Chapter 347 Decline
No wonder Guan Yu was shocked, he knew that building a masonry city cost a lot of people's resources.
Qu Shuai built Santai in the northwest corner of Ye City, intending to build the city with bricks and stones. However, because of the advice of a group of civil servants, including Cai Yong and Zhuge Gui, who said that spring plowing was approaching and that people should cherish the power of the people, they reluctantly built one.
This was because Qu Shuai had created a brick kiln for baking bricks, which greatly improved the speed of burning bricks, but it was still the same.
Where did Jushu in this city get the financial resources and manpower to build such a strong city?
In fact, Guan Yu didn't know that the bricks and stones of this strong city were all the remnants of a city, and they all came from the old Xiangguo city that was destroyed by Dong Zhuo.
But no matter how the city was built, Guan Yu now had a headache.
At first, he wondered why the Han army in Xiang State did not set up a stronghold outside the city. Because common military common sense is that defending a city must cooperate with the defense lines of peripheral strongholds to achieve the purpose of integrating offense and defense.
But when Guan Yu inspected this small town in Xiangguo, he understood. Just because there is really no need, it is enough to defend this city.
On the periphery of Xiangguo City are various obstacles, such as iron caltrops, Juma, and Luzhai. There should have been a moat, but maybe because the city was newly built, there was no time to divert water. Otherwise, it would be more difficult to divert water from a nearby source.
Although there is no water, there is still a trench as deep as a person's height outside Xiangguo City, and the trench is filled with sharpened wooden thorns.
It is conceivable that with these wooden spike trenches and the arrows on the city, Taishan's army would lose many lives just by walking this road.
The only way through this death zone is a narrow suspension bridge on the city. But now, this suspension bridge has long been hoisted high, mocking all enemies indifferently.
Then there are the countless crenellations on the city, each of which can provide a shooting position for the shooter. Inside and outside the crenels, some wooden piles, earth bags, and cloth curtains were also erected to resist the flowing arrows.
This Jushou even considered the situation of the night battle and hung a torch behind the battlements. As long as these torches are lit at night, they can illuminate a circle under the city, specifically to prevent night attacks.
In fact, Guan Yu didn't know what kind of help his opponent Jushou had received. The city's shape and key defense methods were all learned by Ju Shou from his good friend Shen Ping.
And Shen Pei is one of the best city defenders in this era. In another dimension, it relied on Yecheng to hold off Cao Cao's army for several months. In the end, the city was breached only after an internal response came out.
Therefore, Guan Yu encountered a strong enemy.
Guan Yu led the guards around again and saw several Han army officials pointing at him, thinking that they might be Jushou's group.
Originally, Guan Yu still wanted to persuade him to surrender at the foot of the city, but seeing the power of the city, he gave up the idea.
Back at the military tent, Guan Yu was still thinking.
Because of the height problem, Guan Yu could not see what was behind the city wall when he visited the city.
But judging from Guan Yu's experience, this city must have an urn.
Why?
Because the enemy troops he saw at the city gate were similar to those elsewhere. The weakest point in the city is the city wall. Either the city gate will be knocked open by a car, or it will be easily opened secretly by traitors.
Therefore, even if there is a hanging door as insurance, Jushou should still deploy enough troops at the city gate, not to mention that there is only one city gate in this city, so he should pay more attention to it.
But not now? That can only mean that there is an Wengcheng in the opposite city.
And this is difficult to do.
In other words, even if Taishan's army opened the city gate and rushed into the city, they would still be covered by enemy arrows on both sides of the corridor. Even if you rush through the arrow cover and risk your life to reach the end of the corridor, you will still be blocked by Wengcheng's city wall.
Thinking of this, Guan Yu made a decision.
He ordered to the generals:
"The whole army set up camp and ordered the Zhao Di rebels who had been accompanying the army to build a mountain of earth in the south of the city, which was higher than the city wall. Then the craftsmen camp made equipment, repaired the carriages, and rushed the carriages. Then the master craftsmen were ordered to build three nest carriages and trenches. There were twenty bridges and carriages, ten stone machines, and hundreds of ladders. During this period, the whole army was surrounded but not attacked."
This is what Guan Yu did after he visited the city.
This city cannot be attacked suddenly, it can only be surrounded first. But Guan Yu never thought that he could break the city just by surrounding it.
In ancient times, sieges lasted for several years. For example, when the Zhi family besieged Taiyuan City, it lasted for many years. But there are only three types of situations that can be broken through.
One is that the people inside the city are devastated and there are no reinforcements from outside, so if there are internal forces, the city should be opened by oneself. There is also a lack of food, and finally there is a lack of water.
In terms of water shortage, Xiangguo City seems to be short of water. After all, the water in the moat is also the main source of water in the city at this time. But now that there is no water in the Xiangguo moat, doesn't it mean that there will be a shortage of water in the city?
