As expected of an experienced veteran, Pan Chongche's intuition is quite accurate.
Just as the entire army of the Southern Han Dynasty was pouring into Chenzhou City, which was covered with flames, Chai Kewu, the left pioneer of the Southern Tang Dynasty's march to the south, had quietly led his troops to occupy important places in Yunshi Valley. At this time, he was looking at the city in front of him where the smoke had not cleared. , a faint smile appeared on his face.
Probably at the same time as the arrival of Pan Chongche's army, Chai Kewu led his light cavalry to march day and night since he was ordered to go south to defend the enemy. He led the army into the city from the north gate of Chenzhou City in the afternoon of August 12th.
For Chenzhou City, a small but important city, Chai Kewu, who had personally led an army to conquer it before, was naturally very familiar with it. At this time, Wu Ping's army in the city totaled about 13,000 people. In fact, Pan Chongche's The army was evenly matched in numbers, but he did not follow the advice of his generals and rigidly defend the city.
This is just because this city is indeed not conducive to defense. Even though the city walls are strong, they are really low. Moreover, the cramped space on the top of the city can only barely accommodate three to four hundred people at most. The space is really limited, plus the transportation during defense. The earth and rocks coming up will inevitably occupy a large part of the space, so even if there are more than ten thousand elite soldiers, they will have to take turns to fight.
Therefore, in actual combat, it is still equivalent to hundreds of people fighting against more than ten thousand enemy troops who can move freely under the city. The Dongxi barbarians suffered such a big loss here in the past. In addition, during a battle, there must be a large number of people on the city. It is difficult for the crossbowmen to form a formation, and they can only look for opportunities to snipe from point to point. In contrast to this kind of firepower, it is impossible for the city to last long.
It was not that Chai Kewu never thought of giving up defending the city and switching to fighting outside the city, but this extremely risky approach was quickly rejected in time. Just because field battles will inevitably encounter the invincible elephant cavalry of the Han army. Although these behemoths are useless in attacking the city, their power in field battles is extremely terrifying. The generals of Wuping had already heard in the battle reports that Bian Hao and Zhang Luan's 30,000-strong army were fighting in Yi. Zhang was trampled by these monsters and his entire army was annihilated...
When Chai Kewu and his generals had just climbed to the top of the city, they heard the neighing of the war elephants in the Southern Han camp from a distance. Although they had not yet seen this huge monster that existed in rumors, they just saw it with their own eyes. Hearing the sound, the soldiers were slightly trembling. Normal people would not blindly and confidently challenge unknown and dangerous things.
But after all, the commander-in-chief's orders were placed above him. Naturally, Chai Kewu could not let the Han army easily cross the final barrier to Langzhou City. When he entered the city, he heard that all Han troops were stationed in Yunshi Valley in the south of the city. He immediately boarded the Looking at the enemy's situation at the top of the city, they saw that the Han army's camp was all in full view. After ordering the scouts to count their tents and flags, the estimated number of enemy troops was indeed almost the same as the battle report they had received in Linyuan City.
Chai Kewu immediately made a timely judgment. Pan Chongche, the commander-in-chief of the Han army, dared to reveal his full strength in front of the enemy city. In addition to his full confidence, he was sure that the main force of the Wuping army was still trapped in Xizhou and wanted to race against time to implement surprise attack tactics. There must be a rush to fight.
This judgment is indeed reasonable, but for Pan Chongche, a veteran who has been winning for half his life and now shoulders the hope of the country, seeking victory in danger is not a helpless move...
Soon, the young general of the Wuping Army made a bold plan and began to issue orders in an orderly manner. First, he quickly and secretly prepared ships outside the East Gate, and transferred all the main forces of the army to the East Gate to assemble. Only two thousand soldiers were selected. The warriors assumed the task of defending the city and erected several huge crossbow machines at the bottom of the pressure box allocated by Li Yuan in the tower to maximize the possibility of attracting firepower.
