The battle of Bowang not only wiped out the ambition of Huang Zu and the Xuzhou army to fight in the field, but also greatly injured the face of Huang Zu, the chief general of Jingzhou.

But it's okay, Huang Zu was born in the Jingzhou clan, and he was an important arm of Liu Biao to rule Jingzhou, and at the same time, the overall loss in the battle of Bowang was not very large, so Liu Biao did not plan to change the commander in battle, but just wrote to Huang Zu, euphemistically reminding Huang Zu not to be arrogant, to despise the enemy and rush to battle again, and to follow the strategy proposed by Kuai Liang to hold the Wancheng defense line with all his might. At the same time, Liu Biao also sent the general Wen Ping to lead the first wave of reinforcements to Yuyang to ensure smooth communication between Wancheng and Xiangyang, and also to meet Huang Zu by water at any time.

This is basically enough, after seeing the news of Liu Biao's implicit accusation, Huang Zu also understood that Liu Biao was very dissatisfied with his rash battle, so when the Xuzhou army marched to Wancheng, Huang Zu, who had no certainty of victory, no longer took risks to fight, and did not give Xuzhou pioneer Wei Yan a chance to show his skills, but just raced against time to strengthen the city defense, preparing to get back the lost face in the city attack and defense.

According to common sense, Huang Zu still has a lot of hope of regaining face in the battle to defend the city, first, Huang Zu's available troops on the battlefield of Wancheng still exceed 40,000 people, and the troops are quite sufficient; The second is that Wancheng is adjacent to the water. The southeast two gates are also directly the water gate, the ships can directly enter the city, the grain, grass and military supplies and all kinds of baggage can be sent into Wancheng through the waterway, and the follow-up reinforcements can also be replenished into the city at any time, or through the waterway detour back to the back of the Xuzhou army to land operations, which are very beneficial to the defenders of the city.

The third point is the most important, the city of Wancheng is quite strong! Although Wancheng, which has changed hands several times, has been repeatedly warned, whether it is Zhang Ji, Cao Boss or Liu Biao, after entering Wancheng, the first important town in Nanyang. The first thing was to strengthen the city defenses. Wancheng is built as a strategic support point for the Nanyang battlefield, so the current city wall of Wancheng is already as high as more than four zhang, more than two and a half zhang thick, and the moat is more than three zhang wide. It is more than two feet deep. And the living water of the water is introduced. It's hard to fill in. In addition, the southeast and southeast gates of Wancheng are also directly protected by the water, and only the northwest two gates are enemy. It can greatly reduce the pressure on the defender and greatly increase the difficulty of the attacker's siege.

By the way, there were two reasons why Boss Cao was able to capture Wancheng from Zhang Ji back then, one was that Liu Biao was afraid that Zhang Ji would be too big and refused to invest too much strength to support Zhang Ji, and the other was that Cao Jun suddenly used the Xiangyang cannon obtained from the Xuzhou army, so he finally captured Wancheng by force. Later, when the Jingzhou army regained Wancheng, it was simply helpless to take the city defense of Wancheng, and in the end it completely exhausted the food and grass of the defenders, forcing the Cao army defender Wei Chong, who had been isolated and helpless, to abandon the city and leave, which recaptured Wancheng.

Now these prerequisites for breaking the city no longer exist, first, Liu Biao will never give up Wancheng, and will only go all out to rescue, and second, Uncle Liu Huang, who had participated in the battle of Licheng, had already betrayed the protective fence of the Xiangyang cannon to the Jingzhou army before, which greatly reduced the power of the Xiangyang cannon, the siege weapon of the Xuzhou army, and could not receive the shocking effect when it was suddenly used, so although he suffered a loss in the field battle and lost face, General Huang Zu was full of absolute confidence in the defense of the city. The gambling curse vowed to give the Xuzhou army a little color in the attack and defense of the city, to regain the face he had lost, and to find a way to save his only son Huang Zhu by the way.

