Although Han Yuanqi and Han Jian, the military governor of Xuzhou, were uncles and nephews, they had followed Emperor Liang in the northern and southern campaigns in their early years and established great military exploits, so they were qualified to become the commander of the capital with an army.
He was now over forty years old, with a dark and thin face like a cold rock, a thick mustache on his lips, and red eyes. It was hard to believe that the 6,000 most elite soldiers in front of his tent were beaten to pieces like this.
, in the end less than a thousand people were left to withdraw?
Including the battles in Dongcheng and Nancheng, six thousand elite troops were lost in today's battle.
The loss was so heavy that Han Yuanqi was heartbroken and heartbroken.
Although Liang Jun gathered more than 40,000 soldiers and horses in Xichuan, their combat power varied from strong to weak, including elite imperial troops and local troops recruited from prefectures and counties.
Especially in this kind of siege battle, the defenders have a strong will to fight. They usually use soldiers and horses recruited from the local area to take turns to fight, which consumes the soldiers, horses and will of the defenders. Therefore, in the first half month, more than 4,000 soldiers and horses were lost.
Han Yuanqi was not heartbroken at all, but regarded it as a normal consumption of the Jingxiang war.
The war dragged on for half a month. In addition to the 10,000 forward troops and the 20,000-floor naval force of the Chu army's reinforcements mobilized from Jinling, which had arrived at the mouth of the Han River and landed in the east of Jingzhou, the main force of 120,000 troops also arrived in Huangzhou.
Ezhou.
Han Yuanqi thought that he had figured out the garrison and the fortifications of Xichuan City, and that taking turns to attack the city was enough to tire out the garrison.
At this time, any further delay and failure to capture Xichuan City immediately will seriously affect Liang Jun's combat rhythm and deployment in the Jingxiang area.
Needless to say, the 50,000 troops and horses in front of his account were restrained in the inner countryside and on the Xichuan front line, which put the Liang army on the Xiangzhou, Yingzhou, and Pingzhou front lines under great pressure.
Yesterday, when he saw signs of large-scale collapse of the north wall of Xichuan City, Han Yuanqi dispatched his elite troops to the north at night. Especially today, when he saw such a big gap in the collapse of the north wall of Xichuan City, everyone would think that this was a plan to capture Xichuan in one go.
Good opportunity.
Who could have imagined that the defenders would set up such a big trap, waiting for him to send the most elite soldiers into the death trap for them to be ruthlessly and bloody devoured?
The Chu army could actually build a trebuchet with a range of 600 steps and a trebuchet that could throw 500 to 600 kilograms of stone projectiles at a time?
What's even more terrifying is that the Chu army was able to build such a powerful trebuchet, but they waited until this moment to use it. As a result, 40% of the 15,000 elite forbidden troops under his command were lost today!
Han Yuanqi's heart ached so much that his chest twitched faintly. He prided himself on being steady in his military use, but who would have thought that he would suffer such a big setback?
And what makes him even more painful is how to fight the next war?
Although the casualties accumulated by the defenders in the past few days are not small, today's battle has clearly boosted the morale of the defenders.
In comparison, they were somewhat trembling with fear, especially when they looked at the mutilated corpses thrown down from the city wall by the Chu army. The morale of the generals was generally low. Attacking Xichuan City in a short time could only lead to more disastrous consequences.
There were casualties, but it was difficult to break out of the city.
Han Yuanqi sat in the military tent all night and heard the sound of horse hooves rushing straight into the camp from the east.
Han Yuanqi thought it was a messenger sent by King Yong, so he sat in the tent without moving. After a while, when he heard the guards outside the tent calling "Your Highness," he realized that His Highness had arrived in Xichuan in person. He stood up in panic.
Then Zhu Yu opened the curtain with his own hands and strode in.
"Your Highness, Yuan Qi was unworthy of his trust and failed to see through the Chu thieves' show of weakness, which resulted in heavy losses yesterday." Han Yuanqi was so ashamed that he did not dare to look into Zhu Yu's bright eyes.
"I don't blame you for this." Regardless of the exhaustion of running two hundred miles a night, Zhu Yu walked to the Central Committee and sat down behind the desk. Without any intention of holding Han Yuanqi accountable, he asked, "Have you found out what kind of tactics the Chu thieves used?"
A weapon capable of throwing a stone projectile six hundred paces?"
"Two days ago, the Chu thieves placed sixteen trebuchets on the south side of the town general's mansion. Our army approached for reconnaissance and found nothing unusual. However, when the Chu thieves used these sixteen trebuchets yesterday, they were surrounded by cloth.
Han Yuanqi was even more ashamed when he saw that King Yong did not blame him, and said, "Perhaps Marquis Yang En of Liyang built new weapons after entering Xichuan City!"
