The Far Eastern Army's field battles are powerful, and they have experienced the disastrous defeats in several battles.
The Far East Army was very defensive, and they had experienced it by attacking Wang Junlin's camp with more than 10,000 troops.
Now, they were about to experience the Far Eastern Army's siege. According to legend, there were too many examples of the Far Eastern Army's sieges, and they were truly famous all over the world.
According to legend, there is no city that the Far Eastern Army cannot conquer.
It would be wrong to say that everyone was worried. Wang Xu, the governor of Taiyuan County and the head of the Wang family, had just the right amount of solemnity on his face, but also had the confidence that matched Li Jiancheng.
Come, they have not prepared siege weapons. They are just making improvised weapons. It is bound to be difficult to make them sophisticated. It is not a worry. However, we are fully prepared. I have arranged for three hundred and twenty trebuchets to be prepared.
, enough to smash Wang Junlin's army into a pulp, as well as the two trenches dug by Marshal Li during his lifetime, plus the moat. Although the Far East Army is powerful, it will not be able to attack in a short time, so the prince does not need to worry, Taiyuan City
We will definitely be able to hold on!"
Wang Xu's words gave Li Jiancheng a lot of confidence. He was very happy after hearing this and said with a smile: "What the prince said is absolutely true. We will definitely be able to defend Taiyuan City."
Xia Houduan on the other side glanced at Wang Xu, a flash of vigilance flashed deep in his eyes. He was a general promoted by Li Shentong. This time Li Shentong's death was very strange. He immediately led his troops to Pei Mansion.
But he was stopped by Li Jiancheng.
He has not been idle these days, arranging close soldiers to secretly investigate the Pei family. Although there is no clear evidence, he has a vague feeling that the Pei family was not framed by the Far Eastern Army spies as the prince said. It is very likely that the Pei family has already
He's a traitor.
And if the Pei family is secretly loyal to Wang Junlin, then the Wang family, who is also a giant in Hedong, is very likely to have different intentions.
However, whether it is the Wang family or the Pei family, their power in Taiyuan City is too huge. Many of the officials in the government and the generals in the army are from these two families, and Xiahou Duan and Wang Xu are like this.
Compared with the big boss, his status is still far behind. If there is no conclusive evidence and he rashly raises it to Li Jiancheng, it is very likely that Li Jiancheng will not only not believe what he said, but will turn around and tell Wang and Pei. Then he will
It is very likely that Wang and Pei will kill him by various means.
Therefore, Xiahou Duan has been making some preparations secretly to prevent Wang and Pei from doing something in Taiyuan City.
Not far behind Xiahou Duan was Dou Dan, Li Jiancheng's number one aide. The Dou family was also a wealthy family. Although it was not as good as the Dugu family and the Wang family, it was still a first-class family. At this time, he set his sights on the city.
Outside the camp of the Far Eastern Army, he frowned slightly. He had a vague feeling that the Far Eastern Army was not just building siege equipment in the past four or five days, which was somewhat inconsistent with the Far Eastern Army's previous vigorous and resolute fighting style.
He secretly guessed that in the past four or five days, Wang Junlin had led the Far Eastern Army to do other things outside the city that they did not know about, and these things must be related to the attack on Taiyuan City.
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At the same time that Li Jiancheng was leading a group of people to patrol the city of Taiyuan and look at the Far Eastern Army camp from a distance, Wang Junlin was also observing the Taiyuan city wall with a telescope on the observation tower of the Far Eastern Army camp two miles away.
He had been looking at this thick and strong city wall for five days. He knew in his heart that if he captured this city with conventional tactics, he would have to pay a heavy price.
Pay a heavy price.
At the thought of rushing to the city head like a swarm of ants, being smashed to pieces by trebuchets, using a few ladders or nest cars to rush to the city head, and paying at least nearly 10,000, or even tens of thousands of casualties, Wang Junlin
He resolutely rejected this most stupid method of siege.
Wang Junlin has rich experience in defending the city. He knows where the weakest part of the city is?
His eyes fell on the city gate at this time, because for any city, the city gate is its weakest point and its cover.
However, the city defenders also knew that the city gate was weak, so they designed a moat and a high suspension bridge. The suspension bridge was like the outer armor of the city gate. If they wanted to attack the city gate, they must first destroy the suspension bridge and control the suspension bridge.
The hub is at the top of the city, with two huge iron chain winches, and two wrist-thick iron chains pulling up the suspension bridge.
But no matter what kind of outer armor the city gate wears, it is never as thick as the city wall. It is always the weakest point of the entire city, because as long as it is a door, it can be opened, especially if it can be opened from the inside.
The second is the timing of siege. Wang Junlin knows very well how to choose the timing of siege. Even if there is no opportunity, he will create the opportunity. Just like a lion also has a moment of nap, when the defense of the city's defenders begins to become a little lax.
, the time has come.
Of course, for him, Wang Junlin, he has too many ways to capture this city.
At this moment, an official from the Military Intelligence Office hurriedly ran up and bowed to report to Wang Junlin: "Your Majesty, according to your instructions, we spread our hands and captured Li Yuan. He sent 800 Liga to deliver to Li Jiancheng.
As the prince had guessed, Li Yuan had already guessed that Wang and Pei had surrendered to the prince, and wanted to remind Li Jiancheng to take precautions."
