Defending Jianping (I)
Dong Zhuo then sent an emergency message to the counties of Jiangdong and urgently summoned Li Ru and others to discuss with him.
" Right now, our foundation in Luoyang is not stable," Li Ru said." The Marquis of Pingnan has 300,000 elite soldiers. The surrounding vassals should not compete with him. And promote him to Pingnan King, now under the jurisdiction of seven counties, in order to appease his heart, then he must have the heart of slacking off. Later, he secretly ordered Yu Fan to lead his troops out of Kuaiji and Yan Baihu to lead his troops out of Wucheng to attack Poyang. The two armies were no match for Jin Xuan, so they were bound to be defeated, but they could contain the army of Poyang. He ordered Yuan Shu to lead 100,000 troops to Shouchun, then Liu Yao sent troops to Jianye and Zhou Tai sent troops to Lujiang. It happened that Jin Xuan's troops were wiped out in Hefei. Most of his troops are on the eastern line. You can order Liu Qi, King of Xichuan, to send troops from Yong 'an and Liu Biao, King of Jingzhou, to send troops from Jiangling to attack Wuling together. If several armies attack together, the Jin army will certainly be defeated. And the lord can preserve his strength and watch the tigers fight.”Dong Zhuo agreed, and the next day, he assigned the people to write in several ways.
At this time, Jin Xuan was discussing the strategy of sending troops with Guo Jia in his tent. Lujiang River was an important military place. It was connected to Poyang in the south, Jiangxia in the northwest and Hefei in the east. Zhou Tai, the prefect, and Li Yi, the garrison, were famous generals in Jiangdong. There were 50,000 troops in the county, and their soldiers were brave and brave. They were called the First Army of Jiangdong.
Zhuge Liang received the news from Jin Xuan's army and agreed to attack Lujiang together.
Jin Xuan led 80,000 troops and abandoned Hefei and rushed to Lujiang. Zhuge Liang sent Guan Yu with 40,000 troops to help.
When he arrived at Lujiang City, he had no time to attack the city. The spy reported that Liu Qi, King of Xichuan, had sent 80,000 troops, and Liu Biao, King of Jingzhou, had sent 70,000 troops. Together, they had 150,000 troops to attack Wuling. Zhang Liao led 20,000 troops to hold Jianping, and Pang Tong had urgently dispatched 30,000 militia from Lingling and Guiyang to Wuling to assist in the defense.
When Jin Xuan heard of this, he immediately sent Guo Jia and others to discuss the matter. He also sent someone to inform Zhuge Liang to send troops to support Wuling. Guo Jia and the others were shocked.
"I just received the imperial court's imperial edict to confer my lord the title of King Pingnan. The king of Xichuan and the king of Jingzhou were both people who guarded Cheng. This battle must be Dong Zhuo's idea. If the army on the west road goes out, the eastern prefectures will certainly send troops to harass us, so that our Poyang army will not be able to withdraw. I intend to withdraw for the time being. Most of the families of our generals are in Wuling. If Wuling is lost, the morale of the army will be shaken.”
Jin Xuan said this, ordered Zhao Yun to lead 10,000 troops behind the rear, led the army quickly to Poyang retreat. On the other hand, he ordered Wei Yan to lead 20,000 Changsha soldiers to reinforce Jianping, and Xing Daorong led 60,000 Zhang soldiers to Changsha to garrison. He personally led his troops to Wuling.
Jianping is a battleground for military strategists. The terrain is steep and easy to defend but difficult to attack. About 30 miles due south is Wuling, the gateway of Wuling. If Jianping is lost, Wuling will be in danger.
Zhang Liao, the famous general of the three kingdoms, was looking worriedly at the army outside the city wall. The difference in strength between 20,000 defenders and 150,000 troops was too great. How should they fight this battle?
Pang Tong sent people to deliver the newly manufactured 500 strong crossbows from Wuling. These strong crossbows had a range of 500 meters and could penetrate leather armor. They were very powerful, but each crossbow could only fire five arrows at a time. There was a long interval between reloading after firing.
Zhang Liao ordered the soldiers to familiarize themselves with the crossbow while talking to the Wuling envoy,""Please report back to Shiyuan. The enemy is strong and our army will definitely be at a disadvantage.”
