My father Liu Xuande

Chapter 592 Zhao Wei Asks for Help
"good."

Yan Pu's answer was exactly what Zhang Wei had guessed, but he remained calm: "We just can't take action for the time being. We need to continue to observe. If the troops at Tianxiong Pass continue to be withdrawn, then that will be a good opportunity to seize it."

Zhang Wei stood up excitedly and paced around the tent. After a moment, he turned to Yan Pu and tentatively asked, "According to the Chief Clerk's plan, do we still need to attack the city?"

Yan Pu remained silent, his mind racing with calculations.

Zhang Wei's words were not entirely wrong. If there was no direct pressure, why would Jiameng Pass draw troops from Tianxiong Pass?

This troop redeployment is likely due to the pressure exerted on Jiameng Pass yesterday, which made the defending general fearful and forced him to redeploy troops from the rear to strengthen the defense.

If this conclusion is taken as the basis, then we should not only not stop, but also continue to intensify our offensive, at least until Tianxiong Pass is undefended.

Thinking of this, Yan Pu couldn't help but feel a pang of heartache.

In yesterday's battle, the Hanzhong army suffered more than a thousand casualties. Fortunately, the Hanzhong army still controlled the battlefield this time. Apart from the more than four hundred who died on the spot, most of the other thousand wounded were rescued. Only a few wounded on the city walls and below could not be rescued and were left to be dealt with by the enemy.

In this way, the permanent loss of the Hanzhong army would be no more than five or six hundred men.

If this fighting continues, not only will Yan Pu object, but even Zhang Wei wouldn't dare to act so recklessly.

However, if we just hold on for a few more days, this matter might not be impossible.

After all, from another perspective, taking down a dangerous pass like Tianxiong at the cost of thousands of lives is undoubtedly a great victory.

Thinking of this, Yan Pu immediately nodded in agreement: "I think we should rest for a day today and continue the attack on the city tomorrow."

Zhang Wei naturally had no objection and immediately nodded in agreement.

**
The Hanzhong army fared relatively well at Jiameng Pass, while Zhao Wei's troops suffered a series of misfortunes at the gates of Chengdu.

Initially, the siege failed, forcing them to cripple Li Yi's forces. However, Li Yi's flanking force was then attacked from both inside and outside by Huang Quan, suffering a crushing defeat and losing thousands of soldiers.

As the fighting progressed, the morale and confidence of the Dongzhou soldiers, who had been chased by Zhao Wei across most of the Sichuan Plain, actually recovered considerably. Now, they even dared to leave the city and engage Zhao Wei's army in open battle. What shocked Zhao Wei even more was that the result of the open battle was a draw, which was quite alarming.

Zhao Wei's troops were able to advance rapidly, reaching the walls of Chengdu, and defeat the enemy with equal numbers, relying on their advantage in open field battles.

Once this advantage is lost, many hidden dangers on Zhao Wei's side will become uncontrollable.

Zhao Wei became anxious.

Just then, Liu Feng's third batch of aid supplies arrived, including 600 sets of leather suits, 8,000 long and short weapons, and 30,000 shi of grain.

Such generous aid, with each item being exactly what Zhao Wei's army desperately needed, arrived just in time when morale was low, greatly boosting the confidence of Zhao Wei's troops from top to bottom.

However, excessive confidence is not always a good thing. If it is mixed with anxiety, it may create a huge hidden danger.

At this moment, Zhao Wei was just like that.

After discussing with his generals, Zhao Wei decided to launch another offensive against Chengdu.

Although the morale of Zhao Wei's troops was low during this period, the siege equipment in the camp continued to be built step by step, and now more than a hundred siege weapons have been accumulated.

There were as many as six battering rams with skin alone, and countless other siege engines such as ladders, siege towers, siege towers, catapults, and battering rams.

The following day, Zhao Wei rewarded the entire army with wine and meat.

After resting for another day, the army launched another fierce attack on Chengdu.

This offensive was different from the previous ones. Zhao Wei's army was well prepared and brought with them hundreds of siege weapons.

With so many weapons, even the defenses of Chengdu were struggling.

Zhao Weijun first used chariots to dig and advance the earth in twelve routes, and then filled in the moat of Chengdu.

The moat of Chengdu was originally fed by the Pijiang and Jianjiang rivers, but Zhao Wei blocked the water source by filling in the outer perimeter with earth and building dikes. After this period of filling in the earth, many places have been filled in to create a channel.

Immediately afterwards, various siege weapons began to advance along these channels to the city walls, and fierce battles broke out between the two sides on and around the city walls.

Zhao Wei's army was bloodthirsty from top to bottom. In addition, Zhao Wei had previously stated that once Chengdu was captured, all the wealth in the treasury would be distributed to the people, and the swords would not be sheathed for three days.

These temptations, coupled with Zhao Wei's promise of a hefty reward before the battle—a thousand gold pieces and a three-rank promotion for the first to scale the city walls—brought Zhao Wei's army to its peak morale, and they charged fearlessly toward the walls of Chengdu.

