At the end of the Han Dynasty: a stingy husband from his hometown

Chapter 221 The battle in Jiangzhou is over, Ziyu comes east

Lingbao and Liu Sui were guarding the camp. Liu Sui had been killed by Gan Ning. Lingbao was furious and led his troops to chase Gan Ning.

However, Gan Ning's men were all cavalry, so Lingbao couldn't catch up in his eagerness.

In addition, there were fires everywhere in the camp, so Lingbao had no choice but to lead his troops back to put out the fires.

at the same time.

In the east of Jiangzhou City, more than 2000 private soldiers raised by major families, all with white cloths wrapped around their right arms, took advantage of the night to touch the east gate, intending to rob the city gate.

According to common sense, there should be only more than 500 defenders in the east of the city.

They led more than two thousand people by surprise and captured the city gate with ease.

Unexpectedly, they had just touched a position more than a hundred meters away from the east gate, but they could vaguely smell the smell of oil.

While the rebels were wondering, they suddenly saw many archers suddenly appearing in the houses on both sides of the road.

"Light it up, shoot the arrows!"

When Xiang Hong saw the rebels entering the ambush, he gave the order directly without any hesitation.

"Choo Choo Choo!"

As soon as Xiang Hong finished speaking, the soldiers who had been ready all lit fires and fired arrows.

In an instant, raging fire ignited on the street, quickly engulfing the rebels.

"It's hit!"

"Retreat, retreat, retreat quickly!"

When the military commanders of several major families saw this, they were all horrified and shouted at the top of their lungs.

"You guys, follow me and charge forward. We will make great achievements today!"

Xiang Hong held a long sword and shouted sharply at the soldiers who had been ambushing them for a long time.

"kill!"

Three thousand soldiers who had been following Xiang Hong for a long time shouted in unison, and then swarmed out, cutting off the rebels' retreat.

Xiang Hong took the lead and led his soldiers to charge forward and kill the rebels until they retreated steadily.

"There is such a big movement in the city. How could the troops outside the city not know about it? Why haven't they attacked the city yet?"

The man in charge of the Wen family was covered in blood and shouted to the people in charge of the other major families around him, his tone full of resentment.

One of them shouted: "Perhaps we failed to open the city gate as promised. Yan Yan and others thought that the matter was exposed, so they did not dare to attack the city."

The man in charge of Wen's army was furious when he heard this and said: "You are an ordinary man with a harsh face, you are a fool!"

"The number of defenders in the city is limited. Now there are fires everywhere in Jiangzhou. Most of Gan Ning's defenders have been held back by us. If we don't attack the city at this time, we will miss a great opportunity!"

Not to mention the more than two thousand rebels who have reached the end of their rope.

But it was said that Zhao Wei had ordered to see the giant trees cut down, and planned to take advantage of the civil unrest in Jiangzhou to break open the city gate. However, before the giant trees were cut down, he suddenly saw flames shooting into the sky in the direction of his camp.

Zhao Wei couldn't help but turn pale with fright, and hurriedly said to Yan Yan: "There is a fire in the direction of the camp, shouting to kill Zhentian, it must be the bandits coming to rob the camp."

"The sneak attack on Jiangzhou has been exposed, but the camp cannot allow any mistakes. We should quickly bring in troops to return for reinforcements!"

After saying this, Zhao Wei planned to order the withdrawal of troops and rush to support the camp.

"Absolutely not!"

At this moment, a voice sounded, and Zhao Wei hurriedly turned his head to look, just in time to see Zhang Ren striding towards him.

"What does General Zhang mean by this?"

"All the food, grass and baggage are in the camp. If they are burned to the ground, we will have to withdraw our troops. Can't we tell which is more important?"

Zhang Ren said in a deep voice: "The number of defenders in the city is no more than five thousand."

"He also wanted to fight with the private soldiers led by the major families in the city. He also divided his troops to garrison the four city gates. He also sent troops to capture spies in the city and put out fires everywhere."

"Let me ask, how many troops can he send to rob the camp?"

"There are still four to five thousand soldiers and horses in the camp, and there are two generals, Lingbao and Liu Sui, guarding it. Even if the rebel army surprises the army and causes chaos in the army, it is expected that it will not cause too much trouble."

"If we wait to withdraw our troops at this time and kill all the defenders in the city, we will miss such a golden opportunity to break the city."

"And if we don't attack the city and rush to support the internal forces in the city, after this, the major families in the city will definitely lose trust in us. It will be impossible to use this strategy in the future."

"For the current plan, the best strategy is to attack Jiangzhou in one go, regardless of casualties."

"If we capture Jiangzhou, even if all the camps and supplies of food and grass are destroyed, what's the harm?"

