Xiaoqi

Li Xian nodded thoughtfully, thought for a moment, and said: "In this way, after our army besieged Jiangzhou, we should suspend our attack and wait for the end of the fight between Zhao Wei and Liu Zhang before making a decision. In this way, of course It can prevent Zhao Wei from suddenly withdrawing his troops back to aid Jiangzhou. However, our army has come from a long way, but it takes time in Jiangzhou city. It invisibly increases the pressure on the escort of food and grass in the rear. Once the food road is blocked, or is attacked by the enemy , wouldn’t my tens of thousands of troops be in danger?”

"Well, what the general said is true." Zhou Yu nodded at the sound and said approvingly: "As the general said, the key to the success or failure of our army's conquest of Yizhou this time lies in whether the grain roads in the rear are unblocked, and whether the food, grass and supplies can be delivered on time. Transport it to the front line to supply the army. As long as there is no problem with the supply of food, grass and supplies, there is a [-]% chance of winning this battle. In addition, our army has penetrated hundreds of miles into the hinterland of Yizhou at this moment. It has completely got rid of the blockage of the Shu Road, and in the Berkshire has gained a firm foothold. Since then, under the condition of ensuring that the grain roads are unimpeded, our army's chances of winning Yizhou have increased by [-]%, and a battle with a [-]% chance of winning can be regarded as a sure thing.

However, our East Route Army had only [-] paces, and we continued to attack cities and villages along the way.It is inevitable that some soldiers and horses will be lost.And if the next Jiangzhou City takes a strong attack, it will definitely cause heavy casualties.In this way, attacking Shu County and even Chengdu with the little soldiers and horses in our hands is tantamount to hitting a stone with an egg and seeking death.

Therefore, the East Route Army led by you and me is not the main force in this battle of Yizhou. Its mission is to disturb the sight of the Yizhou Army and restrain some of its troops.Cover for the West Route Army.Only in this way can the West Road Army led by Zhao Yun, Ma Chao and Huang Zhong be able to successfully seize the Shu Road.Then he swung his troops to Yizhou and established the victory in one fell swoop. "

Li Xian frowned and nodded lightly, seeming to understand: "Before the army set off, the governor did not specify who would be the main attacking task for the two troops, but in terms of the number of troops, the West Route Army led by General Zilong Undoubtedly, it is the main force of the Southern Expedition, responsible for the frontal offensive mission. In addition, the Jinniu Road starts from Jiameng Pass to Chengdu, which is more than 1000 miles away. Dangerous obstacles. This is the real long way to go!"

After sighing and sighing, Li Xian paused, and then continued: "The West Route Army is taking the Jinniu Main Plank Road from Hanzhong to Yizhou, while our East Route Army is taking the rice warehouse shortcut. So we will be the first Enter Yizhou, take the lead in launching an attack, and lure the Yizhou army to come to block and intercept, thereby restraining some of its soldiers and horses, and creating favorable conditions for the West Route Army to enter Yizhou. Only when the West Route Army really advances into the hinterland of Yizhou can it be regarded as a complete foundation. Winning the game will surely conquer Yizhou sooner or later.

It turned out that the purpose of the governor's division of troops to attack turned out to be like this!The late general is dull, and he didn't know the truth until now. Thank you for your teaching! "After sorting out the whole story of the battle again, Li Xian suddenly realized that he really understood Zhou Yu's combat intention.

"That's right." Zhou Yu nodded happily with a smile on his face, and said, "The two groups of soldiers and horses attack separately, and it doesn't matter who takes the lead. The strategic intention to capture Yizhou. Judging from the current situation, the speed of our East Route Army's advance far exceeds expectations. The capture of Berkshire is a foregone conclusion. It can be said that we have fulfilled our mission. It should not be a problem to arrive at the city of Chengdu in a month's time However, the backbone of the real attack on Yizhou was the West Route Army led by Zhao Yun.

