After discussion, Wei Xiao divided his army into four parts.
Some were led by Wang Yuan and were stationed at Longdi, some were led by Niuhan and were stationed at Wating, some were led by Wang Meng and were stationed at Jitou Road, and some were led by Xingxun and were stationed at Fanxukou.
Troops were stationed everywhere, with Niu Han's command having the largest number of soldiers and horses, numbering 100,000.
In addition, Wei Xiao also gave Niu Han the right to temporarily recruit troops, which means that Niu Han can recruit his own soldiers and horses in Wating and surrounding areas. This means that Niu Han's soldiers and horses will not only be one hundred thousand, but can
Reaching more than 100,000 people.
This shows that Wei Xiao trusts and values Niu Han.
After dividing his troops and stationing them in four places, Wei Xiao sent another letter to Gongsun Shu, asking Gongsun Shu to send troops to help. Gongsun Shu really did not sit idly by and sent his generals Li Yu and Tian Yan with 50,000 troops to reinforce Wei Xiao.
The arrival of 50,000 Shu troops was like a reassurance for Wei Xiao, making him suddenly confident.
After the 50,000 Shu troops led by Li Yu and Tian Yan arrived at Shanggui, Wei Xiao personally led the 30,000 Long troops who stayed at Shanggui, and together with the Shu troops, went straight to Lueyang, which was occupied by the Han army.
Wei Xiao's calculation was very clear. Wang Yuan, Niu Han, and Wang Meng were patrolling and leading four armies. The blocked Han army was approaching Hanyang's road. Then the 20,000 Han army that captured Lueyang would be alone and helpless.
The turtle in the urn.
With a total of 80,000 troops, it is easy to destroy this Han army.
Before the war, Wei Xiao was full of confidence and led an army of 80,000 people to Lueyang in a mighty manner.
Inside Lueyang City.
Spies had already reported the news of the enemy's approach to Liu Xiu.
Liu Xiu climbed to the top of the city and looked out. He saw a large army marching to the west of Lueyang. He looked at the flags displayed by the army. Some of the flags had the word "闗" written on them, and some had the word "闗" written on them.
Gongsun'.
After looking at it, Lai She frowned and said, "Your Majesty, these must be the reinforcements sent by Gongsun Shu to Kaixiao. It seems that there are quite a few reinforcements!"
Liu Xiu nodded and estimated: "There should be no fewer than 50,000 people!"
Yao Qi said: "The strength of the Long Army is about 30,000."
There are 50,000 soldiers on one side and 30,000 soldiers on the other side. Taken together, there are almost 100,000 soldiers. We only have 20,000 soldiers. It is not easy to resist the siege of nearly 100,000 troops!
Seeing that the faces of the generals were a little solemn, Liu Xiu smiled slightly and said in a brisk tone: "What are you afraid of?! If these 80,000 enemy troops are all Long Army or Shu Army, this battle will be really bad for us.
Fight. But this enemy army is half Long Army and half Shu Army. It will not be too difficult for us to resist!"
In coalition operations, the most common thing that happens is that in order to preserve one's own strength, they blame each other.
Wei Xiao and Gongsun Shu are not generous people, and they are extremely selfish. It is not difficult to imagine that the coalition they formed will only hope that the other party can take the lead on the battlefield, fight head-on with the enemy, and consume our own side.
It's better to stay behind, conserve your strength, and easily pick up the missing pieces or finish them off.
So even though there were many enemy soldiers and horses, Liu Xiu really didn't take it to heart. After hearing Liu Xiu's words, Lai She, Yao Qi, Ji Zun and others suddenly became energetic again.
Yao Qi said proudly: "Lueyang City has high walls, abundant supplies of food and grass, and sufficient weapons for city defense. Even if the enemy army consists of 100,000 elite soldiers working together, it will not be easy to capture Lueyang!"
Liu Xiu turned his head and said: "Send the order and let all the soldiers in the army be ready for battle!"
"Here!" All the generals present raised their hands in response.
The Han army was ready to meet the enemy, and the coalition forces were also ready to attack.
