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Chapter 131: The Shu Army Ran Away? (4K)

Fengzhou City is much larger than Weiwu City. It is surrounded by a two-meter-wide moat, with high walls and deep moats, and is heavily guarded. It is not easy to attack it by force.

Two hundred steps north of the city, the Zhou army built an earthen wall and fence, and the continuous undulating tents were quite spectacular.

Wang Jing led his army to besiege Fengzhou City. At the beginning, he did not rush to attack the city. Instead, he cut down trees on the spot to make battering rams, ladders and other siege equipment.

As for the Shu army, they hid in the city and waited for reinforcements, determined not to leave the city to confront the Zhou army head-on.

For two days, there was not much movement from either side.

In the evening, Wang Jing led his men to climb a hillside outside Fengzhou City. Looking at the Shu army on the city wall from afar, his face had a solemn expression.

Although the Shu army in Fengzhou City sent troops to rescue Weiwu City a few days ago, they were defeated by the vanguard of the Zhou army in Baijian and lost more than a thousand people.

But right now there are still at least three to four thousand Shu troops in the city.

Wang Jing thought about it in his heart. If the Shu army was determined to hold on, with the amount of grain stored in Fengzhou City, if his side did not launch a violent attack, it would take at least two or three months before they had a chance to take it without bloodshed.

After much thought, he decided that the only way was to attack by force. After all, Fengzhou City was like a nail, stuck in the middle of Chencang Road. If it was not captured, it would definitely affect the entire Western Expedition.

No matter how great the cost, we must take over Fengzhou City in a short time!

At this moment, the general next to him started cursing, "The mighty Jiedushi Wang Huan is such a coward! We've sent him several letters of surrender over the past two days, but he hasn't responded at all. He doesn't want to surrender, and he doesn't want to fight. Does he really want to defend Fengzhou City forever?"

An aide chimed in, "I think Wang Huan is planning to hold his ground, waiting for Shu to send troops to rescue him. Now it all depends on whether Li Du Yuhou can quickly capture Guzhen... If the Shu army loses Guzhen, Wang Huan's hopes will be completely dashed. Even if he doesn't want to surrender, his men will force him to do so."

After hearing this, someone muttered, "Li Du Yuhou is truly formidable. He fought his way from Sanguan to Malingzhai in just twenty days. He captured six to seven thousand Shu troops alone, and if you add in the civilians and strong men, that's nearly ten thousand captured."

Everyone immediately agreed with it and spoke in unison. As for the second expedition against Shu, the officials and officers of Fengxiang Jiezhen were already prepared for a protracted war.

Moreover, once the war reaches a stalemate, whether or not one can win becomes secondary; the biggest problem is logistical support.

But no one dreamed that their worries were completely unnecessary. Not only did the Western Expedition progress rapidly, but they didn't even have to worry about food and fodder, as the Shu Kingdom's stored grain was freely available for consumption.

When have we ever fought such a prosperous war?
Wang Jing listened to the noise and was silent for a moment before he said, "We'll start the siege tomorrow morning!"

A general asked, "General, should we wait for Li Duyuhou to capture Guzhen first?"

Before he could finish, Wang Jing interrupted, "I've heard of Wang Huan in my early years. He's not someone who would surrender easily. Are we going to waste time fighting him here?"

Wang Jing was indeed a veteran who had served in five dynasties. With his experience and knowledge, he naturally had a lot of experience. He immediately hit the nail on the head about Wang Huan's temperament.

During the Later Zhou Dynasty's attack on Qin, Feng, and the four prefectures, Wang Huan was indeed the one who persevered to the end, holding out for a hundred days despite being isolated and without support. Therefore, when he was captured and taken to Tokyo, he was commended by Emperor Shizong of Zhou, who said, "Although he could not die, he was still loyal to his cause."

Wang Jing said in a deep voice, "I think you've been fighting so smoothly that you've become lazy... Don't tell me you can't fight without Li Duyuhou leading the vanguard?"

After being scolded a few times, everyone didn't dare to say anything more and quickly responded.

The next morning.

The troops of Fengxiang Jiezhen officially launched a siege.

From afar, one could see dense crowds of soldiers and horses, and flags like clouds. The Zhou army was deployed a few hundred meters away, with messengers running back and forth between the ranks, loudly conveying military orders from the rear.

The Zhou army archers advanced to within a hundred steps of the city and shot arrows, but the Shu army above used projectiles, which had a longer range than the Zhou army, and there were also battlements to block their attacks. The Zhou army archers did not gain any advantage and could only retreat in a hurry after shooting a few rounds.

These days, the conventional means of attacking a city are nothing more than catapults, battering rams, ladders, and fire attacks... In the final analysis, it all depends on human lives.