But don't forget that Xiangguo is not far from the water in the south. If they dig wells, there must be water veins underground.
There is probably no shortage of food in the city.
Guan Yu knew that when Lu Zhi retreated from Handan last year, he emptied Juqiaocang of corn. Now that Lu Zhi had placed Jushou in Xiang State, how could he not leave any food behind?
So it seems to be true, that is, when the people in the city are unstable and I can't stand it anymore, I want to dedicate the city to seek wealth.
But we can't count on this. On the contrary, Guan Yu's biggest reliance on breaking the city is the new siege equipment built by Qu Shuai and the master craftsmen of the craftsman camp.
There are three types of sharp weapons.
The first one is the Jinglan Cart.
This is an improvement on the original nest car. The original nest car has been invented since the Spring and Autumn Period, but it was mostly used to observe the formation of the commander, or to launch attacks in the city.
But now the Jinglan cart of the Taishan Army's craftsman camp not only has the first two functions, but can also be directly hung on the city wall with a hanging ladder, allowing the soldiers in the Jinglan cart to rush directly to the top of the city.
This kind of car is several feet high and has four wheels underneath that can be pushed to the city wall. Then the nest car was wrapped in cowhide to prevent fire, and the car could accommodate dozens of soldiers.
It can be said that as long as a well-mounted cart is hung on the city wall, the Taishan Army below will continue to attack the city.
In addition to the Jinglan Cart, the second weapon is the redo stone machine.
When Lu Zhi's main force of the Han army besieged the Qingzhou Yellow Turbans, they made a stone-shooting machine from old papers. At that time, the Yellow Turban soldiers were so horrified that they thought it was the wrath of heaven.
Afterwards, when Jisun told Zhang Chong about the matter, from Jisun's description of these stone-shooting machines, Zhang Chong knew that this was a very crude machine that relied on human power to pull and used the lever principle to fire stone projectiles. .
After research with several master craftsmen, Zhang Chong created a new stone-shooting machine that uses gravity as power to launch stone projectiles. That is to say, add weighting to the end, and then cut the rope when launching, so that the boulder at the front can be moved and launched.
This improvement increased the power and range of the stone machine several times.
Finally, there is a small thing, but very useful, that is the trench bridge car.
This was specially used by Guan Yu to deal with the trenches of Xiang State. This trench bridge cart is actually a replica of the nest cart, also equipped with wheels and a ladder suspended from it.
When the soldiers push the trench bridge cart outside the trench, they can directly flip the ladder over to set up the trench. It can be said that Guan Yu planned to launch stone bombs from a distance, and then launch an attack from the top and bottom of the city at the same time.
Guan Yu didn't believe that Xiang Guo could stop him.
……
Once Guan Yu decided to besiege Xiangguo, he took quick action.
First, two fortresses were built to the north of Xiang State to block the communication line in the north supporting Xiang State. For these two walls, Guan Yu ordered two generals, Zhang Tai and Zhang Heizi, who were both strong men in the Qingzhou Yellow Turban system. They each led five hundred Qingzhou Yellow Turban warriors to guard the two walls.
Then the Taishan Army built barriers at two high points in the east and west of the city, one is Jitou Mountain and the other is Xingtai Pavilion, blocking the east-west escape routes in the city.
Because the terrain of Jitou Mountain is quite high, Guan Yu arranged his camp and commander's tent here as the commander-in-chief of the siege of Xiangguo City.
As for the Xingtai Pavilion to the east, because it was necessary to defend against the possible Julu reinforcements from the east, Guan Yu deployed Li Damu, one of his generals, here.
Li Damu's five elite battalions and two thousand troops were all deployed to the east. It is not only responsible for blocking the enemy from the east for reinforcements, but also responsible for suppressing Xiangguo City from the east.
As for the south of Xiangguo's city gate, it was also the direction Guan Yu planned to attack. Guan Yu ordered Dian Wei, the bravest in the army, to lead three elite battalions and five thousand Qingzhou soldiers to set up a defense line here.
On the south side of the camp wall, watchtowers and sheds were arranged, and some people evened out the dirt road between the camp and Xiangguo City to clear the way for the siege equipment behind.
This time Guan Yu also learned the lesson he had learned from the water flow before.
In order to protect the rear grain roads and provide manpower and material support to the front line of Xiangguo. Guan Yu also assigned rural officials to the settlements on the vast land between Sanshui and established grassroots organizations belonging to the Taishan Army.
These village officials were basically selected by the Taishan Army from the native people of Zhao who had defected. On the one hand, Guan Yu granted them basic-level positions, and on the other hand, he asked them to publicize the Taishan Army's policies in their hometowns.
Anyone who defected to the Taishan Army or provided for the Taishan Army would be given land.
