My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 337: Even Le Yi can't be defeated, so what are you, Xiahou Yuan?

The tenth day of June, the seventh year of Jian'an.

That was the third day after Xiahou Yuan led 20,000 troops from Li Dian and Sun Guan to cut through the southern part of Langya County, cut all the way to the coast, and occupied Rizhao Port.

Xiahou Yuan personally led Zhang He, Gao Lan and 20,000 Cao troops to advance the battle line to the outside of Ju County, and surrounded Ju County from the east, west and south.

Of course, the Shushui River is to the west of Ju County, so the encirclement on the west side is an encirclement across the river. It is only to prevent Liu Bei’s army from breaking out from that direction and to ensure that the Shushui waterway is cut off. There will be no subsequent attack on Ju County from this direction.

During the entire siege, Xiahou Yuan did not seem anxious. He obviously wanted to give the defenders enough time to become frightened and waver, and to feel the noose slowly tightening around their necks.

After completing the three-sided encirclement, Xiahou Yuan asked Zhang He to prepare siege weapons, and asked Gao Lan to lead the charge. He first sent a bunch of people to curse and beat drums to cheer, holding shields to persuade the city to surrender:
"Listen up, fellow rebels under Yuan Tan! The imperial army has come here to suppress the rebellion. Yuan Shang of Jizhou has also surrendered to the imperial court. Join forces with Cao Sikong to kill Yuan Tan! The entire Qingzhou will be pulverized in no time!

"If you surrender early, General Xiahou will protect your entire city from harm! Otherwise, when the small city of Ju County is captured, no one will be left alive!"

Gao Shun, the general guarding the city wall, felt amused when he heard the insults and persuasion to surrender, but he could also understand why the other party did this - Cao Cao had turned a blind eye to the territorial transactions and garrison cooperation between Yuan Tan and Liu Bei. It was obvious that the soldiers in the city were all Liu Bei's soldiers, but he pretended not to know and pretended to attack them as Yuan's army.

Anyway, this kind of combat is more flexible, easier to adapt to changes, and it doesn't cost anything. It's a free and cost-free exercise, so just do it.

Moreover, this is also beneficial to ordinary soldiers of Cao's army, because the Yuan family has been defeated by Cao's army several times, and Cao's army has won victory after victory against Yuan's army, and Yuan Tan is the relatively weaker party after the split of the Yuan family.

Telling the soldiers that they were going to fight Yuan Tan would help boost the morale of Cao's army and make the soldiers feel that they were fighting a favorable battle.

The flag Gao Shun hung on the top of the city wall was indeed the flag of Yuan Tan's camp, so he joined in the fight and cursed back:
"Xiahou! I have long heard that you are illiterate and don't read history books. Today is true! How dare you look down on Ju County, the most powerful city in the world? If you have the guts, just attack the city and teach you, the thieves who deceive the emperor, a lesson!"

After being scolded, Gao Lan was confused for a moment, but he came here to scold first today. The siege weapons were not ready yet, and he could not attack immediately. He couldn't help but lose his momentum, and after returning, he had to tell Xiahou Yuan what happened on the front line.

Xiahou Yuan was also confused after hearing this. Although he did not read much, he had a good knowledge of military strategy and troop command skills. As a brave general, he had read everything he should read.

Xiahou Yuan: "Who is the commander guarding the city? What does he mean by that?"

Gao Lan: "It seems to be Gao Shun, but he is using the banner of Yuan Tan's general."

Xiahou Yuan stroked his beard and said, "I will personally inspect the siege position and see the situation."

Xiahou Yuan would be very cautious when inspecting the attack position. He would bring a guard team with him and have people holding shields to protect him. He would also stay far away from the range of the enemy's crossbows from the city walls.

After a while, Xiahou Yuan heard countless cursers on the city wall, swearing and explaining history to the soldiers who were preparing to attack the city.

"Back then, Le Yi led the coalition forces of five countries to attack Qi. Within half a year, they captured more than 70 cities of Qi, including the capital of Qi, Linzi. However, only Jimo and Juxian were left, and they were besieged for five years. Until Le Yi was replaced by Qi Jie by King Hui of Yan, and Tian Dan counterattacked to recover Qi, Juxian did not fall!
Xiahou Yuan, you idiot, do you think that Ju County is just a small county in Langya County, so you dare to look down on our army? You idiot, how are you compared to Yue Yi back then? If you are not afraid of death, just hit your head against this city wall and die! Let you Cao thieves see how dangerous Mengshan is and how solid Yishui is, how easy it is to defend and how difficult it is to attack! Hahahaha!"

The soldiers shouting on the city wall actually shouted out stories that were quite historical and cultural. Telling historical stories to the attacking soldiers caused quite a blow to the morale.

It is estimated that someone had provided literacy education to the soldiers before the war, and told them the "glorious history" of Ju County's defense. It seems that the defenders had done their homework very well.

Xiahou Yuan knew about military affairs, but he had not read much history, so he was a little confused. After returning to the camp, he immediately asked Guo Jia, the military adviser specially assigned to him by Cao Cao, to consult relevant historical materials:

"Mr. Fengxiao, is this small town of Ju County really so difficult to attack? Before I came here, I thought it was just a small county in Langya County."

When Guo Jia heard that Xiahou Yuan was suddenly interested in history, he had no choice but to answer truthfully: "It is true that Le Yi did not conquer Jimo and Ju County in those days, but he did not conquer them for five years. It is obvious that Le Yi was nurturing the enemy and did not want to fight hard. He just wanted to slowly control the former territory of Qi for his own fame and fortune.