Kuai Yue, who is proficient in military affairs, is also full of confidence in the defense of the city, but Kuai Yue is also a little worried, and repeatedly reminded in front of Huang Zu: "Dashuai, although Wancheng is strong, Tao Ying is famous for being opportunistic, whenever he attacks Jiancheng, he always likes to highlight strange soldiers, or cheat and deceive, or arrange internal responses, and repeatedly succeed in taking Jiancheng at the lowest cost, so although we are not afraid of Tao Ying's frontal attack, we must be careful to beware of Tao Ying's strategy to capture the city and win by surprise." ”

"So how should you be careful?" Huang Zu asked rhetorically.

"There are two acropolis in Wancheng, one is Xiangyang and the other is Thorn Yang, which are mutually rival with Wancheng." Kuai Yue replied: "According to the right theory of the art of war, this kind of corner is the most reliable, can echo each other rescue, one city by the enemy, the other two cities can immediately send troops to attack behind the enemy, share the pressure of the enemy's city, but the Xuzhou army field battle is stronger than our army, Tao Ying and Jia Xu and others are treacherous, the best is to take advantage of the chaos, if our army according to the right principles of the art of war and Tao to deal with the enemy, it is very likely to be Tao Ying to encircle the point to send reinforcements and even attack the east and west, and lure the soldiers of our three cities out of the city one by one to annihilate them, which is very dangerous. ”

"In this case, the marshal might as well arrange it like this." Kuai Yue continued: "The marshal can send 5,000 troops each to defend in Xiangyang and Jianyang, so that only the city is not allowed to fight, no matter how urgent the war in the other two cities is, it is not allowed to send troops to rescue without authorization, and as long as Xiangyang and Jianyang are still in the hands of our army, the Xuzhou army must divide its troops to guard against the troops of Xiangyang and Jianyang, and it can also receive the effect of reducing the frontal pressure on Wancheng." In this way, there is no need to worry about Tao Ying encircling the point to send reinforcements, and feint to attack Wancheng to take Xiangyang or Thornyang. ”

"Isn't that too passive?" Huang Zu asked rhetorically, "What if the pottery thief really goes to attack Xiangyang or Thorn Yang?" If we blindly can't defend it, won't we be broken by the potters? ”

"Xiangyang can be rescued by the soldiers of Anzhong, and Jianyang will ask General Wenpin's army to be responsible for assistance." Kuai Yue replied: "In fact, even if Tao Ying takes these two cities, it doesn't matter much, the battle can't be confined to the gains and losses of one city and one place, Xiangyang and Jianyang are both small cities, even if they fall, as long as our army holds Wancheng, and survives until Tao Ying's grain and grass are exhausted or the rear is forced to retreat, and then it is easy to recapture Xiangyang and Jianyang, so instead of worrying about Xiangyang and Jianyang, and distracting energy, it is better to be prepared to let these two cities fall at any time, concentrate on only defending the important towns of Wancheng, and treat Jianyang and Jianyang as chess pieces that can be given up at any time, Used to disperse enemy forces. ”

Considering that there is a waterway between Wancheng and Xiangyang, there is no need to worry about the backup and grain routes. Huang Zu, who originally planned to protect the three cities with him, accepted Kuai Yue's suggestion very happily. Seeing that Huang Zu adopted this suggestion, Kuai Yue was busy and said: "Also, when the more I accompanied the lord to meet Liu Bei, I heard Liu Bei mention that Tao thieves are best at deceiving people with fake books and false orders, and the only time he missed was that he didn't know the private secret note agreed between Liu Bei and Mi Zhu, the more he felt that this move was very effective, and the marshal might as well follow suit, and send his henchmen south to meet with General Wenpin, and agreed with General Wenping that only the two of you know about the secret note on the letter, so that you can beware of Tao Ying forged the letter after capturing the messenger of our army." Lure our troops into a trap. It is also possible to guard against Tao Ying sending troops to disguise themselves as Wenzhi generals and soldiers and horses, and mix into Wancheng to take the opportunity to make trouble. ”

"God-damn pottery thief, there are so many twists and turns." Huang Zu scolded and immediately accepted Kuai Yue's suggestion. Send someone south to see Wen Ping and follow the plan.

