In the re-battle before the Bishui Pass, He Bai's army cut down more than 1,300 Xiliang iron cavalry, captured more than 300 enemies, and got more than 1,100 good horses.

With 3,000 elite iron cavalry against most of the recruits, the army will be defeated, and this battle is purely due to the enemy's main general, Hua Xiong. As the main general, he did not command the cavalry to fight, but he came to the front of the battle alone, and he deserved to be defeated. However, Bishui Pass should be frightened for a while, just in time to take advantage of the situation to attack Xingyang and then suppress the Xiliang army. When the time comes, it will be the time to send out the navy.

He Bai was overjoyed after receiving Huang Zhong's exact battle report, and there were 1,800 Xiliang good horses before and after, all of which could form heavy cavalry. So he asked people to pick out a thousand good horses and send them back to the sour jujube camp first, and the sailors who came to transport grain brought back to Beihai to store them first, and then talk about them after the special cavalry heavy armor was ready. Now it's a waste to use.

After the camp of Bishui Pass was set up, He Bai ordered Huang Zhong and Chun Yuqiong to lead the army to defend the camp and guard against the possible attack and night attack of Huaxiong in Bishui Pass. And he sent troops to cut down trees everywhere, make all kinds of antlers, and repel horses, so as to prepare the large camp. Since he and Dian Wei, Zhou Tai, Zhang Zhang, and Du Lei led the troops to Xingyang.

Fu Xing and Zhang Liao'er will cross the Bishui River and camp in the northwest five miles north of Xingyang City. And a pontoon bridge was built over the river with small boats for the army to travel from east to west. After He Bai arrived, the sky was still bright, so he and the generals went to Xingyang City to take a look.

I saw that Xingyang City was more than five zhang high (12 meters) and three zhang thick (7 meters). It is more than 360 steps (500 meters) long from east to west, more than 420 steps (600 meters) long from north to south, with an area of nearly 300,000 square meters. Before the Yellow Turban Rebellion, there were 12,000 large counties, but after being suppressed by He Miao, who was then Yin of Henan, there were less than 8,000 households.

Now that Xingyang is at the forefront of the war, and with Dong Zhuo's scorched earth tactics, the people have either been moved to Chang'an or fled to other states. In addition to the wilderness and a few people, the entire Ruoda Xingyang City is now only guarded by an army of 1,000 people.

Although Xingyang diverts the water of the Bishui River as a moat, the moat is more than six zhang wide (14 meters) and more than two zhang deep (5 meters). However, the city has few soldiers and the lateral side is wider, which is much easier than Bishui Pass. And the most important point is that the city at this time is basically a rammed earth city, and all of them are yellow clay embryos.

Including the previous Bishui Pass, it is also a rammed earth pass. Only at the state and county level, particularly prosperous cities, or key passes, can there be solid city walls covered with bricks on the outside and rammed earth on the inside. And there are only about 20 in the country. It's a pity that I have never understood the process of making cement before, otherwise, I would have been able to build all kinds of fortified cities in the territory in the future, which is daunting. As a traverser, I don't understand the manufacture of glass and cement, and I am really blind to this identity.

He Bai asked, "Are there any reinforcements stationed in Xingyang City?" What about the direction of Tiger Prison? Is there a meaning to rescue Xingyang? ”

Fu Xing bowed and said: "Back to the lord, according to the report of the scouts, the guards of Xingyang are still about 1,000 people, and there are no reinforcements stationed in the Tiger Prison Pass, and there are only 3,000 people and horses, so I am afraid that they will not rescue Xingyang." ”

He Bai shook his head and said: "Leading the troops to fight, in addition to the tactics of fighting against each other, there are many other strategies that can be used. It has always been that those who plan more will win with less, and whoever makes fewer mistakes will win. Therefore, although our army captured the small city with heavy troops, it was better to be cautious. The herald ordered to send 2,000 people to garrison the direction of the Tiger Prison tomorrow, and the southern Jingxian County was afraid that the enemy army would come to help, so 1,000 people were also sent to garrison, and Du Lei sent a bloody cavalry to scout everywhere to ensure that there was no trace of the enemy within 20 miles. ”

"Whoa." The generals immediately surrendered.

