Chapter 83: A Miraculous Conspiracy to Settle Hanoi (2)
In the handsome tent, Xia Yu naturally sat down.
In Huang Junhan's army, dozens of generals, assistants, and staff were also separated on both sides. The commander's tent was also full for a while.
Xia Yu glanced at everyone. It felt very satisfying to be a general.
"General Liu, would you like to first talk about the specific situation in Hanoi?"
"promise."
Liu Dewei hurriedly elaborated: "A month ago, a certain man led his army to break into Hanoi. The initial progress was smooth, and within a few days, all counties were waiting for the wind."
"But there is trouble under the walls of Hanoi."
"Although the enemy general Wang Tai, the puppet king of the Song Dynasty, is young, he is very talented. He has taken advantage of these few days to make preparations in the city."
"Fortunately, the inner and outer city of Hanoi was damaged by the Sui Dynasty and was not very strong. I fought hard for several days and finally defeated it."
"But the inner city has not been damaged for hundreds of years. It is tall and strong. Then Wang Tai led his army to fight to the death. Our army attacked the city dozens of times, but was repulsed."
"On several occasions, our army has rushed up to the city wall and opened a gap, but Wang Tai personally led the army and drove it down."
"In addition, forty miles south of the city is the Heyang Floating Bridge."
"The Zheng army on the south bank often sent cavalry across the pontoon bridge to harass our army everywhere, making it very annoying and difficult for them to attack the city with all their strength."
Speaking of this, Liu Dewei smiled bitterly. Obviously, the enemy was very difficult and made him crazy.
Xia Yu had already expected this, so he just asked: "Now, how many people are in our army under Hanoi City?"
"Although there have been relatively large losses, there are still more than 10,000."
"How many more do Zheng Jun have?"
"The general estimates that there are about four or five thousand people left."
"How long can Zheng Jun's food and grass last?"
"I'm afraid there is no shortage of food. Hanoi already produces food, and on the south bank are the three major granaries of Luokou, Huiluo, and Hanjia. It is convenient to adjust the grain, and the city can last for at least a few months."
Xia Yu nodded, already knowing the situation of the enemy.
He turned around and asked Huang Junhan: "General Huang, how are you doing?"
"Back to the military advisor," Huang Junhan also hurriedly reported back: "The general will have two tasks: to capture Mengjin in the south, and to break the Heyang floating bridge in the east."
"It's a pity that even if I am incompetent, everything will not go smoothly."
"Mengjin's general, Sun Hao, is not very well-known, but he is extremely calm and cunning. He can lure the enemy no matter what he does, but he can't escape."
"The general will have no choice but to choose to attack by force."
"But the three passes of Mengjin are connected end to end, easy to mobilize, and with the help of the navy, the general attacked several times in succession, but all returned without success."
"In that case, the general didn't try to break the Heyang Floating Bridge first?" Xia Yu asked.
"The last general tried it." Huang Junhan said with a wry smile: "But the Heyang Floating Bridge is the lifeline for Zheng Jun to connect the north and south of the Yellow River, and it also has heavy troops stationed there."
"The pontoon bridge is connected by the sandbar in the river, and it is also divided into three cities: north, middle and south, each with two thousand troops stationed."
"Each city is separated by only three to four hundred steps across the river, and is equipped with countless giant crossbows and trebuchets, echoing back and forth without any blind spots."
"What's even more troublesome is that there are three iron cables on the east and west sides of the pontoon to block the river, and the bottom of the river is densely covered with iron cones, locking the river surface."
"Our warships are blocked by iron cables and iron cones and cannot come within 200 steps of the floating bridge."
iron chain!?
Iron cone!?
This thing sounds familiar.
Xia Yu immediately said: "General Huang, although the iron cables and iron cones blocking the river are tricky, there are ways to break them. In the past, when the Jin Dynasty defeated Soochow, they used huge trees to move down the river, first pulled out the iron cones, and then burned them with fire boats.
Tiesuo. Is it possible that you don’t know about these old things?”
There are ready-made combat examples to follow. If Huang Junhan doesn't know how to apply them flexibly, then he is really a mediocre general who only knows how to fight. Moreover, he is probably also a bastard who doesn't study.
Huang Junhan said hurriedly: "Back to the military advisor, the general followed the same method, but unfortunately it still failed."
"What's the reason?" Xia Yu was puzzled.
"Military advisor, the terrain is different and the enemy situation is different."
"The Yangtze River is wide and is several miles away, but the Yellow River is much narrower. The Heyang section is only a few miles away, and there are sandbars connected in the middle."
"On the west side, in front of the iron chain, Zheng's army has several docks in front of the forts, which are also equipped with trebuchets and giant crossbows."
"Our army used huge trees to move down the river and pulled out many iron awls, but then they were all blocked by the first iron cable and could not move forward."
"The last general sent out several more waves, totaling more than a hundred fireships, and filled them with large amounts of sesame oil and tung oil. However, they were first attacked by the docks on both sides with trebuchets and giant crossbows, and nearly half of them were sunk."