Similarly, Liu Zhang in the city also became ruthless, offering huge rewards. Those who made contributions would be promoted on the spot, and those who were beheaded would receive an extra bolt of silk in addition to the normal reward.

Both sides were bloodthirsty and fought fiercely from dawn until dusk.

In just one day, the casualties on both sides reached more than 7,000, with the casualty ratio being almost equal.

The next morning, Zhao Wei continued his fierce attack on Chengdu.

The two sides fought fiercely from dawn until dusk, leaving countless scars and bloodstains on the walls of Chengdu.

However, after a relentless seven-day attack, which resulted in over 30,000 casualties on both sides, the Shu army ultimately managed to hold the city.

The reason for this outcome was twofold. Firstly, within Chengdu, only the Dongzhou soldiers and Huang Quan's troops were truly brave and skilled in battle. The other Shu troops were significantly weaker than Zhao Wei's Ba Commandery troops, not to mention the valiant Cong soldiers and Zhao Wei's well-equipped main force. Secondly, Zhao Wei had prepared for this attack for a long time, building a large number of siege weapons, intending to storm Chengdu in one fell swoop.

Huang Quan's troops, who were defending Chengdu, had already left, leaving the city entirely to be held up by the Dongzhou soldiers. This is why the casualties on both sides were roughly equal. In fact, if Chengdu hadn't been so well-fortified, and if Huang Quan hadn't previously inflicted a major defeat on the Shu army, which had significantly boosted their morale, the Shu army might not have been able to achieve such a result.

By the eighth day, Zhao Wei was truly exhausted and unable to continue the attack. More than 10,000 casualties were far too heavy for an army of this era. Even Zhao Wei's beloved main force suffered as many as 4,000 casualties, and the Ba people also had more than 1,800 dead. The total number of casualties in the army had exceeded 16,000.

Even though Zhao Wei had completely dropped his pretense and conscripted a large number of able-bodied men from Fucheng, Mianzhu, and Luocheng to replenish his troops with more than 10,000 young men, it was still not enough to sustain such heavy casualties.

The fact that they suffered such heavy casualties but still failed to capture Chengdu was an extremely heavy blow to Zhao Wei's army.

Of course, things weren't so easy inside Chengdu either. Of the more than 36,000 soldiers in the city, 14,000 were killed in battle, including more than 5,000 who died in battle. Two-thirds of them were from Dongzhou.

If the wounded are included, of the more than 23,000 Dongzhou soldiers at the beginning of the war, less than 14,000 remain.

The 15,000 Shu soldiers also suffered heavy casualties, with only about 10,000 remaining capable of fighting.

Liu Zhang initially considered abandoning his plan to defeat the enemy and ordering Huang Quan to return to Chengdu to reinforce the city. However, he ultimately steadied himself after being persuaded by generals such as Zhang Song, Zhang Ren, Liu Gui, Leng Bao, and Fu Jin, and did not order Huang Quan's recall. It was precisely this support from Liu Zhang that led to an unexpected and great victory for him.

On the ninth day of the eleventh month, which was the sixth day of Zhao Wei's siege of the city, the battle reached its climax.

Huang Quan secretly led 4,000 elite troops from Guangdu at night, and joined the remaining 5,000 elite troops at Jiangyuan, making a total of 9,000 troops. Among them, 2,000 were Huang Quan's own troops, 1,000 were Huang family retainers, and the remaining 6,000 were elite troops selected from the Shu army, and were commanded by the famous Shu generals Yang Huai and Gao Pei.

Huang Quan led these nine thousand men northward along the Shou River, a tributary of the Min River. They crossed the Shou River at what would later become Guanxian County, and then headed straight for Pixian County.

At this time, there were only a thousand soldiers guarding Pixian City, and the local gentry and powerful families hated Zhao Wei to the extreme.

In just a few days, Zhao Wei had already conscripted 4,000 able-bodied men, 280,000 shi of grain, and countless other valuables, cloth, chickens, ducks, cattle, and sheep from Pixian and Xindu counties.

Although this is not a city-wide cleanup, it is really not much different from one.

The four thousand able-bodied men nearly drained the two counties, and even the retainers and sons of the powerful clans were conscripted. As for the two hundred and eighty thousand shi of grain, it was a death sentence for the local powerful clans, almost robbing them of their entire fortune.

It should be noted that when Liu Zhang withdrew his troops, he emptied the treasury. These 280,000 shi of grain were all the stored goods of local gentry and powerful families, as well as the new grain harvested in autumn.

It can be said that Zhao Wei left the locals no way to survive.

Therefore, after Huang Quan contacted the powerful clans and gentry in the city, they immediately turned against him and opened the city gates to welcome him in.

In less than five days, Huang Quan had captured Pixian, Xindu, and Luocheng in succession.

Although Cheng Ji was guarding Luocheng with three or four thousand soldiers, the entire city rebelled.

