Chapter 321: Breaking the Siege of Nanpi-Xia

Once a war breaks out, no matter how much careful planning was made before the war, it will inevitably be disrupted by all kinds of unexpected factors in the end, and it is impossible to carry out the plan in strict accordance with the plan.

Zhang He Gaolan also knew that if Lu Weihuang and Zhao Rong relied on the siege of the city and fortifications, fought against the enemy troops coming by water, and exhausted the enemy, and then brought the new army forward, he would definitely be able to achieve greater results and fight more beautifully.

But the enemy was so bold that he tried to land on the east bank of the Zhanghe River and attack LΓΌ Weihuang's troops. This change was unexpected, and Zhang He Gaolan didn't dare to sit idly by and watch the friendly army fall into danger, so he could only go directly.

Because the attack was more hasty than originally planned, and Tai Shici didn't leave much time for them to prepare, and the Zhanghe River was not wide, Zhang He's fleet became a refueling tactic at the moment it was just put into battle.

Hundreds of boats were dragged into a long snake formation, scattered and thrown into battle in batches.

Although Tai Shici on the opposite side is also a long snake formation, the tonnage of each of his ships and the soldiers he carries are larger and more, and the wheel battle must be dominant.

Soon, the temporarily converted warships of the grain carriers at the front of Zhang He's fleet rushed straight down the river and crashed into the fleet led by Chen Zhi.

Because of the fast speed of the river, it is impossible for the opponent to dodge against the current.

In addition, the ships that Chen arrived had previously fired arrows at the enemy camps on the east and west banks with their bows facing upstream.

Zhang He's vanguard didn't get fired by the bow and crossbow during the approach, which really made Zhang He breathe a sigh of relief.

What Zhang He was most worried about was that he was covered by a bow and crossbow in the process of engaging the enemy, and he suffered heavy casualties before he could fight on the side.

His ships were all converted from grain ships, and there were no broadboards to shield the arrows, and there were no shooting holes. It all relied on the soldiers on the ship to temporarily shield the arrows on both sides, which was definitely worse than that of a professional warship.

Now that it was easy to collide with the broadside, Zhang He's heart became more and more determined for a while.

"Drum cheers! Blow the horn with all your might! The boat in the back goes around the shores! Don't stay! Don't get stuck in the river! ”

Zhang He commanded sharply, although he was not accustomed to water warfare, he also knew that he had a large number of people on his ship, and he must fight the battlefield into a posture of you and me, I have you, and dogs and teeth are staggered, so that his numerical advantage can be brought into play.

If a dozen or so small boats in the front block the surface of the Zhanghe River, and the troops behind cannot be quickly put into action, then it will turn from a siege battle to a wheel war, and it will be difficult to form an overall battlefield with more bullying and less to bully.

The current situation makes Zhang He very satisfied. Although he prides himself on being a famous general, why not bully less with more than he can bully less?

Chen Zhi on the opposite side was not to be outdone, and personally patrolled the warship with a sword of chopping horses, while slashing and killing two enemy soldiers who tried to jump over, while commanding loudly.

The Hebei Army has never been accustomed to water warfare, and it is accustomed to using spears and halberds in land warfare, so it is impossible to change to flexible short soldiers when they come to participate in water warfare in a hurry at this moment.

Except for a few elite who can equip iron halberds, most of them only use ordinary spears. When they were on the side, they were already not very water-oriented, and they generally trembled when jumping through the gangplank, and the spears that needed to be held with both hands became a burden.

The soldiers who were responsible for blocking and killing on Chen's side were all equipped with swords and shields, and they also had halberds and shields, so they were very flexible on the bumpy deck. When the center of gravity is slightly unstable, it can also support and lean.

The normal iron halberds of the Han Dynasty were all hooked and pecked by horizontal branches and vertical spearheads, which were cast separately and fixed on the halberd shafts. Only elite troops will use spearheads and horizontal branches forged in one.

The normal one-piece forged halberd head is often dominated by the "divination halberd", that is, the horizontal branch is slightly tilted back and forms a curved hook in the direction of the user himself.

However, the soldiers under the command of Chen Zhi and Tai Shici used halberds that did the opposite, that is, the horizontal branches tilted forward in the direction of the enemy.

It's a bit like the ten-character gun of the later Fuso Kingdom, or the fork used by Michelangelo in "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", but only with a horizontal branch on one side.

Such a horizontal branch leaning forward is not suitable for hook pecking and killing the enemy, but it is very suitable for parrying the enemy's long soldiers, and can directly fork and swing the spear stabbed at the opposite side like a fork.

