Chapter 1077 The Last Moment
On February 2nd, Spring Festival, the weather seems to be showing signs of warming up.
Since the Liang army marched south in large numbers, Jiangling has been besieged for more than a month. Due to the Chinese New Year, the two sides were at peace for a while, and then there was an endless offensive and defensive battle.
Tao Bin felt a little hope because the weather gradually warmed up, although it was not completely out of the influence of winter. But around the Spring Festival, it rained a few times near Jiangling, and the ground became wet and muddy. Some changes were slowly happening.
But there is also a bad thing, that is, they have reached the point where they have exhausted their energy.
Especially when news came from the east, Jingling was lost!
The reason for the fall is not complicated, but it hurts morale: my father Tao Kan thought that the veterans of Liang army were exhausted, so he led his troops to advance eastward and fought with the Liang army at the city of Jingling. There were more than 20,000 troops on land and land, and thousands of defenders in Jingling. More than 30,000 Liang troops were "unfavorable in the battle" and "retreat to Huarong".
There were only a few words on the battle report, which was not very true, but Tao Bin found out by asking the messenger that it was the failure of the field battle, and there was no other reason.
The Central Army directly allowed the Liang State imperial army to defeat it, but it could not be defeated, it was that simple.
Before this, my father led his troops to go north along the Mianshui River and attacked the Liang army's supply line several times, and he made some achievements. The most glorious time was that a camp of Liang's army stockpiled food and grass was burned down, and tens of thousands of hu of grain were obtained, and hundreds of young men were killed.
Of course, this is an actual gain. In the military newspaper, it is written as "breaking more than twenty villages in a row" - the barn is surrounded by fences, and a barn is counted as an independent camp, and hundreds of young men are killed are written as " Kill thousands of Liang soldiers," is very skillful in writing military newspapers.
Such a roundabout battle forced the Liang army to draw elite troops and cavalry to protect the food road, and patrol became more intensive, objectively helping Jingling's defense.
But it is actually useless to the overall situation.
If Liang Jun hadn't really wanted to go south and fight if he could, and even if he couldn't, he might have left if he couldn't. But now they are very determined and it is obviously impossible to expect this kind of harassment to make them retreat.
So the Battle of Jingling came.
The result is the same as in the previous few times, "the battle is unfavorable." The Liang people even took over the defeated troops and attacked Jingling City and captured the city.
The other defeated soldiers retreated to Yangkou under the cover of the navy.
In fact, one can defend here, because the Liang army would be attacked by ships and crossbows on the river when siege the city, and the casualties would be severe. However, my father directly withdrew the military and civilians and divided them into Huarong and Mianyang cities.
In this way, the battlefield was completely far away from Mianshui and entered the vicinity of Yunmengze.
Tao Bin is not easy to judge whether this is right or wrong, and he doesn't care about the situation there. Anyway, the Liang people are unlikely to go deep into the Yunmeng Daze to fight. He only cares about Jiangling.
Just yesterday, the shogunate chief Zhou Fu led the navy to the east of the city to transport supplies, equipment and personnel to the city.
The Liang army seemed to have been waiting for this day. Thousands of elite soldiers rushed over, and in the end only 6,000 hu of grain and more than a thousand barbarians of Jingnan counties retreated into the city, and the rest were burned.
Such a little reinforcement is a drop in the bucket.
What's worse is that reinforcements brought news from the outside world: failure, endless failures. Even though the officers have ordered the blockade of the news, they cannot be completely eliminated.
Moreover, the more you block, the more scary the news you spread, such as—
Governor Tao is seriously ill and cannot take matters;
In the Battle of Jingling, 30,000 troops were wiped out;
Someone in Wuchang rebelled and surrendered to the city;
Someone in the navy played at night, and the candlelight lit the ship, and the entire navy's ship was gone in the second;
Some people even say that the governor of Wuhu Mountain surrendered because Emperor Liang Shao Xun promised to let his subordinate sister become the queen. If the queen of Shan gave birth to a boy, she would inherit the world of Daliang.
The news becomes more and more outrageous. The officers cannot ban it because they also love to listen...
Tao Bin just came back from the camp patrol and heard such news. He was so angry that he killed several people on the spot. But he also knew that this was useless. The situation was like this and no one could change it.
On the way back to the house, a layer of "white hair" sparsely grew on the houses on both sides, shaking gently in the wind.
This is nothing else, it is an arrow.
Although some generals and schools encouraged the military, they said that it was the Liang people who sent them arrows, and they laughed loudly, as if they were brave. But the others just laughed awkwardly because they couldn't laugh.
On the way back home, Tao Bin saw Min Zhuang cleaning up the body or supporting the injured.
These were all removed from the top of the city to replace the defense. They were not injured during the fight, but were unfortunately hit by an arrow while walking on the street. What else can I say? The ancestors did not accumulate virtue, so why did they? No, no one can guarantee that he will not be shot by such frequent and unscrupulous rain of arrows.
There is no doubt that this is a means to combat the morale of the defenders and is very effective.
Tao Bin walked expressionlessly.
The personal soldiers surrounded the side and raised their shields, although no arrows fell.
However, there are no arrows, but there are crossbows. There was a loud "bang" sound, and the thick and long crossbow arrows nailed to the city tower, splashing a large area of dust, and several tiles were shaken down and fell into pieces.
There was a noise at the top of the city, and the new Jingnan soldiers experienced the cruelty of this war for the first time.
