The rebels fought several battles with the Yellow Turbans, and each battle was similar. In each battle, Guan Yu led the cavalry either to attack the opening in the middle of the Yellow Turbans' line head-on, or to make a large circle to the side and break through the formation diagonally.

As long as the cavalry makes meritorious deeds, the Yellow Turban formation will inevitably be in chaos. Then the troops will seize the opportunity to press forward, and the Yellow Turbans will collapse.

The excellent battlefield performance of the cavalry made Li Mengxi deeply aware of the sharpness of the cavalry.

Compared with the cavalry troops, the Yellow Turbans' formation is like a huge and slow turtle, while the cavalry is like a swift eagle. Whenever Guan Yu leads the cavalry around, the Yellow Turbans will subconsciously follow the direction of the cavalry's movement to defend themselves. However,

It's okay if they don't move. Once the Yellow Turbans follow the movement of the cavalry, it won't take long for the Yellow Turbans to lead themselves into chaos.

As soon as the Yellow Turbans showed a slight flaw, the cavalry pounced on them. At this time, the Yellow Turbans' formation was already half in chaos.

Li Mengxi followed every battle. He felt that winning was too easy, or that war was just like this.

Ever since Zhang Bao's cavalry troops were used once and were easily defeated by Guan Yu, Zhang Bao never dared to move lightly again.

On October 20th, Zhang Bao, who had been defeated in a row, finally realized that if he continued to lose, all his troops would be lost. After realizing it, Zhang Bao immediately reduced his troops and retreated to Wen'an County. It seemed that he was planning to attack four times.

Can't keep it out.

I don’t know how many troops Zhang Bao still has. I asked the senior leaders among the Yellow Turban prisoners. The Yellow Turban leader didn’t know how many men Zhang Bao had. It’s possible that even Zhang Bao couldn’t figure out how many people he had under his command. The organization of Zhang Bao’s tribe was so poor.

degree.

The rebels won seven victories, each time with a small victory. After defeating the Yellow Turban formation, they stopped chasing after a short chase. They measured the timing just right and did not beat Zhang Bao to the point of fear in one go. Instead, they could constantly seduce the Yellow Turbans.

They came back again and gradually swallowed up the Yellow Turban manpower.

After seven battles, the rebels tried their best to surround the defeated troops and capture prisoners. A total of more than 13,800 prisoners were captured.

Zhang Bao could not know the exact number of men and horses under his command, but it was different for the rebel army. As long as the prisoners were captured and brought back to the camp, they could count the precise number of people that day without spending the night. This was the difference between the two sides.

Nanhe City is fifteen miles to the south, and the Yellow Turbans are shrinking. They must finally attack the city.

The rebel army was divided into two parts, and the main group stayed in the camp. There were thousands of soldiers and civilians, and the entire carpenter camp pulled a large amount of wood and headed south together.

On the 21st, the rebel army sent 6,000 people to Nanhe City.

These 6,000 people are already the limit of the number of troops that the rebel army can safely mobilize. There are too many prisoners in the army, accounting for half of them. The 6,000 people who set out are brave soldiers and civilians selected to make up the 6,000 people. If they are mobilized

With more manpower, there would be no manpower to guard the prisoners.

Liu, Guan, and Zhang each led an army of soldiers and hundreds of civilians to block the three gates in the south, east, and west, leaving only the north gate free. This was the method of encircling three gates and one gate used in siege warfare.

The first step in the siege was to besiege the city gate. Liu, Guan, and Zhang led veterans who had gone through many battles, as well as civilian men whose fighting prowess was second to none.

If we only bring soldiers to block the door, there will be more than a thousand soldiers. Liu, Guan, and Zhang each lead 300 people, which is too few.

The problem is not whether the city gate can be blocked. Three hundred soldiers are enough to fight. The problem is that if the number of soldiers is too small and Zhang Bao thinks he can take advantage and has the courage to lead his troops to charge out, then it will be troublesome and the rebels will be exposed.

