Chapter 221: Making an attack in the east and attacking in the west
Several people got on the bridge and slowly approached. In the distance, a bonfire was lit in the center of the bridge. By the light of the fire, behind the Juma Deer Antlers, about a dozen soldiers guarding the bridge were gathering chu pu (chu pu).
Aipu is a form of gambling in the Han Dynasty, similar to flying chess. It is played and entertained by princes and nobles as well as common people.
In recent years, chess invented by Chen Mu has gradually become popular, but chess is classified as a chess activity like Go. Although Aipu is also a chess game in terms of gameplay, it has more gambling properties, so it is more popular among the people.
, widely popular among the military.
Almost as soon as they walked to the center of the bridge, only ten feet away, a soldier spotted them.
This situation is expected.
There are a lot of iron caltrops in the middle of the bridge. If they want to cross, they have to clean them away. However, the cleaning process will definitely be noticed by the enemy, so they plan to use the password to cross directly instead of conducting a sneak attack.
"carp!"
A Jizhou soldier shouted with a Hebei accent.
But the next second, the soldiers on the other side of the bridge immediately became alert and asked, "Who are you, Captain Lu?"
"What happened? It's an enemy."
"Quick, blow the whistle and get the bow and arrows."
"Beep beep beep beep."
"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!"
After almost four or five seconds of daze, all the Jizhou guards woke up as if from a dream amid the shouts of the captain.
One by one, they threw away the chess pieces they were using for gambling, some hurriedly went to get their bows and arrows, and some touched the bone whistle or horn around their waists. In an instant, the whistle and the long horn sounded.
"Damn it, I've been tricked, carp is not a command line at all, do it!"
Zang Ba reached for the bow and arrow on his back, and while he was still bending the bow to nock the arrow, Taishi Ci and Huang Zhong quickly shot several arrows, killing several enemies.
"General!"
In the direction of the bridge, the archers who were ready to attack noticed that something was wrong and immediately rushed over to support.
Zang Ba shouted: "Get rid of these caltrops first."
The archers came up and used their knives to poke at the caltrops. The caltrops are a bunch of iron thorns. They have appeared since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and have been common on the battlefield since the Qin and Han Dynasties. Sprinkling them on the ground can effectively prevent the impact of cavalry or infantry.
When the defenders saw the sharpshooters staring at them, they didn't dare to show their heads and hid behind the watchtower. Seeing that the enemy had begun to clear away the caltrops, the captain was so anxious that he shouted: "Hurry up and fire arrows!"
At that moment, several enemies came out of the bunker sideways and wanted to shoot arrows, but they were quickly shot by Huang Zhong and Tai Shici who had already aimed at them, giving them no chance to fight back.
The defenders in the center of the bridge had nothing to do at this time, because this was the age of cold weapons, and no one would use sandbags as bunkers. According to historical records, the defensive equipment of the Han Dynasty was mostly horseback, deer antlers, iron caltrops, or at most, digging trenches.
Or build some fences.
Therefore, if the defenders in the center of the bridge show up or run towards the back of the bridge, they will be shot dead by the two sharpshooters Huang Zhong and Tai Shici as soon as they get out of the two watchtowers made of wooden planks, making them unable to do so at all.
Dare to move.
After a while, the soldiers finally cleared away all the caltrops. A group of people rushed over and removed the horses and antlers. There were still eight or nine defenders. Seeing that there were few of them, they wanted to rush out and engage in close combat with them.
.
But these people were no match for Zang Ba, Tai Shici and Huang Zhong. They were easily eliminated with three strikes, five divided by two, and in the end, one person was left alive.
Zang Ba asked fiercely: "Tell me, what is your password?"
"Carp...carp!"
The prisoner replied tremblingly.
"Then why didn't you let us go when we just gave the password?"
"Although your password is correct and your accent is not wrong, we don't know you."
"How can it be?"
Zang Ba was confused: "Don't you change your defenses once a day?"
In later generations, there were forty or fifty people in a class who lived together every day for two or three years. Some of them were unfamiliar and could not even name their classmates, let alone a military camp with tens of thousands of people.
However, the prisoner's answer completely surprised Zang Ba. He said: "Although we change our defenses once a day, we are in the same camp. Captain Li and Captain Lu are stationed at the end of the bridge, led by Captain Li.
We naturally know each other.”
Zang Ba, Tai Shi Ci, Huang Zhong looked at each other, and they all looked at each other in confusion.
They completely exposed themselves like this.
It turned out that the Weiqiao defenders did not have a thorough defensive plan at all, and the guards were not mobilized frequently, but only once a month.
Fifteen people are assigned to the center of the bridge. According to the three-shift system, forty-five people are needed every day. Fifty people are stationed at the bridge head, which is exactly the number of troops in a camp of 100 people.