This is also a weapon specially designed to restrain the opponent's two-handed spear in the bumpy environment of water warfare.

Once the weapons of both sides are locked, the side with the spear is more clumsy and unstable on the bumpy deck, and it is easy to show flaws and be killed by the soldiers next to them.

On the side with a forked halberd, although the weapon is also locked at the same time, the halberd only occupies one hand, and the other hand can also hold a shield to block, or both weapons are swung away and directly collide with the shield.

……

Before entering the hand-to-hand combat, the soldiers of the Hebei Army on the opposite side were in the process of jumping gang, and dozens of people fell directly into Zhangshui because of unsteady footsteps, or dodging the blades slashed by the opponent's ankles.

Fortunately, the Zhangshui in winter is not too deep, at most two or three zhang, and a little bit of water will not drown, but it is cold.

After paying the price of the first casualties, Zhang He's soldiers finally jumped onto the enemy ship and began to stab and fight, but Chen Zhi's soldiers were also very fierce, and they didn't wait for Zhang He's troops to gain a firm foothold, and directly rushed up to block the springboard, forming a local bullying of more and less.

The pikemen of the Hebei Army did not have time to line up on the deck of the enemy ship, so they could only fight on their own, and the advantage of the spears was instantly offset by more than half.

Even if a few soldiers are very brave and vigorously wield their spears to avoid being close to the enemy, waiting for time, and their comrades behind them can jump to help.

But they were soon all forked with forked halberds, and then the other party took advantage of the large number of people, and the sword and shield soldiers came over to hack the Hebei pikemen to death.

The bloody and tragic battle lasted only a little tea, and the Hebei army paid triple digits in casualties.

"It can't be! How could these Yuan Tan's grain guards have such skilled water warfare skills? These weapons don't look like they were used by Yuan Tan's tribe! Zhang Nan and Wang Men have been fighting with us for several months, and they don't need this at all! ”

After Zhang He found out that something was wrong, he finally became alert, and felt a chill down his spine for a while. I don't know if it was the winter river breeze that made people cold and biting, or because he thought of some terrible possibilities.

If you want to blame, you can only blame Yuan Tan for knowing that he couldn't pit Liu Bei, so he hoped that the sneak attack effect of Liu Bei's reinforcements would be maximized, and kept the identity of Taishi Cibu secret from beginning to end.

Zhang He Gaolan dared to fight a water war with the other party, which was based on the premise of "mistakenly thinking that the other party was also from Hebei, at most he just asked Liu Bei to buy a boat".

When it was discovered that there was a possibility of being pitted, it was already difficult to ride a tiger.

At this point, even if there are hidden worries in his heart, Zhang He can only continue to attack hard, stalking and playing a war of attrition.

As the Hebei army under Zhang He fought hard to kill, their number was three or four times that of Tai Shici and Chen Zhi after all, and after paying a lot of casualties, finally many Hebei soldiers with spears gained a firm foothold on the enemy ship, and then started bloody hand-to-hand combat.

However, Chen Zhi and Tai Shici's resistance is far from over.

After the vanguard of the two armies fought with each other and became a mess, Tai Shici had already led his Chinese army of three or four thousand men and about fifty boats to force forward.

Because the river is narrow, only the middle of the entire battlefield is in a state of dogs' teeth, and the rear teams of the two armies are blocked there. Tai Shici's troops could not engage in hand-to-hand combat, so they hid behind and covered Zhang He's troops with a rain of arrows.

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Tai Shi Ci even used a strong crossbow that stepped on Zhang, which also allowed the crossbowman to shoot directly without aiming, which was enough to pose a threat to the enemy at least two hundred steps away.

Of course, Zhang He will also command the warships that are blocked behind and cannot come forward to fight hand-to-hand to help the battle, but the warships on Zhang He's side are changed from ordinary grain ships, and in terms of protection when shooting, they are definitely much weaker than Tai Shi Ci, and they are very disadvantaged when shooting.

Countless Zhang He's troops were shot there in vain, screaming and falling into the water from time to time, so anxious that Zhang He's heart burned like fire. Regardless of the combination of the oars and oars of the former army, combined with the momentum of the water flowing downstream, they directly rammed the enemy ships, trying to rush deeper and drag the whole army into hand-to-hand combat.

Seeing the enemy ships frantically trying to penetrate, he instead turned the warships sideways, and a few ships blocked the surface of the Zhangshui River, preventing the enemy from infiltrating and passing through, forming a local area to fight more and less, so he resisted with a line of soldiers.

