Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 835 Battlefield Limits

Yuan Xi looked through the telescope at the top of the city and saw that the thousands of soldiers led by Chang Xi were completely blocked by Yuan Tan's army. It seemed that a considerable number of them were completely surrounded, and his expression became solemn.

To be fair, it's not that Chang Xi is incompetent, but that the soldiers led by Yuan Tan's military headquarters changed their formations very quickly, and with so many people mobilized, there was no chaos at all. Instead, they divided and surrounded Chang Xi's army at an extremely fast speed. It was obviously training. Quite knowledgeable.

This proves that in terms of mobilization ability alone, there is not a big gap between Yuan Tan's army and the Youzhou army, and they are not the kind of weak opponents that will collapse at the first touch.

And this number is also very particular. It did not send over ten thousand troops, but only five thousand people, which could suppress Chang Xi without being too crowded on the battlefield to form a formation.

Being able to command these large forces like an arm and a finger shows that the leading general is capable. It also shows that Yuan Tan knew the limits of his ability to lead troops, so he gave such a large number of troops.

And even if Yuan Tan's army clearly had the upper hand, Yuan Tan did not send excess troops to join the battlefield. Instead, he continued to concentrate his superior forces and continued to put pressure on Zhang Xun in the sub-city.

Compared with Chang Xi who was surrounded, Zhang Xun was actually more miserable because the troops invested by Yuan Tan had almost exceeded the limit of what he could defend.

In ancient times, attacking a city was both difficult and easy.

The difficulty is that if the equipment at the top of the city is fully prepared, the troops are sufficient, and the command is orderly, it is extremely difficult for the siege team to forcefully board the city. They often have to pay several times the price and use several times the force to suppress the defenders at the top of the city. The army can succeed.

Of course, this is an ideal situation. Most of the time in siege battles, the defenders are not mobilized in time and there are many weak links in the city defense.

Lack of manpower is one of the crucial factors, and the larger the city, the greater the manpower gap. Some people in later generations have calculated that if the defense of the four walls of Beijing is watertight, at least 180,000 soldiers will be needed, including the factor of defense changes. .

This is impossible and unrealistic. On the one hand, Beijing cannot support so many people, and on the other hand, it is very rare for foreign enemies to attack Beijing.

Of course, it happened several times in the Ming Dynasty.

The last time was when Li Zicheng entered Beijing. This was probably the easiest time in history. He led his troops to the city, only to find that there were only 10,000 or 20,000 sick and weak soldiers on top of the city.

Because the city of Beijing had just suffered a great epidemic, most of the soldiers contracted the disease and died.

As a result, Li Zicheng's soldiers encountered almost no resistance and climbed to the top of the city without any effort, and the city of Beijing was defeated.

Attacking and defending a city ultimately depends on the number of people. As long as the limit is exceeded, the defender's defense will collapse.

Yuan Xi naturally understood this. He looked at Zhuge Liang and found that his expression had not changed. He was holding a telescope and staring at the distant battle place.

Zhuge Liang felt Yuan Xi's gaze coming over, so he explained aloud: "Yuan Tan is waiting."

"His biggest purpose is not to besiege Changxi or attack the sub-city, but to wait for us to send troops out of the city."

"He has reserved sufficient troops and is waiting for us to enter the battle."

"He came with so many soldiers because he wanted to exchange them with us because he couldn't afford to raise so many soldiers."

Yuan Xi said solemnly: "But I can't let the soldiers die like this."

Zhuge Liang said solemnly: "This is natural, so we have to wait a while."

"If there are no changes on the battlefield, if we invest our troops at this time, many more people may die."

Yuan Xi was silent and could only cast his gaze into the distance.

Yuan Tan was also watching the top of the sub-city at this time.

What he held in his hand was the only pair of binoculars that Yuan Xi had given him.

Although he thought about imitating it, he failed. The craftsmen didn't know the principle, so they copied and polished it according to its appearance, and it was exactly the same. But for some reason, he couldn't imitate it, so Yuan Tan couldn't serve in the army. To promote this thing, you can only bring it with you.

He naturally couldn't figure it out. Yuan Xi had been careful when he gave it to him and used two lenses with different materials and different refractive index but similar appearance. The craftsman Yuan Tan found didn't know why, so naturally he couldn't imitate them.

But one set is enough, Yuan Tan thought.

He saw that in the sub-city opposite, Yuan Xi's army was in danger, and he thought that his second brother was able to keep his composure. He surrounded Wei and rescued Zhao, leaving sufficient troops to wait for reinforcements to come out. As a result, the opponent has remained still.

In this case, then I will completely attack the sub-city and see if you can get out!

Yuan Tan was about to give the order to send in another three thousand soldiers, but found that Cen Bi's group suddenly became chaotic.

He took a closer look and saw that it was Chang Xi who had reunited with his subordinates who were trying to save him, but he was also brave, advancing instead of retreating, and actually killed Cen Bi directly.

Cen Bi was already injured. Seeing that Chang Xi wanted to fight him, for the sake of stability, he retreated steadily, and suddenly he was in a desperate situation.

When Yuan Tan saw this, he shook his head and asked two thousand soldiers to support Cen Bi. At this time, he saw Zhang Xun's auxiliary city at the top of the city. His own soldiers had already climbed up and cheered loudly. Yuan Tan was quite surprised. The city was destroyed so quickly?

Guo Tu said: "There may be fraud."

Sure enough, before Guo Tu finished speaking, a fire broke out at the top of the city, and someone shouted that the back gate of the sub-city was opened, and Zhang Xun was leading his troops to break through and retreat to the main city of Dongwu!

The other party was so straightforward, which was beyond Guo Tu's expectation. He said loudly: "Master, is he still entering the city?"

