Great Han Empire

Chapter 363 Commander of the Hunan Army: The Way of Offense and Defense

In history, there are often times dozens of times the number of troops besieging a strong city with heavy casualties and the city cannot be pulled out. In addition, the siege scenes of war movies are not very professional. The fall is impressive.Some people even think that all siege battles will be protracted and the casualties will be greater than those of the defenders, and there is more than half of the possibility that the city will not be taken.In fact, these are just some special cases. Most of the cities in history were taken down without much effort.Like Qin general Bai Qi, there are many people who took out two or three cities in one military operation.

First, analyze the reasons for the special cases.First of all, there must be a solid city. A complete city defense system cannot be built in one or two years. It will take at least three to 50 years to complete the construction. After completion, it must be constantly strengthened and repaired. Comes broken.Since my country began to build a large number of cities during the Warring States Period, and a solid city can be broken but it is difficult to be completely razed, and therefore the cities in special cases are often built very early and have been operated for hundreds of years.For example, Chen Cang, which made Zhuge Liang hate, is the main road of communication between the four directions. It was built long before the Qin Dynasty. There is an allusion in the Qin and Han Dynasties that Liu Bang secretly crossed Chen Cang. After the Han Dynasty, it continued to operate, especially the Eastern Han Dynasty. At the end of the Han Dynasty, the Kingdom and Han Sui besieged the city. Huangfusong was ordered to lead troops to rescue the city. Relying on its strong city, he watched the battle with his hands tied for more than [-] days. Yu Li, beheaded over ten thousand!In the Three Kingdoms period, Hao Zhao defended the city with more than a thousand soldiers, and Zhuge Liang's tens of thousands of troops ran out of food and returned.Of course, not every city will be built to this standard. The country's financial resources are limited, so it will only focus on the construction of individual cities that guard traffic arteries.As for other small cities, the city walls will have strict height and width restrictions to prevent people from using them to cause chaos.In addition, it is easy to damage and difficult to repair. After the city was damaged in World War I, it would take several years to completely repair it. If it is attacked again during the period, it will be very dangerous.

Secondly, there must be a sufficient number of elite soldiers. Big cities need more soldiers, and small cities need fewer soldiers.The more the better, the first is that it cannot be accommodated, and the second is that the consumption of food and grass cannot be sustained.According to "Mozi", the city is guarded by ten people.Therefore, in the small city of Chencang, 3000 people are enough to defend it.If there are insufficient manpower, no matter how strong the city is, it will be like paper.In addition, a reserve team must be left in the city for rescue and attack.Those who keep will not come out, those who go out will not keep.Defending the city and attacking is a very important part, which is not uncommon in classic city defense battles.Morale is very important in war. If the morale of an army is high, the cowardly will not retreat, and if the morale of the army is weak, the brave will not advance.When defending the city and fighting, the enemy is strong and we are weak and surrounded by the enemy. Of course, the morale will be low.Of course, the quality of the soldiers should not be bad, too bad, ten thousand people defending the city can only be used as a thousand people, and they will collapse as soon as they are charged.

Thirdly, armaments, food and grass must be sufficient.Wood, rolling stones, arrows, etc. are all things that consume a lot. Taking wood and rolling stones as examples, they consume thousands of dollars every day.The number of arrows is tens of thousands.It is difficult to defend a city without stockpiling tens of thousands of wood, rolling stones, and millions of arrows, and attempting to rely on close combat to kill the enemy.These things are not difficult to obtain overnight, and the country's total supply is limited, and only important strongholds can be adequately supplied.Needless to say, the consumption of other ordnance is much smaller, but it must be complete.

