Chapter 699: Divide the Troops and Attack
After the siege equipment entered the attack range, it began to attack the city head. At this time, the Hedong Army captives who had already prepared to fill the river carried the prepared cloth bags and rushed towards the moat of Anyi City. Although the captives filled the river, Huangfu Chaobo did not think of using them as cannon fodder. The shieldmen who guarded them had also been prepared. With an order, they raised their shields to guard the captives below.
At the same time, various equipment on the top of the city began to shoot at the attacking equipment under the city. The two sides went back and forth, arrows and boulders flew in the air, and various shouts and screams were heard on the walls.
Ten thousand captive soldiers were divided into ten waves and assigned to three sides to fill the river in turn. After a day of losing nearly three thousand people, they finally filled the moats of the three walls with dozens of siege passages. After this day's battle, the Sizhou Army also lost more than a thousand people, less than three hundred of them were seriously injured, more than two hundred were seriously injured, and the remaining more than five hundred were slightly injured to varying degrees.
The truly tragic ant-attached siege officially began on the second day. After the ant-attached siege began, the captives could no longer be used in the siege, so Zhao Yun transferred them to cut down trees and assist the auxiliary soldiers and craftsmen in the rear camp to make various equipment.
With the help of a large number of equipment, the losses of the siege were slightly reduced, but after three days of fighting, there were still nearly 10,000 soldiers and casualties, which was not the most depressing. What made Huangfu Chaobo most depressed and puzzled was that every time the soldiers attacked the city wall, they could not hold the city for too long, so that in these three days, they were driven down by the Hedong Army several times when they attacked the city.
In Zhao Yun's subsequent understanding, everyone found that there seemed to be a very strong group of soldiers in Hedong City. Although the number was not large, they were always able to stabilize the situation on the city at critical moments, and drove down several of their own soldiers who attacked the city.
Huangfu Chaobo meant to send soldiers from the Battle Barracks or the Guards to attack once, but Zhao Yun and Pang Tong refused because the soldiers in the city were still in high spirits. If they sent their strongest soldiers now, it would not help the situation and might even cause the loss of these elite soldiers on the city walls.
After discussing with everyone, Pang Tong proposed a strategy of dividing the troops. Since Anyi City could not be captured in a short period of time, some troops would be left to monitor the troops in Anyi City, and some troops would be separated from the main camp to capture the cities around Anyi first. If that happened, there would be only one isolated city left, which would not be able to be defended for long.
Pang Tong's suggestion was approved by Zhao Yun and other generals. After a night of rest, the army was divided into three. Zhao Yun led the White Horse Volunteers and a school of soldiers, plus Yang Feng led 15,000 guards, a total of 25,000 troops crossed the Sushui River and attacked Wenxi to the north, while Su Zhi and Zuo Xiao led 10,000 soldiers and 15,000 guards, bypassed Anyi City, and attacked Yi County to the west. In order to obtain the equipment needed for the attack, the two divisions also took away 5,000 auxiliary soldiers and prisoners.
The rest of the troops, under the command of Huangfu Chaobo, besieged the troops of Anyi City. Although there were only 50,000 troops left in the camp, there were Huangfu Chaobo's 10,000 personal soldiers, a school of soldiers, and 35,000 guards, plus tens of thousands of wounded soldiers and auxiliary soldiers in the camp. After several days of fighting, the troops in Anyi City, although the loss was not large, there were less than 40,000 troops, and there were no cavalry, so the people in Sizhou were not afraid of any actions of the army in the city.
On the contrary, everyone was still thinking that it would be better if the Hedong Army could go out of the city to attack their own camp. However, for the sake of safety, Huangfu Chaobo still ordered He Ruolong's golden eagle to fly from time to time to patrol the situation within a hundred miles around Anyi. Fortunately, in the two days after the division of troops, there was no sign of most military activities in Hedong.
On the third day after the division of troops, Zhao Yun sent someone back to report that the army had arrived at the foot of Wenxi City and began to fill the river to prepare for the siege tomorrow. However, Su Zhi's troops did not arrive at the foot of Yishi City until the evening of the third day, preparing to fill the river tomorrow. It is estimated that if it is fast, they can attack the city the day after tomorrow.
Huangfu Chaobo did not care about this. Since the golden eagle did not find any abnormalities, he would just follow the established plan.
However, when Huangfu Chaobo handed the information reported by the two generals to Pang Tong, he looked at the two pieces of information and fell into deep thought.
Huangfu Chaobo felt very strange and asked, "Did Shiyuan find anything wrong?"
Pang Tong shook his head and said, "Nothing wrong."
"Why Shiyuan?"
"It is precisely because there is nothing wrong that Tong feels strange. My lord, is Jiang Pei really so unpopular in Hedong? No one came to help the county town or the county town under my jurisdiction when they were attacked by my army!"
Huangfu Chaobo was stunned and said, "But neither the scouts nor the golden eagles found anything unusual!"
"Not finding anything unusual is the biggest abnormality!" Pang Tong muttered to himself; after a while, he stood up and saluted Huangfu Chaobo, He said solemnly: "My Lord, starting tomorrow, please order the scouts to expand their vigilance to 50 miles, and order He Ruolong's golden eagle to expand its patrol range to 200 miles. Also order the remaining generals to strengthen the camp defense, and at the same time dispatch a school of soldiers to reinforce the floating bridge that General Zhao used to cross the river a few days ago, and guard it tightly. I always feel that something seems to have been missed."
"Ah, is it necessary to do so?"
"It's better to be careful..."
After hearing Pang Tong's words, Huangfu Chaobo was stunned, but he accepted his suggestion and arranged what he said seriously.
The next morning, the remaining generals acted according to his arrangement. Hu Yandu divided 2,000 of the 5,000 cavalry into teams of 100 people, and 20 teams of cavalrymen went back and forth to warn the area within 50 miles around the camp.
Zuo Xiao led a school of guards and went north from the camp to the floating bridge where Zhao Yun's troops crossed the river a few days ago. He guarded 2,000 auxiliary soldiers and prisoners to reinforce the floating bridge, and then built a camp at both ends of the floating bridge, arranging 5,000 soldiers in two camps to guard the safety of the floating bridge.
The generals in the camp reinforced the camp while ordering the soldiers to strengthen their vigilance.
In the next two days, although Huangfu Chaobo was a little suspicious of Pang Tong, fortunately nothing happened. Neither Hu Yandu's cavalrymen nor He Ruolong's golden eagles found anything unusual, which made Huangfu Chaobo very relieved, but Pang Tong's expression became more and more suspicious.
However, Zhao Yun and Su Zhi's armies made progress. The one who made the fastest progress was definitely Zhao Yun's army. Although he had 5,000 cavalry, Zhao Yun's ability and experience were much stronger than Su Zhi's. So when they attacked the county town, the difference between the two was reflected.