"PS: Another stupid mistake was made in the last chapter. The Yanling Army deployed its troops in the northern suburbs of Zhi County instead of the southern suburbs. My head is a little confused. In addition, please allow the author to ask for monthly votes and subscriptions~"
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While Xu Yin and Cai Qinhu were idle and talking about how they met, the Yanling army had already deployed its formation under Zhi County.
The North City Gate of Zhi County, as the main target of the Yanling Army, was personally commanded by the Yanling Army's deputy general Yan Mo; while Zuo Xunxi, Huayu, Gongye Sheng, and Zuoqiu Mu, four generals with 3,000 men, were combined in twos , attack the city gates on the east and west sides of Qi County respectively.
Only the south gate was left vacant and not attacked.
A typical "surround three and defeat one" tactic.
Looking at the neat appearance of the Yanling Army in the distance, Wei Jiao, the chief of the Zongwei next to Zhao Hongrun, couldn't help but sigh: "Looking at the Yanling Army now, it's really unimaginable. Two years ago, it was just a temporary army of the Chu Kingdom. Recruited peasant army..."
Hearing this, Zhao Hongrun also smiled slightly.
Thinking back to the "Pingyang Army" back then, if Zhao Hongrun had not had too few troops at that time, and he was not so ruthless as to kill all the more than 50,000 surrendered troops, perhaps he would not have taken the risk of forcing the 50,000 surrendered troops. The Chu army surrendered.
But the risk taken back then was worth it. If it hadn't been for the deeds of taking the risk to recruit those Chu soldiers, how would Xiangcheng guard Nanmen Chi have dared to surrender a while ago?
It has to be said that Zhao Hongrun set a good precedent, which will make it easier for Wei's army to integrate the armies of other countries in the future.
But having said that, even Zhao Hongrun cannot admit that neither the Shangshui Army nor the Yanling Army in front of him can see the shadow of the "rabble" of the past. These two armies were split from the "Pingyang Army" The formed army, after two years of gestation, has become an army that can stand alone.
This kind of army built from scratch gave Zhao Hongrun a sense of accomplishment: both the Shangshui Army and the Yanling Army were all made possible by him.
"I hope Qu Cheng, Yan Mo and others will not disappoint me..." Zhao Hongrun murmured.
From the side, Xu Yin did not seem to notice the profound meaning of Zhao Hongrun's muttering. Hearing this, he smiled and said: "Your Highness, don't worry, the strength of the Yanling Army is very strong. Xu can guarantee this."
Seeing that Xu Yin misunderstood what he meant, Zhao Hongrun smiled slightly and did not explain anything, and then focused his attention on the Yanling army in front of him.
Speaking of which, he had already experienced the combat effectiveness of the Shangshui Army during the Sanchuan Campaign. Although it still seemed a bit immature, it could already be called an army.
As for the Yanling Army in front of him, to be honest, Zhao Hongrun had never seen them in battle with his own eyes.
However, the majestic and majestic military power displayed by this army at this moment made Zhao Hongrun have no intention of looking down on them.
"Yan Mo is truly a talented general!"
Zhao Hongrun secretly praised in his heart. After all, as far as he knew, Yan Mo was responsible for all the training of the Yanling Army.
As for Qu Cheng, the commander-in-chief of the Yanling Army, in addition to his daily efforts to control the Yanling Army, he seemed to be more inclined to communicate with the nobles in Yanling City.
This is also the reason why Zhao Hongrun is dissatisfied with Qu Cheng: compared to pure generals like Yan Mo and Wu Ji, Qu Cheng is more like an "aristocrat", the kind of "aristocrat" who regards general power as a stepping stone to the upper-class aristocratic circle. 』.Compared with the merits and honors of generals, Qu Cheng may have yearned more for acceptance from the upper-class aristocratic circles of Wei State.
But this is not surprising. After all, Qu Cheng was originally a descendant of the Qu family named Mi from the state of Chu. He was a serious nobleman, so it was perfectly normal for him to have such a convenient need.
