Guzang County is not only the county seat of Wuwei County, but also the state seat of Liangzhou. It is the most prosperous city in Liangzhou.
But now, Guzang City no longer has the bustling and noisy scene of merchants gathering in the past. There are few pedestrians and the market is depressed. There are many soldiers patrolling back and forth, and the atmosphere is tense.
The reason was that the Han army invaded Longxi, and its military power became increasingly powerful and invincible. Even though the Han army had not yet reached Liangzhou, the fall of Nan'an, Tianshui and other places still made Liangzhou governor Xu Miao feel that the situation was critical.
Therefore, in order to prevent the invasion of the Han army and the Qiang and Hu and other foreign tribes taking the opportunity to cause chaos, Xu Miao had ordered all counties to close the roads, inspect the female cadres, strictly guard the city, appease the people, and ordered the main forces of the counties and counties to gather in Guzang and be on standby.
"Envoy, according to reports from spies, Guangwei County was also captured by the Shu army not long ago, and Anding County on the east side of Longshan also rebelled against the court and joined Zhuge Liang." Li Mai, who joined the army, reported to Xu Miao.
Xu Miao is fifty-seven years old this year. He can be regarded as an old minister of Cao Wei. He joined Cao Cao's shogunate during the Jian'an period. During Cao Cao's era, he served as prime minister, military adviser, Fenggao County Magistrate, and Shangshu Lang.
After Cao Pi became emperor, he served as the Prime Minister of Qiao, the Grand Administrator of Anping, and the General of Yingchuan Diannong. Because of his outstanding political achievements, he was given the title of Marquis of Guannei and moved to the rank of General and Advisor of the Fu Army.
Not long ago, he was appointed by Cao Rui as the governor of Liangzhou, envoy Chijie, and captain of the Qiang Guard. He was ordered to go out to control Liangzhou, so he arrived in Liangzhou with the Han army.
Fortunately, he had served as the governor of Longxi and Nan'an counties before and was familiar with Liangzhou, so he didn't get a blind eye.
It's just that he just arrived in Liangzhou and is not familiar with everything. There are only about 10,000 soldiers and horses in Liangzhou. They have to guard various counties to prevent the Qiang and Hu. The maximum number of people who can attack is only 3,000 or 4,000, so he is really unable to go to Longxi. rescue.
Therefore, Xu Miao had to send people to Longxi to inquire about the news, while holding on to the city to ensure that Liangzhou was not lost.
"Oh, I get it." Xu Miao sighed: "I didn't expect that the Shu army's offensive was so fierce, and the counties in Longxi were almost unable to fight back."
Li Mai said: "Your Majesty, there is nothing we can do about this. Longyou and even the whole of Yongliang have neglected to guard against the Shu Kingdom. It is even less expected that Zhuge Liang would lead tens of thousands of Han troops to suddenly invade Longxi. The military strength of the Tianshui counties is already low." Not much, but I was caught off guard again, and I was defeated one after another."
"Alas, Longxi cannot be saved for the time being. We are lucky to be able to save Liangzhou. We will only have to rely on reinforcements from the court. I think the emperor should have sent reinforcements by now, so we can just wait."
Li Mai nodded and said, "It's just your envoy. If we don't do anything, won't the court punish Liangzhou in the future?"
"Well, I have been thinking about this matter these days." Xu Miao pondered for a while and said, "Let's see if you and Jincheng prefect Jia Chun can lead three thousand troops to attack in the direction of Nan'an and Longxi to see if they can kill a few Shu The soldiers may have rescued some officials, and this can be regarded as my best effort in Liangzhou."
Li Mai cupped his hands and said, "No."
"Just be careful and don't fight with large groups of Shu troops. Preserve yourself first." Xu Miao gave another instruction.
"Yes, I understand."
At the foot of Xiangwu City, Yang Qing was still standing on horseback in front of the formation, waiting for You Chu's reply. After a while, You Chu led a group of subordinates to appear at the top of the city.
"Mr. Youfu, I wonder what your response is?" Yang Qing shouted.
You Chu cupped his hands and said, "Thank you for your kindness, General. After some discussion last night, we still thought that we would submit to you after your army has defeated Long Long. As for the treaty and provisions, please forgive me for not being able to provide them for the time being."
