After another three days of guarding, Zhang Xi felt that it should be possible.
Even though Zhang He is a famous general, he still has to abide by the laws of the battlefield. Infantry versus infantry, he has no advantage in arms. It is hard to tell the winner in three days in a field battle. Zhang Xi at least has an earthen city that he can rely on.
Zhang He felt the same way, so Zhang He was actually a little anxious now.
Although Zhang He took advantage of Zhang Fei's unpreparedness, Zhang He defeated Zhang Fei's siege army at the foot of Shanggui City and temporarily relieved the siege of Shanggui. However, it was not completely defeated after all. Zhang Fei retreated to collect the remaining troops and held on, relying only on Guo Huai's hands. The tens of thousands of soldiers inside may not be able to trap Zhang Fei.
After all, what Zhang Fei brought was only the vanguard force. After Zhang Fei's defeat this time, he would definitely ask Liu Bei for reinforcements. Once Liu Bei's reinforcements arrived, Zhang Fei might besiege Shanggui again at any time and cut off his own retreat.
The reason why Zhang He wanted to quickly attack Jieting was to catch the Jieting defenders off guard.
If he can defeat the Jieting garrison in a short period of time and occupy the two important locations of Jieting and Shanggui, plus Lueyang in the middle, then Zhang He will have complete control of Longshan and open the way for Cao Pi's backup army.
At that time, Cao Wei can send a steady stream of reinforcements through Longshan. However, if Liu Bei's group cannot capture Longshan, they will not have the capital to attack Liangzhou, let alone the capital to go east to Guanzhong. As time goes by, Liu Bei's group will have no choice but to retreat. , there is no second option.
But now, the stubborn resistance of the Jieting defenders has prevented Zhang He from conquering Jieting. This means that as long as Liu Bei Group captures Guangwei County, the main force of Liu Bei Group can enter Longshan through Jieting. If Cao Pi's Chinese army cannot If he arrived in time, the person who was driven out of Longshan might become Zhang He.
Therefore, the street pavilion must be fought, and it must be conquered as soon as possible but it does not seem to be easy.
Zhang He had an absolute advantage in terms of military strength, but after an encounter and a siege, Zhang He found that he seemed to have only the advantage of military strength.
This advantage in military strength is not an advantage in soldiers' combat strength, but simply because there are enough soldiers on one's own side. In terms of individual combat capabilities, Liu Bei's army's combat strength is no worse than Cao's army. In terms of general command, Liu Bei's army's commander is no worse than himself.
This had to make Zhang He sigh, the future life is terrible.
By now, Zhang He had naturally figured out who the leader of the Jieting garrison was. The brat who gave himself the title of "Mountain Climbing General".
Although this title was only circulated in a small area, Zhang He had heard of it after all. Zhang He naturally hated Zhang Xi who gave himself such a nickname.
But so what if you hate it. You did lose to Zhang Fei back then, so even though you have a bad mouth, you really lost. It's useless even if you get angry because someone arranged for you.
When you are angry, you might as well think about how to win back on the battlefield.
Just like this time, if you defeat Zhang Fei to rescue Shanggui, then defeat Zhang Xi, seize the street pavilion, and control Longshan. From now on, everyone will only say that Zhang Fei is incompetent in leading the army, and Zhang Xi is only a talker, and who will mention him? This nickname of "Mountain Climbing General"? !
Reputation is something that you have to fight for yourself after all.
Therefore, Zhang He's mind is still very clear. Although he also knows that he needs to defeat Zhang Xi quickly, and he also knows that Zhang Xi has "enmity" with him, this will not affect his judgment.
Zhang He still calmly commanded his soldiers to attack the city. He did not play any tricks or tricks, he just simply overpowered others.
Zhang Xi felt very uncomfortable when facing Zhang He who was so calm.
If he plays a stratagem, Zhang He will inevitably reveal some flaws, and as long as there are flaws, there may be a chance to win with less. But Zhang He purely uses force to suppress others, and the only way Zhang Xi can respond is to be upright. Fight and persevere hard.
The soldiers guarding the city repeated the same thing every day, shooting arrows to fend off the enemy, throwing rolling stones and wood, fighting hand-to-hand with the enemies who climbed up the city wall, repelling the enemy's attack and then using the intermission to bandage their wounds, treat the fallen soldiers, and then continue shooting arrows. Defending the enemy, throwing rolling stones and wood, one after another, one after another, one can only see one's own comrades being killed and injured, but one cannot see the enemy's soldiers decreasing, and the morale getting lower every moment.
After three days of fighting, the morale of the city defenders was visibly getting lower and lower, and Zhang Xi's reserve team of 1,000 people had all been dispatched. Zhang Xi now had no backup.
As for the enemy, Fei Yao has already dismantled most of the antlers outside the first line of defense, and can break through the first camp defense at any time, thus opening up the connection with Zhang He.
When things got to this point, Zhang Xi had no chance of holding on.
We must attack, find ways to temporarily curb Zhang He's army's attack, and demoralize Zhang He's army. At the same time, we must find ways to improve our own morale and perseverance.
To this end, Zhang Xi approached Wang Ping again and asked Wang Ping about the feasibility of leading the Wudang Fei Army to fight out of the city.
At this point, Wang Ping had no excuses.
