My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 614: Beating Zhang Ren to Death

To be honest, from a God's perspective, it was quite difficult for Zhang Ren to send out a suicide squad under the cover of night to destroy Wei Yan's two construction sites in the southwest and southeast corners of the moat in Mianzhu City.

In order to meet the deadline, Wei Yan worked day and night at the trenches that were blocked by cofferdams, so there were enough people, including many combat soldiers and auxiliary soldiers. Sometimes the combat soldiers would carry weapons with them and help with the work.

In the middle of the night, people would be assigned to carry soil for filling. If the road was not clear, they would stick torches on the side of the trench to provide lighting all night long.

All of this is done to complete the outer city defense facilities as quickly as possible day and night.

Therefore, even if Zhang Ren launched a night attack, he would not be able to gain much benefit from the surprise attack.

At most, they can gain a slight advantage when the troops leave the city and assemble.

But when it comes to real fighting, you still have to fight honestly. There is no chance that the enemy soldiers will wait for you to kill them in their sleep.

Zhang Ren was well aware of all these situations. But he had no choice but to fight to the death in order to boost morale, strengthen the soldiers' determination to hold on, and let everyone see that he was not just dragging the battle, but fighting back and forth.

……

That day was already the 19th day of the twelfth lunar month, and more than twenty days had passed since Liu Bei's army had besieged the city.

The full moon had just turned into a waning moon, and the brightest time of the moonlight had passed. In addition, there were torches on Wei Yan's construction site, so it was still very difficult to see the situation in the dark from the bright side.

At three o'clock in the morning, nearly a thousand suicide squads quietly climbed out of the city wall on the east and west sides of the southern wall of Mianzhu using hemp ropes.

Because the south of the city was not completely surrounded by the siege troops, Zhang Fei still hoped to leave the south side open to undermine the morale of the defenders. Therefore, the soldiers who left the city had time to hastily re-formed at the foot of the city wall and within the sheep and horse wall.

After forming their formation, they quietly moved towards Wei Yan's construction site.

The death squad was not discovered by Wei Yan's troops on the construction site until they were within a hundred steps. It was not until they were eighty steps, fifty steps, and closer to the torch-lit construction site that they were finally illuminated by the fire.

However, they could only take advantage to this extent. No one was sleeping on the construction site, and everyone was concentrating on their work. Following the sentry's warning of an enemy attack, Wei Yan's men immediately picked up their weapons and engaged in a desperate hand-to-hand fight with Zhang Ren's surging troops.

The advantage of Zhang Ren's soldiers was that they lined up in advance and could support each other.

Wei Yan's soldiers were superior in terms of tactics and skills, and their weapons and armor were much better. However, they were in a hurry to fight, so they had to fight on their own.

Several officers of Wei Yan's army, wielding steel-filled horse-slashing swords and wearing steel-filled armor, and accompanied by twenty elite patrol sentries, dared to engage in hand-to-hand combat with hundreds or thousands of soldiers of Zhang Ren's army who were rushing up, desperately blocking the enemy's way and buying time for friendly reinforcements to form a battle array.

In such a situation, Zhang Ren, as the chief commander of Mianzhu's city defense, certainly could not lead the death squad into battle personally.

Therefore, the direct commander of this death squad tonight is another major general in Mianzhu City, Liu Gui.

Liu Qi was quite brave and courageous. Relying on the large number of people on his side, he led the charge, wielding a long sword and killing the enemies.

However, as soon as they started fighting, he realized that the enemy was not easy to deal with.

His long sword relied on its power and he slashed wildly, but when it collided with the horse-cutting sword in the opposite officer's hand, it was blocked by force, and a gap was broken in his long sword.

(Note: Although the Zhanma Sword is a sword, it is also relatively broad and thick, with a single-sided blade. Don't imagine the Zhanma Sword as something like a Japanese sword that cannot be used head-on. If the steel is of good quality, it is not surprising that it can withstand a heavy sword that is one or two times thicker than the Zhanma Sword.)
Liu Gui had never fought hand-to-hand combat with Liu Bei's army before, and he was shocked when he saw this.

However, he relied on the large number of his troops and after some effort, he still killed two squad leaders and five or six soldiers under Wei Yan. Liu Qi's subordinates also paid the price of seven or eight deaths, and almost all those who were stabbed by the enemy soldiers could not escape.

And in just this brief delay, Wei Yan's soldiers organized a defensive formation, and the number of enemy soldiers in front of Liu Gui increased from twenty or thirty to nearly a hundred.

Both sides were trapped in the narrow space between the city wall and the moat, unable to use long-range weapons, and could only engage in a melee fight.

Half of the battlefield was lit by fire, and the other half was in darkness. The flickering of the torches would blur people's vision for a moment, and they could only fight on instinct.

In such an environment, it is difficult for the side with more people to take advantage, because the basis of the battle is so wide.

