As Su Mao and Jiao Qiang sent their respective men into battle, the Battle of Taocheng began in full swing.
In this battle, Pang Meng, Su Mao, and Jiaoqiang invested almost all their troops. With an army of more than 100,000, it can be said that the offensive was like a wave.
Chen Jun was on top of the city, personally commanding the defenders, resisting desperately, and repelling the enemy's fierce offensives time and time again.
The fighting between the two sides lasted from morning to afternoon, without a single moment of rest in between.
By the afternoon, many people in the city spontaneously climbed to the top of the city, joined the defenders, and followed the defenders to resist the enemy forces outside the city.
Don't look at Pang Meng, Su Mao, and Jiaoqiang. They have more than 100,000 soldiers and horses, but Chen Jun only relies on his more than 10,000 soldiers and tens of thousands of Taocheng people to survive.
withstood the enemy's offensive.
The fierce battle in Taocheng continued, and Liu Xiu, who was in Rencheng, was also very anxious.
Although he looked relaxed, calm and confident on the surface, in fact Liu Xiu didn't have much confidence in his heart. After all, the difference in military strength between the two sides was too great. No one could guarantee whether Chen Jun could hold Taocheng.
Liu Xiu was sitting in the tent, holding a letter in his hand, but he didn't read a single word. At this time, the curtain of the tent was lifted, and someone walked in from the outside.
Thinking that there was a new battle report coming, Liu Xiu immediately raised her head and looked up. The person who came in was Xi Cheying. Xi Cheying did not change her clothes, she was still wearing a military uniform. She looked at Liu Xiu, stepped in to salute, and said
:"His Majesty!"
Liu Xiu looked behind Xi Cheying and saw no one else. He was relieved, but also a little worried. The battle in Taocheng had been going on for two or three hours, and he didn't know what the current situation was.
.
Xi Cheying knew very well what Liu Xiu was worried about. She walked up to Liu Xiu and said comfortingly: "Your Majesty, General Chen Jun is resourceful and brave and good at fighting. Although he is fighting with a small number, he still has the advantage of geographical location. The enemy wants to
It is not easy to capture Taocheng. If the war in Taocheng is really serious, General Chen Jun will definitely send someone over to send a message to Your Majesty."
Liu Xiu could open his heart without outsiders present. He said quietly: "What I'm worried about is that Zizhao will no longer have the chance to send the letter out of Taocheng."
Xi Cheying smiled and said: "Your Majesty is overly worried. There are only more than 100,000 enemy troops, which is not enough to surround Taocheng."
Liu Xiu nodded thoughtfully. Xi Cheying changed his mind and said, "I, my concubine, will play a game of chess with Your Majesty!"
Hearing this, Liu Xiu raised his eyebrows and asked with a smile: "Cheying doesn't seem to be worried about the war in Taocheng at all!"
Xi Cheying knelt down and said with a smile: "The people of Taocheng have already participated in the defense of the city. Although General Chen Jun only has more than 10,000 soldiers and horses, if you include the people of Taocheng who participated in the war, the number of people defending the city is 20,000 or 30,000."
There are so many. Although Taocheng has no natural dangers to defend, the city walls are strong and the soldiers and civilians guarding the city are united as one. It is not easy for Pang Meng, Su Mao and others to break through the city defenses."
Liu Xiu asked in surprise: "How did Cheying know that the people in the city had joined the war?"
Xi Cheying said with a smile: "There is also a Listening Pavilion in Taocheng."
Lingyin Pavilion is a brothel and also the intelligence organization of Xi Cheying.
Originally, the scale of Lingyin Pavilion was not large, and Xi Cheying alone did not have such strong financial resources to support a huge cross-regional intelligence agency.
However, Lingyin Pavilion made great contributions in getting rid of Peng Chong. It was only after this that Lingyin Pavilion received the support of the imperial treasury.
After Liu Xiu accepted Xi Cheying as a beauty, the financial support of Lingyin Pavilion was transferred from the national treasury to the Shaofu, which is also the treasury. In layman's terms, it is the royal treasury. Liu Xiu was very interested in the huge expenditure of Lingyin Pavilion.
, without asking too much, it was only now that he knew that there was a Lingyin Pavilion in Taocheng.
Xi Cheying said: "There is a Zhenbao Pavilion in Rencheng. Between the Lingyin Pavilion in Taocheng and the Zhenbao Pavilion in Rencheng, you can fly pigeons to pass letters and deliver news."
