There were loud drum beats and human voices between the mountains. Both sides were mainly infantry, slowly approaching like a wave. Guo Shao on the hillside widened his eyes, holding his breath and watching the impending head-on collision.
A black dot whistled in the sky. Guo Shao looked up and saw countless black shadows of the long halberd gradually slowing down in the air, and then accelerating and pouring down. Ding-dong-dong was like a hailstorm, screams were heard everywhere, and people kept falling to the ground and screaming in pain. The rain of arrows continued, and countless angry roars became louder and louder in the valley.
After a while, a huge arc-shaped blade light suddenly accelerated and drove forward, swallowing up the lighter-colored ground in the middle and making it smaller and smaller. The white mist that dissipated in the air was replaced by rising dust, and a cloud of dust and fog spread over the sea of people, which could not be dissipated.
Yang Biao on the right wing held a long-handled iron knife in his hand, with the blade facing downwards, and walked forward quickly. He was wearing two layers of chain mail, and his steps were heavy, leaving a striking footprint on the ground. More than 300 people behind him moved forward together.
Ah! Yang Biao's eyes widened, and he suddenly shouted, his voice resounding throughout the army. He raised his long sword and rushed forward. Before he rushed to the front row of the Shu army, the soldiers took two steps back when they saw such a scene, as if a strong airflow had lifted them up.
With the momentum of his heavy body, Yang Biao turned around and swept his iron knife across. There was a clang of weapons colliding, and Yang Biao took advantage of the situation and rushed into the crowd with Luo Mengzi and others. The soldiers around him also roared and rushed forward with their spears. The people on both sides stabbed each other fiercely, like two cacti colliding with each other. The sound of weapons and armor rubbing against each other was tooth-gripping, and the violent collision was crazy. People were like animals wrapped in iron sheets, being stabbed by countless spears and lances. The moves had lost their effect, and only strength was useful; there were people all around, front and back, and as long as the force was strong enough to pierce the armor, they would always stab people.
The crowd on the east side of the Shu army panicked and fled everywhere, shaking the surrounding formations like a plague.
The two armies also started fighting in the front, and the fighting front was not shaken much; but the situation on the right wing was completely different, and a melee soon broke out. Yang Biao's troops rushed into the Shu army formation, and swords and spears were flying everywhere, as if a pot was boiling.
After a while, a large number of troops and horses from the fan-shaped edge rushed into the boiling and chaotic battlefield on the right wing. This was like adding fuel to the fire. The broken part of the Shu army was torn open and spread deep. The originally stalemate line gradually wavered.
The yellow dust seemed to be covered with a layer of bloody red mist.
When the battle was halfway intense, Guo Shao's legs were numb from standing, but he still stared at the battlefield ahead and did not give a single military order from beginning to end.
The Shu army's neat formations were constantly broken up by the chaotic soldiers like a neatly stacked dam. At first, they were only slowly eaten away. Suddenly, the Shu army's central route, which was not affected, suddenly scattered. The crowd turned around and ran, and the dam collapsed.
The chaotic soldiers in the central army rushed to the city gate and huddled together. Arrows were shot from the city walls, and the chaos on the battlefield was unbearable to watch.
Seeing this, Guo Shao turned around and walked down the slope. The soldiers around him stared with wide eyes, then followed him down the slope while looking back.
The Shu army formed a battle array with their backs to the city, with the mountain to the east and the city wall behind them. After the camp collapsed, most of them were squeezed in the middle with nowhere to run, and many surrendered. The people on the west turned around and ran south from the side of Weiwu City, abandoning their armor and weapons, and the outside of the city was in a mess.
The battlefield was still in chaos, with screams and cries of pain everywhere, but the fierce large-scale conflict ended with the collapse of the main force of the Shu army. Guo Shao led more than 20 guards on horseback through the chaotic soldiers and arrived at the foot of Weiwu City. The city gates were closed, and swords and spears were everywhere on the city walls, watching the Shu army below surrender.
The generals around him spotted Guo Shao and gathered around to greet him. The First Army's military commander stepped forward first, unable to conceal his excitement: "Guo Du is a god at using his troops, and General Yang is a true god. If he hadn't defeated the right wing, the battle would not have ended even if it had continued until the sky darkened."
Li Dazhu shouted: I didn't kill anyone in the back, I don't know why the Shu army collapsed
Li Chuyun also came over, looked back at the Weiwu City, and said: If the chaotic soldiers had rushed into the city gate just now, the Zhou army would have followed and killed them in.
Guo Shao nodded and said: There must be a large amount of grain stored in Weiwu City.
He looked up and saw that the city had no moat, only a ditch under the wall; but the wall was covered with bricks and looked thick and solid. Guo Shao looked back at the generals and asked: How to attack the city
Someone said: surround and attack.
Guo Shao couldn't help but recall the tragic scene of the ants colonizing Jinyang City, which inadvertently left a deep shadow in his heart.
Another rough general shouted: We have captured so many people, drive them to dig up the wall, and charge when it collapses. If it doesn't collapse, none of our men will die.
Li Chuyun hurriedly said: "No, my lord, please be cautious. It's just the beginning. If we are cruel to the surrenderers, the Shu army will fight to the death, and our army will suffer greater casualties. The main purpose of the battle is not how much we gain, but what kind of results we achieve."
