Zhang Xi's siege method was nothing new. He just relied on counterweighted catapults to smash through the city wall, and the city was captured.
The tricks don't need to be novel, just that they work.
But this time when attacking Lueyang, Zhang Xi encountered some troubles.
The opponents Zhang Xi encountered in the past did not really have that many cavalry in their hands, and the city guard general was not the kind of person who was good at using cavalry. Therefore, Zhang Xi was always able to defeat the opponent, but there was nothing he could do.
But Zhang He is not only a famous general, but also Zhang He is very good at using cavalry. After all, he has followed Xia Houyuan for many years and is a famous general in Liangzhou, Longxi.
Zhang He personally led the cavalry out of the city to fight, and he did not lose at all in the confrontation with Ma Chao. And most importantly, Zhang He was more ruthless than Ma Chao. He was able to fight the loss of the cavalry, leaving some of the cavalry behind, and led the troops to burn the stones. However, Ma Chao did not have such courage and caused excessive losses to his Qiang and Hu cavalry.
The mentality of the two is completely different.
The cavalry in Zhang He's hands was not his own. With Cao Wei's size, it was not unbearable for the losses of these cavalry, so Zhang He dared to use the casualties of the cavalry in exchange for the opportunity to burn down the siege equipment.
As for Ma Chao, Ma Chao now has no direct troops. These Qiang and Hu cavalry are Ma Chao's biggest support. Therefore, Ma Chao is unwilling to pay a high price to stop Zhang He, which leads to Zhang He's repeated successes.
Zhang Xi actually saw all these things, but there was nothing he could do about it. Unless Liu Bei personally ordered it, there was nothing anyone could do against Ma Chao.
Anyway, Zhang Xi's losses were just some catapults. The catapults can be rebuilt if they are gone. There is no need to sue Ma Chao for this matter.
On the contrary, every time Zhang He went out of the city to burn down the catapults, he had to pay the real price of some cavalry.
Today the loss is more than one hundred, and tomorrow the loss is more than two hundred. In a few days, Zhang He will have no cavalry left.
Zhang Xi felt that he could afford to wait. If he continued to fight like this, Zhang He would definitely not be able to defend Lueyang City in just ten days.
Zhang Xi can take it easy, but Liu Bei cannot.
It has been almost 20 days since he attacked Lueyang, and he still has not seen the possibility of defeating Zhang He. Liu Bei is very worried about whether Zhang Fei and Wei Yan in the Shanggui direction can hold on.
Communication between the two sides was blocked by mountains. It was not easy for the messenger to go back and forth. It would take at least ten days to go back and forth.
The last time the messenger came back was five days ago. The news conveyed by Zhang Fei at that time was that he had abandoned the original camp and temporarily retreated to camp. The loss of troops was not small. Is he still holding on now? Liu Bei didn't even know.
Therefore, Liu Bei is now very eager to conquer Lueyang and go to support Zhang Fei.
Pang Tong and Fazheng had no reason to block Liu Bei's idea. In other words, they were actually very worried.
After conquering Lueyang, if Zhang Fei and Wei Yan could hold on in the direction of Shanggui and form a two-sided flanking attack on Shanggui, the size of the city above, even if Cao Ren led the follow-up army, would have only one way to retreat.
But if Zhang Fei and Wei Yan had not persisted and allowed Shanggui to open up strategic depth and even extend their tentacles to Tianshui County, then Liu Beijun would be in real trouble.
Now that Wei Yan has led troops to support Zhang Fei's camp, there is not much garrison strength left in Xi County. Once Zhang Fei cannot hold on, the grain road will be completely exposed to the Wei army.
In view of this, both Fazheng and Pang Tong also hoped that Zhang Xi could strengthen their offensive and strive to defeat Lueyang in a short time and open up the passage to Shanggui.
Zhang Xi felt a little uncomfortable after receiving such a military order.
Although it was not stated clearly, the intention of Liu Bei and others was very clear, that is, to let Zhang Xi use human lives to pile up a passage to Shanggui. Zhang Xi couldn't bear it, but there was really no other way.
The next day, Zhang Xi asked Wu Yi and Wu Ban to lead the remaining reserves into the siege.
This time, there was no leisurely use of catapults to smash the city wall, but the traditional climbing of the city wall with ladders and hooks, relying purely on the fighting power of the soldiers.
Zhang He, who had been fighting outside the city for several days, was still a little uncomfortable with Zhang Xi's all-out attack, and almost allowed Wu Yi's troops to break onto the city wall.
But Zhang He's reaction was relatively quick after all. After a short adjustment, he suppressed Wu Yi's attacking army and rearranged the city defense plan at the drop of a hat.
In this way, Zhang He's defense became more comfortable. The traditional siege method was really not a big threat to a general of Zhang He's level.
Zhang He's defensive command became more and more skillful, but Zhang Xi's brows were extremely wrinkled.
If we continue to attack like this, in addition to paying a lot of siege casualties, it may not save much time compared to using a trebuchet. There are not many defenders in Yang City. If they have to use their lives to build a passage, then Liu Bei Even if the main force of the army is half filled in, it may not be able to attack it.
