My brother Ying Zheng, who dares to kill me?.

Chapter 747: The fatal flaw of Handan City! Which general would fight a siege like this?

Meng Tian relaxed a little and said without hesitation: "Xiaobei City cannot be easily captured, but Dabei City is just the residence of the common people. If the war situation requires sacrificing Dabei City, then Dabei City can be..."

But halfway through his words, Meng Tian was stunned.

Facing Ying Chengjiao's meaningful gaze, Meng Tian's eyes lit up: "The guards of Handan City are recruited from all over the country, but if Zhao State mobilizes a large number of troops and recruits young and strong men, most of the Zhao army will come from Dabei City!"

"Once Dabei City falls, the families of half of the Zhao army's soldiers will fall into our hands."

"The army will be in chaos!"

"Moreover, Dabei City is where Handan City forges and repairs weapons. If Dabei City falls, Handan City will not be able to fight for a long time!"

Xiaobei City is home to the families of court officials and dignitaries.

Dabei City also houses the families of the soldiers.

In peacetime, the families of soldiers were not even worthy of carrying shoes for the families of the powerful.

But when the war comes, the weapons in the hands of the soldiers are not a bit duller than those in the hands of the powerful!

How could the soldiers willingly sit back and watch the Qin army slaughter their families!

Su Jiao's eyes lit up: "Dongwang City must not fall."

"Dongwang City is the granary and arsenal of Handan."

"Although the weapons in the arsenal will have been distributed before the battle, the food in the granary cannot be transported away in a day or two."

"If Dongwang City falls, Handan City's supplies will be cut off!"

"Your Majesty is right. It seems that the four cities of Handan can all fall except West King City, but in fact, except West King City, none of the four cities of Handan can fall!"

"The four neighboring cities seem to give Handan City more space for retreat and tactical support points."

"But it also leaves Handan City with three more obstacles that must be rescued!"

Many truths are not complicated, all that is lacking is a finger that pokes a hole through the window paper.

When Ying Chengjiao revealed the seemingly hideous illusion of Handan City, all the Qin generals suddenly realized.

It turns out that the city defense system of the four neighboring cities of Handan is nothing more than a cloth tiger!

The strength of Handan City that gives the enemy generals the most headaches is also Handan City’s most fatal weakness!

The fear of Handan City in the hearts of the Qin generals quietly turned into an eagerness to try!

Meng Tian suddenly said, "However, Zhao may not necessarily recruit a large number of able-bodied men from Dabei City for this battle."

"After all, our army is small!"

Ying Chengjiao said calmly: "I will help the king and ministers of Zhao to make this decision!"

"Pass this general's order!"

"Give up the attack on all other gates of Handan City!"

"Commander Xifeng's troops will ambush in the hills to the north, and Commander Renxiao's troops will ambush in the mountains and forests to the south to intercept and kill the Zhao reinforcements."

"The rest of the troops will break camp immediately and follow me across the river to the north."

"After a night's rest, concentrate our forces to attack Xiaobei City!"

All the generals raised their hands: "Wei!"

A group of captains quickly rushed to various military units to implement Ying Chengjiao's orders.

Ying Chengjiao turned around to look at the waiter and said solemnly, "I would like to ask my comrades to pass on a message to Handan City."

The waiter bowed loudly and said: "I am willing to die for Lord Chang'an!"

Large patches of torches lit up the sky on the west side of Handan City.

Ying Chengjiao openly destroyed the camps in various places and led his army across the Zhushui River by boat, heading straight for the north gate of Xiaobei City.

When the sun jumped out of the horizon again, the two captured armies launched a charge towards the moat on the north side of Xiaobei City accompanied by the rising sun!
At the same time, at the north gate of Xiaobei City.

Looking at the enthusiastic captured soldiers outside the city, Guo Kai, Zhao Yi, Sima Shang and other ministers and generals couldn't help but frown.

Sima Shang said solemnly: "The Qin army has given up all attacks on the remaining cities. Not even a single soldier has been left behind. Only scouts are still scouting everywhere to quickly learn whether our army has sent out troops."

"The Qin army has transferred almost all its forces to the north of Xiaobei City!"

Zhao Yi's eyes were full of confusion: "Give up the attack on West King City, and instead focus on attacking Little North City?"

"Even if Xiaobei City falls in this battle, it won't matter."

"What exactly does Lord Qin Changan want?"

Although Xiaobei City and Xiwang City share a section of the city wall, the wall horse path of Xiaobei City is not connected to Xiwang City, and there is a certain height difference. If you want to go to Xiwang City from Xiaobei City, you can only go through the city gate.

If any enemy army wants to take Xiaobei City first, and then break through the wall of Xiaobei City directly to the wall of Xiwang City, what they will face will be the long spears piercing down from the wall of Xiwang City like a forest!

In Zhao Yi's opinion, Ying Chengjiao should not make such a low-level mistake.

Guo Kai said in a deep voice: "Qin Chang'an Jun will never do anything useless."

"I don't know why Qin Chang'an wants to concentrate his forces to attack Xiaobei City."

"Of course, think about your families and your wealth!"

Hearing this, the hearts of all the generals and court officials tightened.

Their family, young and old, and all the money they had saved in their life were all in their home in Xiaobeicheng.

Some people's entire family bloodlines even live in Xiaobei City.

The survival of Xiaobei City may be insignificant to Handan City, but it is crucial to them!
All the generals and court officials spoke at the same time regardless of their positions:
"Xiaobei City must not be lost!"