You Chu convened the officials and people for a night's discussion last night, and he was still optimistic that Cao Wei's reinforcements could repel the Han army's Northern Expedition. Besides, there were still two thousand county soldiers in the city, plus the support of the people, it was enough to hold on until the reinforcements from the court arrived. In this case, why should they give up the excuse of collaborating with the enemy or collaborating with the enemy?
Yang Qing's face turned dark when he heard this. He didn't expect that You Chu was so ignorant of current affairs. Did he really think that he couldn't conquer Xiangwu City in a short time?
He stopped trying to persuade him and held his hands together: "Since that's what I mean, don't blame Yang for being ruthless." After that, he turned the horse's head and returned to the formation.
You Chu looked at Yang Qing's back with inexplicable regret. He wanted to say something more, but he didn't say anything after all. He knew that the war was unavoidable, so he immediately sent an order to the city.
The defenders prepared for battle.
Yang Qing returned to the formation and said to Ma Jun beside him: "Mr. Deheng, the rest is up to you."
"Fu Junfang... don't worry, I've already... prepared it some time ago." Ma Jun replied with his hand in hand.
In this Northern Expedition, Ma Jun, as a master craftsman of siege equipment, naturally had to accompany him. After meeting Ma Jun, Zhuge Liang also thought highly of him and asked him to stay in the Chinese army. However, when Yang Qing was ordered to attack Longxi, he thought that the Wudang Feijun he led was not good at attacking the city, so he asked Ma Jun back to help him attack the city.
Ma Jun had hundreds of craftsmen under him, all of whom he had trained with skillful skills. They divided the labor and worked together to build wooden wheels, mechanisms and other components. Soon dozens of catapults were assembled. It was Ma Jun. The wheel-type trebuchet developed.
Yang Qing did not disperse his troops to surround the city on all sides, but only attacked the east gate and north gate. He personally led 4,000 troops to attack the east gate, while Guliza and Badi led 2,000 troops to feign attack on the north gate.
He placed all the catapults at the east gate. After giving the order, dozens of catapults began to fire stones. In an instant, hundreds of stones were thrown high and hit the head of Xiangwu City heavily. , the sound is like thunder, and the force is like rain.
Many Wei soldiers were unable to escape and were beaten to death and wounded. Some soldiers even had their hands and feet broken and could not stop wailing in pain.
"Quick, quickly drag the wounded soldiers down for treatment. Although this thunderbolt chariot is powerful, it fires slowly. We must take advantage of this gap to save people." You Chu thought that the Han army was using a single-shot thunderbolt chariot, and quickly ordered the troops Regroup the team.
Unexpectedly, a moment later, hundreds of stones struck from the air again. Because the Wei army was busy rescuing people and did not take precautions, more soldiers were injured and killed by the stones this time than before.
"What? How come the intervals between the launches of their Thunderbolt Vehicles are so short?" You Chu exclaimed.
Ma Yong, the commander on the side, quickly pulled him into the tower and said, "Master Fu, I think the Shu people have improved this thunderbolt chariot. Their thunderbolt chariot should be able to fire continuously." As soon as he finished speaking, another burst of stone rain came. , which verified Ma Yong’s guess.
When You Chu saw this, he said, "If that's the case, I didn't expect the people of Shu to have such skillful craftsmen!" He sighed and said, "Call the troops to raise their shields high and hide behind the wall."
"Master Fu, this is not a long-term solution. Now the Shu army is throwing stones to destroy the city wall and kill and injure the sergeants. Our army is so overwhelmed that we don't dare to attack back. They will definitely take the opportunity to press up to the city gate and wall. Therefore, we must find a way to defeat the enemy. The Thunderbolt Chariot must be destroyed, otherwise it will be difficult to defend Xiangwu City," Ma Yong said.
You Chu said: "How can I not know this? It's just that the thunder chariot of the Shu army is hundreds of steps away, and it is difficult to reach it with bows and crossbows. The only way is to send troops out to destroy it. But Yang Qing will definitely send heavy troops to guard the thunder chariot. I'm afraid this method will not work."
"Master Fu, someone has a plan that you might want to try."
You Chu said anxiously: "Come here quickly."
"Master Fu, I have observed that the Shu army is almost all infantry and only has dozens of horses. However, I still have five hundred cavalry in the city. They can carry kerosene to burn the catapults of the Shu army. Under the galloping horses, they may be able to success."
You Chu pondered for a long time and said, "Okay, that's a way. You can lead the cavalry forward."
"promise."
