Chapter 561 Suspension of Siege

Jia Xu took a step forward and said with a serious face: "Report to my lord, according to statistics, our army suffered casualties of more than 2,000 soldiers today, including more than 1,200 killed in action and more than 900 seriously injured."

Yao was already mentally prepared, but Liu Ye still couldn't help but frown. There were too many casualties among the soldiers. However, more than 2,000 soldiers were killed or injured in one day. If this continues, wouldn't it take less than a month to catch up with all the more than 40,000 soldiers?

Guo Jia shook his head: "Our army can't attack the city like this, otherwise our soldiers will be dead and wounded before we can capture Yecheng."

Liu Ye nodded, suddenly turned around, and asked Guan Hai curiously: "Zifu, when you were in the Yellow Turban Army, how did you attack the city?"

When the Yellow Turbans first emerged, they swept across eight states and captured many fortified cities. Maybe the Yellow Turbans had some unique siege skills.

Guan Hai rubbed his head: "General, when it comes to our methods of attacking the city, it is nothing more than attacking the city with ants, attacking with earth, and attacking with tunnels."

The so-called ant attack on a city simply means using human lives to fight a bloody path. Human lives are like ants. Once a fortified city is encountered, it is generally difficult to capture it in the face of rain of arrows.

In earth-based siege, the siege party digs earth in front of the city wall. The earth gets higher and higher, gradually forming a ladder, which is built on the city wall. The soldiers on the siege side step on the earth barrier to attack the city.

However, these two methods are generally applied to small and medium-sized cities, and they are unable to deal with large cities. In particular, Yecheng is one of the few fortified cities in the world. The city wall alone is three to five feet high. If you want to build a mound of earth to reach Yecheng, you don't know how high the earthen wall needs to be.

Tunnel siege is also one of the common methods of siege. Back then, Gongsun Zan retreated to Youzhou and stuck to Yijing. He built many forts and was determined to hold on. There were tens of thousands of Jizhou troops surrounding them, but they were helpless. In the end, Yuan Shao adopted Tian Feng's suggestion and determined to attack the city through tunnels.

Yuan Shao has a unit called the "Digging Army". This unit is not an elite division like the Death Soldiers and Euphorbia Soldiers, but a unit with a special function, which is used to dig tunnels.

The city of Yijing was very strong, so Yuan Shao ordered the digging troops to dig tunnels under the city of Yijing and use wooden sticks to support the gaps. Gongsun's army did not know how to get in. After a few months, the entire underground of Yijing City was actually hollowed out. However, because It was supported by wooden sticks, so no clues were found.

The Dizi Army retreated successfully. Before leaving, they set a fire under Yijing City. The flames burned the wooden sticks. Without support, Yijing City quickly fell. The surrounding walls collapsed in an instant. The Youzhou army was in chaos. As a group, the Jizhou army took advantage of the situation to cover up the enemy and won a complete victory.

"Otherwise, our army can use tunnels to attack the city?" Guo Jia suggested: "Yecheng is an important town in Hebei Province. I'm afraid it will be difficult to capture it in a hurry. It will be difficult to capture the city with ants and fortresses. This tunnel attack The city can give it a try."

"Wen He, what do you think?"

Jia Xu said slowly: "You can give it a try."

Seeing Jia Xu's tone, Liu Ye still didn't understand that using tunnels to attack the city would not be effective even for a while. It was just a helpless method under difficulties.

"That's all." Liu Ye said in a deep voice: "From tomorrow on, don't attack the city in large numbers. It will only cause the loss of soldiers."

"What do you mean, General?"

"Starting tomorrow, we will only encircle, not attack!" Liu Ye said slowly.

"Only siege but not attack?" Guo Jia and Jia Xu were thoughtful.

"Yes." Liu Ye explained: "The city of Yecheng is strong. A strong attack will only cost the lives of the soldiers. Attacking the city at the cost of human lives is not a wise thing. Anyway, Yecheng is surrounded by our army, so there is no need to worry for the moment. Besides, our army transports grain and grass via waterways, so we don’t have to worry about running out of grain and grass, we just need to wait patiently, and fighters will naturally appear.”

Since ancient times, it is not uncommon for siege battles to go on for many years. In the battle between Qin and Zhao Changping, Lian Po led the Zhao army to confront the Qin army for three years. In the battle to destroy Qin, Wang Jian was stationed at the border of Chu for a year. Yecheng and others Don't worry about it for a few months.

In fact, it is nothing to be stationed. The key issue is the consumption of food and grass. As the saying goes, if you transport food a thousand miles, the people will starve. If you transport food by land, it will take a month to travel a thousand miles. If a farmer carries a month's worth of food, he will just eat it all.

However, the Liangzhou Army did not have to worry about this problem, because Gao Chong had already led the navy to occupy the Yellow River and could transport military supplies down the river from Luoyang to Hebei. The water transportation was very fast and there was no need to recruit civilians. Convenient. It was precisely because of the navy to transport food that Liu Ye dared to make up his mind to besiege Yecheng for a long time.

Guo Jia was worried and said: "However, both Cao Cao and Liu Biao were ordered by Yuan Shao to besiege Nanyang and Yanzhou. If the general stays in Yecheng for a long time, what if there is a change in the rear?"

Liu Ye laughed and said confidently: "Don't worry, Junyi and Wenze are both talented generals in their own right. With them, Nanyang and Yanzhou are as stable as Mount Tai."

"The Jingzhou Army is neglected in battle formations, but Nanyang County under Junyi has been in battle formations for a long time. With the help of Fa Xiaozhi, even if the Jingzhou Army cannot be defeated, there will be no problem in stabilizing the situation."

Among the thirteen states of the Eastern Han Dynasty, all the heroes were mobilized following the Yellow Turban Rebellion and the crusade against Dong Zhuo. However, Jingzhou and Yizhou seemed to be aloof from the incident. Liu Biao and Liu Yan, as feudal officials, did not participate in the crusade against Dong Zhuo, so their troops naturally had less combat effectiveness. Weak, otherwise Liu Biao would not have been beaten by Sun Jian until he ran away with his head in his arms.

Zhang Ya is a veritable general and even a handsome man. No matter who Jingzhou uses as a general, he will not be Zhang Ya's opponent. In the original historical trajectory, Fa Zheng was the opponent of Zhang Jaw in the battle of Dingjun Mountain. Fa Zheng assisted Lao Huang Zhong in killing Xia Houyuan, and the Wei army was in chaos. At the critical moment, it was Guo Huai who recommended Zhang Jaw as commander. , and held on until Cao Cao arrived with his army.

Now that the two people, who were originally enemies of each other, are working together, I believe that Zhang Jia's ingenuity and Fazheng's ingenuity will have an unexpected effect.

Liu Ye said with deep eyes: "As for Cao Cao, haha, Cao Mengde is determined to be in the world, I'm afraid he won't be willing to send troops and food for Yuan Shao."

Guo Jia nodded approvingly: "Yes, Cao Cao and Yuan Shao are very similar in appearance. They were playmates when they were young. However, Cao Cao is definitely not willing to become Yuan Shao's subordinate. Even if he attacks Yanzhou, it will be a feint attack. With General Wen's ability, It’s more than enough to defend Yanzhou.”

Now Liu Ye is sitting in the Guanzhong Sanqin land as the rear area, with sufficient food and grass, and many soldiers and generals, so it is not a waste to open up two and a half battlefields around it.

"In this case, the siege of the city will begin tomorrow. Remember - only siege, not attack."

In Ye City, the atmosphere was also tense, and Yuan Shao had a calm face.