The moon crescents over the city, and the cold moonlight makes people sad.
The cold moonlight shone on the top of Zhuozhou City, reflecting the mess and damage everywhere. Large areas of the city walls above were destroyed by stones, and there were traces of blood everywhere. The outside of the city wall was covered with pits and blackened scars after fire, and there were countless corpses stacked underneath, including those of the Liao Army and many of the Ever Victorious Army.
This is already the eighth day of the Liao Army's fierce attack on Zhuozhou City. The hard-fought offensive and defensive battles for several days have caused far greater damage to this important northern city than imagined. Especially on the sixth day, the Liao Army fought hard with their men and horses. After the damage completely filled up the moat outside the city, their threat to the city wall became even greater.
Because from then on, the rush car that had been blocked a few feet away and the Lu Gong car that was specially used to destroy the lower section of the city wall finally came into use. After several bloody battles, the northern city wall was almost destroyed by the Liao army. Thanks to the defenders' timely use of fire attacks, the situation was stabilized.
But even so, the defenders still paid a huge price. Almost half of the city wall was attacked by the Liao army, and they could only hold on to this side of the city wall through a desperate and bloody battle. The several arrow towers and watchtowers that originally stood there were reduced to ruins as a result of the war. The number of casualties of the Ever Victorious Army has skyrocketed, resulting in the fact that only half of the total force is still able to fight, and 60-70% of them are fighting with injuries.
Of course, the situation of the Liao army was not much better. Such a fierce battle caused more serious damage to the siege party. More than half of the 50,000-strong army suffered casualties, and the various siege weapons prepared previously were almost destroyed. The only things that can be used now are crossbows and ropes. After these eight days of offensive and defensive battles, both sides can be said to have suffered losses, and the situation is not optimistic.
Even though he was as warlike and rough as Tie Yuduo, his face looked worried now, and when he looked at the Zhuozhou City that still stood in front of him, he frowned deeply. At this moment, he even whispered to Xiao Qian: "King Xi, can we slow down the momentum of our attack on the city? According to the intelligence obtained before, there is actually a shortage of food and grass in Zhuozhou City. Maybe as long as we besiege the city for a while, You can win without fighting."
Xiao Bie, another of Xiao Qian's trusted subordinates beside him, also echoed: "Your Majesty, Tie Yuduo is right, we really can't afford more casualties. If we continue like this, even if we can quickly capture Zhuozhou this time , given our situation, we may not be able to support the main force of the South Campus King."
Xiao Qian's face was also extremely ugly. The performance of the Zhuozhou defenders this time was indeed beyond his expectation. Both the defensive methods and the fighting skills of the soldiers were far beyond what he had imagined before. But at this time, he was like a gambler who put everything on the table. He no longer had the freedom to leave, so he could only say with red eyes: "Winning Zhuozhou quickly is our only chance to reverse the situation in the south. I didn't believe it before, but now it seems that the reinforcements from the Song Dynasty will arrive soon. Once they really kill us, we will be completely defeated. Do you dare to bet on this?"
This statement immediately caused several of his subordinates to become speechless. Yes, the reason they rushed to attack the city was because they were worried that Zhuozhou would fall into the hands of the Song army, and delaying it would obviously be extremely detrimental to them. Continuing to attack the city will inevitably lead to more casualties, but we can’t afford to delay it, so what should we do
"The only solution right now is to use other means. The situation of the defenders in the city should be worse than ours.
It's even more unbearable. They can just take advantage of their shortage of military rations to cause civil strife! "Xiao Qian quickly regained his composure and slowly revealed a plan of his own: "Come here, prepare some white silk cloth and some pen and ink. I want to write a letter to the defenders inside and tell them. What kind of fatal situation I am in! "
While the Liao army was busy again outside the city, Sun Tu, escorted by more than a dozen soldiers, was walking slowly at the head of the dilapidated west city. Like the north, the city walls here are also very damaged, and several walls even look crumbling, as if they may collapse at any time. It was precisely because he discovered this during the day that Sun Tu paid special attention to it. Even at night, he had to rush to take a closer look to make sure he was okay.
When the soldiers guarding the city saw him coming, they all subconsciously saluted and said hello, but they really regarded this outsider as their own boss. This is the military morale that Sun Tu has won over in the past few days. It is precisely because he led the Qingzhou Army to continuously fight back and forth at the east and west walls of the city that he has helped the Ever Victorious Army to defend safely to this day. But the cost was that the elite Qingzhou Army also suffered heavy casualties. Only two hundred of them were still able to fight. Even Lu Da Hua Rong was injured and it was difficult to get up. Now only Wu Song and Fan Qi are still with them.
When he walked to a corner, Wu Song suddenly whispered: "General, I noticed something earlier. Some generals in the Ever Victorious Army seem to be becoming more and more hostile to us. It always makes people feel a little uneasy."
These words made Sun Tu pause slightly: "This is reasonable. After all, they are in danger now, and in their view, all this is thanks to us. Because if they had not surrendered to me, the Song Dynasty, Now there is no need to fight so fiercely with the Liao army."