Therefore, the superior responsible for the defense of the bridge slapped his forehead and asked a village commander surnamed Li to be stationed here for a long time, and did not think too much about the rest of the defense.
Chief Li was also a talented person. After taking over the task, he arranged for his two teams to rotate separately.
For example, ten days ago, Captain Xu was stationed at the bridge head, and he led his fifty men to station at the bridge head, while Captain Lu led his fifty men to station at the center of the bridge. Ten days later, the rotation would take place, and Captain Lu would be sent over again, while Captain Xu would come back.
As a result, the garrisoned soldiers were still tossing back and forth with hundreds of soldiers. Although everyone was exhausted, they naturally knew each other for a long time.
No wonder the guards here are so lax. No wonder the enemy will react immediately if the password is correct. It turns out that the root cause is here.
For a moment, the three of them were dumbfounded.
"Hurry up!"
"The enemy is coming, archers are ready."
"I haven't seen anyone on the bridge yet. Block the bridge head and don't let them come over."
"Kill!"
In the distance, the gate of the military camp on the north bank of Wei Bridge opened. After the soldiers in the center of the bridge blew their horns, the soldiers in the watchtower above the camp in the distance were also awakened at the same time. They hurriedly blew their horns to give a warning.
After hearing the melodious sound of the horn spread across both sides of the strait, the entire Yuan Army camp on the north bank of Weiqiao suddenly fell into chaos. The officers reacted quickly and urged the soldiers to get up.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click the next page to continue reading the exciting content! But the Yuan Jun here is not an elite, and the reaction speed of each general and soldier is different. Some are not aware of what happened, and some are in a hurry to put on their clothes.
The armor went to get weapons, and some were so frightened that they even picked up weapons and started slashing around.
Because of the warning, Yuan Jun in the camp woke up in the middle of the night. Some Yuan Jun who were sleeping were nervous and thought that the enemy had attacked the camp, so a small-scale camp roar broke out, causing chaos within the entire camp.
Fortunately, a military sergeant near the entrance of the camp reacted quickly. After hearing the warning, he immediately stood up, put on his weapons and equipment, rushed out of the camp, and directed his soldiers to assemble.
In a hurry, he did not gather too many troops. He had two troops, and the total number should be 1,200, but only three or four hundred. There were more soldiers in panic, and many of these soldiers were in panic.
He didn't even put on his clothes, so he hurriedly picked up his weapons and ran out.
Seeing this situation, the army commander couldn't care less. He shouted to his subordinates to follow him, and then rushed out of the camp gate first.
Since there was a bonfire in the middle of the bridge on the north bank, the military commander used the firelight to see the figures in the middle of the bridge. He was so anxious that he kept shouting orders to the soldiers, and at the same time asked the soldiers to make noise and make noise to disturb the enemy.
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At this time, Zang Ba and the others had just occupied the center of the bridge. From a distance, they saw the gate of the enemy camp open, and a steady stream of Jizhou troops were coming out. An unknown number of enemies were coming at the same time. They did not dare to act rashly. There happened to be six hundred soldiers behind them.
The soldiers also heard the sound of the trumpet and rushed to the south bank of Weiqiao with shouts.
Wei Bridge is actually not as big as Ba Bridge and Wei Bridge. It is only two or three feet wide. The terrain is relatively narrow, and there are not many soldiers that can be accommodated at one time. There are only a dozen people standing side by side at the front, and they are rushing towards this side with their spears raised.
The defenders of Weiqiao were about to rush to the bridge, but suddenly saw the enemy reinforcements arriving. The commander of the army did not dare to order the charge, and asked the soldiers to form formation and defend on the spot.
In this way, Zang Ba and others occupied the center of the bridge, while the Weiqiao defenders temporarily occupied the bridge head on the north bank. The two sides only stood in a stalemate for a moment. Because the terrain on the bridge was too narrow, the archers could not arrange a square formation for shooting, so the twenty in front
After many archers fired at random under the bridge, they had no choice but to retreat and leave the stage to the pikemen in front.
Zang Ba gave an order, and the 600 Qingzhou Army officially launched an attack. Around the bridgehead, the two sides fought fiercely. Because the bridgehead was wider, thirty or forty people could line up a spear formation and aim at the bridge.
People on the bridge can only line up and rush forward, always at a disadvantage.
Therefore, after several rounds of charges, more than 30 soldiers were killed and more than 50 injured, but the bridgehead was still not captured. Even Zang Ba, Huang Zhong, Tai Shici and others personally led the team, but they were also defeated by the dense rain of arrows from the rear and the continuous rain from the front.
The spear array that was poking forward was forced back.
