My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 805: Eliminate Li Dian first and then surround Luoyang

Li Dian wanted to control the situation, but the soldiers under him didn't care how many enemies there were or whether they were worth being afraid of.

The soldiers only knew that they saw with their own eyes that the enemy was very powerful, so they just took it as true.

Ma Chao's cavalry, holding their lances and wielding their sabers, charged back and forth with lightning speed.

Li Dian's central army collapsed completely after being attacked by only two or three waves.

Li Dian was caught in a dilemma in the chaos and was completely unable to cope with the situation. In the end, he was knocked down and trampled by Ma Chao's cavalry and was completely lost in the chaos.

Cao's army suffered numerous casualties, and the scene was extremely miserable. As Li Dian's banner fell, large numbers of Cao's army threw down their weapons and surrendered, and were easily annihilated by Ma Chao.

Ma Chao took advantage of the victory to sweep away the enemies on the Xiaopingjin battlefield, and then cut across to the southeast, heading straight for Xiaoping County, and incidentally blocked the way for the enemies in Mengjin to return to Xiaoping County.

As mentioned above, Xiaoping County is located directly south of Xiaopingjin and southwest of Mengjin Ferry. Whether it is Cao's army in Xiaopingjin or Cao's army in Mengjin, they have to pass through Xiaoping County to return to Luoyang.

If you want to go straight from Mengjin to Luoyang, it is theoretically possible, but you have to cross the Beimang Mountain and there is no plain road to take.

Ma Chao's advance to Xiaoping County was a good opportunity to kill two birds with one stone.

When his army arrived, there were still several thousand soldiers guarding the county, but the people were in a panic. Seeing Ma Chao's army coming in a cloud of dust, the civil and military officials in the county did not know whether Ma Chao was strong enough or not, and they were all worried.

Ma Chao prepared to launch a strong attack and had someone take the fresh head of Li Dian to intimidate the defenders of Xiaoping County. The defenders were frightened and naturally did not dare to fight, but were still hesitating whether to surrender.

While he was hesitating, Cao's army retreating from Mengjin also gradually arrived at the battlefield. However, this group of troops was not led by a general, but only by a deputy general under Li Dian.

Ma Chao also used the same trick. On the one hand, he had people send Li Dian's head for display and shouting, while on the other hand, he bluffed and said that his army of tens of thousands had landed and would intercept Li Dian's retreat and would definitely wipe out all his troops. The only way to avoid death was to surrender early.

The Cao army retreating from the direction of Mengjin originally still had some fighting spirit, but when they saw Li Dian's head, their only breath was lost.

On Ma Chao's side, after his own cavalry vanguard successfully crossed the river, the rear troops were actually constantly landing at the Xiaopingjin Wharf. Although the wharf had been burned down by Li Dian, the topography of the river bay had not changed, and the deep-water anchorage berths were still there, so warships could go directly ashore and pick up people, without the need for small boats to ferry across the shallows.

Therefore, every hour, the number of Liu Bei's troops landing would increase by at least two thousand. The longer the time dragged on, the stronger Ma Chao's fighting power would become.

After Cao's army in Mengjin hesitated for a while, Ma Chao saw that they were wavering, and his own strength was gradually accumulating. Moreover, after Ma Chao successfully landed, he sent a message back to the rear, and it was estimated that Liu Bei's army was also landing in the direction of Mengjin.

Ma Chao calculated that the time was almost up, so he took the initiative to launch a field attack on Cao's army retreating from Mengjin. Cao's army hesitated and was forced to fight back.

This time, at the beginning they did not suffer as much as in the Battle of Xiaopingjin. After all, Cao's army was fighting from where they were standing, instead of being chased and attacked while retreating.

Moreover, the total number of Cao's troops in Mengjin was far greater than that of Ma Chao's troops.

