The north wind is getting stronger, the trees are falling, October is coming to an end in a blink of an eye, and it is the beginning of winter.
Although it is not as snowy and freezing as in the north, the cold in the south of the Yangtze River is slightly more severe. But even in such an increasingly cold weather, the offensive and defensive battles surrounding Hangzhou City were still in full swing, which dispelled the local chill.
After all, Sun Tu had some miscalculations or was too optimistic. Hangzhou City was far easier to defend and harder to attack than he expected. As the coach of Wu Army, Pang Wanchun's performance far exceeded his imagination, even though he had already won the battle. He quickly led his troops to the city of Hangzhou, but the opponent was well prepared and defended the city impregnably, preventing the Song army from taking any advantage.
Moreover, he clearly learned the lessons of the Wu army's repeated defeats at the hands of the Song army. He did not go out to fight just because he had a great victory before and his troops were far superior to the Song army. Instead, he held on to the city and relied on the high walls and deep pools of Hangzhou City. A protracted war of attrition started with the Song Army.
In this way, the Wu army really allowed the Wu army to avoid their weaknesses and make use of their strengths. They were already inferior to the well-trained Song Dynasty official army in terms of combat power. In addition, they had just experienced a major blow in which their general died in battle, so they would inevitably feel timid in their hearts. Relying on the advantage of geographical location, coupled with the large number of people, they were able to draw a draw with the Shandong Army, which was good at fighting.
Moreover, by continuously repelling the Song army in battle after battle, the morale of the Wu army was re-united and improved. Many soldiers became more courageous as they fought, and even gained a better understanding of offensive and defensive methods, which really caused considerable trouble for the Shandong Army.
At the beginning, Sun Tu could rely on the bravery of his soldiers to ascend the city several times. However, as the Wu army became more and more mature, this advantage gradually disappeared. That's all. What's even more troublesome is that after the Wu army's morale gradually increased, Pang Wanchun no longer defended blindly. Instead, he sent small groups of troops every now and then to raid the Song army's camp in the early morning or at night, inflicting food on the soldiers. A lot of pain.
If the other side really attacks with an army, that's it. With the Song army's combat power and discipline, they can respond in time without falling behind. However, these Wu troops who came out of the city are just to disturb the Song army's dream and think it is a strategy to weaken the enemy. Disgusted. Once the Song army opens camp and breaks out, these small teams will escape in time; and if the Song army does not respond, they will use various harassment tactics around the camp. One night, they even counted several Ten rockets were fired into the camp, almost causing disaster.
Facing such a dirty trick designed only for disgusting people, Sun Tu and others also felt a headache. After suffering several losses, they could only temporarily withdraw the camp several miles back. Then, when the Wu army repeated its old tricks and attacked the military camp again at night, they were attacked by an ambush arranged outside the camp early in the morning, and almost the entire army was wiped out.
It wasn't until he learned the relevant news that Pang Wanchun realized that the Song army moved the camp back not only to avoid the attack, but also to deceive others. Because of the distance, the defenders in the city were unaware that they had made corresponding arrangements. . After suffering this loss, the Wu army finally stopped and did not continue to send people to harass the Song camp at night.
Of course, these can only be regarded as small means for this Hangzhou offensive and defensive battle. The real key to determining the victory of this battle is during the day.
Each game comes with clever offensive and defensive strategies.
After the initial strong attack was difficult to achieve and instead lost troops and generals, Sun Tu quickly adjusted his tactics and used many unconventional means to attack Hangzhou City.
For example, at the beginning, he ordered people to build a high platform and arranged hundreds of crossbowmen on it. He planned to suppress the city defenders with the bow and crossbow array that the Song army was proud of, and then took the opportunity to lead his army to cover up the enemy. Go to the city. But in the end, this move was quickly defeated by Wu Jun. Not only did they suddenly send out elite soldiers to fight in front of the platform, they also placed several crossbows in front of the city wall, directly destroying the entire high platform.
Later, Sun Tu thought of another way, but he spotted the shallow water of the moat in the north of Hangzhou and wanted to dig a tunnel underground to sneak into the city. But this strategy was quickly discovered by the defenders. Pang Wanchun had actually made preparations early in the morning. He set up large tanks buried deep in the ground at key points in the city and sent special personnel to wait and listen. When the sound of the Song Army digging tunnels sounded, they directly diverted water from the city and poured it in, but the Song Army suffered another heavy loss.
After the accumulation of small victories one after another, the morale of the Wu army continued to improve, Pang Wanchun was dissatisfied with defending Hangzhou, and actually took the initiative to lead an army to attack the Song military camp on October 12th. But this time he was a little reckless. After the first battle, the Wu army was no match for the elite Shandong army. They lost a lot of troops but could not take any advantage. Fortunately, they retreated to the city in time, otherwise the losses would be even greater.