"It can't be Yang En. If the Chu army hadn't put such weapons on the battlefield long ago, they wouldn't have waited until today's Xichuan battlefield." Zhu Yu shook his head and said.
Han Yuanqi thought about it and said painfully: "That's Han Qian. The area where the Chu thieves placed these sixteen trebuchets was narrow. Han Qian used soldiers and horses formed by Xuzhou prisoners and stationed them at the south wing of the Zhenjiang Mansion.
, and when these war weapons were activated, there were only a few Syrian prisoners nearby, so when the curtains were erected around them, I failed to pay attention in time - and it was not until thousands of men died in vain that I understood why.
What’s going on, I feel guilty!”
"The defenders were able to make such a sharp weapon, but they were able to delay using it until this moment. The ruse was so ruthless and so dangerous that it could be said to be a straw from the fire. Even if it were me, I wouldn't be able to defend it. You don't need to think too much," Zhu Yu
Han Yuanqi comforted Han Yuanqi, pondered for a while, and said, "Today the army will rest for a day, and tomorrow we will continue to attack the city according to the established rhythm."
Han Yuanqi really didn't know if he could have a two-to-three chance of winning by continuing to attack the city tomorrow when all the positions in the north of the city were defeated, but he still gritted his teeth and said: "Tomorrow Yuanqi will personally lead his elite troops to the city, and it is determined that His Highness will capture Xichuan.
"
"I'm not telling you to die," Zhu Yu glanced at Han Yuanqi and said, "The defenders may move their weapons under the city wall, but no matter how many casualties there are, you will escort the craftsmen to the city and push the Chu army
The appearance of the war equipment used must be clearly understood, otherwise the next battle will be impossible to fight.”
"..." Only then did Han Yuanqi understand why His Highness ordered him to continue attacking the city tomorrow. He secretly felt that His Highness had a clear mind, which indeed should be the case. Otherwise, he really didn't know how to fight the next battle.
Even if they spend another ten days and a half to build more than ten giant trebuchets to fight against the Chu army, the Chu army's war equipment is hidden inside the city wall and is blocked by the city wall, but their trebuchet positions will be exposed.
Outside, we don’t know how heavy the casualties will be before we can persist until Xichuan City is captured.
"Is there any movement in the village west of the Xichuan River?" Zhu Yu asked again.
"Since last night, many people have gathered in the mountains on the other side of Xichuan City." Han Yuanqi said.
"Before the war, we thought that these copycat forces would not be used by the Chu army, so we did not put in any effort to avoid disturbing the enemy. This was actually our biggest mistake." Zhu Yu frowned and said with regret.
Han Yuanqi hesitated for a long time, and finally lowered his voice and asked: "Your Highness, Yuan Qi fell into the trap of the defenders and wasted too much time here. How much chance do we have of winning this battle?"
"..." Zhu Yu did not blame Han Yuanqi for asking Meng Lang this question, nor did he answer his question. Instead, he couldn't help but frowned in the southeast direction.
Han Yuanqi also understood at this time that their chances of winning this battle really depended on how quickly Emperor Chu led the reinforcements.
…………
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Although the counterweight trebuchet is not an existing war weapon in the world, it does not have particularly mysterious technical content.
For a person of Yang En's level, if you look at it a few times, you can probably imitate it. Even the existing traction trebuchet can be made by removing the cable and replacing it with one that can fill thousands or even tens of thousands of kilograms.
A hanging box made of sand and gravel can be easily modified.
When Han Qian put the counterweight trebuchet into use for the first time, he put a curtain around it. He also hoped to prevent Liang Jun from seeing the key and copying it. At least he hoped that before the end of this war, the counterweight trebuchet would be used.
The trebuchet can also become an exclusive method controlled by Zuo Si.
However, when he saw Liang Jun pushing a dozen trebuchets to the front line outside the East City the next day, Han Qian knew that his wish could not be realized.
General Liang Jun is really difficult to deal with!
The east wall was so weak that it could no longer withstand the bombardment of trebuchets for several days.
Once the entire east city wall collapsed and Liang Jun was sufficiently alert, Han Qian could not hope to block the torrent of Liang Jun outside Xichuan City with a dozen or twenty counterweight trebuchets.
Han Qian could only push the counterweighted trebuchet behind the east city wall, forcing Liang Jun's existing trebuchets to find it difficult to gain a foothold in front of the city.
Hundreds of Liang troops surrounded the city-climbing carriages, cloud towers, and nest carriages, and charged forward from the front without fear of death. Li Zhigao commanded the troops and horses, and rained down arrows and stones, but there was no way to completely annihilate this group of Liang troops under the city.
In fact, the east city wall and the dense military sheds are less than three feet high, and even the counterweighted trebuchet is lighter, but it is still higher than four feet. Liang Jun only needs to use a nest car that is higher than the city wall to get closer.