Zhang Ren's words were so powerful that they actually made Zhao Wei shake his heart.

"boom!"

While Zhao Hao was hesitating, he suddenly saw an even more raging fire burning in the direction of the camp, directly turning the night into day.

When Zhao Wei saw this, his heart sank to the bottom.

The place where such a fire can be ignited in the camp must be where the food, grass and baggage are piled up.

Not only Zhao Wei understands this truth.

Even low-level officers and slightly smart soldiers can predict what is going on in the camp.

a time.

Because the east gate of Jiangzhou was not opened according to the original plan, some of the soldiers who were suspicious suddenly became extremely panicked.

When a large army goes on an expedition, the most fearful thing is that the food and grass will be burned. The Battle of Guandu is the best example of this.

Once there is no food in the army, the army will inevitably collapse without a fight.

When Yan Yan saw this, he also advised: "For the current plan, Jiangzhou must be taken."

"However, the camp must be saved."

"Our army has a large number of troops. It is better to divide them into two groups. I will personally lead [-] troops and horses to rush to support the camp. The general can lead the remaining troops and horses to continue the attack on the city."

Zhao Wei thought this was a very good suggestion and agreed immediately.

Seeing the cries of killing in the city, the Yizhou army finally cut down and transported several very thick trees.

They cut down the trees bare, and then sharpened one end into a pointed shape to create the simplest battering ram.

"Everyone, listen to my order and follow me into the city!"

Zhao Wei saw that the simple battering ram had been built, and immediately ordered his soldiers to take it with them and go to hit the city gate.

city ​​wall.

Jia Xu looked at the Yizhou army getting closer and closer, but he calmly ordered: "All the troops obey the order and hide behind the battlements!"

"The archers are unloading their arrows, and the sword and shield soldiers are guarding the left and right!"

Although the soldiers didn't understand why they were doing this, they still did it.

under the city walls.

More and more soldiers rushed to attack the city, and soon they were within the range of the archers.

Zhang Ren immediately said: "General, you can order the archers to come forward and shoot at the city wall to cover up the soldiers and rush through the city gate!"

Zhao Wei looked at the dark city wall and directly ordered: "Archers, shoot!"

Jia Xu ordered the soldiers on the city wall not to light torches, so the archers of the Yizhou Army could not aim at all, and they all swarmed and shot arrows at the city wall indiscriminately.

It is not easy for arrows to reach the city wall.

Even after being shot up, the lethality will be greatly reduced.

What's more, Jia Xu had already ordered his soldiers to hide behind the city battlements, so the rounds of arrows rained down by the Yizhou Army did not cause too many casualties to the defenders on the city wall.

Chen Wu and Ling Cao were guarding Jia Xu with large shields. Not long after they hid behind the battlements, they saw many arrows being shot up.

Chen Wu looked at Jia Xu with surprise on his face and asked, "How did you expect that they can shoot arrows?"

Ling Cao also looked over with a curious look on his face.

Jia Xu smiled slightly and said: "As long as you participate in a few more battles, you will know that using crossbows and long-range siege equipment to cover your own siege troops belongs to the common sense on the battlefield."

"These things are difficult to learn from military books. You need to go to the battlefield yourself. After more experience, you will naturally know how to deal with it."

Jia Xu's father was a Qingqi general. He also wrote a volume called "Chao Sunzi's Art of War" and edited and annotated "Wu Qi's Art of War". He was not just a simple counselor.

The reason why Jia Xu had no experience in leading troops in history may be because he was too feared by the monarch.

Such people can only be kept around to make suggestions, and they dare not go out to become generals with real power, otherwise they will be very troublesome if they have bad thoughts.

Moreover, Jia Xu came out of the fortress and experienced Dong Zhuo's rebellion, as well as the rebellions of Li Jue and Guo Si. Although he did not directly participate in leading troops to fight, he experienced countless large and small battles.

Thinking of how much better Jia Xu was than Chen Wu and Ling Cao, who had never experienced a battle.

After hearing this, the two of them took Jia Xu's words to heart.

Chen Wu asked: "Should we remain still and let them push the battering ram to the city gate?"

When Jia Xu heard this, he smiled slightly and said: "When the siege ram is close to the city wall, the Yizhou Army's arrow rain will naturally stop."

Ling Cao had a good understanding. He just thought about it for a moment and said immediately: "Are they worried about accidentally injuring their own siege soldiers?" Jia Xu nodded.

Not every archer in the army is a perfect shot. Many so-called archers only need to ensure that they can shoot arrows without too much deviation.

When fighting in a large army, the archers do not need to aim at a specific person. They only need to cover the area with arrows in the designated direction.

If you shoot enough arrows, you can always hit the enemy.