"There are also military rations in the city. I'm afraid they will be completely eaten by tomorrow. But what should we do next..." Fan Qi also added with a worried look on his face. After a pause, he added: "By the way, General Sun, you said more than half a month ago that reinforcements would arrive soon. Why are there still no traces of them today? Logically speaking, they should have arrived long ago." ah."
This is indeed an extremely disturbing question. You must know that the reason why the Changsheng Army was persuaded by Sun Tu and finally determined to fight to the death with the Liao Army was because they believed that the Song Army's reinforcements would arrive in time. But now, so much time has passed, and they have suffered heavy casualties, but the promised reinforcements have not yet arrived. This will naturally make people feel deceived by Sun Tu, and become extremely dissatisfied or even hostile to him.
"As long as the time is right, our reinforcements will naturally arrive." Sun Tu said something unpredictable and profound, "As for the hostility of the soldiers of the Ever Victorious Army, I also feel it, but as long as Dong Kuang still believes in us, it is not a big problem. .”
"I'm afraid, even Dong Kuang may not be able to suppress these people all the time. You know, after all, he has just won the military power, and his authority has been established, but he has not yet established his favor. There is no guarantee that some people will have dissent. ." Fan Qi still looked worried: "Moreover, the Liao Army will not let this opportunity pass by, maybe..."
As he said this, a whooshing sound suddenly came from outside the city below. Several people were startled and hurriedly drew their swords to dodge. Wu Song, with quick eyes and quick hands, slashed out with his sword, hitting the arrow that was shot at the top of the city and cutting it into two pieces. . As the arrow fell to the ground, they discovered that the arrow had no arrowhead and was wrapped in a roll of cloth.
"It's a silk book." Sun Tu immediately raised his eyebrows and bent down.
He picked up the letter that came in from the outside and unfolded it. One of his subordinates brought a torch to him so that he could read the contents. I saw that the upper half of this silk book was written in Khitan characters, but fortunately the lower half was written in Chinese characters, so that people would not be unable to understand the content on it.
But after Sun Tu quickly scanned the text above, his eyebrows were quickly locked: "I'll leave it to you, the Liao people have also seen the various problems in our Zhuozhou City, and have begun to attack them."
Wu Song and Fan Qi hurriedly came over to watch it together, and then they realized what was written on it. In fact, this letter can also be called a leaflet. The content is very simple. It points out the fact that Zhuozhou is now at the end of its rope and the Chang Victory Army is in dire straits. Then it will bring up the old matter again and ask the Chang Victory Army to surrender immediately. Avoid death.
And the great thing about this thing is that the person it persuades is not General Dong Kuang, but every ordinary soldier in the army. It tells them that if they want to survive, they must open the city quickly, otherwise when the army rations in the city run out, they will really have no choice but to die. . It also pointed out that the Song people were not trustworthy. The Song State was only using them to hold back the elites of the Liao Dynasty to create conditions for the war ahead.
It can be said that this letter contains persuasion, threats, instigation and other means, which is enough to provoke the ever-victorious army to become unstable. Especially in this difficult environment, the soldiers will act more out of uneasiness. Do things that are more beneficial to you.
"No! Since we can receive such a letter here, other locations in the city must also be indispensable. The best way to attack the enemy is to attack the heart, and the Liao people's scheming is really powerful." Sun Tu's face changed slightly. , turned around hurriedly: "I have to go see Dong Kuang quickly and discuss a countermeasure with him. Even if this thing can't make the generals rebel, it will greatly dampen the morale of the defenders and make it harder for everyone to concentrate!" As he spoke, He hurried back and walked down the broken stairs.
And just when they arrived below, they saw a team coming quickly. When they got closer, they saw Yu Wanyao coming over with a solemn expression: "General Sun is here, it's easy to find. General Dong is sending people everywhere to look for you, saying he has something important to discuss..."
"But because of this Liao silk book?" Sun Tu hurriedly took two steps forward and asked, holding up the silk book in his hand.
"Why did you also get this thing that disturbs our military morale?" Yu Wanyao's face changed slightly, and then he nodded: "It is precisely for this reason that there is also a shortage of food and grass in the city. Now General Dong is busy dealing with it, and it is really a headache. That's great. General Sun, please come with me as soon as possible."
"Okay, please let General Yu lead the way." Sun Tu nodded immediately without thinking much, and then gave Wu Song a wink. The latter immediately turned around and disappeared into the darkness.
When Sun Tu followed Yu Wanyao to the garrison in the city, it was already the third watch. But the lights were still bright here, and there were many generals of the Ever-Victorious Army standing in the courtyard, seemingly waiting for something, but Dong Kuang was nowhere to be seen.
And just when Sun Tu walked into the courtyard and wanted to greet everyone, there was a bang behind him. The soldiers who followed him in suddenly closed the courtyard door, which made his footsteps Suddenly there was a pause, one hand was pressed on the handle of the knife, and his eyes swept over the people in front of him: "Everyone, is it General Dong's intention to invite me here suddenly, or is it your intention?"