Unfortunately, not long after the battle, Cao's army in Mengjin was attacked from both sides - Liu Bei's other army, the pursuit troops that crossed the river from Mengjin, had also slowly caught up. Just as Ma Chao was attacking from the front, they also rushed to the battlefield to cut off Cao's retreat.

The Mengjin Cao army was thrown into chaos and was completely defeated again.

Cao's army in Xiaoping County was still hesitating whether to open the gate and charge to support the friendly troops retreating from Mengjin. However, seeing that the friendly troops were destroyed by Ma Chao and Liu Bei's army coming from behind, the Cao army in Xiaoping County was terrified and had to keep the city gate closed.

Only a few confidants who were loyal to Cao Ren, mainly the cavalry troops stationed in the county, chose to open the south gate of Xiaoping County, and broke through to the south to Luoyang to report the news before Ma Chao laid siege on the city.

Soon after, Liu Bei's army ended the battle outside the city and went to Xiaoping County to prepare for the siege. The defenders in the city had lost their backbone, and the cavalry of Cao Ren, who was loyal to the enemy, broke out again - in the eyes of his comrades, this was called desertion.

In addition, as two friendly forces were successively destroyed in front of them, these people no longer had the courage to resist and finally opened the city and surrendered.

The more than 10,000 people at Xiaopingjin, the 20,000 people at Mengjindu, and the several thousand troops in Xiaoping County, at least half of Cao's army's defenders on the Yellow River defense line, were ultimately unable to withdraw to Luoyang City or Hangu Pass.

Below Li Dian, the total losses reached more than 30,000, including deaths, injuries, capture and surrender.

The main force that Cao Ren was concerned about defending the city and the pass had not yet returned, and Liu Bei's army killed tens of thousands of people on the way.

As a result, the total number of troops Cao Ren could use for the Luoyang Campaign was probably less than 100,000, a decrease of at least 20% to 30% compared to before.

After Li Dian was killed, Cao Ren didn't even have a decent deputy general. Xu Huang was going to withdraw from Hangu Pass and be directly under Cao Cao's command, not under Cao Ren's control.

Cao Ren could only defend Luoyang as a lone commander.

Before the siege even started, Cao Ren had another arm cut off.

……

Li Dian died in the chaos, and more than 30,000 Cao troops on the northern front were wiped out.

When the two pieces of bad news were reported back to Luoyang City that afternoon, Cao Ren was shocked.

The total number of troops who withdrew to Luoyang City from the north was only a few thousand people, mainly some scattered and defeated soldiers who escaped from Xiaopingjin and Mengjin, as well as the cavalry unit that withdrew as an organized unit from Xiaoping County.

Cao Ren originally had more than 80,000 troops at his disposal, and with the number of those who were withdrawn, the number barely exceeded 90,000.

He could only rely on these 90,000 people to defend Luoyang City, plus Henan County to the west of Luoyang and between Hangu Pass, Gucheng County, and Yanshi County, the gateway to the east of Luoyang (Zhang Fei had previously captured Gong County and was currently attacking Yanshi County, but had not yet taken it. He had to defeat Yanshi before officially attacking Luoyang).

Ninety thousand men to guard four counties was originally a sufficient force, but considering that he had to defend the Han capital Luoyang and the enemy was so powerful, the situation was very dangerous.

Cao Cao's camp originally had a total of more than 200,000 troops. Now with the loss of Li Dian's more than 30,000, the remaining number is estimated to be just over 20,000, and will definitely not exceed 230,000 or 240,000.

Therefore, if Cao Ren's army in the Heluo Basin were to encounter another accident or even be completely annihilated, Cao Cao's total military strength in Guanzhong, Bingzhou, Hedong and other places would probably fall to the last life-and-death line of 150,000.

The Cao family’s rule is almost coming to an end.

Of course, Cao Cao could also choose to continue to expand his army madly and temporarily recruit local militiamen, but the combat effectiveness and quality of such an army would not be guaranteed at all, and they would be serving as a defense for the enemy on the battlefield.