In trouble.

So I deliberately brought a lot of civilians with me, just for the sake of strength in numbers and for deterrence.

This involves psychological tactics. If the attack on a certain city has been planned, and 3,000 troops can 100% capture the city, then how many people should be sent to attack the city at this time?

Should we send 3,000 troops to streamline the force and reduce the consumption of food and grass?

wrong.

Even if you plan to attack the city with 3,000 people, you should send more troops and send 10,000 people to participate in the siege.

There are only three thousand people, which is not a large number. The number is not enough to deter the enemy, so the enemy will not be afraid.

On the contrary, if there are 10,000 troops, our army intends to use 3,000 troops to attack the city and leave the rest unchanged, but our army knows this and the enemy does not. When the siege begins, our army only mobilizes 3,000 troops and repeatedly surrenders.

The top of the city changed hands several times, and dangers abounded. When the enemy general who defended the city looked back, he saw a huge army outside the city, and his heart suddenly sank.

At this time, the enemy's will to defend the city was not resolute, so our army continued to use threats and inducements, and sent arrows to the city, saying that if you surrender early, you will be favored, and when the city is broken, you will surrender again, and no chickens or dogs will be left.

Considering that the city wall was in constant danger and that there were still many siege troops outside the city, the enemy defenders thought that if they continued to defend the city, the city would be destroyed, so they simply surrendered.

How could the enemy garrison generals know that our army planned to attack the city with only 3,000 troops, and the remaining civilians had no intention of engaging in siege warfare.

Therefore, it is said that when Han Xin orders troops, the more the better.

The more people, the better. The people are boundless and scary to look at. The enemy looked at my formation and was frightened by three points before they fought. When the battle began, they had to set aside some troops to guard against the huge crowds of people behind us. After the war, even my elite troops were routed.

, the enemy saw that we still had many troops in the rear, and the enemy did not dare to pursue us.

This is a deterrent. When two tigers are fighting, even if there is a dog standing next to them, the tiger will be afraid.

The elite soldiers who attack the city are tigers, and the civilians, who are arrogant and powerful, may appear to be powerful in numbers, but in fact their combat power is at best that of dogs. However, because dogs are present and tigers are in front of them, the enemy troops fear dogs as much as they fear tigers.

Three thousand elite soldiers cannot intimidate the enemy generals guarding the city.

Nine thousand civilians, whose fighting power is not as good as three thousand elite soldiers, can actually intimidate the enemy city defenders.

What can be accomplished by elite soldiers may not be accomplished by the strength of numbers of men; what can be accomplished by strength by numbers of men, it cannot be accomplished by mere combat strength but by insufficient numbers.

If the elite soldiers are tigers and dogs, then tigers and dogs each have their own uses.

Nowadays, the purpose of encircling three and missing one is to leave a way for the enemy to retreat, to see if it can scare the enemy away and achieve unexpected results.

Three thousand elite soldiers are definitely not enough to scare away the Yellow Turbans, but 20,000 civilians are possible.

The first step of the siege was to besiege the city. Liu, Guan, and Zhang lined up the three gates and blocked the city gates. The second step of the siege was to observe the city. Li Mengxi followed Liu Bei and circled the city from a distance.

, so as to know which side of the city wall is high and which side of the city wall is short, which side of the city wall is new and which side of the city wall is old, and which side has a moat and which side has no moat.

This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! After going around in a circle, Li Mengxi first felt that Nanhe City was very large, much larger than the Wen'an County that was attacked that day, and the city wall was much higher.

As of today, the only siege equipment that the army can produce is siege ladders and siege spines.

To build a siege ladder, you must first know the height of the city.

Li Mengxi looked at the towering city wall from a distance, frowned for a moment, and asked, "Xuan Degong, look at this city, how high is the wall?"

Liu Bei stared at it for a moment, "More than four feet...nearly five feet."