According to the original plan, the lord ordered me to capture the entire territory of Yizhou within half a year, and the war must be ended before the end of the year. He also asked me to take control of the city while attacking the city, not only to capture the counties and counties, but also to truly occupy these territories , and obtain part of the food and supplies from these counties to supply the army for continuous operations and reduce the supply burden of the rear food roads.It is precisely because of this that I delegated the military power to the generals who commanded the troops from all walks of life, and I was freed from it to devote all my energy to governing counties and counties and raising food and grass.Therefore, the general only leads the troops to fight, while I stay in the rear to raise food and supplies for the army.This is not only the case for our East Route Army, but also for the Xiliang Army. The duty of Fazheng and Yang Fu is to raise food and grass for the West Route Army along the way to ensure the logistical supplies needed by the army. "

Through these in-depth conversations, the estrangement and rift between Zhou Yu and Li Xian completely disappeared, and they cooperated sincerely and trusted each other with a tacit understanding.

The night was deep, and when Li Xian got up and was about to leave, Zhou Yu laughed and said, "The general will be in charge of the subsequent battle, and I will stay behind to raise food and grass for the army. However, I suggest that the general still appoint Zhang Fei." As the vanguard of the army, order him to rest for two days, lead the troops before our army departs, and rush to the city of Jiangzhou first. I wonder what the general thinks?"

"Uh, let him be the vanguard?" Li Xian was shocked when he heard the sound, and said in surprise: "Zhang Fei is violent by nature, brutal and bloodthirsty, why should he be used as the vanguard? The general is dull, so please give me your advice."

"Hehehe!" Zhou Yu smiled inscrutably, "It is wrong to wantonly kill and kill civilians without authorization, but it is necessary to exert thunderous power on counties and counties that are occupied for the first time. In the past, Liu Yanchu was in charge of Yizhou. At that time, the thunderous means were also imposed on the Yizhou gentry and powerful gentry. More than 30 aristocratic families were brutally poisoned, nearly [-] family members and clan members of the official family were exiled, and more than [-] officials were dismissed from office and relegated to the status of concubine. People. After this severe torture, the father and son Liu Yan and Liu Zhang have been in charge of Yizhou for more than ten years. Even if the situation is turbulent after Liu Yan's death, they still cannot shake the dominance of the Liu family. From this, Liu Zhang was able to sit on the position of Yizhou Shepherd without any danger.

To this day, although all the staff members in Yizhou know that Liu Zhang is weak, greedy for pleasure, and has no ambitions, his status is still as solid as a rock.This is the merit of Liu Yan's torture in governing Yizhou in the past, which greatly deterred the officials and aristocratic families in Yizhou, so that they did not dare to act arbitrarily, and continued to support Liu Zhang and maintain his orthodox status.Therefore, I dare to assert that although Zhao Wei's rebellion was massive this time, the final result must be Liu Zhang's victory, and Zhao Wei and his family, old and young, were all killed. "

Speaking of this, the smile on Zhou Yu's face disappeared, and he said solemnly: "The lesson from the past is still in front of us, how can we ignore it? Therefore, we will never be soft-hearted when we pacify Yizhou this time. In the front, benevolent government in the back. Only in this way can Yizhou achieve long-term peace and stability, and thus truly become a solid rear for our Xiliang army, continuously supplying food, grass and supplies, and laying the foundation for our army to rule the world in the future.

Therefore, although Zhang Fei is a cruel and violent person, he is the best candidate for the vanguard general.When he leads the army to fight, he only needs to be restrained and guided well.After all, Yizhou has been in peace for many years, and there are thousands of aristocratic families and local tyrants entrenched in the territory, more than half of which are attached to the Liu family and their sons, and have irreconcilable conflicts of interest with us.Therefore, these people must be eradicated, so as not to leave hidden dangers. They will surrender and rebel in the future, causing endless disasters, and troubles will inevitably occur sooner or later. "

After Li Xian heard the words, his expression was extremely complicated, full of surprise and uncertainty, as if he couldn't believe that these words came from the mouth of the gentle and refined Zhou Yu.

Seeing Li Xian's doubts, Zhou Yu took out a stack of letters from his sleeve, and handed them to him, indicating that he would understand thoroughly after reading the contents of the secret letter.

