Sima Yi led his troops to quickly advance westward, with 60,000 troops and horses approaching the east gate of Luoyang.
At almost the same moment, the two brothers Sima Division and Sima Zhao also led 20,000 troops and horses to complete the cross-river assembly at Mengjin Ferry. The two brothers plus Xiahou He, after discussing with the three, also began to march towards the north gate of Luoyang.
Excluding Cao Zhen and the 30,000 Wei troops under his command who were still entangled with Wang Chang in the west, 80,000 troops and horses had already gathered around Luoyang and were marching towards Luoyang.
In Zhuge Liang's hands, including the soldiers and horses withdrawn by Huang Quan, Deng Ai and others, there were about 40,000 people defending Luoyang.
With a strength comparison of two to one, Zhuge Liang is not too anxious yet.
Fortunately, the discussion with Zhang Xi was timely enough, and Xu Shu mobilized troops and coordinated food and grass quickly enough. He brought 15,000 Nanyang County soldiers to the rescue before Sima Yi launched the attack. Otherwise, Zhuge Liang would probably have only Twenty-five thousand men guard Luoyang, at least Wang Ping's ten thousand useless flying troops. Zhuge Liang would never dare to let them go to Yingchuan County easily.
At least for now, the war is not out of Zhuge Liang's control.
As for Sima Yi, just surround him.
In fact, what Zhuge Liang is most worried about now is not Sima Yi outside the city at all, but Zhang Xi in Jiangling.
The battle report of Jiangling City was really tortured by Zhuge Liang during this period.
Zhang Xi sent a battle report before, saying that he and Wang Ji both suspected that this time the Soochow Army invaded Jingzhou, the main direction of attack might be Xiangyang instead of Jiangling. In those days, Zhuge Liang was so anxious that the corners of his mouth started to get angry and blistered. .
Unless Zhou Yu was mentally retarded, it would be impossible for him to lead an army to attack Xiangfan's defense system from the flank without capturing Jiangling.
If Soochow did that, Zhang Xi would directly send troops to attack Jiangxia and cut off Zhou Yu's retreat. Look what Zhou Yu will do! ! !
No matter how Zhuge Liang looked at it, he didn't think that a famous general like Zhou Yu could make such a forward-thinking strategic choice.
During that time, Zhuge Liang was really worried that Zhang Xi would be deceived by Zhou Yu, so he rashly sent reinforcements to Xiangyang, weakening Jiangling's defensive forces.
But the distance between the two places was too far, and Zhuge Liang himself had to prepare for the Wei thieves' counterattack. He couldn't do anything except write a reminder letter that he didn't know if it could be delivered in time.
For this reason, Zhuge Liang was worried about something every day. Xu Shu could hardly stand it anymore.
After all these years, you still don’t know who Zhang Xi is? !
Based on that boy's cautious style of using troops, even if he really suspected that Soochow's main attack direction was Xiangyang, he would wait until the signs were obvious before making a decision. Before that, he would not easily divide his troops in advance.
These words made Zhuge Liang feel a little better.
Subsequently, Zhuge Liang received Wenpin's battle report. The Soochow Army went up the Han River and landed on the north bank of the Han River. Wenpin had no choice but to ask for help from the three eastern counties.
At this time, Zhuge Liang was worried again.
On the one hand, Zhuge Liang compiled and analyzed the existing intelligence and came to a conclusion. The number of troops sent by Soochow this time may far exceed his expectations, and may even send more than 150,000 troops.
With this strength, it is not impossible for Zhou Yu to divide his forces to contain Jiangling and concentrate his forces to attack Xiangyang.
On the other hand, Zhuge Liang was even more worried. If Soochow's main attack direction was still Jiangling, once Zhang Xi divided his troops to support Xiangyang, he might really be unable to defend Jiangling.
This worry did not make Zhuge Liang feel at ease until the arrival of Jiangling's last battle report.
Zhang Xi told Zhuge Liang in the battle report that the public security forces on the south bank of the Yangtze River and Lingyang were all lost, and the Jiangling navy also suffered a disastrous defeat. Now Jiangling City is besieged by a hundred thousand Soochow troops.
This was terrible news, but Zhuge Liang felt relieved.
There is only one reason. Zhang Xi still has 37,000 people in his hands.
In other words, Zhang Xi did not send troops to support Xiangyang in advance. With the troops Zhang Xi currently has on hand, he is still confident that he can hold on to the strong city of Jiangling.
This time Soochow sent troops to attack Jingzhou, the number of troops was indeed beyond Zhuge Liang's imagination. Therefore, Zhuge Liang did not place any hope on Zhang Xi to solve this problem alone.
Now Zhuge Liang only needs Zhang Xi to maintain a stalemate with Soochow. After he has resolved Cao Wei's counterattack against Heluo, he can then dispatch troops south to rescue.
