My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 352: Can't Swallow, Can't Spit

As a whole day of bloody fighting came to an end, when the setting sun was as red as blood, the wooden fences and earthen walls and trenches that were more than six miles long had been smashed to pieces by battering rams.

Several gaps in the rammed earth slope were flattened by the soldiers who repeatedly charged and attacked. The collapsed soil fell into the trench in front of the rammed earth wall, making the defense of these weak points even more shaky.

However, Cao's attacking forces were never able to achieve a decisive breakthrough.

Even if the fences were smashed and the slopes were flattened, there would always be Liu Bei's reserve troops coming up from behind to fill in the gaps, fighting hand-to-hand at the gaps, relying on their strong armor and powerful weapons to fight Cao's army to the death.

The sharpness of the steel armor and weapons was fully demonstrated in this upright frontal battle. Before each soldier of Liu Bei's army fell, he could take away at least several times more enemies.

What was even more terrifying for Xiahou Yuan was that with the end of a whole day's attack, Cao's army could no longer hold on and retreated, allowing Liu Bei's army to take control of the battlefield and clean up the battlefield.

Therefore, whether it was the steel-filled lamellar armor on the bodies of the fallen comrades or the cast iron lamellar armor on the attacking Cao army soldiers, they could all be stripped off directly, simply cleaned and distributed to other soldiers to wear, so that they could return to the battle the next day.

Of course, even the soldiers who died on his side had to take off their armor before burial, and there was nothing wrong with that. For his own soldiers, Mi Zhu would simply rinse the bodies with sea water, cover them with a piece of linen, and then quickly bury them deep to prevent the spread of the plague.

As for the bodies of Cao's soldiers, after their armor and weapons were stripped off, they were directly piled together with the broken rotten wood on the battlefield and cremated, which could also have the effect of disinfecting and preventing the plague.

……

The sky was completely dark. After the two armies returned to their camps, they were also summing up the lessons learned from this bloody battle.

As for Xiahou Yuan, after the failure of the initial assault, although he was still confident that he could eventually defeat the enemy, he was also keenly aware of several problems.

"I thought that after breaking through such a simple earthen wall and wooden fence, as long as the gap is torn wider, the follow-up will be as easy as chopping melons and vegetables in a field battle. Now it seems that I underestimated Mi Zhu -

In field battles, we can give full play to the advantages of our large number of cavalry. Once the front is deadlocked and difficult to break through, we can make a detour to encircle the enemy and attack their weak points.

However, in a battlefield with trenches and fortifications, even if each gap is expanded to ten or even dozens of feet, both sides can only use bows and crossbows to hold the position, and the frontal infantry fighting will ultimately not create space for the cavalry to make a detour. "

While Xiahou Yuan was muttering to himself, he was also sorting out his thoughts and roughly analyzing the points in which this battlefield situation was unfavorable to Cao's army.

Unless you have the ability to sacrifice so many lives and completely destroy the miles of fortifications, it will be possible to give the cavalry room to maneuver. Otherwise, both sides will have no advantage in cavalry and will have to rely entirely on infantry to fight to the death.

Liu Bei had fewer cavalrymen, while Cao's army had more cavalrymen. Both sides had useless cavalrymen, so it was obvious that Liu Bei's side had the upper hand.

While Xiahou Yuan was sighing, Guo Jia on the side was quite calm and tried to encourage Xiahou Yuan in various ways:
"General, don't worry. We suffered more casualties on the first day, but there is nothing we can do about it. After all, the enemy's camp is still well maintained. In the next few days, as long as we continue to attack fiercely and let the troops take turns to rest, and don't give Mi Zhu a chance to repair the camp, the situation will definitely turn around.

The information we gathered before the war was not completely accurate, but it was not far off. The number of troops that Guan Yu could mobilize was only between 20,000 and 30,000. Xia Pi and Tan Cheng both had heavy troops. How many troops could be left in Qu County? It was definitely less than 10,000.

Mi Zhu wants to resist our 50,000-strong army with only a few thousand soldiers. Even if it is a full-scale battle, he will surely run out of energy within ten days. Even if he temporarily captures more young and strong men for garrison, it will be of no use.

In the following days, we should recognize the situation and distinguish the priorities of the attack. For example, we can focus on breaking through the easternmost end of the enemy camp, close to the sea. As long as we occupy and destroy the port area, we can cut off Mi Zhu's external aid from the sea, which will also have a great impact on the enemy's morale.

Moreover, as long as we completely break through the east end, the remaining enemy camps outside the city will lose the possibility of holding on. At that time, our army can completely sweep from the flank from east to west, and the cavalry units that have been unable to be deployed can also be put into the general attack. "

After listening to this, Xiahou Yuan nodded repeatedly and thought to himself that Guo Jia was indeed an old hand after all, and his insights into tactical details were indeed very profound and accurate.

Xiahou Yuan then gave a formal order and began to adjust the offensive according to the tactics instructed by Guo Jia starting from the next day.

……

In the next two days, the bloody battle of attack and defense in Qu County continued.

Compared with the first day, Cao's army's offensive on most positions on the second and third days was not as fierce.

Apparently they could not afford the heavy casualties of the first day and wanted to catch their breath, so they changed the "all-out attack" to "key attack", focusing only on the easternmost end of the defense line, near the harbor, and attacking fiercely without sparing any life, "saving where necessary and spending where necessary".

However, the diversionary effect of Cao's army in the secondary attack direction was still very remarkable, forcing Mi Zhu to divide his troops to defend everywhere and not relax anywhere. In other words, if Mi Zhu dared to transfer the main force to the key direction to block the gap, leaving other positions empty, then Xiahou Yuan could still keenly observe the flaws, and thus turn the diversionary feint attack in that direction into the main attack at any time, giving Mi Zhu a hard time.

