Chapter 144: Siege on Three Sides
In the camp of the Northern Expeditionary Army of Yinling City, when the scouts told Han Qian of the news of the invasion of the Peach Leopard Army, the enemy army was less than twenty miles away from Yinling City, and Han Qian did not dare to slack off, so he hurriedly arranged defense.
Fortunately, after more than a month of preparation, the city defense of Yinling City has been greatly improved, the damaged parts of the city wall have been repaired, the important positions have been heightened and thickened, and the semicircular trench dug outside the city gate has also been filled with three feet of water, and at the same time, for the convenience of access, a suspension bridge has been erected in the middle of the trench.
The gates were also renovated, with an outer surface of less than one person high, and a layer of iron panels added to protect them from fire.
In the interior of each city gate is simply installed an urn city, due to the limited materials, the city wall of the urn city is very narrow, only three feet wide, in order to prevent the enemy's car from breaking through the main city gate, homeopathic rampage to break through the urn city gate, so when it is built, the city gate of the urn city and the main city gate are not in a straight line, but at an angle of 90 degrees.
Considering that the enemy army was approaching the city from the north, Han Qian had been focusing on strengthening the defense in the direction of the north gate, and the most elite soldiers and horses were also stationed at the north gate.
At this time, the enemy army was about to approach the city, Han Qian immediately transferred half of the whole army to the city wall to defend it, and the remaining half of the men and horses were on standby near the north gate, ready to reinforce at any time.
At noon, the main army of more than 40,000 people of Peach Leopard has been approaching Yinling City, according to the plan in advance, a cavalry force of 3,000 people accelerated from the path to the south gate of Yinling City, two armies of 10,000 horses each began to advance to the east and west gates of Yinling City, and Peach Leopard's 20,000 elite main force rushed straight to the north gate of Yinling City.
"General, the enemy army has been found at the north gate, and the number of troops is 20,000." A soldier gasped for breath and ran to Han Qian, shouting loudly.
Han Qian raised his eyebrows and said indifferently: "The 20,000 army must be the main army of the Peach Leopard, it seems that the general did not guess wrong, the main force of the Peach Leopard really chose to attack from the north gate." ā
"General, since the enemy is attacking from the north gate, it is better for us to transfer the remaining soldiers and horses to the north gate, so that the city will definitely be able to hold it." A ministry will build a yƬ road.
Han Qian shook his head and frowned: "No, the scout is urgent, the enemy army is coming, the strength is no less than 40,000, the 20,000 troops outside the north gate are only half of the enemy's strength, and the remaining 20,000 soldiers and horses are not clear, and the general is not at ease." ā
"Report, general, the enemy army was found outside the east gate, and the strength was enough for 10,000." While Han Qian frowned and pondered, a small soldier reported the enemy situation outside the east gate.
"Oh, there's ten thousand outside the east gate too." Han Qian's brows furrowed even deeper.
"Report, General, the enemy army was found outside the West Gate, and the strength was about 10,000." As soon as the East Gate finished reporting, a small soldier from the West Gate came to report the enemy situation again.
Han Qian and the generals beside him were stunned when they heard this, the Peach Leopard army attacked the city on three sides, and the troops were not weak, this was completely a posture of vowing not to give up if they did not capture Yinling City.
"General, the main army of 40,000 Taobao is besieging on three sides, and it seems that Yinling City is going to be determined."
"The Peach Leopard army is menacing, so I naturally made up my mind and swore to take the Yin Tomb."
"Our army is not vegetarian, and if Peach Leopard wants Yinling City, it depends on whether our army agrees."
"Yes, divide the troops and defend to the death, and the peach leopard conspiracy may not be able to succeed."
Several generals expressed their opinions on the hostile situation outside the city.
Han Qian paced back and forth, thought for a moment, frowned, and said: "Peach Leopard concentrated the main army of 40,000 and attacked Yinling on three sides, but only left the south gate, is it a plan to besiege the army." ā
When the generals next to him heard this, they all felt that it was very possible, and one of the generals replied: "General, Taobao's treacherous plan seems to be to besiege the division and attack it on three sides, leaving only the south gate to break up our army." ā
"That's right, but the peach leopard also underestimates our army too much, how can our army be so vulnerable." Another general said angrily.
"In the direction of the South Gate, will there also be an enemy army?" A silent Hua'an came out coldly.
Suddenly, the words were shocked, and Han Qian and the generals beside him all looked sideways at Hua An.
"Impossible, the enemy soldiers and horses in the east, west, and north gates are already as high as 40,000, which is not much different from the scouts, and the enemy army should have no soldiers and horses." One of the generals immediately retorted.
"Yes! If the enemy had sent 10,000 troops at the south gate, would we not have been surrounded. Another subordinate chimed in.
Hearing the word 'surrounding', Han Qian's heart was suddenly shocked, and he frowned and said: "Outside the south gate is the grain route of our army, why do you need to transfer 10,000 troops to Taobao, only a few thousand light cavalry can cut off the supply of our army, if our army goes out of the city to fight the enemy, it is not enough to destroy the enemy if there are too few troops, and if there are too many troops, the defenders in the city are insufficient, and it will be difficult to hold the city." ā
"Report, fifteen miles outside the south gate, I found enemy cavalry, with a strength of about 3,000." Just when Han Qian and the generals were shocked, a small soldier reported the enemy situation outside the south gate.