As for tricky methods such as flooding and digging tunnels, they are not suitable for Fengzhou City at the moment, because the entire city is located on a relatively high terrain and the nearest water source is the Jialing River. The Zhou army has no ability to dig mountains to divert water to flood the city.

Digging a tunnel is equally unrealistic. Not only is the ground too hard, but it's also full of rocks after digging one or two meters. Even if your hands get worn out, you won't be able to dig very deep. Moreover, the noise is too loud and the city will be on guard.

In this way, as a veteran, Wang Jing can only adopt one way of fighting: mindlessly climbing the wall and attacking the city like an ant.

Fengzhou City is backed by a mountain on one side, and the other three walls are covered with people. From a distance, it looks pitch black, which makes people's scalp tingle.

In this situation, the whole city was like a square cake thrown on the roadside, covered with a group of ants, with people falling from it from time to time. Thick smoke billowed up endless dust around it, and screams could be heard clearly from miles away.

There seemed to be a stench of burnt hair floating in the wind, mixed with the disgusting smell of blood.

The brutal siege continued until dusk.

A row of soldiers at the rear of the Zhou army puffed out their cheeks and blew the horn to retreat. The rapid drumbeats fell like raindrops, echoing among the mountains and ridges.

In a blink of an eye, the Zhou army retreated from Fengzhou City like a tide.

The generals were shouting and cursing at the top of their lungs, trying to straighten out the noisy formation, and teams of soldiers returned to their barracks in an orderly manner.

Wang Jing stood in the open space in front of the central army tent. A dozen officers gathered around him, and everyone watched the soldiers returning to the camp in silence.

After a day of intense siege fighting, the army suffered heavy casualties. Wounded soldiers were constantly being carried back, and their wailing was incessant.

Zhang Jianxiong walked quickly from outside the camp to Wang Jing and said with a worried look on his face, "General, we lost hundreds of brothers today, and we haven't even reached the top of Fengzhou City. If we continue to attack like this for a few more days, our Fengxiang troops will surely suffer heavy casualties."

Wang Jing remained silent for a long moment before speaking, "The Shu army has suffered no fewer casualties than we have. We must not give them a chance to catch their breath. However, I've observed the siege today and found that the terrain to the west of Fengzhou City is flatter, and the wall structure there is more conducive to attack. Tomorrow, we will launch our main attack from the western wall, while conducting feint attacks on the other two sides to distract the enemy."

"I obey your command!" Zhang Jianxiong saluted. He had been appointed by Wang Jing as the commander-in-chief of the siege, responsible for the overall coordination of the siege personnel and equipment.

At this time, an officer suggested: "The Shu soldiers captured by the vanguard in Baijian have not yet been escorted to the rear. Drive them over to dig up the wall and charge when it collapses. If it doesn't collapse, it won't kill us..."

Zhang Jianxiong hurriedly said, "No! Please be cautious, General. We have already promised not to kill those who surrender. If we go back on our word and force them to attack the city, it will surely make the Qin, Feng, and other Shu troops defending the city afraid to surrender. This will arouse a spirit of resistance and fight to the death, which will be detrimental to the progress of our subsequent battles."

He had followed Li Yi before and had seen the other side's fighting style. He was ruthless when necessary and kind when necessary. He crushed the resistance of the Shu army and gave them hope of survival.

Zhang Jianxiong also agreed with this approach. As long as the Shu army surrendered, they would not die, so they would not resist to the end. If they suddenly broke their promise now, wouldn't that bring trouble to themselves?

Of course, even if Zhang Jianxiong hadn't dissuaded him, Wang Jing wouldn't have agreed to the officer's proposal. But he didn't rebuke the officer for making the suggestion. After all, he had seen many brutal warriors in troubled times, and not a few had massacred cities at will. While driving the surrendered soldiers to attack the city was inappropriate, it wasn't a heinous crime.

Wang Jing simply shook his head and said, "Tomorrow, have someone send those Shu army prisoners back to Fengxiang. Leaving them at the front line will require more people to guard them, which is a waste of food."

This statement shows his attitude.

……

Compared with the brutal siege of Fengzhou City, Li Yi, who led his troops to Guzhen, felt much more relaxed and comfortable.

From Weiwu City, go south along Chencang Road, and Fengzhou City is in the southwest.

Going west past Fengzhou City, we have left the main mountain range of the Qinling Mountains and the road along the way has become flatter.

Li Yi led his army westward, rested for one night at Maling Village, and then set out to continue the march the next day. Soon they were only dozens of miles away from Guzhen in the west.

Going further west to Guzhen is Chengzhou, and if you go south, you will reach Xingzhou, the gateway to Shu State.

Among them, Guzhen was a military stronghold of Shu State, where thousands of troops of the Xiongsheng Army were stationed. Qingniling was forty miles to the south.

Qingniling is an important node for the Shu army's northward advance and also the throat of the Qinling-Shu Road.