Guo Shaodao: General Li is absolutely right. Our army is short of food and cannot leave the prisoners at the front. We must immediately send someone to escort them out of Sanguan and hand them over to Wang Jing.
Li Chuyun said: "When attacking a city, first besiege it. Build a fence 200 steps away from the city, send soldiers to guard it, and prevent people from finding opportunities to rush out and attack the camp."
Guo Shao immediately adopted Li Chuyun's suggestion and asked him to be responsible for sending people to build fences and deploy troops.
That night, Guo Shao wrote a letter of persuasion and asked Zuo You to polish it. The next day, he sent prisoners to deliver the letter in a hanging basket. Unexpectedly, several heads were dropped from the city walls. The Zhou army cavalry took out the bloodstained letter from the mouth of the head, which was the letter of persuasion written by Guo Shao.
The generals were furious and shouted all kinds of obscenities at the tower. But they saw a general standing there watching calmly. Guo Shao got off his horse and turned around and shouted: Take the three-stone bow.
Everyone stopped cursing and looked sideways. This place was at least 150 steps away from the tower, and it was an overhead shot. Guo Shao's face turned livid, he drew his bow and arrow, and aimed at the tower, but the general turned around and hid, and immediately admitted that he was a coward and refused to play with Guo Shao. Although he had won the momentum, Guo Shao was still annoyed, as if he was teased.
The generals immediately started to curse at the people on the city wall and asked to attack the city. Wang Zhang, the commander of the Second Army, shouted: "Attack and massacre the city!"
Everyone looked at Guo Shao expectantly. The early battle went very smoothly. The morale of the generals was high and they were eager to fight. Those who had not made any contributions wanted to fight again. However, Guo Shao heaved a long sigh and said coldly: The generals and soldiers of our Hujie Army are all elite. They must die for a good cause. It would be a pity if they climbed up the wall and were killed by boiling water, boiling stones and tumbling rocks.
The army didn't even have catapults or battering rams, only crude ladders. If they wanted to attack the city, they would probably have to climb the wall.
After hearing this, some more rational generals echoed: The Liao army is strong and not inferior to our army at all. It is helpless to attack the city. If we force the attack, there will be heavy casualties.
Someone else said: The military force in Weiwu City is limited, so why don’t we surround it instead of attacking it and go straight to Fengzhou.
Guo Shao did not answer, but paused before saying, Fengzhou is still a tough nut to crack, if we have to fight, we should attack Tangcang to resolve the flank threat, but if we divide our forces to attack Tangcang, we might get stuck; the reinforcements from the Shu army will come from Guzhen in the north, and the troops besieging Weiwu City will be forced to retreat. If we delay, the food and grass will be gone.
The general asked: What should we do then
Guo Shao said: The Shu army is surrounded in Weiwu City, we can't just sit there and do nothing. Keep calm and wait and see how they attack. Send more scouts to gather information.
The army camped outside Weiwu City and did not attempt to attack the city. For two days, there was no major movement from either side; the Zhou army's archers went to the city to shoot arrows, but the range of the projectiles was long and there were battlements to hide behind, so the Zhou army archers did not get any good results.
Ten days had passed since Wang Jing promised to supply food, and only five days of food was left. According to the march and combat rations, a soldier needed two liters of rice and three liters of wheat and millet per day; the food Wang Jing gave was all wheat and millet, which was used to make bread. Guo Shao's army of 6,000 people consumed 180 dan of food per day; he roughly estimated that more than ten tons of food were needed per day.
At least ten tons of grain have to be transported every day. If it were transported by train, there would be no pressure at all; but now it can only be carried on shoulders, in carts, or on mules and horses. Both the people and animals in charge of transportation need to eat, and there is only one road, so the logistical pressure will be considerable over time.
Two days later, Guo Shao had begun to question this surprise attack. Could it be that the quick victory strategy that he had conceived for a long time before was just a paper talk? He took it for granted that fighting a war still required a long-term battle.
I'm afraid that old man Wang Jing is right. We can only think about how to retreat. After all, it is not cost-effective to attack the city within a few days. A lot of people will die by then. If we retreat without taking the city, it will be very detrimental to the morale and prestige of the army. It can be said that this battle started with a bang but ended with a whimper.
There is nothing wrong with retreating. We have captured thousands of prisoners in Weiwu City, so there should be nothing wrong with asking for forgiveness when the time comes.
At this time, Luo Yanhuan entered the tent and said: The Shu army in Tangcang has started to move.
Please tell me in detail. Guo Shao hurriedly unfolded the map on the chopping board.
Luo Yanhuan waved outside the account, and a strong man and an old man walked in. The old man was the old man Luo who had received the reward a few months ago, and Guo Shao recognized him at a glance.
Old Man Luo said: Almost all the Shu troops in Tangcang have been dispatched and are heading west.
Guo Shao asked without raising his head: "What is the way to Huanghua Valley?"
Yes, that's right. There are two roads, the northern one is a bit roundabout, said Old Man Luo.
Guo Shao said to Luo Yanhuan: "Beat the drums and call the commanders and above to come to the central army to discuss military affairs. The Tangcang soldiers are trying to intercept my food supply and cut off my retreat. Haha, their plan is not small."
At this time, he asked Old Man Luo a few more questions and said generously: "The reward is fifty strings of cash, and the brothers and elders of the Luo family over there will divide it among themselves. You can go with Zuo You to get it. If you don't have that much money, you can take gold and silver instead."