That's it! No wonder Xi Cheying knows so much about the situation in Taocheng City. Liu Xiu nodded and said with a smile: "Since Cheying is interested in elegance, I will play a game with Cheying."
Liu Xiu's chess skills are good, but Xi Cheying's chess skills are not bad either. When they play chess, they are evenly matched.
After playing for a while, Liu Xiu looked at Xi Cheying in surprise. He really didn't know before that Xi Cheying's chess skills were so superb and he had no upper hand against her.
Realizing this, Liu Xiu couldn't help but sigh secretly in his heart. He still lacked understanding of Xi Cheying. His impression of Xi Cheying was limited to the fact that she was Xu Xiling's senior sister and Mr. Yichen's beloved disciple. As for
In other aspects, he really didn't know much.
Liu Xiu gathered his thoughts, his eyes fell on the chessboard, and he played with Xi Cheying with all his strength. I don't know how long it took, but Long Yuan's voice came from outside the camp: "Your Majesty, Taocheng Battle Report!"
Liu Xiu, who was about to make a move, suddenly raised his hand, took the chess piece back, turned around and said, "Come in!"
Long Yuan strode into the camp and handed a bamboo tube as thick as an adult's arm to Liu Xiu. Liu Xiu took it, opened the lid, tipped it outward, and a roll of bamboo slips fell out. He untied the rope, opened the bamboo slips, and stared intently.
Take a closer look.
There is a lot of content in it, and the description of today's battle in Taocheng is very detailed. How the attacking Pang Meng, Su Mao, and Jiao Qiang fought the siege battle, and how Chen Jun fought the defensive battle are all clearly recorded.
Clear.yyls
Finally, the battle report states that Pang Meng, Su Mao, and Jiaoqiang, who had been attacking for a whole day, returned without success and have now led their troops to withdraw to the camp.
After reading this battle report, Liu Xiu couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief, and finally a relieved smile appeared on his face.
He said to Long Yuan and Xi Cheying: "The enemy troops have withdrawn. Today, Zizhao successfully resisted the siege of more than 100,000 troops! It is a great achievement! It is really a great achievement!"
Long Yuan's cold face also showed a smile, he cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, your Majesty's blessings will reach the sky!"
Liu Xiu waved his hand and was about to speak when Xi Cheying answered: "General Long Yuan is right. If His Majesty fails to arrive at Rencheng in time, the morale of Taocheng soldiers will not be stimulated, and the people of Taocheng will not be inspired, let alone the people of Taocheng."
He will fight tooth and nail to help the defenders fight. The reason why Taocheng can withstand a large-scale attack by more than 100,000 enemy troops is because His Majesty is in Rencheng!"
The tall hat she wore made it difficult for Liu Xiu to feel happy or not. And the actual situation was indeed like what Xi Cheying said. Liu Xiu was in Rencheng, which greatly boosted the morale of Taocheng and also
Let Taocheng's military and civilians see hope.
The emperor's reinforcements may arrive at Taocheng from Rencheng at any time. No matter how many enemy troops there are outside the city, we have nothing to fear.
Liu Xiu put away the bamboo slips and handed them to Long Yuan for him to store. Then he said to Xi Cheying: "Come on, Cheying, let's finish this game of chess!"
I don't know if it was because he was in a good mood, but Liu Xiu played the next chess game smoothly, and finally won by half an eye over Xi Cheying.
Seeing that there was no way to save his life, Xi Che cast his shadow and resigned, shook his head and said: "Your Majesty is so good at chess, I am ashamed of myself!"
Liu Xiu laughed loudly and said, "Che Ying's chess skills are no longer inferior to Zhong Hua's!"
He and Deng Yu also often played chess. Of course, Liu Xiu usually won more and lost less. Xi Cheying waved his hands repeatedly and said with a smile: "I don't dare to compete with General You. General You often shows mercy when he plays chess with His Majesty.
!”
If Deng Yu tried his best, it would not be easy for Liu Xiu to defeat Deng Yu.
Liu Xiu blinked, took Xi Cheying's hand, and asked with a smile: "Did Cheying also let me?"
Xi Che rolled his eyes at Liu Xiu and murmured in a low voice: "With your majesty's chess skills, how can you allow me to give in to you?!"
Liu Xiu laughed again, took Xi Cheying's hand and pulled her into his arms.