In order to achieve this, Cao's army also hurriedly built several well-locking vehicles and temporarily piled up several small but towering earthen hills, on which they built watchtowers.

Mi Zhu's camp, including the rammed earth walls and wooden fences, was only about ten feet high, so it could not block the view from the watchtower at all.

The location of the watchtower and the earthen platform was quite far from the camp. All Xiahou Yuan wanted to do was to keep an eye on the enemy's movements and see at any time where there were more people and less people in the camp, and whether there were any weak points.

In this way, even if Mi Zhu's side had more advanced catapults, it would be impossible for them to counterattack and destroy the watchtowers as they did during the Battle of Guandu. Unless they sent a death squad out of the city to destroy it in close combat, which was obviously something Mi Zhu could not do, then they would just be seen naked by the enemy.

It can be seen that both sides of the war learned a lot from the lessons of the Battle of Guandu. Xiahou Yuan studied thoroughly how Yuan Shao suffered losses back then, so he gave up the arrow-shooting function of the watchtower and only wanted to keep watch.

War is always the fastest way to escalate technological and strategic confrontation.

High-intensity confrontations will quickly make the experience and tactics that emerged just two years ago obsolete.

……

After three days of bloody battle, Mi Zhu finally felt that he could not hold on any longer.

There were hundreds or thousands of casualties every day, and he only had 7,000 soldiers. How could he resist?
After three days of fighting, most of the crossbowmen in the regular army were assigned to close combat. They put on the armor left by their fallen comrades and engaged in hand-to-hand combat with Cao's troops that rushed into the gap.

All the foot-operated crossbows were assigned to the young and strong recruits who had just completed training, so that they could take charge of the task of shooting arrows and suppressing the enemy.

The private wealth accumulated by the Mi family over the years also poured out like water. In order to pay pensions and reward wounded soldiers and meritorious officers, tens of millions of five-zhu coins flowed directly into the hands of soldiers. When there was not enough circulating cash, they began to issue sea trade treasures as a deduction.

That evening, Tian Yu, who was in charge of the front-line defense deployment, finally felt that this was not going to work, so he found Mi Zhu and suggested several strategies for defending the city.

As an important seaport city, Qu County certainly would not rely solely on civil servants like Mi Zhu to defend it, but was also equipped with sufficient military generals.

Before the outbreak of this battle, Tian Yu was deployed in the direction of Xiapi County. It was only after Guan Yu and Zhuge Jin made a plan and decided to lure the enemy to Qu County that Tian Yu was quietly sent to reinforce Mi Zhu. During the days of holding out, Tian Yu's dispatch and response were good, which relieved Mi Zhu of a lot of pressure.

At this moment, Tian Yu offered a suggestion: "Sir, the enemy is strong. We can't defend everywhere anymore. We will definitely not be able to hold on. Moreover, General Guan asked us to tire out the enemy and let them see hope and progress. Only then will they be greedy and fall into the trap and cannot extricate themselves."

Mi Zhu didn't know much about military affairs, so he was very humble and took the initiative to encourage, "What do you think Guo Rang should do now?"

Tian Yu thought for a moment and said logically, "Cao's army has a watchtower and can tell the strength of our defense. It is difficult for our army to gather most of its forces to defend a point, so if the harbor is attacked for a few more days, it will definitely not be able to hold out.

For now, we should notify Zhou Gongjin as soon as possible and ask him to bring in a batch of reinforcements by sea, and also try to harass Xiahou Yuan from the sea. It doesn't matter if we can't win, as long as we stop in time and don't suffer too much loss, we can temporarily contain and disrupt the enemy.

If Gongjin's harassment has little effect, it will instead make Xiahou Yuan arrogant and make him feel more and more that it is right to attack Qu County by force.

On the other hand, we should dig a few more trenches running north-south in the camp at night, and use the excavated soil to build earth walls behind the trenches. During the day, we can cover the bridge with planks and loose soil, so that Cao's watchtowers can't see clearly from a distance. As for the wooden fence, don't build it, because there is not enough wood, and it is difficult to hide and can't deceive the enemy's watchtowers.

In this way, once the easternmost part of the camp is completely breached and the seaport is lost, we can also rely on the second longitudinal line of defense in the north-south direction, continue to hold on, delay time, and gradually abandon our positions.

As for the facilities in the port, if there are any facilities with unique skills that can be easily taken away by Cao's army, then try to move them away. If they cannot be moved, burn them before abandoning. As for the docks, piers, and houses, there is no need to set them on fire. Just empty the things inside. As long as they will not leak secrets, it is okay to let them occupy them for a few days. "

Mi Zhu thought about it again and again, and nodded heavily: "Guorang is still thoughtful. Starting tonight, I will gather the civilians to build the second and third north-south defense lines inside the camp, and prepare for the fall of the easternmost camp. The request for help to Gongjin will also be arranged immediately."

Mi Zhu also had a swift and decisive work style. That night, he organized thousands of laborers to take turns digging the earth to strengthen the second line of defense behind the defense line in preparation for the loss of the front line.

At the same time, the contact to Zhou Yu was also delivered in just one day, because Zhou Yu's troops' current home port is in Haixi County at the mouth of the Huai River in Guangling County in the south, and Zhou Yu would also send patrol fleets north from time to time to patrol and scout off the coast of Qu County.

The message boat sent by Mi Zhu was discovered by Zhou Yu's patrol fleet at dawn the next day, and the order for help was quickly relayed back.

(End of this chapter)