Uliji thought for a moment and said, "Mr. Su, I think we should act quickly. I'm really worried about my father."
Mr. Su said, "Fifth Prince, but we haven't captured enough people from Daliang. With just a few people, how can we possibly reach the city gate?"
Uliji said, "We've removed most of the thorns in the city, so it should be very difficult to open the city gates from the inside. If all else fails, we'll just have to launch a full-scale attack."
Su Zhiguang sighed and said, "Fifth Prince, I know you're anxious, but their purpose in doing this is to make us anxious so we can make a move quickly. If we launch a direct attack, we'll fall into their trap."
Uliji said, "We've been waiting here for three days already. If we wait any longer, I'm afraid the Liang will attack from behind. If that happens, we'll be attacked from both sides and we really won't be able to leave."
Su Zhiguang said, "Fortune favors the bold. For your sake this time, the King not only borrowed a route from the Yan Kingdom, but also contacted the Third Prince of the Liang capital to ensure that the battle reports from here could not reach the capital. Fifth Prince, we have no other way to go now."
Uliji said, "But it's been three days already. If this continues, I'm afraid the morale of the troops will waver, especially the guards I brought with me. Since they recovered, they believe that our operation was not permitted by the Great Long Heaven. I'm afraid that if we stay any longer, there will be deserters."
Su Zhiguang said, "Fifth Prince, now is really not the best time to act. If we act now, all our previous efforts will be in vain. I think we should wait a little longer. The longer we do not act, the more anxious they will become. Now it depends on who can remain calm."
Uliji thought for a moment and said, “Mr. Su, I have decided to launch an attack tomorrow. With our 10,000 troops, how could we not take down this small county town? The equipment you improved for building the fish weir is excellent. We will start assembling it tonight and begin the attack tomorrow.”
Su Zhiguang had no choice but to agree and hurried to the back to check on the fish weirs that had been broken down into smaller sections.
Fish weir is a siege tactic. The real fish weir is a ramp built by starting the construction of the city wall, with the highest point of the ramp level with the city wall. This way, infantry and cavalry can rush up the city wall from this ramp.
Su Zhiguang is a military enthusiast who is very interested in ancient siege tactics. After the Third Prince launched a surprise attack last time, he was defeated and forced to retreat because the city walls were too high. Su Zhiguang then began to think about ways to attack the city walls and actually came up with a fortification called the Fish Weir Road.
Because he needed to finish the battle quickly, Su Zhiguang made a fish-shaped weir road out of wood. It could be disassembled, with wooden wheels attached to the bottom. Once on the battlefield, it could be assembled and pushed towards the city wall.
This is the secret weapon for this siege. Su Zhiguang's idea is to transport this outside the city, assemble it, put the captured Daliang people in front, and push them forward together. Since it is made of wood, it is afraid of being burned. When they reach the city wall, they can ride their warhorses to the top of the city wall. There is enough time.
Those captured were all civilians from the border area between Yan and Daliang. Heading east from Hexi, the Third Prince's troops were wiped out in that deep canyon. Neither Su Zhiguang nor Wuliji dared to go that way. They had only brought a limited number of troops and dared not take such a risk. They only sent people to guard the entrance of that canyon. Now, the city gates on the three sides of Hexi have been blocked to intercept messengers rushing from Hexi.
These were all judgments made based on normal reasoning, and in theory, they were all correct. However, they encountered Xu Di, an abnormal person. Not only did he not need to go out of the east city gate to send a message eastward for help, but the messenger had already ridden eastward at breakneck speed.
Nothing happened that night. The guards on the city wall kept their eyes glued to the spot until dawn. Only then did they relax and go down to the city wall to have a bowl of hot soup noodles. They were about to rest when they heard a gasp from the city wall before they had even finished their noodles.
Xu Rao had been guarding the city wall the whole night and hadn't slept much. He was half asleep when he heard someone exclaim beside him. He woke up abruptly, stood up and looked around. In the distance, he saw several wide, large and tall wooden frames being pushed towards the city wall.
Xu Rao quickly took the telescope that Zhang Zhaozhi had given to Xu Di to play with. He glanced at it and saw that in front of the wooden frame were a group of ragged civilians, and behind them were Northern Di soldiers pointing with snow-white curved swords. Following behind these civilians was the tall wooden frame. Through the telescope, the pointed corner of the triangular wooden frame was as high as the city wall.
Xu Rao didn't quite understand what kind of tactic this was, but he knew that Xu Di might know it, so he quickly told one of his constables to go home and call Xu Di over.
Because they didn't understand the Northern Di people's tactics, the people on the west bank of the river didn't dare to make any moves and just watched those tall wooden frames.
Once the Northern Di soldiers were within range of their bows and arrows, they began to fire at the city walls. After a barrage of arrows that blotted out the sky, casualties appeared on the city walls, and the firepower on the walls was instantly overwhelmed by the barrage.
Xu Di rushed over from home. When he saw the tall wooden frames, he didn't understand what they were for at first. But as he was pushed closer and closer to the city wall, Xu Di was shocked. He suddenly remembered the war stories his ancient military enthusiast had told him. He pulled Xu Rao down to squat on the city wall and said through gritted teeth, "Dad, we've met our match. This thing is called a fish weir, which is specifically used for attacking cities. It was originally built of earth and stone. I don't know which talented guy made this version. When the fish weir gets close to our city wall, the cavalry can use it to get onto our city wall."
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