The siege failed again, and when Montuke withdrew his troops and returned to the camp, he was in a bad mood when he saw that the morale of the army was very low.

As the saying goes, the most difficult battle is the siege, especially the siege battle, as long as there are one or two setbacks in the siege process, this will have a great impact on the morale of the army.

Moreover, when attacking the city, what is needed is to take the city in one go, and if there is a problem of low morale in the process, then the troops must be withdrawn, otherwise the losses will be very heavy.

Therefore, Meng Buge fought three battles in three days, and the three battles did not achieve obvious results, and when he still lost nearly 30,000 horses in vain, he found that not to mention the soldiers of the blue flag and the white flag of the siege, even some generals in the Beirong army were also affected and very depressed.

However, on this issue, Meng Buge also knows a little bit, that is, in winter, Yunzhou is already frozen, if you don't attack Caozhou City before the heavy snow comes, it means that Beirong's attack on Dayan this year can only be abandoned, and you can only wait until the spring of next year to ask for a battle, which has a greater impact on morale, especially the generals who are eager to loot the hinterland of Dayan.

This thought to himself and made it even worse for him to leave the camp and stroll in the moonlight, and before he knew it, he came to the big tent of Haksu.

Hakesu also participated in the siege battle at the east gate of Caozhou City today, and saw that his side failed to attack Caozhou City again, so he returned to the camp and began to think about the method of attacking the city, but he still didn't know the essentials, just like he told Meng Buge yesterday to find a way, but the more anxious he was, the more he couldn't think of an effective way, and he was leaning on a tiger skin cushion and reading a military book called "The Art of War".

When he was a child, the teacher Yan Guo, who taught him to read and write, often told him that the reason why the Yan people were able to fight well was because they had a book called "The Art of War". He was very curious, so he asked his teacher for this book and began to study it, and when he grew up, he often read it in his spare time, and benefited a lot.

Now that the siege war has fallen into a stalemate again, he can't think of a good way to break the city, so he can only continue to flip through this military book written on parchment that has long been almost rotten, and want to get the answer from it.

When Meng Buge walked into Haksu's big tent, he found that his younger brother was reading leisurely, and his mood was even worse, he thought that he was racking his brains to find a way to break through Caozhou City, but his younger brother still had time to read, which made Meng Buge very angry, but he still couldn't help but scold.

just asked in a cold tone, "What about the twelfth brother reading?" ”

"Yes! Today's siege is not going well, and I am looking for a solution! Haksu put down the book in his hand and said.

"Caozhou City is easy to defend and difficult to attack, this time it is indeed a bit miscalculated for my brother, but the 200,000 troops take turns to attack the city, I don't believe that I can't attack a small Caozhou City, it's just a matter of time!" Meng Buge said indignantly.

"However, we are running out of time, and if we don't capture Caozhou City before the first snow falls in Yunzhou, I'm afraid we will have to wait until next year." Ha Kesu said worriedly, "Besides, the 200,000 army is not very relieved to hand over to the Eleventh Brother Great Khan, if it weren't for the invasion of Yanmen Pass this time, we sent most of the looted property back to the gate, I'm afraid that with the current move of hoarding troops in Caozhou City and not acting for a long time, we would have changed the position of you and my brother's main general." ”

"Hoarding troops in Caozhou City is also a last resort, if we don't send the looted property out of the Guanwai, we can raise troops to go west into the Northern Capital or southeast to Shangzhou to Yunzhou, but if we send two-thirds of the property out of the Guanwai, we can't help but consider going deep into the hinterland of the Great Yan to be cleared by the Yan army's strong walls, and then blocking our return route, when the winter arrives, it will be dangerous. We are thinking about the army, at least staying in Caozhou City to attack and retreat. Meng Buge said rather indignantly, "If we don't go through a few big battles with the Yan army and consume their main force, we can't rush into the Yan State Mansion!" ”

"Brother Eleventh is right, so I will support Brother Eleven's decision, gather troops under the city of Caozhou, wait for labor to annihilate the reinforcements of Yan State, and then wait for the opportunity to go south to the hinterland of Yunzhou. It's just that these three sieges of our siege equipment are too simple, and they can't make much pressure and threat to the defenders of Caozhou City, so that our siege will be blocked. Haksu spoke slowly, as if he was thinking about it.

"What siege rambling equipment to build?" Meng Buge asked, he was a little curious about his brother's suggestion, is there anything more powerful than the siege machine he is using now?

"Is it a ladder for siege? There's also something called a rock-throwing cart. Haksu said, he took a book from under the book of soldiers he put down, handed it to Meng Bugo and said, "This book of "General Essentials of the Martial Arts" has written these two siege equipment, but it takes more time to build, and it also requires skilled craftsmen. The book says that as long as we have these two siege equipment, our combat effectiveness in attacking Caozhou City will be increased by half. ”

"Is it that powerful?" Meng Buge was surprised, but he still believed his brother's words.

Because Hakesu is known as the demon fox of Beirong, what he said is that he is full of wisdom in Beirong, reads a lot of books, is good at planning, and is proficient in the art of war.