At this point, the Song and Wu armies, the offensive and defensive sides, reached a delicate balance under the city of Hangzhou. No one could do anything to the other, they could only continue to confront each other, constantly delaying the war.
In fact, this is what attacking and defending a city should have looked like in ancient times. For the attacking party, if it did not have an overwhelming advantage, it would indeed be an extremely labor-intensive and protracted project to capture a certain city. History There are many offensive and defensive battles around a fortified city that lasted for one or two years. There were even cases where it took more than ten or even decades to conquer a key city.
In comparison, Sun Tu's previous attack on the city and territory was abnormal, and it was abnormal to attack the city of Hangzhou in one go. This was also related to his frequent dangers and coincidences. However, when faced with a strong opponent who is cautious and calm enough, these methods of his are completely useless. Hangzhou has become an insurmountable chasm in front of him.
Sun Tu was obviously dissatisfied with this situation, so he would summon his generals every day to discuss ways to break the city. In addition to this, he would also lock himself in a tent and think hard about the strategy to attack the city. At this time, in the big tent where a brazier had been set up to keep out the cold, he once again sat calmly with the drawings of the Hangzhou city and surrounding terrain, thinking about how to attack the city next.
But how could he come up with any clever ideas at once? As long as he had thought of any means, he had already used them. All he had to do was search in the warehouse to see if he could find a cannon, so he just used the Hangzhou City Wall. It was blown to pieces. Of course, this is just an unrealistic idea. At least so far, the warehouse system he opened does not have any more powerful firearms than the batch of firecrackers that provided him with ammunition. Sometimes he even began to regret that he had used all the diesel fuel to attack Hutou Village. If he could have left some
, and now hitting it on the city wall of Hangzhou will definitely have the final say.
Just when he was thinking hard and couldn't figure it out, Tang Feng's voice suddenly came from outside the tent: "General, Song Jiang wants to see you."
"Let him in." Sun Tu continued to stare at the topographic map that he was familiar with beforehand, and said casually without raising his head.
The curtain was lifted, and Song Jiang entered the tent with a chill: "General."
"What's the matter with you?" Sun Tu glanced at him and asked.
"The scouts sent to the south have brought back news that they have incited many local gentry to rebel. They will start revolts in various cities in the near future. It will not take long to recapture many cities outside of Hangzhou. "Song Jiang said with some joy.
The fact that the army was blocked in front of Hangzhou City did not mean that Sun Tuzhen no longer had other ideas. Just over half a month ago, he had sent out capable soldiers from the scout camp to the southern prefectures and counties to contact the gentry and scholars there and help them rise up against the rule of Wu.
As early as when those proclamations were secretly disseminated by Sun Tu, he had already thought of a step-by-step plan. With the power of these people who believed in Confucianism, it was enough to overthrow those cities where Wu Jun's rule was not stable. After all, these cities were still the territory of the Song Dynasty two years ago, and many people were forced to surrender to the Wu army due to the situation. As soon as there was a chance to stand up, they would gather a lot of strength.
Moreover, because the Wu army had transferred a large number of elites back to defend Hangzhou, there were still elite guards in the old nest like Wuzhou. The cities elsewhere had long been in vain. This naturally gave Sun Tu the opportunity to take advantage of the situation. As long as he persuaded the local tyrants there, The landlord can retake this series of cities.
Judging from what Song Jiang said at this time, this strategy was undoubtedly quite successful. In just half a month, more than a dozen cities were about to defect. And as long as this trend continues, Hangzhou will soon be completely reduced to an isolated city. Even if Sun Tu doesn't attack by force by then, it will not be far from falling.
Of course, the premise of all this is that the main force led by Sun Tu can contain the Wu army in the city. Otherwise, once they realize that the situation is not good and send troops to rescue them, the wallflowers may defect to the city again.
Sun Tu was quite satisfied with this result, and finally a smile appeared on his face: "This is the best. Brother Gongming, you have made a great contribution this time." In fact, the things he did to instigate rebellion this time were Song Jiang single-handedly arranged everything.
Song Jiang smiled lightly and didn't say anything. He just sighed and said, "It's a pity that something happened to the internal agents we installed in Hangzhou City. Otherwise, we might really be able to use their hands to break the city." At this point, he looked at it again. He glanced at Sun Tu and said with some hesitation: "In addition, after discussing with several brothers, Beizhi also came up with a way, maybe try to attack the city."
After hearing this, Sun Tu, who didn't care too much about other things, suddenly became energetic, his eyes lit up, and he hurriedly asked: "Oh? What's the method? Please tell me quickly!"
"Since it is difficult to make progress from the ground, why don't we think of a solution from the waterway?" Song Jiang said his countermeasures.