Sometimes, the boring part of war is like a game of chess, and both Win and Pingyang are both cities, and they are both cities that both sides must save and attack.

Before Pingyang breaks the win, then the Mo family wins. If Pingyang wins before it breaks, then the Qi army wins.

It's simple, but it's unchangeable.

Under the city of Pingyang, more than 30,000 troops led by Shi have been concentrated outside the city.

Sun Wuzi said: Therefore, the method of using soldiers, ten is to encircle, five is to attack, and the multiple is divided, the enemy can fight, less can escape, and if not, it can be avoided.

Pingyang City could cobble together about 20,000 troops to defend the city, and the army at his disposal was only twice as large, but he chose to attack.

Taking Binh Duong within five days was a matter decided at the pre-war meeting of the army, and it was also related to the war situation.

Although Yingyi is well guarded, the longer the time drags on, the greater the possibility of going wrong, and the sooner Pingyang is captured, the sooner the Linzi army will be destroyed.

Although the situation of the princes in the war and the world made the Mo family have enough time to delay any longer, they can continue to stay here after defeating the Linzi army, and wait for the grassroots to stabilize before leaving.

For Pingyang City, it is not too much to pay attention to, now the Qi army is in turmoil, Pingyang City is a very old city, once on the border of Qilu, after a long war, but now the geographical location is no longer on the border of Qilu, although after a few months of emergency repairs, but that's it.

As soon as the gunpowder came out, the fortification techniques and defense systems of the Spring and Autumn Period were outdated.

Although the rammed-earth walls were tall, the rammed earth walls were straight up and down, only slightly inclined and could not resist shelling.

There was no outer defense, and a lonely city, so that the army could quickly occupy all the geographical advantages outside the city.

On the wooden watchtower, Shi held a crystal-polished clairvoyant mirror and watched the situation inside the city, and the officers, staff officers, and heralds waited left and right.

More than ten years ago, he spread the siege technique all over the world, because that siege technique seems simple, but in fact requires many prerequisites, he is not afraid at all, but it is better to use it to declare the victory of reason in the world.

Now facing rammed earth walls that were not prepared for the gunpowder age, they are full of confidence.

The staff officers had already measured the quality of the soil under the city in advance, and it was a yellow sand soil suitable for excavation, and although it rained, it only moistened the surface.

Pingyang is not the main city of the princes, according to the ritual system, it is not possible to build too high a city wall, and it is not possible to play the edge ball of the ritual system like Shangqiu and Yingdu, and there is no need to build such a wide city wall, and the thickness of the city wall is only three meters.

The city wall is built with two versions of the wall, with the plate building sandwiched on both sides, in the inside of the fill of soil tamping, such a city wall has great shortcomings, once a place is blasted open, from the explosion position on both sides will collapse one after another.

The walls at the gates were thicker, and the gates were made of large wooden gates.

Shi pointed to the trench under the city wall and said: "Whatever method is used to attack the city, you can't just use infantry or artillery. When the artillery is bombarded, the infantry cannot wait; The reverse is also true. ”

"Let the two brigades of the 4th Division prepare the dirt, cut down firewood and trees. When the shelling began to suppress, the soldiers first filled in the trenches. ”

"I looked, and there were only three or four cannons in the city, which saved a lot of trouble, and digging a trench close to the parallel zigzag didn't have to be too deep, and the inclination angle could be larger, and it didn't have to be too sharp."

The staff officers wrote it down and said reflexively: "The people of the staff department, calculate the distance between the city wall and the moat, calculate the angle between the height and distance of the city wall, and calculate the depth and width of the excavation. ”

"If the city can't attack the trench, just dig two more feet down."

In the previous observation, a little location for the breach of the city had been chosen, and he said: "It is your business to open an assault there and how many parallel trenches you need to prepare for your soldiers. You have settled and calculated, and this is what you have to do. ”

These young staff officers are all from professional classes, and they have learned Mohist tactics, nine numbers, geometry, etc., and they do not understand the meaning of the existence of staff officers, and they also hope that they can continue to learn in the war.

These young people were inevitably a little nervous, and one of them smiled a little embarrassedly: "Didn't you say that it was on paper? Ten thousand lives are at stake......"

Shi Haha laughed and said, "What's so scary about this? Nine numbers and geometry don't lie. If the angle is right, the city can't be hit, as long as it's right. ”

"I've already said roughly, is it possible that how each division, brigade and company fights, how to dig pits, how to bury gunpowder, how to arrange artillery, all need to be done by one person? Each has its own division of labor, go for it, just count it right. ”

A sentence of nine numbers and geometry will not deceive, so that these young staff officers overcome the previous panic, this simple nonsense-like truth, is suitable for more than ten years ago after the siege of the city after the siege of the city in the first battle of the city.

When the staff officers went to prepare for the operation on the map, the commanders of several divisions surrounded them, and this time the first division fought the main attack, and the rest of the divisions cooperated.

Shi did not use means such as encircling three and missing one, and only arranged a small number of troops on the other three sides.