It rained heavily on the first night after arriving in Chenzhou. When the Han soldiers in Yunshi Valley shivered in the camp and lit a brazier to keep warm, Sergeant Wu Ping in the city was still gritting his teeth and persisting. Although he didn't know what was going on, he still We could only honestly follow the orders of coach Chai Kewu. One group of people set up boats outside the east gate, and the other group of people prepared kerosene in the city, anxiously waiting for tomorrow's battle.
The siege battle on August 13th lasted from morning to evening. The battle situation was as tragic as Chai Kewu imagined, but from beginning to end, his eyes were tightly focused on the several crossbow machines on the tower. The killer weapon he developed did not disappoint him in the end. Even though the Han army launched seven large-scale charges in succession, and after 80% to 90% of the two thousand Wuping soldiers who defended the city died heroically, Chenzhou City was miraculously defended.
But guarding Chenzhou City is not the main function of these crossbows. The real intention is to make the Han army pay a heavy price and finally have to devote all its troops to fight again in order to rush to the city. As long as all the Han armies leave Yunshi Valley, Chai Kewu's Only then can the "home-changing" plan proceed smoothly. Pan Chongche did not disappoint him. Before Haishi, the scouts came to report that the Han army had begun large-scale mobilization...
Now he finally stood above the Yunshi Valley according to the plan. Although Chai Kewu had a smile on his face, he did not dare to relax his vigilance at all. Such painstaking efforts were not just to successfully change the positions of Wu Ping Army and Han Army. At this time, one side Climbing high and looking out, I was secretly anxious, as if I was waiting for something.
Soon the sergeant came to report, and Chai Kewu immediately turned around and hurried back to the camp, going straight to the tall sheds that the Han army had previously built in the camp. Before they arrived, they heard the noise, but in front of the hut, surrounded by Sergeant Wu Ping with swords in hand, hundreds of dejected Han soldiers were already standing in line beside the hut.
Looking at this group of nervous-looking prisoners, although Zhai Kewu looked calm, he had to secretly wonder. These Han soldiers were all tall and wearing a full set of brand-new and sophisticated armor. Bystanders must have thought that they were elite soldiers of the Han army. These elite soldiers were not equipped with any weapons, and they all held a thick and long leather whip in their hands.
When Chai Kewu frowned, he saw a general coming forward and whispering, and then turned around and shouted loudly. Then Wu Ping's sergeants all showed their weapons and faced each other. These Han soldiers holding long whips had no choice but to bite the bullet. In front of him, he opened each fence door of the shed neatly in turn, and at the same time uttered a strange language that confused everyone, and made a "crackling" sound with the long whip in his hand.
But seeing these more than 500 Han soldiers, they spontaneously divided into more than a hundred small teams, with four or five people in each team waiting in front of each shed, giving orders inside, until suddenly in a tall shed There was a loud neighing, and then more than a hundred shacks neighed one after another as if in response. For a while, the huge sounds of "Angwu" and "Aangwu" echoed throughout the Yunshi Valley.
Wu Ping's sergeants had never seen such a scene before. Their expressions changed drastically. They swallowed and clenched their weapons. Their eyes were focused on the unfathomable darkness where more than a hundred sheds were open. Chai Kewu was stunned for a moment. Then he took a deep breath and said, "Is this, is this an elephant?"
Several generals, Xu Shi, who had just inquired about the Han soldiers, were calm and composed. One of the generals looked happy, cupped his hands and replied to Chai Kewu: "Chai Dushi, it is the legendary Elephants! This room, that room, and more than a hundred rooms, are all elephants used by Han elephants! These Han troops are elephant trainers who specialize in controlling war elephants! These are all ours!"
Another general also hurriedly stepped forward, cupped his hands with admiration and said: "This plan is really ingenious! Now Chenzhou City has been completely burned by fire, and the city gate is already crumbling. These beasts are like this It's so tall that it will probably collapse with just a slight impact! All the houses in the city have been destroyed, and it's like walking on flat ground..."
"Commander, while all the Han troops are in the city, quickly order an attack! If the Han troops march north, won't we have wasted all this energy?"
Chai Kewu smiled softly, shook his head indifferently and said: "Don't be impatient! The Han army is here alone. All the food, grass and baggage are in our hands, and even the war elephants are in our hands. How can Pan Chongche have the confidence to take another step forward?"
