At dusk, Li Yi ordered the attack to be stopped. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

At the military meeting in the evening, the generals of the various departments reported the situation of the battle.

Li Jing and Gao Shun's attack on Dongcheng also did not go well. Zhang Fei and Yu Ban's attack in Nancheng was severely blocked. Sima Yi and Tai Shici made trouble outside the northern city for a day, although the losses were minimal, but they did not have any results, and they were busy in vain.

Luoyang City was too tall and too big, the number of defenders in the city was sufficient, and the commanding heights could not be controlled, which was the main reason why the attack of the army was blocked.

"Judging from the consumption of various battlefields today, the number of stone bullets will be seriously insufficient in ten days." Xu Shu said a series of figures, and then continued, "According to the estimates of the chariot battalion, the number of catapults in the city is about three hundred, and the maximum number of catapults will not exceed four hundred, and we have more than two thousand, and the stone bullets under the city cannot make up for our losses. ”

"Before Yuan Shao burned down the houses outside Luoyang, he forced the people to demolish a large number of houses and obtain a staggering amount of supplies. Instead, we have lost those supplements. Zhuge Liang continued, "Lord, we'd better find a way to collect stone bullets as soon as possible, otherwise after half a month, the attack will have to be temporarily stopped." ”

"You can do it." Li Yi waved his hand and said.

Then Li Yi looked at the generals and said solemnly: "The Battle of Luoyang is the first time for us. This is also the first time we have fought a major battle of this scale, and we can only win and not lose, so please think more about it. There is still a long time, and we need to be patient. Now everyone go back early and rest, and continue the offensive tomorrow. ”

The generals agreed with a bang.

………………

In Luoyang City, Yuan Shao set up a banquet to reward the military generals. Today's battle greatly strengthened the confidence of the officers and men of Yuan's army in holding Luoyang. Luoyang is Luoyang, and the Kyoto of the Han Dynasty is rock-solid and unbreakable.

After sending off the generals, Yuan Shao and Yuan Wei, Feng Ji, Xian Pei and others discussed offensive and defensive strategies in the study.

Feng Ji said with a smile: "This time, we must let the Northern Xinjiang Army meet under Luoyang City and break the blood." In the past, they attacked the city and pulled out the village, which was like a bamboo, where would they have thought that Luoyang would be such a city that could not be regretted? ”

"Brother Yuantu, what kind of battle haven't Li Yi and Yue Fei seen before?" Yuan Zhong shook his hand and said, "In my opinion, the morale of the Northern Xinjiang Army is very high, and the early offensive will definitely be very fierce, and we must hold out until the summer to take a breath." ”

Yuan Shao was very excited, and after drinking some wine, his face became even more ruddy, and he pointed to the judge and asked, "Zhengnan, what do you think?" Will we be able to hold out until reinforcements arrive? ”

"Judging from the current situation, as long as we can firmly control the commanding heights and suppress the strong attack of the Northern Xinjiang Army, they will not be able to climb the tower." The judge hesitated for a moment, looked at the people in the room, and stopped talking.

"What if the Northern Frontier Army controls the commanding heights?" Someone immediately asked, "After the Northern Frontier Army ascends the tower, how can we fight back?" ”

"There are crossbow platforms in the city six hundred feet away from the city wall, and these crossbow platforms form a cross shot with the gatehouse, corner tower, and various temporary buildings on the city wall. Feng Ji waved his hand disdainfully, and said disapprovingly, "The city wall plus the gatehouse, our commanding height is at least one hundred and fifty feet, how can the Northern Frontier Army control it?" Are they going to build a tower outside Luoyang City? ”

"Does Li Yi dare to do it? The catapults in the city thundered violently, and immediately turned into a pile of ruins. Chun Yuqiong smiled triumphantly, "It's absolutely no problem to hold Luoyang, but to achieve victory and defeat the Northern Frontier Army......"

The smile on his face gradually disappeared, and he said, "It depends on whether Liu Biao, Liu Bei and Cao Cao are willing to contribute?" ”

"We are defeated, are they far from death?" Yuan Shao said confidently, "Don't worry, no problem." ”

Then he looked at the interrogator and asked: "Zhengnan, the city defense was designed by you, judging from today's defense, do you need anything to improve?" ”

"There are too many catapults in the Northern Army." The judge said worriedly, "Although I expected it, I didn't expect that there would be so many catapults in Hebei, and there are also heavy catapults that can fire 100 catties of stone bullets." ”

"One hundred pounds?" Yuan Shao was taken aback, "The stone that hit Yongmen Avenue is a hundred catties?" ”

The judge nodded, and said heavily: "That stone bullet sank into the ground eight feet deep, it's terrible. In addition, there must be a super-large ballista on the crossbow platform of the Northern Xinjiang Army, and its power is extraordinary. ”

"The giant ballista has been lost for many years, how can the Northern Frontier Army have it?" Feng Ji asked incredulously.

