On the mountains of the Two Realms, the people who come to harass every day are some little monsters.

It's been three or four days since the last attack. There are no monsters above the fairyland, as if they have disappeared. Xie Baoshu watched those sword immortals kill demons every day, just like killing pigs.

In addition to killing demons, the Great Wall is still spreading outward and is always under construction. In the past, there was Liu Kanshan, and the range of the two realms mountains was actually only a little bit. With him, these monsters don't dare to come.

But he's not here, I'm afraid I'll have to think of something else.

The only way to do this is to build a city.

If there is a city, the demon can't do anything, because in a war, you can't bypass the city. Why don't you go around the city in a war?

Because of the siege, Lu Ban also built a ladder specifically for the siege. But the cost of attacking the city is also very large, it is easy to defend the city, and it is difficult to attack the city, and every siege is to prepare everything. And after the defeat of one side, one of the conditions is how many cities to cede, didn't the Qin State use several cities in exchange for the clan during the Warring States Period, did it really play such a big role in the city war?

If you can bypass the city, can't you attack the rear directly?

For those gates or walls, every vassal state will have such a gate, which is very high and very strong. This gate is heavily guarded at all times, and under special circumstances, people have to be strictly inspected when they come out and enter, and it is difficult for ordinary spies to get in. If you want to take this castle during a battle, you can usually only enter through this gate. This is because most castles are built in dangerous places or transportation arteries, so it is convenient to take measures during battles.

So also because of the topography, so it is very difficult to bypass, the previous traffic is not as developed as it is now, generally from one place to another place there is only one road, our transportation network extends in all directions, which was not possible in the past, there are barren mountains and mountains everywhere, how to lead the army around? And when the army marches, it is necessary to prepare a lot of materials, and it is not realistic to go up the mountain with materials, so you can only take the road at the gate of the city. Even if a small team bypasses it, it will face the danger of being flanked from both sides and pay a greater price.

So it's unrealistic to want to bypass, either choose to attack or outwit, but it's impossible to bypass. If it's so easy for you to get around, what's the point of building this city?

The risk of "bypassing the opponent's city" is also clear at a glance: the important cities in ancient times were basically built on strategic ground, and even if you run a little more to bypass the city, it is equivalent to plunging into the opponent's territory, and the logistics supply is in danger of being cut off at any time. Once you encounter a stubborn resistance ahead, no matter how elite the army you lead, you may become a beast trapped in a cage, and it is very likely that you will be caught in the trap of your opponent.

It is necessary to clearly determine the defense configuration of the place, and the first to take the place must rush to the fortified city. And the seemingly "bulky" Great Wall of China is also worth its true value: it may be long

The city wall cannot be exhaustive to every place, but as long as it is stuck at the border, it is like installing a safety valve. Regardless of the opponent's iron horse, he is often firmly locked when he rushes in. With this complete set of defense systems, we will protect the peace and tranquility of the people at the border gates.

Fighting a war is not about the gains and losses of one city or one place, but about destroying the enemy's living forces.

The world must be divided for a long time, and there are many dynasties that are in a period of long-term war.

I don't want to attack these cities, because the cost is very large. However, he had to attack these cities, why, because in ancient times, it was not like today, and all of his transportation needed to be completed by manpower and horsepower.

What's more, it's very slow, and if you go around from one city to another, it's easy for the enemy to cut off your rear route to supply your army. Cause your vanguard to be stuck directly on the road, in a dilemma. Even if the enemy does not attack, sooner or later your vanguard will starve to death.

The second point is that because the grain, grass, soldiers, horses, gold, silver and jewelry in the city are very rich resources, capturing this city can not only provide a very good accommodation environment for our vanguard troops, but also expand the treasury strength again in addition to the rest environment, even if it is marching again, it can also greatly shorten the diameter distance of grain and grass transportation, and can provide rapid supplies for the combat troops in time.