Guo Kai nodded slightly: "I think so too."

"General Sima, do you have any strategy to stop the Qin army?" Sima Shang said in a deep voice: "If the Qin army spreads out around Handan City to besiege the city, then I can attack from all four cities and use the local superiority to continuously weaken the Qin army."

"However, now that the Qin army has gathered its troops north of Xiaobei City, the only thing our army can do is to confront the Qin army head-on!"

"In this case, the losses may be extremely heavy!"

Guo Kai turned his head and asked, "Have the young men in Dabei City completed their military preparations?"

Guo Chang immediately said: "The army can be assembled by tomorrow at the latest, and our Handan city will have more than 33,000 troops."

Guo Kai's voice became heavier: "Not enough! Far from enough!"

"Although Qin Chang'an Jun has few soldiers, since Qin Chang'an Jun dared to attack Handan, it must be because Qin Chang'an Jun has his confidence."

"Pass on this order!"

"All males in Dabei City aged between fourteen and sixty must wear armor and take up arms and join the army."

"All the women will either carry baggage and food for our army, or go to the workshop to help the craftsmen forge arrows and repair weapons."

"The war is imminent, and I will not allow any man in Handan to be idle!"

Even Zhao Yi had no objection to Guo Kai's order.

Guo Chang hurriedly bowed: "Yes!"

Guo Kai looked at Sima Shang again and said, "Don't worry about the casualties."

"Tomorrow, more than 30,000 young men from Dabei City will be under the command of General Sima."

"Within three days, all the able-bodied men in Dabei City will be at the disposal of our army."

"General Sima, just let it go!"

Even though Guo Kai clearly placed high hopes on Sima Shang and entrusted him with important tasks, Sima Shang still just bowed indifferently: "Yes."

Sima Shang then turned his gaze towards the battlefield again and spoke in a deep voice:
"Pass this general's order!"

"Captain Fei Chong, lead the crossbowmen to line up south of the moat and suppress the Qin army with crossbow arrows!"

"Captain Fei Li, lead your troops out of the city through the east gate of Dabei City, bypass the river and attack the Qin army from the east."

"Commander Ma Fuchao, lead your troops to leave the city from the south gate of Xiwang City, bypass the river and attack the Qin army from the west."

"Captain..."

Sima Shang was also troubled by the current war situation.

When facing an enemy city, all generals will attack various sections of multiple city walls at the same time, so as to dilute the troops that the defenders can deploy on each section of the wall and maximize the troop advantage of the attackers.

Handan City could thus fully utilize the advantages of having multiple cities and numerous gates to launch surprise attacks on the attackers from all directions.

But this battle...

Which general would concentrate his forces to attack only a section of the city wall during a siege?

How could a general dare to lead a weak force to launch a siege against a strong city!
Handan City has gone through nearly two hundred years of wind and rain. What kind of war situations has it not seen?
But Handan City has never seen a battle situation like today!
Sima Shang, who had no experience in dealing with the situation, had to simplify the defensive advantages of Handan City into several fixed attack routes.

The troops of both sides, which were famous for their flexibility, launched a clumsy and boring positional attack and defense battle.

It was not until four days later that the situation on the battlefield finally changed, when the moat on the north side of Xiaobei City was blocked and more than a dozen river channels were compacted into land large enough for chariots to run.

Pushed by a large number of Zhao army prisoners, the huge catapult slowly approached the northern wall of Xiaobei City.

Captain Wang Pan led the baggage camp and followed closely behind, constantly giving orders to adjust the position of the catapults.

With Ying Chengjiao's order, huge stones weighing hundreds of pounds were thrown into the sky by the catapult and suddenly fell towards the city wall!

"Dodge! Dodge quickly!"

"Flying rocks are coming! Shield soldiers, be on alert!"

Sima Shang shouted the order and retreated, dragging Guo Kai away with him.

Just as he took a few steps back, a huge rock fell on the place where Sima Shang had originally stood.

"what!!!"

Several Zhao soldiers were smashed into pieces, and dozens of Zhao soldiers were injured by the flying stones.

Listening to the wailing sounds around him, Guo Kai half-crouched behind a shield, gasping for breath in fear.

Sima Shang, however, looked at the crack extending from five steps in front of him to his feet, frowned, and said in a deep voice: "People, listen to my order, carry loess and rammers to climb the city wall, and repair the city wall as soon as possible!"

Under Sima Shang's command, more than a thousand strong women rushed up the city wall carrying baskets full of loess. They first scattered the loess into the cracks, then placed wooden boards on the cracks, and then smashed it down with rammers.

As the strong women moved, the shocking cracks disappeared without a trace.

Zhao Yi laughed heartily upon seeing this: "The catapult built by Qin Chang'an Jun makes the whole world fearful."

"So Chu tried its best to build Helu City to resist the flying rocks."

"General Sima is now only asking the peasant women to tamp the soil to solve the problem of flying rocks breaking the city."

"Big color too!"

However, Sima Shang shook his head: "The cracks where the flying rocks fell are deep."

"Although rammed earth can cover the surface, it cannot repair the inside. I don't know how effective it will be."

"If we want to defeat the Qin army's flying stones, our army has no choice but to take the initiative to leave the city and eliminate the Qin army's catapults!"

Sima Shang looked at the Qin army's catapult formation in the distance and said solemnly, "Order the commander Ma Fuchao to harass the Qin army's center and disrupt the Qin army's formation."

"Order the commander Fei Chong to burn the Qin army's catapults!"

(End of this chapter)