"Tap tap - tap tap -"
With neat steps, the Yanling Army from the southern suburbs of Zhi County took the lead in attacking the city.
It was obviously the first round of tentative siege, but Yan Mo invested a total of five thousand-man phalanxes. From this, it is not difficult to guess his determination to conquer the city.
I saw those five thousand-man phalanxes, led by their respective thousand-man generals, forming a "three in front and two in the back" formation, slowly approaching Qi County.
Zhao Hongrun had no way of knowing what the Chu army generals in Zhi County were feeling at this moment, but on his side, he was so excited by the neat pace of these five thousand Yanling soldiers that goosebumps gradually appeared on his skin, and his mood became more and more excited.
"..."
Xu Yin seemed to be aware of it and turned to look at Zhao Hongrun in surprise. Seeing that His Highness's eyes were wide open and his cheeks were slightly red, he couldn't help but feel stunned.
"Among the children of princes and nobles at this age, I am afraid that His Highness King Su is the only one who is not afraid of such a tense battlefield, but is even more excited... It seems that this His Highness is actually quite "warlike"...
』
Xu Yin smiled knowingly.
As the first-ranked general in the Wei State, and currently the second-ranked general in the Wei State except for the "General's Mansion", Xu Yin will never reject the "warlike" mentality.
Perhaps, Xu Yin had already regarded His Royal Highness Prince Su beside him as a member of the "Main War Faction".
In the military system of the Wei State, there were actually prototypes of the "militant faction" and the "conservative faction". For example, Xu Yin and Sima An of the Dangshan Army were outright militants.
Especially the latter, if Sima An is given enough troops and food, the general will never care who his enemy is.
Whether it is South Korea, Chu State, or Qi State.
Although the remaining generals are not as warlike as Sima An and Xu Yin, in the final analysis, they can be regarded as members of the main war faction, even Zhu Hai, the Chenggao Army general who admired "Renwu".
As for the "conservatives", they refer to the Ministry of War.
Compared to the vigorous General of the Sixth Battalion, Li Huan, the Secretary of the Ministry of War, was indeed more conservative. In a sense, he did "calculate defeat before calculating victory". He was always worried about this and that, and worried about the unfavorable outcome of the battle.
It will put Wei State into greater danger.
Perhaps this is the reason why the "Sixth Garrison Battalion" has a bad relationship with the "Ministry of War", although the latter is still the former's nominal superintendent.
Five phalanxes of thousands of people slowly approached Qi County.
When these Wei soldiers were only a stone's throw away from Zhi County, Xu Yin knew clearly in his heart: It's time to charge!
Sure enough, as Yan Mo, who was stationed at the rear, waved his hand, the war drums of the Yanling Army's rear immediately started to beat.
After hearing the sound of the war drums behind him, the five thousand generals of the Yanling Army who were leading the troops drew out their swords from their waists, pointed their sword peaks at the Zhixian city wall, and shouted in unison:
"charge!!"
"Whoa whoa--!"
The 5,000-strong Yanling Army vanguard immediately quickened their pace, slowly stepping forward into a large sprint.
At the same time, a wave of arrows was fired from the wall of Zhi County.
"Avoid the arrows ahead!"
A Yanling Army general with a thousand men shouted, and while shouting, he blocked several arrows flying towards him with the sharp sword in his hand.
Although the five thousand vanguard soldiers of the Yanling Army were prepared, some people were still hit by arrows.
Fortunately, the Chu army's arrowheads were still in the "double-winged" stage. Therefore, there were many generals who, despite being hit by arrows, still had the energy to charge with injuries.
And if it were the "Three-Winged Arrowhead" that the Wei State Smelting Bureau had already successfully developed and was gradually updating the Wei Army, I am afraid that the Yanling Army would have suffered heavy casualties this time.