After making these careful arrangements. June 26. The steady Xuzhou army finally came to the battlefield of Wancheng and set up a large camp on the high ground on the bank of the Shushui River fifteen miles north of Wancheng. When he found that the Xuzhou army was camped with water, Huang Zu was overjoyed. said that there was an opportunity to send troops from the waterway to attack the Xuzhou camp, but Kuai Yue reminded very carefully: "Be careful, Tao should be cautious, and the camp with water is vulnerable to the surprise attack of our army's waterway, how can Tao not understand this truth?" Tao Ying camped like this, perhaps it was a trick to lure the enemy. ”

Huang Zu accepted Kuai Yue's judgment and did not immediately risk sending troops to attack the Xuzhou camp by water, but this time Kuai Yue's judgment was wrong to his grandmother's house, and at the same time that the Xuzhou army was encamped, he actually built a water fence with wooden stakes and iron chains at five miles downstream of the river, blocking the northward road of the Jingzhou army. In this way, the Xuzhou army not only did not have to worry about being attacked by the Jingzhou army's waterway, but also facilitated the army's water supply, and protected the waterway in the upper reaches of the river, so that the Xuzhou army, which had weak water surface strength, could pass through the waterway and send a steady stream of grain, grass and military supplies to the army for use.

Knowing this action of the Xuzhou army, in front of this kind of surface fortifications that appeared more than two hundred years in advance, Huang Zu and Kuai Yue were dumbfounded, and they could only scold in unison, "Traitor!" Sure enough, traitor! ”

Kuai Yue's expected conspiracy did not appear, and the deputy director of Tao, who looked like a dog in silver armor and white robes, only showed up under Wancheng City, and led a group of idle lackeys to carefully observe the terrain of Wancheng, patted his ass and went back to the camp to sleep with a beauty, without a word of nonsense, so that he wanted to try to save General Huang Zu even if he wanted to negotiate. Kuai Yue, who had carefully studied Deputy Director Tao's military style, was worried and didn't know what Deputy Director Tao's next plan would be.

In the next ten days, it was calm, and the Xuzhou army did not make any major moves except for closely monitoring the movements of the defenders of Wancheng, and even the procedures of dividing troops to attack Xiangyang and Jianyang were exempted, and all the forces were concentrated on the Wancheng battlefield. It wasn't until the tenth day of the seventh month that Huang Zu and Kuai Yue finally waited for the first move of the Xuzhou army.

What does it mean to be as quiet as a virgin and move as thunder? Deputy Director Tao is called Jing as a virgin this time, moving like thunder! There was no action for more than ten days, and when I finally started, I was stunned by more than 30,000 Wancheng defenders, and as soon as I shot out, there were more than 50,000 siege soldiers and horses, and the banners were like a forest of swords and guns, and the wilderness outside the north gate of Wancheng was completely flooded at once, and then more than 300 Xiangyang cannons were pushed to the front of the formation, and there were more than 60 folding trench bridge cars, as well as countless wheelbarrows, densely lined up in front of the formation, and it was indescribably spectacular.

Immediately afterwards, with the wave of the flag of the Chinese army, the siege battle of the Xuzhou army finally began, first thousands of long shields stepped forward, followed by the Xiangyang artillery team; Then the long shield strode forward with a shield in hand, forming countless temporary fortifications on the periphery of the moat at the north gate of Wancheng, when the defenders of the city and the defenders behind the sheep and horse walls hurriedly released arrows to stop, the Xiangyang cannon of the Xuzhou army also began to exert its might, throwing huge stone bullets and lit bundles of firewood to the north gate of Wancheng, overwhelming densely, like a flock of crows spreading their wings and soaring, roaring and smashing into the north gate of Wancheng, although the defenders of Wancheng on the city wall and outside the sheep and horse wall are also desperately trying to dodge, but there are too many stones, there are still many defenders who are killed and injured, Some of the defenders were smashed into meat sauce on the spot, and a few particularly unlucky soldiers were hit by bundles of firewood doused with fire oil, and their whole bodies burst into flames, and the sound of terrible screams for help was heard for miles away.