Although the soldiers on the front row of ships will suffer more heavy casualties, although the enemy ships can still penetrate by ramming, at least the battle line can be held longer.

Moreover, Tai Shici is sitting in the back, and he will also observe Chen Dao's situation in time, and allow the front row of warships to retreat when necessary - as long as the friendly warships behind have rearranged their formation to meet the attack, the retreating warships in the front row can completely pass through the corridor left by the rear army's formation.

This is also where water warfare has an advantage over land warfare, if the front row of land warfare wants to retreat, it is easy to disrupt the rear army's position, but in water warfare, there are only a few ships, and it is impossible for soldiers to break away from the warships and run around casually, and the retreat will appear more orderly, and it is easier to form a gradient of resistance.

In particular, the southern army, which is good at water warfare, has worked the formation of ships, how to form formations, how to set aside a road, and how to advance and retreat in an orderly manner.

In contrast, Zhang He Gaolan didn't understand this aspect at all, just a mess.

……

The bloody battle on the Zhangshui River lasted for a whole hour, and Tai Shici with less than 6,000 people withstood the chaotic onslaught of Zhang He's 20,000 people.

So far, the exchange ratio between the two sides is still Tai Shici's absolute advantage. It can even be said that if Tai Shi Ci can keep this casualty exchange ratio all the time, he can even wipe out Zhang He's Gao Lan Department before his own group is wiped out - it's a pity that the actual combat is not a game, and Tai Shi Ci can't keep this exchange ratio all the time.

Because Zhang He had a large number of people, he was blocked there and fought a wheel war, and Zhang He's rear army was still very physical at the moment.

And Tai Shi Ci's troops under the orderly resistance, although they have killed countless enemies, but most of the people's physical strength has entered a period of decline, if they fight for another hour, the two sides may be tied, and if it drags on longer, Tai Shi Ci's side will be in danger.

If there were no reinforcements, Tai Shici's only hope was to break the enemy's morale before his physical strength was exhausted, and the enemy would scatter and flee on his own. It's a pity that this can't be done, because Zhang He Gaolan is relying on the siege camp to fight, and the rear is stable.

Moreover, Zhang He rushed down the river, and even if the morale of his soldiers collapsed and he no longer operated the ship, the ship would not retreat on its own, but would only continue to crash into it and block it there.

The vast majority of the soldiers under Zhang He's command do not know how to operate the ship, as long as the sailors at the helm do not withdraw, those ordinary landlubber soldiers do not know how to withdraw if they want to, unless they abandon the ship and jump into the river.

"Although this Zhang He is not accustomed to water warfare, but in terms of urging the soldiers to sell their lives, he has made some achievements, he was killed so miserably, and he can still fight to the death without retreating, he specially picked a soldier who can't drive a boat as a soldier! I can't run if I want to!

This battle can't go on like this anymore, otherwise our army will run out of physical strength sooner or later, and there will not even be a rotation, so let's pretend to be invincible and retreat according to the plan, and lure Zhang He Gaolan to the lower reaches of the river, so as to create an opportunity for Wang Men and Zhang Nan to attack Zhao Rong and Lu Weihuang. ”

Tai Shi Ci judged the situation and decided to temporarily retreat downstream, widening a little distance, and also creating opportunities and space for friendly forces.

Tai Shici's command was very orderly, and when the troops were withdrawn, Chen Zhibu, who had just been in the vanguard, had already passed through the corridor between the friendly ship formations in advance and hid in the rear. So when the troops were withdrawn, Chen Zhineng was the first to go.

Tai Shi Ci led the Chinese army by himself, resisted a little, and then retreated in an orderly manner, leaving Tian Yu, who was completely a new force.

Tai Shici pretended that the reinforcement of Nanpi was not effective, and while retreating, he also set fire to the "grain ship" that he had brought with him pretending to "deliver reinforcements to Nanpi City" and anchored on the spot, forming a pile of fire on the surface of the Zhangshui River to block Zhang He's pursuit.

Zhang He Gaolan chased more and more chaotic, and while going down the river, he had to dodge the fire boats, and his own ship formation was pulled more and more chaotic.

Seeing that it was already noon, the lookout on Zhang He's boat suddenly saw some new enemy situation: "General, there are enemy infantry reinforcements on the east coast!" The dust is very fierce, and I can't see the number of enemy troops clearly! They went straight to the besieged fortifications north of the city. ”

When Zhang He saw this scene, although he still didn't know the reality of the enemy's new reinforcements, he also knew that he couldn't support it, so he immediately ordered the whole army to retreat and retreat back to the besieged camp.