Several carriages drove in front of them, and the smell was so stinking.
Tao Bin and others avoided the side. He knew that this was a vehicle for transporting feces and urine. The wooden barrels on the car were filled with such dirt, and they would be carried up to the city wall and poured into a large jar to steam and cook.
When the enemy attacked the city, boiling hot feces poured down, which was extremely effective.
But it is not easy to do these things now. Those three high platforms were very annoying, piled up higher than the Jiangling City Wall. Those who carried gold juice would be killed by them if they were accidentally killed. Moreover, a high platform has been set up in the west of the city, and archers and crossbows are also arranged - thank goodness, the area in the west of the city is narrow and can only afford such a building.
After returning to the mansion, Tao Bin truly breathed a sigh of relief.
The wife brought her children forward to salute.
The eldest son is almost twentieth, and Tao Bin loves it very much and often tells others that this son is the most similar to him.
The second and third sons are both over 10 years old. They study very hard and write articles well. Tao Bin also has high hopes for them.
In addition to these three people, there are daughters who are about to get married and a few children who are learning to speak.
When he saw them, Tao Bin suddenly wanted to shed tears, but he stopped.
He couldn't make up that decision because it was too much involved, so he still had to think about it carefully.
But it is obvious that this swaying mentality is dangerous, because often only a small external trigger is needed to break his balance in his heart.
For example, an epidemic broke out in the injury camp and spread it to the people who took care of them. Diseases are like devils, hidden in secret, slowly developing, and eventually swallowing people...
No mistakes, one song, one content, one in 6, one book, one bar, one reading!
*******
"Bang!"
"Wow!"
"Wan Sheng!"
There was a warm cheer sounding in the north of Jiangling City, and a small gap appeared under the continuous bombardment of a small section of the city wall.
The gap is located on the upper part of the city wall, with a top width of three or four steps and a bottom width of about three or four steps. When the yellow smoke dissipated, the Liang army cheered, but the defenders felt like they were lost.
The officers furiously sent people to find materials and repaired this part of the city wall as quickly as possible.
Liang Jun took the opportunity to step up the offensive.
A group of Ding Zhuang from Henan and Hanoi counties rushed up shoutingly and gathered near the gap. Even the ladder trucks didn't have time to push them, so they carried the long ladder.
The soldiers of the palace followed closely with their troops and charged bravely.
The Jin army was close to each other and quickly mobilized hundreds of people to gather near the valley. Some people climbed up and down, but they couldn't stand firmly, which was very troublesome - of course, the same was true for the attacking side, even more troublesome than attacking the undamaged city wall.
The fierce battle broke out quickly and continued until the evening.
To be honest, attacking the gap is not that simple unless the gap extends to the lower part of the city wall, that is, a certain section of the city wall collapses as a whole. But everything has its pros and cons. For the defenders, the existence of this gap greatly occupies their mobile forces, and it is necessary to select more capable sergeants to guard the place.
If Liang Jun doesn't leave, they can't leave. When the Liang army attacked, they had to cheer up and fight with all their might.
People are not machines, they will always be tired and injured, and maybe they will not be able to withstand one day.
In short, this gap became the bloodless mouth of the Jiangling defenders, which consumed their already small vitality little bit and eventually dragged it down.
When Tao Bin received the news, he immediately notified the navy ships cruising on the lake outside the city with a banner.
On the third day of the second month, Zhou Fu led the fleet to Dongcheng again. He sent all the two thousand Xiangzhou soldiers and one thousand barbarian soldiers whom he had recruited to land, and were intercepted by the Liang army halfway through. Some of them retreated back to the ship, some were killed, and in the end only seven or eight hundred people rushed into Jiangling.
On the fifth day of the second month, Tao Kan, who was in Huarong who was rectifying the troops, heard about this and personally led 20,000 naval and army soldiers to advance westward.
He knew in his heart that if these 20,000 people were over and fought in a field, they would probably be defeated and reproduced the previous failures. If possible, you should continue to accumulate energy and wait until mid-March before attacking.
But Zhu Ran could defend Jiangling alone for six months under the siege of Cao Zhen, Xiahou Shang and Zhang He, but not others could.
After all, Zhu Ran was a major general who captured Guan Yu and defeated Liu Bei. He was under his command of servants or veterans who had fought for many years, and it was not comparable to those soldiers guarding Jiangling today.
But after less than two months, he complained and could not hold on anymore, which still disappointed Tao Kan. At least he could hold on until March.
However, this is reality, a cruel reality, Tao Kan has no choice.
On the tenth day of February, dense masts appeared on the lake east of Jiangling City.
Their arrival was an inspiration for the Jiangling defenders who were almost unable to hold on, although it was very limited.
After asking, Jiang Ke climbed up to look far away, looked at the enemy naval formation, and smiled disdainfully.
As long as the thief dares to go ashore, they will directly press the armored heavy infantry, shake their formation and disrupt their formation. After finding a good opportunity, he mobilized the cavalry and attacked a corner violently, and he could not break it if he didn't believe it.
At this moment, an assistant minister hurried over and reported: "Governor, the Jin people asked the royal army to retreat hundreds of steps, so that they could go ashore to form a formation, and fight for life and death."
"Your mother! No!" Jiang Ke refused directly.
I'm not crazy, so I'll let you go ashore to form a formation and fight again.
My target is Jiangling, and the others are all included. If you have the ability, go ashore to form a formation under the nose of the army. Just see if I beat you up or not.
(This chapter ends)