When you come here, you can see the main structure of the trebuchet.
However, Liang Jun was not satisfied with this. They were obviously worried about the secrets hidden in the base of the trebuchet built by Zuo Si. They launched three forceful attacks on the east city wall, but were repulsed three times and lost hundreds of soldiers' lives.
stop.
At this time, Liang Jun had obviously confirmed that the counterweight trebuchet was nothing more than that, but it was indeed nothing more than that.
At this time, Han Qian could not wait for the copycat troops to gather on the east coast before detouring from the depths of Funiu Mountain for reinforcements. In that case, it would take too long and Liang Jun might intercept him deep in Funiu Mountains, and there would be no way to directly reinforce Xichuan.
city.
Han Qian could only send people to sneak into Jingzikou, find Yang Qin and Feng Xuan, and order them to prepare to use the fleet to forcefully break through the blockade of Liang Jun's navy on the Xichuan River. No matter how great the sacrifice, they must use the newly assembled troops in the past few days.
The cottage soldiers and horses were sent into Xichuan City.
Emperor Liang rose up in Bianluo, and used his navy to compete with other heroes, so that he could gain his current foundation. Even if he was not as elite as the Chulou Fleet, he still had a group of outstanding navy generals like Zhou Shicheng.
Show up.
Coming from Xuzhou, there was no waterway, so Zhou Shicheng could only abandon his warships in Xuzhou, led more than 2,000 water camp generals and boatmen under his command, followed the army southward, entered Xiangzhou, and collected civilian ships from Pingying and other places
And a small number of warships captured from Xiangzhou Water Camp to reorganize the naval fleet.
Zhou Shicheng originally thought that before Jinling's elite navy came over, they were still strong enough in the Danjiang and Xichuan Rivers, but when he saw the Xuzhou Boat Gang's boat formation entering the Xichuan River from the mouth of the river, he realized that before they came
At that time, the combat power of the water camp that fled hastily to the upper reaches of the Danjiang River cannot be underestimated, at least it is not vulnerable to a blow.
Han Qian stood on the west city wall, looking solemnly towards the river mouth with a telescope, looking at the battle taking place on the river there.
When the Xuzhou Ship Gang fled into the upper reaches of the Danjiang River to avoid the main force of Liang Jun's navy, it had already annexed Yingzhou's grain transport fleet and owned more than 40 large and small ships and 300 armed guards.
The boat gang wanted to recruit more than 2,000 new soldiers gathered in the mountains on the west bank of the Xichuan River and transport them to Xichuan City on the east bank at once, but the problem was how to break the blockade of Liang Jun's water camp.
Sometimes sacrifice is necessary, and what was sacrificed this time were the two fast warships that Han Qian had spent great efforts to build in Xuzhou.
When the formation of hundreds of large and small warships in Liang Jun's water camp surrounded them from the left and right wings, the two fast sailing ships adjusted their sail angles to the best windward side.
The southeast wind on this day was also strong, causing the waves to surge like jade mountains.
The two fast sailing ships, like arrows from the bowstring, cut directly through the waves and rushed into the ship formation of Liang Jun's water camp. They launched a suicidal offensive and took advantage of the strong and huge advantage of the hull to rush through the ship formation of Liang Jun's water camp. They were about to attack Liang Jun's water camp.
Seven or eight warships were smashed into pieces, and hundreds of soldiers fell into the water...
Just relying on two fast sailing ships still cannot completely reverse the huge difference in the number of warships and naval soldiers on the Xichuan River between the two sides.
What's more, the two newly built fast sailing ships in Xuzhou were only built according to the standards of transport ships, and were not warships in the strict sense.
The two fast sailing ships were extremely fast. When the long shuttle ship's sharp-bottomed hull cut through the waves, it looked extremely fast. Liang Jun was unable to catch the ship and attack in a hurry. However, at the moment of contact, rows of rockets were fired densely.
Throw dozens of cans of fire oil.
The two clippers were quickly ignited and turned into two blazing fireballs on the river.
But at this time, the purpose of disrupting Liang's naval formation has been achieved.
Escorted by six galley warships, the fleet that actually transported the Shanzhai recruits broke away from the interception of Liang Jun's scattered warships and sailed towards the dock outside the west city of Xichuan City at full speed.
After more than 20 miles of water channel pursuit, almost all the warships of the Xuzhou Ship Gang were completely destroyed, and half of the soldiers fell into the water without being rescued. However, during the offensive and defensive battle of Xichuan City, which lasted until the twenty-first day, they successfully captured two thousand soldiers.
More than 500 elite soldiers were recruited from many villages and Chai Jian led them from Jingzikou and sent them to Xichuan City.