The last thing is to have foreign aid. "If there is no city that must be saved, there is no city that must be defended." It is easy to understand that the important city is the city that must be saved. If it is not important, it does not need to be defended.Rescue is a very important part of defending the city. I mentioned morale before. If there is no rescue outside, the morale will be low. Soldiers feel that they have been abandoned.If there is rescue, even if there is little hope of getting close, it always gives the soldiers a hope that they can survive.Most of the failures in siege battles were due to the fact that the city could not go down and reinforcements were approaching, and the siege army had to retreat due to the enemy's back and forth.As mentioned above in Zhuge Liang's battle of Chencang, the retreat was due to the approach of reinforcements from Wei.The Mongols have been attacking the Song Dynasty for more than 40 years, but there have been no large-scale battle results, not only because the Song army defended it with cities, but also because of the gathering of reinforcements.The Song army was supported by various cities, leaving a large number of mobile troops in the rear. The Mongolian army sent out mobile regiments to rescue the besieged city.If there is no rescue, even a strong city like Xiangyang will be breached sooner or later.Meng Jin besieged Xiangyang several times, but was defeated or retreated voluntarily due to the arrival of reinforcements. Until the last siege of Xiangyang, several groups of reinforcements failed in field battles. The Mongolian army besieged Xiangyang for five years and was finally captured.In the absence of reinforcements, it is very rare for the siege party to withdraw due to other factors.No matter how strong the city is, without reinforcements, it is only a matter of time before it is breached.

In addition, the most important thing is to be guarded by famous generals.The success of the special case is largely due to the factors of famous generals. Famous generals can win more with less in field battles, not to mention having a strong city to help them.It's just that in many cases, people attribute the credit for defending the city to the strength of the city rather than the well-known generals.For example, Hao Zhao first defended the Xiongnu in Bingzhou for more than ten years, and was well versed in the law of defending the city, and then transferred to Chencang.Zhuge Liang attacked the city with ladders and chariots, while Hao Zhao shot rockets at ladders and crushed chariots with ropes and stones.Zhuge Liang shot into the city with a well fence a hundred feet and filled the moat with earth pellets. Hao Zhao built a heavy wall inside.Zhuge Liang dug a tunnel, which was cut off by Hao Zhao.Two years later, Hao Zhao suffered from the epidemic, and Zhuge Liang immediately sent troops to attack again. Chencang's strong city was not enough to filter, but Hao Zhao was the only filter.

There is also siege operations. The siege with ladders and ants attached to the city in the movie scene is only the most backward method, and it has long been used.In the Spring and Autumn Period, Sun Tzu wrote a book, saying that when attacking a city, there are equipment such as repairing sculls, sculls, and tools, and the ants who will be too angry will attack it.It can be seen that ants fell behind in the Spring and Autumn Period, and even the ladders were improved in the Song Dynasty. Similar to the boarding ladders of airplanes today, they also have wheels, but they are pushed by human power, and people hide under them to avoid arrows and stones.The siege equipment is not described in detail, but there are pictures in "Wu Jing Zong Yao".The siege equipment is not convenient for marching. After the siege, the artisan battalion accompanying the army cuts wood on the spot to make it.

In any siege, the heaviest casualties occurred under the city walls and during the climbing process. The casualties in the contact movement were not very large. Although the enemy's crossbowmen were condescending, our crossbowmen were several times that of the enemy, so we were not passively beaten.Only under the city wall and during the process of climbing the city, the siege soldiers have no power to fight back, so many siege equipment were born to solve this problem.Another thing is to use the superior number of crossbowmen to suppress the enemy's actions on the city wall.The most intense areas of siege warfare are often the city gate and its vicinity.No matter how the city gate is reinforced, it is definitely not as strong as the city wall several feet thick. As an attacker, it is faster to project troops through the city gate than over the city wall.As a defender, if the city wall is attacked, things can still be done, but once the city gate is breached, it is basically irreversible.Therefore, the vicinity of the city gate is both the focus of offense and the focus of defense.

Having said so much, I feel that there is really nothing to say, and there is really nothing to say.As an article, it is barely enough. For a book review, it is good if it can be used as a reference for people to write articles.

