After the destruction of Licheng, Cao Cao, the herdsman of Yanzhou and former general, left thousands of people to guard the Jishui ferry, and then led the army to settle along the Jishui River to Bochang, where he met Zhang Fei, the general who had conquered Liao. At this time, Zhang Fei was ordered by the Bafu to lead 20,000 people across the Zi River to intercept possible reinforcements from the north of Linzi and block the Qi people's road out of the city as appropriate. After the two armies merged, Liu Bei immediately gave Cao Cao an order to cooperate with Zhang Fei to completely surround Linzi on the north bank of Zi River.
With the north and south joining forces, it can be said that the overall situation in Qingzhou has been decided, and the demise of Qi and Han is only a matter of time. But how to break the city, what price to pay, and how to govern it in the future are all things Liu Bei had to think about. Although it was impossible to persuade Guan Cheng to surrender after the Licheng massacre, Liu Bei still took precautions and sent two more envoys to the city to lobby, but they were shot to death by random arrows.
At this time, Xun You once again offered his advice, saying that since Linzi City was going to be fought to the death, directly attacking the city would cause too many casualties. Looking at the examples of siege battles in ancient and modern times, we found that facing such a fortified city, there was no hard attack. Zhiyao besieged Jinyang, Baiqi broke out of Yingdu, and they all used the strategy of flooding. And now it is June again, which is when the water in Zi River rises, so this strategy can be used. Under the flood, even if the city cannot be destroyed immediately, the city will be in extreme pain. Without external aid, it will be impossible to sustain it for a long time.
Liu Bei finally agreed to this strategy.
However, in order to irrigate the city with water, weirs and dams must be built downstream to raise the water level. However, the dam cannot be too far away from Linzi, otherwise the project will be huge and difficult to complete.
At that time, there were two Wubao in the lower reaches of Linzi, one in the north and south of Juding Lake. The one on the north bank of the lake was Lichuan Wubao, and the one on the south bank of the lake was Jushou Fort. In these two months, these two cities continued to lead Hebei Yuan's army south to Jimo. They were like two nails, firmly nailed on the back of the Han army. The Han army had long wanted to eliminate them and then quickly. But now that weirs are to be built on the two cities, the Han army is required to pull them out immediately.
Liu Bei discussed this with his generals. Now that the Han army has an obvious advantage in mobile strength, and they can defeat the weak with numbers, they should attack the two cities at the same time so that they cannot join forces and cannot rescue each other. So Liu Bei ordered Wei Yan to attack Lichuanwu and Liu Xuan to attack Jushou Fort. He and Guan Yu made peace in the east of the city as preparations for the response.
Wei Yan crossed the river from Juding Lake and went deep to the north bank of the Zi River. He quickly surrounded Lichuanwu and stationed his troops in formation in the north of the city to await reinforcements from the Qi people in Licheng. The defenders of Licheng knew that they could not defeat the Han army in the field, so they did not send troops to rescue them.
One day later, the Han army began to attack the city. Suddenly thousands of arrows were fired, and the defenders in the city were prostrate and unable to fight back. The Han army took the opportunity to rush to the city gate and used long axes to destroy the wooden gate and the fence inside. After the city gate was broken, the guards inside suddenly swarmed at the door and fired arrows outside. Several Han soldiers in front of them were shot to death. The people behind them all retreated, temporarily retreating behind the city wall to avoid the arrows.
At this time, the military commander Cen Guang saw him and stood up and said: "We are only about ten steps away from the thief. If you rush over, you can't hurt him! If you retreat, you will die!" He took the lead and rushed towards the door with his knife. When the enemy's arrows flew towards him, he waved his hand to block them. He blocked several arrows with his bare hands and rushed to the enemy in the blink of an eye. There was a flurry of slashing with knives, killing several people in a row. The Han soldiers behind followed up and quickly dispersed the remaining enemies at the door.