Zhang Xi felt that this could not go on and he had to think of other ways.
In addition to the help of a series of siege equipment, the conventional means of siege these days are water attack, fire attack and earth attack.
Water attack is to cut off the flow of natural rivers and divert the water storage. The most serious water attack can directly flood the city. The most serious water attack will create a flood zone and collapse the foundation of the city wall, thereby destroying the city.
Unfortunately, although there are rivers near Lueyang City, it is winter and the water flow is not fast. I don't know how long it will take to store water to the point where the city can be flooded.
What Liu Bei lacks most now is time. He is not even willing to wait for ten more days.
Therefore, water attack is not advisable for the time being.
Earth attack is actually digging tunnels. Whether it is digging tunnels to sneak into the city and open the city gate, or digging tunnels to dig down the foundation, it is a good method.
However, digging tunnels is very technical, and it is also easier to be detected by the guards. Once discovered, none of the soldiers or civilians who dug into the tunnels can escape.
At Zhang He's level, it is impossible to dig a tunnel without being careful. This trick can only win by surprise. If used now, the success rate is too low.
As for fire attacks, there is no gunpowder these days, so most fire attacks involve using something to ignite the fire close to the enemy. Sulfur straw is easy to find, but Zhang Xi really can't find things like fish paste that can keep the fire burning. come out.
You can't just get a few carts filled with straw and sulfur and burn the city gate. The city gate is not that easy to burn these days. When you get close to the city tower, someone pours a basin of water down on it. No matter how much sulfur you put in, it won't burn. Get up.
Just when Zhang Xi was at a loss what to do, something suddenly caught Zhang Xi's eyes - a burning coal brazier.
If these coals are thrown on the city wall or even the city, will it be able to create a fire attack effect? !
If you think about it carefully, it's not impossible.
Not many people have seen coal. It can burn for a long time after being lit. It weighs about the same as a small stone. If it were thrown into the city, even the most careful person would not be able to burn it. Find all the coal and put it out one by one with water, right? !
Most of the houses these days are made of wood, and the roofs of some houses are even made of hay. Once a burning coal ball falls into it, the fire should not be too strong.
As for how to throw coal into Lueyang City, it is not difficult. We have a trebuchet. We only need to replace the trebuchet with an iron spoon as a throwing container.
The more Zhang Xi thought about it, the more he felt that this matter could be done, so he immediately allocated a large amount of coal from the army to the front of the army for use.
On the next day, Zhang Xi did not immediately launch an attack on the city. Instead, he pulled out the modified counterweight catapult, adjusted the range, and continued to throw the ignited coal into Lueyang City.
Zhang He didn't pay attention at first. When he saw the catapults appearing, Zhang He started to gather the cavalry team as before, preparing to go out of the city to burn these catapults.
But soon, Zhang He discovered that what Zhang Xi threw this time was not a simple stone, but a burning fireball that was neither big nor small.
When these fireballs hit the soldiers, they can not only cause bruises, but even burns if they rub against the body. If a fireball comes close to them without paying attention, it will directly ignite the clothes they are wearing, causing panic among the soldiers.
The most terrible thing is that these fireballs will cross the city wall and fall into the city. It will hardly take long to ignite the wooden houses in the city, causing a large area of fire.
Not long after the catapults outside the city started throwing fireballs, several places in Lueyang City had already started to catch fire, and the fires tended to spread rapidly.
Now Zhang He was not in the mood to leave the city at all. When he came back from the city to fight, the entire Lueyang City might be burned down.
But at this time, Zhang He could not organize his soldiers to put out the fire, because the Shu army outside the city began to attack the city again after projecting a batch of fireballs.
After Zhang Xi saw thick smoke rising from the city, as if coal had caused a fire in the city, he immediately ordered Wu Yi and Wu Ban to lead the ants to attack the city.
The purpose was just one thing: not to give the defenders in the city a chance to put out the fire.
There was a fire in the city inside and enemy troops attacking the city outside. Zhang He was really anxious.
If the soldiers are allowed to put out the fire, the city wall defenders will not have enough troops and the enemy will attack the city wall.
If the fire in the city is ignored and the entire army sticks to the city wall, then with the speed of the fire in the city, it may soon burn down the place where one's grain is stored. Once the fire destroys the grain and grass, the city will not be able to defend it.
In such a dilemma, Zhang He had to make a choice.
In desperation, Zhang He had to grit his teeth and divide his troops to fight.
Some soldiers went up to the city wall to hold on to stop Liu Bei's army from attacking the city.
Another group of soldiers rushed to put out the fire, at least to ensure the safety of their own grain storage warehouses and not let the fire spread to the vicinity of the grain storage warehouses.
For this reason, they would not hesitate to demolish some of the houses in the city.
However, this can only solve a temporary emergency.
After all, these fireballs aren't thrown just once.
Sure enough, after Cao's army in Lueyang finally repelled a Shu attack and barely controlled the fire in the city, Zhang Xi began to order catapults to throw burning coals again.
Something happened tonight, so there are only three chapters today, haha, five chapters.
(End of chapter)