For a five-foot-high wall, the siege ladder should be six feet long. The ladder cannot be attached directly to the city wall, but must be leaning against the city wall at a certain angle. Depending on the angle between the siege ladder and the city wall, the minimum ladder

The length is also different.

When the angles between the siege ladder and the city wall are 30 degrees, 45 degrees, and 60 degrees respectively, then the length of the siege ladder can be calculated directly and accurately, because at 30 degrees, 45 degrees,

The three degrees sixty degrees are special angles.

After looking at the height of the city wall, there is no need to look at what material the city wall is made of, whether it is earth or stone, and whether it is strong or not. There is no trebuchet now, so there is no way to smash the city wall. There is no need to observe whether the city is strong or not.

If there is a trebuchet in the future, it will be necessary to investigate the material of the four walls before attacking the city.

Stone walls and brick walls are stronger than earth walls. New city walls are stronger than old ones that have been in disrepair. Tall city walls are stronger than low walls. When you want to use a trebuchet to hit the city, the trebuchet hits the low old earth wall.

It is easier to bring down the wall by smashing it than by smashing it elsewhere.

In addition to the material of the city wall that does not need to be ignored, the height of the city also needs to be paid attention to.

The wall must be wide if it is high. There is no situation where the city wall is high but the corridors on the wall are narrow. The corridors on the city are wider and can accommodate more troops. For our siege, the denser the enemy troops are on the city, the harder it will be for us to succeed.

Climb to the top of the city.

After turning around, Li Mengxi discovered that the south wall was high and the north wall was short. The highest wall was the south wall and the lowest was the east wall.

Therefore, the siege direction is from the east wall.

If the east wall is short, our soldiers can climb up the city wall faster and deploy our troops faster. If the wall is short, the aisles on the wall will be narrow, and the aisles will be able to accommodate fewer troops, making it easier for our army to climb the wall.

Having decided to attack the east wall, Li Mengxi and Liu Bei stopped looking at other walls. They watched the moat under the wall from a distance outside the east gate.

The good news is that the water in the moat has dried up and there is no water in it. The bad news is that the moat ditch looks very deep. When our soldiers lift the ladder to approach the city, it will be much more difficult to cross the moat ditch.

suspension bridge.

The Nanhe City Suspension Bridge has been raised high. Looking at its width, you can tell how wide the wheelbase of the siege cone should be. If the wheels are too wide, it will be inconvenient to cross the suspension bridge.

Behind the suspension bridge should be the city gate opening. The width of the city gate opening is more important. The size of the city gate opening determines the size of the siege cone.

During the siege of Wen'an County, Li Mengxi deduced that the city gate was within a short distance of the city gate. After the gate was broken, whether the siege vertebra was pushed forward by the siege vertebrae, or whether the siege vertebrae was left alone and the soldiers moved from the side of the siege vertebrae.

Go around and attack directly towards the enemy troops surrounding the city gate.

The inference at that time was that it depends on the comparison between ourselves and the enemy.

The enemy is in the trapped camp, and I am the Yellow Turban. If I attack the city and the enemy is defending, then after the siege spine breaks through the city gate, I have to push the siege spine to keep pushing in, because the enemy is in the trapped camp and I will be in direct contact with it.

If you can't break through the siege of the trapped camp, you may use the siege vertebrae as a ram to push forward. Instead, you may break the road.

On the other hand, if I am in a defensive position and attack the city, and the enemy is defending the city, then after the siege spine breaks through, I must throw the siege spine aside and my soldiers rush straight away.

Because our trapped camp is elite, we can maximize our advantages in close combat. If we push and push through the siege spine and the Yellow Turban, the combat power of the trapped camp will be severely restricted.

In the current situation, between the Rebel Army and the Yellow Turbans, there is no doubt that the Rebel Army is strong, while the Yellow Turbans are weak. Therefore, after the siege cone is broken, it must be thrown aside. Therefore, there is no need to make a giant siege cone that just blocks the width of the city gate.
Chapter completed!