After the war, Wei Yan heard that Cen Guang was very brave and quickly called him. Seeing that he is nearly eight feet long, tall and long-armed, he is still second to the famous Yuntai general Cen Peng. Someone brought a three-stone bow to Cen Guang. He held the three-stone strong bow and opened it with a slight pull, as if it was child's play. Wei Yan was overjoyed. He liked brave men very much, so he reported to Liu Bei and made Cen Guang his deputy general.
After Lichuanwu was defeated, Wei Yan took advantage of the victory to pursue it and simply entered Licheng and besieged it. It was night, and the Han people took turns to rest and attack the city overnight. First demolish the sheep and horse wall outside the city, and then raise the earth to level the city. At dawn the next day, the mountain was completed. The heavily armored sergeants went out to attack the city along the mountains. The flying arrows fell from the city, but the Han soldiers were thickly armored and continued to advance up with arrows. When the Han soldiers went to the city, they were met by the people in the city who used big sticks and hammers to greet them. Even though the Han soldiers were heavily armored, they would inevitably suffer casualties.
But Licheng was nothing more than a small town, so it couldn't help but the Han soldiers came in turns. After a fierce battle for half a day, if there was a slight oversight, the Han soldiers had already occupied the city tower like ants, and then set fire to the archery tower. After the billowing black smoke rose, the defenders were greatly confused. They fled the city wall one after another and used it through the north gate in an attempt to escape to Hebei. The Qi people who left the city happened to be surrounded by Wei Yan's cavalry army, and the result can be imagined.
However, after capturing the city, Wei Yan followed Liu Bei's military orders and took care of the prisoners of war and the seriously injured people in the city, and built camps for them to heal their wounds. The city lord Wang Weng who guarded the city was also sent to meet Liu Bei. Liu Bei specifically inquired about Wang Weng's political reputation and found out that he had a good reputation, so he comforted him and said: "You are a beautiful man. After the war, the people of Qingzhou will have to wait for you for their livelihood." He then sent Wang Weng back to Licheng, still letting him go. He governs. It is hoped that this can eliminate the resistance of the people of Qingzhou.
Wei Yan defeated Lichuan and Licheng in just a few days. When news of success came, Liu Xuan's army had not yet set off.
It turns out that Qihan has been operating Jushou for many years. Its city defense is tight and there is a moat on the outside. It is known as Juding Fenggao, which is not comparable to Lichuanwu. If we attack blindly, the losses will be considerable. Liu Xuan had fought many battles with Liu Bei in the past few years, and he knew the heavy casualties in sieges, so he was unwilling to attack head-on. However, as Ju lived longer, the time to build the weir was repeatedly postponed, which affected the entire course of the war. Even Liu Bei and Liu Xuan were related by marriage, so they had to send someone to urge them.
On the third day, news came that Wei Yan had captured Licheng. Liu Bao, the Xiongnu Zuoxian King, could not help but be a little anxious. He went to see Liu Xuan in private and asked: "Third uncle, now Licheng has been captured, but our army has not yet When we set out, there was criticism among the troops, saying that we Huns are as fearful of war as tigers. What are your plans? Can you tell us?"
Liu Xuan couldn't help but laugh a little when he saw Liu Bao's anxious look. After he shot Hu Che'er in the battle of Longshouyuan, he was called the King of Luo Hu. The past few years of war have made him more mature and steady, and he has become somewhat like a famous general. He is no longer the helpless young man he was when he was fighting among the Huns. He said: "I have a solution."
Liu Bao didn't expect this reply and asked quickly: "Oh, tell me, third uncle."
Liu Xuan pointed to the north and said: "I heard news from the north that when Fenggao and Licheng were captured, there was not much food in the city. Those two dangerous cities did not store much food. This giant life is only in the city." The lower reaches of the Zi River are not dangerous, and the food reserves will probably be even less. We can make great use of this aspect."
