In the afternoon, the Han army continued to attack the city.
The trebuchet whirred, and countless stones were thrown in the air and smashed ferociously towards the head of Anling City. The Wei soldiers had made preparations in advance today. They held the door panels removed from the houses on their heads, but they could barely do it. Resist one or two.
Just now, Cao Zhen convened a group of generals to discuss for a long time, but they could not come up with any good way to break the situation. Now that the Han army has launched another attack, they can only try their best to resist and overcome the immediate difficulties.
In order to put enough pressure on the Wei army without making them despair, Guan Xing, Jiang Wei and others racked their brains, constantly changing their attack methods and controlling the rhythm of the siege.
Fortunately, the Han army's siege equipment was sharp enough and the Wei army did not notice anything unusual. Hundreds of catapults continued to throw stones, and thousands of crossbowmen also took turns approaching the city wall to release arrows. Just the rain of arrows and the flying rocks like locusts made the Wei army on the city wall feel a huge impact. pressure.
In addition, Guan Xing, Jiang Wei, Zong Yu and others occasionally asked the sergeants to launch a charge, and the threat faced by the Wei army became even greater.
However, a veteran like Cao Zhen, who was experienced in fighting and had a keen sense of smell on the battlefield, still saw that the Han army had spare power to attack the city. However, he did not think about the Han army deliberately controlling the rhythm. He just thought that the Han army had reinforcements coming today. , with increased strength and greater confidence, there is no need to pile up lives and rush to capture the city.
While Zhuge Liang and others were working hard to accompany Cao Zhen in acting, Yang Qing was quite leisurely. The cities around Anling were basically empty of troops. He led thousands of cavalry and it was as if he was in the middle of nowhere. territory.
In addition, more than half of the city had been captured by Yang Qing not long ago, so when he arrived with his army, the officials and people defending the city opened their doors and surrendered in a sensible manner.
After all, when Yang Qing occupied these cities before, he enforced military discipline that was not violated by Minqiu. This gained a wave of popular support. In addition, when the Han army gained the upper hand, they surrendered without any psychological burden. .
"If there is not much grain or cloth in the official warehouse of the puppet Wei Dynasty, use money to buy it from the people. You can give double or triple the money. You must collect as much as possible." In the temple of Liquan County, Yang Qingduan sat on the main seat in the lobby and gave instructions to Liu Yin and others standing below.
Liu Yin asked curiously: "Your Majesty, didn't the Prime Minister just ask us to collect food? Why do we need to collect so much cloth?"
"Haha, the secret must not be leaked. You try your best to collect it. As for the reason, you will know in two days. Anyway, cloth is a valuable thing, and sometimes it is even more valuable than copper coins. There is no harm in collecting more. Yang Qing said with a smile.
Liu Yin responded with a vague understanding: "Yes, I finally understand." After saying that, he left with everyone and arranged for people to collect grain, grass and cloth, and load these things into the car.
After half a day of collection, almost all the food and cloth that could be collected in Liquan City were taken away by the Han army. Yang Qing sent a team of people to escort the supplies back to the Anling camp first, while he led the people to the next city.
While Yang Qing was happily leading his people to collect military supplies in the surrounding cities, the offensive and defensive battle between the Han and Wei armies in Anling City continued for another whole day. ,
Although Cao Zhen has not yet discovered that the Han army is deliberately holding back its forces, he already has plans in his mind to abandon the city and break out. After all, holding on like this is not a long-term solution. Maybe one day the city will be breached by the Han army?
In this situation, he didn't have any confidence in his heart. It is not that Cao Zhen has not thought about dispatching soldiers and horses from Yicheng and other places to come over for reinforcements, but Yicheng and Wugong are more than two hundred miles away from Anling. As for Chencang, it is even further away. It will take them five days at the fastest to reach Anling. six days.
However, Cao Zhen really didn't have much confidence that he could hold on for another five or six days. Although the risk of abandoning the city and breaking out of the siege was very high, and he would be captured and killed by the Han army if he failed, but if he stayed in Anling all the time, he would not be able to hold on for another five or six days if the city was broken. There is a greater chance of falling into the hands of the Han army.
Thinking of his identity, Cao Zhen would never allow this to happen, so he had plans to break out of the encirclement as soon as possible.
"Should we survive tomorrow during the day and lead the army to break out at night?" As night fell, the two armies had a truce. Cao Zhen paced on the city wall, thinking about the detailed plan for the breakout.
Suddenly a gust of cold wind blew, making him
He shuddered involuntarily, wrapped his mink robe tightly around his body, and cursed secretly that God had come to do something bad to him. It was already cold enough today. If the temperature dropped further, wouldn't it be even more disadvantageous for the sergeants to fight? ?
"Hey, General, it's snowing!" the captain of the soldiers who was following behind suddenly said.
Cao Zhen looked up and saw snowflakes floating in the sky. He was frightened and anxious, and shouted: "It's snowing at this time. If the heavy snow blocks the surrounding roads, wouldn't it be more difficult for our army to break through?" ? Is it true that God wants to destroy me, Cao Zhen?"
After a while, Cao Zhen thought about it and suddenly had an idea. He held his hands and laughed and said, "Haha, it's not that God wants to kill me, but God wants to help me. Thank God, thank God."
The guards behind him saw him suddenly angry and happy, and they were all confused and confused. You look at me, I look at you, and they all feel that their general is a little confused.
"Let Wu Kun come over and see me immediately." Cao Zhen did not notice the strange expressions on the faces of the guards, so he turned around and ordered excitedly.
The soldier captain quickly bowed and agreed: "No."
What Cao Zhen didn't know was that when he was excitedly thanking God, Zhuge Liang in the Han army camp outside the city actually had the same idea as him.
Zhuge Liang walked out of the tent, looked at the snow that was falling more and more, smiled slightly, and murmured to himself: "God will help me." He turned to Yang Yi and said, "Mr. Wei, call Wei Min."
In a tent a hundred steps away from Zhuge Liang's commander's tent, Yang Qing, who had just returned from going to collect food, heard the sergeants outside shouting that it was snowing, and was suddenly filled with surprise.
He opened the curtain, looked at the snowflakes flying in the sky, and thought to himself: "The Prime Minister is indeed a wizard who knows both astronomy and geography. He actually predicted in advance that it would snow in the past two days. When can I be like him?" What's the situation?"
It turned out that just yesterday at noon, Yang Qing was about to lead his troops out to raise military supplies, but he was suddenly called away secretly by Zhuge Liang. Zhuge Liang told him that it would snow in the next two days, and asked him to collect a batch of cloth while collecting food and grass to prepare the soldiers for protection against cold and frost.
At the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, Yang was still half-convinced. Today, after seeing the heavy snowfall, he really admired Zhuge Liang. No wonder Zhuge Liang always said that the general did not know astronomy or geography and was mediocre.
At this time, Liu Yin also walked over with a surprised look on his face and said with a smile: "No wonder the envoy asked us to collect cloth. It turns out it's because of the heavy snow."
"How can so-and-so have such ability? This was all ordered by the Prime Minister in advance. His ability is beyond my reach!" Yang Qing shook his head and smiled.
Liu Yin nodded and praised sincerely: "The Prime Minister is really a god!" After a pause, he added: "I wonder if this snow is a blessing or a curse for our army?"
"Of course it's a blessing. The snow fell just in time."
Yang Qing thought of what Zhuge Liang said yesterday, and the smile on his face became brighter, and the worry that had been hidden in his heart for the past few days suddenly dissipated.