Therefore, since the ancient city is a place where soldiers must fight, although it is more troublesome to attack the city, the method of occupying the city is not only a way to attack this way, there are also methods of outwitting, forcing gifts, etc., for example, the more famous Liu Bei borrowed Jingzhou in history, all of them did not spend a soldier, and this city was attributed to the name of the individual, of course, there will be a certain number of defenders in each city, if all these defenders are rebelled against their own military camps, their country's combat effectiveness will also have a lot of improvement.

Attacking a city is the best way to do it once and for all, so ancient kings did not hesitate to spend a lot of money to capture the enemy's city. There have also been examples of circumambulation of enemy cities in history, in the Three Kingdoms period, there was a young general in Wu State, this person was strong-blooded, a little clever, but the understanding of the art of war was not so deep, once he was named a side general, with the commander marching to meet Cao Cao's troops, but this young general felt that his skills were very strong, and he was only named a side general, which was a bit condescending.

He was anxious to show his combat ability, but he could not agree with the commander's combat instructions, he thought that the soldiers were fast, and if the cities along the road were to be attacked, by the time he fought with the enemy, his troops would have been left for a long time, so he felt that it was a big deal, and in the middle of the night he took the commander's tiger talisman, secretly gathered all the soldiers, hurried all the night, and left all the burdens in the camp, all lightly armed, and approached the enemy commander! He thought that the thief would capture the king first, and this battle could not be trusted.

While directing the route of the troops, he was constantly thinking about how to bypass the checkpoints and cities on these roads, and he was only in a little more than a day's journey, Cao

Cao had already gotten information there, saying that Wu had a small general who led a heavy army into battle lightly, bypassing all the checkpoints and cities all the way, not fighting with them, and coming straight to the Shuaifu, asking Cao Cao what to do?

Cao Cao was also very shocked when he heard this, could it be that they came here to die? Not to mention whether they could come to the Shuai Mansion intact, the problem of grain and grass on the road alone was enough for them to have a headache, right? Cao Cao's eyes moved, and he said: Continue to monitor, don't startle the snakes, don't send troops to greet them, and let them fend for themselves

The young general of Wu Guo also thought about the problem of military rations, but he roughly calculated the time, although the rations were not too much, but they were just enough to eat, but the journey was so smooth that he did not let him play a little single-mindedly, and even the young general had the idea of "Cao Cao is nothing great" in his heart, which really made people laugh.

In the end, it took only two days, the people who were sleepy and tired came to the city gate of Luoyang, and before they could scold, they saw that the city gate of Luoyang was opened with a "creak", and the first person was Prime Minister Cao Cheng, Cao Cao! A person with black helmet and black armor next to him, the body shape was like a bear blind man, it was Cao Cao's henchman Dian Wei, the two slowly walked to the place less than 150 meters in front of the young general of Wu Guo, and suddenly Cao Cao laughed, and then said, "Generals, I don't know what to do when I come here with the stars and the moon?" I've already prepared food and drinks in the city, so why don't you go into the city?"

At this time, the air was filled with the smell of meat, and the soldiers who had been worried all the way were already very hungry, and at this time they were even more drooling, although everyone was ready to move, but no one started this, and no one was embarrassed to take the first step forward.

Cao Cao squinted his eyes, swept over the crowd majestically, and said: "Anyone who wears cloth clothes into the city, I will treat you as a guest, and the wine and meat are enough, if you insist on going against me Cao, I will let you all hold hands on the Huangquan Road!"

As soon as the words fell, Dian Wei drove the horse forward with a double halberd, like a black lightning bolt, and instantly appeared in front of the young general of Wu Guo, without waiting for the other party to react, he took the knife and fell a halberd to cut this person down under the horse, and everyone saw that the commander was dead, and hurriedly threw away their weapons, light armor, bows and arrows and other combat equipment, and dismounted and followed Dian Wei into Cao Cao's base camp!

