Therefore, Sun Hao was not in a hurry. He raised the command flag and waved it. Then he saw another army carrying ladders, bypassing half of Shanyin County and heading to attack the southern wall of the county.
The southern wall was specially raised during the reinforcement because the foundation of the old wall was better. Many of the ladders prepared by the Lingnan Army were difficult to reach the top of the wall, and only seven or eight slightly longer ladders could be set up. The number of Lingnan soldiers who could climb up with the ladders was also very limited.
Under such circumstances, the Shanyin City defenders on the south wall had more than enough manpower. In a short while, they had wiped out all the soldiers who climbed the city wall, and all the ladders were pushed down.
Sun Hao, who was commanding from the foot of the city, was not panicked. He waved his flag again and ordered the army to attack the north wall. This offensive was very different from the previous two. Sun Hao sent all the remaining 20,000 men to the north wall. He set up 30 or 40 ladders, if not 50. In a blink of an eye, the number of Lingnan soldiers who climbed the wall with the ladders was 400 to 500. They had occupied a large section of the wall and were gradually extending to both sides of the wall.
It turned out that Sun Hao's previous two attacks were just feints, in order to gradually attract the troops on the city wall to the south, and take advantage of the moment when the defenders on the north city wall were weak to send in heavy troops to attack, trying to succeed in one fell swoop.
This siege method can be said to be sophisticated.
The defenders in the city seemed to be unable to react in time until the enemy's attack was fully launched. Then they sent troops from other places to try to drive the Lingnan army that had already climbed onto the top of the city wall down.
However, the Lingnan Army had already established a firm foothold, and there was an endless stream of follow-up troops coming to the city wall to support them. How could they drive these people down from the city wall in a short time? The war fell into a stalemate and gradually developed in a direction that was unfavorable to the defenders.
Suddenly, at this moment, an iron chain swung down from one end of the city wall. This iron chain was more than ten feet long and as thick as a large bowl, and its total weight must have exceeded one thousand pounds. This thousand-pound heavy rope swung along the city wall, exerting unstoppable potential energy, destroying dozens of ladders that the Lingnan army had spent a lot of effort and paid a huge price to set up in an instant.
The iron chain was prepared by the defenders in the city long ago. There was one on each of the four walls, and it was originally prepared to destroy the ladder. However, the iron chain was extremely heavy, and once released, it was difficult to retract. It could only be used once in a battle, so it was only released at the last resort and at the critical moment, exerting great power.
The soldiers of the Lingnan Army who were still clinging to the ladders and trying to climb up the city walls were naturally not spared. Along with the broken pieces of the ladders, they fell from the city walls like kites with broken strings or autumn leaves hit by frost.
The Lingnan Army that had already climbed the wall lost its backup, and the enemy's strength was slowly increasing. Gradually, the situation was reversed. The Lingnan Army was outnumbered and could not make a difference. Some of the soldiers who saw the opportunity early climbed down from the iron rope hanging on the wall and managed to escape with their lives. Some of the soldiers who saw the opportunity slowly surrendered, while others could only become ghosts under the swords of the Shanyin County defenders.
General Sun Hao, who was commanding from far away, saw this situation from afar. He was extremely sad to see that his carefully planned waves of sieges had failed. He had followed the King of Lingnan in his campaigns, and had seen all kinds of tactics. He also knew that once the iron chain of the defenders was lowered, it would be temporarily useless. As long as he organized another wave of attacks, this annoying Shanyin County would be captured.
Unfortunately, Sun Hao only had so many soldiers and horses at his disposal, and they had all been put into the attack just now. The retreating soldiers were also demoralized, and there was no more soldiers available. He also saw that it was getting late, and attacking the city at night was several times more difficult than attacking during the day, so he had no choice but to order the troops to retreat, and the entire army temporarily set up camp and wait for tomorrow morning to make a decision.
Unexpectedly, before dawn, Zheng Yu, who was still on the march, sent someone to deliver a message, severely reprimanding Sun Hao and ordering him to continue the attack the next day and make sure to capture Shanyin County.
Sun Hao originally planned to let the army rest and regroup for a day before attacking, but when he heard Zheng Yu's command in a harsh and decisive tone, he had no choice but to drive his soldiers forward to attack the city again.
Today's battle is different from yesterday's.
The Lingnan Army suffered a crushing defeat yesterday, and their fighting spirit was damaged. Their attack was carried out sluggishly and slowly, far from being as sharp and decisive as before. The defenders barely managed to hold the city yesterday, and their morale was greatly boosted. They also accumulated experience in defending the city and became much more skilled in the use of their troops.
As the battle on the second day was not as fierce as on the first day, the Lingnan Army could not withstand the counterattack of the defenders as soon as they climbed onto the city wall and retreated easily. The defenders did not have a hard time defending the city, and they did not even use iron chains to repel the attacking troops.
After the attack on the second day failed, Sun Hao organized another attack on the third day.
This attack was different from the previous two. There were no tricks. All the troops were simply deployed on the weakest part of the city wall, the west wall. Hundreds of ladders were used and the army swarmed in, hoping to break through the city with the advantage of numbers alone.
Although this trick was simple, it was very practical. The defenders in the city were afraid that the enemy had some tricks up their sleeves, so they did not dare to concentrate all their forces on the west wall. In desperation, they could only use the iron chains again to disperse the ladders that were attached to the city wall.
