On the sixth day of the siege, Emperor Zhao got his wish and went to the battlefield. As the Son of Heaven, he personally put on armor and took up weapons, drew his bow and carried a sword, waiting for the battle.
Although Liu Yan personally led hundreds of Liaodong loyal guards for this purpose, and generals such as Wang De and Fu Qing were also wearing armor beside them, the densely packed armored soldiers almost filled that section of the city wall, and because the watchtowers were demolished, many young civil servants also followed, making the city wall look fancy... But no matter what, this action still boosted the morale of the soldiers on the city.
However, Emperor Zhao did not wait for the "opportunity" like the previous few days, and his archery skills, which he was proud of, were not put to good use. Because on this day, the Jin army adopted an unexpected siege method.
"What is the Golden Man doing?"
Beside Emperor Zhao, a group of civil and military officials looked at the front line of the Jin army, which was far beyond the attack range. They were all at a loss as to the bustling situation there. After watching for a full half a quarter of an hour, Chief Censor Hu Yin was the first to ask.
Hearing Hu Yin's question, the people around looked at each other, but didn't know how to answer.
As for Emperor Zhao, perhaps because he was well-informed and skilled in science, he realized almost immediately what the Jin army was going to do, but he just didn't know what professional words to use to describe it.
"Are you going to dig a tunnel?" Hu Yin continued to ask.
"No." Zhao Jiu, who was wearing iron armor, came back to his senses and finally spoke. "Nanyang has abundant water systems, and it is cold in winter, so it is impossible to dig a tunnel. If you have to say it, it means building a tunnel on the ground and then advancing towards the city wall."
Hu Yin and others were still confused, but General Wang De and other generals seemed to be awakening... It was obvious that these generals with rich military experience, like Emperor Zhao, at least understood the Jin people's intentions in their hearts.
"It's a tunnel." Just then, Xiao Lin, a scholar, suddenly spoke up. "It's something that existed during the Qin Dynasty. It's about building a road, building walls on both sides, and adding a roof on top to avoid arrows. If there's a ditch, fill it up, if there's a wall, push it up... When Zhang Han, Wang Li and the King of Chu fought a decisive battle in Hebei at the end of the Qin Dynasty, they built a wide tunnel to connect the main camp to protect the food supply and facilitate the transportation of troops."
"I remember now." Hu Yin also suddenly realized. "It is indeed a tunnel. During the Three Kingdoms period, Emperor Cao Mengde of Wei also built a tunnel, but he just connected it with carts and made a fence... It is exactly this thing! But how can this tunnel be broken?"
For the last sentence, Hu Yin still asked Bachelor Xiaolin, but it was obvious that Bachelor Xiaolin did not understand it, and he did not speak for a long time.
As for Emperor Zhao, who was watching coldly from the side, he had thought of no less than three methods in an instant, but he did not say them out loud. He just asked someone to call Chen Gui and wait for the latter to make the decision.
While they were struggling on the city wall, a completely different atmosphere had already taken place in the Jin army camp... To be honest, Wanyan Wushu never expected that Zhang Yu would give him such a big surprise!
Not only Wanyan Wushu, but also the other Wanhu and Meng'an were extremely excited. After all, with this thing, trenches and sheep-horse walls seemed to be no problem!
Therefore, after summoning and rewarding Li Dayin who came up with such a brilliant plan, Wanyan Wushu formally ordered that in addition to the three tunnels originally built by Zhang Yu in the north, the rest of the main forces of the Jin army should also build tunnels, two in the north, and one each in the west and south.
In other words, after the leaders of the Jin army realized this outstanding siege strategy, they did not hesitate to increase the stakes and built seven tunnels at the same time, either leading directly to the city gate or directly to the foot of Nanyang City in order to dig through the city wall!
On the top of the city wall, Chen Gui came hurriedly. After watching from afar, his expression became serious: "Sir, there are only three strategies for now..."
"Two strategies!" Zhao Jiu interrupted without even turning his head. "I just saw that they have started preparing the felt cloth. They must soak it in water and lay it as the outer layer to prevent fire and smoke."
"Then..." Chen Gui was slightly startled, but he became more serious. "Which of the remaining two strategies do you think should be used?"
"Go to battle!" Zhao Jiu turned around and gave the order without any hesitation. It was obvious that he had already made up his mind. "There are more than 10,000 soldiers and squads in the city. They must go to battle."
Chen Gui was slightly startled, then nodded slowly.
As for the people around, from Scholar Kobayashi who knew everything in his mind even though he didn't speak, to Hu Yin and others who were a little confused before, to the generals in the army who were either rude or careful but more or less calculative, almost all of them understood.
Speaking of which, there are three so-called strategies for dealing with this kind of artificial wooden tunnel... One of them must be to set it on fire and smoke it out like dealing with a cave; another must be as Emperor Zhao just ordered, wait for the enemy to arrive at the city and then go out directly behind the sheep and horse wall, and use the terrain to engage in hand-to-hand combat; and the third one, neither Emperor Zhao nor Minister Chen said it directly, but everyone knows it for sure, which is to bombard it with cannonballs!
In fact, if anyone still has doubts at the moment, it is why Emperor Zhao still insists on not firing? You must know that the cannonballs in the city have already been prepared.
"The other two sides are easy to deal with, but who is willing to lead the troops down the five corridors in front?" Without having time to think too much, Emperor Zhao stared at the generals behind him.
It's not like these people haven't fought hand-to-hand with the Jin people before, not to mention the official said that they would fight under the protection of the city walls? So from Wang De on down, all the generals simply bowed their hands and asked for orders!
"After we go down, we will not only have to fight, but also tear down the tunnel." Zhao Jiu asked seriously. "What are you going to do?"
"The walls of the corridor must be hastily nailed together with wooden planks. They can dodge arrows, but they may not be strong enough. They can be pulled apart with iron hooks!" Fu Qing answered first. "I would like to take one thousand soldiers from my army and divide them into teams. Five hundred soldiers will be divided into five teams to fight the enemy head-on with swords and shields. The other five hundred soldiers will also be divided into five teams to pull and dismantle the corridor from all sides with hooks. It will definitely work! Even the corridors on the other two walls leading to the city gate can be handled in the same way, without exposing the gate mechanism."
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