Chapter 1333 Attack and Defense Strategy

Chapter 1333 Attack and Defense Strategy

Chapter 1333 Attack and Defense Strategy
After nightfall, Murong Huang was still sitting on the city wall, looking carefully outside the city.

Under the city wall, a total of 4,000 infantry and cavalry were gradually withdrawing back to the camp.

This is the second batch of troops preparing to attack. If the vanguard shakes the enemy's position, then this group of people will leave the city, turning a small battle into a large one, and completely defeat the 20,000 Liang troops south of the city.

Although it is very likely that the situation of being surrounded will not be changed, it is enough to boost morale. But obviously, the 600 vanguards sent out were directly surrounded, and no one has returned, so there is no need for the second batch of troops to attack.

If we force an attack, the losses will only be greater, and these 4,000 people may not be able to come back.

As for supporting the retreating vanguard, you have to wait until they get close to the city wall before you can talk about support. If you go one or two miles outside the city to provide support, how many of these thousands of people can come back?
"How many Liang soldiers have arrived?" Murong Huang asked after a long time.

"It should be around 100,000."

"Just over 100,000."

"One hundred and twenty thousand."

Everyone's answer was similar, which was this number. Combat soldiers and logistical support personnel accounted for about half each. Now the main force was stationed in the west of the city, and the detachment was stationed in the south of the city, each setting up camp.

It seems that the east and north sides have not been fenced off, but that is just because they have just arrived and have not had enough time to do so. If they are given another two days, they will immediately fence off the other two sides, and at most only three sides will be fenced off and one will be missing.

Murong Huang frowned after hearing this.

This is a real army of 100,000. If you count the heads one by one, there is absolutely no false number. The military strategy says to surround the city if there are ten of them. There are only 10,000 or 20,000 infantry and cavalry in the city, so it is almost possible to surround it.

As for the combat effectiveness of the soldiers besieging the city, we can now see that they are quite capable.

To be fair, they are only slightly inferior to the 600-odd suicide warriors who went out of the city to attack, but they are more organized and dare to fight. The most important thing is that they have strength in numbers and can rely on numbers and coordination to surround and kill your elite troops.

The situation is rather troublesome now. There are only more than 3,000 elite cavalrymen left in the city. If we use them up for meaningless consumption, even if we succeed in surviving the enemy's retreat in the future, we may not have enough strength to pursue them.

The next step in the attack would be to rely on infantry to launch a surprise attack at night, or at most send some cavalry to raid the enemy from a distance.

Of course, he had a final plan in mind, which was to find an opportunity to break out if things went wrong. And to break out, these elite cavalry were the key.

"Send someone to comfort General Lan's family." Murong Huang stood up and ordered, "No, I will go to Lan's house to comfort them myself."

Lady Lan, a member of the Lanbo tribe, was his favorite concubine and gave birth to his fifth son, Murong Ba.

The Uluolan tribe of the Xiongnu was also one of the core military forces of the Murong Yan State. No matter what the considerations were, they had to be appeased - "Lan (Uluolan)" was a famous surname of the Xiongnu. The Tuoba Xianbei also had the Lan tribe. There had been a dispute between the Lan and Feng (Shiben) families before. It was normal for such a large surname with a long history to be scattered among various forces. For example, the Tuoba, Yuwen, and Murong families all had the Kezhuhun clan.

If Murong Huang abandons the city and flees, he will definitely have to win over relatively close big families like Lan, Ke, and Zhu Hun in the future. Otherwise, he will definitely not be able to accomplish anything relying solely on his own Murong clan.

The key to the tribal alliance is the word "alliance".

After Murong Huang left, Prime Minister Feng Yi looked solemn. He keenly noticed that the hesitation in the King of Yan's heart grew heavier with each passing day.

He was originally wavering between fleeing and not fleeing, and any change in the situation could increase the tilt towards one side. Feng Yi was really worried that the King of Yan would run away, after all, more than half of the nobles in the tribe were urging him to do so.

To be fair, Feng Yi had no selfish motives in letting him stay.

How many people did the Murong clan have when their ancestors first came south from the bitter cold grasslands in the north? If you flee back now, you can only support so many people, or even worse, because the Murong Xianbei might split up - now they have already split into two, but Murong Ren's power is relatively small.

If the Murong Yan State wants to grow stronger, it can only occupy more fertile land, establish systems, build cities, make weapons, and store food and grass. If it runs away, it will no longer be a force to be reckoned with and will just be a bandit.

He heard that after Murong Tuyuhun went to the west, even iron weapons became difficult to raise. What future could he have?
But just because he thought so didn't mean that others thought the same. In particular, those tribal nobles who were not deeply involved in farming affairs and were excluded from the decision-making circle had already accumulated a lot of dissatisfaction. It would be strange if they didn't try their best to persuade King Yan to stay out of the limelight at this time.

Feng Yi sighed, the situation was no longer under his control.

Murong Huang went straight to the Lan Mansion. At this time, a group of tribal nobles who rarely saw him on weekdays surrounded him and shouted: "In the past, Mo Huba came south from the pine forest in the north with only a few thousand people. He followed Guanqiu Jian and Sima Yi to conquer Gongsun and then gained power..."