"The broken ship finally reached the first iron rope, and was attacked by the three pontoon cities again until it was completely exhausted and could only burn down the first iron rope."
"Then, within a few days, before our army could attack again, Zheng's army had repaired the first iron chain."
Huang Junhan looked frustrated, as if a dog bites a hedgehog and has nowhere to bite.
Xia Yu suddenly realized it and felt a little ashamed.
It seems that no matter how good the strategy is, it depends on the time, location, and people. It is not universally applicable.
The Yellow River is still too narrow.
It was so narrow that Zheng's army only needed to use trebuchets and giant crossbows to block the river without any blind spots, making it difficult for fire ships to be useful.
"Understood." Xia Yu nodded. After all, Wang Shichong was a tycoon of his generation, and there were still some capable people under his command, so he was not that easy to deal with.
However, after all, he is a time traveler with a golden finger. Before Xia Yu came, he already had a first draft.
He turned back and looked at Liu Dewei: "General Liu, if I help you break through the Hanoi city wall, can you possibly capture Wang Tai?"
Hearing this, Liu Dewei perked up and said: "Go back to the military division. If there is no wall to block our army, our army will be twice as strong as the enemy's. If we still can't take it, I will come to see you with my head."
"Very good." Xia Yu smiled and said with a proud look on his face: "What a coincidence. Before I came here, I had just invented a new type of trebuchet. Its power and range are twice as long as before."
"After all, Hanoi is just a state city. No matter how strong it is, I believe it will not be able to withstand the bombardment of dozens of trebuchets for several days."
Liu Dewei was overjoyed when he heard this: "The military advisor is indeed a disciple of Guigu. He has unpredictable opportunities. Where are the blueprints for the trebuchet? He went back immediately before he was ready and worked hard day and night."
"Du Qiu." Xia Yu turned around and said, "Bring the drawings and go with General Liu."
Du Qiu was good at wood engineering. Before leaving, Xia Yu gave him the drawings, just in time to assist Liu Dewei in building a trebuchet to break the city.
"promise."
Du Qiu readily agreed.
"By the way, how many days do you estimate it will take to build the equipment? How many days will it take to break through the Hanoi city wall?" Xia Yu needs to accurately grasp the progress.
Du Qiucin said: "Back to the military division, as long as there are enough craftsmen and there is no shortage of raw materials, I can build thirty trebuchets in just three days."
"Enough. Enough." Liu Dewei said hurriedly.
He was attacking a city and plundering territory, so there would be no shortage of craftsmen. With the Taihang Mountains nearby, wood and stone would be needed in abundance.
"That's great." Du Qiu was very happy: "I've been to Hanoi before. It's not too big. The inner city is even smaller. These trebuchets are enough."
"At that time, the catapults can be placed on the outer city wall. In three or four days at most, the inner city wall will be destroyed."
Liu Dewei was so happy that he slapped his thigh: "As soon as the city wall is broken, someone can level the inner city and capture Wang Tai alive in just one day."
"So, it only takes seven or eight days?"
"Well, expect the enemy to be lenient. It will take you one day to go back. Let's do this. I will give you two ten days to break Hanoi. Otherwise, military law will be ruthless."
"No." The two of them accepted the order.
Liu Dewei has made up his mind to rush back early tomorrow morning. He has been tortured by Wang Tai these days. If he doesn't take revenge quickly, how long will it take?
"Commander, where is the general?"
As soon as Huang Junhan heard that Liu Dewei was freed, he immediately looked at Xia Yu eagerly, hoping that Xia Yu would also quickly help him think of a solution.
Xia Yu pondered a little.
It was easy for Liu Dewei to solve it, but Huang Junhan's situation was different from what he expected. He was not very good at water fighting.
After hesitating for a moment, Xia Yu had an idea in her mind and asked: "General Huang, when the two armies are fighting, has the trade route on the Yellow River been cut off?"
Huang Junhan was stunned for a moment, not knowing what he meant, but he still replied: "No."
Xia Yu's eyes flashed: "It's interesting. The two armies are fighting, but they can still do business. I guess these people have unusual backgrounds, right?"
Huang Junhan looked embarrassed, thinking that Xia Yu blamed him, so he smiled bitterly and said: "Come back to the military advisor, ordinary people can't do it, but no one from the two armies dared to touch the merchant ship with five surnames and seven looks."
The five surnames and Qi Wang are all giants from aristocratic families who have been running rampant in the world for hundreds of years. They are hugely powerful!
Not to mention Huang Junhan, Li Yuan and Wang Shichong are trying their best to win over each other in order to fight for world hegemony, and they don't dare to offend!
Xia Yu smiled and waved her hand: "General Huang is worrying too much. I don't blame you, but you just didn't see the opportunity to take advantage of it?"
Huang Junhan was a little confused: "What does the military advisor mean?"
Xia Yu followed the temptation and said: "In the past, Lu Meng sent troops disguised as merchants to make a surprise attack on Jingzhou, which was known in history as 'crossing the river in white clothes'. Wouldn't General Huang do the same?"
Since he can't be positive, he can play negative, which he is good at.