Volume 1 Jiangdong Fengyun Chapter 45: Ants Attack the City
"What? Your vanguard army just arrived and you lost to me? Le Jiu, that idiot, even sacrificed himself to get in... What use do I have for you?" Zhang Xun said angrily in the general's tent.
Li Feng and Liang Gang, whose arm was bandaged, lowered their heads in shame.
"Three thousand cavalrymen, elite cavalrymen...how come they became a bunch of cowards in your hands?" Zhang Xun cursed angrily.
Li Feng and Liang Gang were somewhat unconvinced, and did not believe that Zhang Xun could do better. However, since Zhang Xun had the upper hand, they did not dare to refute. Otherwise, if he really killed them both as a sacrifice, how could they seek justice?
"In Qu'a City, except for a small number of veteran Bingzhou soldiers, the rest should be newly trained soldiers. How could a head-on confrontation cause you such heavy losses?" After cursing enough, Zhang Xun asked with a judging look.
Liang Gang immediately said, "General! That's not the case. We were caught off guard by Lü Bu's Bingzhou Cavalry..."
Facing Zhang Xun's warning look, Liang Gang hurriedly continued to explain: "General, this is not an excuse... I have observed the defenders on Qu'a City. They are indeed just new soldiers. Even when they were shooting arrows from a high position, their angles were poor and their shooting speed was also very poor!"
"Oh? So, the only ones capable of fighting are the one thousand Bingzhou cavalry?" Zhang Xun's eyes lit up when he heard that.
At this time, Zhang Xun's "80,000 troops" had arrived. Of course... in fact, there were only a little over 20,000 troops, and they camped three miles away from Qu'a City.
Although Zhang Xun was not a famous general of the time, he had read several books on military strategy and was a serious military officer. He knew that there were Bingzhou cavalry, even if their number was small, so he paid special attention to arranging night patrols and scouts to guard against the enemy's night attacks.
After all, with such a huge gap in troop strength, Zhang Xun didn't see any chance of the other side winning unless he gambled on a night attack.
When Zhang Xun learned that there were indeed new recruits in Qu'a City, he felt more relieved - his goal had become how to capture Qu'a faster!
After the central army was in position, they rested outside the city for a night. Early the next morning, Zhang Xun built a high platform outside the city and personally challenged and directed the siege.
"Huh? What are those curtains on the city wall covering?" Zhang Xun asked, looking at the piles of mysterious objects covered with gray cloth and of considerable size on the city wall.
"This... I didn't notice it before. Maybe it's just bluffing?" Liang Gang said embarrassedly.
It’s not his fault that he didn’t notice it. It was only after seeing Zhang Xun’s central army arrive that Bai Tu ordered his men to install the city defense equipment overnight. The standardized and classified production made assembly and transportation very convenient.
Zhang Xun looked at Liang Gang with dissatisfaction, then sent him to lead the cavalry, while he himself stood on the high platform, commanding the flag bearers and drummers.
On the battlefield, it is the officers who lead the troops in formation, look at the flags and listen to the drums to know the commander-in-chief's orders, and then convey them to the lower-level officers.
In his own mind, Zhang Xun, who was on the command platform, had changed drastically, as if he had become a famous general. He felt as if he was sitting firmly in the central military tent and could destroy a powerful enemy in the blink of an eye!
A confrontation between two armies is not a group fight. It is not feasible to expect to rush in together and beat the master with random punches, especially now that the concept of military formation has been deeply rooted in people's minds.
Even when attacking a city, you cannot just rush in all at once - Zhang Xun has also read the Art of War!
"It's the偃月阵." Chen Gong said on the city wall.
At this time Bai Tu also came up to the city to supervise the battle. Taishi Ci and other guards were standing by. Chen Gong was among the guards and saw someone familiar... but he didn't say much and didn't imagine anything. He just watched the changes in Zhang Xun's military formation below.