These are all later stories. Anyway, what Cao Ren has to face now is how to defend Luoyang.

If Li Dian had not died, he still had a glimmer of hope. He also thought that Li Dian could protect his retreat. In case he could resist and retreat step by step, even if he was defeated, he might still be able to hope to withdraw to Hangu Pass through Henan County and Gucheng County.

But now it seems that Li Dian's death has completely strengthened Cao Ren's determination. He has completely realized that the more he fights mobile warfare with Liu Bei's army, the more he loses.

How could he defeat the cavalry of Zhao Yun, Ma Chao and others? The wisdom of Zhuge brothers, Pang Tong, Lu Su and others was unmatched by anyone on his side. So as long as he changed his tactics and used strategies, he would inevitably suffer losses.

Only by building a strong stronghold, fighting a stupid battle, and defending to the death can you minimize the chance of suffering losses.

Just defend the core Luoyang City to the death. The fewer lives the better. There is no need to sacrifice lives just to maintain that tiny possibility of final escape.

After realizing this, Cao Ren decisively and secretly issued an order: "Go to Gucheng County and Henan County to pass the order, and let the local civil and military officers and soldiers all withdraw to Hangu Pass, and don't worry about the rest. Your Majesty has decided to defend Luoyang to the death, and you don't need them to protect the retreat.

However, this matter must be kept secret. After the order is delivered, you all should go to Hangu Pass together and don't need to come back. As for Luoyang, the news must be strictly blocked. Even if the enemy army besieges the city in the future, we will publicize internally that Gucheng, Henan and other places are still in our own hands. "

Cao Ren's statement was equivalent to giving up his life and seeking fame by dying. Of course, he would still keep it secret from his subordinates and try not to let them know.

Anyone who dares to spread rumors will be beheaded.

The civil and military officials of Gucheng County and Henan County must withdraw as quickly as possible upon receiving the order and not allow anyone to fall into the hands of Liu Bei's army.

This was to prevent Liu Bei's army from taking local officials or generals to the front of the battlefield to curse and persuade them to surrender, or from showing off a few heads to shake the morale of the Luoyang defenders.

After doing all this, Cao Ren took the initiative to withdraw more than 20,000 people. In the end, only 60,000 to 70,000 people were left, defending an isolated city, quietly waiting for the final moment to come.

……

On the other hand, after Ma Chao almost wiped out Cao's army in Xiaopingjin and Mengjin, Liu Bei and Zhuge brothers learned about the situation that night.

Liu Bei was naturally overjoyed and pleased: "Mengqi's ability to penetrate the enemy's rear and divide and encircle is no less than Zilong's. This is cause for celebration."

The rest of Liu Bei's high-ranking civil and military officials who were present naturally congratulated Liu Bei.

That night, Liu Bei's high-ranking officers celebrated and drank, but most of them did not get drunk. The next day, Liu Bei asked Zhuge brothers and others if they had any follow-up plans.

Zhuge Liang replied with a smile: When employing troops, one should combine the unconventional and the orthodox. How can one have strategies available all the time?

The advantages have already been accumulated to this extent, and all the enemies that can be weakened have been weakened. The final assault on Luoyang City will definitely be a tough battle.

Liu Bei also thought it was reasonable and did not ask for more.

Two days later, Zhang Fei completely cleared Yanshi County, and Zhao Yun also broke through Yique Pass. Huang Zhong took the food, supplies and military supplies collected in the Nanyang Basin, took the Yichuan waterway, went downstream, entered the Heluo Basin, and joined Zhao Yun.

At this point, Guan, Zhang, Zhao, Ma, Huang, Zhou Yu and Wei Yan had all gathered in the Heluo Basin. Liu Bei gathered more than 200,000 people and completely surrounded Luoyang City from four directions.

Cao Ren led more than 60,000 Cao troops in the city, who fought hard to defend the city, with no reinforcements from outside and no way to retreat. This was Cao Ren's last battle of dignity.

