Under Pingcheng, the Han army had besieged the city for nearly three months.
After Tuoba Jiefen successfully escaped from the siege, Liu Bei thought that the defenders in the city were greatly reduced and their strength was even more disparate. They would be unable to face the Han army's siege from all sides. He immediately ordered the armies to launch a general offensive the next day in an attempt to attack before the Xianbei reinforcements arrived. Go to Pingcheng. But he did not expect the power of Shanyu's death. Shanyu died heroically in front of his subjects. All the Xianbei in the city, regardless of gender, old or young, went crazy and shed tears.
Before the war, Chen Chong sent people to shoot books in the city, claiming that as long as the city was open, everyone in the city could be let go. However, the Xianbei people sternly refused at the top of the city, saying: The city is here and the people are here, but the people in the city will perish.
So the Han army went to war. Although most of the strong men in the city were gone, Bu Dugen was still able to recruit the elderly and women in the city. After all, they were a people on the grassland. They grew up on horseback and hunted wild animals all day long. Waiting for these Xianbei people to wear skins Jia walked up to the city wall and brandished his sword and shot arrows in front of the Han army. When the Han army reached the wall, they saw the old man and women with their eyes widened and shouting indescribable sounds. They couldn't help but feel a little discouraged. beat back.
After attacking for more than ten days, the Han army still could not make progress. Liu Bei was concerned about casualties, so he continued to dig trenches, build ramparts, and build mountains to plan a long-term siege of Pingcheng. On the third day of November, Deputy Fuluo went to Bin to solicit 20,000 reinforcements from Danhan Mountain. Together with his own troops and horses, the total number was more than 30,000 people. He went south to Daijun, arrived at Gaoliu on the fourth day of the lunar month, and arrived at Baishan Mountain on the fifth day of the lunar month. , camped at the foot of the mountain less than twenty miles away from Pingcheng.
When Linghu Yuan of the Eastern Front saw the guests arriving, the Xianbei army occupied the top of the mountain, and the mountains and fields were as dark as a crow's roof. He couldn't help but feel shaken in his heart, and quickly reported to the commander's camp. Liu Bei heard the report and wrote directly back. : "We have discussed this situation since we came here, why are we panicking? Just dig trenches on the back to prevent them from going down the mountain to charge into battle. Xianbei's reinforcements have not all arrived yet, and then it will be the decisive battle!" "
Sure enough, as he said, on the seventh day of November, another group of people arrived from the north. The leader was none other than Tuoba Jiefen. After breaking out of the siege, he went straight to Chengle and sent his envoys to circle back and forth in Yunzhong, Wuyuan, and Yinshan, calling on all Xianbei tribes to rescue the royal court. Hearing that Chanyu was in danger, those who responded to his call were Moruo, the leader of the Zhigan tribe, Tuichen, the leader of the Rilu tribe, Guzhihou, the leader of the Yanliyou tribe, and Dou Bin, the leader of the Wuluhui tribe. Tuoba Jiefen was able to reorganize 40,000 troops and stationed them in the Yungang Mountains forty miles northwest of Pingcheng.
The 70,000 Xianbei troops were on the left and right of the Han army, plus the foothold inside Pingcheng, forcing the Han army under the city to advance and unable to attack the city, and to retreat and unable to withdraw. However, Tuobajie Fen looked at the dense fences and trenches under Pingcheng from a distance, and remembered the disastrous defeat in the Battle of Shaling. He did not dare to attack rashly. He first ordered his men to rest on the spot, and then personally went to Fu Luo to Binbu to fight with him. He discussed the layout of the attack and decided that on the tenth day of the eleventh month, the two armies would advance from east to west to attack the Han army.