Wei Xiao quickly arranged his troops. He personally commanded 30,000 Long troops and focused on attacking the west city of Lueyang. He ordered Li Yu to lead 30,000 Shu troops and the lord Lueyang to the north city. He ordered Tian Yan to lead 20,000 Shu troops and the lord Lueyang.
of Nancheng.
As Sun Tzu said, the enemy must be surrounded by enemies.
This means that whether it is besieging a city or besieging enemy soldiers and horses, a gap must be left so that the enemy cannot be surrounded. In this way, the enemy will not resist desperately, which can greatly reduce one's own battle losses.
Wei Xiao's ability to lead troops in battle is indeed average, but this does not mean that he does not understand military theory and tactics.
Neither the Long army generals nor the Shu army generals such as Li Yu and Tian Yan had any objections to Wei Xiao's troop formation.
After that, the coalition army was divided into three. The Shu army led by Li Yu and Tian Yan moved to the north and south cities of Lueyang respectively.
When the troops and horses of the three parties were ready, Wei Xiao gave the order to march with drum beat. The first to attack Lueyang was the 30,000 Long Army. The front troops of the Long Army lined up in a neat square formation and advanced towards Lueyang City.
.
Within a hundred steps of entering Lueyang City, a long array of arrows soared above the city. The arrow array was like a dark cloud, piercing the sky and falling on the heads of the Long army. The soldiers raised their shields one after another to form a shield.
formation to resist the Han army's arrow formation.
Snap, snap, snap——
The arrows were nailed to the wooden shield, and crisp sounds came one after another. From time to time, soldiers fell to the ground after being struck by arrows. After one round of arrow formation, there was a second round, and a third round...
The arrows of the Han army seemed to be endless, which put great pressure on the advancing Long army formation.
Wei Xiao, who was watching the battle from behind, frowned, raised his riding whip, pointed at Lueyang City ahead, and asked in a deep voice: "Why are the enemy's arrow formations so fierce?" The arrows shot out seemed to be free of charge.
In fact, the arrows used by the Han army were obtained for free.
When the Lueyang defenders fled, they left behind a large amount of armaments for the Han army, including hundreds of thousands of arrows. Now, the Han army used all these arrows they picked up in vain on the Long army.
The front army of the Long Army, against the arrow array of the Han Army, finally advanced to within fifty steps. At this time, more dense crossbow arrows were fired from the top of Lueyang City.
The arrows draw an arc in the air and are shot down, while the crossbow arrows are shot straight down. The first ones to suffer are the soldiers in the front row.
After a round of crossbow arrows, a row of people fell in front of the advancing phalanx, with dozens or even dozens of crossbow arrows inserted into each person's body.
The soldiers in the second row moved forward quickly, but the second round of crossbow arrows hit them again.
Under the rounds of arrows fired by the Han army, the casualties of the Long army increased linearly. This front army, composed of thousands of people, did not even advance to the Lueyang city wall when they heard the sound of Jin Jin coming from behind.
Voice.
The soldiers in the front army didn't know what was going on, so they had to change from the rear team to the front team, and all retreated backwards. After they retreated from the battlefield, they looked at the battlefield again. There were thousands of corpses lying on the battlefield, and each corpse had a
They are all like hedgehogs.
The general leading the front army came to Kuai Xiao, stepped in and saluted, and asked: "Why did your Majesty pay the gold to retreat?" They were about to attack the city of Lueyang. To retreat at this time would be equivalent to paying thousands of dollars in vain.
The casualties of brothers.
Wei Xiao glanced at the generals under his command, and said with a gloomy face: "The enemy's arrow array is very fierce, and it is difficult for our soldiers to resist it. Instead of risking an attack, it is better to contain it here, and wait for Li Yu and Tian Yan to attack the enemy first."
The army defends the city."
The former generals were not fools. When they heard this, they immediately understood Wei Xiao's intention. The king did not want his side to take the lead and confront the enemy head-on. Instead, he wanted Li Yu and the Shu army on Tianyan's side to fight the enemy first.
Beat consumption.
As a general, he didn't want to hide behind others. It was too shameful and spineless. But from Wei Xiao's point of view, he could completely understand Wei Xiao's approach.
