Vol 2 Chapter 2839: Le Yi's determination leads the technical hegemony
Chapter 2835: Le Yi’s determination leads the technical hegemony
Under Bai Qi's fire and water plan, the originally solid Puyang West City collapsed on a large scale, and this sudden scene also stunned the generals of the Qin, Wei and Ming Dynasties.
Le Yi and Xun You looked in disbelief and exclaimed in unison: "How is this possible?"
It is actually normal for city walls to break down during siege warfare. After all, since the emergence of catapults, the usage rate of kerosene has been second only to stone bombs.
After the city wall has been burned for a long time, once it rains, it will easily break due to thermal expansion and contraction.
Most generals actually know this, but not many people care about it. There are two reasons for this:
First, because of the emergence of cement, repairing city walls became an easy task.
Second, even if the city wall breaks, it will only be a small-scale gap at most, and there has never been any sign of large-scale wall collapse.
It is precisely because of these two points that no one realized that the city wall would collapse on a large scale, so Bai Qi was given an opportunity to take advantage of it.
A flash of light flashed in Li Cunxiao's eyes, and he thought of a plan to destroy the city once and for all.
“General, since the city wall can collapse through fire and water tactics, then we can definitely...”
Li Cunxiao's method was directly rejected by Bai Qi before he finished explaining it.
"It's not that easy to get. The plan to destroy the city with water and fire can only be successful by taking it by surprise. It will be easy to be targeted if you use it in the future." Bai Qi said calmly.
“How is it possible that the walls of Puyang can be burned down, but why can’t other cities?”
Li Cunxiao retorted anxiously, and the main reason why he had this idea was that the losses in the siege were too great.
In the city of Puyang alone, the Qin army lost more than 10,000 troops in two strong attacks.
You must know that from the time when the Qin army forcibly crossed the Yellow River to occupying the entire Dongjun, the total number of troops lost was not as much as the number of troops lost in the city of Puyang.
You must know that there are many fortified cities in the Central Plains. In addition to Puyang, there are also many fortified cities such as Xuchang, Chenliu, Suanzao, Shouchun, and Xiapi.
If it is as difficult to fight as Puyang, even if the Qin army can finally occupy the Central Plains, I am afraid it will be severely damaged.
Li Cunxiao really didn't want the Qin soldiers to be wasted too much in the siege, so he hoped to have a way to ignore the enemy's city defense. It didn't matter even if it took more time and resources, as long as the casualties of the soldiers could be minimized. , after all, those are renewable resources.
Li Cunxiao's words also aroused the recognition of Qin Niu, Yu Yuan and other generals. They all obviously hope that they can repeat the strategy of destroying the city with water and fire in the future, but since Bai Qi said this, he obviously has a reason.
It is not as easy as it seems to implement the strategy of destroying the city through fire and water. There are still many prerequisites. The first one is to make adequate preparations in advance.
The time span from Bai Qi's planning to closing the network was nearly more than a month. It would be impossible to succeed without lengthy preparations and a long-term overall view.
The second item is sufficient resources, including: kerosene, catapults, and high-pressure water cannons.
If you want to collapse the entire city wall, you will definitely need a huge amount of fire oil resources. From Jia Fu setting the fire, to Bai Qi's nine days of warm fire, and even the final tenth day of burning the city, the Qin army consumed more than four Thousands of cans of kerosene bombs.
Only Da Qin can be so luxurious. Puyang City alone can consume so much kerosene. If it were replaced by other countries, it would definitely not be able to sustain such consumption. After all, 40,000 cans are already 80% of Cao Wei's national kerosene reserves. One percent.
As for the others, catapults are not unusual, but high-pressure water cannons are something that only Da Qin has the ability to manufacture.
The Chu State, with the support of Chu Mo, is also capable of manufacturing it, but the fuel resources of the Chu State are far less than those of the Qin Army. Even if it can build a high-pressure water cannon, it will be difficult to replicate it.
As for the third one, it is also the most important one, which is to divert the other party’s attention.
Bai Qi was not lying when he said that the city-breaking strategy of water and fire was easy to target. First, it must be burned for a long time and then combined with the water attack. Once the opponent notices it in the process, it is still easy to target.
