Why is Zhending City so difficult to attack?

In addition to the harmony between Tian Kai and Sun Jin, as well as the courage of violent bombing, the most important first point is that Zhending City itself is easy to defend and difficult to attack.

In the last years of Xinmang, Zhending City, as the lair of the powerful Zhending King of the Northland, was second to none in terms of operation. It is divided into three main fortresses: the Zhending Palace, the inner city, and the outer city. Each circumference is steamed with glutinous water, and even after two hundred years, the main structure is still solid.

In particular, the outermost Zhending exterior wall is ten miles in circumference, three zhang high, four zhang thick, it is really a big male city in the north. It is precisely because of this majestic city that Tian Kai is willing to go south to fight.

At this time, ten days have passed since the siege, and the Taishan army still has nothing to gain under the city.

The continuous firing of stone bullets only destroyed most of the buildings on the city wall, and caused a few corners, but they were still repaired back by the city.

Seeing the war like this, Zhang Chong ordered the siege of Zhending City without attacking it, and consumed the food in the city.

Some fortresses are unbreakable, not just because you have a stone cart. Even if you have artillery, there will be a fortress in front of you. In fact, most sieges are carried out by siege, and it is usually normal for a fortress to be besieged for half a year and a year.

On the contrary, like Zhang Chong, relying on the advanced equipment of the soldiers, it is an abnormal state to pull out the city every day.

Therefore, after Zhang Chong saw that the war was not going well, he decisively chose to besiege the city.

However, Zhang Chong did not sit under the city and defend it, but on the one hand, he cleared the fences, antlers and other roadblocks arranged by the Zhending army in the open area outside the city, and on the other hand, he ordered the rangers to go out in all directions and clear the dock wall near the wilderness.

However, Zhang Chong's real means are all focused on building a giant nest car. Now there are two, and when the six are built one after another, the city will no longer be able to hold it.

Zhang Chong himself calculated that relying on the current troop projection capacity of the nest car, a nest car can carry fifty armor soldiers. But now there are a thousand men on the opposite side of the city, and at least three hundred are needed to stand firm on the top of the city.

That is to say, only six giant nest cars arrived at the city at the same time, so that three hundred armor soldiers jumped on the city as soon as possible, so that they could gain a firm foothold in the city, and the follow-up reinforcements could continue to support the city from the nest car, so that the city could be broken.

Therefore, Zhang Chong is now urging the craftsman camp to make every effort to build a nest car.

Under the city here, the Taishan army is fighting steadily, and in the city of Xiaquyang, the marshal of the rear army is also holding a military meeting, the theme of which is to discuss the next stage of the war.

At this time, Marshal Dong Wan of the rear army was sitting in the hall, and the generals in the army were standing on both sides.

At this meeting, Tian Feng, a staff member in the army, was talking about the current situation for the generals.

Tian Feng was defeated after the Battle of Handan, and he was a semi-active surrender, so he was a Hebei official who was very early to be activated.

During this Northern Expedition, he was assigned to the shogunate of the rear army marshal as a military counselor.

Tian Feng said with a serious expression:

"Now that we have been attacking for about 20 days, we have occupied the city south of Hutuoshui, and it can be said that our army now has the whole county of Julu. In this battle, the marshal's headquarters of our rear army annihilated a total of eight local forces in the north of the county, captured more than 20,000 people, and now most of the prisoners have been handed over to the rear. In this battle, our army suffered a total of 500 casualties. In addition, the former military academy lieutenant department was transferred to the Zhending battlefield, and now under the sequence of our army, there are four cadet departments, with a total of 7,500 actual soldiers. ”

Tian Feng roughly talked about the previous results, and the generals below did not have many surprised expressions.

It's not that the results of 500 casualties, 6 cities, and 20,000 captures are not amazing or brilliant. It's that this result is really not a war for these people.

From June 10 to the end of June, they have basically marched in arms. All the enemies encountered were local tyrants and townsmen, and hundreds of people couldn't make up a pair of armor, how could they stop them.

So all the way to the destruction of this kind of goods, how can you satisfy the proud Marshal of the Rear Army?

However, they also know that this is a good thing, not in the battle of Handan before, they wiped out all the main forces of the Han army in Zhongshan and Julu, how can they be comfortable now?

But comfort is comfortable, and soldiers still have to pursue honor, so they want greater results, which is also the main purpose of this military conference.