"That's what Pang Da thinks too. Pang Da also said that if we can't hold on, we can return to Wuling. The militia of Lingling and Guiyang have arrived. There are now forty thousand militia in Wuling, and ten thousand regular soldiers. In addition, Pang Da had already appointed two generals, Jiang Qin and Ling Cao.”
Yan Yan of the Xichuan Army was the commander of the alliance army. He was very strict in managing the army, fair and strict, and had a high prestige in the army. Under his leadership, the alliance army gave off a murderous aura.
Zhang Liao stood on the city wall and shouted,""Your general, please answer."
"I am Yan Yan," said Yan Yan on his horse. Who are you?"
"I'm Zhang Liao," said Zhang Liao. May I ask why your army has violated the border?"
"The King of Pingnan is plotting a rebellion. Our army has come to quell it."”
Zhang Liao laughed and said,"General, you are too weak. The King of Pingnan is a loyal minister. Now he wants to purge the side of the monarch but he is not strong enough. He will annex Jiangdong as his foundation and then send a large number of troops to attack Dong Zhuo." It was very unwise of the general to be deceived by Dong Zhuo.”"According to our spies in Luoyang, Dong Zhuo is now presumptuously discussing the abolition and establishment of a new emperor!" he said. He wants to usurp the throne. The courtiers who obey him live, and those who oppose him die!。Now you are using this plan to drive the tiger and swallow the wolf. You don't want our master to sit on the throne and let us kill each other, while the other side will sit and take advantage of the situation. Besides, if my lord rebelled, why did the court promote my lord to King Pingnan?”
"As a soldier, I only know how to act according to orders.”Yan Yan shouted.
"General Yan, please tell these words to the two Wangye. Just as General Yan said, our Wuling army will serve the country and the Wei family first. If your army comes to attack, our army will defend. As long as this day passes, our army will definitely avenge him and resolve the hatred of invading our homeland.”
Yan Yan retreated to the central army and ordered the attack.
The allied army held shields in their hands while the rear army carried siege weapons and followed behind. Zhang Liao ordered the crossbowmen to let go of the shield soldiers in the front and wait for the rear to enter their range to attack. " 700 meters, 600 meters, 500 meters, 400 meters…" The soldier reported the distance while turning his head to look at Zhang Liao. Zhang Liao's expression was normal, and he still did not give the order.
"Three hundred meters."
"Shoot."
Five hundred strong crossbows fired at the same time, and the crossbows rained down. The siege troops immediately fell into chaos, and a gap appeared behind the shield soldiers. The people at this fault line were all lying down. The power of the five hundred strong crossbows had caused the allied forces to lose more than a thousand soldiers.
The alliance army couldn't help but tremble in fear. They had never seen such a powerful bow and arrow. They still didn't know that this weapon was called a crossbow and not a bow and arrow.
The enemy army was in chaos for a while. Under the pressure of the military might, the attacking forces continued to advance.
The catapult was a new weapon developed by the research institute last year. It was developed according to Jin Xuan's manuscript.
The firepower of the twenty catapults pushed the large rocks toward the concentrated siege troops.
The siege troops began to panic because the power of these large rocks was too great. At the center of the large rocks, there was a bloody mess. As long as it touched the edge, it was either dead or crippled.
The terrifying scene caused a portion of the soldiers to retreat.
Yan Yan once again mercilessly gave the order to attack.
The second wave of crossbow attacks began after the enemy had gathered. Then, another round of throwing stones.
The troops attacking the city did not stop. They stepped on the corpses of their comrades and continued to advance. The lives of the soldiers were lost one by one. Under the attack of the powerful crossbows and the huge rocks falling from the sky, the lives of the soldiers of the alliance army seemed so weak.
However, the archers below the city began to counterattack fiercely. Because Jianping's city wall was not high, the archers who attacked the city began to shoot.
"Pay attention to avoiding the arrows." Zhang Liao ordered. These soldiers had been with him day and night and had long developed feelings for him. He could not let these soldiers make unnecessary sacrifices. "Not only do we have to defend Jianping, we also have to reduce casualties as much as possible.”This was Zhang Liao's belief.
The enemy had struck the bell. After all, an unexpected situation had occurred here. The whistling boulders and arrows with a range of 500 meters caused terrifying casualties. --
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