"General, I'm afraid it's too late to make a hasty U-turn! It's against the tide to go back! The ministry in charge of the ship will alert him immediately.

Zhang He secretly complained, realizing that he still didn't know enough about water warfare, and it was not as easy to retreat as land warfare if he wanted to retreat for a while.

"Then land the whole army on the shore at once! The boat is gone! Fight off the enemy forces coming to your aid from land! Wrong! Wait, put the flag on the Chinese army and the rear army to land on the shore immediately, we can't land! Otherwise, the enemy ships will turn around and kill us, and we will all be attacked by the half-crossing! ”

Zhang He still has some potential as a famous general, and he thought of this terrible possibility in a hurry. If he landed with all his troops, then the enemy navy fleeing on the Zhanghe River might immediately turn around and kill him, taking advantage of the fact that some of his men and horses had already landed and some had not yet landed, and directly messed up his landing field.

So, the troops must be divided! A part of the troops just hold the river and buy time for the friendly troops who landed!

Under such distribution, Gao Ran led the Zhonghou Army directly to the east bank of Zhangshui, abandoned the ship and went ashore in a mess.

Yuan Tanjun, who rushed to the opposite side, was the general of Qingzhou. In today's battle, he is responsible for land reinforcements, Tai Shi Ci is responsible for the river, Tai Shi Ci first consumes and pulls the enemy, and then the management comes to the end, which is also negotiated.

Although Gao Ran's combat strength was above the command, his soldiers also experienced a lot of hard fighting, and there was not enough time to prepare for the formation after going ashore, and the two sides fought together, and the scene was extremely tragic.

On the surface of the Zhanghe River, Tian Yu and Tai Shici also turned around again and launched a head-on attack on Zhang He. After Gao Ran led the Zhonghou Army to land, Zhang He's remaining troops had no advantage over Tai Shici.

He held on to Gao Ran and gained a firm foothold on the shore, so he hurriedly retreated, and was covered up and killed by Tai Shi Ci all the way. Nearly 100 small boats were intercepted, forced to land, burned, and sunk by Tai Shici, and the losses were not small, which also made Cao's army completely lose the potential for follow-up water warfare.

Zhang He himself, who was also on the run, was shot by a crossbow arrow, suffered a lot of injuries, and had to flee out of the battle - fortunately, this crossbow arrow was not as deadly as the one on the wooden doorway decades later.

On the east bank of Zhangshui, Gao Ran and Guan Tong fought for a long time, and originally wanted to fight back with all their might, but seeing Zhang He's defeat and retreat, he didn't dare to fight, and just wanted to get closer to Lu Weihuang in the land camp and join forces together.

Zhang Nan in Nanpi City saw that the friendly forces had advantages in all directions, and he also reorganized his army to fight, went out of the city to cover and kill, cut off Gao Ran and Lu Weihuang, and took advantage of the chaos to attack the crumbling Lu Weihuang camp and kill him.

After the generals who were guilty of defecting to the enemy were killed, these soldiers who had been loyal to the Yuan family surrendered one after another, and the siege and deployment of the Cao army to Nanpi were completely torn apart.

Cao Hong, who was sitting in the rear, quickly organized seven or eight thousand veterans of the Cao family to suppress the position, and always kept the defense line on the south side of Nanpi City unshaken, and also contained some Lu Weihuang and Gao Ran who were scattered and fled from the west and north, and finally successfully received Gao Lan.

But at least twenty percent of the "Guandu surrendered army" were re-engulfed back by Yuan's victory.

Zhang He's descendants also paid a lot of casualties and flouts, and thousands of people drowned directly in Zhangshui.

In particular, Gao Ran abandoned his ship and landed on shore to meet Guan Tong and reinforce Lu Weihuang, and all his ships ran aground, and most of them were captured by Tai Shici, who counterattacked. Cao Jun wants to continue the siege, I am afraid that it will not even be enough to carry grain for Cao Hong.

However, Zhangshui is about to freeze, and this contradiction is as urgent as the Yuan and Cao families. Even if Cao Cao transferred ships from other places, if he missed the time, the river would not be able to freeze, and he would only have to transport grain to Cao Hong by land.

Cao Hong had no choice but to report urgently to request a temporary withdrawal of troops after the cumulative loss of more than 10,000 manpower, and then Tu Nanpi after the thaw in the spring of next year.

As long as Nanpi's grain can be replenished, this round of siege has lost its meaning. It is not a good choice to let yourself freeze outside the city in the middle of winter.

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