During the siege, the Han army was also intensely discussing the decision to attack the enemy. They were roughly divided into two groups. One group, such as Linghu Yuan and Gu Yi, proposed withdrawing the troops and returning, while the other group, such as Guo Daguan Yu, advocated withdrawing the siege and fighting decisively. The two are at a stalemate, and the only consensus is to withdraw first. Being attacked from both sides is a big taboo in battle. During the Battle of Kunyang, Wang Yi led an army of 400,000 to besiege Kunyang. He shouted loudly to the sky and marched thousands of miles away, but he was defeated by Shizu's tens of thousands of people. Everyone in the world said that Wang Yi was the enemy inside and outside. Fighting is difficult to coordinate. Nowadays, the strength of the Han army is similar to that of the Xianbei people. If a decisive battle takes place under the city, the outcome will be disastrous.
Liu Bei is also inclined to withdraw from the siege and fight decisively. He has always been very arrogant. He has won and lost in the past ten years of campaign, but he doesn't care at all. He just thinks that there are only more than ten thousand old and weak in Pingcheng, and his siege for more than a month has been in vain. This is really disappointing. He couldn't breathe. He waited for the generals to finish speaking and was about to decide on a strategy. Chen Chong kicked him secretly, so he changed his words and said, "It's a very important matter and let me think about it." Let the generals leave the camp to take a rest. , he stayed in the tent together with Chen Chong, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei.
Liu Bei first asked him: "Ting Jian, what do you think? Why don't you speak out at the meeting?" Chen Chong explained: "My opinion is different from that of other generals, and it is even different from yours, Xuande. Now that my status is sensitive, I should not undermine your authority." , let’s discuss the war decision with you.” Guan Yu reacted the fastest, he said in surprise: “Ting Jian, don’t you advocate withdrawing the siege?”
Chen Chong nodded and expressed his stance. He stood in front of the newly drawn map with his hands folded and said to the current war situation: "Now our army is divided into ten formations and surrounded Pingcheng on all sides. If the enemy cavalry comes when the siege is withdrawn, the five formations in the north and west of the city will be destroyed." It is extremely difficult to evacuate the formation, and we have to fight a decisive battle with the Xianbei people. The enemy has a large number of horses, and our army is fighting away from home. As for the decisive battle, I don't feel that I am 50% sure.
It's better to hold on under the city. Since the siege, we have been digging trenches and building fences every day. It is now comparable to a small city. It is a good location for our army. It is just a protracted war. Our camp has stocked up with enough food and grass for two months. At worst, we will withdraw when we are about to finish eating. By then, the enemy has been unable to attack the camp for a long time and will be unable to stop our army from withdrawing. "
At this point, the three of them all agreed with Chen Chong's opinion, but Liu Bei still had a question: "It's just that we are attacked from both sides, so it may not be easy to do anything during the war!"
Chen Chong finally explained: "In the Battle of Kunyang, there were still 8,000 warriors in Kunyang City, but now in Pingcheng, most of them are women and old people. They are still sufficient to defend the city. If they go out to attack the city, they will be at odds with the soldiers." The world of difference is nothing to worry about. Xuande, if our army withdraws from the siege now, and the Xianbei people do not fight a decisive battle with our army, but go straight into the city to avoid the battle and defend themselves, what should we do? If this happens, our hard battle for this month will be It’s truly a waste of effort.”
These words successfully convinced Liu Bei, and he reconvened the military meeting and conveyed the new arrangement to the generals: the entire army continued to besiege Pingcheng, and the formation remained unchanged. The only change was to transfer all the antlers of the siege to the outer formation to prevent Xianbei Reinforcements charged and the entire army was ordered to step up repairs.
On the tenth day of the lunar month, the Xianbei reinforcements made their first charge against the Han army's formation. Tuoba Jiefen did not attack in an all-out manner. He observed the Han army's formation on the mountain and felt that the Han army was like a snake coiling around the mountain. As long as it was cut into two parts, the whole army would be difficult to protect, so that day he and his deputy Fuluo went to Bin set out from the plain north of the city, gathered the Xianbei cavalry and rode their horses to attack the third northern formation of the Han army.
