Jinyang is the first city in Taiyuan and the first city in Bingzhou.
Looking back on the past, Jinyang was originally the place where Liu Heng, Emperor Taizong of the Han Dynasty, hid his dragon, and was a great defense in the northern frontier of the country. Since the founding of the Han Dynasty, and since Emperor Gaozu defeated the King of Han Dynasty, there has been no war in Taiyuan County for more than three hundred years. Although Jinyang City was prominent during the Warring States Period, its status has naturally declined over time, so that now that the Huns are in rebellion, Jinyang City is empty. There was a high wall, but there were no good generals and no strong army, so they were attacked by Xu Bu in ten days.
But today, no one except Chen Chong knows that this Jinyang City will dominate the fate of the Xia in the next eight hundred years: it will be a pillar city for the northern Han people to defend, and a place where Xianbei cavalry will whip the world. The origin of Guanlong Group and the carnival capital of warlords of the Five Dynasties.
But now, in the Han border defense system, it is still just a state that is gradually declining. The court has seen too many such cities, and it will neither remain indifferent nor go to war over it. It is great to remove a few corrupt officials. , refresh the official administration.
But for Liu Bei, conquering Jinyang is the biggest challenge in his life so far.
Liu Bei had never seen Jinyang City, but fortunately Gao Shun and Lu Bu, who were from Bingzhou, had seen it. Lu Bu had radical opinions. He believed that Jinyang was a huge city that could not be defended without a large army. Now the Xiongnu city has only six thousand defenders. As long as they can attack from both sides, they will be able to break the city. Gao Shun's opinion was slightly more conservative. He analyzed that Jinyang City was more than four feet high and about ten feet thick. Although it was in disrepair for a long time, it was enough to defend itself. It would not be possible to win unless it was five times as high as the enemy.
Anticipating that the enemy would be lenient, Liu Bei was determined to prepare according to Gao Shun's suggestion.
If the enemy is five times larger than the enemy, it will be necessary to recruit an army of 30,000 troops. Even counting the Xiangyong and Jicheng County soldiers, the Han army could only gather more than 20,000 soldiers. However, Liu Bei came up with an ingenious idea. He remembered that after the Xiongnu army went south, 30,000 Black Mountain bandits directly occupied Yangyi, and the leaders were Yu Du, Bai circled the two of them.
Although there were a lot of gold, silver, cattle and sheep seized in the Qixian battle, Liu Bei was not greedy for gold and silver and was not short of food and grass, so he simply sent them all to Yangyi and asked the two of them if they could attack Jinyang with him. After that, the wealth in Jinyang City was divided into 30% from Du and 30% from Bailao. Seeing this sudden windfall, two commanders, Yu Du and Bai Rao, could not agree. Within three days, they teamed up with Liu Bei and headed north.
As a result, the number of Liu Bei's men swelled to more than 40,000. It was the first time in Liu Bei's life that he had such a large army. He looked back at the clouds under his command and the fighting was gleaming. He felt proud in his heart, secretly thinking that he would be able to capture the city this time.
After bypassing Ganyang City and approaching Jinyang City, Liu Bei realized how absurd his idea was.
Marching to twenty miles south of Jinyang City, the first thing that caught the army's sight was not the city wall of Jinyang City, but the rugged brown-black ridges, like the broken palm prints of Pangu, extending from the sea of clouds to the sky and the earth. In the dividing line, the lush pine forest is covered with a layer of immature green gauze, but it cannot cover up the scars of the years on the tree surface.
The further you go, the closer the mountains are, and the east and west are approaching each other, making it difficult to breathe, but you feel that the world is vast. After traveling ten miles, a green river gurgled from the north. The water was higher than the horse's back, making it difficult for the army to cross. Cheng Lian said: "This is the Jinshui River, which is also the river that protects the city of Jinyang. Five miles to the north, our army can cross the river on foot bridges."
Meng Jian followed the army all the way here. He saw the riverbeds on both sides of the Jin River were dry and cracked, with ravines and crisscrossing ravines, and the clear water rushing past. He put his army on both sides of Jinyang and couldn't help but sigh to Liu Bei: "After years of drought, the Jin River is still so clear and refreshing. There are hundreds of thousands of people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. The sky and the earth are vast, and people are as small as sand. As Zhuang Zhou said, 'Those who look at the big when they are careful will not understand, and those who look at the small when they are big will not understand.' I know it today."