It has been several months since the Taishan Army arrived in Hebei. In fact, their policies and reputation have long been spread among the poor people in Zhao. Otherwise, when Guan Yu went north, there wouldn't be so many poor people coming to seek refuge.
So when Guan Yu released such conditions, the poor people in the northern part of Zhao State, mobilized by their own Xinxiang officials, came to the front line of Xiangguo to receive tasks.
Either felling trees, leveling the land, or escorting baggage, in short, the people of Zhao were satisfied. As for whether the powerful people are happy or not, it doesn't matter.
Therefore, Guan Yu used this yin and yang to decide to engage in a long siege with Jushu under Xiangguo City.
……
Time has passed in half a month, and there has not been a single war at home or abroad in Xiang during this time.
But the atmosphere of the war became increasingly tense.
At this time, on the top of Xiangguo City, Jushou was standing on the top of the city with a group of officials looking down.
In the distance, at the South Camp of the Taishan Army, a group of more than a hundred Guizhou civilians were coming out of the camp. They were holding various hoes and rakes in their hands, singing and dancing along the way, and were returning to their hometown.
Li Ding, who was beside Jushou, glanced at him and said to Jushou:
"Now that spring plowing is coming, this group should have returned to their hometown for spring plowing. Hey, these Taishan thieves should not be underestimated. After the war, they still attach so much importance to spring plowing and production. Look at these people, they were empty-handed before they came. Now everyone returns with iron farm tools. It seems that the people of Zhao are no longer Han. "
Li Ding's sigh annoyed the general next to him, he was Su You.
Ever since Su Renting was defeated and Su You almost fled into Xiang State on horseback, he began to hate the Taishan Army. He didn't hate whether the Taishan Army would divide his land later, but he hated that the two hundred pavilion soldiers he had supported for several years had fallen into the hands of another generation.
Troubled times are coming, and warriors have no soldiers, so how can they gain fame and wealth? It would be better to die than to rely on others.
So Li Ding said a few nice words, and Su You became angry. He ridiculed Li Ding:
"General Li looks at the thieves in the city like this, why not surrender the city."
Li Ding didn't tolerate Su You at all, so he took out the knife and cursed angrily:
"What a good dog, how dare you, a lost dog, dare to humiliate me?"
After saying that, he picked up the sword ring and prepared to build Su Youmian.
"That's enough! Do you think I'm dead?"
The one who shouted angrily was none other than Jushou, the prefect of Zhao County.
He glared at the two of them, and finally Li Ding and Su You gave up their argument and stepped aside.
Jushuo was also very confused inside.
After half a month of siege, although there was no shortage of water and millet in the city, morale was obviously declining.
He now regrets that Li's soldiers, Jin's soldiers, and Zhao's soldiers should not have been placed in the city. The current low morale in the city is all caused by these local powerful people.
Since the siege of the city, Taishan's army began to divide the land, began to break up the powerful, divide the land, and recruit poverty.
The land of Li, Jin, and Zhao families was also attacked by Taishan bandits. However, the tribesmen of the three families were all in Xiangguo City, so they were unable to withstand the Taishan Army's attack.
Some members of the Li, Jin, and Zhao families risked their lives and rushed into the city to speak to generals Li Ding, Jin Zhun, and Zhao Rong about the matter. Now the three generals could not sit still, and they all threatened to leave the city and return to their homes.
The three generals had gone out of the city once before, but they were almost wiped out by Taishan's army, so they had to retreat into the city in embarrassment.
It's just that although this man stayed in the city, his words became more and more strange. He blamed Jushu for coaxing them into the pirate ship with his words. The implicit meaning behind his words was that he had surrendered.
Jushou knew that the biggest reason behind this was the lack of reinforcements.
In the past half month, he wrote countless letters asking for help, but there was no news. Not to mention the children of these wealthy families, even he was worried.
Yes, Xiangguo is strong and has abundant reserves. But if there are no reinforcements, no matter how strong the city is, it will be broken, and no matter how many reserves there are, one day it will be exhausted.
This is waiting to die in despair.
Jushuo had to keep the coach's composure outside, but when he was in private, he would also lament to his son Juhu:
"As my father, I was entrusted by Commander Lu to control the land of Zhao. But what about now? From the north of Handan to the south of the Bai people, the bandits' traces stretch for hundreds of miles, and there are hundreds of thousands of thieves. And the vast land of Zhao, I have only one city in Xiangguo, which is trapped internally and externally, trying to support it. However, the Taishan bandits have occupied all the lands of Zhao, occupying the land, and setting up officials to govern the country. How can I waste it? Got it.”
After saying that, Jushou saw that his son was still confused and couldn't help but caress his cheek and burst into tears:
"As a father, you should share the dangers of the city, but Hu'er is still young, and as a father, you will definitely survive."
The father's love is revealed in words, which only makes people sigh.
(End of chapter)