Starting from August, the weather is getting colder day by day. The south may still be very hot at this time, but the temperature in the north drops sharply. The autumn wind turns the flowers and grass yellow, blows off the branches and leaves, and turns the whole world into a desolate place.
Outside the gate of Yecheng, today's weather was finally a little better than the gloomy days before. A few long-lost slanting rays of the morning sun shone through the thick dark clouds and reflected on the earth.
According to the calculations by military advisers who are familiar with astronomy, there may be an autumn rain in the next few days. After the heavy rain, the temperature will be even lower, so protection from the cold is needed.
For this reason, while Liu Bei was actively preparing to attack the city, he had also given instructions to Xun Yu, who was responsible for transporting supplies at the rear, asking him to start preparing to collect autumn clothes and send them to the front line to prepare for the possible cold weather.
Starting at the end of the morning, the Qingzhou Army began their offensive. Catapults were lined up one after another at the farthest limit. The catapults were surrounded by wooden curtains for defense against arrows, and there were also
There are a large number of wells in the rear, and countless arrow towers have been raised.
The reason why the catapult is at the limit distance is because the range of the bed crossbow is farther than that of the catapult. Even the improved catapult can currently only reach a distance of one or two hundred steps, while the bed crossbow can reach the furthest
Four to five hundred steps.
Due to the high lethality of the bed crossbow, it has strong destructive power against catapults, so it cannot be used as a target too close. The farther the better, firstly to reduce the lethality of the crossbow, and secondly to allow personnel to have sufficient reaction time.
Sure enough, after the catapult approached, the "boom boom" sound of the crossbow strings resounded throughout the battlefield. Hundreds of iron-tipped crossbow arrows as thick and long as tree trunks shot towards the catapult position with a whistling sound like ghosts crying and wolves howling.
Most of them hit the iron wooden curtain and made a loud "bang bang bang" sound.
A small number of them hit the catapults by chance, some penetrated the front counterweight beam of the catapults, some knocked down the catapults at the rear, and some of them were not sure whether they were lucky or the crossbowmen on the city's bed were good at shooting.
He actually shot off the most important winches and tendons of the catapult with one arrow.
The earliest catapults in the East and West were built on different principles. The West used the torsion slingshot principle catapult, which had a very short range and low power. The Eastern catapults used the lever principle and adopted a counterweight type, which is the front end.
There are counterweights.
Before the winch came out, the counterweight could only be pulled down manually. With the winch, once the counterweight is projected, the winch can be used to pull it down with less effort, thus achieving the purpose of rapid loading and projection again.
As for the counterweight beam, if the catapult is broken, it can be replaced immediately. Because the catapult can be dismantled and reassembled, and the accessories are all on site. The winch and tendons cannot, and need to be re-wound, which is a waste of time. Therefore, it can be said that this
A wave of arrows rained down, directly destroying seven or eight catapults, causing a big blow to the Qingzhou Army.
"Hurry up!"
Before the enemy's second wave of arrows arrived, the general in charge of commanding the catapult immediately ordered the catapult to be thrown.
The soldier quickly pulled the winch, raised the counterweight, and then placed large rocks into the throwing spoon.
"put!"
With an order, everyone released the mechanism and the winch was released instantly.
"Boom!"
Hearing a "boom" sound, the spoon was ejected into the sky, and huge boulders were thrown into the sky, and then they were quickly aimed at the head of Yecheng City.
"Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!"
"Boom!"
The overwhelming stones were like dense raindrops. They looked very small at first, but as they got closer, they became larger and larger. Then they reached the top of the city, fell rapidly, and hit the city head-on.
A large number of stones hit the ground, causing a huge collision sound, and some stones just hit some buildings, causing the buildings to collapse, and there was an even louder bang.
The huge stones gave the defenders at the top of the city a great sense of oppression. People scurried away one after another. The huge stones hit the city, causing the sky to collapse and the earth to fall. The city walls made of rammed earth and bricks shook as if at any time.
It seemed like it would collapse, throwing up tons of dust.
In particular, there are a large number of towers on the city tower. These towers have become the main targets of catapults, because there are bed crossbows on the towers.
At the critical moment of life and death, most of the crossbowmen stopped loading their crossbows, quickly jumped off the watchtower, and ran to the rear without looking back. Although everyone knew that the probability of being hit was very small, no one dared
Go gamble.
Many people heard a huge noise behind them, like something collapsed. When they looked back, they felt that their souls were shattered. The tower was actually crushed into pieces by big rocks. The fragments were scattered everywhere, leaving only the tower in place.
Half of the pillars stood crookedly, and the top of the tower was completely in ruins.
In addition to these crossbow towers, the main building on the city wall has also become a key target. More than ten large rocks weighing more than 30 to 40 kilograms were bombarded on the main building. The main building is made of wood with tiles on the top.