Yuan Tan hesitated. Is it cost-effective to occupy a sub-city that was on fire?

While he was hesitating, he suddenly discovered that Tobu's main city was opened and a large number of reinforcements poured out. Yuan Tan subconsciously gave orders and pushed forward the reserved soldiers one by one.

However, Yuan Tan discovered that more and more soldiers were coming out of Dongwu, five thousand, ten thousand, fifteen thousand, and counting!

Yuan Tan was a little confused. As far as he knew, there were only more than 20,000 people in Dongwu City. Did they all send reinforcements?

He turned to Guo Tu and said, "What's going on?"

Naturally, Guo Tu didn't think about it, so he could only say: "Your Majesty, the arrow is on the string and has to be fired. Since the other party wants to fight decisively, isn't this what the lord wants?"

After hearing this, Yuan Tan smiled and said, "That's right!"

"Then let me see how much my second brother weighs!"

As Yan Jing Peng An and other generals under Yuan Tan led their troops into the battlefield, Yuan Tan suddenly discovered that Yuan Xi was continuing to invest troops, and even Yuan Xi's army from another sub-city came to reinforce!

In less than a quarter of an hour, Yuan Xijun dropped more than 20,000 soldiers and horses on the battlefield. Counting Zhang Xunchangxi, the number already exceeded 30,000. In a short time, it overwhelmed Yuan Tanjun's delivery capability, and Yuan Tanjun's army was overwhelmed. The formation keeps retreating!

Although Yuan Tan has a large number of troops, the battle line has been greatly compressed by Yuan Xi's army. He still has more than 10,000 troops that have not yet been sent to the battlefield, but it is not that he does not want to send them, but that it is difficult to fill this battlefield with people!

This was far beyond Yuan Tan's expectation. Although he had fought a battle before with a total of more than 100,000 people on both sides, that was when both sides had fully deployed their battle lines, and the battle line of 100,000 people could stretch for dozens of people. , and the terrain around Tobu City seems a bit crowded with fifty or sixty thousand people!

Yuan Tan woke up and realized that Yuan Xi had posed a problem for him!

If the troops are not projected into the battlefield, the advantage of the troops will not be realized, which is equivalent to breaking an arm. Now Yuan Tan must open up a new direction to accommodate the soldiers' attack, otherwise his troops will not be able to enter the battlefield in time, and he will only be suppressed.

Suddenly he saw the sub-city on fire at the top of the city, and his eyes suddenly lit up.

The auxiliary city abandoned by Yuan Xijun can accommodate at least 10,000 to 20,000 people, and it can also switch defenses with its own soldiers outside the city at any time!

He immediately said to Guo Tu: "How about ordering the soldiers who are not on the battlefield to enter the auxiliary city, extinguish the flames, and occupy this city to mobilize troops?"

Guo Tu thought about it, nodded and said, "This is a great plan."

Xin Ping said aloud: "If they didn't put out the fire in time after entering the city, and the enemy took the opportunity to attack, wouldn't they all die in the city?"

After hearing this, Guo Tu said: "George is too worried. Naturally, there are soldiers outside the city to help block them."

"The fire in the city can be extinguished in less than half an hour. Wouldn't it be nice to have an extra barracks that can accommodate 20,000 people out of thin air?"

"If this city is reduced, it will really cut off a way out."

Xin Ping always felt that something was not right, so he had to say: "What if this is the enemy's fire attack plan."

Guo Tu said decisively: "Search and extinguish it as soon as possible, isn't it the end of the matter?"

Now Xin Ping had no reason to object, so soldiers from Cao's camp rushed into the inner city, extinguishing the fire while allowing the rear troops to enter the city.

Soon the fire in the city was put out, and nearly 20,000 Yuan Tan's troops quickly entered the city. At this time, Zhang Xun had left a lot of food and baggage to carry away. When the soldiers of Yuan Tan's army saw it, they went up to plunder, and the scene was chaotic for a while. .

Guo Tuxin commented, and quickly ordered people to restrain the soldiers and ask them to find fire sources and flammable materials in the shortest possible time to prevent Yuan Xijun from setting fire again.

Soon, all fire sources in the city were extinguished, and Yuan Tan felt relieved and allowed the following soldiers to enter the city.

At this time, on the front battlefield, the two sides were already fighting fiercely. Zhang Xunchang and Zhang Liao and Xu Huang, who came to assist, both joined forces and took turns attacking Yuan Tan's army, causing considerable casualties.

But even so, Yuan Tan's army's formation was not scattered. The two sides were simply wrestling. Although Yuan Xi's army reduced pressure and overcame Yuan Tan's army, they could not establish victory for a while.

At this moment, cheers came from the sub-city. This was Yuan Tanjun's complete extinguishing of the fire, occupying each gate, and starting to rotate with the soldiers outside the city!

In this way, the 20,000 people of Yuan Tan's army fully played their role. They welcomed their tired soldiers into the city, and they went out from the top of the city and began to consume Yuan Xi's soldiers with wheel battles!

In this way, on the battlefield, the 30,000 Yuan Xi Army suppressed the more than 20,000 Yuan Tan Army, and the 50,000 Yuan Tan Army suppressed the 30,000 Yuan Xi Army!

The casualties of Yuan Xijun's soldiers began to increase. Yuan Tan saw through the telescope that Yuan Xijun seemed to have discovered something was wrong, and began to issue orders to have the soldiers retreat toward the main city.

Yuan Tan was afraid that the other party was cheating, so after discussing with Guo Tu, he asked his soldiers to withdraw. After all, he now occupies a sub-city. As long as he sets up his position on the battlefield in advance tomorrow, another sub-city will be at his fingertips!

(End of this chapter)