And with Zhang Xi's ability to defend the city, it would not be easy for even Zhou Yu to defeat Jiangling with a force ratio of less than three to one.
Jiangling was temporarily stabilized, and Zhuge Liang no longer had to worry about the collapse of the war in the south.
Zhuge Liang was relieved, but now Zhang Xi couldn't feel at ease.
After all, it was because of insufficient troops. Zhang Xi did not dare to relax for a moment when guarding Jiangling.
In addition, who can tell me how many city crossbows Zhou Yu dismantled and transported to Jiangling City? !
Are the Soochow Army's bed crossbows running out? !
The Jiangling "artillery" battle lasted for less than half a month, and both sides suffered heavy losses in crossbows and trebuchets.
Zhang Xi alone has lost more than twenty bed crossbows and five counterweight trebuchets. Whether it is bed crossbows or counterweight trebuchets, Zhang Xi's inventory has bottomed out.
Currently, there are only seven bed crossbows and three counterweight catapults left on the south gate of Jiangling City.
But outside Jiangling City, Zhou Yu is still able to line up more than ten bed crossbows, suppressing the bed crossbows and stone-throwing firepower at the head of Jiangling City.
Moreover, the current Soochow soldiers are no longer watching the fun.
As the losses of crossbows and catapults at the head of Jiangling City increased and the suppressive firepower weakened, Zhou Yu immediately ordered Zhuge Ke, Sun Sheng, and Lu Xun to launch an attack on the east, south, and west gates of Jiangling City. .
The unique crossbow soldiers of the Soochow Army came on stage to increase the suppression of bows and arrows on the head of Jiangling City. They covered the Soochow soldiers to carry ladders, hook ladders, rams and other siege equipment to attack the city.
The Jiangling offensive and defensive battle once again entered the traditional and cruel stage of close combat.
This is inevitable.
Zhang Xi also began to divide his troops, with Wang Ji guarding the south gate to deal with Lu Xun, Zhou Tai guarding the opposite gate to face his old rival Zhuge Ke, and Zhong Limu guarding the west gate to deal with Sun Sheng.
Like Zhou Yu, I was in the middle of everything, checking for leaks and filling in the gaps.
At the same time, if necessary, Zhang Xi was wondering whether to send people out of the city to burn Zhou Yu's bed crossbows.
Zhang Xi now seriously suspects that Zhou Yu transferred all the crossbows from Jiangdong to attack the city. Otherwise, why didn't the fight last for so long? !
However, Zhang Xi now has no strong generals at hand. It is too risky for him to lead his troops out of the city to burn these crossbows.
Although there is a high probability that Zhou Yu does not have any strong generals on hand who can guard those bed crossbows, but when Zhou Yu stands in front of the formation, Zhang Xi does not dare to rush into the formation easily. Zhou Yu cannot defeat others, but he can deal with Zhang Xi in a one-on-one fight. Still more than enough.
Therefore, after repeated hesitation, Zhang Xi decided not to leave the city for the time being, but to use a counterweighted trebuchet and a bed crossbow on the wall to fight Zhou Yu's bed crossbow.
See who runs out first.
Then, Zhang Xi discovered that he might not be able to defeat Zhou Yu.
On the fourth day of the siege, when the wall-climbing battle was cut off, Zhang Xi was shocked to find that the Soochow Army once again transported a batch of crossbows to Jiangling City via waterways, numbering about ten more.
Why don’t Soochow’s bed crossbows cost money? !
This time, Zhang Xi couldn't sit still.
Should we send people out of the city to burn these bed crossbows? !
At the same time, Zhou Yu was actually muttering to himself that Zhang Yuanchang was really so calm? !
In fact, Zhou Yu only has the dozen bed crossbows on hand now.
Zhang Xi saw on the top of Jiangling City that among the more than ten crossbows brought by Zhu Ran's navy, except for one that was real, the rest were made of wood to make a rough frame, and then used It was wrapped in oilcloth and was used to conceal the truth and deceive Zhang Xi's eyes.
Zhou Yu just bullied Zhang Xi into staying far away from the city tower and couldn't see clearly. He deliberately showed it off and pretended that he had endless use of bed crossbows to lure Zhang Xi to make a change and take the initiative to go out of the city to burn these bed crossbows.
After all, in a head-to-head siege, the attacker's damage would definitely be far greater than the defender's.
Even if Zhou Yu has an army of 100,000, he doesn't want to fight such a useless war of attrition. It would be best if he can win with wisdom.
Now, the only thing that can make Zhang Xi take the initiative is to put great pressure on Zhang Xi with siege equipment, forcing Zhang Xi to take the initiative to go out of the city to burn these siege equipment.
As long as Zhang Xi takes the initiative to leave the city, Zhou Yu's military advantage will be fully demonstrated, and he can completely weaken the Jiangling garrison during the field battle.
Now it depends on whether Zhang Xi will be fooled or not! ! !
(End of chapter)
