On August 22nd, the sky was overcast and it seemed like it would rain at any time.
On the west wall of Luocheng City, Li Hui, Le Bao, and Yang Wu, three soldiers of the Shang Shui Army, were leaning on the wall boredly, looking outside the city from time to time through the peephole on the wall, looking at Jie Jiao.
Did the army ever come to the city?
"It's so boring..."
After a long time, Yang Wu sighed and complained, and sat down leaning against the wall.
It has to be said that in recent days, Zhao Hongrun, as the supreme commander, has changed his tactics and adopted a proactive approach to harass the Jiejiao army. The method used every time is very monotonous, which is nothing more than using crossbow chariots and Shen horse archers.
The long-range strike capability gradually caused casualties among Jiejiao's slave soldiers.
Whenever the Jiejiao cavalry were angry and sent out a large number of troops to pursue the harassing team of the Wei army, Wu Ji, who had replaced Zhao Hongrun in commanding the team since the second time, decisively ordered the entire army to retreat and followed Zhao Hongrun's example.
The tactics for several days were to retreat while taking advantage of the long range to shoot the Jiejiao cavalry with repeating crossbows.
In fact, there is no way to break Zhao Hongrun's rogue tactics.
The method is very simple. As long as the Jiejiao cavalry is dispatched in full force, they attack the Wei army's harassing team in a roundabout way from both sides at the beginning, at all costs. Although they will inevitably pay a considerable price of casualties after the war, there will be a huge loss.
Opportunity can surround and kill this team.
With good luck, he even captured the crossbow chariot that the Wei army had no time to destroy. This is definitely a sure profit.
To say the least, even if the harassing army of the Wei army destroyed all the crossbow chariots before being surrounded and killed, it would not be a big deal. After all, once the crossbow chariots were lost, Zhao Hongrun would naturally have no way to rely on this method.
Come to weaken the Jiejiao people.
No matter how you think about it, this is extremely beneficial to the Jiejiao people.
But unfortunately, I don’t know whether it was due to concerns about casualties, but Bitatu did not make this correct decision for a long time, so that in the face of Wei Jun’s harassment team of only 4,000 people, more than 200,000 Jiejiao people were actually harassed
They retreated five miles back, leaving the high slope with a good view on the western outskirts of Luocheng to the Wei people.
Well, now, a confidant of Lu Balong, the leader of the Lun clan of the Yi tribe, a leader named Zhen Dan, sent out a team of about 20 sentries, stood on the hillside, and climbed up to look at Jiejiao.
Every move of the person will be reported to Zhao Hongrun at any time.
This allowed Zhao Hongrun's side to finally recapture an insignificant piece of countryside, slightly improving the blindness situation.
Of course, it was only a slight improvement, because the sentry cavalry of the Lun tribe did not dare to go too far from the city. God knows whether those Jiejiao cavalry who had nothing to do in recent days and were harassed by the Wei army were dizzy.
Wandering around the outskirts of Luochengchi, always ready to hunt down the Wei army's sentries and vent their anger?
But having said that, because Jie Jiao's army took the initiative to retreat five miles, the distance between them and Luocheng became longer. Under this situation, the harassing team of the Wei army did not dare to leave the city.
Go to harass the Jiejiao people. After all, with the distance increased by five miles, if the Wei army still dares to harass them, there is a high possibility that they will not be able to come back alive.
As a result, this siege battle that was originally easy for the Jiejiao people and their clan leader Bitatu, gradually evolved into the current confrontation between the two armies. They gradually realized that Jiejiao City was not easy to capture.
People had to start building a camp and setting up tents honestly on the fifth day after arriving in Luocheng.
There is no way. After all, Sanchuan is a grassland with abundant rainfall. It rains every now and then. If we don’t set up tents that can protect us from the wind and rain, more than 200,000 people may be soaked by the heavy rain, and then be soaked by the gradually turning autumn night at night.
When the wind blows, many of the more than 200,000 horses will surely suffer from wind-cold diseases such as headaches and brain fever, which may affect their operations at least, or endanger their lives at worst.
Because of this, the soldiers of Shangshui who guarded the west wall of Luocheng waited all day yesterday, but no Jijiao people came to attack the city. They were very bored and panicked.
However, a group of Jiejiao cavalry, perhaps out of revenge for the harassment of the Wei people in the past few days, or simply to vent their anger, came outside the city and shot a few arrows at the Shangshui soldiers on the wall.
.
It's a pity that in front of the well-prepared defense facilities of the Shangshui Army, such a long-range shot is actually no different from a waste of arrows. Anyway, none of the Shangshui soldiers who were guarding the city wall at that time were unlucky.
The ghost was shot to death or injured.
Under this situation, the Wei army once again changed the tactics of attacking instead of defending from the previous days, and switched to a seemingly passive defense.
In many cases, such passive defensive tactics that keep the soldiers from leaving the city will indeed affect the morale of the soldiers. However, because the merchant navy achieved a small victory during the first siege, and subsequently
After several days of harassment against the Jiejiao people, good gains were made, which made the morale of Shangshui soldiers generally high, with almost no negative impact.
"Ah, it's raining..."
A few raindrops fell on Li Hui's face, causing him to subconsciously raise his head and take a look.
