Chapter 1077 The last moment

Chapter 1077 The last moment

Chapter 1077 The last moment

On February 2, the Spring Festival, the weather seems to be getting warmer.

Jiangling had been under siege for more than a month since the Liang army marched south. During the Chinese New Year, the two sides were at peace for a while, but then there was another endless offensive and defensive battle.

Tao Bin felt a little hope because the weather was gradually getting warmer, although it was not completely free from the influence of winter. But around the Spring Festival, it rained a few times near Jiangling, and the ground became wet and muddy. Some changes were slowly taking place.

But there is also a bad side, which is that they have reached the point of running out of energy.

Especially news came from the east that Jingling had fallen!
The reason for the fall was not complicated, but it was very damaging to the morale: his father Tao Kan thought that the Liang army's division was old and the soldiers were tired, so he led his troops eastward and fought with the Liang army at the foot of Jingling City. With more than 20,000 soldiers and horses by land and sea, plus several thousand Jingling defenders, they faced more than 30,000 Liang troops, "the battle was unfavorable" and "retreat to Huarong."

There were only a few words in the battle report, which were not very clear, but Tao Bin found out through questioning the messenger that it was just a failure in the field battle and there was no other reason.

The central army was directly defeated by the Liang State Imperial Guards. They couldn't win, it was that simple.

Before this, my father had led his troops northward along the Mian River, and attacked the Liang army's supply lines several times, with some small gains. The most glorious one was that he burned down a Liang army camp that was storing food and grass, seized tens of thousands of hu of food, and captured and killed hundreds of men.

Of course, these were actual gains, which were recorded in the military newspaper as “destroying more than twenty camps in succession” - the barns were surrounded by fences, so one barn was counted as an independent camp, and the capture and execution of hundreds of strong men was recorded as “killing thousands of Liang soldiers”. Writing in military newspapers requires great skill.

This kind of roundabout warfare forced the Liang army to deploy elite soldiers and cavalry to cover the grain route, and patrols also became more frequent, which objectively helped the defense of Jingling.

But it doesn't actually help the overall situation.

If the Liang army did not really want to go south, and had the mentality of fighting if they could, and forgetting about it if they couldn't, they might have just left because they found it troublesome. But now they are very determined, and it is obviously impossible to expect this kind of harassment to make them retreat.

Then the Battle of Jingling came.

The result was the same as the previous times, "the battle was not going well". The Liang army even led the defeated soldiers into Jingling City and captured the city.

The remaining defeated soldiers retreated to Yangkou under the cover of the navy.

This place could actually be defended, because when the Liang army attacked the city, they would be hit by bows and crossbows from ships on the river, and there would be heavy casualties. However, my father directly evacuated the military and civilians and divided them into the two cities of Huarong and Mianyang.

In this way, the battlefield was completely away from the Mian River and entered the vicinity of Yunmengze.

Tao Bin was not sure whether this was right or wrong, and he didn't care about the situation over there. Anyway, the Liang people were unlikely to go deep into the Yunmeng Lake to fight. He only cared about Jiangling.

Just yesterday, the Shogunate's Chief Secretary Zhou Fu led the navy to the east of the city to transport supplies, equipment and personnel into the city.

The Liang army seemed to have been waiting for this day. Thousands of elite soldiers rushed in, and in the end only 6,000 hu of grain and more than a thousand barbarian soldiers from various counties in southern Jing retreated into the city, and the rest were burned.

This little reinforcement is just a drop in the bucket.

Worse still, the reinforcements brought news from the outside world: failure, endless failure. Even though the officers had ordered a blockade of the news, there was no way to completely stop it.

Moreover, the more you block it, the more frightening news will spread, such as -

Governor Tao was seriously ill and unable to attend to his duties;

In the Battle of Jingling, 30,000 soldiers were annihilated;

There was a rebellion in Wuchang, and the city was surrendered;

Some men in the navy were gambling at night, and the candlelight set the boats on fire, and two out of three boats in the entire navy were lost.

Some even said that Governor Wuhushan surrendered because Emperor Shao Xun of Liang promised to make his cousin the empress, and if Empress Shan gave birth to a boy, he would inherit the Liang Dynasty.

The news became more and more outrageous, and the officers could not stop it because they also loved to hear it...

Tao Bin had just come back from patrolling the camp when he heard the news and was so angry that he killed several people on the spot. But he also knew that it was useless. The situation was like this and no one person could change it.

On the way back home, I saw a layer of "white hair" sparsely growing on the houses on both sides, swaying gently in the wind.

It was nothing but an arrow.

Although some officers encouraged the troops, saying that it was the Liang people who sent them arrows, and laughed loudly, appearing to be heroic, the others just smiled awkwardly because they could not laugh.

On the way back home, Tao Bin saw some militiamen cleaning up corpses or helping the injured.

These were the ones who had been withdrawn from the city walls to take over the defense. They were not injured in the fighting, but were hit by arrows while walking on the street. What else could they say? Did their ancestors not do good deeds to end up like this? No, with such frequent and unscrupulous rain of arrows, no one could guarantee that they would not be hit by arrows.

There is no doubt that this was a very effective means of undermining the morale of the defenders.

Tao Bin walked with an expressionless face.

The bodyguards surrounded him on the side, holding their shields high, although no arrows fell at this time.

However, there were no arrows, but there were crossbow arrows. With a loud "bang", the thick and long crossbow arrows hit the tower, splashing a lot of dust and several tiles were shaken off and shattered into pieces.