Although the sand cannot extinguish the fire on the wall, if the sand is mixed with water and then poured along the city wall, even the most powerful fire oil will be extinguished instantly.
Therefore, it is necessary to divert the enemy's attention so that he has no time to take care of it, or cannot notice his true intention.
It is precisely because of this that Bai Qi asked Jia Fu to attack the north gate, and he also attacked the north gate for nine days, just to attract Le Yi and Xun You's attention to the north gate, thus ignoring the crisis of the west gate.
After listening to Bai Qi's explanation, Li Cunxiao, Qin Niu and other generals suddenly showed a look of astonishment. They thought that as long as they knew the method, they could copy the strategy of destroying the city with water and fire, but they did not expect that there were so many ways to do it.
“This time our army finally exposed the water tanker and caught the defenders off guard. Otherwise, with the strategies of Le Yi and Xun You, they would have guessed our army’s intention to burn the city wall.
Once mud and water are prepared in advance and fires can be extinguished at any time, no matter how much kerosene our army prepares, they will not be able to collapse the Puyang city wall. "
Li Cunxiao sighed lightly, and when the generals heard this, they all nodded subconsciously.
This kind of highly strategic city-breaking strategy is really not suitable for rough guys like them. They are still more suitable for fighting stupid battles. However, as the situation on the battlefield becomes more and more complex, the old methods in the past are no longer effective.
In the past, city gates could be forced open with a battering ram, but as countries have mastered cement technology, once the city gates are sealed with cement, it will not be easy to use a battering ram to break them open.
“General, look, the city wall has stopped collapsing.”
Hao Zhao quickly reminded him to show his presence.
Bai Qi nodded when he heard the words, and immediately ordered: "First put out the fire, and then attack the city. General Li Cunxiao?"
“The end will be here.”
“Your Flying Tiger Army is the strongest in the entire army. This time, you will lead the Flying Tiger Army to take the lead in attacking the city. Is there no problem?”
Hearing Bai Qi's words, Li Cunxiao immediately grinned and replied: "There is no problem."
During the nine-day continuous siege, Li Cunxiao climbed onto the city tower many times. However, under the concentrated fire tactics of the defenders, he was finally repelled by Niu Mowang. He was also very angry.
Now that the Puyang city wall has collapsed and there is no wall protection, Li Cunxiao wants to see what the defenders can do to resist his Flying Tiger Army. Following Bai Qi's order, the Qin army at the forefront began to advance rapidly, and actually pushed some waterwheels directly into the moat.
The waterwheel that was spraying water jets just now has now become a ladder for the soldiers, allowing the soldiers responsible for putting out the fire to cross the moat.
As for the defenders in Puyang City, due to the collapse of the city wall, the number of defenders who fell to death alone reached nearly 3,000. At this time, most people in the city were still in a state of confusion and were in chaos. Naturally, they could not care about putting out the fire for the time being. The Qin soldiers arrived.
“Stay still, don’t mess up…”
Le Yi is worthy of being a famous general. Even though he was in a state of confusion and didn't know what to do, he still quickly regained his composure and commanded calmly.
With Le Yi's comfort, the Ximen garrison who had fallen into chaos quickly regained order. Under Le Yi's command, they moved equipment in an orderly manner and moved to the gap in the collapsed city wall.
"Grand Governor, if a small area collapsed, it can still be repaired, but nearly a quarter of the west gate wall has collapsed. The gap is too large and it is impossible to repair it. We can no longer defend Puyang." Xun You said with a bitter look on his face. .
"I know."
Le Yi said calmly.
Xun You had a look of surprise on his face and asked, "Then you still..."
“Puyang can be lost, but our army must not be completely destroyed, otherwise the Qin army will penetrate directly into the rear of our army. If there is no fighting force behind our army, the entire army on the western front will be annihilated.”
At this point, a look of determination flashed in Le Yi's eyes, and he said in a deep voice: "Commander, you and Lan Yu will lead the army to retreat from the east gate, and I will cut off the rear for you at the west gate."
