Chapter 1059: Strong Enemy

The next morning, after the soldiers had finished their meal, they marched out of the camp to the sound of drums and horns, and officially began the attack on Jinzhou City.

At this time, on the top of the city, the soldiers guarding the city of Qi saw the enemy outside the city approaching the city from all directions, and they were full of tension and anxiety, but also had a hint of expectation.

In the past, the enemy had been besieging but not attacking for many days, and the generals in the city did not allow them to go out of the city to attack the enemy. They had been in a stalemate, and the atmosphere in the city was dull and torturous. Now that the enemy has finally launched an offensive, whether the situation develops well or badly, it has entered a new stage after all, and it is no longer the dull and depressing situation before.

Since the people in the city have not left the city to make any defensive arrangements, there are basically no obstacles such as trenches and chevaux de frise outside the city. The siege troops and siege equipment of the Western Wei side can be directly advanced to the city to launch an attack.

In this first round of trial attack, the Wei army did not take any fierce siege measures, but first used battering rams to hit the city walls to find the weak points on the city walls.

However, such attempts were more or less futile. Although the Qi army soldiers in the city did not leave the city, they also seized the time to strengthen the city defense. Not only were all the city walls properly repaired, but there was also a layer of rammed earth inside, which made the inner and outer walls extremely solid, and the city walls were completely blocked from the inside, which could be said to have no loopholes.

Although the Wei army deployed more than a dozen battering rams in the first battle to attack the city walls from different angles and directions, the huge battering rams only made a dull sound when they hit the city walls, and the damage to the city walls was minimal.

On the contrary, because the soldiers who controlled the battering rams probably underestimated their opponents and were not well protected, many people were injured by stray arrows and fallen wood on the top of the city. The enemy generals on the top of the city were also running around quickly, issuing counterattack orders one after another, and all kinds of defensive counterattack operations were also in order.

"It seems that there are still smart veterans in the city."

Li Tai watched the offensive and defensive battles between the two sides outside the city, and commented with a smile.

Liang Shiyan and other generals looked a little unhappy. Since the beginning of the war, they have always been the dominant and active party. The enemy has been hiding in the city, which also made these soldiers secretly despise and arrogant. As a result, they found that they could not gain any advantage in the battle. Naturally, it was a bit embarrassing.

"I would like to recruit brave warriors in the camp to attack the enemy's front line with ladders!"

Liang Shiyan immediately clasped his fists and said, trying to save face a little by attacking the city more violently.

After hearing this, Li Tai waved his hand and said, "That's not necessary. First, build a hill of earth from the east of the city to top the city wall, and then dig a tunnel from the south of the city to divert the Fen River to irrigate the city wall. It doesn't have to be quick, it's better to be careful, especially to be vigilant against thieves attacking the camp at night."

At present, there is no super effective method to attack the city, including the Heyang Cannon that Li Tai used repeatedly before, which is to create an atmosphere greater than the actual destructive power. It needs to be carried out to a certain stage before it can be used as a means to destroy the enemy's confidence in holding on. It may not be very effective if it is put into use at the beginning of the war.

Although the soldiers in this city have been hiding in the past, and have not played the responsibilities and obligations that Pingyang City, a border defense town, should bear, but from the perspective of the city defense itself, it is not bad, the defense is very solid, and the morale of the city is also maintained. At least it is not the kind of soldiers who have no fighting spirit and will be broken at the first attack.

Regarding the attack on Jinzhou City, Li Tai did not want to adopt a siege method that would cause too many casualties. First, there was no need for that, and second, there was plenty of time. A normal siege would be enough to tire out the enemy. Another advantage of taking the initiative in the war was that there was no need to sacrifice a large number of soldiers' lives in exchange for time.

Not to mention the slightly conservative siege method of the Wei army outside the city, as the offensive came to an end, the defenders on the top of the city also breathed a sigh of relief. The atmosphere was already dark clouds pressing down on the city, but in the end, only a drizzle fell, which naturally made people secretly feel lucky.

Especially for a guy like Wei Can who was already panicking before the official start of the war, when he saw with his own eyes that the enemy's offensive was not fierce, he immediately regained his courage.

As the enemy troops outside the city temporarily retreated back to the camp, Wei Can quickly climbed up to the top of the city wall again, looked at the slightly messy ground outside the city, and laughed: "The Qiang bandits came with great momentum, and they thought they were brave, but in the end they showed their cowardice in the battle. It turns out that their skills are limited to this, so what is there to be afraid of! In my opinion, when we come to fight again, there is no need to defend the city wall blindly, we can use the surprise troops to take the initiative to attack and catch the enemy off guard!"