The bridgehead was covered with corpses, and the blood stained the stone Wei Bridge deck red. Some soldiers discovered that the bridgehead was very close to the ground and wanted to jump from the bridge to the river beach to attack, but they did not expect that due to the
There was mist on the river, and the dark ground was actually filled with enemy troops. He jumped into the enemy's encirclement and was hacked to death by the enemy's swords.
There was no way, the Weiqiao defenders only placed bonfires at the bridge head on the south bank and in the center of the bridge. No one was stationed at the bridge head on the north bank, so naturally there was no flames. What can be seen now is that the enemy can barely be seen through the torches in the hands of both sides.
Otherwise, there would be a black shadow in front of you, and everyone would have no choice but to poke around with their weapons.
After about two-quarters of an hour of fierce fighting, the commotion in Yuan Jun's camp at Weiqiao in the distance was finally quelled. The guard general here led a large group of troops to rush to support. The military commander at the bridgehead was under sudden pressure, and he rallied and led the Qingzhou Army to the center of the bridge.
Come on, when Zang Ba and the others saw the enemy's reinforcements arriving, they could only retreat step by step.
After arriving at the center of the bridge, a large number of Qingzhou troops from the south bank also came for reinforcements at this time. Both sides blocked the entire Wei Bridge. All kinds of arrows were flying randomly, and crossbows were constantly firing back and forth. Such a small terrain made both sides add fuel to the fire.
The tactics are completely useless.
In this situation, not to mention Huang Zhong, Tai Shi Ci and Zang Ba, even if ten Lu Bu came, it would be useless. Because there were only a dozen people standing side by side on the bridge, and the swordsmen, shieldmen and spearmen in the front row were constantly hacking and attacking.
Stab, followed by a shower of arrows.
If Lu Bu ran into the middle, he would either be shot to death by random arrows, or he would be drowned in the sea of people on both sides. Fang Tian's painted halberd and red rabbit horse would not have any effect in such terrain.
The fighting lasted until dawn the next day, when both sides finally gave up, leaving a mountain of corpses piled up in the middle of the bridge and moving away like a tide.
Zang Ba occupied the bridgehead on the south bank, and Yuan Jun occupied the bridgehead on the north bank. Both sides almost took a step back.
And just when the two sides stopped fighting.
At this time, Jieqiao was about 200 miles away from Weiqiao. Yuan Shao, who had just woken up, learned the news that Weiqiao was attacked.
In later generations, Wei Bridge and Jie Bridge were actually from Wei County to Wei County in Hebei Province. The distance between the two places was about 100 kilometers. The Hebei Plain was flat and the official roads were smooth. If you ride a horse, a trip between the two places would take about two hours.
about.
However, because Yuan Shao sent the messenger in the evening, it was already dark when the messenger set off. It was almost seven o'clock in the evening. The view was not very good and he did not dare to run too fast. It would take about three hours, that is, six
It takes hours to arrive.
And it happened that Zang Ba and others launched the attack at about one o'clock in the middle of the night. They were almost preparing to attack the bridgehead, and the people sent by Yuan Shao had just arrived.
At that time, Zang Ba and the others were still dealing with Yuan's army at the head of the bridge and in the center of the bridge, so the Weiqiao defenders had not yet been alerted. The messenger successfully entered the military camp and conveyed Yuan Shao's souvenir to the general here. The general received the souvenir and called the courier to prepare.
During the banquet reception, a group of people were still talking, and there was movement outside.
Hearing that there was a situation outside, the guard hurriedly ran out with his generals to organize troops for defense. The messenger changed horses here and set off again overnight to report to Yuan Shao. At three quarters of the next morning,
That is, we arrived at almost eight o'clock.
"What?"
Yuan Shao was having breakfast at this time. When he heard the messenger coming to report, he was shocked and asked: "How is the situation over at Weiqiao?"
The messenger quickly said: "I learned that the enemy made a surprise attack in the middle of the night and came back overnight to report. I don't know the current situation, but I believe that it won't be long before news comes from Weiqiao."
Yuan Shao pondered for a moment and said to his attendants: "Go and summon Guo Tu, Xu You, Liu Hui, Xun Chen and review them over."
"only."
The attendant hurriedly left the tent.
Yuan Shao's face was very serious. He never expected that what Guo Tu said was true. Liu Bei was indeed attacking Weiqiao.
It's just that he doesn't know the situation at Weiqiao at the moment. As Guo Tu said, it's true that part of Liu Bei's main force went south, or it's an old suspicion formation. He can't make an immediate judgment on these.
But he knew that now he should indeed counterattack according to the enemy's deployment.
Should reinforcements be sent south immediately, or should other measures be taken?
After hesitating for a while, Yuan Shao said to another attendant: "Give me the order to have Jiao Chu lead 10,000 people to go south to support Weiqiao."
"only."
The attendant went out to deliver the message.
After making this decision, Yuan Shao waited quietly in the tent.