After Xun You saw the death wish in Le Yi's eyes, he was shocked and said: "No way, you are the commander of an army, how can you personally stay behind?"
“Haha, who am I to be the commander of an army?”
A trace of self-mockery appeared on Le Yi's face: "My lord entrusted me with Dongjun and the 80,000-strong army, but I couldn't hold it for even two months and put the entire western front army in danger.
"
Hearing what Le Yi said, Xun You suddenly fell silent.
It is a fact that Le Yi failed to hold Dongjun, but can you really blame him?
Facing a peerless warrior like Bai Qi, Xun You dared to say that among the Three Kingdoms of the Central Plains, no matter who came, it would be useless.
Xun You wanted to persuade him again, but Ke Leyi was determined to fight to the death, so he had Xun You kidnapped by force.
After Xun You left, Le Yi looked at Er Lai and Niu Mo Wang around him.
Elai said in a deep voice: "The commander-in-chief will not leave, and neither will the general."
Seeing the determination in Xilai's eyes, Le Yi knew that he was also prepared to die, so he stopped trying to persuade him. Instead, he asked Niu Mowang: "General Niu, why don't you leave? You didn't You must die with us."
Niu Mowang looked at Le Yi with admiration in his eyes, and said lightly: "If I, Old Niu, leave, who will help you resist Li Cunxiao?"
Le Yi was silent. Indeed, if no one could restrain Li Cunxiao, it would not make much sense for him to stay behind personally, because Li Cunxiao alone was enough to defeat them all.
“But general, if you make a mistake, you will never be able to fight against Li Cunxiao in the future.”
“Don’t worry, although I, Lao Niu, am no match for Li Cunxiao on my own, if I want to run away, it will be difficult for him to leave me alone.”
Hearing what Niu Mowang said, Le Yi breathed a sigh of relief. After all, Niu Mowang was the trump card of the Three Kingdoms Alliance and could never tolerate any mistakes.
Outside the city, the Qin army was quickly extinguishing the fire. Once the fire was completely extinguished, they would immediately invade the city.
In the city, while Le Yi mobilized troops to the collapsed gap, he also ordered the soldiers to set up defense lines along the street. He was obviously prepared to fight in the streets if they could not resist, but this would be a disaster for the people of Puyang West City.
Le Yi couldn't care about the people now. He could only tell them that there would be a big war in the west city and let them go to the north or south of the city to escape.
Le Yi has given the people the chance to live. As for those who don't want to leave, you can't blame others.
“Hey hoo hey hoo…”
The smoke caused by the fire shrouded the entire collapse gap, but shouts of "Hey!" could be heard constantly from behind the smoke, which also made the defenders guarding the gap terrified and dripping with cold sweat.
They all knew that the movement was caused by the Qin army putting out the fire, and once the fire was completely extinguished, the Qin army would come and kill them.
“Archers and catapults are ready at any time. Once the Qin army attacks, they will launch immediately.” Le Yi ordered in a deep voice.
【Ding dong, Le Yi’s skill ‘Hegemony’ effect 1 is activated;
Hegemony: Five armies attack Qi, always dominate, sweep across Qi and Lu, and be unrivaled. This is Le Yi's unique skill.
Effect 1: When commanding an army to attack, field battle or encounter, the commander's own command +2 and the whole army's force +1; when commanding a city defense battle, the commander's command +1 and the morale of the whole army will be greatly improved.
Effect 2: When encountering an opponent from the land of Qilu, you can immediately suppress the opponent's five-dimensional 13 points;
Effect 3: When the number of troops is reduced to 50%, the entire army's force will be +1;
Effect 4: When the number of allies increases during combat, each additional ally will gain +1 commander. (Note: The upper limit of this effect is four allies, and Effect 1 will automatically expire after all are activated.
Effect 5: When the number of allies reaches four, it can invalidate the enemy's entire army increase. (Note: This effect can only be activated after Effect 4 is fully activated.)]
An earlier error has been corrected. Previously, it was written that Arthur was transferred to Chenliu, but later the bandits appeared again in Yingchuan. This error has been corrected now.