned that the city wall had collapsed, he immediately lost confidence in holding on and hurriedly sent an envoy north to Zhuoxian County to contact Duan Xuan and said that he would abandon Yijing.
Lead the crowd to break out, hoping that Duan Yan can make an illusion of approaching the north gate and cover his evacuation from the direction of Fan Yang.
At dawn on October 16th, Gongsun Zan drove all the eight thousand war horses in the city to the west gate in the previous night. At this time, Yuan Jun who was watching the night was already tired, and Yuan Jun who was changing his shift had just woken up and was confused and confused. Taking advantage of this,
When the two squads were handing over and switching defenses, a trumpet sounded in the city, and the cavalry rushed out like a torrent, directly breaking through Yuan Jun's defense line at the north gate.
But most of the Yan army in the city were at a loss. In order to keep it secret, Gongsun Zan did not inform the entire army of the breakout, but only brought the 3,000 closest men with him. So much so that the guards in the city thought it was just a counterattack and continued as usual.
They defended the city and resisted the enemy. It was not until Gongsun Zan was forty miles away that they realized that they had been abandoned. In this case, Xian Yufu, who was defending the city, had no intention of fighting. He took off his armor and carried the thorns with his body.
Ask Yuan Shao to surrender.
Yijing fell, and more than 40,000 Yan troops returned to Yuan Shao.
On the way Gongsun Zan was running west, Yuan Shao had already set up an ambush: Wen Chou, the Cavalry Commander, had five thousand soldiers and horses stationed at the southern end of Gu'an County. He happened to encounter Gongsun Zan leading his men to swim in the south of the city. At this time, Gongsun Zan was exhausted physically and mentally after running for hundreds of miles.
However, he encountered Wen Chou's long-recuperated Tiger and Wolf division. After the two sides fought, Gongsun Zan was defeated. His son Gongsun Xu personally cut off the queen and was assassinated by Yuan's army. His body was split into more than ten parts.
Fortunately, with the protection of Zhao Yuntian Kai and others, Gongsun Zan finally escaped with his life. After running for hundreds of miles, he finally met up with Duan Zhen's tribe in Liangxiang. The Yuan army captured Yi Jing and gained great momentum, and then made the decision to go north.
He vowed to capture Youzhou in one fell swoop.
At this time, the military strength difference between Duan Shen's tribe and Yuan's army was nearly eight times different. Both sides were on the North China Plain and there was no danger to defend. The advantage must be on Yuan Shao's side. Therefore, he quickly retreated north and led his army to Shanggu Juyongguanzhong, hoping to take advantage of the natural dangers of Yanshan Mountain.
Contain Yuan Jun's northward offensive.
In any case, in the same year that the Han army captured Qingzhou, Yuan Shao also achieved a decisive victory in Youzhou, basically realizing what he had planned when he was fighting against Dong: occupying Dahe in the south, blocking the Yan Dynasty in the north, and joining forces with the Di people.
, the grand strategy of heading south to compete for the world.