On the first day of the siege, Pang Meng, Su Mao, and Jiaoqiang returned without success, which cast a haze over the hearts of the three of them.
This is what fighting is like, with a rush of strength, then failure, and then exhaustion. They failed to capture Taocheng on the first day, and it will not be easy to capture Taocheng again. As expected. The next day, Pang Meng, Su Mao, and Jiao
Qiang once again joined forces to attack Taocheng. The soldiers and civilians of Taocheng, led by Chen Jun, worked together to resist the enemy forces outside the city. The battle between the two sides was still fierce and bloody, but after a whole day of fighting, Pang Meng's coalition still failed to tear apart Taocheng's army.
city defense.
In the next three days, Pang Meng, Su Mao, and the powerful coalition attacked the city continuously, but such a little-known Taocheng blocked their army of more than 100,000 people from outside the city.
From the beginning of the war to now, they have been attacking the city for five consecutive days, but they failed to break into the city with a single soldier. Instead, they suffered huge casualties, and the morale of the soldiers also declined rapidly.
Pang Meng and Su Mao combined their strength to realize that now our side can no longer blindly attack with all its strength. If we continue like this, we may not even need Liu Xiu to lead his army to attack, and our own soldiers will be defeated at the gate of Taocheng.
After five days of continuous siege battles, the offensive of Pang Meng's coalition finally weakened. At the same time, the soldiers and civilians in Taocheng City were at the end of their strength.
After five consecutive days of bloody fighting, the attacking side suffered heavy casualties, and so did the defending side.
It can be said that both sides were exhausted. Fortunately, Pang Meng, Su Mao, and Jiao Qiang slowed down their offensive at this time, which also gave the soldiers of both sides a chance to breathe.
Under Chen Jun's stubborn defense, the Battle of Taocheng was delayed, and this delay lasted for twenty days. Twenty days passed by in a flash, but many things could be discovered.
In the past twenty days, Grand Sima Wu Han, General Huya Gai Yan, former general Wang Liang, Han loyal general Wang Chang, captured general Ma Wu, and captured general Wang Ba all arrived in Rencheng.
With the arrival of the generals, the Han army gathered in Rencheng. Wu Han brought 50,000 troops, Gai Yan brought 30,000 troops, Wang Liang, Wang Chang, Ma Wu, and Wang Ba each
Bringing 10,000 soldiers and horses, a total of 120,000 troops.
In addition, Liu Xiu's logistics troops also followed up. The entire Han army combined totaled 200,000 troops.
Until this time, Liu Xiucai believed that the time was ripe for his side to take the initiative to fight. He ordered all the soldiers in the army to launch an attack on the coalition composed of Pang Meng, Su Mao and Jiaoqiang.
When the Han army led by Liu Xiu advanced to Taocheng, Pang Meng, Su Mao, and Jiaoqiang were continuing to attack the city outside Taocheng. Upon learning of the arrival of the main force of the Han army led by Liu Xiu, Pang Meng, Su Mao, and Jiaoqiang
Strong consensus, fight!
You must know that the current situation has been reversed. In the past, Pang Meng's coalition forces had more troops and Liu Xiujun's troops were less. However, the current situation is exactly the opposite. Liu Xiujun's troops are more powerful and Pang Meng's coalition forces have fewer troops.
Knowing that their own side was fighting more with less, Pang Meng, Su Mao, and Jiaoqiang did not seek to avoid the battle, but instead went to fight it. This is really contrary to common sense.
In fact, it is easy to understand. They were blocked outside Taocheng for more than twenty days. During such a long time, they failed to invade Taocheng with ten times the enemy's strength. Everyone was holding back in their hearts.
A wave of resentment.
Now there is no need to fight a siege, but a face-to-face confrontation with Liu Xiu. There is only one thought in their minds, that is to fight! They must fight!
It can be said that at this time, Pang Meng, Su Mao, and Jiao Qiang had lost their calmness and rationality, and had completely failed to make a correct judgment on the situation on the battlefield.
The Han army commanded by Liu Xiu, Wu Han, Gai Yan, Wang Liang, Wang Chang, Ma Wu, and Wang Ba, and the allied forces commanded by Pang Meng, Su Mao, and Jiao Qiang formed their troops outside Taocheng and opened up.
Posture.
The final battle of the Battle of Taocheng, which was also the battle that determined the outcome of both sides, kicked off and the war between the two sides was about to break out.