The Maojin knife from the late Jin Dynasty

Chapter 237 Siege of Yecheng
Liu Tai led the army and began to station near Yecheng, but he did not attack the city immediately.

After all, facing Shi Le, Liu Tai did not dare to be careless.

After all, Wang Mi almost had an absolute advantage against Shi Le, but Shi Le counterattacked him.

Now that Shi Le has been pushed to this point, Liu Tai doesn't want to stumble.

Not long after this, Liu Tai saw the gate of Yecheng being opened, but many people began to flee from Yecheng.

In particular, there was a group of people fleeing on horses. These guys looked like messengers.

Seeing this scene, Liu Tai couldn't help but frown!

"Since ancient times, when defending a city, the people guarding the city have often needed to deal with chores, and the foreigners have always regarded the Han people as cattle and horses, so why would they let the people flee!"

Wen Qiao, who was beside Liu Tai, saw this scene and quickly reminded Liu Tai,

"These people are just covering up when they flee. If he wants to use these people to block the cavalry who are leaving the city, he should want to ask for help from outside!"

"Instruct Yue Qi to intercept Shi Le's cavalry leaving the city. If the common people stop them, they will kill them directly. In addition, let these common people surrender without killing them, and then hand them over to...Leave them to Dao Wei for you to handle!" Liu Tai looked around and looked down. To Xi Jian.

"I have an order!" Xi Jian heard Liu Tai's words and asked, "Do we need these people to clean up the defense facilities outside the city?"

"What kind of defense facilities can these people clean up?" Liu Tai shook his head and said,
"Let them find ways to widen the Zhangshui River. As long as the river from Zhangshui to Yecheng is smooth, we can directly transport it from the waterway to Yecheng. When Wang Sang joins us, we can save a lot of effort!"

The Yellow River in this era was farther north than the modern Yellow River, so I could somewhat enjoy the navy transporting grain and grass through the Yellow River, and then use the water to transport land to minimize grain loss.

Of course, the most important thing is that the Taobao stationed in Jijun has not been defeated, otherwise it will be more convenient to go north from the Jishui transportation location.

Because Cao Cao built the Licao Canal and diverted Zhang water into Baigou, Baigou could maintain a sufficient navigable water level, laying the foundation for it to become an important transportation thoroughfare in the Yellow River Basin. This section of the Yongji Canal laid the foundation for the future Grand Canal.

However, because Jijun was in the hands of Shi Le, he could not force his team to go anywhere.

Moreover, no one knew whether Zu Ti, who was facing each other across the Yellow River, would take the opportunity to attack, so Tian Tian was asked to deliver the grain to Yangping County.

Just build a temporary water village in Yangping County and transport it by land.

To be honest, the biggest problem here is that Liu Tai's army attacked too fast, which made it inconsistent with Liu Tai's original plan.

In Liu Tai's opinion, according to normal principles, he was in a stalemate with Shi Le, and the army led by Wang Sang was the sharp knife that penetrated Shi Le's hinterland.

At that time, the grain and grass transported by Su Jun can reach Yecheng directly through the Zhang River, and there is no need to worry about the grain and grass. As for this side, it is backed by the Yellow River and relies on the navy to advance county by county.

After all, according to normal principles, if he is here and Zhou Ping is here, how can this place not be the main offensive force!
Shi Le will definitely focus more on himself, thereby creating opportunities for Wang Sang.

But the problem is that he did not expect to destroy the main force of Shi Le's army in one battle, and Wei Xiong's Yueqi was surprisingly better at chasing and killing, making him chase Shi Le like a mad dog all the way.

Shi Le also wanted to struggle and prevent a counterattack, but in the face of adversity and the massacre caused by Yueqi, no matter what elites were left behind, they would be killed in an instant.

This made Liu Tai's offense a little too smooth, almost just following Yue Qi to take the credit.

No matter what the prefects and magistrates in the county have come out to surrender on their own initiative, it would be a bad idea not to accept it themselves!

Precisely because Liu Tai's conquering speed was so fast, Liu Tai originally thought that the three-way parallel plan was slightly out of line.

This makes it difficult to transport food and grass by yourself. Many large siege weapons are very convenient to transport by water, but it is very troublesome to transport them by land.

Needless to say, when I arrived in Yecheng, I could have built a camp directly with accessories transported directly by water.

But now, our own army actually needs to cut down trees nearby to build a camp. From here we can clearly understand how serious the logistics disconnect is.