The leaders of the Northern Third Formation are Baibo Colonel Guo Da, Yuanyin Colonel Yang Feng, and Sanchuan Colonel Hu Cai. After Yang Feng experienced the Battle of Shaling, he had lingering fears about the power of armored riding equipment. Afterwards, he discussed countermeasures with Guo Da and others and came to the conclusion that a horse wearing armor can cover most of the horse's body, but it cannot cover the horse's feet. To defeat the armored cavalry head-on, Xu had to start from the horse's feet. Therefore, after receiving the order to continue the siege, the Baibo army sprinkled cold water back and forth several feet in front of the trench. It was late in the winter and cold, and after only one night, the trench was covered with thin white water. After the ice layer, Bai Bojun was covered with deer antlers. The sharp spikes of the antlers were so bright that even Bai Bojun himself felt frightened when he saw them.
The Xianbei armored cavalry rushed forward, not paying attention to the ice. When the horses' hooves stepped on it, they suddenly realized something was wrong. The horses were unstable due to the force. The first few dozen riders all slipped and fell to the ground, and the knights were also dizzy from the fall. While they were confused, the Baibo people on the front line came out from the antlers with ropes, tied up the knights, and dragged them back to the Han camp as prisoners.
Seeing this, the Xianbei armored cavalry in the rear had no choice but to dismount and move forward to fight the Han army. The cavalry lost their horse power, and they were just ordinary soldiers who dismounted. They stepped forward to fight among the antlers, and their flanks were exposed to the rain of arrows from the Han army's watchtower. Many corpses were left behind. After fighting for two hours, the Han army Reinforcements from other formations arrived. When Tuoba Jiefen saw this scene on the mountain, he was extremely unwilling to accept it, but he had no choice but to order the trumpeter to blow the trumpet to silence the troops.
During the two hours of fighting, Bu Dugen in the city saw the reinforcements coming and sent some of the remaining strong men out of the city to respond. However, their number was too small, only about 500 people, and they still could not break through the Han Dynasty. A trench dug before the military. Seeing that the reinforcements had withdrawn, they had no choice but to retreat into the city, just as Chen Chong expected.
In the next more than a month, the Xianbei reinforcements attacked every three days, but failed during the day. Tuoba Jiefen ordered his knights to attack at night. If the attack on the plains failed, Tuoba Jiefen ordered the army to dismount and shoot at the hills, but they were all defeated. The Han army retreated. Finally, he thought that it would be dry in winter, so he might as well set fire to the antlers of the Han army. But it had no effect. The Han army poured water on the antlers every day, and a layer of ice formed on the antlers. The Xianbei people rushed forward and failed to light the antlers. Instead, the wind ignited their fur coats to protect them from the cold, and more than ten people were burned to death. people.
The strong attacks day and night could not shake the Han army's defense line, but Bu Dugen in Pingcheng could not hold on. Pingcheng had previously transported grain and grass to Juyang, and the food in the city could only last for two months. Bu Dugen reduced his share several times and delayed At this time, he could no longer delay. He could only light Mayun in the city and use yellow smoke to order Tuoba Jiefen to launch a general attack in the near future.
The Xianbei reinforcements had no choice but to give up their original plan and planned to fight the Han army head-on on December 24th. Tuoba Jiefen and the Xianbei commanders repeatedly discussed it. During this month, they tested almost every formation of the Han army. Now that they think about it, the Gu Yi Formation in the east of the city is the weakest. Both the north and the east of the Gu Yi Formation are smooth. , but there happened to be a small hill in the Gu Yi Formation, and there was a stream of water under the hill. This divided the Han army here into three groups, and it was difficult for the other Han army camps to provide rapid support. The Xianbei people decided to start the battle here.
The location of the battle was the most important. When Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty was surrounded by Maodun Shanyu in Baideng, he suffered a disadvantage due to the unfavorable terrain. Now Baishan Mountain is at the feet of the Xianbei people. They use it as a symbol of good luck and sacrifice to the mountain god at night. The soldiers looked at the sacrificial bonfire and encouraged each other and said: Bless the ancestors, bless the gods, and Xianbei will live forever.
The Han army at the foot of Pingcheng did not know that the decisive battle was coming. They were just counting the days in the cold wind, looking forward to returning to their hometown to reunite before the New Year.
