Chapter 438 Siege of Chang'an
Under Sima Yi's urgent summons, all the generals of the Guanzhong Army returned to Chang'an. Everyone came to Sima Yi's military tent and held an urgent military meeting.
When everyone arrived, Sima Yi informed all the generals of the latest moves of the Shu army.
"Everyone, please tell me what to do next!" Sima Yi looked at the generals seriously and asked with a cold face.
"Captain! We must stop the Shu army!" Sun Li stood up and reported to Sima Yi in an extremely serious manner,
"If the Shu army is allowed to build a wall around our camp, Chang'an will completely blockade Western Shu. Not only will it be impossible to drive the Shu army out of Guanzhong, but also whether we can evacuate safely is a question!"
"So no matter what, we must destroy their movements!"
"I know this, what I need is a solution!" Sima Yi shook his head, looked at Sun Li lightly and said.
"Commander! Please give me thousands of cavalry, and let me attack the Shu army from multiple directions. Use the cavalry to attack in turns to harass the Shu army's movements and disrupt their actions!"
At this time, Hu Zun stood up and bowed his hand to Sima Yi to invite him to fight.
"The Shu army piled sand into a wall, and its foundation was bound to be unstable. As long as thousands of cavalry rushed into the formation to prevent the wall from standing, the Shu army's actions could be thwarted!"
"Then what if the Shu army poured water and piled sand, froze the city walls like Emperor Wu did, and raised the city overnight?" Sima Yi didn't have any plans for Hu Zun, but asked calmly.
Sima Yi's rhetorical question made Hu Zun silent, not knowing how to answer.
In fact, the Han army had already done this. A large number of civilians dug into the ice near the main camp to collect water and piled sand to fill the water. In just one night, an earth wall several meters high was built and extended to both sides.
The earth walls built in this way may not be of high quality and cannot be further compacted and reinforced. But it can be used to guard against cavalry harassment, or even used as a basis for defense.
In this case, Hu Zun's strategy will not be effective. After all, even if they are equipped with stirrups and horseshoes, and both men and horses are equipped with heavy armor, they are still very powerless when facing this kind of earth wall.
There's no way, it just can't be knocked open.
Just when the meeting fell into silence and all the generals felt helpless, Guo Huai suddenly stood up.
As a veteran general from the northwest who faced Ma Su earlier than Chen Tai, he proposed a strategy that Ma Su had used.
"Captain! Although the Shu army is currently building walls with sand, it is difficult to destroy them with cavalry. But if we use thunderbolt chariots to attack from a distance, we will definitely be able to make a difference!" Guo Huai suggested,
"In the past, when Ma Su was in Yongzhou, he relied on this to force Hao Zhao out of the city to fight. But now the earthen walls of the Shu army are definitely not as strong as Chencang, so it is a good opportunity to use the thunder chariot."
Guo Huai's proposal was relatively reasonable and practical, and Sima Yi nodded. But Master Sima frowned and raised objections,
"The Shu army is too far away from our army, and the range of the Thunderbolt Chariot is simply not enough. If we attack them closely, and if the Shu army cavalry comes out in full force, we may not be able to withstand it, right?"
"What's more, Xishu is building earth walls along hundreds of miles of land in Weinan. If we want to thwart its actions, we need to build a large number of Thunderbolt Chariots. I'm afraid..."
"If the Western Shu cavalry comes out together, we will also have cavalry to resist. As for the number of thunder chariots, there are a large number of farmers in Chang'an today, and we also have no shortage of civilians." Guo Huai added seriously, quickly explaining the feasibility of this matter. . And in the end, Guo Huai's words left Master Sima speechless.
"Besides, do we have any other choice?"
Guo Huai's words silenced everyone, and no one could refute.
Do they have any other choice?
The front was just right, but the hinterland of Chang'an was stolen by the Shu army again. Now that tens of thousands of Shu troops have surrounded Chang'an like this, their situation is already dire.
So, do the weak have the right to choose?
"Okay! Don't let the ambition of the enemy country affect the morale of our army! What can a mere Xishu do? We will soon be driven out of Guanzhong." Sima Yi calmly waved his hand, interrupting everyone's thoughts, and said straightforwardly .
"Pass my order and Guo Huai will lead his troops back to Chang'an from Hu County to supervise the construction of Pili chariots full-time."
"I will hand over all the cavalry in Chang'an equipped with stirrups and horseshoes to you. When the thunderbolt chariot is built, you and Sima Division will lead the troops to attack!"
"The rest of the generals are sticking to their posts and can't get out! I have received your Majesty's order. In less than three months, the Kwantung reinforcements will arrive. If we persist, we will win!"
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When the Han army piled up earthen walls in Weinan and began to build another city wall around Chang'an, Sima Yi transferred Guo Huai back to Chang'an.
Sima Yi put this veteran who had fought against the Shu army since the first Northern Expedition to be responsible for the construction of the Thunderbolt Chariot together with Sima Division.
At this time, there were a large number of people in Chang'an who were stranded in the city and unable to farm. Sima Yi arranged for all of them to work in workshops to build thunder chariots. At the same time, Sima Yi also asked Guo Huai to command all the light cavalry equipped with stirrups in Guanzhong, training day and night, ready to gesticulate with the Han cavalry at any time.
Both sides were engaged in construction projects in full swing, and the fighting basically came to a standstill in a short period of time. Except for Sun Li and Wei Yan on the eastern front, who were still fighting over Weinan Chidao, other battlefields fell into rare confrontations.
However, as the Han army's earth walls gradually increased, the rammed earth wall in the Han army's main camp was already several meters high. Obstructed by the earthen wall, the Wei army could hardly see the movements inside the Han army's main camp.
This earth wall, which Sima Yi regarded as a blockade, concealed the small movements of the Han army.
The confrontation between the two sides lasted for half a month. After recruiting a large number of civilian workers, the workshops inside Chang'an successively built more than a dozen Thunderbolt cars. Guo Huai felt that this was enough, so he prepared to launch a tentative offensive against the Han army's camp.
So, on an ordinary evening, Guo Huaika led his troops to fight at Xu hour when the Han army could prepare food and rest. He led three thousand cavalry out of the city from the northeast of Chang'an, and quickly escorted a dozen thunderbolt chariots to approach the Han army's formation 800 steps away, ready to take action.
Guo Huai's timing was very good. The Han army discovered him as soon as he left the city. But it wasn't until he reached the position and got ready to take action that the Han cavalry came out from behind the earthen wall.
However, what surprised Guo Huai was that the leading cavalry general was not his old rival Ma Su, but Shu Han Wei general Wu Yi.
"How dare you come out if you don't stay in the city honestly? Get off your horse quickly and die!" Wu Yi led two thousand Han cavalry and rushed out with high morale.
"Where did Ma Su go?" Guo Huai raised his eyebrows and asked warily when he found that Ma Su was not in the formation.
"If he is a man, come out and attack him head-on! Don't hide anywhere, and win through despicable sneak attacks!"
"You don't need to be nervous. The Chariot and Cavalry General is not here and will not attack you. What's more, I am enough to deal with you. There is no need for the Chariot and Cavalry General to do it himself."
When Wu Yi heard this, a somewhat inexplicable expression suddenly appeared on his face.
No matter how he looked at it, Guo Huai felt that Ma Dai was... holding back his laughter?
"Ma Su is not here? Then where did he go?"
"He is in our Prime Minister's military tent."
"In Zhuge Liang's military tent?"
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At the same time, in the Han army's military tent,
"Prime Minister! I won't fight in person! Can you unlock this Luban Lock for me!!"