After taking a seat in the main hall, Gao Yuan said, "Anchengjun, how is the situation in Daliang City now?" Please tell me in detail. ”

Wei Zeng smiled bitterly and said, "I don't hide it from Wu Anjun, the situation in Daliang City is not good now, and the military and civilian population in the city is only more than 278,000 people. ”

Gao Yuan was also greatly surprised, and said: "Why are there only so few people left, not even 300,000." ”

The permanent residents in Daliang City are about 500,000, and there are about 200,000 to 300,000 scattered outside the city, plus the troops collected from all over the city, so the last time Daliang City accommodated about 800,000 people, although the last time the plateau left Daliang, it took away nearly 300,000 soldiers and civilians, but there should be at least 450,000 people, why not even 300,000 now.

It turned out that the plateau left Daijun, although it only took away nearly 300,000 people, but many of the people who stayed lost confidence in Wei, and many merchants, small clans, and handicraftsmen left Daliang with their families, some moved to Qichu and other countries, and some did not move to foreign countries, but also moved to the east of Wei, away from Daliang.

After the loss of Xingkou, the king of Wei pretended to take the opportunity to suppress the clan clan and regain power, and the remnants of the clan launched a counterattack, which caused civil strife in Daliang, until Wei Zheng led the army to Daliang, and then quelled the rebellion of the remnants of the clan clan, although the civil strife was not long this time, but it also caused a lot of casualties and losses, and now there are only so many people left.

After the civil strife subsided, Wei Zeng organized all the remaining personnel in the city, and organized all the men over the age of fifteen and under the age of fifty into an army, so that the army of about 100,000 could be reorganized without force.

However, Wei Zeng also knew that the combat effectiveness of the army was conceivable in this way, so he divided the army into more than 34,000 people, including 5,000 people brought by Wei Zeng, who served as the main force to defend the city; There were about 42,000 young men over the age of 18 and under the age of 35, who prepared the army for the main force and assisted the main army in defending the city; the rest are logistically transported armies; At the same time, more than 60,000 young and middle-aged women and children were compiled, which was also responsible for the logistics affairs in the city.

After listening to Wei Zheng's introduction, Gao Yuan also smiled bitterly, although there are a lot of troops in Daliang City, but there are actually only more than 30,000 people who can really fight, plus the generation army he brought, there are about 50,000, that is to say, guarding Daliang City mainly relies on these more than 50,000 troops, and the Qin army attacked Daliang this time, and the total number of troops invested was about 300,000, which were basically battle-hardened soldiers. Fortunately, Daliang City has strong and tall city walls, and the fortifications are also very complete, otherwise there would be no need to fight this battle.

Gao Yuan asked again: "How much grain and grass are there in the city now?" ”

Wei Zeng said: "The grain and grass materials in the city are quite sufficient, and now there are about 1.6 million stones of grain in the treasury, more than 500,000 catties of salt, and more than 27,000 heads of various cattle, sheep and livestock, plus the people should still have some grain in stock, so the grain in the city can support at least more than one year. In addition, other materials in the city are also very sufficient, all kinds of weapons and armor are completely sufficient, there are more than 500 large bed crossbows and trebuchets each, and there are nearly 1,000 other city defense equipment and vehicles. And I have collected a lot of stones in the past few days, and now there are fewer inhabitants in the city, and there are a large number of houses that can be demolished for the defense of the city. ”

The plateau is a little relieved, it seems that it is not all bad news, because the first point of the city defense war is to reserve sufficient food and materials in the city, as long as the food is sufficient, then the defender's heart will not be shaken, since ancient times, there are many cities lost, not because they can't hold it, but because the food in the city is cut off, and the result is self-destruction without a fight.

According to the plateau's estimates, Daliang City will definitely not last for a year. And when he left Daliang, he only took away the property of the clan family, and did not touch the treasury of Daliang, which seems to be the right thing.

Of course, this is also related to the large reduction of the population in Daliang City, if there are still 500,000 people in Daliang City, then the current stock of grain can only support more than half a year, and the plateau still has a certain confidence in holding Daliang for about half a year.

But at this time, Gao Yuan's heart moved, and he said: "An Chengjun, there is one thing you have to answer me truthfully." ”

Wei Zeng was stunned for a moment and said, "What's the matter?" Wu Anjun, please feel free to ask. ”

Gao Yuan said in a deep voice: "What is the heart of the army and the people in the city now?" Do you have the determination to defend the Great Liang and fight to the death with the Qin army, or do you not want to fight a decisive battle with the Qin army at all, and even want to open the city and surrender to the Qin army. ”

Wei Zeng was silent for a while before he said: "If there are no people who want to surrender to the Qin army, it is naturally impossible, but I can guarantee to Wu Anjun that the vast majority of the military and civilians will not want to surrender to the Qin army, but will fight to the death with the Qin army and defend the Liang." After a pause, he further explained: "My Wei State has been repeatedly bullied by the Qin State, so the people in the country have a hatred for the Qin State, and in the last Battle of Daliang, the Qin army slaughtered several cities in a row, killing tens of thousands of people in the Wei State, and the people in the Daliang City will never surrender to the Qin army." ”

Gao Yuan nodded, the second point of the battle to defend the city is to have the same hatred of the enemy, the determination to defend the city, this is also very important, if you can't work together and stick to the determination to the end, then even if the grain and grass reserves in the city are abundant, it is useless. The third point of defending the city is to have strong city defense facilities, and the fourth point is to have external reinforcements.

