Qin Lang knew that he would not have much offensive time. If he delayed for too long under Beizhong City and allowed Zhang Xi to prepare for flank defense, then his raid would be meaningless.
Therefore, Qin Lang would rather take the risk and quickly attack Beizhong City, trying to break through it in the shortest time, and then continue to advance eastward.
According to Qin Lang's estimation, if he could break through Beizhong City within five days, he would still be able to take the initiative on the battlefield.
But reality does not allow Qin Lang to achieve his wish.
His opponent Zhang Yi is not an incompetent person.
Although Beizhong City has short walls and insufficient troops, at least Zhang Yi is really good at defending it.
In order to rush for time, Qin Lang wanted to attack the city with manpower without many siege equipment, but Zhang Yi had already been prepared for this.
The wood under the foundation of the earth wall can effectively prevent the Wei army from using ladders to attack the city. The earth wall that has been re-consolidated and poured will not have to worry about being destroyed by the Wei army, at least in the short term.
In addition, after Zhang Yi learned about Qin Lang's movements through the reconnaissance cavalry, he did not hesitate to send military envoys to Zhang Xi in advance to ask for help. Zhang Yi predicted that he only needed to hold on for about seven or eight days before he could wait for the attack from Zhang Xi. Home reinforcements.
Both sides have their own support, but in terms of time, it is not good for Qin Lang.
If it was just a one-on-one offensive and defensive duel, then Qin Lang was still confident that he could defeat Zhang Yi and capture Beizhong City. But if a time limit was added, things would be difficult to say.
Qin Lang really tried his best, and he had used every method he could think of.
On the first day of the siege, Qin Lang, who had no siege equipment to assist him, found that the defense of Beizhong City exceeded his imagination. After losing 300 people in the first day's attack, Qin Lang decisively ordered a temporary truce.
Qin Lang may not be able to detect problems in advance, but he can still solve them immediately after discovering them.
Since the first day of the attack found that it was impossible to climb the earthen wall of Shanbei Zhongcheng by means of a human wall, we quickly stopped and sent people to cut down trees to build a simple hook and ladder.
There is not much else in Qin Lang, but there are many people. It does not take half a day to build twenty or thirty pairs of simple hook ladders.
The next day, with the help of hooks and ladders, the Wei army continued to strengthen its attack.
The attack this time was much more efficient than the attack on the first day, but if Zhang Yi could only rely on the city wall for defense, then he could not be called a general who was good at defending.
A general who is truly good at defense must not only use various city defense advantages to resist the enemy in a city defense battle, but more importantly, he must have the ability to respond quickly enough to discover the enemy's offensive focus in time or even in advance, and through his own Adjust command and strengthen the defense of the enemy's attack points.
In this regard, Zhang Yi is indeed much stronger than his opponent Qin Lang.
Therefore, the result is that no matter how Qin Lang adjusts the focus of his attack, Zhang Yi can always predict in advance or discover it in time.
Even if Zhang Yi suffers from insufficient troops, it is impossible for Zhang Yi to make up for every loophole through command, but Zhang Yi's own force value is not bad. Once he takes the lead and fights on the city wall, although many small loopholes exist, they will eventually be exposed. Zhang Yi's fighting or the fighting of Han soldiers could not be used by Qin Lang.
After all, Qin Lang is not the kind of genius commander who can easily catch a flaw.
Therefore, Zhang Yi defended Beizhong City for another three days without any danger.
Qin Lang was really anxious. He even considered whether to step up the attack with all his strength, risk casualties, and storm Beizhong City.
But as soon as he opened his mouth to do this, he was dissuaded by Pei Qian, who joined the army.
You have to sort out the priorities.
The purpose of attacking Beizhong City is to clear the early warning and protection of Shu thieves on the flanks, not to fight the Shu thieves here. It is okay to capture Beizhong City regardless of casualties, but the Wei army will continue to advance and attack Wen County. The flank of the main army of Shu thieves, and this time the opponent is not Zhang Yi, but Zhang Xi, a famous general in the world.
The casualties are too high, what can we do to fight Zhang Xi? !
Moreover, Pei Qian reminded Qin Lang not to forget that this time when he led troops into Hanoi County, his first priority strategy was not to repel the Hedong Shu thieves led by Zhang Xi, but to enter Wen County to switch defenses with Xiahou Ba, so that Xiahou Ba was able to lead the army to support Yanzhou.
If there is a fighter plane on the battlefield that can directly defeat Zhang Xi, then Pei Qian will not stop Qin Lang. After all, if he can relieve Hedong, it is also what Pei Qian, the leader of the Hedong family, hopes to see.
But now Qin Lang's irrational approach is completely meaningless to the war situation. If he is not dissuaded, Pei Qian may die in this chaos.
After listening to Pei Qian's dissuasion, Qin Lang did calm down a little, but it was limited.
The main thing is that Qin Lang really has no choice.
It's not that he can't distinguish priorities, but if he doesn't capture Beizhong City and lets Shu thieves stop him here, how can he support Wen County? !
