My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 153 Battle of Hefei - Part

"Our army is not doing well in the first battle? What can I do? Isn't it a matter of head-on attack when attacking a city? There is no room for strategists to use tricks."

A day later, Zhuge Jin, who was in Shucheng, felt depressed when he received the "Summary of Lessons Learned by Soldiers on Using Siege Weapons" sent by Liu Bei in the front.

What can he do about this kind of thing?
Especially when he carefully looked at Guan Yu's suggestion to "add a ladder to the well so that people can get in and out of the car safely on the battlefield", Zhuge Jin's first reaction was:

Haven't well traps been around for hundreds of years? Haven't they been used like this for 400 years in the Han Dynasty?

If the Zhuge brothers did not exist today, and Guan Yu still encountered such a problem, who would he turn to for help? Or would he just "bear it and make do with it and it will pass."

"Alas, it seems that my second brother and I are too capable and have done too much work. The soldiers on the front line now feel that the equipment they have is a little uncomfortable and painful, so they are thinking about whether it can be modified.

Forget it, I'll just shoulder it once more, and let Aliang handle it next time. If that doesn't work, I'll ask Yueying to help Aliang share the burden."

Zhuge Jin prepared himself mentally before he could work hard. He felt that his plan was very smart.

He should have focused on reforms that had historical answers to copy, as that was his forte.

As for such micro-innovations and small improvements in applied technology, they will not be recorded in history books, and Zhuge Jin has no answers to copy. If he were to do it himself, he would have to start from the principles and logic, analyze and design bit by bit, and his work efficiency would not be higher than if he gave it to Huang Yueying or Liu Ye.

It would be better to train the apprentice well so that the master can have more free time. Huang Yueying didn't have many opportunities to ask for advice in person, so she could pass it on through Aliang.

……

After taking on the task of improving the frontline, Zhuge Jin could no longer sit still in Shucheng. Some things were better handled on the front line, so he immediately set off for the Hefei siege camp.

In the following days, he was busy running around, first solving the problem of Jinglan's "inability to replenish soldiers and transport the wounded on the battlefield."

The demands raised by Guan Yu were reasonable, but the solutions he proposed were obviously unreasonable.

Therefore, Zhuge Jin would not completely indulge Guan Yu in designing. He would use his own methods to analyze and meet the needs raised by Guan Yu.

Three days later, he presented the results and invited Guan Yu to visit.

Guan Yu came to the siege workshop excitedly and brought a gift. But at first glance, he found that the well-trampling car was exactly the same as the previous few days, without any changes. Guan Yu's face was a little embarrassed, thinking that he was fooled, or that the difficulty was too great and Ziyu wanted to fool him casually.

"This... If I am not mistaken, this siege tower seems to be exactly the same as the one used when attacking the city five days ago." Out of trust in the name Zhuge, Guan Yu politely confirmed a few questions before questioning.

Zhuge Jin pointed out directly: "You want to add armor to the ladders that are originally used to get on and off the truck bed. This is definitely unrealistic. The ladder is already difficult to push, and it will be even more difficult to push after adding weight. Moreover, it is easy to fall over due to the change in the center of gravity.

So, I chose not to modify the vehicle body, but only drilled two holes at the back of the truck bed, reinforced it, and then built this two-section retractable ladder, which can be transported separately from the vehicle body. After the vehicle body is pushed to the shooting position, a few soldiers will be sent to carry the ladder and hang it up.

This two-stage ladder has armor on the top. Because it is hung after the manhole is moved into place, there is no need to move with the ladder, so it doesn't matter if the center of gravity is slightly off.

The telescopic part below is to ensure that if the ladder is a little short after being hung up, the telescopic part can be extended to ensure that it supports the ground, and then tied tightly. In this way, the weight of the ladder itself is borne by the ladder legs, and the bucket of the well does not need to bear the "hanging" force, and the center of gravity will be more stable. "

Zhuge Jin knew very well: what customers wanted was not a hammer, but something to hammer nails into the wall.

All Guan Yu wants is the function. As for how to achieve this function, you can't listen to Guan Yu.

After Guan Yu saw Zhuge Jin's solution, he was confused at first, but soon he understood the benefits of this split design:
In this way, the center of gravity is indeed more stable. The harm caused by the shift of the center of gravity when subjected to static force is far less than that caused by the shift of the center of gravity during movement.

Moreover, any damaged part can be replaced separately, which is very suitable for wars of attrition.

"Okay, then next time I will only tell you the requirements and won't suggest how to change it. Everything is up to you, sir." Guan Yu adjusted his attitude very sincerely and thanked Zhuge Jin.

Zhuge Jin was stunned: Am I being fooled? Will the requirements of these parties become more and more general in the future? No matter what, it will be Aliang and Huang Yueying who will worry about it from now on.

……

Zhuge Jin did this three times and slightly improved the catapult's anti-arrow shield, which was also made into a split type, but could be fixed to the catapult's body through a slot.