The individual combat quality of Wei Yan's soldiers was obviously superior, and they were well-equipped, and they quickly resisted the momentum of Liu Qi's death squad. Even though Liu Qi's soldiers were the most elite and courageous soldiers in Mianzhu City, they were still unable to change the situation.

Liu Qi was anxious, knowing that this way of fighting would not work, so he could only urge his soldiers to abandon their formation and charge forward recklessly, trying to make the contact line of the battle jagged and intertwined, so that his local numerical advantage could be fully utilized.

However, the result was contrary to expectations. Even though both sides were in chaos, Wei Yan's troops who were surrounded still fought to the death.

Moreover, Liu Qi obviously did not think through the tactics in a hurry. After the melee, the crossbowmen on the top of the city could not provide long-range support because they were likely to hit their own people. Unfortunately, Wei Yan's troops had a higher rate of armor, so the losses from being covered by the guns would be much smaller.

The bloody melee lasted about a cup of tea, and Wei Yan's troops gathered more and more.

Seeing that the situation was not good and his troops were unable to reach the cofferdam to break the dike and release the water, Liu Qi gritted his teeth and decided to retreat.

Unfortunately, it was too late. Wei Yan personally led his team to reinforce the defense and chase Liu Gui who was fighting and retreating all the way.

Liu Gui knew that Zhang Ren would never dare to open the city gate at this time, and if he wanted to climb back using the hemp rope lowered from the top of the city wall, it would be too late and he would definitely be stabbed to death in mid-air by the enemy soldiers chasing him from behind.

In a panic, he could only try to take advantage of the fact that Zhang Fei and Wei Yan had not yet completely surrounded the entire city, and attempted to break out to the south and escape.

Because the moat where they were fighting had already been destroyed by Wei Yan, the soldiers could retreat directly to the south bank by climbing up from the dry pit.

However, such a retreat is bound to turn into a dispersal.

In the end, hundreds of soldiers escaped under the cover of night, leaving their armor and helmets behind. But Liu Qi was too conspicuous, so Wei Yan kept a close eye on him and chased him. In the end, Wei Yan slashed him in the back, tearing his armor. After the force of the sword faded, a deep wound was still left, so deep that his ribs could be seen.

Liu Qi fell to the ground wounded and was tied up by Wei Yan's orders.

Zhang Ren's attempt to destroy Wei Yan's dike was thus declared a complete failure.

More than two-thirds of the death squad were killed or captured, and the generals who led the troops were all captured. Only a small half escaped under the cover of night, but they could not return to the Mianzhu battlefield and could only flee to Luocheng further behind.

……

"Zhang Ren is a coward, without any strategy or wisdom! He is arrogant and reckless, bringing trouble to his comrades!"

As Zhang Ren's counterattack attempt failed, Zhang Fei and Wei Yan certainly would not miss the opportunity to undermine the morale of the defenders early the next morning.

He ordered his soldiers to tie up Liu Qi and some other captives, and pulled them outside the city on ox carts for display. At the same time, he ordered groups of his own scolds to curse the defenders in unison.

There were also a few soldiers wearing steel armor and holding large shields, with the other holding a long spear and holding Liu Gui's helmet and armor robe, wandering around there and provoking the enemy.

Zhang Ren was so angry that he repeatedly called out to shoot arrows, but those provocateurs were standing outside the effective range of bows and crossbows and could not be hurt at all. He could only watch as the defenders became increasingly depressed.

Wei Yan did not waste the opportunity. He worked hard to fill the trench over the next two days and soon filled up 70% to 80% of the empty trench that had been cut off from water.

According to their original plan, they would fill the trench in another day or two until it was completely level with the river bank and the soil was compacted, and then they could push the Ge Gongche to attack the city.

However, when the time came, Fa Zheng, who was resourceful and good at finding weaknesses, suddenly thought of a change of strategy.

When the troops were withdrawn that day, he hurried over to pay his respects, and took the opportunity when Zhang Fei and Wei Yan were eating barbecue and chatting together to offer a plan:
"Third General, I think that since Zhang Ren has discovered our army's purpose and has mobilized powerful crossbows to guard the corners of the city, we don't have to follow his plan completely. We can also make some adjustments."

Zhang Fei was quite interested: "Oh? How can we make it work?"

Fa Zheng: "If the trench is completely filled to the level of the river bank, there will be no shelter available during the final stage of construction, which will easily lead to too many casualties among the auxiliary soldiers filling the trench by the crossbowmen.

And since Zhang Ren had anticipated what we might do, all his vigilance must have been used to guard against Ge Gongche's daylight attack.

We can do the opposite. While the trenches have not been completely filled and heavy equipment such as ladders and siege weapons have not been pushed to the city, the enemy's vigilance will inevitably be lowered. In addition, Liu Gui failed in his counterattack outside the city the night before and was captured. Even if Zhang Ren found some clues, he would not dare to counterattack at night.