In later generations, this would have been a typical fire coverage strike.

Sure enough, when the Yizhou nobles arrived not far from the city with their battering rams, Zhao Wei was worried that his bows and arrows would accidentally injure his own soldiers, so he had to order to stop firing arrows.

At this time, Jia Xu finally stood up from behind the battlements and shouted to the archers protected by the shield soldiers: "Aim at the people carrying the siege equipment and fire arrows as much as you like."

The soldiers outside the city did not dare to shoot arrows, but the people on the city wall had no such scruples.

For a time, the sound of bowstrings being pulled on the city wall was heard endlessly, and soon many Yizhou soldiers carrying battering rams fell to the ground.

"Substitute, keep charging forward, shield soldiers cover!"

Zhang Ren commanded calmly. Since there were only about a thousand defenders on the city wall, there were even fewer archers.

Therefore, it was impossible to suppress firepower against the densely packed Yizhou army outside the city.

It didn't take long for the battering ram to arrive not far from the city gate. Seeing that the city gate was getting closer and closer, Zhang Ren couldn't help but have a smile on his face.

However, Jia Xu commanded calmly: "Use the rolling wood to seal the city gate!"

After Jia Xu finished speaking, the soldiers who had been ready threw the rolling log down one after another. The rolling log smashed down from the city wall, and its inertia carried huge kinetic energy, directly causing a large number of Yizhou soldiers to flip over.

The soldiers carrying the battering ram were also smashed to pieces with broken bones and tendons, and fell to the ground wailing.

However, there were too many soldiers and horses in Yizhou. They rushed forward one after another. The people in front fell down, and the people behind quickly followed up and continued to carry the battering ram towards the city gate.

Jia Xu did not order to stop, but threw the rolling logs down one after another. The gate of the city was soon covered with rolling logs.

"stop!"

Seeing this, Jia Xu hurriedly ordered the soldiers to stop.

This can indeed kill the Yizhou army to a large extent, and it can also prevent them from approaching the city gate.

However, the consumption of city defense materials is also very huge.

To be on the safe side, Jia Xu did not plan to waste too much of the city's defense supplies, and used them as sparingly as possible.

Seeing the Yizhou soldiers climbing over the rolling logs at the city gate and continuing to advance, Jia Xu immediately ordered: "Fire oil!"

"Crash!"

Kerosene fell from the sky, drenching the battering ram and the rolling logs near the city gate. Many Yizhou soldiers were also splashed all over their bodies.

"Retreat, retreat quickly!"

Zhang Ren, who was directing his soldiers to rush forward, shouted at the top of his lungs when he saw this.

Unfortunately, it's too late.

"ignition!"

As soon as Jia Xu finished speaking, several torches fell from the sky and landed on the rolling logs covered with kerosene on the ground.

"boom!"

The fire burned instantly, and the Yizhou soldiers who were unable to escape were engulfed in the fire and let out shrill screams.

The battering rams and rolling logs also burned, and the location of the east gate turned into a sea of ​​fire. The nearby Yizhou soldiers fled back as hard as they could.

Zhang Ren couldn't help but look gloomy when he saw this.

Due to time constraints, only this simplest and unprotected battering ram could be built.

However, Jia Xu in the city had been on guard for a long time. With a combination of punches, he not only killed and injured hundreds of Yizhou troops, but also burned the siege ram.

Although Zhang Ren's army still has reserves, after this incident, the soldiers felt timid and may not dare to continue to move forward.

not to mention.

If Jia Xu can burn one battering ram, he can burn the second one. It is obviously impossible to use this simple tactic to invade Jiangzhou.

East Battlefield.

Xiang Hong took the lead and was extremely brave and unmatched.

The rebels were killed and retreated steadily, and their morale was completely lost.

Suddenly, the shouts of killing came from outside the city, and the stewards of the major families were all in high spirits.

The man in charge of the Wen family shouted sternly: "Tens of thousands of troops outside the city are already attacking the city. If we just hold on for a little longer, the city gate will be breached!"

The encouragement from the men in charge of the Wen family was very timely. After hearing these words, the rebels, who were already a little desperate, cheered up and fought with the soldiers led by Xiang Hong.

Although they still had the upper hand, Xiang Hong was keenly aware that his advancement speed had slowed down a lot.

As the morale of the rebels began to recover, even though Xiang Hong's soldiers were still advancing steadily, their casualties were slowly increasing.

The two sides fought for half a night, and Zhang Ren tried his best to break into Jiangzhou City.

As time passed, the morale of the rebels in the city became lower and lower. Xiang Hong shouted at the right time: "Surrender and avoid death. Those who resist will harm their families!"

Xiang Hong's words were like the straw that broke the camel's back.

