Zhang Xi, who was being tossed around by Zhou Yu with two large bamboo sticks, was almost exhausted, but he couldn't be careless.
There is no way, the Soochow Army has too many troops.
An army of 100,000 people, even if divided equally among three gates, one gate must be besieged by more than 30,000 people. What is the concept of 30,000 people? !
Even if you are just lining up, even if you stand on the top of the city, you can't see the end at a glance.
In this case, it is impossible to count the number of people with eyes.
Not to mention, when they actually attack, the Soochow Army will not stupidly line up and let you count the number of people before attacking. The siege also pays attention to the combination of virtual and real, and requires an offensive level. Some troops will be placed at the city gate. Attacking the city directly in front attracts attention. Some of them will hide in the mountain cols and dense forests outside the city, and suddenly burst out to catch them by surprise.
Therefore, whether the attacking army of a certain sect suddenly has 10,000 more or less 10,000 people can only be felt when the battle actually starts. It is impossible to tell based on pure eyesight.
The difference between an attack with 10,000 more people and an attack with 10,000 less people is really huge. It doesn't even require 10,000 people. If there are more than 5,000 people to attack, the defensive pressure the defenders have to bear is also a completely different concept.
Therefore, as long as Zhou Yu allocates some soldiers to strengthen the attack of a certain gate, from the perspective of defensive pressure, it is really a posture that Soochow is about to launch a main attack, and no one dares to take it lightly.
Zhou Yu has enough troops to move back and forth to create feint attacks and changes in the direction of the main attack, but Zhang Xi. He only has so many troops in total and needs to disperse the three guards while leaving a reserve of 10,000 people in his hands. Always ready to support everywhere.
In terms of scheduling, it is obviously not as smooth as Zhou Yulai.
To be honest, Zhou Yu's siege strategy is not really a brilliant one, but such a simple offensive strategy seems so reasonable in the current situation.
Zhang Xi was fooled by such a simple strategy, and he couldn't come up with a good enough way to deal with it for a while.
In the end, Zhang Xi could only adopt a more compromise method and split the 10,000 reserve troops he had on hand into three parts. When a certain gate warned, he would first send the vanguard troops to strengthen the defense, and wait until the direction of the Soochow Army's main attack was determined. , and then personally lead the troops to support.
The method is a bit clumsy, but at least it is much better than running back and forth for support. It not only saves rescue time, but also controls the physical consumption of the soldiers.
There is no other way. The troops are inferior to the opponent, so they can only retreat and defend. The initiative in the battle is completely in Zhou Yu's hands. Even if Zhang Xi wants to change, there are not many methods available.
It is indeed possible to take the initiative to interrupt Soochow's offensive rhythm and prevent Zhou Yu from besieging Jiangling so unscrupulously.
But the risk of taking the initiative to attack is very high. What Zhou Yu hopes most now is to use field battles to consume the strength of the Jiangling garrison. Zhang Xi knows this very well. If he attacks rashly, he might get Zhou Yu's fright.
Of course, the most important thing is that Zhang Xi has no strong generals who can lead the troops into battle, so he cannot take the initiative to attack.
For this reason, the only option is to continue to defend the city and waste time, stalling for time to see if reinforcements can arrive to relieve the siege, or the Soochow army will run out of supplies and retreat.
There are variables, but in Zhang Xi's calculations, the fastest variable is probably to wait until the Guanzhong or Hanzhong soldiers arrive in Nanyang, and they may be able to divide their forces to help defend Xiangyang, so that Xiangyang can dispatch troops south to support Jiangling.
Therefore, when Kou Feng sent someone to Jiangling to deliver a message saying that he had led troops south to support Jiangling, Zhang Xi was even a little confused.
No, if this guy doesn't cooperate with Wenpin to guard Xiangyang, why is he here to support Jiangling? !
Limited by the communication efficiency of these years, Zhang Xi did not know what the situation was in Xiangyang at this time.
Although it is now certain that Soochow's main attack direction is Jiangling, it is true that Soochow sent troops to Xiangyang.
Even if there are partial troops and suspicious troops, the total strength will not be less than tens of thousands. At this time, Xiangyang should be strong enough to defend and not aggressive enough.
Xiangyang is so important. It is the core area of Jingzhou. It connects Jiangling to the south and Nanyang to the north. This place cannot be lost.
The Kou Feng from the three eastern counties was transferred to assist in the defense of Xiangyang, just to ensure that Xiangyang would not lose this guy and lead the troops southward. What should we do about Xiangyang? !
Could it be said that Kou Feng and Wenpin had actually defeated the Soochow Army's partial division that went north to attack Xiangyang and ensured the safety of Xiangyang, so that they could lead their troops south to support Jiangling? !