At this time, we can use some low-rise siege equipment to secretly attack the city at night and destroy the city wall, which can also be regarded as an attack on the enemy by surprise. If Zhang Ren changes his tactics hastily, we will use catapults to cover the enemy troops on the corners of the city and continue to weaken them. "

Zhang Fei followed this line of thought and nodded in approval involuntarily.

Indeed, plans are dead, but people are alive.

The initial plan is good, but when the final push comes, the enemy will see what you are going to do. At this time, you have the opportunity to change your tactics and catch the enemy off guard.

Zhang Fei: "I wonder what kind of light equipment Xiaozhi is going to use to replace Ge Gongche?"

Fa Zheng: "Let's use the wooden donkey on the top of the slope. Although it can be restrained by the swallowtail torch developed by Situ, as long as it is coated with thick wet mud, it can also stop the defenders from burning for a long time."

Zhang Fei thought about it and immediately approved the plan.

The wooden donkey for digging a city is quite easy to make. It is just two rows of wood stacked in a herringbone shape, similar to a battering ram.

However, the top of the wooden donkey used to dig the city wall has a larger curvature, making it less likely to be destroyed by falling rocks from the top of the city wall. At the same time, there is no battering ram inside, so it can only carry some soldiers and cover their work.

Therefore, Zhang Fei only needed to make slight modifications to a few battering rams, and within a few hours he would be able to produce the wooden donkey for digging the city.

After everything was prepared, Zhang Fei did not hesitate. Starting at 10:00 p.m. that evening, batches of siege troops, under the cover of darkness, secretly pushed the wooden donkeys used to dig the city walls against the city wall of Mianzhu.

The donkey is low-profile and unlike those heavy tower-like machines, it does not exert a great pressure on the ground. Therefore, even on relatively muddy ground, the donkey can be pushed and even overcome a slope of more than ten degrees.

The moat at the corner of the city in front of us has not been completely filled up, but the wooden donkey used to dig the city wall still steadily went downhill, then uphill, and finally reached the base of the wall smoothly.

The defenders on the city walls were already used to the light of the torches on the trench filling site outside the city, and they were not able to detect it in advance at first. But as several wooden donkeys for digging the city climbed up the slope of the trench, the defenders knew that something was wrong, no matter how slow they were.

The officer on night patrol immediately ordered the entire army to prepare to throw logs and rocks down. The visibility at night was not very good, so the defenders hastily threw torches down to illuminate the enemy.

However, the attacking soldiers hid under the wooden donkey, and once they got close to the wall, they waved their shovels and spades and frantically dug the rammed earth. The rolling logs and stones fell on the steep slope of the wooden donkey, bounced off and slid to both sides.

It’s just that digging a wall is slow, only a few times faster than digging a tunnel, so it often takes many days of continuous digging in Lincheng to completely dig down this section of the city wall.

But even if it is not completely collapsed, a day or two of digging will be enough to form a cavity, causing the soil above to slide down. This section of the wall will become lower, and the battlement shelter will also be destroyed in the process of collapse. It will be much easier for the subsequent attackers to climb the city from here.

The defenders were of course aware of the dangers of continued digging, so they put all their firepower into defense. Seeing that shooting arrows and rolling logs and rocks were of no use, they began to throw more torches, pour boiling water, and sprinkle ash bottles with gold juice.

However, even boiling water and golden juice were useless when poured on the leather-covered wooden donkey. Ordinary torches could not be nailed on it to keep burning and would slide off and fall to the ground.

Finally, Zhang Ren himself learned of the critical situation and quickly sent people to fetch the swallowtail torches stored in the city and threw them onto the wooden donkeys. He also ordered the craftsmen and laborers in the city to speed up the production and modification of more swallowtail torches.

The swallowtail torch was invented in the middle and late Northern and Southern Dynasties, but it was invented by Liu Ye nine years ago. It was first used to burn warships in the Yangtze River. Because the tail has a spike hook, it can be thrown out and easily stuck on the wooden slope.

Zhang Ren used the trick that Zhuge Jin used nine years ago to deal with Liu Bei's army. At first glance, it seemed to be somewhat effective. Many swallowtail torches were at least caught on the top of the wooden slope.

Unfortunately, Zhang Ren was disappointed again after just a short observation, because he found that the flame of the swallowtail torch did not continue to burn. It only burned for a short while before gradually going out.

The attacking side's wooden donkey was covered with a thick layer of wet mud, so the flames could not ignite the wood inside.

Zhang Ren could only think of new strategies and destroy the attacker's digging, but this would take time, and at least it would be too late that night.

Zhang Ren could only watch as the attackers dug for most of the night, shoveling and shoveling fiercely, digging out several feet of earth and leaving holes all over the base of the wall. The soil layers of several corner walls and the battlements above them collapsed because they lost their bottom support.

(End of this chapter)