"Lack of food?" Liu Bao thought for a moment, suddenly got inspiration, and asked, "Could it be that the third uncle is preparing to transport food outside the city to lure the defenders out?" But he immediately rejected it, shook his head and said, "No. , it is impossible for our army's food to be transported to Jushou, and if the enemy is a little clever, they can see that it is a fraud."
Liu Bao smiled and said: "It's not difficult. We really can't send food to Jushou, but Yuan Jun can. I sent an envoy to the former general camp on the north bank the day before yesterday to ask him to borrow the Yuan Jun armor and flags he captured. When these things arrive, , we can send food to Jushou."
Liu Bao suddenly realized this and repeatedly praised this plan.
On the seventh day of the sixth lunar month, a scout from the Jushou garrison suddenly came to report that there was a Yuan army of dozens of people in the west of the city. They wanted to meet with the captain Hua Yin who was guarding the city. At this time, the news of the fall of the cities had reached Jushou. Hua Yin did not dare to be careless, fearing that it was a trick of the Han army to deceive the city, so he only sent an envoy to lower the city to interview those Yuan troops.
The envoy went down to ask about the ownership and leadership of these Yuan troops. They only replied that they were under Yuan Shang and had just been transferred from Yijing to observe the movements of the Han army in Henan. The envoy then asked them about the affiliation and officers of Yuan's army that had gone south. Those people said they had just gone south and were not familiar with them, which made the envoy very suspicious.
But when asked about their purpose of coming, the messenger's doubts disappeared. These Yuan soldiers said that Yuan Shang did not intend to go to war with the Han army, so he did not intend to send troops to help. They were asked to come to inform Hua Yin that Yuan Shang knew that they were short of food, so some ships would arrive one after another tomorrow, carrying about 10,000 tons of food, and he hoped that they would continue to hold on.
Sending food instead of troops is indeed something only Yuan Jun would do. Hua Yin was extremely happy when he learned about it, but he also had some worries in his heart. He also made an agreement with these Yuan Jun that he would only send ships and not allow soldiers to enter the city to rest. Yuan Jun complained very much, but finally agreed.
On the second day, some boats paddled over in Juding Lake and docked at the north side of Jushou Fort. They threw nearly a thousand bags full of wheat noodles on the ground and waited for the people from Jushou Fort to come out of the city to receive them. Then he paddled back leisurely. After hearing the report from his subordinates, Hua Yin grabbed a handful of ground wheat flour from the bag, looked at it in his hand, and said with a hum, "This is good wheat grain grown in the plains of Hebei." He smiled at the people around him and said, "It seems like it's the real Yuan Jun. Next time they come, we'll still have to entertain them."
In the morning of the next day, more than 400 Yuan troops came by boat again, bringing with them twenty boatloads of wheat noodles just like yesterday. Seeing this, the defenders in the city immediately sent people to the shore to greet them. The two armies had a heated conversation. Huan Huan even kept Yuan Jun in the city for one night.
But on the afternoon of the ninth day of the lunar month, when the Qi people greeted the Yuan army by the lake as before and transported the food back to Jushou Fort, the more than 400 Yuan soldiers suddenly changed their faces, drew their swords and attacked the Qi people, and quickly took control of the city. door, and set fire to the houses in the city.
The Han army in the forest south of the city saw that the undercover agents they sent out had achieved miraculous results, and immediately sent out cavalry troops to attack the city. The city gate was wide open, and the Hun cavalry drove straight in. Bows and arrows were flying, and sabers were flying on both sides of the horses' hooves. The Qi people were completely unable to defeat them. They could only be driven by the knights and ran towards the water. Many of them were beside the grain transport ships. Plunged into the lake.
This battle also announced the complete fall of Jushou Fort. After the war, Liu Xuan sent the captives like Wei Yan back to Dong'an Ping camp for treatment, while he demolished the castle and cooperated with Xu Shu to build a dam on the lower reaches of the Zi River. More than 10,000 soldiers worked together to build a dam six feet high and more than two hundred feet wide within ten days, making the land far and near a marsh.
