July 19th, 20th, and 21st.
Gongsun Zan launched an attack on Sanhe Pavilion on the side of Guangyang Road for three consecutive days, but was unable to defeat it.
Taishan general Mao Shao used his own example to effectively illustrate that with a thousand people united as one and defending a strategic stronghold, even if the enemy is five times his size, they cannot defeat him.
But for Mao Shao in the village, although the village has no worries now, as the main force of the Zhenbei army continues to move south to Sanhe Pavilion, the pressure on his side will increase, so he also hopes that Zhang Dan on the outside can deal with it. He comes to the rescue.
In fact, Mao Shao did not know that when Gongsun Zan launched his third attack on the 21st, Zhang Dan actually dispatched a support force to rescue Mao Shao.
On July 21, after completing the excavation of the nine outer fortifications, Zhang Dan sent Pan Zhang to dispatch the remaining 1,000 troops of his headquarters to rescue Sanhe Pavilion.
Zhang Dan had no expectations for Pan Zhang's actions, because fighting on the great plains, the side lacking cavalry was too passive. He just wanted to convey a signal to his subordinates in Sanhetei:
"We will not abandon you."
Sure enough, as soon as Pan Zhang led his thousands of troops to the north, he was detected by Gongsun Zan's detective sentry.
He was worried about how to capture the enemies of Sanhe Pavilion, so he was given such a big gift, so naturally he didn't intend to let it go. As long as the reinforcements of the Taishan Army from the south are eliminated and their heads and flags are captured, it will naturally cause a huge blow to the morale of the bandits in the pavilion.
In this way, Gongsun Zan dispatched Gai Tong, Lu Fang, Gongsun Yue, Gongsun Fan, Shan Jing, Xian Yufu and other tribes, with the cooperation of local tycoons Xiangqu, to prepare to ambush Pan Zhang's tribe at the fourth watch with no flags and drums.
At the same time, in order to protect the security of the rear route, Gongsun Zan also left the Yue Cavalry School Captain Zhou Zhong to continue the diversionary attack on Sanhe Pavilion, so as to prevent the stronghold from knowing that his reinforcements had arrived.
After making proper arrangements, on July 23rd, at dawn, Gongsun Zan immediately led two thousand horsemen to attack Pan Zhang's camp. But who knew that the sneak attack, which was supposed to be foolproof, did not achieve the expected results.
It turned out that after Pan Zhang went north, although he was worried about the safety of Sanheting's men, he also knew that he was actually in a very dangerous situation.
The first is that they have no cavalry to block them, which makes their field of vision very narrow and extremely easy to be ambushed. Another is that they have too few troops. Once they fight the Han cavalry in the wild, they will be unable to cope. In the end, he was worried that the defeat on his side would cause panic among the people at Sanhe Pavilion, and the gain would outweigh the loss.
Therefore, Pan Zhang took a steady approach from the beginning and established a stronghold to guard against night attacks.
Therefore, intention is better than intention. Although Gongsun Zan's cavalry was heavy, it could not break through Pan Zhang's stronghold gate immediately, so the so-called defeat became a delusion.
In this way, Gongsun Zan could not do anything to Pan Zhang, and Pan Zhang could not do anything to Gongsun Zan, and the two sides fell into a stalemate again.
At the same time, the main force of the Zhenbei Army in the north was getting closer and closer. If Gongsun Zan could not pull out the Sanhe Pavilion and open up the passage for the army to go south, the Han army's original advantage would be compromised.
Therefore, Gongsun Zan sought advice from the commander of the army, Shi Guanjing.
Guan Jing and Gongsun Zan were both students of Lu Zhi, but compared to Gongsun Zan and Liu Bei, Guan Jing was the student who received the true teachings of Lu Zhi. He knew everything about Confucian classics, prophecies, and strategies, and he was actually the leader among the scholars in the north.
Gongsun Zan also relied heavily on this senior brother, so he often asked around him whenever something happened.