The people who were talking were angry, but their meanings were very clear, and Murong Huang could understand...

******
When Murong Huang went down from the city wall, Li Chong just climbed up to the high platform.

He had already received the results of the battle in the south of the city: in less than half an hour, all 637 Murong Xianbei people were killed quickly and efficiently.

The main contributors to this battle were the cavalry guards of Prince Yan's Palace, and a number of names of meritorious service were submitted.

The second credit went to the Heilongjiang Left Camp. Their main force of more than 4,000 people advanced and stationed in the south of the city to block the reinforcements in the city. Although they did not wait for the opportunity to surrender, two other camps participated in the final battle.

The light cavalry from Feilongshan and Shangbai towns ranked third and were a little dissatisfied, but there was nothing they could do. They had the worst combat effectiveness and the lowest status. Without the assistance of friendly forces, they would have been defeated long ago even though their numbers were twice that of Murong Xianbei.

Li Chong ordered his staff to write a detailed battle report and sent it to Youzhou - the emperor had arrived in Peking.

All that remained was to continue strengthening the camp and digging trenches.

The latter was a huge project and there were actually quite a few people who opposed it because one trench was not enough and might not be able to prevent the enemy from breaking out of the city. Two or even three trenches were necessary.

Moreover, once the trenches were dug, the time for the siege would inevitably be squeezed. It was already June, and the troops would have to be withdrawn by the end of September at the latest. If they wanted to be safe, it would be best to withdraw in mid-September. Could they capture Jicheng in four months? No one could guarantee that.

Li Zhong also wrote this in. He actually wanted to ask the emperor whether the Han scholars in the city could accomplish the task. If they were willing to be the accomplices, then they should be surrounded tightly and not let any of them escape. If not, then they should be surrounded on three sides and leave one side open, deliberately leaving the enemy a chance to escape, and then pursue them calmly, so as to achieve the greatest results at the lowest cost.

Li Zhong didn't care about face, he only cared about military affairs. From the current situation, Murong Xianbei gave him a strange feeling, as if they wanted to hold on, but also looked like they were ready to escape at any time. He didn't know what Murong Huang was thinking, he only knew that his grain route had hardly been harassed by any high-intensity attacks - of course, this might also be related to the fact that the grain route was in the mountainous area, which greatly restricted the cavalry.

He also knew that the Murong Xianbei had almost cleared the land in advance, and the farmers had not been able to escape, but most of the tribesmen had disappeared.

These people were definitely not in the city, perhaps they had retreated to the grasslands in the north, or entered the Liaoze with complex terrain. In such a situation, if Murong Huang escaped, he would at least have a chance to slowly gather these tribes and not become a lonely man.

Third, at dusk, more than 600 death-defying warriors came out of the south gate. Their mission was to defeat the cavalry of the Daliang king, dismount and cut off the antlers, break the chariot formation, and then let the cavalry enter the camp to kill indiscriminately and create large-scale chaos.

But this group of troops were quickly surrounded and destroyed in an instant. During the battle, there was no reinforcement from the city.

Perhaps the battle site was too far from the South Gate, making it inconvenient to provide support, or perhaps the Heiliang Left Camp lined up in front of the enemy and deployed a large number of deer horn crossbow carts, which frightened the defenders, or perhaps they simply did not want to send more people to die. But no matter which reason, it showed that they were in panic and their morale was low.

The act of going out of the city to harass is itself intended to boost morale, and is a measure that the weaker side has no other choice.

The fourth is the words of Li Pu who came to seek refuge.

Combining these four points, he felt that if they surrounded the city on three sides and left one side open, there would be a relatively high chance of capturing Jicheng.

Digging trenches and building walls on all sides actually strengthened the enemy's determination to defend. If there was no internal support, even if the city was eventually captured, the casualties would be relatively heavy.

He didn't want to let the Murong family go, so as not to raise a tiger to cause trouble, but he would not refuse to change his mind just for the sake of face. Besides, surrounding three sides and leaving one side open did not necessarily mean that Murong Huang would escape. He might have been killed by his followers.

The decision is entirely up to the emperor.

******
On the eighth day of June, Shao Xun received a military report from the direction of Jicheng.

A quarter of an hour earlier, he had just sent an envoy to appoint Li Chong as the "Commander-in-Chief of the Four-Sided Camps in Jicheng."

Shao Shen, Xu Lang and Li Chong were all "recruiting and suppressing envoys". Li Chong was appointed "capital recruiting and suppressing envoy", which meant he was in charge of integrating the three armies. In theory, even the Goguryeo people who were looting in Xuantu would be under his command - but only in theory. The Goguryeo people would definitely not listen to him. Shao Xun even heard rumors that the Goguryeo people had stopped advancing, and it was obvious that they had other intentions.

After reading Li Zhong's military report, Shao Xun called his sons together, checked the map, and explained it to them - in addition to his four sons, his adopted son Shao Zhen and son-in-law Huan Wen were also present.

