Suzhou has been built as early as the Spring and Autumn Period, after several changes, the current Suzhou city wall is 30 years ago by the Suzhou Thorn Shi Zhang Bo rebuilt the city wall, north and south 12 miles long, east and west 9 miles, the circumference of a total of 42 miles and 30 steps, is a rare big city in this era. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info However, like most cities in this era, the city walls of Suzhou were also made of rammed earth.

The city of Suzhou is built on a water network. The water of Suzhou's moat comes from Taihu Lake and the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, and then flows into the Yangtze River and the sea. The river was extremely wide, and the Huainan army could not cut it off, so they could only build bridges over the river to attack the city.

At this time, in the north of Suzhou, outside the Pingmen, a fierce siege battle was underway.

Accompanied by the sound of the horn of the siege, thousands of Huainan troops formed a formation in battalions, carrying siege equipment such as ladders and rams, crossed the moat, and slowly moved towards the city wall

On the opposite wall, countless arrows pierced through the air, falling all around the besieging soldiers, and although these ladders were protected by skins, many of the soldiers hiding behind were still wounded. whereas

From time to time, the bed crossbow on the city wall would shoot spears one after another, and where they passed, several people in front and behind were often pierced, and the death was terrifying.

However, under the resistance of the rain of arrows, the Huainan army was still advancing, although the progress was much slower.

This is a road to the city wall, but it is also a bloody road, a bloody road that human lives have piled up. Just from the time of departure to the movement of the siege engine under the city walls, the Huainan army fell at least a few hundred people.

As the siege equipment approached, the Huainan archers who were responsible for covering behind also launched a counterattack, and the overwhelming rain of arrows continued to pour down on the city wall, causing considerable losses to the defenders.

Bang bang bang!!

There was a succession of sounds, the sound of the iron hook on the top of the ladder as it approached the wall. The soldiers carried their shields along the ladders and climbed the city; And the counterattack of the defenders above the city walls did not weaken at all. Rain of arrows, rolling stones, and boiling water continued to be sprinkled down the city.

It's purgatory, but that's just the beginning.

In the Huainan army's main formation, Yang Wu couldn't help but sigh, "Siege has always been a time-consuming and laborious task. ”

It is here that the cruelty of siege warfare is truly reflected, like Yang Wu's capture of Changshu and Kunshan before, he basically did not experience this kind of cruel siege; Even if the siege outside Kunshan lasted for ten days, the intensity was actually far less than here, and Kunshan's city defense facilities were naturally inferior to Suzhou.

Since Zhou Ben led his army to besiege Suzhou a month ago, such siege operations have been carried out more than once, and although the Huainan army tried their best to attack the city, each time it was in vain, but caused huge casualties.

Siege has always been the last thing generals want to do.

"Looks like it's going to be taken down soon!" Seeing the soldiers under the city wall in front of him continue to fall, Yang Wu couldn't help but sigh.

Sure enough, after a while, Zhou Ben, who was commanding the battle situation, ordered Mingjin to withdraw his troops, and the soldiers besieging the city did not hesitate after hearing the sound, and immediately retreated in order.

After returning to the camp, Zhou Ben gathered the generals and began to discuss the battle situation.

"Ladies and gentlemen, everyone knows the situation now, I don't know what everyone thinks about the attack on Suzhou, you might as well speak it out and listen."

Although the siege did not go well, all the generals present were not discouraged in the slightest. After all, everyone is a veteran in the army, so they naturally know the difficulty of siege warfare.

Historically, Zhou Ben had besieged Suzhou for eight months, and was finally defeated by reinforcements sent by Qian Biao. In the Southern Song Dynasty, a small Diaoyu City blocked the Mongol army for more than 30 years, and Xiangyang City was also able to hold on to the Mongol army for more than six years.

Although those present did not know the achievements of these later generations, it was not uncommon in this era to spend months or even years attacking a city. And now that the Huainan army has only attacked Suzhou for more than a month, and it is unlikely that the enemy will send reinforcements, everyone is not anxious.

At this time, after listening to Zhou Ben's question, someone immediately asked: "General Qiqi, the last general thinks that the long-term siege should be the main thing now, and the soldiers have lost too much in a strong attack like this, so please slow down the general." ”

This is probably the common meaning of all the generals in the battalion, and as soon as they said it, they were recognized by most people.

Zhou Ben nodded, and then looked at Yang Wu and Xu Wen, who did not open their mouths in the field.

"I wonder what the eldest son thinks?"

"The last general thinks you might as well listen to General Xu's opinion?" Yang Wu didn't answer, but looked at Xu Wen on the side.

Xu Wen was not polite, this was a good time for him to establish his merits, of course he couldn't let it go, "The last general feels that although Suzhou is besieged by our army, and there is a rebellion in Hangzhou, it is unlikely that the enemy army will get reinforcements; But at this time, Xuanzhou Tian Envoy Jun had already sent troops to Hangzhou at this time, and he could capture Hangzhou City at any time, so there was not much time left for our army to attack Suzhou. ”

If you want to talk about leading troops to fight, Xu Wen is indeed not good at it, but when it comes to political sensitivity, he is far stronger than these generals in front of him.

Everyone was stunned, although Xu Wen didn't say anything about Tian Yan's jealousy, everyone present knew what he meant, it was nothing more than to grab time with Tian Yan.

If Tian Yan takes Hangzhou, but Suzhou is still not captured, Huzhou may also fall into the hands of Tian Yan at that time; But if they can take Suzhou before the fall of Hangzhou, they will have the initiative completely, and when the time comes, they can either continue to send troops south to attack Huzhou, or they can stop the army, and then find a reason to summon Tian Yan back as they did in history. Either way, Huainan has received ample benefits.

Judging from the progress of the siege now, although Suzhou has captured the surrounding counties and surrounded the city of Suzhou, the siege is not going well; On the Hangzhou side, when Xu Juan and Xu Zaisi were in rebellion before, the outer city of Hangzhou had already fallen into the hands of the rebels, and now Qian Biao and Tian Yan were actually fighting for the inner city, and it was obviously less difficult to attack Hangzhou.

So the current situation seems to be very good, but there is not much time left for Zhou Ben.

Zhou Ben nodded and continued to ask, "I don't know what General Xu can do, please say it so that everyone can hear it?" ”

Xu Wen is one of the six heroes of Yang Xingmi's Chinese New Year's Eve, and Zhou Ben is inferior to him in terms of seniority, so although Xu Wen is his subordinate at this time, he is also more polite when he speaks.

"The Admiral just felt the need to speed up the siege. When it comes to concrete measures, there is nothing the general can do. Xu Wen said with a wry smile.

His overall analysis of the battle situation is very accurate, and he pointed out the key point that he needs to grab time now; But after all, he is not good at military warfare, and there is no good way to talk about specific measures.

Everyone couldn't help but be disappointed when they heard this, Zhou Ben nodded, and looked at Yang Wu again: "The eldest son is resourceful, there must be a good way?" ”

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