In short, Zhuge Jin implemented all the requirements raised by the generals at the front in accordance with the principle of "modularize as much as possible, and try not to change the main body if a detachable accessory can be added to achieve it", using the lowest cost and most flexible way to achieve them.

Although there are no ready-made historical answers to these things, many things have never been done in history.

But who can blame Zhuge Jin for having a good brain and rigorous logic?

He solved several major problems one after another by simply relying on his own engineering management ideas that surpassed the ancients by 1,800 years, plus a little bit of the design concept of "Occam's razor principle".

Although doing so also left some side effects, because he found that the generals on the front line were becoming lazier and lazier, and their demands became more and more direct and they no longer considered how to achieve them.

Fortunately, Zhuge Jin still has absolute authority. If there are any demands that are too far-fetched and impossible to achieve, he can just say with a straight face, "This is impossible to do," and the client will accept it awkwardly.

They were not as arrogant as later IT company project managers when facing programmers.

Because they all believed that if Zhuge Jin said something was impossible, then no one in the world could do it, and at most they could try their luck with Zhuge Liang.

……

After the siege weapons were further improved according to actual battlefield needs, Liu Bei's army launched several rounds of offensives again within more than half a month.

Liu Bei would not wait until all the modifications were completed before taking action. He would launch an offensive after completing a batch of modifications, and then test the effect of the improvements in actual combat, which would directly translate into damage and consumption of Yuan's army. If other minor problems were found, he would continue to collect "front-line user feedback."

The improved battering ram, which had lower costs and better protection for the occupants, almost exhausted the kerosene in the city of Hefei through repeated feint attacks.

After the defenders were helpless against this consumable battering ram, Liu Xun had to change his plan and directly ordered his men to completely block the South Gate and the East Gate from the inside of the city gate with rammed earth and wood, ensuring that even if the Han army broke through the city gate, they would only see a pile of rammed earth several feet thick behind the gate.

Although this way, there is no need to worry about breaking through the gate, but the side effect is also serious, because Yuan Jun can no longer break out from the southeast gate. After the city gate is blocked, it also means that Yuan Jun’s thoughts of breaking out from this direction in the future are also cut off.

It was precisely because Liu Xun still had a glimmer of hope of breaking out by force that he did not dare to block all four gates. He also flexibly left the two northwest gates that were relatively less damaged, in order to keep a way out.

On both sides where Yuan's army was blocking the gate, the Han army could more unscrupulously order its long-range troops to build shelters such as formations and rattan shields, and approach the city walls to shoot arrows.

The Han army also improved the catapult with a detachable anti-arrow shield, which could be deployed to a more forward position because it was impossible for the enemy to rush out of the city to destroy the catapult.

As the siege of Hefei lasted, the outer moat was destroyed more and more thoroughly.

The channel through which the moat obtained water from the upstream Feishui River had long been blocked by the Han army, but the downstream outlet was dug out by the Han army to divert water, causing the water level of the moat to become lower and lower.

After Zhuge Jin discovered this situation, he suggested that Liu Bei install some catapults into the newly exposed moat at night and just compact and level the riverbed slightly.

In this way, just like in trench warfare, the river bank becomes the best cover for defending against arrows and rolling logs and stones, while the high-trajectory catapult can deliver damage without pressure in places where the enemy cannot reach.

The Han army's new chariots also made Liu Xun even more desperate in the war of attrition. Originally, in each battle, as long as the dozen or so archers in the chariots were either dead or injured and lost their combat effectiveness, the Yuan army's archers on the city walls could breathe a sigh of relief and no longer have to worry about being shot down by the enemy.

But now, once a soldier in the vehicle was injured, the Han army would actually lower him down with a hanging basket for treatment, and the newly added sharpshooters could also climb up again using the armored ladder to block arrows.

In this way, as long as the siege wall could not be broken remotely by catapults, Yuan's army would have to endure the constant suppression of bows and crossbows from high above, which would be a huge blow to morale.

Unfortunately, Liu Xun blocked the city gate, which meant he could not send death squads out of the city from the southeast to attack and destroy the wells, nor could he destroy the catapults hidden on the exposed riverbed after the water level dropped. Everything was interconnected. In order to gain the advantage of not breaking the city gate, he had to bear the disadvantages accordingly.

Liu Xun, who was forced into a desperate situation, actually showed some potential and began to study the trebuchet. Although he did not know how to improve the trebuchet, he could still make the backward ancient trebuchet, but its accuracy and performance would be a little worse.

It was a pity that it was a piece of junk made in a hurry. It was impossible to expect to smash the Han army's siege towers from a distance, or to use catapults to shoot back.

The crudely made weapons didn't have enough range and were even worse in accuracy. In the end, they did find that this crude slingshot weapon could at least be used to smash the ladders and planks of the Ge bus nearby, which was better than nothing.

……

Time passed and it was late July.