If this is the case, Zhang Xi can breathe a sigh of relief. But the letter written by Kou Feng is vague, saying that he came south to rescue with Wenpin's permission, and nothing else happened. explain.
The commotion made Zhang Xi keep muttering in his heart.
Zhang Xi knew very well what kind of temper Kou Feng was.
As a brother, this boy has nothing to say. Although he stays in Dongsan County all year round and cannot leave his post without permission, the communication with Zhang Xi is not interrupted every year, and he also sends various gifts during the holidays.
When Xiao Xuan'er got married to Zhuge Qiao, Kou Feng couldn't go to Chang'an in person due to official duties, so he sent his confidants to send a super luxurious honor guard over, and was responsible for sending Xiao Xuan'er off to get married, which made Zhuge Liang and Zhang Xi murmur. .
Zhuge Liang was wondering if Kou Feng, the boy, was messing around in Dongsan County and ruthlessly plundering the people's wealth. Zhuge Liang felt that he could not afford to support such a super luxurious honor guard.
What Zhang Xi muttered was that this guy wouldn't steal Meng Da's honor guard like in history, would he? !
If Zhuge Liang and Zhang Xi hadn't been thinking about the Fourth Expedition at that time, this matter would have been impossible to overcome.
But no matter what, Kou Feng really respects his eldest brother.
Therefore, Zhang Xi really doubted whether Kou Feng would stay in Xiangyang and assist Wenpin in the defense when he learned that Jiangling was besieged.
If Kou Feng really wanted to commit a crime, Wenpin really couldn't stop him, not to mention that in terms of official position, Kou Feng was still one level higher than Wenpin, and there was no clear reporting relationship between the two parties. Wenpin had no name to exercise control. Kou Feng's.
Now Zhang Xi is really worried. After Kou Feng learned that he was surrounded, he desperately went south to rescue. In this case, Xiangyang would be in danger again.
Therefore, Zhang Xi quickly wrote a reply to Kou Feng and asked Kou Feng's confidant who came to deliver the letter to quickly take it back and give it to Kou Feng.
To put it simply, Zhang Xi just told Kou Feng that he was fine in Jiangling, and there was no need for Kou Feng to rush to help him. The first priority was to ensure the safety of Xiangyang.
About ten days after this letter was sent, when Zhang Xi continued to huddle in Jiangling City and was beaten, he received the second letter from Kou Feng.
This time, this bastard kid finally made things clear.
Including how to test the strength of the Soochow army, how to discuss with Wen Ping, and the reasons why he led the troops south, they were all explained clearly.
After learning through trial and error that the Soochow Army's partial division had only 10,000 troops in addition to 20,000 navy troops, Kou Feng and Wenpin both felt confident enough to defend Xiangyang.
Nowadays, the strategic purpose of the Soochow Army is very obvious. The focus of the attack is on Jiangling and Xiangyang. They are just partial troops and suspicious troops, focusing on containment. Therefore, it is unlikely that large-scale reinforcements will arrive.
Even when it came to Kou Feng's request to go south to support Jiangling as soon as possible, Wenpin did not interfere too much.
After all, there are only 30,000 people in Soochow, and 20,000 of them are naval troops. To put it bluntly, even if the soldiers from the three eastern counties of Kou Feng do not come, Wenpin will not necessarily lose Xiangyang.
Moreover, Wen Jibingba always puts defense first. If the enemy invades the territory, he will expel the enemy. However, under his leadership, he will rarely take the initiative to attack the enemy.
If it is only used to defend Xiangyang, then Wenpin feels that his current strength is enough.
Therefore, when Kou Feng wanted to lead the troops from Dongsan County to the south, Wenpin did not stop him too much. He just wanted to be cautious and hoped that Kou Feng would leave 5,000 Dongsanjun troops for him as a reserve force.
Kou Feng had no objection to this. After completing the settlement with Wenpin, he immediately led 15,000 troops from the three eastern counties south to rescue Jiangling.
Seeing this, Zhang Xi finally breathed a sigh of relief.
If it was just Kou Feng who led his troops south, Zhang Xi would still be worried, but if it was with Wenpin's consent, the meaning would be different.
Moreover, only ten days have passed since the last time he sent a letter. If you estimate optimistically, Kou Feng should have passed Dangyang County by now.
This speed is fast enough. If there are no obstacles along the way, in about five days, Jiangling City will receive another 15,000 reinforcements and a fierce general.
At that time, Zhang Xi really dared to divide his troops and leave the city to fight with Zhou Gongjin.
After being beaten for so long, Zhang Xi had a lot of anger built up in his heart! ! !
Humph, just five days to wait. Five days later, I want you Zhou Gongjin to look good! ! !
(End of chapter)