Faced with Gongsun Zan's request for advice, Guan Jing said frankly:
"According to Jing's original intention, Master Lu should not send troops to Heshuo at this time. It is a shame that Zhao Jun's clever words coaxed Master Lu's troops to go south."
Gongsun Zan was quite surprised by Guan Jing's answer. When he was in Shangquyang before, although he also felt that Zhao Jun's words were fancy, he still admitted in his heart that what Zhao Jun said made sense.
If we don't take advantage of Taishan's army to seize the opportunity and go south now, wait until the opponent has sufficient food supplies and seize the nine gates as a defensive node, then we will be passive.
Moreover, Gongsun Zan also had something in his heart, that is, if it weren't for Zhao Jun, Gongsun Zan would not go south to make pioneering contributions. But the Guan Jing in front of him has always been Gongsun Zan's trusted senior brother, and he still attaches great importance to his opinions, so he asked this question.
Guan Jing directly listed the following reasons to Gongsun Zan:
"It's a hot summer in July, and even Hebei is extremely hot. Our army has many cavalrymen, and they are from the north, so they are not heat-resistant. The troops behind are steaming, hungry, thirsty, tired, and exposed to diseases. How can we drive the soldiers to fight?" Even if people can bear it, how can horses? What's more, our army is full of chaos and has many worries. Once one person flees and a hundred people follow him, the army will be shaken. Regret, what can I do?”
In fact, Gongsun Zan was convinced after Guan Jing only gave this reason, but Guan Jing did not stop and said another thing that Gongsun Zan felt deep in his heart.
Guan Jing said indifferently in a deep and cold tone:
"The commander is still too optimistic. Xianbei is rebellious, Wuhuan is traitorous, and the Huns are cunning. They all have the intention to invade China. The spies of the three tribes are all over the north. Whenever something happens in China, everyone knows about it. Now I gather in the north. It would be fine if we can attack a thief in Mount Tai, but if it is delayed until winter and summer, it will be dangerous. , Chengxu joins the bandits, with today’s power, is it possible to save the leader and the tail? When the time comes, the soldiers in the north will be in trouble, how can we have the face to explain to the elders in our hometown?”
At this time, Gongsun Zan's eyes were already red. He was a Han supremacist and wanted to kill all the barbarians. It turned out that because Master Lu was suppressing him, he couldn't bear to ruin the overall situation, so he turned a blind eye to Hu Ren in the army.
But now when he heard what Guan Jing said about the consequences, he couldn't sit still any longer and wanted to kill all the barbarians in the general immediately.
Fortunately, he still had sense at this time and knew that he could not do this. To Guan Jingdao, now that the matter has come to this, the top priority is to break Sanhe Pavilion and ask him if he has any plan.
But Guan Jing really gave Gongsun Zan some advice.
After the ambush of Pan Zhang's reinforcements failed, Gongsun Zan began to move out with his entire army, constantly looting nearby villages, and drove all the villagers to Sanhe Pavilion.
The Yan soldiers were originally foreign soldiers, and there were many barbarians, so one can imagine their military discipline. Along the way, there were Han people who were fleeing and being killed, and the Hu people's horses were full of captured women, pots and bowls, all useful things.
After driving all the people from nearby villages into the camp, Gongsun Zan suddenly invited sixteen of his Hu generals to enter the camp in the name of reward.
When the Hu generals who were still having sex with the woman in the camp heard that Gongsun Zan wanted to reward them, they all rushed into the big tent first.
At this time, Gongsun Zan had already hidden the strong men under the tent. When the Hu generals arrived, he stood out and captured them behind the tent and bound them.
There was a Hu general who muttered awkward Chinese and said angrily:
"You Han people are so unreasonable. It was your commander-in-chief who invited us to go south, but now you are treating us like this? Can you bear the anger of your commander-in-chief?"
Gongsun Zan ignored him at all, and then a guard of soldiers came forward, captured the barbarian's head, and smashed the man's yellow teeth with the handle of an axe.