On August 20th, the encirclement was completely closed. Liu Bei's army rested for two days and then began to build a construction camp and create siege equipment.

Auxiliary troops were also dispatched, pushing a large number of bulldozers equipped with anti-arrow shields, to fill up the moat of Luoyang City. They selected several key positions and tried to create an attack route directly to the city.

Luoyang is still very tall and majestic. Although Luoyang changed hands several times over the years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, there had never been any siege battles before. It was always abandoned and burned down by brutal people like Dong Zhuo.

If they really wanted to storm here, the city wall was seven zhang high and thick, which would be a huge challenge for both the ladder and the Ge Gongche.

In the whole world, there were only three fortresses with walls as high and thick as seven zhang, namely Luoyang, Chang'an and Meiwu built by Dong Zhuo.

In addition, Cao Cao's later capital city of Xu County and the newly built Yecheng in Hebei were close to this size, but they did not reach it completely. As for other important local cities, they could not reach this standard.

So after Liu Bei's army arrived at the city, they soon encountered many practical problems. Although they might not seem big, they had to be solved with practical solutions.

The Ge bus originally designed by the Zhuge brothers did not work well in Luoyang.

Because the Ge Gongche is not like a ladder, which can adapt itself to attacking higher walls by raising the folded section of the ladder.

The Gegongche's goal was to directly rely on the height of its body, the top of which was flush with the city wall, and then directly rush up the city wall along the plank with an iron spike on the top. As the city wall became higher, the body of the car had to be raised accordingly.

However, with today's technology, it is impossible to build a wooden tower car that is seven feet high and can be pushed quickly. The previous Ge Gong cars were more than two feet high, and at most more than four feet high, and they were all targeted at attacking cities that were two to four feet high.

Even if we build a seven-meter-high car now, it is either impossible to push it, or it is very unstable even if it is pushed because the center of gravity is too high.

If the enemy used the tactics invented by Zhuge Jin himself, "a crossbow with a coarse hemp rope and arrow, a huge stone and a pulley tied to the end of the rope, and using gravity to impact and drag", it would be very likely that they would be able to drag down such a tall Ge Gongche.

Another point is that because the city wall of Luoyang is so high, its cross-section is actually more like a dam. The outside of the wall is sloped, and the horizontal distance from the bottom to the top of the slope is as much as one or two feet.

Even if Zhuge Jin built the Ge Gongche and pushed it to the base of the city wall, the roof of the car would still be two meters away from the wall because of the slope of the dam-shaped wall.

This requires that the Ge Gongche be equipped with a plank that is more than two meters long so that it can be placed on the top of the city wall.

With such a long plank, the soldiers would be exposed to a long distance when charging on it, and would be easily shot by enemy archers on both sides.

In short, when the enemy has enough troops and decides to defend a seven-meter-high city to the death, the attackers will face unique technical problems that have never been encountered in other previous siege battles.

"It seems that using the Gegong car directly is not a good idea. We need to modify it. We can just build the car body to be 40 feet high, and make the last 30 feet of the drop into a ladder shape, so that the soldiers can climb up with their hands and feet instead of running along the planks.

This can be regarded as a combination of the Ge Gongche and the ladder. The top three meters are still equivalent to the ladder, but the bottom four meters can at least be climbed slowly under the cover of a wooden wall, without being threatened by rain of arrows and rolling logs and rocks the entire way.

Other well guardrails and watchtowers also need to be adjusted accordingly. The original specifications are no longer suitable. Luoyang City is still too high."

After personally inspecting the preparations for the siege, Zhuge Jin had no choice but to make these compromises and adjustments to respond to each move as it came.

Although I can't use the complete form of Ge Gongche, grafting it will always be helpful.

Originally they had to crawl seven meters under a rain of arrows, but now they only have to crawl three meters under a rain of arrows. This is considered an improvement, and the soldiers will thank him.

There are many other things that need to be changed.

(End of this chapter)