sweeping the world

Chapter 589

In the era of cold weapons, it is not uncommon to take several years to attack a city, but it would be strange if it can be conquered in a few months when facing a fortified city.

Generally, most of the strongest fortresses are disintegrated from the inside, so there is a saying that attacking the heart is the top and attacking the city is the bottom.After all, no matter how strong a fortress is, it must be garrisoned by people, and what good is a fortification if it cannot resist people with a determined mind?
Instead of attacking fortified cities, they choose to bypass and attack weak areas, or even ignore fortified cities and drive straight in. Similar tactics are often seen in the era of cold weapons or hot weapons.

Xie An really didn't want to lose too many troops in the attack on the fortified city of Jincheng, not simply because he thought it would appear incompetent, but because it was really unnecessary.However, he could not take any action against Jincheng. On the contrary, he had to pretend that he must conquer Jincheng to show the Zhang family's Liang army on the north bank of the Yellow River.

There is nothing to say, the Han army gathered long-range attack equipment and chose to attack the east of Jincheng first. Every day and night, stone bullets fired by catapults and crossbow arrows fired by bed crossbows could be seen flying in the sky, and then heavy The ground landed on the fortifications outside Jincheng, making various noises.

"The sharpness of the big man's equipment is really beyond imagination." Zhang Tianxi was young, not as calm as Zhang Zuo, and said with fear and apprehension: "With this kind of bombardment every day, even the thickest city wall will be smashed. collapse."

The distance was too far, and it was only blurry to the naked eye. Zhang Tianxi could not clearly see the extent of the damage to the fortifications, but he could see that the defenders had not launched a useful counterattack at all.

When the Han army began to bombard the fortifications outside the city with long-range attack equipment, Zhang Chong did not sit still. He chose to send defenders out of the tunnel to try to destroy the Han army's siege equipment, but Zhang's Liang army's tunnel attack did not succeed at all. What a result.

Most of the tunnels connecting the Jincheng to the outside are in the Acropolis.The Acropolis has long been destroyed by the Han army, and most of the tunnels have been excavated long ago. Some were destroyed and some were left on purpose, and soldiers were sent to garrison them.

It can be said that unless the Han army did not discover the tunnel entrance, otherwise the Zhang Liang army could come out of the tunnel, but the Han army actually let them come out on purpose.

No matter what kind of thoughts or goals Zhang Liangjun had before leaving the tunnel, the moment they left the tunnel or not long after, they would face a dense rain of arrows, and the few lucky ones who survived would live The appearance of the Han army, if you don't resist any more, you will be captured, and if you are stubborn, you will be killed immediately.

Only a very small number of Zhang's Liang troops went out safely through the tunnel entrances and exits that had not been discovered in advance, but their safety could not last long, and they would be discovered by the Han army sooner or later, and then they would face the siege with few enemies and many enemies. kill.

It should be said that the tunnel offensive of Zhang's Liang Army caused some trouble to the Han army, but it was just trouble. The small-scale Zhang's Liang army and the Han army, which had been prepared for a long time, would definitely not be able to do it with a surprise small-scale sneak attack. Changing the final result of the war is only adding more corpses to this war.

The tunnel offensive did not achieve the expected results. On the contrary, thousands of people were folded in. Although Zhang Chong was disappointed, he did not lose confidence in the defense of the city. He first asked Sofu to organize a counterattack, but in the end hundreds of people were folded in. There was no result, and the defenders of the fortifications were ordered to withdraw from the city.

The long-range attack of the Han army is really too sharp. The array of strong crossbow arrows with a range of about 450 steps is continuously covered. The crossbow with a slightly shorter range comes from time to time. Every salvo of the catapult is even more powerful. If you are unable to fight back and cause destruction, you cannot let people stay where they are and wait to die.

Zhang Chong also had another thought in withdrawing the fortification defenders. He wanted to attract the Han army to charge. As long as the Han army dared to charge, the defenders on the top of the city would be able to launch a long-range counterattack against the charging Han army.

What frustrates the defenders of Jincheng is that no matter whether there are defenders in the fortifications outside the city, the Han army just conducts endless long-range bombardment. Anyway, just don't send troops to try to get close to Dengcheng.

Xie An's calmness and calmness made Zhang Chong feel extremely fearful.

The defenders of the city are not afraid of the onslaught of the enemy, especially a well-fortified city is not afraid of the onslaught, on the contrary, they hope that the enemy will hit their heads and bleed.