Li Xian took the secret letter suspiciously, and the first time he looked at the letter, he saw extremely familiar handwriting. It was obviously Li Li's own letter.The above content is very simple, just a few crosses.The letter said: The situation in Yizhou is becoming increasingly tense, the battle in Chengdu is stalemate, and Liu Zhang's subordinates and major families are fighting fiercely; in view of the current situation, Zhou Yu is granted the right to act arbitrarily and handle all military and political matters of the southern expedition to Yizhou.The inscription is Li Li's autograph, as well as the general's seal and Li Li's unique seal.

After seeing this military order, Li Xian was instantly relieved of Zhou Yu's decision to appoint Zhang Fei as the vanguard.Because there were already hints in the letter, not only Zhou Yu could understand such vague hints, but even Li Xian could understand the deep meaning at a glance.

However, what Li Xian never expected was that Zhou Yu had been accommodating him so much that Li Xian mistakenly believed that it was secretly instructed by his brother Li Li.Until now when he saw this military order, Li Xian finally understood.The reason why Zhou Yu gave in to him in every possible way was not because he was compelled to cater to Li Li's orders, but because he wanted to cultivate him out of a sincere love.Otherwise, Zhou Yu, as the commander-in-chief of the three armies, has this military order in his hand, so he doesn't need to take into account his thoughts at all, just give the order directly.

After thinking up to this point, Li Xian's gratitude to Zhou Yu couldn't be overemphasized, and he was ashamed and speechless.Then he tidied up his clothes, bowed to Zhou Yu, bowed to the end, and then turned and left.

Watching Li Xian's back gradually drifting away, Zhou Yu's face was filled with a knowing smile, and he felt quite relieved.

ps: Heartfelt thanks to: Xiaoqi's third hall master "book friend 150110215624068" for his full support, and "I want to smoke a good cigarette" book friend for his monthly ticket support, thank you!

Chapter 144

Under the city of Chengdu, the sound of drums rumbling, the neighing of war horses, and the sound of thunderbolts.

Amidst the earth-shattering shouts of killing, tens of thousands of rebel soldiers held high their huge shields and galloped towards the east gate wall, which was three feet high and about five feet thick.Followed by thousands of soldiers carrying ladders on their shoulders, they quickly approached the city wall, trying to set up the ladders and attack the top of the city.

After the Yunti Brigade, two extremely heavy city-rushing carts, and the several-foot-high well fence were pushed by more than two thousand soldiers on their shoulders and hands, moving forward slowly, shortening the distance from the city gate little by little.

On the way, the dense stream of arrows roared in the sky and fell like rain. They all fell on the heads of the rebel soldiers who were trying to get close to the city wall. They dealt a head-on blow to the siege soldiers and caused great casualties.Even though they were holding their shields high and wielding weapons in their hands, they still couldn't resist the rain of arrows, and they fell into the pool of blood in pieces amidst the screams, and became the stepping stones of the soldiers behind. Step on the horse and turn into a meat paste.

And those siege soldiers who were lucky enough to escape the random arrows, escaped the rain of arrows, but still couldn't escape the head-on blow from the top of the city.The defenders on the top of the city had already made preparations, just waiting for them to throw themselves into the trap and run over to die by themselves.

At the moment tens of thousands of siege soldiers rushed under the city wall, the defenders at the top of the city suddenly became busy, and stones the size of dustpans were pushed down from the crenellations of the female wall, and rolling logs as thick as thighs rolled over. It fell sharply, and the steaming cauldrons were pushed to the side of the city wall and toppled over.

All of a sudden, the siege soldiers who climbed up the ladder and tried to reach the top of the city were hit head-on by stones and rolling logs, and howled by the extremely stench of boiling water.Immediately.Thousands of siege soldiers were either hit or burned, or were dragged down by their companions, rolling and falling one after another.He screamed in pain while falling and rolling, and then fell to the ground with a "bang bang".After landing, more than [-]% of the soldiers fell to the ground with blood flying everywhere, and in the blink of an eye, a mountain of corpses several feet high was piled up under the wall. Hot flesh and blood.

The end is extremely tragic.Blood flowed like a river!