On the second day, He Bai sent Zhou Tai and Liu Zheng to garrison in the direction of Hujiao, and sent thousands of people under Zhang Liao to garrison in the direction of Jingxian. With the help of 8,000 soldiers, he led 500 craftsmen to make siege weapons. Since ancient times, siege warfare has not been neglected, unless it is a cavalry raid battle, otherwise siege weapons alone need to be made for a long time. Three months after a siege is fought is normal.

It was not until the sixth day that the production of siege equipment was basically complete. However, the generals were stunned when they looked at the three cloud cars, six rushing cars, twelve cloud ladders, twenty Jing Lan, one hundred and twenty European-style torsion ballistae, and two hundred hand-pushed four-wheeled arrow blocking vehicles.

In the past, generals fought mostly by personal bravery, and siege battles were almost never encountered. A few years ago, I only heard that the Yellow Turban Moth, thieves and ants were attached to the siege of the city, and the officers and soldiers were carrying the soil to fill the trenches and build the earth and mountains to attack the city. But I never thought that there would be so many ways to siege the city.

It seems that this kind of siege weapon during the pre-Qin and Warring States periods is now unknown to most of the generals in the country except for a few families with book collections. As soon as He Bai took out, he immediately suppressed everyone. If you want to talk about the method of field warfare, He Bai may be similar to the generals, but this method of siege is far stronger than the generals, which makes the generals admire.

Only Fu Xing raised a small question and asked: "Lord, you have tried to make a thunderbolt, and the power of the thunderbolt is greater than that of a ballista, why don't you use it this time?" ”

The generals were taken aback again, and they didn't think that there was another device of the thunderbolt in He Bai's abdomen. He Bai said with a smile: "Although the thunderbolt is powerful, its distance is close, and its accuracy is not accurate. I'm afraid that the Xiliang army has a big yellow crossbow to block the attack, so the control power is smaller, but the distance and accuracy of the ballista are used. I'm not trying to destroy the walls, ballistas are enough. ”

On the seventh day, He Bai led the army to push various siege weapons and prepare to attack the city. Most of the 8,000 men and horses led this time were new soldiers, and only 500 private soldiers from Taiyuan had experienced several battles, which was considered elite soldiers. There is also a battle of more than 1,000 people under the Jibei Army under Bao Xin, which was collected not long ago, but it was a defeat, morale was low, and it was embarrassing. Therefore, the battle of Xingyang can also be regarded as training troops with war.

Although He Bai is well prepared, the siege battle has always been tragic, and no matter what, there will be some damage. In order to avoid too heavy losses, He Bai could not help but follow the habit of the people of the time to salute first and then soldiers, and first ordered people to go to the city to persuade them to surrender. Spread out the strength of the army, and advise the defenders with a strength of ten to one, and say that the righteousness of the country is righteous. I hope that Xingyang Shou will be more interesting, so as not to let the army lose the soldiers and horses in vain.

I don't want to Xingyang Shou General said on the city tower: "I haven't heard of the country's kindness to me since I was a child, but I have been deeply favored by Dong Xiangguo for several years. You don't have to say much, it's just one death. You can go back and tell He Bai to come and attack. ”

The envoy once again advised the Xingyang guards and said: "The disparity between the soldiers is huge, and they can't resist it, so why should you destroy yourself in vain." ”

Unexpectedly, the Xingyang guards ignored it, and shot the envoy back with a random arrow. When He Bai saw it, he couldn't help but sigh secretly, even if he was a wicked person, he also had his own loyal subordinates, and it seemed that many soldiers would be lost in this battle. He Bai then ordered Fu Xing and Zhang Liao to lead 3,000 troops respectively to attack the south and north. He led 2,000 men and gave way to the east, and laid siege on the west.

