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Chapter 279 The Military Discussion Before Siege
Chapter 279 The Military Discussion Before Siege
After Zhu Wei subdued Gan Ning and Su Fei, he combined their boats and headed towards Xiling County together.
At this time, Pang Yan, Tai Shici, Ling Cao, and Ma Zhong in front had set up a water and land camp outside Xiling County, and they were waiting for Zhu Wei to come to take charge of the overall situation and attack Xiling City.
And this Xiling County is located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, at the southern foot of the Dabie Mountains. The terrain of the county is high in the north and low in the south. It is roughly three and a half parts of the mountain, one and a half of the water, and five parts of the field. It can be regarded as a good county for grain production. No wonder it became the seat of Jiangxia County.
The city of Xiling County is located next to Xiling Xiashui. The county also has several gates on land and water. However, Xiling County is the largest county in Jiangxia, so the city is much taller and thicker than Qiantang County before. There is an urn city, but within the water gate, there is only a simple water urn city surrounded by wooden fences on the water.
There were more than 5000 soldiers under the command of Huang Zu in the county seat. At this time, Huang Zu used the influence of the Huang family in Jiangxia to mobilize tens of thousands of private soldiers and slaves from various families in the city. , Also formed an army and entered the sequence of guarding Xiling County.
Therefore, there are at least 5000 guards in Xiling County at this moment, so Huang Zu still has some confidence in defending Xiling City and waiting for Liu Biao to send reinforcements from Xiangyang and Jiangling.
However, Huang Zu didn’t know that Zhu Wei had already sent a secret agent to explore Xiling County and its surroundings. With the help of Zhu Wei’s Three Kingdoms game system, Zhu Wei and Wang Yuyan constructed the sand table landform of Jiangxia Xiling County when they were still in Yuzhang. Know the detailed landform environment around Xiling County and within the city.
With the experience of attacking Qiantang County, Zhu Wei planned to use gunpowder to blow open the water gate of Xiling County this time when attacking Xiling County, and enter Xiling County from the waterway. This is also the easiest way to break the city.
Now Zhu Wei has more than 5000 people in the Xiongba Battalion commanded by Pang Yan, and more than 6000 people in Tai Shici's Shenshe Battalion, plus more than 7000 people from the Chinese Army and more than 3000 people who have just surrendered from Su Fei and Gan Ning.
It seems that the number of Zhu Wei attacking the city is about the same as the number of defenders in the city of Xiling County, but except for the newly surrendered soldiers of Su Fei and Gan Ning, Zhu Wei's side is all elite soldiers, and most of Huang Zu's soldiers are also of different ages. Qi's Jiangxia army soldiers, as for those private soldiers, young and strong, they are even less trained mobs.
In addition, Zhu Wei has three generals Pang Yan, Tai Shici, and Gan Ning accompanying Zhu Wei this time, so Zhu Wei doesn't have to worry about attacking the city at all.
Instead, what Zhu Wei needs to consider is what to do after taking down Xiling City, or how to prevent Huang Zu from escaping after the city is broken, or whether to consider surrounding Xiling City and not attacking it for the time being. , Waiting for Liu Biao to send reinforcements from Xiangyang and Jiangling, after eating these reinforcements, turn around and attack Xiling City.
Of course, after taking down these reinforcements, Zhu Wei also had an excuse to attack Jiangling and Xiangyang.
According to Zhu Wei's idea, it is better to let Cai Mao of Jiangling send troops to help, so that Cai Mao's navy can go to the battlefield chosen by Zhu Wei to fight, and by then eating some of Jiangling's navy can weaken Cai Mao's navy strength.
To be honest, if Zhu Wei attacked Jingzhou, he would definitely have to cross the Yangtze River. Cai Mao's navy in Jiangling could sail to the Yangtze River to intercept it at any time, which was the biggest obstacle for Zhu Wei to cross the river.
If some of the strength of Cai Mao's navy can be eliminated, it will naturally reduce the difficulty of crossing the river.