Without the city wall, more than a dozen holes were smashed out in an instant.
Fortunately, the generals on the city were not in the main building, but were directing the battle on the city. When the catapult came, they immediately ran to the inner city to hide, but they were not seriously injured. Otherwise, the north gate would have been destroyed.
took command.
Liu Bei's offensive was still to encircle three buildings and one. His main force surrounded the North City and West City. Guan Yu's army attacked from the South City. The East City was released, but there was an ambush outside the city.
According to the tactics customized by Tian Feng and Xun You, he planned to use catapults at the north gate and west gate to create huge pressure on the city defenders, pretending to be the main force to attack the city gates, while Guan Yu in the south city was secretly preparing to wait until the city defenders
When most of the forces were concentrated on the north gate and west gate, a sudden attack was launched from the south gate to seize the city.
This tactic worked really well, because after several rounds of catapult and crossbow attacks from both sides, most of the towers on the city were destroyed, and then they continued to plow the ground with stones until the entire city was filled with water.
After dust and smoke obscured his vision, Liu Beijun launched a complete attack.
Rows of assaulters raised trench bridges and ladders, shouted charging slogans and began to storm the city head. Because except for Chang'an and Luoyang, most of the cities in the Han Dynasty were rammed earth structures, and a few were rammed earth plus bricks.
It has a stone structure, so it is made of yellow mud.
As long as the thickness of the yellow mud city wall can be guaranteed, it is very strong, stronger than the masonry city wall, and the rammed earth bricks are better than pure rammed earth and pure masonry, and can withstand the blow of the catapult, but there are also disadvantages
Obviously, it will become dusty.
After several rounds of catapults passed by, the city was already filled with smoke and countless loess particles filled the air, shrouding the entire city in a fog, causing many people to start coughing from a distance and unable to see clearly the situation outside.
Fortunately, the Qingzhou Army outside made a lot of noise. The guard sent people to ask Yuan Tan for instructions and prayed for reinforcements, while ordering the archers to prepare.
Almost as soon as the commandos arrived at the perimeter, countless arrows rained down.
The overwhelming raindrops covered the whole world.
The swordsmen and shieldmen raised their shields, and the clanging arrows hit the wooden shields with a loud sound. However, this round of arrow rain still caused many casualties to the assaulters. By the time they rushed to the edge of the trench bridge, the losses
There were a lot of people.
The soldiers were well-trained to set up a trench bridge and prepare to cross the river. At this time, a large amount of lime and wood were continuously thrown down, and after another series of casualties, Liu Bei was afraid that the soldiers would be damaged too much, so he quickly ordered his troops to retreat.
Siege battles are not that easy. In ancient times, most siege battles were mostly fought from within, either because the supplies ran out, or because traitors opened the city gates. It would be difficult to attack a city from the front. Especially for a strong city like Yecheng,
Cao Cao fought for more than half a year before relying on the traitor Shen Rong to open the east gate and capture the city.
Therefore, in the face of the enemy's stubborn resistance, Liu Bei did not dare to increase casualties, so he ordered his troops to withdraw. However, the siege stopped, and the catapults continued to bombard Xiangyang. Although the Mongols used catapults to smash Xiangyang for six years in the Battle of Xiangyang, there was no result.
It can always demoralize the enemy.
In the afternoon, Guan Yu also launched an attack. As expected, most of the enemy's forces were concentrated in Beicheng and Xicheng. They were afraid that Liu Bei would continue to use catapults to cover the city and deployed nearly 10,000 defenders at the two gates.
There were only five or six thousand people at the south gate. They were caught off guard and were even attacked below the city. A lot of ladders were built. Fortunately, there were a lot of defensive equipment on the city. Lime wood was thrown down like rain, making it difficult to hold on.
On the first day of the attack, Liu Bei's army lost more than a thousand people. However, this is a normal thing. The defending side has the advantageous location, so it is not uncommon for the casualties to be smaller than those of the attacking side.
However, this time it was just a tentative attack. After seeing that the enemy was well prepared, Liu Bei stopped launching attacks in the next few days.
Now he has two choices, one is to attack by force, and the other is to continue to consume it slowly until the food and grass in the city are exhausted.
So in terms of time, he can afford to wait.
However, after another seven or eight days, news suddenly came from the rear. The autumn clothes that Xun Yu was transporting to the front line were attacked by Yuan Shao's army, and the losses were considerable.
He had previously sent Zhang Fei to escort the grain road, but in this battle Zhang Fei was repulsed and lost many men.
A military meeting was immediately held in Liu Bei's camp to discuss how to deal with it.
Everyone gathered together, Liu Bei sat on the throne, looked around everyone, raised his hand and foot documents and said: "Everyone, there is an urgent report from the rear, saying that a large number of Xiutu cavalry have attacked the Qinghe Kingdom and cut off our food route. The third brother has now
We will retreat to the plains to garrison. Although our army still has a lot of food reserves, it is not a small matter to have the food routes cut off."