Xian Yu Shirong, the town commander who had been supervising the battle on the top of the city, heard that Wei Can was a little too excited again, and hurriedly said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, you should not Don't take it lightly. The enemy forces outside the city are powerful, several times larger than ours, and they have already bypassed the city and entered the strategic points. This is an isolated city, and the best strategy is to defend it. Without the confirmed news of reinforcements, we should not attack easily. "

Wei Can just said it casually to save his previous timid performance. Naturally, he would not insist on going out of the city to fight. After hearing this, he nodded, and then looked at Xian Yu Shirong and others and said: "I am not good at deployment and winning against the enemy, but I am obliged to be close to the relatives of the meritorious officials and to select talents for the country!

The military affairs of this city are all in your hands. If we cannot win, you and I will both be defeated by the enemy, and there is nothing to say. But if you can defeat the enemy, I will definitely praise your achievements after I return to the court, and I will not let the heroes go unnoticed! "

Hearing Wei Can say this, Xian Yu Shirong and others also secretly breathed a sigh of relief. To be honest, the biggest unstable factor in the city is Wei Can. As long as this guy can be quiet and not interfere in the city defense affairs, with the various reinforcements they have made to the city defense in the past few days, it should not be difficult to hold on for a while.

Although the Wei army's thunderous and light attack method made the Jinzhou City defenders feel relieved, the emergency letter that Wei Can sent people out of the city to swim to Fenxi and then sent back in fear caused an uproar everywhere.

The first to learn about this was Jinyang. In recent days, Jinyang has recruited troops from all sides, and soldiers from all sides have been gathering in an endless stream. When the Jinzhou City envoys finally arrived in Jinyang after traveling day and night in the mountains and forests, Jinyang had gathered 60,000 to 70,000 troops again, because As the strength of the armor gradually increased, Qi Lord Gao Yang gradually regained his courage and vigor.

However, when he saw the urgent letter from Jinzhou saying that the Western Wei army had 200,000 or 300,000 people, and the messenger repeatedly described the strength of the Wei army, Gao Yang suddenly became a little unconfident.

However, since it was known that the main forces of the enemy had been deployed here to fight, the Northern Qi side could no longer be too conservative, and should take active actions to siege and attack the enemy. If the enemy was allowed to capture Jinzhou City and have a stable military base, it would be difficult to take Jinzhou back with its current military strength.

If Jinzhou was captured by the Western Wei, it would be like holding a sharp knife directly at the throat of the Northern Qi. Even if Jinyang could be undisturbed for a while, if Gao Yang wanted to capture Jinyang and Ye as in previous years, it would be very difficult. I am afraid that they can't move freely.

Once the emperor's own movements are restricted and he has to stay somewhere for a long time, then according to the personnel situation within the Northern Qi, one of Jinyang and Hebei will definitely fail!

Although Gao Yang has been sometimes bright and sometimes dim in recent years, he has always been very clear about these personnel issues within his regime. The gains and losses of Jinzhou are not just the gains and losses of military border defense. Once Jinzhou can't be defended, a series of personnel conflicts within the Northern Qi will soon become obviously intensified, and even he, the emperor, will find it difficult to balance any operations.

However, the enemy's strength is strong at the moment, and the troops in Jinyang have not yet fully recovered, and they are not enough to serve as the main force of this counterattack. Moreover, with the loss of the two important roads of Queshu Valley and Qianlijing, it will take some time to reopen them.

So Gao Yang ordered Nan'an Wang Gao Sihao, who had just led his army to Jinyang from Shuozhou, to lead 20,000 divisions to the south, and together with Hedong Wang Pan Zihuang, he tried to reopen the main road to the south. At the same time, he asked Tang Yong to increase the recruitment of troops, and all the borders where the situation was not very important were all drawn to Jinyang.

During the period when Jinyang continued to recruit troops and accumulate strength, Pingyuan Wang Duan Shao could only be the main force to attack the enemy in Yedu. The troops of Yedu and Heyang added up to more than 100,000. Even if they could not completely defeat the enemy, they could make the enemy exhausted and weaken their morale through continuous harassment.

At that time, Jinyang would gather enough armored soldiers and open up the passage to the south. Then, they could give the enemy a head-on blow under the army, and make Li Boshan, the cunning and stubborn enemy, pay a heavy price. At that time, not to mention Jinzhou, even Hedong could be captured in one go!

Soon, Gao Yang's order reached Yedu. At this time, Yedu had withdrawn nearly 60,000 troops from Heyang.

Duan Shao had already led 20,000 troops into Fukou. If he was to serve as the main force to counterattack the enemy at this stage, 20,000 troops were obviously not enough.

After receiving the emperor's edict, Gao Yan, who stayed in Yedu, hurriedly sent an envoy to Fukou to discuss with Duan Shao. He decided to send all the troops in Yedu to reinforce Duan Shao, and then continue to mobilize troops from Heyang to return to Yedu as a reserve force to maintain the security of Yedu.

However, when Gao Yan's transfer order was sent to Heyang again, it was opposed by Heyang's garrison commander Hulugu. Hulugu did not follow the order to continue to arrange for the return of troops, but went to Yedu in person to express his views to the King of Changshan in person.