The war is fought by people, and the casualties of one side are too serious, which will inevitably damage the morale of the army, and will create an opportunity for the other side. In many cases, the defending army will seize the low morale of the enemy after the heavy casualties before launching a counterattack. It is often possible to disintegrate the enemy army in one battle, and even fight a huge defeat battle.

"The Han army has few soldiers, and most of them are cavalry. Xie An didn't move to get close to the city, but just kept bombarding with long-range attack equipment..." Zhang Chong said with a deep frown as he watched the number of catapults continue to ride and shoot. : "There is no shortage of stones nearby."

Grasslands lack stones, and stones can be seen everywhere in other areas. Catapults are not picky about what to project, even if there are no stone bullets, they can also project other heavy objects.

Any fortification has a bottom line that can withstand attacks. No matter how strong the fortification is, it will collapse if it is continuously bombarded by heavy objects. After only ten days of bombardment, there is no longer a intact offensive outside the city east of Jincheng.

After the Han army destroyed the fortifications on the east side of Jincheng, the long-range attack equipment was pulled to the south of the city, and then bombarded endlessly, and it took another ten days of bombardment to destroy the fortifications again, and was transferred to the west of the city again...

"More than a month...for such a long time, the Han army only launched four small-scale approaching attempts!" Zhang Chong suffered mentally for more than a month, and he became extremely thin and haggard: "They What exactly do you want to do!?"

More than a month has passed, and the Han army is not only fond of destroying the fortifications outside the city of Jincheng, but also has a strong interest in the canal connecting Jincheng to the Yellow River, and completed the truncation of the canal yesterday.

During the past month or so, Zhang Chong couldn't bear it many times, and sent troops out of the city several times to try to destroy the stone catapults of the Han army. He was repeatedly forced back by arrows as dense as raindrops, and he went to stop the destruction. Zhang's Liangjun of the water delivery canal also received the same treatment.

"Yeah..." Yi Chuai made that worry, and subconsciously said, "What are they trying to do?"

Yi Chuai has been waiting and waiting, waiting for Xie An to send someone to contact, waiting to launch a countermeasure, but nothing has been waiting.

Being an insider is actually not that easy, especially on the premise that he might have been discovered. Yi Chuai had long since discovered that Zhang Chong was wary of him, and he was so frightened that he didn't dare to act rashly. He was always in fear In the process, I am afraid that someone will suddenly rush over and kill or tie me up.

Yi Chuai hadn't approached Zhang Chong for a long time, and he would be fully prepared when he had to see him.Today he was summoned to discuss matters. Before he came, he went through many inquiries. For example, did Zhang Chong invite himself alone, and if he did not invite himself alone, who did he invite? He found many people who had secretly communicated with the Han army. They are also included in the invitation list, so they can be counted as coming.

"My lords." Zhang Chong's sudden shout shocked many people: "The Han army has no intention of attacking by force, so it can be seen that they have other plans."

Everyone could tell that Xie An had no intention of attacking by force, otherwise, apart from the fortifications outside the city in the north, the other three fortifications had been destroyed, and only four small-scale explorations had been launched.

"Jincheng is a strong city, and the prefect is not worried about the loss of Jincheng. The importance of Jincheng is to serve as a barrier to the east of the country and to defend against incoming enemy troops." Zhang Chong was sitting on his knees, but he stood up and walked around: "Climate changes, the water of the big river has changed, forcing the Han army to be unable to cross the river, but the river will always become calm again."

Zhang Chong has been thinking about it recently, guessing as much as possible about Xie An's thoughts, after thinking about it, he feels that the possibility of Xie An surrounding Jincheng and then driving straight in is infinitely high.

There are too many examples of the Han army throwing a certain city aside and driving straight in. Everything shows that Xie An is very likely to do the same. It is said that a large number of Han troops were found in Guanzhong, which must be the Han Dynasty adding troops to the Jincheng battlefield.

Han's army was divided into ranks.

The standing army is the field corps, and each standing army has its own flag, which can be easily identified from the flag.The standing army is the main battle army of the Han Dynasty, and they are in charge of every battle.

In addition to the standing army, the Han State also had a very large number of county soldiers, but most of the time the county soldiers were actually used as auxiliary troops for the main battle army, such as stationing and guarding the positions needed by the main battle army, or Maintaining the stability of the logistics line will also carry out some theater clearing tasks, but they rarely participate in the main attack on the frontal battlefield.