"The most taboo in defending a city is to defend it to the death. If you can't attack from time to time, the city will be in danger." Shao Xun said, "There are several key points to fighting outside the city. The first is that the enemy army has come from a long distance, has no solid camp, and lacks physical strength. They don't even have time to eat or drink, and they are hungry and lined up or camped. This is called 'unstable'. Attacking at this time will have a chance to win a big victory. This has not been uncommon since the end of the Han Dynasty. The second is that the enemy army is tired of attacking the city and there are loopholes in the line. At this time, you can go out of the city to attack at night."

"Grandpa, why was there no omission before, but there is one now?" Shao Xu asked.

"Good question." Shao Xun smiled and said, "Before the siege, the elite soldiers gathered and the army was in full force. It should not be attacked lightly. After a long siege, the troops suffered heavy casualties, lacked physical strength, and low morale. At this time, they need to reorganize. The replacements may be troops that are not so capable of fighting, or even strong peasant soldiers. These people are not strong in combat and are prone to panic during the day, let alone at night. At this time, there is an opportunity to take advantage of. Or maybe there are not many troops besieging the city, and there are not enough rotation troops, so the defense line has more loopholes."

Shao Xu nodded slightly. His father's words were all based on experience, what he had seen or experienced during his military career, and they were very valuable.

"Third, if the enemy builds a high platform outside the city, or has made many siege weapons, causing the casualties of the defenders to increase sharply, then we must find an opportunity to go out of the city and destroy it, otherwise the casualties will continue to increase, and we will eventually be unable to defend the city."

"Fourth, when the enemy troops are defeated and retreating, their troops are in disarray and their morale is broken. If you have the ability to risk going out of the city to attack and kill them, you will gain a lot. But if you don't take this opportunity to kill as many of the attackers as possible, after these people are defeated and taken in and reorganized, their morale will be restored in a few days, and they will attack the city again in exchange for the lives of the defenders. Isn't it a pity?"

Shao Xu, Shao Ji, Shao Wo and Yuan Zhen all nodded.

"But fighting outside the city is also very risky." Shao Xun added: "Wouldn't the attacking commander be on guard against you? Impossible. Therefore, some commanders are very cautious and will not select desperate criminals to attack at night until the opportunity is very great. Some commanders are bolder and will attack outside the city more frequently. Or, when they see that the city cannot be defended, they fight to the death, perhaps by chance they can cause chaos and survive from death."

"In short, it all depends on the ability of the attackers and defenders. Going out of the city to attack may achieve great results, or the whole army may be wiped out and no one can come back, so you have to be cautious."

After that, Shao Xun pointed at Jicheng on the map and asked, "Do you think we should surround it from all sides, or surround three sides and leave one side?"

Yuan Zhen was the first to say, "Grandpa, if I were to besiege the city, I would surround three of the city and leave one fortress, then set up ambushes in the wild. When the enemy is out of the siege, they will be in a panic and won't want to stay for long, so we'll just chase them and fight them."

Shao Xu nodded and said, "Grandpa, I also think we should surround three sides and leave one side. Li Pu said that Murong Huang wanted to escape, but was persuaded to come back by the scholars of Jicheng. But this is enough to show that he has no determination to hold on and is wavering in his heart. Now we should give him a chance to escape. As long as we don't block him head-on and let him fight like a trapped beast, and send elite cavalry to follow and kill him, the results of the battle should be relatively large."

Shao Xun looked at Shao Wo again.

Shao Wu asked in confusion: "Grandpa, isn't this like letting a tiger go back to the mountains? What if Murong Huang escapes?"

"Brother Eleven, the royal army will withdraw in September, which is only three or four months." Shao Ji said, "In ancient times, there were many sieges that lasted for a hundred days. Jicheng is a strong city and it is not that easy to attack. When the snow falls in September, tens of thousands of people will have died or been injured in the siege, and morale will be very low. It will be dangerous to retreat in a hurry."

"Isn't there an insider?" Shao Wo asked.

"Eleventh brother, there is no news now, and Grandpa has not received Shi Cong's reply. How can we pin our hopes on this?" Shao Xu said with a smile: "Be lenient when you are prepared for the enemy."

"Third brother, you are really awesome. I understand." Shao Wo smiled shyly and humbly accepted the advice.

After listening to what everyone said, Shao Xun smiled and said, "Murong Huang's character is far inferior to his father's."

After saying this, he looked at Shao Zhen and Huan Wen and asked, "Why don't you two speak?"

"Your Majesty, I think we should fight and resolve the war quickly to avoid any more trouble." Shao Zhen bowed and said, "It's unlikely that we will be able to mobilize the whole country to fight again next year."

"Your Majesty, Goguryeo is still here." Huan Wen also bowed and said, "The royal army will eventually withdraw. Even if Murong is gone, there are still Yuwen, or perhaps Zhu Hun and his ilk. The worst case scenario is that the Murong clan will flee to various places and be divided up by Yuwen and Goguryeo. I think the court can just give Murong clan a hard time and recover the old territory, and then use the Yanshan Protectorate to control the clans. This is the best strategy."

"Goguryeo..." Shao Xun whispered the name.

Huan Wen lowered his head and looked down, and it was obvious that the emperor had already made a decision in his mind.

(End of this chapter)