Taking advantage of the opportunity of the cover of bows and arrows and Xiangyang cannons, half of the sixty folding trench bridge vehicles of the Xuzhou army were dispatched in one go, and they quickly rushed to the moat of Wancheng under the impetus of the Xuzhou infantry. The Xuzhou soldiers pushing the wheelbarrow ran faster, and took turns rushing to the edge of the moat to dump the big stones and straw bags filled with mud on the car, like ants moving back and forth, although the defenders of Wancheng tried their best to stop with arrows, but there were too many Xuzhou soldiers who filled the river, and the cart people had the shield protection of their companions, although the effect was also there, but it was not big, and it could not stop the Xuzhou army from filling the river with all its might.

After three or four rounds of the Xiangyang cannon were fired, the folding trench bridge car also approached the moat one after another. The soldiers in the car pushed and pulled hard. The front bridge was lowered, so that the trench bridge car was four feet long at once, and a temporary bridge was built on the opposite side of the moat, although the defenders of the city also desperately fired arrows to stop it. A large number of dovetail torches were also cast for incineration. But it still can't stop so many trench cars from building bridges. When the first temporary bridge was reached, more than 20 Xuzhou soldiers with short weapons and round shields rushed to the bridge, while shielding the oblique block from the feather arrows shot from the city wall. While flying like a moat, he rushed over the sheep and horse wall to cut and kill the Jingzhou soldiers who were hiding behind the sheep and horse wall and released arrows.

The siege tactics used by the Xuzhou army this time were a siege tactics that were standard enough to be included in the textbook of cold weapon warfare, suppressing the enemy's long-range weapons with long-range weapons, covering the auxiliary troops to fill the moats, and using large siege weapons to open the way forward, so that the elite infantry soldiers could cross the river first, attack the enemy hiding under the city wall and behind the sheep and horse walls, and shoot directly at the enemy, weakening the enemy's shooting power and effectively killing and wounding the enemy's soldiers.

This is a standard siege tactic, an ordinary siege tactic that is almost known by some battlefield experience, and it is also a siege tactic that progresses relatively slowly, which is completely inconsistent with Deputy Director Tao's consistent style of employing troops, and is destined to pay a lot of price in the siege battle, consuming a lot of time, troops and materials. However, such standard tactics make it difficult for the defenders to effectively crack the attack, quickly repel the attackers, or force the attackers to abandon the siege and retreat, which can only be a painstaking confrontation with the besieging side, a drain on troops and materials, and a drain on morale, combat effectiveness and patience.

In terms of combat effectiveness, of course, the Xuzhou army occupies an absolute advantage, although there are not many Xuzhou soldiers who rushed through the moat, and there are some Xuzhou soldiers who died on the way across the river, but the war has always been the addition and subtraction of numbers, dozens of Xuzhou soldiers rushed through the moat and crossed the sheep and horse wall, and the Jingzhou soldiers who hid behind the sheep and horse wall also fell into bad luck, and the head was a boulder that could fall at any time, and the opposite side was the wolf-like Xuzhou soldiers, and on both sides was the unattainable cold city wall and the sheep and horse wall that was being closely cared for by the Xuzhou archers, There is no way to go to heaven and no door to go down, and you can only fight with Xuzhou soldiers on the battlefield behind the sheep and horse wall that is only ten steps wide, and fight a hand-to-hand combat that meets on a narrow road.

Taking advantage of the opportunity that the enemy behind the sheep and horse wall could not release arrows, more Xuzhou soldiers rushed across the moat and crossed the sheep and horse wall, gradually reversing the absolute disadvantage in terms of strength, and gradually exerting the close advantage of individual combat effectiveness stronger than the opponent, brandishing knives and axes with red eyes to slash the enemy behind the wall, and the enemy fought for the position space with a shooting hole, although the Jingzhou soldiers also took out the courage to resist desperately, but they said that they could not stop the rough aggression of the Xuzhou soldiers, and they were cut down one after another. Little by little, the controlled space was compressed, and it was impossible to release arrows with all its strength to block the Xuzhou army from filling the river.