The vast majority of the army was infantry, the number of cavalry was not very large, and the cavalry could not attack the city. So if you want to fight, the general infantry is used as the main force, and the cavalry is only used as a rapid reaction force, as a surprise army.

It is for this reason that the marching speed is very slow, in the scale of the war of hundreds of thousands of troops, this slow marching speed will cause the army to stretch for dozens of miles, if you bypass the city, it is possible that the defenders in the city will sneak attack the rear army, so that the attacking army can not take care of each other.

Moreover, the supply of hundreds of thousands of troops is also a big problem, if you go around the city, the supply line of the attacking side may be cut off, so that its army will collapse without attacking. Therefore, in wartime, the opponent's cities will be uprooted one by one, and they will not take the initiative to detour.

So in there is none

What about an example of attacking around a city?

Of course there is. For example, when the northern ethnic minorities went south to plunder, they bypassed the city. So why were the northern nomads able to bypass the city? This is because they were cavalry, mobile, and supplied on the spot, so they were not afraid of being caught by the defenders.

But even so, they need to leave relatively quickly, this is because they did not capture the city, once the defenders reacted, they connected the city into a network to defend, and if they closed the door and beat the dogs, these cavalry would also be more auspicious, which may be the reason why the ancient city was important and unavoidable in ancient warfare.

It is often seen that when fighting, it is usually a "fatal" attack on a lonely city, and the besieging side will attack the city by erecting ladders and siege gates, and the result is that they will suffer heavy casualties, while the defenders will not retreat even if they are isolated and helpless

Since ancient times, there have always been places where soldiers must fight, and these places are outside the main transportation routes, and they also play a central role. Only by occupying the city can the city be the center and the surrounding farmland can be requisitioned on the spot. Therefore, we can find that every city and place in the Guda War must be taken, and in many cases, there is no other way out.

For example, Tongguan, the gate of Guanzhong to the Central Plains, even if it is known that it is easy to defend and difficult to attack, it is also a battleground for soldiers since ancient times, because there is no other way to enter the Central Plains from Guanzhong, or enter the customs from the Central Plains. There are a lot of passes like this, the Jianmen Pass that is not open by a husband and a man, the "first pass in the world" Shanhaiguan that chokes the throat of North China and Central China, etc., in ancient times, marching and fighting to attack the city are also helpless, it is difficult to avoid as a traffic artery, and it is necessary to use its strategic position as a supply, so from the strategic position, the "lonely city" is generally necessary to attack.

Although there is nothing wrong with it on the surface, the consequences are actually very serious. Because bypassing a city is equivalent to going deep alone, that is, you have created a situation for yourself to be attacked by the enemy. The uncertainty ahead, coupled with the previous eyeing of the city bypass, is easy to be "dumplings".

Moreover, in ancient times, the general grain and grass baggage of marching and fighting were generally in the rear, which was very easy to be bypassed by the city and cut off the grain road. The importance of grain to the army is self-evident, taking Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition as an example, the difficulty of transporting grain is an important reason for Zhuge Liang's failure. Therefore, in order not to put his army in an awkward position, to avoid being cut off from food and being attacked by the enemy, he could only "face difficulties" when he saw the city.

We all know that no matter the official history or the interpretation, Wei Yan has mentioned the "Meridian Valley Conspiracy" to Zhuge Liang, the so-called Meridian Valley Conspiracy, in fact, is to imitate Han Xin's "Ming Xiu Plank Road Darkness Chen Cang", Zhuge Liang entered the Xiegu Valley as a suspicious soldier, and Wei Yan personally led the elite soldiers to take Tongguan and Chang'an from the Meridian Valley in one fell swoop. However, later Zhuge Liang thought that this strategy was too risky and did not adopt it.

Some people think that Zhuge Liang is too cautious and it is a pity not to adopt it, and some people think that Zhuge Liang is the way to win. In the author's opinion, Zhuge Liang's approach is exactly why he doesn't bypass the city

Reason.