Zhang Xun's army formation was seen, with each team tending to form a line. When they moved, they seemed to be dragged by an invisible vortex, operating in a clockwise direction. The main six teams of the army were approaching in a crescent shape, and the troops on the oblique crescent and the right wing on the west side were more powerful, as if they wanted to use the west side of the tower as a breakthrough point.
The part close to the city gate happens to be the depression of the crescent, which seems to have weak defense, and the commander-in-chief's command platform is also here, but in fact it is the most dangerous place of the偃月阵.
Perhaps Zhang Xun was still expecting Lu Bu to lead his troops to charge so that he could perform the "Heavenly Dog Eating the Moon" move - this was the military formation change he was most familiar with.
However, Lu Bu obviously had no intention of letting him do what he wanted, and Qu'a City was ready to defend to the death...
The right wing army on the west side had approached the city wall in a blink of an eye. After being shot twice by the defenders on the city wall with their shields raised, the third row of troops below also came into range. Under the cover of the first and second rows, they began to shoot arrows from bottom to top!
Zhang Xun was so excited watching from the high platform. The enemy defending the city were actually new recruits. With such a huge advantage of the city wall, how could they not gain an absolute advantage in the shootout?
In a blink of an eye, the first row on the right wing had arrived at the west side of the city wall. The soldiers holding shields spread out some "holes", and only "whoosh, whoosh, whoosh" were heard - dozens of flying claws and hooks, accompanied by the sound of breaking through the air, were thrown onto the city wall by elite soldiers and hooked on the city wall.
Then groups of soldiers began to climb up along the ropes...
"I really was underestimated. They didn't even build siege equipment and you think I can just climb up the city wall and fight like ants?" Chen Gong said with three parts helplessness and seven parts disdain.
Basic ladders had already appeared in the Warring States Period. Usually during sieges, the attackers would cut down local wood and build siege equipment.
Generally, only when the advantage is huge, or when the defenders have no morale and are not willing to fight, will such primitive ant-attached warfare be used - simply climbing the wall with a rope!
However, to some extent, Zhang Xun's judgment was correct.
Because of their numbers and poor training in archery, the defenders were directly suppressed from a distance. In fact, the hundreds of veteran soldiers from Qu'a were more useful in comparison. The efficiency of pulling down the flying hooks and pouring tung oil on the ropes to burn them was lower than the speed at which the opponent could throw up the hooks again!
At first, Bai Tu was a little confused. Why would someone attack the city from a high position? Wouldn't it be too easy to just drive them away halfway?
However, when he was really in the situation, Bai Tu realized that it was not that simple.
The battle between two armies is a competition involving large numbers, which has similarities and yet also complete differences with a single-person battle!
When the defending forces are weaker, like the Qu'a defenders now, and are suppressed to the point where they have no time to stop the vanguard troops from below from coming up, although they can still continue to kill the enemy troops climbing up, overall, the enemy is constantly climbing to new heights and is getting closer and closer to the city wall!
Especially on the other half of the left wing on the east side, the "Crescent" with weaker forces had also attacked the other side of the city wall. After further weakening the defenders' strength, in less than half an hour, some "people" were about to climb up, but the people who were about to climb up were constantly changing. When one died, another would immediately take his place.
Although the attacking side also suffered damage at this time, it has always been in an advantageous position, so its morale is high. This is also what is most needed during the ant war. Otherwise, once they become cowardly, no one dares to climb up. Even if they hesitate for a while, the previous achievements will be swallowed up. Therefore, morale and the supervisory team are very important.
Seeing that the enemy was about to come up, Bai Tu and Chen Gong looked at each other and nodded. Chen Gong then ordered, "City defense equipment team, move! Sweep the enemy indiscriminately!"
Zhang Xun, who was trying to look calm and indifferent to match the temperament of a famous general, suddenly saw that the big guys on the tower, who were originally covered with curtains, now revealed their true appearance...