In such a situation, the most correct tactic of the defenders should be to send troops from other city gates and attack the flank of the Xuzhou army in a roundabout way to reduce the pressure on the front, or simply open the north gate and send troops from the front to rob and kill the Xuzhou army's river reclamation team. But it is a pity that although General Huang Zu, who presided over the Wancheng battlefield, was well aware of these countermeasures, he said that he did not have the courage to send troops outside the city to engage the Xuzhou army, but desperately sent more crossbowmen to the city wall to block the Xuzhou army from filling the river with long-range weapons.

Although the soldiers of the Jingzhou army like to use bows and arrows, but in such a chaotic and critical situation, it is naturally not efficient to shoot the enemy dozens of steps away, and it is only more than two zhang wide on the city wall, and it is impossible to arrange too many troops to draw bows and arrows, which makes it more difficult to effectively kill and injure the enemy who fills the river. At the same time, the soldiers on the city wall were arranged too densely, and gave the Xuzhou army's bows and arrows and stone bullets a chance to kill the enemy, especially the giant stone bullets thrown by the Xiangyang cannon weighing more than 300 catties.

"Dashuai, it can't go on like this!" There were also warriors in the Jingzhou team, at least Captain Chen rushed to Huang Zu and shouted to Huang Zu, who was hiding in the security of the city and commanding the battle: "Great commander." We should send an army out to kill the enemy's spirit and stop the enemy from filling the river, otherwise, our morale will only be lowered, and the more arrogant the enemy will be, the faster the river will be filled! If the enemy successfully fills the moat, and the rush cart and ladder cart can lean against the wall, the next battle will be even more difficult! ”

Huang Zu's face was pale, and he didn't speak, and Kuai Yue next to him was nervous for a moment. He also said to Huang Zu: "Handsome." Morale can not be discouraged, it is necessary to send an army out to charge, otherwise, the enemy will not be able to break through the city quickly. It will also hit our army hard in terms of morale. ”

Huang Zu pondered for a moment with a blushing face. Only then did he turn to the left and right generals and ask, "Who dares to lead two thousand elite soldiers out of the city." Go to intercept and kill the river reclamation team of the Xuzhou thief army? ”

The Huang Zu relatives present bowed their heads neatly, including the two nephews that Huang Zu focused on cultivating, and Huang Zu asked angrily. Still no one dared to say yes, and in the end, Chen, who had already been officially appointed as a lieutenant, and there was no need to be cannon fodder anymore, so he stomped his feet and yelled: "I'll go!" ”

"I'll go!"

Another lieutenant who didn't need to be cannon fodder also shouted out at the same time, and when everyone turned their heads in surprise, they saw that this person was Su Fei, the general that Huang Zu relied on the most when he was in Jiangxia. Seeing that there were still two lieutenants under his command, Huang Zu also nodded with a little satisfaction, and then ordered: "Chen will say it first, let him go." ”

"General Su and I seem to be asking for help at the same time, right?" Chen, who was not as good as Su Fei's cronies, muttered in his heart, but the words had already been spoken, and Chen could not regret it, so he could only hurriedly take Huang Zu's arrow and organize two thousand infantry to prepare to go out of the city to assault. ”

"Huh?" Chen was a little distracted, and then hurriedly said: "Dashuai, when you go out of the city from the west gate, the enemy will have plenty of time to respond?" ”

"The battle at the North Gate is fierce, if the North Gate is opened, what if the enemy takes the opportunity to storm the city?" Huang Zu asked rhetorically, and said: "I went to try it, I really can't rush, you can also go back to the city from the West Gate, I don't blame you, after all, there are more than 50,000 Xuzhou thieves outside the city." ”

Chen sighed, and replied helplessly, "No." ”

………………

At the same time, outside the city of Wancheng, the battle was still extremely fierce, and the arrows and flying stones in the sky were still coming and going, but the progress of the Xuzhou army was also very slow, and a section of the moat had not been filled so far. Seeing that the siege was progressing so slowly, some Xuzhou generals who had not participated in the siege tactical decision-making were inevitably a little anxious, and Wei Yan, who was eager to show his might in front of his old friends in his hometown, ran to Deputy Director Tao and asked tentatively: "Lord, Wancheng is too strong, so the siege will inevitably be protracted, do you want to find another good way to break the city by skill?" ”