In the past, there were servants and slaves in the Han Dynasty, but after the fourth year of Yuanshuo, the military system of the slave army was abolished, and the slaves were scattered everywhere as labor; the servants did not exist in the Han Dynasty after the fourth year of Yuanshuo The mainland is the eastern battlefield of Murong Yan Kingdom, which is concentrated in Liaodong.

What Zhang Chong knew was that the reinforcements came up with three standing infantry corps and 11 county soldiers.In this way, after some calculations, Xie An had two cavalry armies, four infantry armies, and 20 county and county soldiers, with a total strength of [-].

Most people in Zhang's Liangguo will forget that there is a Han army on the Rouran Mountain in the grassland. Even those who remember it don't seem to think that the Han army in Rouran Mountain is a big threat. Zhang Chong knows that those people are here What they thought was that the Han army in Rouran Mountain would be transferred to the battlefield of Murong Yan State. The reason they thought so was because Liu Yan personally conquered Murong Yan State.

"The prefect has made a decision." Zhang Chong stood still and said viciously: "We must take the initiative to attack!"

In fact, Zhang Zuo and Zhang Tianxi may have such thoughts, but that is not the main reason for them to gather their all-powerful soldiers to the north bank of the Yellow River in Jincheng. In fact, the two brothers are very conflicted in their hearts. If you can't compete with Han, you will plan to take the initiative to fight. If you win, you will continue to linger. If you can't win, you won't win.

For Zhang's Liangguo, the future is won only if the east side wins. If the east side can't hold it, even if it is firmly nailed to Guzang, it will be useless. Then even if the Han army in Rouran Mountain will really launch an offensive from behind , what is the difference?It's better to go all out and try to create a future.

Zhang Zuo had already sent people to risk their lives across the river, and if any fish were caught, they would enter Jincheng, and they would convincing Zhang of his plan to bring all the soldiers from all over the country.

Zhang Chong's emotional change...or the loss of control was actually related to knowing Zhang Zuo's plan. He felt that it was too irrational to fight and decisive battle with the Han army by the Yellow River, and what he should do was to transfer to the Western Regions.

From Xiliang to the Western Regions, there are Gobi everywhere along the way, and some areas are even deserts. The Gobi and desert are the barriers of Zhang's Liang Kingdom. They can use the terrain to entangle with the Han army and wait for the follow-up of the battle between Han and Murong Yan.

After making all the preparations, Zhang Chong believed that the whole country of Zhang's Liang should pray that the Han army would encounter a wall on Murong Yan's side. Once the Han and Murong Yan entered into a long-term stalemate, then Zhang's Liang might be able to launch a counterattack , Even if it is not enough, you can keep the Western Regions, and then continue to seek expansion westward, but you may not necessarily lose the country.

Zhang Chong had already sent people to risk their lives across the river, and it didn't matter to him whether Zhang Zuo and Zhang Tianxi accepted the proposal, and he didn't even want to defend Jincheng anymore.

"Prefect!?" Suo Fuhuo stood up, full of incomprehension and asked: "Take the initiative?"

"Yes, take the initiative to attack!" Zhang Chong said firmly: "With the will to die, either the enemy will die or we will die. One battle will determine the outcome!"

No one could figure out what Zhang Chong was thinking. They basically looked at Zhang Chong with dumbfounded expressions.

[The existence of Jincheng is no longer the barrier of the country, but has become a burden on the contrary...] Zhang Chong ignored the stunned group of people, returned to his seat and sat on his knees again, thinking: [The general and the leader, and even everyone, They will still be lucky when they don't lose in Jincheng.This kind of luck will ruin the country! 】

Yi Chuai rolled his eyes, and he caught Zhang Chong staring at him with piercing eyes, and was so guilty that he could hardly breathe for a moment.

Zhang Chong didn't just stare at Yi Chuai, but anyone he knew who had secretly communicated with the Han army would stare at him for a while.

Just when Yi Chuai was thinking about whether to jump up and escape, Zhang Chong made a new move over there.

Zhang Chong read many people's names and called out more than ten people in a circle. Yi Chuai was one of them. Finally, he said: "The rest of you, please step aside."

Among the people named, one of them looked frightened. Before they finished hesitating about what to do, the rest had already retreated.

Fortunately, the doors and windows were not closed immediately, let alone a large number of warriors rushed in, and there were not a large number of swordsmen pouring out of the back hall. Otherwise, those who were left behind should be ready to fight for their lives.

"Don't be nervous." Zhang Chong sat in his seat the whole time, glanced around with a half-smile, and said slowly, "Everyone, I'm going to give you a fortune."

(End of this chapter)