But having said that, among the 5,000 Yanling Army vanguards, there were also casualties one after another.
This is inevitable.
Because siege warfare, in a certain sense, means that the siege party conquers the enemy's city with the sacrifice of its soldiers.
Why did Zhao Hongrun order the Smelting Bureau to improve the catapults? Isn't it just to avoid this kind of siege war that consumes huge amounts of soldiers?
It is a pity that the location of this battle is too far away from Wei State. Otherwise, as long as Zhao Hongrun ordered the smelting bureau to work day and night to build hundreds of new catapults, let alone conquer a small Zhi County, even the king of Chu State, Shou
Ying, no problem!
But when it came to catapults, Zhao Hongrun couldn't help but look at the "three in front and two in the back" of the 5,000 Yanling Army vanguard sergeants, and the two thousand-man phalanx slightly behind.
There, there are about dozens of catapults, and here, they are in the reloading stage.
"boom!"
For a moment, the stone bullet was thrown high by a catapult, but in the end, it only landed in an open space about twenty feet away from the northern city wall of Zhi County.
Zhao Hongrun shook his head slightly.
In fact, when he learned that Yan Mo was building a catapult, he sent two clan guards, Mu Qing and Lu Mu, to give guidance. After all, the clan guards followed Zhao Hongrun all the time, so they naturally knew what the catapult improved by the Smelting Bureau was.
How to build.
But it is a pity that the soldiers of the Yanling Army are not qualified craftsmen after all, and they are incomparable with the craftsmen of the Smelting Bureau. Even with the guidance of Mu Qing and Lu Mu, the gadgets they built are crude in Zhao Hongrun's opinion.
Extremely rough.
"I hope you don't hit one of your own..."
Zhao Hongrun couldn't help but mutter secretly.
However, it turned out that Yan Mo was far smarter than he imagined. He ordered the five thousand vanguard troops to attack the northern city wall of Zhi County, and ordered dozens of catapults to bombard the gate tower of the north gate of Zhi County.
, this avoids the possibility of accidentally injuring one's own soldiers.
The problem is that the accuracy of those catapults is really poor. After one round of bombardment, only two stone bombs hit the target, and they were not able to collapse the gate tower of the North Gate of Qi County.
It has to be said that these catapults built by soldiers are incomparable to the catapults built by more experienced craftsmen. At best, they are just large toys that shock the enemy's morale.
Unless you are lucky, it is difficult to achieve anything.
But just when Zhao Hongrun secretly shook his head, Yan Mo also changed his tactics: the catapults no longer regarded the city gate tower as the target, and the dozens of catapults advanced another fifty feet. It seemed that they were planning to
The buildings in the city were bombarded; as for the city gate, Yan Mo seemed to have handed over this task to the army's charging team.
Zhao Hongrun nodded secretly: Compared with the unreliable catapult, it is more practical to rush the car.
However, when it comes to what is making the most progress on the battlefield at this moment, it is neither the catapult nor the ram, but the well-mounted and city-climbing ladder teams in the vanguard army.
Under the dense arrow attacks from the guards at the top of Zhi County, the vanguard of the Yanling Army stubbornly pushed dozens of jinglans to the edge of the city wall. Then, densely packed Yanling soldiers walked along the hook bridge on the jinglan and headed toward the city wall.
The enemy troops on the city launched an attack.
At the same time, hundreds of infantry squads holding the ladders on their shoulders also set up the ladders one after another, trying to use these long ladders to force their way to the top of the city.
"The Yanling Army's offensive... is so fierce!"
Xu Yin commented in surprise.
Because he felt that the 5,000 Yanling Army vanguard actually overwhelmed the Zhi County defenders and pushed the siege equipment to the front line immediately.
Even Zhao Hongrun blinked in confusion.
"Have the Yanling Army... become so powerful? Or is it really the progress of the Shangshui Army in Qixian that stimulated them?"
Overall, the start of the Yanling Army's attack on Qi County was really good.