Over there, after Tian Feng finished talking about the previous results, he began to talk about the current situation:

"Now, the base camp has besieged the city for ten days, and the original king's suggestion was to block the Hutuo Ferry in the north and the Jingcheng Pass in the west, and then order our troops to establish a defensive line in the area of Xiaquyang. Then the base camp was attacking Zhending City with all its might. But now the situation has taken a new turn. ”

After speaking, Tian Feng pointed to Jixian County on the map screen behind him, and continued:

"Our army's Northern Expedition, with the meaning of the base camp is directed at the thistle, and the Lu Zhi puppet department entrenched here is the biggest enemy of our army in this battle, after the defeat last year, he returned to the north in a hurry, and then cultivated in Jicheng, it is said that the strength has been restored, not to be underestimated. Recently, the northern spies reported military information, saying that Lu Zhi's puppet commander had 30,000 northern soldiers out of the east and had moved to the area of Changshan Pass. ”

This news was obviously something that the generals had never heard, and they all exchanged ears to discuss the aftermath of this matter. Everyone is very confused, now our army has arrived in the Hutuoshui area, and can go north to Zhongshan at any time and directly threaten Jixian. Could it be that Lu Zhi has already gone to save Zhending regardless of the safety of Jixian County?

Obviously, everyone will have their own opinions, and there is no agreement.

In fact, Dong Wan was also puzzled by this, so he called the generals to discuss the matter together.

Before long, there was a general who came out of the ranks, and it was Lu Kuang, the left military captain of the Marshal Department of the rear army, who said with a big grin:

"Dong Shuai, what is there to think. Now that the Yan soldiers are going east, Jicheng is empty, and it is the time for our army to make contributions. Our army should immediately ferry to Hutuoshui, take advantage of the situation to take Jicheng, and cut off the back road of their generation. ”

Because of his previous meritorious service in defending Handan in the Battle of Handan, Lu Kuang was promoted to the left military captain of the rear army marshal's department after the war.

Lu Kuang was in the army of Dongping Guotou, and he was also an old lord in the army, and he was even a few months later than Dong Wan, and he was born better than Dong Wan. After all, Dong Wan was born in the army, while Lu Kuang was a ranger who joined the army, which is different.

In addition, Lu Kuang fought bravely and made many meritorious deeds, and was a member of the rear army marshal's department, so when he impassionedly asked for battle, several hot-blooded generals also had hot brains and asked for battle.

Compared with the past, Dong Wan at this time has matured a lot, he touched his beard, and replied lightly:

"I'm afraid this matter can't be thought about simply, who is Lu Zhi? He is the only pillar of the Han family in northern Xinjiang, our army has been dealing with him for so long, is he an idle person? Therefore, it rashly went east to Changshan Pass, and there may be a conspiracy that we don't know about. ”

Originally, Dong Wan's words were just a cliché, and he wanted the generals to discuss the gains and losses of going north.

But who knew that Lu Kuang's younger brother Lu Xiang took over the words, and he said:

"No matter what kind of conspiracy he had, we have 10,000 elite soldiers, 1,000 cavalry, plus 10,000 new surrendered troops, this is more than 20,000 soldiers. In addition, there are 20,000 elite soldiers and 3,000 cavalry in the base camp, and our army is twice as numerous as the Yan army, how can you be afraid of him? As long as our army rushes to the city of Yan Ji, then Lu Zhi has the ability to fly and can still run back? ”

Lu Xiang is as young and vigorous as his brother, and when he refuted Dong Wan, he did not respect Dong Wan as the coach of the aspect, shouting and spitting, looking unquestionable.

How comfortable does this make Dong Wan feel comfortable? He was the master of the Yin Owl, otherwise he would not have beaten Li Gan in prison back then, and then he would have to avoid trouble and go away.

Now that he has been trained by Zhang Chong, his temperament is more stable, but to put it bluntly, he is not a good mother-in-law.

However, the Lu brothers are important generals in the army, and their opinions are also very important. So Dong Wan gave the Lu brothers face, and explained coldly:

"The base camp is now really settled, and it will not be possible to go north in a short time. And the so-called new annex army is even more of a rabble, which will only reduce the combat capability of our army. Therefore, if only with 10,000 people in our army, we can directly cross the river to attack Jicheng, the risk is still very large. ”

But Dong Wan's explanation could not convince Lu Xiang, or rather, Lu Xiang didn't want to listen to it at all, he still looked high-spirited:

"The king's ability to use soldiers has already reached the realm of transcendent sainthood, is Dong Shuai still suspicious of the king? What's more, just one part of our army is enough to slightly Yan, so how many soldiers can Lu Zhi can have, he took away 30,000, and the rest is just a chicken and a dog, and our army will win with one blow. ”

After Lu Xiang said this, the audience gasped, never imagined that this person would dare to set a trap on Dong Wan and slander him for being disrespectful to the king.