No matter the people in charge of the major families or the private soldiers they brought, they had no intention of fighting at this time.

In the end, the people in charge of the major families surrendered one after another, and the rebels also laid down their weapons.

After the rebellion in Jiangzhou City was subsided, Gan Ning also returned to the city with Liu Quan's head. When Jia Xu learned that the Yizhou army's food and grass had been burned, he couldn't help but be overjoyed.

He had Liu Sui's head hung at the city gate, and widely publicized in the city Gan Xing's deeds of overpowering hundreds of cavalry, intercepting the camp, killing Liu Sui, and burning the Yizhou army's food and grass.

After the incident spread, Gan Ning naturally became famous, and Jiangzhou, which was originally a bit turbulent, gradually stabilized.

Some big families who were quick-thinking knew that Zhao Wei and others would inevitably withdraw their troops without food and grass, and even took the initiative to make friends with Gan Ning and Jia Xu.

With the help of these people, Jiangzhou was completely stabilized.

As expected, Zhao Wei and others returned without success. In addition, the food and grass were burned, so they had to temporarily withdraw to Dianjiang.

Fortunately, Yizhou's soldiers and horses arrived in a hurry, and the food and baggage they brought with them was not too much. Otherwise, just this battle would seriously damage Yizhou's vitality.

After the Yizhou army retreated, Jia Xu still did not dare to neglect and continued to blockade the entire Jiangzhou, not allowing anyone to enter or exit at will.

While he ordered people to strengthen the city wall and collect supplies to defend the city, he also expressed his hope to the cavalry general Zhou Qi to send another vanguard force to support Jiangzhou as soon as possible.

But when Zhou Qi was marching, Chen Wen suddenly came to report: "Xuzhou Shepherd Liu Bei has sent an envoy."

When Zhou Qi heard this, he couldn't help but feel a little moved in his heart and asked, "Who is the envoy?"

Chen Wendao: "Langya Zhuge Jin."

When Zhou Qi heard this name, he couldn't help but be surprised. He secretly thought that the butterfly effect was really terrible. Zhuge Jin did not defect to himself who occupied Jiangdong, but instead defected to Liu Bei's account.

"Invite him to come over and talk."

Zhuge Jin was brought over. When Zhou Qi saw the other party's appearance, he couldn't help but marvel.

Zhuge Jin is about 1.8 meters tall, with a gentle temperament and good looks. He looks like a handsome man.

"As expected, he is Zhuge Liang's brother."

Seeing this, Zhou Qi couldn't help sighing secretly.

The Zhuge brothers in history were both handsome and handsome men. According to historical records: Liang Shao had the talent to stand out from the crowd and the aura of being heroic and domineering.He is eight feet long and has a very majestic appearance, which is very different from other people at that time.

During the Eastern Han Dynasty, one foot was equivalent to about 23 centimeters in later generations, and eight feet was equivalent to 1.8 meters four, which was not considered short even in later generations.

After seeing Zhuge Jin, Zhou Qi couldn't help but think of Zhuge Kongming, the famous figure through the ages.

Obviously, his interest in Zhuge Jin and Liu Bei is far less than that of Zhuge Liang.

The real Zhuge Liang is less evil than the image in the novel, but more perfect. He is almost the top existence in terms of military, politics, literature, calligraphy, painting, music, invention and creation.

Zhuge Liang was perfect in both his character and talent. Throughout China's thousands of years of history, there was only one Zhuge Liang.

Many people believe that Zhuge Liang is not good at military affairs, citing the fact that Zhuge Liang's repeated Northern Expeditions were unsuccessful, and Chen Shou's evaluation of Zhuge Liang, saying that he "has mobilized the masses for years without success, and that he has to adapt to general strategies, which is not his strength." .

This is not the case.

Zhuge Liang is not bad at adapting strategies, but compared to Cao Wei who occupies the entire north, the Shu kingdom is too weak.

Zhuge Liang can't afford to waste money, so everything is safe.

Even though the national strength of the two sides was very different, Zhuge Liang was able to defeat the strong with a small number in his repeated Northern Expeditions, and the weak defeated the strong. Moreover, although the Northern Expeditions failed many times, the loss of troops was not very large.

If Zhuge Liang is not good at military affairs, then what do the Wei generals who were beaten by him and the old silver coin Sima Yi count?
Even looking at the entire Wei State, no one dared to confront Zhuge Liang head-on despite his absolute superiority in military strength.

"Zhuge Liang can be reused regardless of his talent or character."

"And I'm still young now. If I can't dominate the world in the future, Zhuge Liang will be the best person to support me."

Thinking of this, Zhou Qi's eyes became subtle when he looked at Zhuge Jin.

(End of this chapter)