"Squeak...... The lever bracket of the giant catapult rubbed against the bearing and made a strange scream, and the twisting force of the thick hemp rope made the tail catapult soar into the air, "Bang! A large boulder immediately flew into the air.

Guo Shao and several generals rode horses to patrol everywhere. The water of the moat has been drained, and more and more stone-throwing trucks and ladders have been rushed out to the front, and the whole wilderness is in a spectacular uproar. There used to be a lot of land in the south of the city, but now it has been trampled into a plain wasteland by countless people, and the crops are gone. Only far away can you see some unspoiled paddy fields, only rice stakes remain; The rice was harvested by the soldiers of Zhou and used as military rations.

They rode slowly for most of the day before they circled the south of the city from the east to the northwest of the city. Now the siege is mainly carried out by catapults, in addition to damaging the battlements on the wall, from time to time they can also kill and injure some Southern Tang soldiers, although slowly, but constantly consuming the opponent's troops. If there are signs of retreat from the wall, Guo Shao's generals will arrange a feint.

These are just petty fights. In order to satisfy the people above, and the river of the moat has dried up, Guo Shao and other generals are brewing a general attack from three sides.

"The ladder is not enough, wait a few more days." Guo Shao couldn't help but say, "Once you attack, the damage of the ladder will be very fast, and you must be fully prepared." ”

The Southern Tang Kingdom used oil, which was really a weapon to defend the city, but Guo Shao didn't know where they dug it up. In this era, there must only be open-pit oil mines, and no wells can be drilled.

Li Chuyun also followed Guo Shao around the city many times, and for their group, they may be more familiar with the periphery of Shouzhou City than their own door. The walls of this city are about a square, with the north side of the river and the opposite bank of the Bagong Mountain. The estimated distance of Guo Shao and others walking, the circumference of the entire city is at least fifteen miles; One wall is three or four miles long.

At this time, Li Chuyun spoke: "Lord, I think of a reminder, in addition to thinking about how to attack the city, we also have to defend, beware of Liu Renzhan rushing out of the city to attack us." ”

A subordinate general laughed when he heard this: "Nan** has been defeated repeatedly, so he has to shrink in the fortified city." This Shouzhou City has become a lonely city, and they still dare to come out to fight? I don't believe it anyway! ”

"But that's Liu Renzhan!" Li Chuyun emphasized, "If you want to defeat your opponent, you must first respect your opponent, not to mention that Liu Renzhan is a respectable general, and each is his master." ”

Guo Shao opened his mouth and said: "I think Brother Li is right, although there are many people besieging the city, most of them are town soldiers, township soldiers, and a large number of people who have not been trained in battle formations. Brother Li viewed it, is there anything wrong with our army's siege fortifications? ”

Li Chuyun said: "These fortifications were built by the predecessor, and the officials have also inspected them, and any experienced general will besiege the city like this." There is no problem with the fortifications, I am just worried about the combat effectiveness of the soldiers when they are attacked. ”

"Although I am the colonel of the left wing of the Hujie Army, I only have about 6,000 people from the First Army and the Second Army in my hands. The rest is in the hands of Li Chongjin, not in Shouzhou. Guo Shao said, "It's the commander of the Guards Division, the Infantry Division, and the Infantry Division, so that Li Jixun has as many as 20,000 elite infantry cavalry in his hands...... In the northwest by the direction of Huaishui, you can see a large camp in the past, which is the station of the right wing. ”

Li Chuyun said softly: "Li Jixun wants to wait there and fight the Southern Tang reinforcements. ”

Everyone listened, and all those who understood understood...... Li Jixun's troops have never come down to Shouzhou City.

Guo Shao frowned and said, "I'll go to the right wing camp in person for a while, and let Li Jixun transfer troops to the front line to garrison." After all, if he was really attacked by the Shouzhou soldiers, Li Jixun was also responsible for being stationed so far away. ”

"I can only try." Li Chuyun nodded and said, "The outer front of Shouzhou City is so long, not counting the Huangshui in the north, it is more than ten miles in the east, west, and south, and if the six thousand soldiers are stationed in the army, the troops are too thin." ”

After Guo Shao heard this, the more he thought about it, the more he felt that there was a loophole, so he immediately ran to the right camp of the Hujie Army...... In order to show his sincerity, he did not send people, but personally went to ask for troops. I hurried overnight, and arrived at the camp of the Chinese army in the right compartment in the middle of the night, and I was stunned until dawn before I was put in to see Li Jixun.

But Li Jixun said that Guo Shao was a mediocre and worried about himself, "Guo Du made a Xiangdu colonel, and the troops in his hand were roughly 100,000, so he couldn't capture the city, and he was afraid that the defenders in the city would attack you in turn?" Does this still sound like words? ”

There was also a general next to him who sneered: "Guo Duzhi must feel that he is Han Xin...... Haha, the more troops Han Xin leads, the better. Another person said: "In Huainan, I have won successive battles, if Guo Duling is really defeated by the defenders who have shrunk into the city, then it will really be famous for the whole army!" ”

Guo Shao came in person, ran for half the night and froze outside for half the night, and was very annoyed at this time. After he and his generals left the camp, they couldn't help but turn around and scold: "You are paralyzed!" The generals also scolded: "Who are his subordinates on dog days?" ”

Returning to the front camp under the city, Li Chuyun heard that the right wing refused to transfer troops to assist in the defense, so he only sighed and had nothing to say.