Xun You said: "Ming Gong, judging from the intelligence reports from the Genbu Military Intelligence Department, these must be the Xiutu cavalry from Puyinxing. It seems that Yuan Shao has made great efforts to win over them. If he wants to repel them, we have to do it."
The main force of the army goes to Qinghe Country."
"The main force of our army goes to Qinghe State, and Yuan Shao's main force can go south to rescue Yecheng. By then, all the previous efforts will be wasted."
Jushou responded.
Liu Bei asked: "But now that the enemy has cut off our food routes, I am afraid that Luoyang alone cannot support the daily expenses of an army of more than 100,000 people."
Jushou thought for a while and said: "Ming Gong, if we don't change the grain route, we can let Xun Yu transport grain and grass from Gaotang to Chuping, and then send it to Dongwuyang by the Choping navy, and then send it to Yin'an from Dongjun.
Take Fanyang, Neihuang, and transport it to the outside of Yecheng."
"Um."
Liu Bei stroked the goat's beard and nodded: "Okay, I will write a letter to Cao Mengde later to inform him of the matter. I will leave the matter to Zang Ba, and let Zang Ba station himself in Dongwuyang to receive food and grass, and then let the third brother
Escort, those Xiutu cavalry cannot cross the river, we bypass Qinghe State and send them directly to Wei County."
After finalizing his decision, Jushou said again: "Ming Gong, Xiu Tu's tribes are just hired cavalry. Back then, Gongsun Bogui also hired a large number of Wuhuan and Xianbei people. In ancient times, Master Nanlou of Wuhuan always fought with
Gongsun Bogui is a good friend and can be used to his advantage."
"oh?"
Liu Bei asked: "What does Gong Yu mean?"
Jushu smiled and said: "Ming Gong can write to Gongsun Bogui and ask him to introduce him on his behalf, send gold, silver, grain and grass, hire the Nanlou tribe and several other Wuhuan tribes, and let them go to Yanmen from Feihuxing or Puyinxing.
Attack Xiu's tribes who are close to Yuan Shao and massacre them, and then we will let the news out."
"Surround Wei and rescue Zhao?"
Xun You and Tian Feng looked at each other and nodded slightly.
This was a classic tactic of besieging Wei and rescuing Zhao. Yuan Shao hired the Xianbei in the central region and the Huns entrenched in the north of Bingzhou as mercenaries. Then they hired the Wuhuan people to attack Yanmen from Daijun, attack their tribes, and force them to go back.
In this way, Yuan Shao will lose a lot of help. Without cavalry, Yuan Shao's army will be infantry, and their mobility will be much worse. When Ye City is destroyed, it will be more convenient to encircle and suppress them.
Liu Bei was overjoyed and said: "This plan is very clever, just follow what Gong Yu said."
At that moment, he immediately wrote letters to Cao Cao and Gongsun Zan respectively. Since Gongsun Zan was defeated by Yuan Shao and Gongsun Du, his strength had dropped sharply and he had to return to Youzhou to recuperate. He also deeply hated Gongsun Du for sneak attacks from behind and raised his troops to attack Gongsun Du.
At that time, he was still fighting in western Liaoning.
If you take the land route, you have to cross the entire Hebei, which is equivalent to going from Handan to Qinhuangdao, which takes more than 700 kilometers. Moreover, the ancient roads are not as smooth as those of later generations. Although Hebei has been developed for a long time and official roads are everywhere, it is more than 700 kilometers.
, if you really want to walk, the actual distance may be thousands of kilometers, and it will take a very long time.
Fortunately, Qingzhou can travel by water. You can take a boat from the Yellow River down the river to reach the seaport in one day, and then take a boat north to cross the Bohai Bay. The boat sails day and night. The distance is only two to three hundred kilometers, and it takes about two days to get there.
Getting to western Liaoning is much faster than taking the land route.
So three days later, Gongsun Zan received the news that Liu Bei needed help. He did not hesitate to write a letter to the Wuhuan Xianbei tribe with whom he was friendly, asking them to act according to the plan.
At the same time, Cao Cao also received a letter, Liu Bei wanted to use his Dongjun as a food transportation channel, and said hello to him.
After learning about this, Cao Cao sold Liu Bei without hesitation.
Report secretly and anonymously to Yuan Shao.
For Cao Cao, time is more important now. He needs time to digest Huaibei and at the same time accumulate strength to fight the Sun family to the death and seize Henan so that he can have the capital to fight against Liu Bei in the future.
Therefore, the matter was sold to Yuan Shao, hoping that Yuan Shao could delay it for a while, at least not to be eliminated now.
However, what everyone didn't know was that Yuan Shao was already in Handan at this time.