Everyone can see that the enemy's 3,000 cavalry will definitely not attack the city, the cavalry is good at field warfare, and the peach leopard sent this cavalry into the south gate of Yinling City, making it clear that it is to cut off Han Qian's grain route.
"The peach leopard is really powerful, these three thousand cavalry are completely inserted in the death hole of our army." Han Qian frowned and said.
"General, it's better to take advantage of the fact that the enemy's main force has not yet attacked the city, and send a group of men and horses out of the city to destroy these 3,000 cavalry." A ministry will build a yƬ road.
Han Qian shook his head and said helplessly: "It's not easy to talk about, near the fifteenth outside the south gate, the terrain is extremely open, the cavalry is extremely mobile, and the infantry can't catch up at all, and our army has only two thousand cavalry, which is not the opponent of the enemy's three thousand cavalry at all. ā
"General, the supplies of our army are transported from Dongcheng, and our army in Dongcheng has left 5,000 soldiers and horses, so let these 5,000 soldiers and horses escort grain and grass over, maybe we can solve the problem of grain and grass." A ministry will build a yƬ road.
"It's still not appropriate, the soldiers and horses left by our army in Dongcheng are all infantry, and the field ability of the enemy's cavalry is extremely strong, but I am afraid that these 5,000 infantry are not the opponent of the enemy's 3,000 cavalry at all, besides, once these 5,000 soldiers and horses leave Dongcheng, the enemy's 3,000 cavalry raid Dongcheng, and our army's retreat will be cut off." Han Qian shook his head again.
"In this way, our army has only one way to retreat."
"The 20,000 army retreated to Dongcheng, and the enemy's 3,000 cavalry naturally couldn't stop it, but the hard-working Yinling City, could it be just handed over to the peach leopard, and the last general was really unwilling."
Several generals saw that it was a foregone conclusion that the grain road would be cut off, and they said unwillingly.
Han Qian looked at the captain of the baggage battalion beside him and asked softly, "How much military ration is there in the city, and how long can it be spent?" ā
"General Hui, there are only less than two thousand deniers, which is only enough for ten days of food for the army." The lieutenant of the baggage battalion replied truthfully.
Han Qian nodded, and said: "Our army relies on the city wall to defend it, and the city should be able to hold it within ten days, I hope that within ten days, the main forces of the Jingzhou Legion and the Yangzhou Legion can break the enemy in front of them and immediately reinforce our army, otherwise, after ten days, once the army runs out of food, our army should immediately abandon Yinling City and retreat to the rear of the East City to defend." ā
Han Qian's words are very clear, that is, before the military rations are cut off, all soldiers must be prepared to defend to the death, and they will never retreat within ten days.
"Ten days of bloody battle, never retreat." The generals under the tent spoke in unison.
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Outside the north gate of Yinling City, Peach Leopard squinted at the Yinling City in front of him, and secretly made up his mind that he must completely defeat Han Qian and break through Yinling City, so as to wash away the shame of more than 10,000 troops dying in Yinling City.
"General, the army on the left flank has arrived at the east gate of Yinling City and is ready to attack at any time." A soldier on horseback came to report.
Peach Leopard nodded, looked at the generals beside him, and chuckled: "The left-wing army is moving very fast!" When the right flank army reaches its position, our army can attack the city. ā
Before he finished speaking, another cavalryman hurriedly came, dismounted and knelt down and said, "General, the army on the right wing has already approached the west gate of Yinling City, and the army is ready to attack the city." ā
"General, the left and right flanks of our army are already in place and ready to attack the city." A subordinate general said excitedly.
The peach leopard grinned, drew his sword, swung it forward, and roared, "Siege." ā
"Knock Knock Knock ......"
In the Peach Leopard Army, all the war drums let out a deafening roar, howling at the beasts.
Dozens of catapults threw huge stones at Yinling City, and then, the main army of 20,000 slowly advanced towards the north gate of Yinling City.
"Knock Knock Knock ......"
Not long after the drums of the north gate sounded, the east gate and the west gate also sounded huge war drums at the same time, and the three-way army under the command of Tao Leopard launched a fierce attack on Yinling City at the same time.
There was a deafening sound of war drums outside the city, it was obvious that the main army of the peach leopard had begun to attack the city, Han Qian did not dare to slack off, and immediately ordered: "The enemy army has attacked the city, generals, go and stop the enemy immediately." ā
"Yes, General." The men on the side will immediately turn around and run to their respective teams, ready to fight the besieging enemy.
Hua'an's pro-military battalion stayed in the camp for the time being, ready to support at any time, and the main army of 20,000, except for the 10,000 soldiers stationed on the wall, the remaining 10,000 horses were near the north gate, ready to support the direction of emergency at any time.
At this time, the defense of Yinling City, the north is heavy and the south is light, the north gate is fully guarded by 5,000 soldiers, the east and west gates are guarded by 2,000 troops each, and the south gate is less than 1,000 soldiers.
The enemy's siege was more fierce than imagined, half an hour later, the eastern, western, and northern three gates were in a hurry, and the casualties of the soldiers were relatively heavy, especially the minor injuries were particularly many, and once the soldiers were injured, they would seriously affect the combat effectiveness.
Han Qian sent out the 10,000 troops on standby near the north gate step by step, and gradually stabilized the defense line, but there were not many new forces in his hands, except for the seven hundred soldiers in the pro-military battalion, there were only less than five hundred soldiers in Yinling City, and these hundreds of soldiers were not strong, and they were not vulnerable to the powerful Peach Leopard Legion.