Wang Chang ordered the entire army to attack, and the pressure came to Wei Yan's side.
Tongguan was already facing the dilemma of being attacked from two sides. The troops were simply not enough, and they were just trying to support themselves back and forth.
Yesterday was a little better. Due to the breakthrough attack launched by Zhang Xi and others, the Wei army's siege in front of Tongguan was hastily ended. It did not put a lot of pressure on Wei Yan and allowed Wei Yan to breathe a little.
But this breather is also compared to the past. In fact, Wei Yan is still under great pressure.
The Wei army's attack in front of Tongguan was in vain, but the Wei army behind Tongguan was not idle.
The 10,000 Cao Wei Central Forbidden Army led by Xia Houshang continued to launch siege behind Tongguan.
What's even more terrible is that Tongguan's defense setting is not open to the outside but not to the inside. Not to mention the number of defense facilities behind Tongguan is very small, and the barrier wall is more than one foot shorter than the front wall.
Although in terms of height, the wall behind Tongguan is as high as a fortified city like Wancheng and Xiangyang City, the problem is that unlike the front of Tongguan, there are no large trees within thirty miles. .
It’s better to defend against the outside than the inside. When Wang Chang ordered the felling of trees thirty miles in front of Tongguan, he never thought that the enemy would come from the direction of Luoyang.
Now, Xiahou Shang can divide his troops to attack Tongguan while constantly sending people to chop down trees and build siege equipment. No matter how many siege equipment are damaged, Xiahou Shang can replenish them in time.
This resulted in the fact that the defensive pressure behind Tongguan was greater than the defensive pressure in front of Tongguan.
For this reason, Wei Yan also concentrated his main forces on the side behind the wall to deal with Xiahou Shang's attack. For the Wei army's attack from the front, Wei Yan only arranged less than 500 men to guard.
By doing this yesterday, we barely managed to survive the day, but today, it seems that the 500 defenders on the front can no longer withstand the powerful attack of the Wei army on the front of Tongguan.
The city wall was lost several times, allowing Wei soldiers to climb up.
Some were driven back by the city defenders, but on two occasions, if Wei Yan hadn't noticed it in time, rushed to support with his own guards, and killed the Wei army, he might have actually allowed the Wei army to establish a login on the city wall. Clicked.
Once a large number of Wei troops are allowed to climb up the wall, there will be no need to continue the subsequent battle.
Wei Yan knew very well what kind of soldiers he was leading - Liangzhou cavalry. They were not even traditional infantry.
The virtues of the Liangzhou people are known to the world, and they have never had a tradition of refusing to surrender until they fight to the death.
You can't expect the people of Liangzhou to still defend Tongguan even though they have an absolute advantage and lost the battle for the city wall.
Therefore, Wei Yan must find a way to solve the current dilemma.
Wei Yan just thought about this for a moment and immediately realized that there were really not many options he could choose now.
Xiahou Shang's attack from behind must be left with enough troops to defend. Otherwise, given the threat level of Xiahou Shang's troops and siege equipment, the enemy will be able to attack immediately if they relax a little.
Although the attack of Cao Zhen's army on the front seems fierce, there is a fatal weakness that their siege equipment cannot be replenished in time, and one less one is destroyed.
Therefore, Wei Yan just thought for a moment and formed a simple combat idea in his mind - he was leading cavalry at least.
Wei Yan immediately ordered to assemble 300 people, including his own bodyguards, to return to their old positions. Using the speed of the cavalry, they rushed out of the main gate of Tongguan to burn the siege equipment of Cao Zhen's army in front.
Doing so was actually very risky. After all, 20,000 Wei soldiers gathered outside the main gate of Tongguan to attack the city. Wei Yan only led 300 cavalry, which was an adventure in itself.
If you want to take the initiative, you must open the city gate. Once the city gate is opened, the enemy will seize the opportunity and break into the main gate in one fell swoop. With the number of Han army defenders in Tongguan now, once the main gate is captured, it means that Tongguan was lost.
So. In fact, this is an extremely risky battle plan.
But Wei Yan is Wei Yan after all. He has never lacked the courage to take risks, and Wei Yan did not formulate such a battle plan purely because of his recklessness.
Wei Yan's reliance lies in - everyone knows that the Tongguan garrison currently has insufficient troops to hold on to the city. Who would have thought that Wei Yan would dare to divide his troops and take the initiative in such a critical situation? !
Wei Yan wanted to hit such an "unexpected" one.
And when Wei Yan led the three hundred cavalry to open the main gate and take the initiative to burn Wang Chang's siege equipment, Wang Chang did not expect it at all.
The battle situation was so chaotic yesterday. When I rushed back to rescue Cao Zhen, the Tongguan defenders were motionless. Why did they suddenly take the initiative today? !
Precisely because he did not expect that the Tongguan defenders would take the initiative to attack, Wang Chang arranged his troops and accumulated a large number of troops to attack the walls on both sides of the front. He really did not arrange many troops to defend the main gate.