Luocheng alone was mobilized twice, once for two thousand able-bodied men and once for three thousand. Even with its large population, Luocheng could not withstand such a massive drain on its resources.

After Huang Quan entered the city, he headed straight for the prefectural capital. Cheng Ji led the garrison in a desperate resistance, but they were ultimately outnumbered and defeated, and Cheng Ji was captured.

At this point, Huang Quan completely cut off Zhao Wei's retreat route.

Even at this point, Zhao Wei was still struggling with whether or not to ask Liu Feng for help while standing outside the city of Chengdu.

Although Zhao Wei had suffered heavy casualties at this time, he still had some strength left. In addition, although Liu Zhang abandoned the surrounding counties of Chengdu and retreated to defend Chengdu, he did not adopt a scorched earth policy.

In this way, Zhao Wei easily reaped the autumn harvest in the northern Chengdu Plain, and his grain reserves increased significantly, so he no longer needed to worry about food for a short period of time.

Zhao Wei's decision to seek reinforcements stemmed from a severe blow to his confidence. He began to doubt whether he could conquer Chengdu on his own.

Just as Zhao Wei was caught in a dilemma, news suddenly came from behind that Luocheng had fallen and Cheng Ji had been captured. It was like a thunderbolt, leaving Zhao Wei completely stunned.

"This...how is this possible!?"

Zhao Wei slumped into his seat, staring blankly at his trusted confidants, including Li Yi and Pang Le. Li Yi and Pang Le, however, were just as bewildered and helpless as he was, looking utterly lost.

Seeing that he was not getting a response, Zhao Wei had no choice but to raise his voice: "Say something, what should we do now?"

"Father, we should quickly request reinforcements from General Zuo."

At the crucial moment, it was Zhao Sheng who spoke up.

Although Zhao Sheng was also visibly panicked and his face was deathly pale, he still managed to tremble as he mentioned Liu Feng.

"Yep!"

Li Yi and Pang Le also suddenly woke up and nodded repeatedly.

Even Du Yue, the King of the Ba Kingdom, nodded repeatedly.

With Luocheng captured by Huang Quan, Zhao Wei's army was trapped and starving outside Chengdu. To make matters worse, most of the army's provisions were concentrated in Luocheng, with a batch of food being transported there every ten days.

Judging by the time, the grain transport team should be setting off soon...

"not good!"

Zhao Wei, seemingly drawing strength from nowhere, suddenly stood up and shouted at Li Yi, "Quickly lead your men to meet the supply convoy! We cannot afford any failure!"

Hearing Zhao Wei's reprimand, Li Yi also came to his senses and hurriedly replied, "Your subordinate will go right away!"

Immediately, Li Yi hurriedly stood up, cupped his hands in greeting to Zhao Wei, and turned to leave the tent.

After leaving the camp, he mustered two thousand cavalrymen and headed northeast.

Zhao Wei's camp had last replenished its food supplies seven days ago, and a new supply convoy should already be on its way. The camp's current grain reserves are only enough for half a month; if something goes wrong with this batch, the trouble will be immense. With only half a month's worth of supplies, even if Liu Feng were to arrive immediately, it wouldn't be enough time.

Therefore, the latest batch of grain must be delivered safely, or the consequences will be unimaginable.

Zhao Wei was still not at ease when he saw that Li Yi had set off with cavalry to provide support, so he sent Du Yue with two thousand Cong soldiers to meet him.

The Zong soldiers were lightly equipped and skilled in raids, so Du Yue immediately agreed.

Zhao Wei then sent selected strong men across the Tuo River to Jiangzhou to plead for help, imploring Liu Feng to come to his aid.

Liu Feng received the message five days later.

Zhao Wei's messenger ran into Jiang Qin's troops at Niubi. Jiang Qin was shocked when he learned of the news and hurriedly sent a message to Jiangzhou at the highest level of protocol.

When Liu Feng saw the news, he was also greatly surprised and immediately summoned his close attendants to discuss how to deal with it.

When Zhao Wei raised his army, he had more than 50,000 men. He attacked and captured cities and strongholds along the way. When he reached Luocheng, he lost about 3,000 to 4,000 men. However, he recruited the retainers of powerful clans and wealthy families along the way, and his army not only did not decrease but increased to more than 60,000 men.

However, not all of these people were stationed on the front line. For example, there were more than 2,000 troops stationed at the main base in Dianjiang, and there were also troops stationed in Deyang and Guanghan along the way, ranging from 1,000 to 500.

In addition, for major cities like Fucheng and Mianzhu, which are close to the front lines, at least two or three thousand troops need to be stationed there to ensure the safety of the city and smooth traffic.

Therefore, Zhao Wei's army, which eventually reached the walls of Chengdu, actually numbered only around 50,000, which was even less than the total strength of Chengdu's forces. However, in terms of battle record and combat power, Zhao Wei's troops were indeed superior to the Shu army.

(End of this chapter)