There was a commotion on the city wall, and the newly arrived soldiers from Jingnan experienced the cruelty of this war for the first time.

A few carriages were coming up ahead, and the stench was overwhelming.

Tao Bin and others moved aside. He knew that this was a vehicle transporting feces and urine, and the wooden barrels on the vehicle were filled with such waste, which would soon be carried to the city wall and poured into large pots for cooking.

When the enemy attacked the city, the boiling manure poured down, with great effect.

But it is not easy to do these things now. The three high platforms are very annoying, and they are higher than the walls of Jiangling. The people carrying the gold juice will be killed by them if they are not careful. Moreover, a high platform has been built in the west of the city, and archers and crossbow carts are also deployed - thank God, the area in the west of the city is narrow, and only this one can be built.

Only after returning home did Tao Bin finally breathe a sigh of relief.

The wife and her children came forward to pay their respects.

Tao Bin loves his eldest son very much and often tells others that this son is most like him.

The second and third sons are both over ten years old. They study very hard and write well. Tao Bin also has high hopes for them.

In addition to these three people, there is also a daughter who is about to get married and several young children who are just learning to speak.

When he saw them, Tao Bin suddenly wanted to cry, but he stopped himself.

He couldn't make up his mind because it involved too many things and he needed to think it over carefully.

But it is obvious that this wavering mentality is dangerous, because many times it only takes a small external inducement to break his inner balance.

For example, an epidemic broke out in the sick camp and spread to the homes of the people who took care of them. Diseases are like demons, hiding in the dark, developing slowly, and eventually devouring people...

******
"Oh!"

"Wow!"

"Wan Sheng!"

Warm cheers rang out in the north of Jiangling City. A small gap appeared on a small section of the city wall due to continuous bombardment.

The gap was located at the top of the city wall, three or four steps wide at the top and about one step wide at the bottom. When the yellow smoke dissipated, the Liang army cheered, but the defenders were like bereaved parents.

The officers were so frustrated that they sent people to find materials to repair this part of the wall as quickly as possible.

The Liang army took the opportunity to intensify its offensive.

A group of young men from Henan and Hanoi counties rushed up shouting and gathered near the gap. They didn't even have time to push the ladder truck, so they just carried the long ladders and went up.

The palace soldiers followed closely with their troops and charged bravely.

The Jin army was close, and quickly mobilized hundreds of people to gather near the gap. Some people climbed up and looked down, but they couldn't stand steadily, which was very troublesome - of course, the same was true for the attackers, and it was even more troublesome than attacking an undamaged city wall.

Fierce fighting soon broke out and lasted until the evening.

To be honest, it is not that easy to attack the gap, unless the gap extends to the lower part of the city wall, that is, a section of the city wall collapses as a whole. But everything has its pros and cons. For the defenders, the existence of this gap greatly occupies their mobile forces, and they must select more capable soldiers to guard this place.

They could not leave until the Liang army left. If the Liang army attacked, they would have to brace themselves and fight with all their might.

People are not machines. They will always get tired and hurt, and maybe one day they won't be able to take it anymore.

In short, this gap became a bleeding point for the Jiangling defenders, gradually consuming their already limited vitality and eventually dragging them down.

When Tao Bin received the news, he immediately used flags to notify the navy ships cruising on the lake outside the city.

On the third day of February, Zhou Fu led his fleet to Dongcheng again. He sent all the newly recruited 2,000 Xiangzhou soldiers and 1,000 barbarian soldiers ashore. They were intercepted by the Liang army on the way. Some of them returned to the ship, and some were killed. In the end, only 700 to 800 people rushed into Jiangling.

On the fifth day of February, Tao Kan, who was reorganizing his troops in Huarong, heard about this and personally led 20,000 naval and land soldiers westward.

He knew that if these 20,000 men went there and fought in a field battle, they would most likely be crushed by the charge, repeating the previous failures. If possible, they should continue to conserve their energy and wait until at least mid-March before launching an attack.

But Zhu Ran was able to defend Jiangling alone for six months under the siege of the armies of Cao Zhen, Xiahou Shang and Zhang He, which others might not be able to do.

After all, Zhu Ran was a general who captured Guan Yu and defeated Liu Bei. His subordinates were all his family servants or veterans who had fought for many years. They were not comparable to the soldiers guarding Jiangling today.

But Tao Kan was a little disappointed that he started complaining and almost couldn't hold on for less than two months. At least he could hold on until March.

However, this is the reality, the cruel reality, and Tao Kan has no choice.

On the tenth day of the second month, densely packed masts appeared on the lake surface east of Jiangling City.

Their arrival was an encouragement, albeit limited, to the Jiangling defenders who were almost unable to hold on.

After asking, Jiang Ke climbed to a high place and looked into the distance. Looking at the enemy navy's formation, he smiled disdainfully.

If the enemy dares to go ashore, we will directly send our elite heavy infantry to attack them, shake their position and disrupt their formation. After finding a good opportunity, we will mobilize the cavalry to violently attack one corner. We will not believe that we cannot defeat them.

At this time, an official came in a hurry and reported: "Commander-in-chief, the Jin people requested that the royal army retreat a few hundred steps so that they can go ashore and form a battle array to fight to the death."

"Your mother is a servant! No!" Jiang Ke refused directly.

I'm not crazy. I'm not asking you to go ashore and form a formation before fighting.

My target is Jiangling, and everything else is incidental. If you have the guts, you can go ashore and form a battle array right under the noses of the army, and then I'll beat you up or not.

(End of this chapter)