Before Liu Bei could respond, Yu Du could no longer suppress his annoyance. He rode his horse to Liu Bei's side and asked again: "With the mountains and rivers in such a situation, is it really easy to conquer Jinyang City?"
Liu Bei calmly replied: "Commander Yu, we rely on the strong to bully the weak, and use the masses to bully the few, so we also need a stable morale. It should be noted that the weather is not as good as the right place, and the right place is not as good as the people. The only thing that the barbarians look up to is the right place. As long as our army is united, What should we fear if there are six thousand people?"
After organizing his army to cross the bridge, Liu Bei immediately built a camp along the water. While ordering the entire army to rest, he waited to explore the defense layout of Jinyang City at night. The scout left at Xu Shi and returned at Mao Shi. He reported to Liu Bei: The walls of Jinyang City are now covered with fire. Looking down from Luliang Mountain, the ruins of the city are everywhere, and crows and birds can be faintly seen flying around. It turned out that the Huns demolished the houses in the city, used all the beams, pillars and door plaques as firewood, and boiled boiling oil on the walls.
Fortunately, when the Huns conquered Jinyang, they had already filled in all the trenches and ditches at the foot of the city, eliminating this most time-consuming and laborious task. Liu Bei only needed to build ladders to attack the city.
According to what the scouts said, Liu Bei made the following response: In addition to making ladders and chariots, he quickly made a batch of wooden rafters from non-flammable fir wood, wrapped them in cowhide and tied them, soaked them in Jinshui overnight, and distributed them to the soldiers in the front line. He also ordered his soldiers to make fire arrows. If there was a favorable wind, thousands of arrows could be fired at once, causing a fire on the wall.
Unexpectedly, Liu Bei also followed Xu Bu Shanyu's example and hung Dugu Sukelan's head on the Han military flag, handed it over to the Poison Department, and asked him to send a cavalry back and forth in the city to persuade him to surrender. He did not go to Japan. Knowing that he would act like this, Guan Yu said to Zhang Fei at night: "Jinyang is really a strong city in the world, and my brother is not sure about it. When you go into battle tomorrow, you must not show any anxiety or affect the morale of the army."
At the end of the next day, Liu Bei finally completed preparations and ordered the entire army to launch the first attack on Jinyang City.
The person guarding Jinyang was Huyan King Huyan Yuledu. He was originally the deputy commander of the Eastern Route Army. He was well-known among the Xiongnu tribes and was well versed in Sinology. He made many contributions during the siege of Jinyang. He was also the first to express his loyalty to Xubu Shanyu, and was highly used by Xubu Shanyu.
Xubu Shanyu ordered him and more than 6,400 people from the Huyan tribe to garrison here. Yesterday, I heard that Han troops were crossing the Jinshui River. The number was as high as 40,000. The tribesmen were frightened and came to ask for advice. Only he steeled himself and rebuked his subordinates, saying: "We rebelled against the imperial court, went south to kill our fathers and brothers, and neglected our children." , there are actually quite a lot of them, killing famous people and destroying their clothes is pointless. Now the situation between the enemy and us is like water and fire, and we are enemies. You came here to ask for advice. Do you want to surrender the city as a sacrifice? "
"If our army returns and surrenders, Shanyu will be trapped in two mountains, unable to advance, and will seek death if we retreat. We will be surrounded and killed by the Han army, and the Xiongnu elite will be wiped out. We will also be like a wolf dog with its claws broken. It should be noted that the seven Han soldiers There are only seven thousand of us who are twice as many as me. Do you think that the Han army is all saints? Now I occupy a strong city and occupy an important place. All I need is for you to work together, stand firm and wait for reinforcements, defeat the Han army, and achieve complete victory soon! "
All the Huyan tribesmen felt sad and had no luck anymore, so they each led their troops to prepare for war. After sending six envoys out of the city to ask for help, Huyan Yuledu and his troops worked all night. Yinshi fell asleep leaning on the gate tower like his troops. When the sentry woke him up, Liu Bei's front camp was no different from him. Three hundred feet away, he opened his eyes and saw the cloud-patterned flying tiger flag, which was being blown by the strong wind coming from the northern grassland.