"If they can build a heavy catapult, they can also build a giant repeater." "Back then, these heavy ordnance were deployed in the border fortress pass, maybe someone left a drawing, in short, I suspect that it is a giant repeater car, the power of the arrows is too great, ordinary ballista cars cannot be so powerful." ”

Yuan Shao was silent for a while, and said helplessly: "So, it is possible that the Northern Frontier Army has climbed the city tower?" So what do you do? ”

"Build Fu Yan immediately." "The walls of the city are surrounded by a ring road, which connects with the main roads in the city. As long as the northern army rushes in, the city will be lost, so we should build a rammed earth low wall behind this ring road, that is, Fu Yan, to form a defensive pattern of a city within a city. Then dig a trench in front of Fu Yan and stuff firewood and grass inside. Once the enemy army enters the city, it ignites firewood and grass to form a wall of fire. In this way, we will be able to coordinate the fire wall and the army on the wall, flank the enemy from the inside and outside, and kill the enemy on the ring road, and drive the enemy out of the city again. ”

"Okay, just do as you say." Yuan Shao said categorically, "If the bricks and stones are not enough, the courtyard wall of the palace will be demolished." ”

Everyone was shocked, and Yuan Wei immediately dissuaded: "At the beginning, there were so many houses in the city, why did you want to demolish the palace courtyard wall?" ”

"Hmph...... If Li Yi pushes me to be anxious, I will set the palace on fire. Yuan Shao sneered, "I want to see if he is ruthless or am I ruthless?" ”

………………

The next day, the Northern Frontier Army spent a whole day on the battlefield of Xicheng, capturing the third moat and approaching the moat.

On the eighth day, the Northern Xinjiang Army captured the five moats on the Xicheng battlefield, but at this moment, the Northern Xinjiang Army still did not find a way to seize the commanding heights. Although the catapults, ballistae, and strong archers on the vehicles tried their best, because they could not effectively suppress the enemy's fire, the casualties of the Northern Assault Force became more and more large, and they had to temporarily suspend the fighting.

On the tenth day of the first month of May, Xu Maogong, the chief military advisor of Northern Xinjiang, rushed from Chang'an to Xingyuan. Li Yi and Xu Maogong talked about the attack on Luoyang.

"Mao Gong, do you have a way to conquer Luoyang City?" Li Yi asked.

"I have a stupid solution, but it's definitely the most effective." Xu Maogong said with a smile, "My lord, if we concentrate 5,000 catapults on the battlefield in Xicheng, supplemented by 20,000 crossbow carts and 60,000 strong bows, and bombard the Yongmen of Luoyang day and night, how long can Luoyang City hold out?" ”

Li Yi's eyes lit up.

Li Yi immediately summoned Yue Fei, Zhang Fei, Xu Da, Li Jing, Gao Shun, Tai Shici, Xie Xuan, Li Guangbi, Zhang Yan, Yu Ban and other generals of Northern Xinjiang and strategists such as Sima Yi, Zhuge Liang, Xu Shu, and Jiang Ji to discuss the matter.

Xu Maogong explained his attack strategy.

Luoyang City was well defended, and if it was forcibly attacked by the current method, not only the casualties of the soldiers were huge, but the manpower, material resources, financial resources and time consumed were very amazing, and neither the imperial court nor the Northern Frontier Army could afford it. If this kind of fighting continues, it is very likely that the imperial court and the Northern Xinjiang Army will be dragged down alive by Luoyang City.

There is only one way to reverse the current passive situation, that is, to give full play to one's own advantages, and at the same time use various methods to transform the enemy's advantages into disadvantages, and then change the contrast of offensive and defensive strength between the two sides, defeat the enemy, and capture Luoyang.

What are our advantages? High morale, plenty of troops, strong ordnance, plenty of food and grass, and still time. We have enough time to surround the enemy, trap him, and drag him down.

How to make the most of your strengths?

If we want to maintain high morale for a long time, we can't solve the problem by relying only on the presence of the lord in person, we must solve the problem of the vital interests of the soldiers, so that they can stay on the front line with peace of mind, and are willing to fight bravely to conquer Luoyang.

The practical interests of the soldiers included rewards and rewards from the imperial court, including the bereavement of the fallen soldiers, the restoration and maintenance of their physical strength, and most importantly, the good life of their families. At the time of the New Year, we can ask some of the soldiers to go home to see them, so that they can bring back the news that their relatives are safe and happy, so as to motivate and encourage the soldiers to continue fighting.

As for the troops. We have an army of 230,000, which is enough. But what about the people? Whether the people can maintain sufficient physical strength and whether they can transport all kinds of materials to Luoyang is directly related to the combat effectiveness of the army.

From the beginning of the attack on the periphery of Luoyang to the present, the imperial court has requisitioned about one million people, who have been following the army to fight and are exhausted. Therefore, we must immediately implement a rotation system in the process of recruiting and transferring people's husbands, so that the number of people can be reduced, the physical strength of the people can be maintained, and the damage to national strength and wealth can be appropriately reduced.

At present, the number of ordnance of the large army is obviously not enough to meet the needs of attacking Luoyang, and we need more ordnance. 5,000 catapults, 20,000 ballistas, and 60,000 strong bows were the most basic numbers, but because we did not estimate the difficulty of attacking Luoyang in advance, the number of various types of ordnance did not meet this basic requirement. Therefore, for a period of time in the future, we will order the ordnance workshops in various places to rush day and night, and at the same time requisition a large number of strongholds, passes, and arsenals from various places.

The army is running out of food and grass. But after the autumn harvest is over, after the spring harvest next year, grain from all over the country will be continuously transported to Luoyang, but the enemy troops in the city have not replenished, and their grain will be less and less.

The time we besiege Luoyang depends on whether we can hold on to the periphery of Luoyang. As long as we firmly hold the perimeter of Luoyang and block the rescue of the rebels, we can keep fighting, so we don't need to worry about the time.