Guo Shao was also embarrassed and said: "If you send someone to ask Li Chongjin, it is estimated that it will not be pleased." ”

Li Chuyun said: "For today's plan, the only way to do this is to let the First Army and the Second Army be stationed in the southeast and southwest corners, so that if there is an attack anywhere, a group of men and horses can be reinforced nearby...... In addition, the 'lower soldiers' eliminated from the front of the palace are still usable, and some of the tooth soldiers in the festival town can also fight, so they can be selected and assembled into an army and deployed in various locations. ”

Guo Shao thought it was good, and first ordered the second army of the left wing of the Hujie army to be stationed in another place, and then summoned the generals of all roads to the Chinese army to discuss the matter in order to deploy the method of attack and defense.

……

Liu Renzhan also inspected the city walls every day, and after he looked at it for several days, he finally couldn't hold it anymore and discussed with the generals: "If the old man goes out of the city, he will break the Zhou army." ”

The ministry will dissuade you on the grounds that you have not received an answer from the top. None of them wanted to go out of the city to attack...... Mother|, the people under the city are like an ocean, and the camp is a sea, I'm afraid there are 120,000 people? There were still tents in the distance on the Huaishui side, and it was impossible to see how many people and horses there were. The disparity in strength is too great, and everyone feels that it is not easy to defend the city for two months.

Liu Renzhan has been observing for a long time, and at this time, he no longer listens to the advice of the generals, and vigorously rejects the public opinion: "Whoever defends the city, if he defends it, he will die!" These days, the Zhou army has cut down a large number of trees from Bagong Mountain and made so many siege equipment, so they must be preparing to storm Shouzhou. Waiting for them to attack? It's not necessarily the way to defend the city. ”

Liu Renzhan pointed to the company camp in the northwest and said: "There must be Li Chongjin's elite soldiers over there, and the camp tents are much better than the soldiers under the city, and the garrison is so far away that it is impossible to save each other." This autumn is the time to take the initiative to attack in any situation that is favorable to me; The besiegers and Li Chongjin are at odds, and our army is united, this is the people; When our army attacks, we can choose any one of the gates, which is a good location. The time, place, and people are all occupied, and I don't dare to use soldiers, won't the world laugh at me for being cowardly! ”

He added: "There are many soldiers in the Zhou army, but the elite are all watching the fire from the other side, and the departments under the city are not er, you should not be afraid." ”

Although the generals were still worried, they believed in Liu Renzhan, who had a high prestige, and they all bowed to him.

Liu Renzhan then ordered to be determined to fight, selected elite infantry from the army, and quietly prepared. He also appointed his own son Liu Chong as the main general of the forward, and led the elite soldiers to prepare for the attack.

Liu Renzhan once again carefully observed the deployment of the Zhou army for a whole day, and made a decision: "The elite soldiers will go out of the city from the Dinghu Gate (west), and after they succeed, they will first burn the equipment by the Weishui River, then turn around and attack to the south, and then burn the siege equipment in front of the city, and then enter the city from the Tonghu Gate (south). ”

He pointed to a camp in the southwest corner: "This group of men and horses seems to be disciplined, or they are capable of fighting, and the cavalry will take him by surprise first, and break up his camp, so that they do not gather into formation." ”

Liu Renzhan was condescending on the city tower, pointing with his hand from afar, and brushing his sleeves as if pointing to the momentum of heaven and earth. He stood tall and headed, facing the wind, and the thousands of troops and horses under the city seemed to be not a crowd that could threaten him, and they had already been trampled under his feet.

At this moment, Liu Renzhan's brows furrowed, and he saw the general of the Zhou army that day walking around in the distance, although he couldn't see his face clearly, Liu Renzhan still recognized that guy...... He who rode to the city on horseback and tried to shoot himself with a bow and arrow. Many generals of the Zhou Dynasty are good at shooting, and legend has it that there is a Zhou army general who directly shot the defending generals on the city wall at a distance of more than 200 steps; Liu Renzhan felt that there was a discrepancy in this matter, but it was only an exaggeration in distance. He didn't want to play this kind of trick with the opposing generals.

"Move the bed crossbow over, the old man will see if he dares to come closer." Liu Renzhan immediately ordered.

The military general was two or three hundred steps away, and seemed to have spotted Liu Renzhan again, sitting on his horse and looking up. Liu Renzhan also frowned and looked at him, and the two looked at each other from a distance.

But this time the military general didn't come, so Liu Renzhan ordered his subordinates to scold and provoke him. I saw the man put his hand to his ear at the horse, and leaned his ear to it, as if to indicate that he could not hear clearly.

Liu Renzhan couldn't help muttering: "In two days, the old man will let you see how knowledgeable he is, and then he will worry about you." ”

He ignored it and ordered Liu Chong to select elite soldiers and generals in various departments, gather the army in the west of the city, and be ready to act at any time. However, when to open the city to attack, Liu Renzhan also had to personally observe and capture the opportunity he thought was favorable.

At this time, the sun had gradually set on the horizon, and Zhou Jun's catapult launches had stopped one after another. The tall and heavy instruments stood in the afterglow of the setting sun, forming black shadows, and some levers were still spinning...... At this time, if you have seen the oil extractor on the oil well, you will definitely think of the scene on the oil well at sunset.

……

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(Mid-Autumn Festival, I wish you all a happy family...) There is also a shift in the evening. ）