So after Zhu Wei arrived at the water and land camp set up by his army outside Xiling City, he gathered his generals, set up a few sand tables of Jiangxia area, hung up a map of Jiangxia, and discussed the next strategy with everyone. .
As for the method of breaking Xiling City, I have already said it before. Anyway, it is enough to prepare to use gunpowder and bamboo tubes to blow open the water gate of Xiling City. The arrow is broken, so there is no need for further discussion.
Anyway, according to Zhu Wei and Wang Yuyan's prior analysis of Xiling City's status, if nothing else happens, breaking Xiling City is a breeze, and there is no need to consider other methods of attacking the city.
So what this military meeting is going to discuss is how to intercept Huang Zu's retreat from Xiling County, and whether to stop attacking Xiling City for the time being, and deal with Liu Biao's reinforcements by encircling the reinforcements.
The first is to prevent Huang Zu from escaping. The county seat of Jiangxia County was not Xiling County at first, but Anlu County, the land of ancient Chu, which was closer to Xiangyang. However, Anlu County was near the ancient Yunmengze to the north of the Yangtze River. It was because of the changes in population concentration that Anlu County was obviously not suitable for the requirements of population growth, so the county seat was changed to Xiling County in the Eastern Han Dynasty.
If Huang Zu withdrew from Xiling County, fled towards Anlu, and entered the Yunmengze area, Zhu Wei's pursuit would also be in trouble, and Huang Zu might be able to rebuild the defense line on Anlu's side. In this way, Zhu Wei will not be able to decide Jiang Xia in one battle.
Therefore, when attacking Xiling County this time, it is necessary to ensure that Huang Zu is captured, so that Huang Zu's influence on Jiangxia can be eliminated from the side, and no future troubles will be left for Jiangxia. Maybe if you make trouble in Jiangxia and rebel, taking Jiangxia down will become a tasteless one.
So at the beginning of this military meeting, Wang Yuyan used the sand table of Xiling County to assign tasks to Pang Yan, Tai Shici, Gan Ning and other generals. In addition to blasting the water gate to attack Pang Yan and Tai Shici in Xiling County, Ling Cao, Gan Ning and the others arranged ambushes in important places around Xiling County.
After Wang Yuyan arranged all these things properly, Zhu Wei raised the question of how to deal with Jiangling and Xiangyang if reinforcements came. This was related to Zhu Wei's long-term strategy for Jingzhou.
In fact, Zhu Wei had two options for attacking Jiangxia this time.
The first strategy is to take Jiangxia and temporarily stop the pace of conquest. The next step is to consolidate the rule of Jiangxia, integrate Jiangxia's side bottom into Zhu Wei's territory, and then turn the military strategy to the four counties in southern Jingnan located south of the Yangtze River. , Simply isolate Liu Biao's forces in Jingzhou to the north of the Yangtze River.
But the premise of this strategy is that after Zhu Wei captured Jiangxia, Liu Biao made no big move to counterattack Jiangxia, so that Zhu Wei could have time and energy to deal with the four counties of Jingnan.
The second strategy is to take Jingzhou in one fell swoop, and simply fight all the way to Xiangyang, capture Xiangyang, and seize the entire territory of Jingzhou.
But this strategy is to start a full-scale war with Liu Biao. Zhu Wei's current strength may not be enough. Besides, Liu Biao in Jingzhou is the official Jingzhou Shepherd after all. If Zhu Wei attacks Jingzhou, he lacks enough reputation and status.
The attack on Jiang Xia this time could be said to be because Jiang Xia's soldiers insulted Zhu Jun's coffin, and Zhu Wei sent troops to question Huang Zu and avenge his father's humiliation, which is barely justified.
But if it is true to launch a full-scale invasion of Liu Biao in Jingzhou, this excuse will not work, unless it is supported by Liu Yao, but this time Zhu Wei suddenly sent troops to Jiangxia, even Liu Yao was completely unaware.
Next, if Liu Yao knew about Zhu Wei's actions, he might not support Zhu Wei's attack on Jingzhou...
(End of this chapter)