If they could quickly capture Guzhen, they would be able to threaten the reinforcements coming from Qingniling to Shu. Holding the strategic point of Guzhen would be equivalent to strangling Shu's throat, and the four states of Qin and Feng would have no hope of anyone coming to their rescue.

That night.

The vanguard troops set up camp dozens of miles away from Guzhen, and Li Yijia sent scouts to conduct reconnaissance in the direction of Guzhen and Qingniling.

Sitting in the temporary tent, Li Yi relaxed for a rare moment.

More than twenty days had passed since he left Sanguan. The high-intensity marching and fighting along the way had made him tense and exhausted both physically and mentally.

Fortunately, all this was worth it. Tangcang Town wiped out the Shu army, captured Weiwu City in ten days, and defeated the two thousand reinforcements sent by Weiwu Jiedushi Wang Huan in Baijian.

Li Yi thought to himself: Whether it is the first attack on Shu in this timeline or the attack on Shu that actually happened in history, they are far inferior to the achievements I have achieved now.

Is this enough for the emperor to appoint himself a Jiedushi?

At this moment, Li Hanchao opened the door curtain and walked in, saying, "Brother, according to news from Fengzhou City, the Fengxiang Army has been attacking the city for two days but has not been able to take it, and has suffered over a thousand casualties..."

"Tsk tsk, Commander Wang Jie is at a big loss now. He played it safe all along and let us charge in the front, but now that we're playing so well, he's getting anxious."

Li Yi said, "It's understandable that General Wang Jie wants to play it safe. After all, he's the commander-in-chief of the Western Expedition Army. He certainly can't be as youthful and impulsive as us, charging headlong without regard for the consequences."

"However, Marshal Wang Jie is very experienced in arranging the overall battle plan. He has a clear understanding of the terrain without even looking at a map, and his arrangements in all aspects are very thorough."

Li Hanchao nodded and then asked, "Brother, should we speed up our march to attack Guzhen tomorrow?"

"No rush." ​​Li Yi shook his head slightly, looked at the map and pondered for a while.

"Qinzhou is now blocked by Xiang Xun's troops along the Wei River and poses no threat. Chengzhou and Jiezhou are even more vulnerable, as they're lucky to be able to protect themselves... If the Shu army wants to rescue Fengzhou, the best option is to send troops from Xingzhou via Qingniling."

"Our Imperial Guards have suffered nearly a thousand casualties in the successive battles. While this loss is minor compared to our achievements... we only brought over 3,500 men with us from Tokyo this time."

"Even if we add the Yongxing soldiers under General Pan, we only have about 3,000 men now."

After a pause, Li Yi pointed at the map and said, "Marshal Wang Jie is currently attacking Fengzhou City. He doesn't even have enough troops of his own, so it's impossible for him to allocate more to us."

"We may be facing a large force from Shu coming from the direction of Qingni Ridge. Before that, we must try to conserve our strength. If we rashly attack Guzhen and get held back, it will be very risky."

Speaking of this, Li Yi secretly thought in his heart that the war against Shu had reached this stage and was already completely different from what happened in history.

Now he has no experience to refer to, so he can only take one step at a time. The next focus is to stabilize the defense line, and it is not suitable to attack or rush again.

Li Hanchao echoed, "Big Brother is right. Should we switch from offense to defense now?"

Li Yi agreed, "That's right. Shu is more anxious than we are right now. As the saying goes, the more anxious you are, the more likely you are to make mistakes. We should just sit back and wait for the Shu army to come to us."

……

I don't know if it was really what he wished for, but before Li Yi led his men to attack, the Shu army in Guzhen was already in disarray.

Early in the morning, Li Yi was squatting at the door of his tent, washing up. As he wiped his face with a damp cloth, he heard the sound of heavy horse hooves approaching from afar.

He looked up and saw two Zhou army scouts galloping towards him.

Arriving in front of them, the scout dismounted, saluted excitedly, and said, "The Shu army in Guzhen ran away on their own!"

Li Yi was stunned for a moment, not reacting, and subconsciously asked, "Who ran away?"

The scout quickly explained, "At dawn today, the Shu army stationed in Guzhen began to withdraw. The road was filled with a sea of ​​Shu soldiers, marching noisily towards Qingni Ridge."

Marching in reverse? That would be running away!

Li Yi burst into laughter and immediately ordered, "Brothers, get ready quickly. The Shu army doesn't want to defend the town, but we do!"

Human circumstances are indeed marvelous. From last year to now, Li Yi has discovered that things have gone too smoothly for him.

But when you think about it, luck does play a big part.

The Shu army in Tangcang Town may not fall into the trap as he expected, and whether the defenders of Weiwu City will surrender easily, and now the Shu army in Guzhen will retreat voluntarily, there are countless possibilities in these links.

Is there really such a thing as destiny?
(End of this chapter)