Just like Zhang Xi said, if we don't attack, there will probably be no troops left to attack in the future. We have no other option but to defend the city wall.
Wang Ping happily accepted the order, but at the same time, he also proposed his own battle plan to Zhang Xi.
Wang Ping did not want to simply set up an ambush five miles outside the city and attack Zhang He's army from the flanks. Wang Ping felt that a famous general like Zhang He was unlikely to relax the protection of the front and flanks.
Therefore, Wang Ping wanted to lead the three thousand Wudang flying army out of the city, take a detour to the back of Zhang He's army on the mountain climbing road, and attack Zhang He's army from behind.
Behind Zhang He is the direction of Shangcheng City. With Guo Huai there, Zhang He will definitely keep in touch with Guo Huai. Therefore, as long as Guo Huai does not give a warning, Zhang He will naturally not have too many concerns about the retreat. Be on guard.
This is a place that can be exploited.
What Wang Ping had to do was to take advantage of the unavailable Feijun in mountain warfare, quietly sneak up behind Zhang He, pretend to be Zhang Feijun and launch a surprise attack. Maybe he could shake Zhang He's military morale and defeat the enemy in one fell swoop.
But in this case, it would take a longer time from Wang Ping leaving the city to launching the raid.
According to Zhang Xi's battle plan, Wang Ping could go no more than five miles out of the city. Regardless of whether he could defeat Zhang He's siege army on the flanks, Wang Ping could retreat to Jieting City at any time without delaying the actual defense of the city.
But if according to Wang Ping's battle plan, Wang Ping wants to go over the mountain and take a detour to get behind Zhang He, this cannot be done in two or three days. Can the street pavilion defenders in these two or three days be able to hold on? !
Zhang Xi carefully calculated the defenders on hand now. In addition to Wang Ping's 3,000 Wudang flying troops, he still had about 4,000 defenders on hand. 20% of the soldiers were injured and could barely fight. Taxi soldiers.
As for Zhang He's army on the opposite side, there are still 16,000 to 7,000 infantrymen.
Judging from the comparison of military strength, it is not impossible to hold on for two days. The city defense of Jieting Tucheng should be able to hold on for a while longer.
But in terms of morale, it’s actually quite difficult.
When attacking Jieting Tucheng, Zhang He's troops were quite wealthy. They were wealthy enough to send out troops in rotation to attack. However, the defenders on Jieting's side only had this few people, and they had been holding on to the city wall for four days.
The further he persists, the lower his morale will inevitably be. If Zhang Xi persists for another two days, he really doesn't know if he can hold on.
But these two days are really very tempting.
If he could hold on for two days and create an opportunity for Wang Ping to attack the enemy from behind, then Jieting might be able to have a good moment of respite.
But if they can't persist, or if Wang Ping's plan is seen through by Zhang He, or if the plan succeeds but fails to achieve the desired results, then the three thousand useless flying troops led by Wang Ping will probably not be able to come back at all.
So. Want to try it? !
After thinking for a while, Zhang Xi decided to give it a try.
After all, with the current situation, it's really hard to say how long we can hold on. If we don't try, we really won't even have the chance to try.
Zhang Xi gritted his teeth and agreed to Wang Ping's strategy, and ordered Wang Ping to lead his troops out of the city before dawn, avoid Zhang He's army's probing horses, drill into the mountains and forests, go over the mountains and take a detour to the rear of Zhang He's army.
On the frontal battlefield, Zhang Xi released his garrison on the first line of defense, reduced his troops and retreated to Jieting City with all his troops.
On the first line of defense, Zhang Xi just ordered more flags to be set up to confuse Fei Yao, and it was considered a profit after the delay.
As for Zhang He in front of him, Zhang Xi no longer sat in the city to command, but personally climbed onto the city tower, led dozens of guards back and forth to respond, and personally defended the city to boost morale.
Doing so can certainly boost morale temporarily, but it also sets up a target and attracts Cao's army to focus on attacking.
Zhang He couldn't help but smile when he saw Zhang Xi's banner appearing on the street wall.
The coach personally went to the city wall to defend, which showed that the enemy coach had no backup plan. Apart from risking his life, there was no other way to boost morale.
This situation is not uncommon. For example, Zhang He used to rush to the front line to stabilize the morale of his soldiers during critical moments of defending the city, and commanded his soldiers to repel enemy attacks.
But the problem is that Zhang He himself has good martial arts, and he has some support even if he goes up to the city wall to defend. But this Zhang Xi, I heard that he is a scholar leading the army, does he have this martial arts to rely on? !
Now that even he is on the city wall, if he doesn't take advantage of such a good target, wouldn't he be very sorry for the reputation he has earned through these years of fighting? !
Upon seeing this, Zhang He immediately ordered that the location of Zhang Xi's command flag would be the focus of the entire army's attack - as long as Zhang Xi was killed, the street pavilion could be taken down in one go.
At this time, Zhang Xi had no way out.
The commander's flag is the focus of the entire army's attention. He cannot retreat or even waver. Once wavered, it will seriously affect the morale of the defenders.
Therefore, regardless of whether it becomes the focus of Cao Jun's attack, Zhang Xi must withstand it on the front line.
The battle between the two sides has completely entered a fever pitch.
(End of chapter)