Among the three parties, Liu Xiu, Gongsun Shu, and Wei Xiao, Wei Xiao has the smallest territory and the weakest strength. If our side does not try to preserve its strength by any means, the future end will be either to be annexed by Liu Xiu or Gongsun Shu.
Driven by selfish motives, Wei Xiao only made a tentative attack on Lueyang. After losing thousands of soldiers, he immediately withdrew his attacking troops.
At the same time, 30,000 Shu troops led by Li Yu were attacking Beicheng in Lueyang. There were more than 5,000 Han troops in Beicheng, and the leader was none other than Yao Qi.
On the other side, 20,000 Shu troops led by Tian Yan were attacking Nancheng in Lueyang. The Han army's garrison in Nancheng was also more than 5,000 people, and the leader was Ji Zun.
The battle in Lueyang South and North City was almost a replica of that in Xicheng. At the beginning, both Li Yu and Tian Yan sent troops to launch a strong attack.
However, seeing how fierce the defenders' arrow array was and hearing that the Long army on the west side of the city had retreated, they no longer attacked blindly, but ordered the attacking troops to retreat, and it became a thunderstorm without rain.
The performance of the coalition forces can be said to be exactly as Liu Xiu expected.
Wei Xiao's Long army was waiting for the Shu army to attack first, while Li Yu and Tian Yan's Shu army were waiting for the Long army to attack first. Both sides were waiting for the other to attack first, but they did not want to take the lead. Both sides were facing the foreigners.
Under this mentality, the coalition forces still wanted to tear apart the Han army's defense line and capture Lueyang, which was naturally a wishful thinking. One day was completely consumed by the coalition forces' offensive with loud thunder and light rain.
.
When the sky darkened, Li Yu and Tian Yan led their troops and retreated to Kaixiao.
At this time, Wei Xiao's face was extremely ugly. In order to preserve his strength, he did not want to confront the Han army head-on.
However, the Shu army who came from thousands of miles away for reinforcements actually had selfish motives and wanted to preserve their strength and did not want to take the lead. It was extremely shameless.
The coalition forces and Lueyang set up camp outside the west city. Inside the Chinese army's tent, Kai Xiao sat in the middle, his face as sinking as water. The generals were separated on both sides, each with their heads lowered and silent.
Wei Xiao looked around at everyone, slammed the table, and said angrily: "Today's battle is simply infuriating! Tell yourselves, how did today's battle go?"
The generals of the Long Army looked at each other and murmured in their hearts, Your Majesty, you didn't let us attack the city with all our strength, so why are you complaining about us now?
Of course, such words cannot be said. Zhao Hui whispered: "Your Majesty, the enemy army is fierce and tenacious. Our army has been attacking for a whole day and has suffered heavy casualties!"
Li Yu and Tian Yan looked at Zhao Hui and almost laughed out loud. They were not blind. The total number of corpses transported by the Long Army from the battlefield was only a thousand people. Is this a heavy casualty?
Wei Xiao glared at Zhao Hui fiercely and shouted angrily: "It's useless, it's useless. There's no need to make excuses in front of me!"
As he spoke, he turned his head, his eyes fell on Li Yu and Tian Yan, his tone was slightly softer, and he asked: "General Li, General Tian, how is the situation on your side today?"
Li Yu and Tian Yan looked at each other and secretly thought to themselves that Wei Xiao was scolding Zhao Hui in public, but he was actually doing it to show them. The two of them felt like they had a clear mind, and did not show it at all on their faces. They continued to pretend to be confused and said seriously.
: "Reporting to King Shuoning, our army encountered strong resistance from the Han army when they attacked the city. They were repulsed by the Han army several times and suffered numerous losses of troops and generals."
Wei Xiao was so angry that his teeth were itching. The casualties of the Shu army today were not as great as his own! After all, Li Yu and Tian Yan were Gongsun Shu's people, and they were here to help, so he couldn't reprimand them too harshly.
He said meaningfully: "Your Majesty sent two generals to Hanyang. He has high hopes for both generals. He also hopes that the two generals will do their best and must not violate the rules."
Li Yu and Tian Yan had the same look on their faces, they both stepped in to salute, and said in unison: "We should be loyal to your majesty, no matter how hard our lives are, we will not give up even if we die!"
