On the occasion of rebirth Zhou Sui

Chapter 607
In the fourth year of Kaiping (AD 612), April 27 happened to be the plum rain season with the most concentrated rainfall in Jiangling.

It had been several days since the Yan army arrived at Jiangling City. The hot and humid weather was a torment for both the offensive and defensive sides.

It's just that this adverse effect is more significant for the attacking side and the Yan army that has just arrived.

Cui Che was not in a hurry to issue an order to attack Jiangling. He knew that the defender's loss of naval support could only reduce the difficulty of the attacker's capture of Jiangling, but it did not mean that he could easily capture Jiangling.

It had been raining in the gray sky for several days, which undoubtedly made it more difficult for the Yan army to climb the city wall.

Moreover, the rainy season is the peak period for epidemics, and Cui Che did not dare to send his soldiers to attack the city in the rain.

After all, if we really want to storm Jiangling City, it won't take more than a day or two.

Don't forget that if the city is not captured by then, a large number of soldiers will have fallen ill.

Jiangling's offensive and defensive battle had already reached a stalemate before it even got into full swing.

The officers and soldiers of the Yan army rested in the camp, and the Sui army did not dare to go out of the city to challenge.

Cui Che was not idle at this time. He was escorted by a group of cavalry in the Yangtze River section west of Jiangling.

Cui Youzhi was sitting on a horse wearing a raincoat and asked his grandfather Cui Che:
"Grandfather, you often say that when marching and fighting, you must pay attention to the right time and location.

"It's the rainy season now, so it's not conducive to attack the city. It can be seen that the weather is not on my side.

“The Sui people clung to the fortified city, commanding a commanding position and taking advantage of every possible location.

"Why does the Imperial Grandfather still stay at Jiangling City?"

Cui Che rubbed his grandson's head lovingly and said with a smile:

“The so-called favorable weather and favorable location are only relative terms.

"You said it is the rainy season and the soldiers cannot attack the city, but I feel that it is precisely because of the continuous rain that the river water rises.

"You think that the Sui army has a fortified city and a good location, but I have a raging river to drive it.

"Badger now thinks who has the right time and right place."

Cui Youzhi suddenly realized:
"The imperial grandfather wants to divert water to flood the city!"

Cui Che nodded slightly, otherwise he would not have come to inspect in the rain.

At this time, the Yangtze River has the largest runoff in a year due to the melting of ice and snow in the upper reaches and the rainy season in the middle and lower reaches.

There are two reasons for everything. Cui Che made a lot of determination outside Yangping Pass and decided to use water attack.

Now that he has arrived in Jiangling, Cui Che no longer has the mental struggle he had at the beginning.

Of course, this was the only way he could think of to conquer Jiangling City when he was unable to storm Jiangling in the rain and had no internal agents to secretly open the city gate for him.

Besieging the city has never been in Cui Che's mind. Although the Nanyang navy blocked the waterway and the Jingnan area was unable to transport supplies to Jiangling, Jiangling now had a lot of food and grass stored in it.

According to previous information from Yu Wenshiji, the food in the city was enough for Jiangling's soldiers and civilians to hold on for a year.

How could Cui Che spend a year with Zhang Heng under Jiangling City?

If Cui Yanqing hadn't held back the main force of the Sui army on the north bank of the Huaihe River, Cui Che would have considered retreating now.

Cui Youzhi asked again:

"If water floods Jiangling, life will inevitably be ruined. Doesn't this go against the emperor's grandfather's advice of always being kind to the people?"

Cui Che did not answer immediately. He pondered for a long time before he said seriously:
"Long-term pain is worse than short-term pain. Flooding Jiangling will certainly cause countless casualties to the people of Jiangling.

"But if we return without success, the Yan and Sui countries will inevitably fall into a long-term tug-of-war in Jiangling. By then, more people will die. "Besides, the lives of the people of Jiangling are important, but following my grandfather, I The lives of the officers and soldiers of Dayan who were fighting in the east and west were also their lives, and they also had their parents, wives and children looking forward to them.

“In this rainy season, driving them to attack the city is tantamount to sending them to death.

"As for the people of Jiangling, they can only wait until the war to compensate them, help them rebuild their homes, and exempt them from taxes for a certain period of time."

Returning to the camp, Cui Che immediately held a military meeting and announced the decision to divert water to attack the city.

The generals were not surprised. Cui Che went to the bank of the Yangtze River in the rain not just to relax.

Moreover, there are also cases of flooding in Gangneung for reference.

44 years ago, Nanchen general Wu Mingche attacked Jiangling, the capital of the Western Liang Kingdom, by digging up river embankments and diverting water from the Yangtze River to capture the city.

All the generals agreed with Cui Che's idea. No one wanted to attack Jiangling in this rainy season. After all, even if one city was captured, the opponent could still retreat to another city.

However, unlike flooding Yangping Pass, Cui Che does not want to completely release the Yangtze River.

If the course of the Yangtze River is really changed, I am afraid that the entire Jianghan Plain will be reduced to a swamp.

What Cui Che had to do was to strictly control the water potential, not to destroy the city wall, but to soak the city wall.

Today's cities are made of rammed earth, not bricks and stones like those in the late feudal era.

Since the wall is entirely made of soil, even if the water flow cannot break through the city wall, as long as the city wall is soaked in water for a long time, it will cause the upper layer to collapse.

This is because the soil will condense when it meets water, and after it condenses, it will inevitably leave many gaps, causing the wall to collapse.

It is precisely because of the differences in the methods of city building that water attacks have been tried and tested during the earth-ramming city building period.

However, after the construction of cities was replaced by rammed earth as a supplement and masonry as the main method, it was gradually abandoned by people.

Of course, the water attack is not without its shortcomings. While reducing the casualties of soldiers, all that can be obtained are the ruins after the raging flood.

However, this is not a problem for Cui Che at all. As long as he can occupy Jiangling, with Dayan's national power, he can easily build a stronger city.

Based on the current flow of water in the Yangtze River, the Yan army does not need to build a dam on the river to store water, but it still has to dig a channel to divert water.

Cui Che gave this task to Xu Shiji and ordered him to lead the civilian men accompanying the army to dig ditches.

Soon, the Yan army's engineering operations outside the city aroused the Sui army's high vigilance.

Zhang Heng found Murong Sanzang and said to him seriously:

"The Yan thieves are digging ditches outside the city to divert water to the city."

Murong Sanzang's expression changed drastically. He had personally experienced a water attack.

At that time, the Southern and Northern Expeditions attacked Huainan in the Northern Qi Dynasty. Murong Sanzang, who was 27 years old at the time, went with the army to rescue him. He happened to catch up with the Nanchen Shuiyan Shouchun, and the commander was Wu Mingche.

Murong Sanzang witnessed with his own eyes the city wall collapsing under the water of the river.

Nearly 40 years later, it still left an indelible impression on him.

In desperation, Murong Sanzang grabbed Zhang Heng's sleeve and said excitedly:

"Chang Shi, it's been raining heavily for days now. We must not let the Yan thieves divert water to flood the city, otherwise we will surely die in the belly of the fish!

"For the current plan, we can only actively look for opportunities to fight, and we cannot just sit back and wait for death!"

　not tonight
　　
　
(End of this chapter)