Twenty days had passed since the Han army's first offensive. The Han army had already launched five offensives in a continuous escalation.

Although Liu Xun also slightly adjusted and upgraded his equipment based on actual combat experience, the scale and effect were far inferior to those of the Han army, and he was completely passive in being beaten and consumed.

As the Han army became more and more sophisticated, the exchange ratio became more and more disparate with each siege.

The casualties of the Han army were already far lower than those of the Yuan army, especially since Ge Gongche was used as bait to lure out a large number of archers and dense formations of spears from the Yuan army, and then they used traps and catapults to reap the rewards.

However, Liu Xun knew that it would be a consumption of energy, but he had to respond, because if he did not respond, the enemy would really capture Hefei.

On July 20th, Liu Xun's spirit was finally on the verge of collapse. He numbed himself with drinking, and then finally an idea flashed in his mind.

The next day at noon, after waking up from a hangover, he summoned several of his generals and announced his desperate plan.

He was heard to order in a rather imposing manner: "Everyone, I have thought about this in the past few days. The enemy is using the wells and catapults to consume us! The battering rams and those giant tower carts are just baits that force us to deal with them!

If we continue to fight like this, our army will be wiped out in Hefei sooner or later! The city will definitely be breached before the end of the month! We can’t waste any more manpower! I’ve also seen that there are less than 10,000 soldiers still able to fight in the city, and the rest, even if they are still alive, are more or less injured!

So, I decided to go all out and fight back outside the city!"

All his generals were shocked when they heard this: "Counterattack? General! The enemy is strong and we are weak, how can we fight back now? That would be courting death!"

Liu Xun did not waver this time. It was obvious that he had made the proposal after careful consideration. He pointed in the direction of Guan Yu's position in the south of the city and said:

"Ever since our army blocked several city gates in the southeast, Guan Yu has become more and more arrogant since he learned the news. He even dared to deploy catapults on the riverbed exposed after the water level of the moat was lowered!
He knew that I couldn't open the city gates to fight back with the death squad, so he deployed more and more of our equipment to low-lying locations closer and closer to the city wall! You have been in Hefei for a long time, and you should know that the overall terrain of Hefei City is low-lying, and usually we have to rely on the dike of Xiaoyaojin to control the water level of the moat.

Once the Feishui embankment at Xiaoyaojin collapses, not only will the moat be filled and overflowing, but even the low-lying areas on the southeast side of the city will be flooded! So I decided to lead all the cavalry in the city to fight to the death tomorrow morning.

Open the north gate to attack Zhang Fei's camp, destroy the Xiaoyaojin embankment in the north of the city, and release the water to drown Guan Yu and Gan Ning's troops! This way our army has a glimmer of hope! "

At first glance, an outsider may not be able to tell whether Liu Xun's strategy is right or wrong.

But players who have played "Romance of the Three Kingdoms 11" should be familiar with it: the game is set up with several "dike" terrains in the southeast direction of Shouchun City. Once troops are sent to break the dams and the flood is released, the troops in the low-lying areas outside Shouchun City can be directly wiped out.

This is also one of the few terrains in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms 11" that allows water attack. The game does this just to simplify the geography. There is only one city in a county. Hefei is too small to be made into a separate city in the game, but only appears as an affiliated plot of Shouchun.

In fact, all the cities along the Fei River between the Huai River and Chaohu Lake have more or less this problem, that is, the surface of the Fei River may be higher than the ground of the city along the river, forming a certain suspended river.

This is a problem that has gradually accumulated since the Spring and Autumn Period, when Sun Shuao, prime minister of the State of Chu, built the Shaobei (que-bei) water conservancy project.

Therefore, Liu Xun's strategy was not wrong in terms of geography. The key issue was whether he had the strength to implement it.

After hearing this, the other generals all thought it was too bold and looked at each other in bewilderment. One of them reminded them, "General, Zhang Fei in the north of the city is not someone you can easily deal with. Don't be reckless!"

Liu Xun would not accept the advice any more, and waved his hand to signal everyone to shut up: "Our army has more than 27,000 people, and the casualties have already exceeded 10,000. Now there are only 2,000 cavalry left, which is still intact. We didn't need cavalry to defend the city before.

Since they have been gathering their strength for many days, the enemy has become paralyzed and is sure that we are too scared to open the gate to counterattack. We may be able to seize the opportunity at night. Moreover, it is said that Zhang Fei is addicted to alcohol and makes things difficult for him. It is impossible for him to station a large number of troops in Xiaoyaojin all the time.

We see an opportunity for Zhang Fei's siege troops to maneuver, and this is a life-or-death struggle!"

After saying this, he no longer allowed any doubts and waited for an opportunity. Finally, he chose the middle of the night, cooked at three o'clock in the morning, opened the north gate at four o'clock, and led all 2,000 cavalrymen in Hefei City to attack Xiaoyaojin, destroy the dike and flood Guan Yu and Gan Ning.

(End of this chapter)