In this way, the four key points account for at least the first three, and the external reinforcements are not completely absent, isn't it considered the foreign aid of the beams? Therefore the city has to be defended. And if it weren't for the fact that the Qin army still had the trick of water attack, it would be impossible for Daliang City to be broken before the food was cut off.

Gao Yuan thought for a while and said: "Anchengjun, I also tell you bluntly, although Daliang City can still be defended, but the current situation is much more difficult than the last time, although I will do my best to hold Daliang, but if the city is irretrievably broken, I can only lead the army to withdraw from Daliang." ”

Wei Zeng also smiled bitterly and said: "Wu Anjun can come to the rescue of Daliang regardless of his previous suspicions, he has already done his best to be benevolent and righteous, if Daliang really reaches the day when he can't hold it, he won't blame Wu Anjun, only blame our Wei State for dooming to destruction, and no one can save it." ”

Although Gao Yuan felt that Wei Zeng was very desolate, the reality was that it was impossible for Gao Yuan to accompany Daliang to be buried together, so there was something to be said.

At this time, Jiang Huanwu, Zhao Jiang, E Chongyu, Ling Feng, Lu Renjie and others had also come to the mansion and reported to the plateau that the soldiers of the Dai Army had basically settled down in the city, and at the same time, Jiang Huanwu and others also inspected the city wall under the leadership of Lu Renjie and learned about the defensive arrangement of the Wei army.

Now the city defense of Daliang is still tight, but the Wei army has completely retreated to the city of Daliang to garrison, and the position set up by the plateau outside the city has been completely lost, and at this time, the position of the Qin army has advanced to within a thousand steps of the city wall. Fortunately, the high walls of Daliang City are thick, and the loss of positions outside the city does not have much impact.

So Gao Yuan gathered everyone together, summoned the first meeting to defend the city, and said: "The biggest weakness of the defense of the city is that it must be exhaustive and scattered, and the besieging side can concentrate its forces and attack a little, so the defense of the city must not be completely evenly arranged on the defensive line, and must ensure that there are enough mobile troops." I decided to use the Dai army as a mobile force and deploy it according to the situation of the war, and the Wei army would be the army that fixed the defense of the city. ”

Lu Renjie nodded and said: "Wu Anjun's words are reasonable, although the number of the acting army is small, but he is brave and good at fighting, and it is the most suitable to be a mobile force." ”

Gao Yuan continued: "The city wall is divided into four sides, and each side arranges 5,000 main troops and 7,000 reserve troops, a total of 12,000 troops, and the rest is used as a rotational supplement. Moreover, the defenders of each side were guaranteed to have 2,000 archers, 1,000 crossbow archers, and a large number of bed crossbows and 60 trebuchets each, and the rest of the troops and weapons were to be arranged according to the situation of the battle. The arrangement for the transfer of the Wei army was taken care of by General Lu. ”

Lu Renjie hurriedly got up and said, "Yes." ”

Gao Yuan turned his head to Wei Zhuang and said, "Anchengjun, you take all the craftsmen and personnel out of the army, and gather them together to take responsibility for manufacturing and repairing the equipment that defends the city. And the management of materials in the city is also up to you. ”

Wei Zeng said: "I must live up to my mission." ”

Gao Yuan nodded and said, "Now the Qin army has not launched an attack on Daliang, so from tomorrow, arrange personnel to go out of the city to cut down trees, the more the better, and the bigger the trees cut down, the better; The more cloth was collected in the city, and the women were asked to sew sacks, and the more they went out of the city to fill in the earth and pack them, the better. ”

Lu Renjie was stunned for a moment, and said: "Wu Anjun, defending the city does require a lot of tree materials, which is understandable, but what to do with the sand bag, we now have a city wall to defend, and we don't need a sand bag." ”

Gao Yuan said: "If the Qin army wants to break through the beam, the only way is to divert the water of the Yellow River to irrigate the city, so we must be prepared to flood the city, we need a lot of rafts and furniture, cutting wood is to build more rafts, and sand bags are used to store water." ”

When the generals heard this, they suddenly realized, Wei Zhuang got up and said, "Okay, I'll arrange it immediately." Early tomorrow morning, they will immediately send people out of the city to cut down trees and dig earth. ”

Gao Yuan said again: "General Jiang, you will lead the army out of the city tomorrow to cover the logging personnel." ”

Jiang Huanwu also immediately got up and said, "Yes." ”