The soldiers who defend the city are most afraid of rain and snow. Because of their responsibilities, they must guard their posts. Even if it rains heavily and the roads are blocked by ice and snow, those who are responsible for guarding must still be on duty. This is a mandatory requirement for all armies in the world.
:Those who leave their posts without permission will be killed immediately!
Fortunately, Zhao Hongrun had already made preparations and collected a lot of sheepskins on credit from the Sheang and Shen tribes in the city. Now, Li Hui, Le Bao, and Yang Wu tied the four corners of the sheepskins to their spears to form a
A simple pergola, finally something that can block the wind and prevent the rainwater like a bead curtain from pouring directly on my head.
"Captain, you guys go first?"
After setting up the pavilion, Yang Wu turned around and shouted to the two soldiers who were still standing there looking at the outside of the city.
These two soldiers are brothers. They were born in Jiao Village, Xiang County, Chu State. The elder brother is called Jiao Meng. He is an old soldier who participated in the Chu-Wei campaign like Yang Wu. Because he looks mature, he was promoted to the rank of corps commander. In fact, he is only 30 years old.
He was only twenty years old; and his younger brother Jiao Zhong was a recruit who only joined the army in Shangshui County, just like Li Hui and Le Bao.
The reason why Yangwu invited their brothers to come first was because although Jiao Meng looked simple and honest, he was actually a fierce soldier when he became ruthless on the battlefield. Of course, the biggest reason was that Jiao Meng was their teammate.
long relationship.
"You guys go first." Jiao Meng waved his hand, then picked up two sheepskins from the ground and threw one to his younger brother. The two brothers covered their heads and bodies with the sheepskins and still stood in the rain, watching the movement outside the city.
It’s no wonder, after all, the military regulations of the Shangshui Army are that there is no fine, not punishment. To put it simply, if a corps makes a mistake, the corps commander will be punished first; and if a soldier makes a mistake, the uncle will be punished first.
reads;.and so on.
Such a punishment system can effectively prevent people in positions from being lazy.
Therefore, during the night watch, those who were still patrolling the city walls with weapons in the middle of the night were often not ordinary soldiers, but captains such as corps commanders, chief officers, and uncle commanders.
Seeing Jiao Meng's polite refusal, Yang Wu and others were not polite, and the three of them huddled side by side in the pergola to hide from the rain.
Although the conditions are still difficult, it is obviously much more comfortable than having rain on your head.
"I don't know how long this battle will last..."
Looking at the still rainy sky, Li Hui sighed slightly.
"Are you homesick?" Yang Wu and Le Bao turned around and asked. They knew that both of Li Hui's parents were dead, and his only brother also died on the battlefield of the Chu-Wei War, leaving only a widowed sister-in-law.
This is why Li Hui is sometimes teased by Yang Wu and Le Bao, because generally speaking, after the death of an elder brother, the younger brother will be obliged to support his sister-in-law, and in many cases, the uncle and sister-in-law will often be the ones who support him.
A couple.
There is no way around this, because women are a relatively scarce resource in many countries.
Don’t think that everyone can have three wives and four concubines. In fact, in order to have three wives and four concubines, you must at least be a wealthy man. In ordinary poor families, some men are even single when they are forty or fifty. This is not uncommon.
.
Perhaps he heard the ridicule from the words of Yang Wu and Le Bao. Li Hui blushed slightly and quickly defended: "I just want to know how long this battle will last."
"Then who can say for sure?" Yang Wu shrugged and said, "King Su has made it clear that he wants to fight a protracted war with the Jiejiao people."
Hearing this, Le Bao shook his head and corrected: "This battle won't take too long... Don't you know? The main reason why King Su went to war with the Jie people was to take advantage of the way.
Another domestic army can successfully pass through the Sanchuan area and support Longxi. Therefore, based on this year's date surplus, King Su should be inclined to end the war around September, so that the other army can move forward in the winter.
Rush to Longxi in advance."
"September?" Yang Wu blinked and reminded: "Today is already August 22nd..."
"That is to say, at most half a month." Le Bao glanced at Yang Wu and added in a lower voice: "In fact, according to my estimation, this battle will probably end before the end of the month... The Dangshan Army and Cheng Gao Army will leave the city.
It's been a while, but I haven't seen anything like this
The two armies show signs of supporting Luocheng. It is obvious that these two armies have attacked the hinterland of Sanchuan... Forget about General Zhu Hai of the Chenggao Army, and General Sima An of the Dangshan Army... You should
Do you understand what this means?"
Li Hui and Yang Wu looked at each other and nodded in unison, secretly sympathizing with those Jie people or Jie tribes who were bumped into by the Dangshan army.
"But before that, I'm afraid there will be the most intense siege to date."
Glancing at Li Hui, who looked a little sad after hearing this, Le Bao lowered his voice and said: "Let's work together to survive! ... Win this battle and get a generous reward, and then we will return to Shangshui County. You
Well, I also went home and married that sister-in-law..."
"Hahaha, that's right, that's right." Yang Wu nodded and said with a smile.
"I told you I didn't..." Li Hui defended with a red face, but deep down in his heart, his gentle sister-in-law emerged for some reason.
Although I don't...well, I don't mean that, but...if I can return to Shangshui alive and hand over the generous reward to her...I think she will be extremely happy, right? Hmm...
Li Hui clenched her fists and cheered herself up secretly.