However, the siege rebels under the city will definitely not sit back and watch the defenders rampant, let alone allow the defenders to kill wantonly without the power to fight back.Quite the opposite.Up to now, such an extremely tragic siege battle has been going on for half a month. The offensive and defensive sides have fought more than ten times, and each other has long been familiar with each other's offensive and defensive routines.And formulate highly targeted countermeasures.

Just when the defenders at the top of the city were struggling to push down the rocks, rolling logs and boiling water.With a "creaking" sound, I saw the rebel soldiers besieging the city launching heavy siege weapons, catapults and giant crossbows.Immediately, hundreds of catapults were pushed to a place less than 200 meters away from the city wall, and crossbows were placed on both sides of the catapults; Here, after the fuse was ignited, more than two hundred catapults threw and launched almost simultaneously.The crossbows on both sides were raised a lot.Raise the angle and shoot upwards at sixty degrees.Immediately, sharp arrows were fired, and went straight to the top of the city screaming.

All of a sudden, one after another filled with kerosene and flaming earthen pots roared into the air, roared like beasts and rushed to the sky above the city head, then plummeted and landed on the city tower with precision.

Immediately, with a loud "bang bang", one after another the fire oil tanks exploded, and countless bits and pieces of iron filings and peanut-sized stones flew out from the earthen tanks, bursting and splashing in all directions.In an instant, these iron filings and stones were seen piercing into the bodies of the defenders at a speed that was hard to find with the naked eye, causing them to cry out in pain, jump up and down or roll all over the ground clutching the pain, and immediately lost their fighting power, curled up in the corner of the wall, crying and wiping away tears .

In fact, the power of these fire oil tanks is not great, and most of the injured defenders will not die, only a few unlucky ones die on the spot.However, the destructive power (that is, the lethality) after the explosion of the fire oil tank is astonishing, and the radiation range is quite large. Everyone within three feet is within the range of scattered iron filings and stones; The explosion can injure more than a dozen defenders, or even more.

Following the fire oil tank came the extremely penetrating and powerful crossbow arrows. When the defenders at the top of the city were blown up by the fire oil tank, the crossbow arrows that came suddenly swallowed Hundreds of lives were lost.Moreover, more than [-]% of the soldiers who were shot by the crossbow arrows would die on the spot, and only a few lucky ones could survive and narrowly escaped death.

These specially made giant crossbow bolts are surprisingly lethal.Within the effective range, a crossbow arrow is enough to kill an extremely strong bull; if the distance is moderate, it can even pass through the body. If two cows stand side by side, it is very possible to kill two bulls with one arrow.In the Battle of Lulongsai in the past, there was an astonishing scene where a single crossbow arrow shot and killed two war horses, so many generals who were keen on the use of ordnance had heard of it and remembered it deeply.

As the setting sun slowly set, amidst the golden sound of "ding ding", this extremely tragic siege battle slowly came to a halt.Immediately, the attackers and defenders unanimously lowered their flags and drums, and each stopped their troops. The defenders at the top of the city watched as the Zhao Wei rebels under the city staggered away with each other supporting each other.It wasn't until they returned to the rebel camp several miles away that the defenders could truly breathe a sigh of relief, and then leaned against the wall limply and gasped greedily, secretly glad that they were still alive.

The night slowly opened, and the city of Chengdu, which had been noisy all day, finally quieted down.

Many wounded soldiers hid in the night and licked their pain, eagerly hoping that the sun would not rise tomorrow, and it would be better if there was heavy rain, so that they could rest for a day tomorrow without fighting.

This is the No. 16 day when Zhao Wei's army besieged the east and north gates of Chengdu.

During this half month, except for a heavy rain that caused the two armies to cease fighting for two days, the rest of the time was spent in offensive and defensive fighting. Therefore, the tragic battle that just ended is the No. 14 offensive and defensive battle between the two sides. .

The more than ten fights before this were also very tragic.After each fight, both sides would lose a lot of soldiers and horses, ranging from three thousand to tens of thousands of casualties, every day without exception.Under such a brutal fight, the corpses caused by a fight could block the moats outside the east gate and north gate, allowing Zhao Wei's rebels to directly attack the city gate.