Therefore, after Wei Yan's cavalry came out of the pass, they were able to quickly divide their troops to attack on both wings, go straight to the siege equipment, pour fish oil on them, light the fire, and retreat, all in one go without any delay.
When Wang Chang finally came to his senses and wanted to put the three thousand reserve troops left behind into the main gate to seize the main gate, Wei Yan, relying on his excellent battlefield insight and judgment, had already begun to withdraw his troops towards the main gate. Withdrew.
When Wang Chang's reserve team arrived at the battlefield at the main gate of Tongguan, Wei Yan had already led his troops into the pass, closed the city gate again, and went up to the tower to defend it.
Wang Chang was so angry that he almost jumped.
Just a little bit short, because of my lack of preparedness, I missed the best opportunity to directly capture Tongguan.
As for Wei Yan, he was actually not very satisfied either.
The time to leave the city was too short, and Wei Yan could not burn too many siege equipment at all. He could only choose some large siege equipment, such as ladders, as targets.
Although all three ladders on the battlefield were ignited, in order to save time, Wei Yan could not stop and wait for the ladder to be completely on fire before retreating. He could only point all the way. In the end, only one ladder was burned, but there were two more. Not long after the ladder caught fire, it was put out by the Wei army who arrived.
Xiuxiu still looks like it can be used.
Although this did disrupt the Wei army's offensive rhythm, it did not burn too many siege equipment. Wei Yan was not very satisfied with the results.
But no matter how dissatisfied it is, it can only be like this.
This method of warfare can only be used once. If Wei Yan dares to use it a second time, Wang Chang will unceremoniously seize the main gate of Tongguan and will not give Wei Yan a chance to retreat a second time.
Another thing is that Wei Yan doesn't have time to take care of Wang Chang's attack now.
Because 300 men were temporarily transferred out of the city to fight, the number of defenders behind Tongguan was weakened. The Wei army commanded by Xia Houshang finally climbed up the city wall with the help of siege equipment and occupied a place for hand-to-hand combat.
If Wei Yan hadn't returned to the army in time, all the 300 people he brought out had returned without much damage, and the loopholes had been blocked in time, maybe Tongguan would still have been lost by now.
But even so, after half a day of defending the city, the Tongguan garrison led by Wei Yan once again suffered nearly 300 casualties. This was the largest casualty in half a day in the past few days of defending the city.
Today, there are only about a thousand people left in the Tongguan garrison. They are on the verge of collapse.
During a break in the attack, Wei Yan was resting against the wall. At this time, his bodyguards sneaked closer and gave Wei Yan a suggestion - if he really couldn't hold on, the general should lead everyone to break through! ! !
Really, Wei Yan didn't even think of running away, even though he had killed this bodyguard who had been with him for many years, you guys actually want to run away? !
Besides, at this time, if his own bodyguard made such a suggestion to him, if word spread, would the morale of the army be shattered? !
Originally, we were relying on our breath to hold on to the defense due to the situation of being flanked by the enemy on both sides. If this breath of energy dissipated, Tongguan would be useless.
In other words, even a tough guy like Wei Yan was a little weak after having been fighting on the city wall for the past few days, otherwise the guard would not have been able to wait for the chance to say the second sentence.
The reason why the personal guards suggested this to Wei Yan is because - from the fifty personal guards who followed Wei Yan to Tongguan, there are now only seventeen left.
The personal guards were not afraid of death. Their duty was only to protect Wei Yan's safety. From the first day they followed Wei Yan on the battlefield, they were prepared to fight to the death.
The reason why the guards suggested this was to tell Wei Yan that with the current number of guards, they might not be able to protect Wei Yan, let alone suppress the Liangzhou people in the army.
Liangzhou people have been restless since ancient times. They are there when they are brave and fierce, and they are there when they surrender directly when they see the situation is not going well. The current battle situation is so critical that the defenders have reduced their strength by two-thirds. In this situation Next, Wei Yan himself is not sure whether the people of Liangzhou can be trusted, let alone the personal guards.
Therefore, the personal guard's suggestion is that while the military morale is still there, it is better to take advantage of the situation and give the people of Liangzhou a way out.
It is impossible for this group of Liangzhou people to surrender. After all, it is "the Han and the thieves are not at odds with each other." Since they are eating the military rations of the Han, this bottom line must be met.
But a breakout can be considered.
If Wei Yan issues an order to break out, this group of Liangzhou people will definitely not have any objections and will definitely fight with Wei Yan to the end. It is better than dying on the wall of Tongguan Pass.
Another thing is that these Liangzhou people are all cavalrymen. The horses they used to raid Tongguan were all inside the pass, and not far from the front is where their reinforcements are. If they want to break out and join up with Zhang Xi, Zhao Yun and others, there is an opportunity. Still big.
As for General Wei in Tongguan, including today, he has been holding on for ten days, which is not too short.
This was the real reason why the guards spoke to Wei Yan.
Wei Yan, after listening to the guards' explanation, nodded, stood up directly, and ordered that all the war horses in the pass be slaughtered.
If you want to run away, there is no way!
I'll cut off the escape route for you bastards! ! !
(End of chapter)