Wang Junlin nodded slightly and expressed satisfaction: "Yes, you have done a good job, but Li Jiancheng was fooled by Wang Xu and Pei Ji so that he could not see the truth, but it does not mean that others around Li Jiancheng cannot see the problem, so Wang and
Mr. Pei is just one of our preparations, not our whole trust."
Behind them, Wang Shiqing and Pei Yuanqing looked at each other, a little worried in their eyes, but when they thought about their family's power in Taiyuan City, they felt relieved again, leaving only the worry that the plans of the two families might have twists and turns.
Luo Shixin said with a smile: "Don't worry, Your Majesty, the tunnel for the engineering and troop transport camp has been dug to the front of the moat."
"Very good, tell them, the closer you get to the back, the more careful you have to be. From now on, don't dig during the day, and wait until night to dig again." Wang Junlin said one after another.
If Li Jiancheng and others could get out of the city, or if they stood ten feet taller, they would find that the Far Eastern Army was doing another thing besides building siege equipment.
Unfortunately, from the angle and height they were standing at, they were unable to discover this secret, which determined whether Taiyuan City could be defended.
In addition to the moat outside the city, Li Shentong had previously ordered people to dig two trenches one hundred steps away and two hundred steps away. The trenches were one foot wide and six feet deep. There were passages connecting the two trenches. This is
In order to push the defense line to the periphery, especially designed for the short range of the Far East Army's nine-shot fast crossbow, when the Li family's archers hide in the trenches to resist the enemy, these two trenches play a huge defensive role and can kill
The Far Eastern Army attacking the city.
But just in the past few days, there was a scene in the two trenches that the Taiyuan defenders had never dreamed of. There was an exit outside the south city directly facing the city gate. This was to facilitate the defenders in the city to get in at a suitable location.
It's time to break out of the city, this
It was the confidence that Li Shentong had back then.
The exit was only two meters wide, and the cavalry was only wide enough for two cavalry to ride side by side.
But just following this exit, a tunnel appeared below.
At this time, there were as many as 400 people in the tunnel. These were engineers specially trained by the Far East Army to dig holes. They were sitting in the trench, leaning against the wall of the trench, holding professional steel shovels for digging holes.
, in these five days, they have dug nearly two miles of tunnels.
For digging this tunnel, Wang Junlin personally led the people in the engineering and transport camp to make a careful and foolproof plan.
They first dug a tunnel from the big camp to the passage facing the gate of the first outer trench, and then dug another tunnel between the two trenches. In this way, the Far Eastern Army in the big camp could directly enter the inside through the tunnel.
The second trench will not be discovered by the Li Jiajun at the top of the city.
In this case, the soldiers of the Far Eastern Army could appear within a hundred steps of the city wall without anyone noticing.
This should be the reason why Li Shentong arranged for people to learn the trench defense of the Far Eastern Army before his death, but did not learn the complete set, or that he only learned the surface and not the inner parts.
If the Far East Army were to dig trenches in Taiyuan City, they would definitely connect the trenches with the moat, because once abandoned, they would be flooded immediately to prevent the trenches from being used by the enemy, and this would be equivalent to three moats, not to mention three moats.
It can prevent enemies outside the city from digging tunnels.
The people arranged by Li Shentong did not consider connecting the trench and the moat. Maybe they were too confident in Taiyuan's city wall, or maybe they were inexperienced. At that time, they did not think of how to use this trench to attack the city. After all, under normal thinking, the attack
When the Far Eastern Army in the city came out of the trench, they would still be exposed to the rain of arrows, and at most they would avoid the strikes of the trebuchets.
Since ancient times, both the enemy and us have actually made mistakes on the battlefield. The key is whether we can catch the enemy's negligence. This negligence of the Li Jiajun is nothing in the eyes of people who are not good at siege, but to the Far Eastern Army, which is good at defending with trenches.
For example, the flaw was immediately apparent, turning it into a fatal oversight.
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In the evening of the next day, Luo Shixin came to Wang Junlin and reported: "I would like to inform you, Your Majesty, that the tunnel has been completely completed and can be passed smoothly."
Wang Junlin was overjoyed and said with admiration: "Very good, we have captured Taiyuan City and the engineering and troop transport battalion has made its first contribution!"
Wang Junlin then ordered the soldiers on his left and right: "Order Pei Yuanqing and Wang Shiqing to come see me?"
The soldiers on the left and right agreed and immediately called for someone. Soon Pei Yuanqing and Wang Shiqing ran to Wang Junlin, looked at each other, and at the same time stepped forward and saluted: "See you, Your Majesty!"
Wang Junlin glanced at them and said slowly: "I called you two here to tell you that the siege will begin at the second watch tonight. According to our prior arrangements, your two families have begun to attack the city.
, the people from the Military Intelligence Bureau in the city will also cooperate with you. I hope that you two can open the city gate, but I will only give you half an hour. If you cannot open the city gate within half an hour, I will activate the second one.
For the tunnel battle plan, your two families won’t have that much credit by then.”
The two of them were refreshed at the same time and saluted: "Don't worry, Your Majesty, I will pass the Prince's orders to the clan through the flying eagle of the Military Intelligence Office!"
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ps: Thank you very much to several old readers for their monthly support and encouragement————