It is difficult to go to Shu and it is difficult to go to the sky. It is very difficult to transport grain from Sichuan to Hanzhong, so Zhuge Liang adopted the traditional way of playing today. Encroaching on the main transportation routes step by step, and supplying food with this city as the center every time you conquer it, this is a very solid battle.

If according to Wei Yan's statement, once the lone army goes deep, it will face the realm of being attacked on the back of the enemy, if it can take Chang'an as planned, it is good to say, if it can't be taken, even Zhuge Liang in the valley will be "dumplings". At that time, it will not only be as simple as the failure of the Northern Expedition, it is likely that Shu will die in advance. And if Chang'an is taken, it will be isolated and helpless, and it will definitely not be able to hold it for a long time without a grain route. Delusionally trying to bypass so many Wei troops and achieve it directly overnight, Zhuge Liang, who is well versed in the art of war, must know that it will not work

Although Zhuge Liang is not as good as politics, he is still the only one who was selected as one of the ten philosophers of the Wumiao during the Three Kingdoms period, and his military ability is not groundless. It is precisely because he knows the importance of the city that he will not take such a risk.

Cities are especially important for every country, so they will be built on the main transportation arteries, that is, the main roads, which are the smoothest and the most time-saving. If you go around the city and go by other roads, it is not necessarily closer than this road, and there are thousands of marches to fight, and there are soldiers, horses, food, grass and other things, and copying other paths will cause a lot of trouble. This will add a lot of pressure to the army, and when it comes to fighting the enemy face to face, it will cause a lack of physical strength and poor mental state, which will affect the final outcome of the battle.

Secondly, as an important area of the country, the city has a lot of grain and grass and machinery and equipment necessary for war. If we capture the city first, it will be equivalent to harvesting a large amount of grain and grass from the enemy, and it will also solve the problem of lack of grain and grass for me. After all, the more energy is consumed in the later fight, the less grain and grass will be, but it must be very slow to transport all the way, but wouldn't it be much more convenient to capture the city and intercept the enemy's grain and grass?

The last reason is that the city will be guarded by brave and skilled defenders, if you attack the city directly, there is still hope that these defenders will be killed, but if you take a detour, it will cause these defenders to attack from the rear, causing pressure on the army. Moreover, when the enemy army was ushered in in the front, the defenders from the city also cut off the rear, and the hope of victory was even slimmer. Therefore, everyone does not want to attack the most difficult and boring city, but the advantage of the city must be attacked, otherwise the probability of failure is very high.

For example, when Qin Shi Huang unified the six countries, in order to resist the external invasion of the Xiongnu, he built the Great Wall so that the Xiongnu had no way to break through.

Since then, the Xiongnu have never reached the place south of the Great Wall. Later dynasties also used the same method of building cities as Qin Shi Huang, and paid great attention to the development measures of frontier cities.

In ancient times, when a large army went to conquer a city, the first thing to do was to break through the city. When Qin Shi Huang built the Great Wall, it was based on the local area

of the topography.

Castles were built on flat ground, connecting the steep hills.

Therefore, the ancient city is not what we do, but built around a city, it is based on the local topography, with artificial construction of the city and natural steep terrain.

It is only then that such a strong defense was forged. Therefore, when fighting, as an attacker, it is unrealistic to encounter a city that cannot be attacked for a long time, even if you want to bypass it.

Because the artificially built cities are heavily guarded, and those places where the guards are relatively weak, the terrain is very steep, and ordinary people cannot cross this difficult moat. So what should you do if you encounter a city that you can't attack for a long time and can't get around?

You can use stratagems, use discord tactics, and attack the city gate together. It is a siege, but this is very labor-intensive and material-intensive, and it affects the morale of the army, so it is not the best policy.

So there was no way, and some of the armies had no choice but to retreat. Anyway, the unrealistic idea of bypassing the city is basically not done.

(End of chapter)