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There are a lot of small problems, supplements, deletions, additions, and adjustments to the punctuation and word order in some places, but they are largely unchanged.The fact that the city is guarded by ten people comes from "Wei Liaozi" rather than "Mozi".Common portable ladders are still used in raid warfare.

Add another paragraph:
Once the city gates were captured and the enemy troops entered the city in large numbers, the morale of the defenders plummeted, and there were often large-scale surrenders or even all surrendered under the leadership of the defenders.Basically, the complete loss of the city gate means that the city is broken, and only a very small number of people stubbornly resist in the street fighting.And without the cover of the city wall, under the superior force of the besiegers, the ratio of casualties between the two sides was often reversed.Therefore, the siege war focused on the city walls and gates, especially the city gates and the city walls near the gates, which were the most fiercely contested places.

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When using troops, most of them move according to the lines of communication.The same is true for people. If there are many easy roads to walk, there will be more people where several roads meet, and there will be cities with more people.Therefore, large cities are located at the intersection of important traffic lines (or national highways), and medium-sized cities are all above important traffic lines (national highways).Other small towns are above the non-important traffic line provincial and county roads.

For such a large city, a large number of soldiers are stationed in both peacetime and wartime, so that they can quickly maneuver in all directions and participate in wars or counter-insurgency.Its gains and losses are often related to the gains and losses of one side, so it is very important at any time, and it is quite strong.
Medium-sized cities, occupying important traffic lines, are relatively less important, but they are also highly valued. If the big cities play the role of the center, then these cities play the role of portals and enter a region. A must pass.

That is to say, these centers and portals are very important in peacetime and war.The central portal also has different sizes according to the size of the control and protection surface.

Other small towns, or military fortresses, are only valued during times of war.A small city means a small population, not on a major traffic line, and is not taken seriously in non-specific periods.

The size of the city has nothing to do with whether it is well defended or not. This has been demonstrated during the Northern and Southern Dynasties.The main issue is whether the troops are sufficient.Big cities need more soldiers, but small cities need fewer soldiers.Many big cities fell faster than small ones, often due to insufficient troops, insufficient for big cities but redundant for small ones.With the same 3000 people, it is no problem to defend a small city, but it is not good to defend a large city. This gives people the illusion that a large city is not easy to defend.

The Ming Dynasty guarded Beijing. Specifically, there were several layers of defense lines and two routes.One is the Liaoxi Corridor route, and the other is the Sanggan River Valley route.The first route, the outermost layer is Liaodong. Specifically, the gains and losses of Shenyang are related to the gains and losses of Liaodong. Jinzhou and Shanhaiguan are important strongholds in the Liaoxi Corridor.The second route, the outermost layer is the Datong Basin, where the gains and losses of Datong are related to the gains and losses of the entire Liaodong.Then there are Xuanfu and Neisanguan along the Sanggan River Valley.

In the Ming Dynasty, Beijing was guarded, and the two wings were important towns such as Liaodong and Xuan (Fu) Da (Tong). Three passes) defense, a barrier for Beijing, and finally Beijing defended by the Beijing army.With such layers of fortification, each town has its own duties and division of labor.It is not to say that guarding Beijing only guards the three internal and external gates, other places
If you want to guard Luoyang, you must guard the eight gates. The problem you face is the limited deployment of soldiers and supplies. Guarding everywhere will disperse your forces. If you can't guard the eight gates, you can't guard Luoyang either.Once one of the eight levels is breached, the entire defense system of the eight levels will collapse completely, and supplies and soldiers will not be able to withdraw at all, and it will be in vain.
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There are reasons for the stereotypes, but the analysis is not comprehensive. He believes that the city is too small, and the traffic (the arrows of the besiegers on the south side of the city can meet those of the besiegers on the north side), and good defense is powerless. But other conditions are Failed to consider, such as the problem of military strength that I mentioned.
In a big city like the capital, there are many examples of one-on-one action. It is not absolute to analyze the specific situation.
As far as the actual combat situation is concerned, due to the important geographical location of the city, it is often related to the gains and losses of a region and the control of an important communication line.
The importance of the geographical location of the city is inherent and will not change due to the actual combat situation.
The geographical location of the city has already been reflected in the large-scale city building during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. The geography of mountains and rivers has not changed much in the following thousands of years, and its importance has not changed.
The size of a city is often linked to its geographical location, and its geographical location is linked to its importance. Some cities are not big, but they are also very important after being linked to their geographical location.
But the big city needs a lot of power. If the power is not enough, it is easy to win.
The difficulty of siege is related to the sufficient defensive force. That is to say, it is related to the conditions of the main post. If the defensive force is insufficient, no matter how important the big city is, it will be forced to abandon it. If it is sufficient, no matter how small the city will be, it will not give up. Just like defending Beijing in the Ming Dynasty.
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The concept of going down with a drum has shrunk. At first, it was a concept that was opposed to clearing the periphery, and then slowly getting sleepy. Later, it shrank to less than five days.