The ferocious scene frightened the other barbarians. They knew something was wrong, and Gongsun Zan was afraid that he would kill them all.
So, a Wuhuan cavalry general, using very standard Chinese, kowtowed to the ground and cried bitterly:
"General, we should be punished by death for sleeping with prostitutes in the camp. But General, please see that a war is imminent, why not let us die on the battlefield so as to repay the general's kindness."
This Wuhuan general is a eloquent person. If it were an ordinary Han general, he would probably agree to it in person.
But they happened to meet Gongsun Zan, the "white horse captain" who was famous beyond the Great Wall.
As a result, sixteen heads were chopped off, and the tent was filled with blood.
When some nearby Hu people heard the shouts of their chiefs, they also came out with armor on and marched towards the big tent with troops.
Seeing that a mutiny was about to happen, Gongsun Zan, dressed in blood, came out of his tent, stood at the military gate and angrily scolded the rebels:
"Let's see who dares to violate our military laws!"
These Hu soldiers knew Gongsun Zan and knew that he was very brave. They also saw the Han soldiers pressing nearby. These Hu soldiers, who had lost their leading Hu general, knew that the situation was over and had no choice but to surrender. In the end, these Hu soldiers were split up by Gongsun Zan, and they were no longer one unit.
After successfully eliminating the hidden danger in the army, Gongsun Zan began to implement the Guan Jing policy.
Generally speaking, his strategy can be summed up by the word "siege".
Since I can't capture it and your village is on a strategic passage, I will surround you inside. This encirclement is to dig a deep moat directly outside Sanhe Pavilion, and then build a wall outside to trap the Taishan Army inside.
And Sanhe Pavilion is small. Once the Han army uses this strategy, it won't take long to win without a fight. So although this strategy is not subtle, it is extremely useful.
So Gongsun Zan began to drive the refugees captured nearby to dig trenches outside Sanhe Pavilion.
Mao Shao in the village saw that the enemy army began to change their tactics, and he understood what the other side was going to do after a little thought.
Because when he was captured, the Taishan Army used this tactic. Do you think Mao Shao could not remember it fresh?
Therefore, Mao Shao took advantage of the Han army's construction and led his troops to attack the wall several times, often several times a day, seriously damaging the Han army's construction progress.
In this way, Mao Shao from Sanhe Pavilion bought another three days for Zhang Dan and Dong Fang.
In the past three days, the entire battle situation has undergone earth-shaking changes, greatly reversing the entire battle situation.
July 23rd was the first day after Pan Zhang's troops moved north.
The Taishan Army ended its truce for several days and began to launch a fierce attack on Jiumen.
At the fifth watch, the Taishan Army sneaked into Hao outside Jiumen with two battalions of a thousand men each, and filled the trench with soil. But when they were rushing to fill the second trench, the Han army on the Jiumen City discovered that the arrows were fired as follows, and the attack of the Taishan Army's trench grabbing team was blocked.
The former enemy commander-in-chief Dong Fang saw that the offensive was stalled, so he ordered the second batch to prepare to go and replace it. This time, he sent eight hundred long archers, all of whom fired fire arrows and burned the watch sheds on Jiumen City.
The remaining five hundred armored men launched an attack amidst the fireworks above.
But the guard at the South Gate attacked by the Taishan Army was obviously a qualified military official. Facing the alternating attacks of the Taishan Army, he responded calmly.
On the one hand, he ordered the sergeants to overturn the burned watchtower to the bottom of the city, and then ordered everyone to cover the fire spot with sand. On the other hand, he ordered the warrior Yongjian to launch rolling stones to block the armored soldiers of Taishan Army under the city.
The armored warriors who were running along carrying the ladder were directly hit head-on. They are not afraid of the arrows of the Han army, but they are afraid of the golden juice of rolling stones.
For a time, there were cries of mourning below the city head.