However, after these hundreds of ladders were broken, the Lingnan Army actually set up hundreds more ladders and continued to increase their troops to attack without being discouraged.
When the war developed to this stage, the defenders in the city no longer cared whether the enemy would make another feint or not, and concentrated all their forces on the south wall, hoping to defeat the enemy in front first.
In this way, the two armies fought for every inch and every point on the city wall, from early morning until noon, but there was still no winner.
At this time, the people in the city saw that the soldiers defending the city had been fighting for a long time and must be very hungry, so under the leadership of several old gentry in the city, they hurriedly steamed hundreds of steamed buns and sent special people to the top of the city wall. They also saw that the soldiers on the city had suffered heavy casualties, so they escorted the soldiers down the city and sent them to the city to bandage and recuperate.
It was such an insignificant difference that caused the balance of the war to tilt greatly.
The defenders on the city had enough to eat and drink, and seeing their injured companions receive timely medical treatment, their morale was boosted, and they all cheered and howled as they fought for their lives with the enemy. On the other hand, the Lingnan army attacking the city had to fight on an empty stomach. If they were injured, they would die. Who would be willing to fight for the credit of others
As the momentum of the Lingnan Army weakened in this way, they barely held out for two hours. The city wall that they had painstakingly occupied through bloody fighting was recaptured by the defenders.
Sun Hao, who was commanding the battle, was not the kind of cruel general who drove his soldiers like cattle and horses. Seeing that the offensive on the third day had failed again, he knew that if he continued to force the soldiers to advance, it would only be a waste of manpower, so he had no choice but to call off the attack.
On the fourth day, Sun Hao felt that he had no other options, so he simply disobeyed the strict order from the second son of King Lingnan and allowed his soldiers to rest and recuperate, and stopped attacking Shanyin County.
On the fifth day, after a long journey on the mountain road, Zheng Yu finally arrived at the camp under Shanyin County. When he saw Sun Hao, he had a lot of words to say to him, but because the old general had been a senior general and he and his father were brothers, he couldn't save face, so he just said a few words to comfort him, and then they went back to rest.
At this time, all the troops that came to besiege Shanyin County had arrived. Because many soldiers were killed and wounded in the siege battles in the previous few days, the total force was less than the 60,000 organized at the beginning, but there were still more than 50,000 troops, and the advantage over the defenders in the city was further expanded.
From the sixth day of the battle, Zheng Yu took charge of the combat command of the Lingnan Army.
Zheng Yu initially thought that the veteran general Sun Hao looked down on him, so he was not very attentive in commanding the battle, which led to the long siege of the small Shanyin County. However, after he took charge of the army, he launched two consecutive attacks, but was defeated before he could even climb the opponent's wall. Only then did he realize that this small county was indeed difficult to capture and was indeed a piece of hard stone.
Zheng Yu thought that no matter how hard he tried, he could not match Sun Hao, a veteran with strong will and rich experience. Even Sun Hao could not take Shanyin County, so it would be even more difficult for him to break through it. He had to think of some strategy to capture Shanyin County cleverly.
Zheng Yu initially wanted to use a fire attack, which cost a huge amount of money. He piled up a lot of firewood under the gate of Shanyin County, poured kerosene on it, and started a big fire. However, after the wooden gate of Shanyin was burned down, what was seen was a brick wall that tightly blocked the gate. The bricks used were all top-grade bricks. After the fire, not only did not burn a single brick or tile, but the bricks were made stronger.
It would have been fine if Zheng Yu had failed in the first battle, but it had the opposite effect, so much so that some gossipers in the county made up a jingle specifically to mock the enemy army: "The King of Lingnan, the Second Prince, has no idea how to attack a city, but is very good at firing a kiln." They sang it loudly on the top of the city walls all the time, making Zheng Yu so ashamed that he could not even raise his head.
So Zheng Yu thought of using the tunnel digging method brought from the Western Regions by the "Tianzun Sect" to attack the city. He sent people to select four or five locations on the four sides of the city wall and dig into the city. Although Shanyin County is located in the mountains, the soil is relatively soft. The area outside the city is under the control of the Lingnan Army and there is no enemy harassment. Therefore, the tunnel digging went smoothly. It took only one day to dig the tunnel.
But Shanyin County was a small city after all, and now the city was full of people, so no matter where the hole was opened, it would be easily discovered. But the defenders in the city had long known that the Lingnan Army was good at digging sand and digging holes, and had already prepared a countermeasure.
Therefore, as soon as the Lingnan Army dug a tunnel, they would either be smoked out or buried in the ground, or they would be surrounded by the defenders and arrested.
In short, Zheng Yu led the Lingnan Army to use the digging method to attack Shanyin County, but did not make any progress and instead wasted two full days.
To this day, Zheng Yu, who is leading the troops in the battle, looks at the Shanyin County, which is so close yet so far away. It is as if he is looking at an iron bean that cannot be steamed, chewed or smashed open. It is also as if there is a stone in his eye that cannot be removed no matter how much he rubs it. How uncomfortable it is.
He thought of the news that he was at a loss in the battle, which might have been passed to his father Zheng Gui through the scouts in the army, and he couldn't help but feel uneasy. He suddenly remembered that the previous commander Sun Hao was closer to taking down the fortified city than he was, but he still had to endure his repeated urging, and he actually felt a little guilty towards this old general.