Go around? !
From a theoretical point of view, Beizhong City is not far from Wen County. The army currently has enough food supplies, so it is not impossible to bypass it.
But judging from the actual combat situation, there is no room for practical operation by bypassing it.
Qin Lang had a total of 20,000 people. After four days of attack, the casualties were probably more than 1,000, and there were more than 18,000 people left.
More than 18,000 people bypassed Beizhong City and went to Beizhong City in Wen County. The Shu bandit general was not a fool. How could he just sit back and watch his advance eastward.
When the time comes, they will inevitably follow themselves, bite their own tail, and delay their advance.
Zhang Xi, who was attacking under Wen County City, should have received news of the attack on Beizhong City by this time.
Even if Zhang Xi has not fully adjusted his army deployment and prepared flank defense at this time, the most basic reinforcements sent to North Central City should already be on the way.
In other words, if Qin Lang rushes forward like this, he is likely to directly collide with the reinforcements sent by Zhang Xi, plus the "tail" hanging behind him. Doesn't this create a trap for the enemy? Is it a "front and rear attack" situation? ! !
This is not to go to Wen County to support, but to go directly to die.
Therefore, the current Qin Lang cannot move forward with peace of mind without capturing Beizhong City, and there is no "priority strategic purpose" emphasized by Pei Qian.
Of course, you still need to be calm, but you must also attack with force.
Just when Qin Lang clarified all the battlefield situations, rejected Pei Qian's advice, and was ready to trade casualties for time, Zhang Yi retreated.
Yes, Zhang Yi withdrew his troops from Beizhong City.
In fact, Zhang Yi didn't want to withdraw. His Beizhong City was well defended. However, Zhang Xi ordered someone to send military orders to withdraw his troops and rendezvous. Zhang Yi did not dare to disobey the military orders.
As for Zhang Xi, Zhang Xi actually didn't want to give this order, but there was no way, the situation had changed.
Reality, sometimes, really, is often not what people want.
For example, Zhang Xi, and Meng Da.
Zhang Xi really wanted to keep the 30,000 troops brought by Qin Lang in Hedong, so he sent a combination of Ma Dai and Meng Da to ambush Qin Lang on the Taihang Mountain Road.
But who knew that Qin Lang was quite smart and actually divided his troops and broke into Hanoi County with 20,000 county soldiers.
At this time, Zhang Xi was actually not in a hurry. Zhang Yi, whom he sent to Beizhong City as a precaution, blocked Qin Lang in time.
Zhang Xi now has enough troops. As long as he leaves some of his men to contain Xiahou Ba in Wen County and leads the main force to encircle and suppress him, Qin Lang's 20,000 Cao Weijun soldiers will not be able to escape.
But just when Zhang Xi was about to make a contingency, Zhang Xi received a military report sent back quickly by Meng Da's military envoy.
The Bingzhou cavalry moved south, and their strength was no less than 20,000. Taihang Guandao could not be blocked.
Meng Da was also unlucky.
Originally, Meng Da was at the entrance of the Taihang official road. He took advantage of the terrain and the hesitation of the enemy commander Dai Ling to hold the official road without any danger.
Really, as long as Dai Ling is not determined enough to defeat the enemy, it will be easy for Meng Da to defend, and this achievement is also guaranteed.
Moreover, in the future, if this record is spread, it will be enough for Meng Da to have 5,000 infantry to stop 10,000 cavalry. Even if there is a terrain advantage, such a record is a miracle in itself.
Meng Da even imagined that he would be promoted to a high official and become a marquis because of his merits, and his reputation would be spread throughout the world.
But at this time, Bi Gui, the governor of Bingzhou, went south with 20,000 Bingzhou cavalry.
Bi Gui was a civil servant. He had no military strategy. His greatest ability was to sit in the local area and implement government orders.
History can prove that Bi Gui's military strategy level was inferior to that of Qin Lang.
But Bi Gui has an "advantage". He doesn't understand military strategy, so he won't think about it so much. In his opinion, Dai Ling has 8,000 cavalry, but he dare not attack an army guarded by only 2,000 people. The official camp is purely passive and negligent, delaying the opportunity to fight.
Therefore, when Bi Gui and Dai Ling merged, Bi Gui immediately deprived Dai Ling of his command power as the governor of Bingzhou.
Dai Ling was not sure about whether the governor of Bingzhou had the right to deprive the general of his command. After all, the two people were not in the same system.
But Dai Ling knew that he, the post-general, was promoted by the old general Cao Zhen, and that Bi Gui, the governor of Bingzhou, was personally appointed by the emperor.
If the general Cao Zhen was still alive, Dai Ling might still argue with him. But unfortunately, the general is dead now.
Therefore, Dai Ling handed over the military power without saying anything.
After Bi Gui took control of the army, his first order was to send five thousand cavalry to attack Mengda's camp.
Well, it was a pretty bad loss.
(End of chapter)