Dong Fang saw the serious losses in the city and hurriedly waved the flag to order the third team to come forward.
Over there, the Han army on the top of the city also saw a general standing on the slope. Seeing that he was equipped with gold drums and ceremonial guards, they knew that he was the leader of thieves.
So, the men in the city sent 200 accurate archers to shoot at Dong Fan who was on the high place. Arrows rained down, but Dong Fan didn't hurt a single arrow, and everyone thought he was a god.
After the armored soldiers at the front were withdrawn, the third rotation of troops had filled in all three heavy barriers at the back and reached the city root for cover. This time, they brought the siege equipment brought up from behind and began to build defensive positions under the city roots.
There were crash carts crashing under the city gate, ladder carts raising ladders under the city to transport troops, and giant carts directly against the city wall to provide shelter for the sergeants below.
The various methods of siege did not make the siege smooth. Because for the defenders at the top of the city, no matter what kind of equipment you use, it can't change the fact that these are all made of wood and are afraid of fire.
So under the command of the city guard general, dozens of torches were thrown down from the top of the city, burning the siege equipment that Taishan Army had finally brought up.
Seeing the raging fire under the city, Dong Fang, who was supervising the battle in front of the formation, paid for the money and retreated his troops, and on the other hand, he asked the people around him:
"Does anyone know who the guard general of Nanguan is? I thought Jushou was already unrivaled in guarding the city, but I didn't expect to see one who was good at guarding the city today."
Faced with this problem, the generals were ashamed and speechless.
At that time, two of Wang Zhang's subordinates in the Youjun system came out of the crowd and asked to go to war. They are Deng Chong and Shi Lang, both of whom are brave generals in the army.
Dong Fan shook his head and finally gave up the day's attack.
That night, the Han army on the top of the city lowered two hundred warriors. Following the wooden planks laid on the trench, they reached the Taishan Army's camp and were about to burn its equipment and equipment. Suddenly the torches lit up and they were surrounded by the Taishan Legion.
Needless to say, there was no need to say much about the subsequent results. Except for some Han soldiers who surrendered in fear, the rest all died fighting.
Dong Fang also learned from these prisoners who the Han general guarding the south gate was.
It turns out that this person's name is Jiang Qi.
Dong Fang silently kept this person's name in his mind.
Jiang Qi's failure in the night attack on Taishan's army did not affect his defense of the city on the second day.
Dong Fang successively ordered Li Cun, Zhang Neng, Li Wu, Zheng Xiang and other brave generals from the Youjun system to attack the city one after another, but they were unable to defeat it.
That night, in order to save the army's morale, the city guard Jiang Qi once again launched a night attack on the city, but was once again defeated by the patrolling brothers Lu Kuang and Lu Xiang.
In the end, only Jiang Qi and dozens of others fled back to the city in embarrassment.
The morale of Taishan's army was greatly boosted.
During the day of the next day, Dong Fang suddenly went out of his way and ordered the entire army to launch a general attack at the four gates, changing the original strategy of besieging three and attacking one.
This time Dong Fang directly sent out all his troops, using elite warriors as the vanguard, to attack the four gates.
As expected, the Han army was caught off guard, and the two brothers Lu Kuang and Lu Xiang jumped into the city at the east gate. At this time, Feng Xun, who was in the city, took his guards and reinforcements from the city to the top of the city to help in the battle.
The battle was so intense that both sides were exhausted, and the Han army finally drove the Taishan army off the city.
But this night, Jiang Qi and others were once again unexpected. They issued a military order with Feng Xun, gathering 800 brave soldiers, and launched a third night attack on the city.
This time, Jiang Qi was sure that the Taishan Army would not be prepared.
But they didn't expect that this time, before they could reach the gate of Taishan Military Camp, chaos would break out in Jiumen City behind them. Then an army emerged from the darkness and rushed towards the nine gates that had been opened.
Not long after, the Nine Gates City was destroyed.
Does anyone know how the Nine Gate City was broken?