It's the north wind! Liu Bei was shocked, and immediately ordered that no fire arrows be used today. And let Yu Du frighten the defenders as planned.
Yu Du readily agreed and ordered his younger brother Yu Feng to go out. Yu Feng rode six chariots with crimson-colored canopies, and was guarded by fifty elite cavalry. They all held hooked halberds about ten feet long, three-pronged spears, and wore five pieces of double-layered armor. They were very majestic. Yu Feng stood under his banner, waving the Han flag in his hand, and Su Kelan's head rolled like a honeycomb on the head of the pole. The Xiongnu tribesmen on the wall all felt sad and mourned for themselves. Instead, they aroused the spirit of war and fired their bows and arrows at Yu Feng.
Yu Feng was thirty feet away from the city at this time. Most of the arrows missed, and only a few hit the cap. Yu Feng was not injured at all, but seven or eight of his guards died in front of him. The horses were startled, and there were three of them. The horse broke free from the reins and rushed into the Montenegrin army formation, causing a commotion among the soldiers.
When Liu Bei saw the Black Mountain bandits jostling and scolding each other, he sighed greatly: After all, they are just a mob. In such a situation, these people can only make a difference if their own side takes the lead and gains an advantage.
Upon thinking of this, Liu Bei immediately ordered Zhang Fei to lead a thousand soldiers to form a circular formation and cover the ladder to the city wall. Zhang Fei did not hesitate, ordered his troops and horses, and held up the wooden poles he had made last night. The fifty soldiers formed a formation and marched quickly towards the foot of Jinyang City. Although arrows were raining on their heads, the Huns soldiers were There was no choice but to watch the Han army under the city transport the ladders to the city like duckweeds.
Huyan Yuledu restrained his emotions at this time and patrolled back and forth among his troops. He saw that many of the residents were unbearable and anxious and wanted to roll down the hot oil. He hurriedly persuaded them one by one: "Now the clothes of the Han army are all wet, and they are in a state of disgrace." It is definitely not the right time to pour oil after the wooden rafters. Now that the sun is shining, it is better to wait for another two hours, when the clothes are dry and the people are dry, it will definitely work wonders!"
Liu Bei also sent people who were good at shooting at the rear to exchange fire with the barbarians on the city, and ordered the Black Mountain bandits to build a mountain of earth thirty feet in front of the city. Just shooting against the wind, 34 out of 10 of the Han troops were barbarians, and 78 out of 10 of the barbarians were Han. In just one hour, more than 200 soldiers were injured.
Fortunately, Zhang Fei set up a ladder at this time, and the Huyan tribe had to devote its energy to fighting the city climbers, which gave the Han army archers a little breather. Unexpectedly, not long after the ladder was set up, eight or nine people were climbing on it. One ladder was unable to hold up and collapsed on the spot. All the soldiers on the ladder fell down and crushed several waiting soldiers. Seeing that four or five people were instantly Just don’t live anymore.
The knowledgeable soldiers of the Han army discussed one after another: Our generals have never conquered the four-foot-long city, how can they build a ladder to climb Jinyang? At this point, the morale of the army gradually declined. Liu Bei, Lu Bu and others were speechless and could only hold the reins of their horses tightly, calling the soldiers back to the formation in vain to regroup.
Just as the order was being issued, Huyan Yuledu hurriedly ordered four jars of hot oil to be poured into the crowded area under the city wall. Wherever the oil passed, there was a sizzling sound. The Han soldiers screamed in agony, and fried meat floated in the wind. The smell of meat, striking while the iron is hot, was heard in Ledu and he threw down the firewood for boiling the hot oil. The hot oil ignited immediately when it hit the firewood. Under the roar of the north wind, the wooden rafters, ladders, and leather armor all burst into flames. The screams of the Han army gradually turned into howls, hoarse and shaking people's hearts.
When Liu Bei finally gathered his scattered troops, he looked at the smoke and bones under Jinyang City. His throat was choked for a moment and he couldn't say a word.