He Bai personally climbed on the ten-zhang high cloud car and looked into Xingyang City, and the scene in Xingyang City was clear at a glance. I saw that there were only about 200 Xiliang soldiers in the west of Xingyang City, all of them holding bows and spears tightly, hiding behind the battlements, and their bodies were full of arrows and stones of various sizes. Putts, wolf tooth paddles are available, and boiling water and fire oil are also available.

He Bai couldn't help but smile secretly, the preparation is good, but is there a chance to use it? Others attack the city, or they have to divide into several waves, attacking the city head in waves, first consuming the defenders' materials, manpower, and spirit, and then rushing up one by one. But do you need it? Try it and find out.

He Bai stood on the cloud cart, waved the command, and immediately 250 people pushed 50 arrow blocking carts with a width and height of 3 meters, stepped forward to level all kinds of terrain on the battlefield, and leveled all the battlefield terrain deliberately destroyed by the enemy. After retreating, they were replaced by 250 tall soldiers dressed in double-layer scale armor, each holding a long-handled ring knife and a bow and arrow cart to guard the Xingyang City Gate to prevent any enemy cavalry from rushing out.

With another wave of the flag, 240 soldiers pushed 30 European-style torsion ballistas to a stop 300 paces away from Xingyang. Every fifteen meters, adjust their respective angles of fire, begin to use the pulley turntable to wind, and load the crossbow box with five or six pounds of stone bullets.

When an iron whistle blew, "whoosh", thirty stone bullets accurately hit the city wall of Xingyang. After a slight shock, the stone bullet smashed open a hole more than 30 feet in size, and then fell weakly with the mud under the sheep and horse wall under the city.

The angle of fire was slightly lower, and after another adjustment, thirty stone projectiles flew into the air again, smashing into the battlements to the left. The head of Xingyang City suddenly splashed mud and blood, and the screams were endless, it turned out that several battlements were destroyed, and the enemy soldiers hiding behind the battlements were splashed and injured, and there were even enemy soldiers who were injured by the ricochet that hit the inner female wall.

Hearing the screams at the head of Xingyang City, the soldiers operating the ballista stepped up their actions even more excitedly, and stone bullets were projected one after another, and the entire Xingyang City was in disarray. Xingyang Chengtou also used the rhubarb crossbow to counterattack, but the rhubarb's accurate range was far inferior to that of the ballista, and it was even more vulnerable to the ballista's concentrated fire. Under the repeated blows of thousands of stone bullets, the defenders suffered heavy casualties, more than 30 people.

The head of Xingyang City was not tenable at this time, and even the enemy soldiers hiding in the mud fort on the horse face wall were hit one after another. Panicking at the head of the city will only die faster, and in the end they can only cling to the city wall, lying on their stomachs to avoid it.

Seeing the chaos of the guards, He Bai waved the flag again, and three hundred people pushed six eight-zhang high, nearly ten-ton Jinglan carts towards Xingyang. Along the way, there was no counterattack from the enemy, and it was pushed to a distance of thirty paces before stopping, and sixty precision marksmen stood on it, and they condescendingly began to strike accurately into the city.

At this time, even the enemy troops lying on the ground had no place to stay, and the defenders, who had been killed or wounded forty or fifty people, finally could not hold on. Nearly half of the casualties rate can't be exchanged for a single casualty of the besieging army, how can this battle be fought? So under the leadership of the generals, they fled from the city with shouts and ran towards the city.

When He Bai saw it, he waved the command flag again, and eight hundred people pushed four ten-zhang high cloud ladders weighing 20 tons each to look at the city and rush away. Came to the moat, an order, the ladder fell heavily to the city, "knock knock" four loud sounds, the ladder has been erected on the top of the city. The soldiers shouted, poured up the ladders, and kicked up the city one after another.

However, at this time, when the Xingyang guards rushed to defend the city with two heads and led two hundred soldiers to defend the city, they saw that the Xicheng suspension bridge had been lowered, the city gate was wide open, and the soldiers and soldiers of He Bai's army continued to pour into the city. The south and north sides also resounded at the same time with the cheers of "the city is broken, the city is broken". The Xingyang guard was stunned, the head in his hand couldn't help but roll to the ground, sighed, and committed suicide with a knife.