The relevant original text of the Shouchenglu is as follows: "If the city is too small and the traffic is heavy, it will be difficult for a good defender to take risks. The rules think that the larger the city, the easier it is to defend, and the number of sections is limited, so it is easier to defend."

Specific situations can be analyzed in detail.If it is as small as Shishi traffic, there is no need to guard it.

(1) From the point of view of the specific methods used by both sides of the attack and defense, what do you say that the brothers support the old rules? The rules think that the bigger the city, the easier it is to defend.
The consideration here is too one-sided. Even if we do not look at the entire battle situation, there are still many angles from which the same or opposite conclusions can be drawn.

And according to what you said on the 31st floor, "First, consider the architectural solidity of the city itself and the geographical environment. In addition, it also depends on what methods others can use to attack."

The strength of a city is relative to the means of attack and defense. According to your point of view, two similar cities, the city with more attack methods is not strong, and the city with less attack methods is strong. That is to say that different standards are used. (Siege method) to measure whether the same city is strong.Is the measurement method of this transformation standard objective?

(2) But looking at the entire battle situation, my brother's point of view is: most of them should be determined by the actual combat situation, not by the city itself, which is equivalent to supporting the argument that the size of the city has nothing to do with whether it is well defended or not

The problem is that the actual combat situation is closely related to geography. For example, when Zhang patrolled Suiyang, it was not the actual combat situation that made Suiyang the gateway of the two Huaihe Rivers, but Suiyang itself was the gateway of the two Huaihe Rivers.

Moreover, the gains and losses of a city and a place often determine the changes in the actual combat situation.For example, after Chen Cang, Guanzhong was shared by Wei and Shu.In Suiyang, the two Huaihe Rivers will be affected by the flames of war, and the entire counter-insurgency situation will be affected.Let's go to Beijing, the south of Yanshan Mountain and the north of Zhending Changshan Mountain are all enemies.Mongols besieged Xiangyang, and when Xiangyang fell, the Southern Song Dynasty fell apart.

The geographical location of these places determines that they have an important influence on the development of the war situation, and the geographical location has not changed for thousands of years.

([-]) After further analysis, when viewed from the perspective of the entire battle situation, the size of the city must have a close relationship with the development of the battle situation. It is impossible for the attackers and defenders to turn a blind eye to the size of the city. irrelevant statement.
Although the defenders attached great importance to the big city, the big city may not be strong, because the big city needs a lot of strength, and tens of thousands of troops may not be enough.Although the defenders don't pay much attention to the small town, the small town needs less force, and a few thousand troops are enough.For example, Taiyuan Shouyang mentioned by Chen Gui, Taiyuan is big but Shouyang is small. Although Taiyuan is more valued than Shouyang, Taiyuan has many soldiers but has not defended it, but Shouyang has few soldiers.It can be seen that the adequacy of defensive strength comes first.

(End of this chapter)