At this time, Dong Wan already had some killing intent in his eyes, and he said lightly:

"Our army has been fighting for days and needs to rest. In addition, the matter of Beidu is too important, and it needs to be reported to the base camp before making a decision. ”

Lu Xiang didn't see that Dong Wan already had murderous intentions, and was still sneering:

"Dong Shuai, the last general has been patrolling the camp for days, and he has never seen the soldiers below tired, but he saw that everyone was happy to fight, and the morale was high. Why is what Dong Shuai said different from what the last general saw? Could it be that Dong Shuai hasn't gone to the camps below to take a look. ”

At this time, Dong Wan's face turned pale, and he slapped the case heavily, and then angrily reprimanded:

"Lu Xiang, are you kissing your own handsome?"

At this time, Dong Wan had already made up his mind to use Lu Xiang as a chicken to police the morale of the army.

He didn't expect that for the sake of the overall situation, he would endure the Lu brothers again and again, and finally let the arrogance of the other generation become so arrogant. At this moment, Dong Yu felt that his authority had been threatened.

Dong Wan's feeling is not surprising, although he is a marshal of the rear army, he is the elite of all 10,000 people. But in terms of age, he is only about thirty, and most of the generals below are older than him in age.

In addition, this is also the first time that Dong Wan has led a large-scale army of 10,000 people to go on an expedition. Although he was also one of the marshals of the Five Armies, in fact he had the least specific military experience.

Not to mention that Guan Yu presided over the first Northern Expedition, nor to mention that Zhang Dan had a great victory in Jize, nor to mention the great victory in Handan, it is said that Ding Sheng, who is the most mixed, has also had a great victory in the Western Expedition, and he has met in Qishui and the main force of the Henan Han soldiers in front of the gong.

But what does he have to visit? In addition to having a role in the Heji area before, the most other time is to follow Zhang Chong around and be a cross-cutting general. Not to mention, later on, he was directly robbed of his visit because he made a big mistake when he was presiding over Heji.

So in such a situation, in the army that pays the most attention to military merits and qualifications, how much prestige can Dong Wan have?

Even, what Dong Wan is not at ease in his heart, the front and rear armies are all used to guard the inner line, and rarely participate in the external battle. Therefore, this time in the Northern Expedition, he set out from Julu and was responsible for presiding over the whole way, whether it was because of the weak strength of the enemy army in this area, so it was arranged.

But Dong Wan is a proud person who will not tolerate his authority being repeatedly challenged in this way.

Moreover, the identity of the Lu brothers has raised his vigilance to a high point.

In the current sequence of the Marshal Department of the Later Army, the former Military Academy Captain Department was transferred to the Zhending Battlefield in the west, and now it is Lu Kuang of the Left Military Academy Captain Department, Zhang Nan of the Central Military Academy Captain Department, Zhang Min of the Right Military Academy Captain Department, and Zhang Tai of the Later Military Academy Captain Department. and the two assault cavalry accompanying the army, namely Ma Baotian's German Army and Li Bi's Tianwu Army.

In this, Zhang Nan is an old brother of Yuan Cong, and he is kind to Dong Yuan. Zhang Min is his old subordinate in the Heji area, and he is his own person, while Zhang Tai is the fierce general of the Qingzhou Yellow Turban, and he has always followed the above. As for Ma Bao being his original cavalry general, Li Bi is also kind to him, and the Lu brothers who were transferred from foreign armies have always been unruly.

So, Dong Wan already had the intention to use these two people to kill chickens and monkeys, he forcibly suppressed his anger and seduced:

"For generals, there is no danger or no war. Our army rushed north, and once it was defeated, it would be a great defeat. It's a responsibility that no one can afford. ”

As soon as he heard such an old-fashioned but obviously shrinking remark, Lu Xiang really fell into the trap, not only did not restrain himself, but also taught a lesson:

"I didn't expect Dong Shuai to be a mother-in-law, and she was afraid of danger when she fought in a war, so it was better to transfer to the town garrison. If any military situation has to be handed over to the base camp to decide, then what do you want to do as a commander? Why did the king divide his army? Don't you just hope that a handsome man like you can seize the opportunity? The fighter plane is fleeting, and when the base camp is restored, you can't catch up with the! ”

As soon as these words came out, even Lu Kuang on Lu Xiang's side was stunned, and he hurriedly dragged Lu Xiang.

And Lu Xiang also knew that he was speechless, and his face turned pale, but because of his vigor, he was still holding on there.