However, when Meng Buge took the book handed to him by Haksu, he flipped through the two pages, and his head was made big by the dense words on the book, so he asked a little worriedly, "Does this work?" We're not going to do that, are we? Is it too late to do it now? ”

"We won't, but the craftsmen of the Yan people will, as long as we act now, we will immediately go to Liaozhou to catch a group of Yan craftsmen and start building, it is estimated that we will still be in time, at least in time to attack Caozhou City a few more times before the first snow falls in Yunzhou." Haksu said confidently, "So my suggestion is to let the army rest for a few days!" Brother Eleven should put his mind on the red flag and the red flag, they have been on the expedition for a few days, but there is no news of the victory yet, I feel a little strange, I am always uneasy, as for the task of building siege equipment, I am in charge of it! ”

"Well, what the twelfth brother said is right, I am also worried about the actions of the Zheng Red Flag and the Red Banner now, but with the strength of more than 60,000 people in the Zheng Red Flag and the Red Flag, it is more than enough to deal with the 60,000 Yan cavalry going north!" "Then let's do it!" Everything depends on the twelfth brother. ”

"En" Haksu nodded in agreement, and continued to take the military book and began to read, Meng Buge's heart problem was solved, but it was very comfortable, he did not continue to bother Haksu, but left the big tent by himself.

……

In the study room of Ji Qingchen in Caozhou City, the generals have already gathered, discussing the casualties and conditions of the three days of defending the city, the problems that have arisen in the defense of the city, and the problems of defending the city to be solved.

Ji Qingchen was also very helpless about these problems, although every time he defended the city, his side used bows and arrows, stones and fire oil to eliminate many Beirong soldiers, but the consumption of stones, arrows and fire oil was not small. The stones in Caozhou City are about to run out, and if they can't do it, they can only demolish the houses, and the reserves of arrows and fire oil are not much left, which can only last for three major wars.

This worries him and the generals!

After all, Dayan's supplies have not yet been delivered, and if these things are used up before this, I'm afraid this city won't be able to hold it. Therefore, he can only adopt today's defensive strategy, put some Beirong soldiers into the city, and annihilate them through hand-to-hand combat, trying to exhaust Beirong's morale little by little.

When the generals heard Ji Qingchen's method, they could only nod their heads in resignation, because when the soldiers defending the city fought with the Beirong soldiers, the casualties were also very heavy.

Everyone fell silent except for agreement.

In the middle of the sound, I saw Xu Dachun and said, "Chief, if you want to attack the city in such a crazy way as Meng Buge, the losses of the Beirong soldiers are also very large, that is, there are 200,000 Beirong iron cavalry, but if you attack for ten days and half a month in a row like now, it is estimated that he can't afford the price of casualties, right?" ”

"The Beirong soldiers have always been brave, and the offensive will be so fierce, but now they lack the experience of siege warfare, and they do not have large-scale siege gas equipment, so they will be difficult in the siege battle. But in terms of the combat strength of their soldiers alone, we have already fallen behind a lot, if they discover the trick of siege and create a large number of siege equipment, I am afraid it will be difficult for us to hold Caozhou City! Xu Zizhang said worriedly.

"Yes! - You're right, we can't afford to guard against that. Ji Qingchen nodded slightly and said, "So we have to prepare for the worst, and prepare to give Meng Buge a heavy blow before he builds a large number of siege equipment and wants to attack the city at all costs." Of course, this is just a helpless move, this king feels that Haksu is by no means a good type, with his title of Beirong Demon Fox, it can be seen that this person is well versed in the art of war, familiar with insidious strategies, and familiar with my Dayan culture, we can't help but guard against him. ”

"Yes! What the Grand Governor said was that the last general was also jealous of Haksu. Meng Li said.

There was silence in the study again!

Because everyone's minds are on how to defend the city when Beirong has built a large siege machine, with the current soldiers and horses and combat effectiveness of Caozhou City, even with the 100,000 Longxiang army, they don't think they can do what Ji Qingchen said to give Meng Buge a heavy blow before Beirong builds a large siege machine.

It's a fantasy!

As for whether Beirong can build large-scale siege equipment, such as siege ladders and catapults, everyone has no doubt at all.

Because this kind of large-scale siege tools have appeared as early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and it is no secret that it has been spread to the people until now, as long as Hakesu is shrewd enough to catch a few more skilled craftsmen of the Yan Kingdom, it is not difficult to build these things.

"Do you want to send another letter to the imperial court and let the Privy Council mobilize tens of thousands of troops to Caozhou City?" In the middle of the sound, Fang Wanqi said, "Even if it's a foot soldier, at least it can be used to defend the city, and besides, there is no difference between the training of the recruited army in King's Landing and training in Caozhou, why not let them go to Caozhou and be trained by us personally?" This can also be used in case of a siege. ”

"Your suggestion is good, but in this case, there will be a problem with the supply of grain and grass, the 100,000 troops of the Longxiang army will arrive in Caozhou City, and our troops in Caozhou will reach 200,000, and the supply of grain and grass for these 200,000 horses will be transported from the south, if we add the rations of 100,000 new troops, I am afraid that we will be stretched thin in terms of grain and grass!" Ji Qingchen smiled faintly and said affirmatively, "The Privy Council will not agree." ”

"Yes." Fang Wanqi said regretfully.

The meeting in the study ended in a dreary atmosphere and did not achieve the desired results.