It is worth mentioning that it is summer and the weather is extremely hot. The corpses blocking the moat will rot after soaking for two or three days.The disgusting stench pervaded all over the place, so that the people living in the east city and the north city lived in the pungent smell of corpses all day long. It was really miserable, but there was nothing they could do. They could only pity themselves and lament in vain .Not only the people in the city near the moat could smell the stench, but even the Zhao Wei rebel camp a few miles away also had an unbearable stench of corpses.

As a last resort, in order to avoid the outbreak of plague after the corpses rotted, Zhao Wei and Zhang Ren, the generals of the two armies, discussed before the battle and took turns to clean up the corpses in the moat every night.During this period, the two sides were not allowed to launch an attack, and were not allowed to sneak attack or shoot the sergeants who cleared the river. For this reason, the leaders of the two armies took an oath in public before the battle to show their sincerity.In order to reach this agreement, Zhang Ren had to make a concession and allowed Zhao Wei's rebels to build four bridges on the moat, so Zhao Wei would allow the defenders to clean up the corpses and dredge the moat.

Obviously, the reason why Zhang Ren gave in was because the city was a dead object and could not be moved.Once the plague breaks out, the more than [-] people and tens of thousands of soldiers and horses in the city will not be spared. The whole city is very likely to become a dead city, with no people or animals left, and more than [-] people will die in one battle.In contrast, Zhao Wei's rebels had no worries in this regard, and could advance and retreat freely. Once they found that the situation was not right, they could pull out their strongholds and retreat, hiding far away.Therefore, Zhang Ren had to compromise and had to give in; and Zhao Wei is not a person without conscience, not to mention that he had lived in the city for nearly ten years before, so he thought twice, and finally agreed to Zhang Ren's request .

After half a month of desperate fighting, both sides are very familiar with each other's military strength.Although Zhao Wei has a superior force, he is at an absolute disadvantage in terms of geographical advantages; and the defenders in the city are just the opposite, occupying the advantage of the city, but insufficient troops.In this way, the two sides will fight fiercely for half a month, but the outcome is still undecided, and there is a stalemate.

However, today's fight is completely different from the past.

The defenders were obviously much fiercer than before, and their strength was sufficient. As a result, the rebel soldiers repeatedly climbed to the top of the city, but they were still unable to gain a foothold, and were forced to retreat by the defenders.At this point, Zhao Wei, the commander of the rebel army, didn't notice anything unusual about the defenders at first, but as the casualties of the siege soldiers increased, he realized that reinforcements had arrived in the city.

Unexpectedly, Zhao Wei didn't care about this, but was happy to see the success.This was because he knew the soldiers and horses under Liu Zhang's tent very well, and he knew that Liu Zhang had no soldiers to use, and even if there were reinforcements, they would never exceed [-].And with a powerful army three times that of Liu Zhang's in his hands, he was really confident, and he was not worried about Liu Zhang's reinforcements participating in the war, and he didn't take these reinforcements seriously at all.

It is precisely because of this that when Zhao Wei discovered that there were reinforcements joining the battle to defend the city, he did not change his siege strategy.

However, Zhao Wei would never have imagined that Zhang Ren deliberately let him see the reinforcements on the top of the city, and Zhang Ren had already expected that Zhao Wei would not pay attention to the reinforcements of more than two thousand people.As Zhang Ren expected, after a whole day of fighting, Zhao Wei did not change his siege strategy, and continued to attack the city by force.

Under the night, with a "squeak" sound, the east gate suspension bridge slowly fell, and then the city gate slowly opened, and a cavalry force of more than a thousand people came out of it, all lighting torches, illuminating the city gate as bright as day.This is the team that went out of the city to salvage the remains of the corpses in the moat, and it was the turn of the defenders to clean up the river tonight.

Chapter 145

At the beginning of Yinshi, a crescent moon hangs over the northern sky, and bright stars are shining in the misty sea of ​​clouds, watching all creatures shrouded in the morning mist without blinking.

At the east gate of Chengdu, the moat is still brightly lit, as if it were daytime.

In the river, more than a thousand soldiers are still salvaging the remains of corpses that have sunk to the bottom of the water to dredge the river.