And after Dong Wan said this, he broke out directly, he pointed at Lu Xiang and scolded angrily:

"What a rebellious man, he dared to bark wildly in the army, despise the above, and disturb the morale of the army. Someone came, dragged Lu Xiang down and beheaded him. ”

As soon as Dong Wan gave the order, the generals below were shocked, but they didn't expect Dong Wan to behead the generals directly! They came up to plead.

And Lu Xiang's brother Lu Kuang directly knelt down and begged Dong Wan for mercy, begging Dong Wan to see that his brother had shed blood for the king, and let him go this time.

When it came to the end, Lu Xiang also panicked, but he was still saying:

"I'm just stating the military strategy, when did my Taishan army get convicted for words? He said, I am a lieutenant and a lieutenant, and unless I am ordered by the king, how can you kill me? ”

Who knows, Dong Wan smiled fiercely, pointed to the jiedu hanging behind, and scolded Lu Xiang:

"This is a festival granted by the king, and two thousand stones can be cut in wartime!"

At this moment, Lu Xiang was dumbfounded and didn't dare to say more.

The system of the festival began in the Shang and Zhou dynasties, and in this dynasty, all the generals will go on an expedition and will give this thing to them, also known as the false festival. In this Northern Expedition, in order to strengthen the authority of all marshals, Zhang Chong granted them the power of fake jieyue.

Therefore, Dong Xiang can really be beheaded without an order, and Zhang Chong will not have any blame, because it is Lu Xiang who is despising Dong Xiang's authority, and Dong Wan's authority is granted from above, so in fact, Lu Xiang is also contempt.

Therefore, based on Lu Xiang's words just now, if he put it in the Han army, he couldn't die anymore.

And Lu Kuang is a little more knowledgeable than his younger brother, he already feels that his younger brother's life is in the palm of Dong Wan's thoughts, and he is worried that Lu Xiang will make trouble again.

So, Lu Kuang jumped up and kicked Lu Xiang's knee socket, kicked him to the ground, and then knelt down together, begging for mercy:

"Dashuai, you see my two brothers sacrificing their lives for the sake of sparing his life."

And Lu Xiang was kicked down by his brother, and he knew that he couldn't be strong, so he could only quickly kneel and kowtow.

And over there, Ma Wu and Li Bi also came to intercede, especially Zhang Nan also said that it was unreasonable to kill the generals in battle, not to mention, Lu Xiang also had the heart to fight.

At this time, other civil and military forces also reacted and pleaded for mercy.

Not to mention the rectum character of the Lu brothers, they are brave and brave, and they are very good in the army. Now most of the old brothers in the army during the old Taishan period are basically of this character, so the popularity of the Lu brothers in the army is still good.

This time Dong Wan really wanted to kill Lu Xiang, these people couldn't bear it, so they pleaded for mercy one after another.

And above, Dong Yu actually didn't have to kill Lu Xiang.

Because the commander can indeed rectify military discipline and establish his authority as a commander-in-chief. But the Lu brothers are not people who have bad comments in the army, and at this time, taking Lu Xiang to sacrifice the flag may backfire in the end.

So Dong Wan weighed it again in his heart, and saw that the Lu brothers had softened, so he no longer insisted, and said coldly on his face:

"No matter what kind of feats you have made before, you only pay attention to orders and prohibitions. Whoever dares to mess with my life, I will behead whomever I want. Today is a military discussion, I will not kill you. But next time you do, I'll kill you. Wish? ”

What else can Lu Xiang say below, he can only say that he is willing.

From here, we can see Dong Wan's cunning and cunning.

He put a hook on Lu Xiang here, in fact, if Lu Xiang was a little disobedient in the future, Dong Wan could kill him directly, and then others would also buy a way to intercede, because it was Lu Xiang himself who agreed.

And once you grasp this point, arrange for you Lu Xiang to lure the enemy, go to the palace, in short, the most dangerous work will be arranged for you, do you Lu Xiang dare to disagree?

Therefore, after such a show, Dong Wan can be regarded as pulling out the thorn of the Lu brothers.

Sure enough, different managers have different styles. If Zhang Dan is like that, he may not care about it, and if Guan Yu is like him, he may be killed with a knife. If Ding Sheng is the case, he may kick Lu Xiang on the court, and then forget about it.

Judging from here, Dong Wan and Dong Zhao are indeed brothers.

In the end, Dong Yu ended the military discussion, and only asked the general to send it to the base camp and wait for the base camp to decide.

But I didn't know that this move really missed the first victory and defeat of this battle.