Deputy Director Tao put down the original telescope, grinned, and replied, "No, it's just fine." ”

"But in doing so, ...... casualties." Wei Yan didn't finish his words with some hesitation, and changed his words: "Lord, when the last general was in the Jingzhou army, although he had many disagreements with his colleagues, he also had a relatively close friend, his name is Chen Qi, he is the captain under Huang Zu, the last general has interrogated Huang Zhu, and knows that Chen is currently in Huang Zu's army, and he was left by Huang Zu to guard Wancheng during the Bowang War, which is quite important, and the last general wants to ......." ”

"Let's talk about it later, don't worry." Deputy Director Tao shook his head again, and then said in a low voice: "Wen Chang, you are a general, and sooner or later I will let you be in charge alone, so you have to remember one thing, an army that can only be opportunistic will never be able to become an army of kings." Actually, I also considered other ways to break the city by skill, but after considering one thing, I gave up on this plan. ”

"What did the lord take into account?" Wei Yan, the old Jingzhou Dubo who was praised as a general by Deputy Director Tao, asked excitedly.

"Since the five-year large-scale expansion of our army's Jian'an, we have not fought a decent battle." Deputy Director Tao replied frankly: "In the past two years, our army has won many important towns and cities, but every time it is opportunistic or without a fight, it has not launched an orthodox offensive battle, and has not accumulated enough experience in attacking fortifications, so it will definitely not work if it goes on like this, so I have to train our troops well this time, so that our main force of the Northern Expedition can accumulate some experience in attacking fortifications, and when we launch a war on the northern front in the future, we will not be at a loss in front of the Jiancheng Xiongguan of Jiyou and Sanzhou." ”

"Training? Nawancheng defenders training? Wei Yan's eyes widened.

"Yes, there is no better place for us to train than the current Wancheng defenders." Deputy Director Tao said with a smile: "The combat effectiveness is not as good as our army, the strength is not as good as our army, the morale is even worse than our army, Wancheng is also high and strong enough, our army still has enough time, and it can cut off their contact with the outside world at any time, which will hit their morale even more. ”

"What do you mean? Can you cut them off from the outside world at any time? Wei Yan was a little dazed, and just wanted to ask Deputy Director Tao how to cut off the contact between the defenders of Wancheng and the outside world, but suddenly remembered the water gate that the army had just built upstream, and then Wei Yan inevitably became even more strange, and said busily: "Lord, the last general wants to ask again, since our army can build a water gate in the lower reaches of the river at any time to cut off the contact between Wancheng and the outside world, why don't you do it now?" ”

"Because of those bows and arrows." Deputy Director Tao pointed to the defenders of Wancheng who were desperately firing feather arrows, and said with a smile: "Huang Zu Lao'er has the advantage of water shipping, and he doesn't have to worry about weapon supplies, so he dares to squander his bow and arrow so wantonly, but when our army fills the river, because the distance is too far and our army is evacuated, these bows and arrows are not very effective, only when our army is attached to the siege formation, his bow and arrow will cause a lot of casualties to our army, so I let him shoot with confidence now, and when it is estimated that his feather arrows are about to run out, I will suddenly cut off his water shipping, Then you can rest assured that the ants will be attached to the siege. ”

After finishing speaking, Deputy Director Tao grinned again, Wei Yan was stunned at first, then looked at the Wancheng defenders who were desperately and uselessly releasing arrows in the distance, and then secretly looked at Deputy Director Tao who was smiling treacherously, and then scolded in his heart, "Traitor!" Sure enough, it will calculate! ”

It is also to repay grievances with virtue, although Wei Yan secretly slandered the boss in his stomach, but Deputy Director Tao is indeed a good boss, at this time, there happened to be a scout to report, saying that there was a Jingzhou army out of the city from the West Gate, and attacked the flank of the Xuzhou army in a roundabout way, Deputy Director Tao patted Wei Yan on the shoulder very considerately, and said with a smile: "Wen Chang, I know that you want to be in the scenery of the old people, this opportunity is handed over to you, take the headquarters to intercept, fight beautifully, and also hit the morale of the enemy in the city by the way." (To be continued......)