It's just that Liu Tai's soldiers are not American soldiers after all. Although Liu Tai's holistic thinking is there, it has never been practiced. I don't know how convenient it is. Now I can still have enough food and clothing by myself.

At this moment, Zhou Ping received Liu Tai's order and immediately asked Wei Xiong to lead Yueqi to hunt down the messengers who escaped from Yecheng.

Of course, this will inevitably lead to a collision with the common people. In this process, it is easy to say that the common people have the sense to avoid it, but if the common people block the road, then they don't care so much.

However, the good thing about Liu Tai's army is that they will not massacre people for no reason.

Because if you do this, it will be recorded in military history, and you will be punished after the war, so serious that you may even be kicked out of the army.

But the most serious one is to be kicked out of the army, which is somewhat like a punishment that is not as good as a doctor.

But Liu Tai still implemented this policy. After all, in this era, it would be strange to die because of killing people in the execution of tasks.

But even so, the average moral level of Liu Tai's soldiers was definitely top-notch in this era.

Of course, if it is Zhao An's troops, they not only abide by military discipline, they are good at dealing with the common people and are more approachable.

At this moment, Wei Xiong received the order and immediately dispatched to chase the courier. A courier was basically chased by a small team and was guaranteed to die!
The main force of the army stayed behind to drive away and gather these people. Most of the people were frightened, but Wei Xiong said to these people:

"We are the army of King Liu Tai of Qi. Hold your head in your hands and squat on the ground. Anyone who doesn't do this will be punished as a spy of Shi Le's army!"

After hearing Wei Xiong's words, a large number of people squatted down with their heads in their hands.

After all, Liu Tai was in power in Yecheng for a period of time, and people here still remember Liu Tai to some extent. They know that Liu Tai has murderous intentions, but in the end he keeps his word.

Moreover, during Liu Tai's stay in Yecheng, many Han descendants obtained fields. However, after Shi Le's arrival, these fields either joined Shi Le's army or were robbed by the Jie tribe.Others were swallowed up a lot by Buddhism, but compared to the aliens, Buddhism's attitude of swallowing up the fields was much gentler. Many of them were even because these were troubled times, and many people took the initiative to join the fields and move to Buddha. She was sheltered under Cheng's Buddhism.

If we were to say who the people who had been bullied by foreigners missed returning to Yecheng the most, Liu Tai would be at the forefront.

It's not that they want to regain the Han Dynasty or defend the Han Dynasty, they just want the land.

When Liu Tai was in Yecheng, he killed several aristocratic families and distributed a lot of land to the people.

This incident only happened ten years ago. For many people in Yecheng, this was something they had seen with their own eyes ten years ago.

There were some people with mud legs or beggars like me who had a chance to take off because they hugged Liu Tai's lap.

Now, they also want to hug their thighs and take off, so when they heard the arrival of Liu Tai's troops, most of the people who knew Liu Tai's reputation were obedient.

It's just that the envoy who sneaked in was trying to cause chaos when he was caught. Wei Xiong didn't get used to it and shot an arrow directly, killing him as a warning to the monkeys!
However, Wei Xiong tried his best to gather the people and intercept the fleeing envoys on horseback, but Huanren slipped through the net because he was one step ahead. Wei Xiong had no choice but to come back to Liu Tai to apologize.

Liu Tai did not blame Wei Xiong for anything. He just asked Wei Xiong to lead Yue Qi around Yecheng. If any people fled, he would drive them to his side as much as possible and leave them to Xi Jian to deal with them.

And if an envoy escapes, try to intercept and kill them as much as possible to reduce the contact between Yecheng and the outside world.

As for Liu Tai, he took the initiative to persuade Shi Le to surrender. When he saw Shi Le come out to answer, he understood that Shi Le did not take the opportunity to escape. This was enough for Liu Tai. Otherwise, if the morale of Ye City was shaken, he might not need to wait for siege weapons. .

In the following time, Liu Tai's army has two main tasks, digging ditches and felling trees!
The trench was dug to prepare for a complete siege of Ye City, and it also needed to cut off the water in Ye City's moat, which in turn became a weapon for the siege of Ye City.

As for felling trees, the siege materials from the rear have not yet been transported, so naturally enough wood can only be used to replace them.

Anyway, Liu Tai had no intention of attacking Yecheng directly. Instead, he steadily filled in and conquered the various defense facilities around Yecheng step by step. He waited until Wang Sang captured the northern part of Jizhou and Zhao An captured Bingzhou, and then came to join them. !
When it comes to attacking the city, the most important thing Liu Tai lacks is patience. There are only so many resources in a Ye city, and in Shi Le's haste, he was defeated and fled Ye city. Compared with attacking Ye city directly, he was watching Liu Tai's siege without any help. The attack made the besieged soldiers in Yecheng even more desperate.