"Pingyang is not Lucheng, if Lucheng is broken, the soldiers and nobles of Lucheng may flee to Linzi and gather military strength, so they must be surrounded and annihilated."

"We don't need to be surrounded by Pingyang, but strategically we are surrounded on all sides, and even if the nobles flee, they will flee to Dongmou and Yingyi at most. Soldiers, they have no intention of fighting, as long as the city is broken, they will not resist much. ”

"The things arranged by the various ministries have also been said. The strategy and tactics have also been decided, how to break the city as quickly as possible, that's your business. ”

"Let's disperse, let's go and prepare."

The commanders saluted and then left, as the most elite first division of the Mo family, they undertook the task of breaking the city this time, they were only responsible for the direction of the main attack, and they were full of trust in their teammates and allies, they didn't need to think about the flanks, they only needed to think about how to capture the city as quickly as possible.

After the division commander and division representatives returned, they first assigned tasks to the brigade commanders of each brigade, and the brigade commanders of each brigade discussed the tasks at the brigade meeting and subdivided them into each company.

The companies were then assigned to the smallest combat unit, the Sima of twenty-five men.

Although all countries have military units like Sima Chang, and even have Wu Chang and Ten Commanders, in fact, the smallest tactical unit that can really fight is the brigade, and it is difficult to command it at all.

At this time, it is necessary to form a formation and use a formation, not because they don't know that the formation is sometimes cumbersome, but because only by relying on the formation can they maintain the non-chaotic soldiers, and those who can assign combat tasks to the company level are already considered a strong army in the world at this time.

In the first division, the main attack was a company of two tall grenadiers, who were selected from the elite of the army, and their courage was unparalleled, and they were trained by the elite soldiers of the original Mo family.

Beicheng Gate was no longer formed later, and was divided into two parts, one remained in the army to continue training grenadiers, and the other part of the seeds went to the sword and shield soldiers trained on the ship by the Xi Liuzhou Division, at this time the sword and shield soldiers were the main force of warship combat, at least for a long time to engage in gunwald warfare could not be replaced.

The two companies of grenadiers were the elite of the 1st Division, and were used to defend the city in case the gates were breached, to be used as the priority part to enter the city during the siege, or to tear apart the opponent's phalanx when the infantry was in an anxious battle.

Internally, they were called grenadiers, but in the external princes, they were often called "first battalions", "first dengees", etc., which was more in line with the era of gunpowder, and more direct.

After the company commander and company representatives returned from the brigade meeting, they began to rush to deploy their respective tasks.

At the level of company commander, they only need to know the general outline and know their specific details.

More than 40 people gathered together, and a simple legend was drawn on the ground, and the company commander said: "When the time comes, the artillery will bombard the city wall, and the sappers will concentrate a little to dig the city wall and bury gunpowder." Once the walls are blown open, we need to rush in through the gap. ”

"There is also a second low wall in the city, and the Qi people may organize a defense there, so we have to break through by throwing iron thunder and hand-to-hand swordsmanship, occupy the second wall, and climb along the collapsed city wall to the main city to control the heights."

He roughly measured the width of the attack that their two companies were responsible for, a width based on the wall of the city that had been blasted by artillery and gunpowder, and they did not need to take care of the affairs on either side, and the other company was responsible for suppressing it.

The direction of each Sima's responsibility was divided, some were responsible for the main attack, and some were responsible for ascending the city, leaving a part as a backup.

A Sima Chang asked: "When the time comes, it will be our brigade that will cover us behind, right?" ”

"Well, the musketeers of the rest of the company will concentrate a little to cover us, and the spearmen will need us to control the gap before going up, and they will line up in the trench behind."

After the company commander explained, he said: "The brigade commander means that once the city is broken and the spearmen go up, the gap will have nothing to do with us. The walls have nothing to do with us, we have secured the gap, and when the spearmen follow up and the musketeers have reached the walls, we will rush. ”

He drew a position on a simple diagram on the ground and said: "There is only one main street, there is no earthen fortress in the city, let's remember one thing after we go in: rush inside, rush inside with Sima as a formation, rush to the market and palace, and ignore the small group of enemies, leave them behind, and have the people behind you to be responsible." We just have to rush to the innermost and force the nobles to flee, and we can no longer organize themselves. ”

In the early years, those Mozi from the world to contain and serve the soldiers preparing for the city gate, they not only had to prepare for a counterattack at the city gate, but more importantly, once the besieging side retreated, they would take advantage of the chaos to rush into the enemy camp to kill the enemy generals, break the flag, and cause greater chaos.

They also don't need to think about how the sappers dig and how the artillery fights, they just need to arrange their own one-third of an acre of land clearly.

This is determined by the special military system of the Mo family, which is responsible for and distributed at all levels.

After the company commander finished speaking, he rubbed his iron sword, and a line of words was crookedly engraved on the hilt.

"For the benefit of the people of the world, the ink does not spin his heel and does not seek his own interests."