Otherwise, if the city was besieged for five years, as long as the city was surrounded and not given a break and no food supply, the people in the city would starve to death! As for Ju County, the situation was more special than Jimo. During the Warring States Period, when Yue Yi was in power, Ju County was an important town in the southern border of Qi State, and the rest of Xuzhou to the south belonged to Chu State at that time.

Therefore, the defense and military strength of Ju County were indeed an important city in Qi during the Warring States Period. Moreover, Chu State did not want Qi to be completely destroyed at that time, so Yue Yi could not enter Chu territory to cut off the food supply route to the south of Ju County. Although there is no clear record in history books, I suspect that Chu people transported food to Qi people during those five years, which was why Yue Yi was unable to capture it.

If the historical stories spread by the enemy today do have a negative impact on the morale of the soldiers, the general can also have people tell historical stories that are beneficial to us in the camp to eliminate the soldiers' concerns about the solidity of Ju County. "

Xiahou Yuan thought it made sense, so he asked soldiers to tell stories in the camp that day to dilute the blow to morale caused by the enemy's rumors and insults, and to tell the soldiers that "Ju County is not difficult to attack at all." However, the effectiveness of the propaganda wars of both sides can only be verified in actual combat.

In any case, hindered by such a small episode and setback, Xiahou Yuan completely gave up the idea of persuading the enemy to surrender. He knew that the enemy was very confident and would definitely hold on to the end, so he gave up his fantasy and attacked directly!
And since the other party mentioned Le Yi, and Le Yi was concerned about the relationship between Yan and Chu and failed to surround Ju County from all sides, then he must learn from Le Yi's failure and besiege Ju County from all sides!

The original plan was to surround the enemy on three sides and leave one side open, giving the defenders hope of escape and undermining their fighting will, but now even this attempt was abandoned.

The lesser of two evils.

Otherwise, Gao Shun would definitely tell the story to the soldiers in the city: Back then, Yue Yi was surrounded on three sides with one man missing, and Xiahou Yuan, the idiot, learned Yue Yi's fighting style, but his ability was not as good as Yue Yi's, so he was sure to lose!

That would probably be a greater boost to the defenders' morale than the depression caused by being surrounded on three sides and missing one man.

When we fight, what we fight for is people’s morale!
……

After four or five days of hasty preparation of siege weapons, Xiahou Yuan ordered Zhang He and Gao Lan to launch the first wave of exploratory attacks.

In such a short time, there would definitely not be enough time to build heavy equipment such as Ge Gongche and Well Guard, but small ladders and battering rams would definitely be enough.

Since knowing that Yuan Tan's army has mastered the tactics to crack Ge Gongche's offensive, Cao's army's expectations for Ge Gongche have also declined. Moreover, this time they are fighting Liu Bei, and Ge Gongche was invented by Zhuge Jin and Zhuge Liang, so there is no need to waste time on an offensive weapon that is likely to be restrained, and old equipment is enough.

Xiahou Yuan also found out the size of the defenders in the city, which were only a few thousand people. He decided to try and see if he could rush in one go.

Cao's army of more than 15,000 people were deployed in batches and launched an orderly attack from multiple directions.

Under Gao Shun's strict command, the defenders on the city wall threw logs and stones down frantically, and their bows and crossbows fired arrows like rain.

Ju County is located in a mountainous area. Because the height difference of the city walls in all directions is relatively large, it is impossible to build a moat. If a moat is dug, the terrain on the west side of the city close to the Shushui River is the lowest, and the moat bed on the hillside on the east side of the city will definitely be drained, and the water will flow to the west.

However, even without a moat, Ju County was easy to defend and difficult to attack.

The west side of the city is too narrow to attack.

After a day of trying, Xiahou Yuan of Cao's army in the east of the city also found that the place was too rugged and the slopes were too steep, and the heavy siege equipment was not very usable. Many ladders overturned on the way to the city wall because of the uneven terrain.

There are also various pits dug in advance by the defenders according to local conditions, which, relying on the blessing of the natural terrain, can achieve twice the result with half the effort in defense.

After a whole day of trying, hundreds of people died in vain, and even more were injured, but there was no progress in the east direction of the city.

After evaluation, Xiahou Yuan realized that it would not work to continue fighting like this, so from the second day on, he gave up the offensive in the east of the city and focused only on attacking from the north and south along the Shushui River Valley.

Zhang He was in charge of the south of the city, Gao Lan was in charge of the north, and they each led 10,000 troops to attack in turns.

The Shushui River Valley is narrow, and the terrain outside the city suitable for deploying troops is not spacious. Even if there are too many people, they cannot rush forward at once, so they can only fight a war of attrition.

But how could Gao Shun, who was guarding a fortified city, be defeated by Zhang He and Gao Lan in a short-term attack?
As each wave of offensive was repelled, Gao Shun was very good at taking the opportunity to boost morale by telling everyone the story of Tian Dan's restoration of Qi. The soldiers became more relaxed as the battle went on, and they were more willing to listen to stories, and their confidence grew.

Every morning, after a round of suppression by Cao's army with bows, crossbows, arrows and stones, and then sending soldiers to climb the city walls, Liu Bei's army would shout for a fierce fight, hold their ground and refuse to retreat, madly shooting arrows and throwing all kinds of killing materials, and firmly repelling wave after wave of Cao's offensive.

Later, after Cao's army retreated, the sound of war drums and horns on the city walls continued for a long time. Soldiers without drums and music also roared and shouted, and the sound of killing shook the sky. The retreating Cao's army was terrified and their morale became even lower.

After attacking for many days and losing thousands of men to death, injury and disease, Xiahou Yuan failed to make any substantial progress. He was finally forced to change his strategy, mainly to besiege Ju County, and then divide his troops to make other plans.

(End of this chapter)