Of course, the only place where the escaped messengers could go, Liu Tai thought, was that Tao Bao and Liu Yao could seek help.

Even Liu Tai had a worse idea in his mind, that is, they went to Zu Ti for help.

Then Tian Xun's navy in the Yellow River became a deterrent force that he needed to rely on. It was impossible for Zu Ti to just come and attack without even caring about the food route!
The biggest difference between the entire Yellow River and the Yangtze River is that there are very few places suitable for training navy troops in this section of the Yellow River.

If he really set up camp on the edge of the Yellow River and started building ships casually, as long as Tian Tian knew, he could basically lead the navy there to blow up the opponent's ashes, and the opponent's resistance would be almost nonexistent.

After basically occupying the two places of shipbuilding and naval training in Bohai Bay and Jiaozhou Bay, it basically ensured its absolute dominance over the lower reaches of the Yellow River.

As for wanting to go to the middle or upper reaches of the Yellow River, I'm sorry that this is not something that can be done in this era. Any ship that dares to challenge will be broken into pieces and their only destination will be.

Therefore, as long as Zu Ti fails to deal with Tian Tian's fleet, Zu Ti will not be able to cross this Yellow River!
Even if Zu Tiru had the help of God to build a place suitable for training the navy in the Yellow River, it is not too much to say that the navy would start in five years even in an era like ancient times when the generation gap was not big.

And Liu Tai's navy more firmly suppressed Zu Ti. If you want to defeat Liu Tai's navy, you should find another way in a short time!

However, if Zu Ti could not come, Liu Yao and Tao Bao could come over. Rather than deal with the strong city himself, Liu Tai preferred to lead them to Ye City and deal with them in this relatively empty plain.

Especially for Liu Yao, compared to the dangers and natural dangers such as the Taihang Mountains that need to be crossed in the future, or the Hulao Pass that needs to be overcome.

If Liu Yao can be lured out and dealt with, it will be the fastest way for Liu Tai to master the Xiongnu and Han Kingdom. No, it is the Han Dynasty's way!

However, although Liu Tai had such an idea in his mind, Liu Tai's actions were not slow at all.

Whether it's sending people to dig channels to cut off the water in the moat, piling the excavated soil into mountains and getting them higher little by little, or cutting down enough trees to build trucks and trench-filling trucks to clear the outer defense facilities, the preliminary preparations are this. Generally orderly.

The most important thing is that Liu Tai waited patiently for Wang Sang to lead the army to fight with him, and completely took Zhangshui into his hands.

From then on, his demand for the Yellow River grain road transported by Tianzhen was greatly reduced. More supplies could pass through Jinkou, take the Zhangshui River, and then be transported to Yecheng. For Liu Tai, he had a better foundation for a protracted war.

Because as the front moves forward, your rear base will not be affected.

No matter how fierce the fighting on the front line is, it will only consume the heritage of the area under Shi Le's jurisdiction, not his own.

Of course, if during the war, the idea that this place would belong to him sooner or later made him unwilling to break these bottles and jars, then he would be seeking death, so Liu Tai had no such idea at all.

Because even if he were to conquer this place, he would still have to kill the local aristocratic families.

Therefore, even if the war destroys more, it will destroy more, and when the time comes, it will be rebuilt with as little help as possible.

However, Shi Le saw Liu Tai surrounding Yecheng like this, but did not launch an attack for a long time, but only prepared for the siege in an orderly manner. He couldn't help but curse Liu Tai in his heart, do you need to be so safe in attacking me?

Do you have to wait until you run out of food and eat human breasts before you launch an attack?

But Shi Le knew that starving the opponent's soldiers to the point of weakness, or even starving them to the point of collapse of morale, was a normal choice in siege. However, few generals could really implement this decision, and they would always try and test it. .

This is what a normal general would do.

And seeing that Liu Tai, who was always known for his quick victory, could hold back even a tentative attack during a siege, Shi Le couldn't help but feel a little bleak about his fate.

In any case, Liu Tai's non-attacking but suppressed fighting made the atmosphere among the soldiers in Yecheng quite depressed.

Shi Le felt that he needed to find time to sneak attack Liu Tailai to boost his morale.

Otherwise, before Liu Taidu came to attack, looking at the morale of the army in Yecheng, he was afraid that it would collapse first.

(End of this chapter)