Chapter 351 How to Fight This Battle
Zhao Yun returned to the battle safely and heard deafening cheers.
Xun You looked deeply at Zhao Yun and said with relief: "Zilong, after this battle, you will be famous all over the world. I'm afraid Wenyuan and the others will feel a sense of crisis in the future."
Zhao Yun heard this and smiled modestly: "Military Advisor, you are overpraising me. I only have a little courage of a common man. When it comes to commanding troops, I am indeed not as good as Wen Yuan and others."
Looking at Zhao Yun, who was neither arrogant nor impetuous, Xun You couldn't help but sigh that it was fortunate that such a good general was under the command of His Majesty.
Whether in terms of martial arts, leading troops or being a person, Zhao Yun can almost be described as perfect. Like Zhuge Liang, he has almost no negative reviews in the eyes of the civil and military officials under Tian Ze.
Although he may not be able to achieve as impressive military achievements as Guan Yu, Zhang Liao and others, he is stronger when facing a strong opponent and is undefeated. Together with Xu Rong, they can be regarded as the strongest duo under Tian Ze.
"Today is just the beginning. If we fail to win in a one-on-one duel, the coalition forces will directly attack tomorrow." Xun You said solemnly.
When the generals around heard Xun You's words, they all stopped smiling and became serious.
Arrogant soldiers will be defeated!
Zhao Yun's great victory was a great morale-boosting thing, but if it led to the soldiers becoming arrogant, it would be counterproductive.
Xun You’s reminder was to avoid this situation.
"Don't worry, military advisor. I will increase vigilance to prepare for a surprise attack by Cao's army." Zhao Yun nodded.
As a general under Tian Ze, building a solid camp is almost a compulsory course.
Zhao Yun, who has always been cautious and good at defense, has his own unique experience in building camps.
Because of the advantage of the navy, Zhao Yun set up his camp on the bank of a relatively turbulent section of the Yellow River. Once besieged by the enemy, the navy could provide support at any time, which also reduced one side of the defense.
Not only that, because Zang Ba and Han Dang were involved during these days, Zhao Yun's army was able to free up a lot of time to build the camp and directly transferred a large amount of mortar and cement from the rear.
In a short period of time, they built a "strong city" that was taller and much stronger than Gaotang County.
Moreover, unlike Gaotang County, the design also needs to take into consideration the lives of the people and their transportation.
The camp built by Zhao Yun was built purely for war, and was built completely according to the proportion of his own troops. The trenches, traps, urns, and arrow towers were all carefully designed.
This is also the reason why Yuan Shao and others did not attack by force, but wanted to defeat Zhao Yun in a one-on-one fight.
This camp is really in line with Tian Ze's combat style. It embodies the techniques of Mohism, Gongshujia and various black technologies. It is almost a standard building. Yuan Shao and Cao Cao, who have experienced several siege battles with Tian Ze, both feel a headache when looking at it.
In the coalition army's camp, the four princes and their civil and military officials sat together and began to discuss how to attack Zhao Yun's camp.
"Xuan De, Bo Fu, you have not experienced the battle to attack Tianze City. Although you should have heard about it, you are probably not familiar with the situation. Let Meng De tell you about the situation first." Yuan Shao said.
Facing the gazes of Liu Bei, Sun Ce and others, Cao Cao pointed to the thumbnail map of the surrounding area of Zhao Yun's military camp drawn on the wall.
"Tian Ze's generals are the best at defense. Benchu and I have led our troops to attack his checkpoints and cities many times, and we almost always ended up in disastrous defeat."
"You have experienced the Battle of Shouchun before. It can be said that the difficulty of this battle is probably several times higher than that of the Battle of Shouchun."
Hearing what Cao Cao said, everyone couldn't help but show a look of shock.
Cao Cao sighed, "First of all, give up all hope. Tactics like digging tunnels, sneak attacks, and harassment are basically useless."
"Tian Ze's soldiers are well-trained and extremely familiar with defending the city. They have a very complete response plan. All we have to do is to storm."
"Fortunately, Zhao Yun's troops had not been stationed there for a long time, so the walls they built were not very tall or thick."
Upon hearing this, Liu Bei, Sun Ce and others looked at each other in surprise.
"Well, I checked today. Although it may not be very accurate, the wall of Zhao Yun's camp is estimated to be 50 meters high." Sun Qian swallowed lightly and asked with a little doubt. Cao Cao nodded: "It should be about the same."
“Isn’t this considered high?”
Hearing the disbelief in Sun Qian's tone, Cao Cao sighed again.
"The wall of Zhao Yun's camp should be about the same height as the previous Shouchun City. Although it looks extremely tall, it is only normal for the Tianze Army." Cao Cao said calmly.
Cao Cao had fought many battles with Tian Ze, and now he had no feeling for the five-meter-high city wall.
Seeing Cao Cao, Yuan Shao and their civil and military officials acting accustomed to this, Sun Qian's eyes twitched slightly and he stepped back.
Seeing the reactions of Liu Bei, Sun Ce and others, Cao Cao and Yuan Shao looked at each other and couldn't help shaking their heads slightly.
Now this group of people should be able to roughly understand their difficulties.
In the past, they had fought like gods, and it is really not easy for them to hold on until now.
After seeing that everyone had come to their senses, Cao Cao continued, "In this battle, we must go all out. According to the previous arrangements under Shouchun City, General Shen Pei will coordinate and command the attack."
Zhou Yu was fighting fiercely with Gan Ning in Donglai. Among the other civil and military officials, Shen Pei was the most suitable person to take on the position of commander-in-chief. No one was surprised by this.
As for why Zhou Yu was not transferred over.
Do you really think that Gan Ning, the leader of the navy under Tian Ze, is just there to do nothing?
The 50,000 naval forces and ships under his command were well-armored, and only when Zhou Yu's command and naval combat capabilities were maxed out could he be held back. If it were anyone else, even Sun Ce would have been doomed to die.
"There are three key difficulties in this battle." Cao Cao said.
"First, Zhao Yun's troops have more city defense equipment."
"If nothing unexpected happens, the walls of Zhao Yun's camp are already covered with catapults and crossbows, and there are a large number of archers. The power of long-range attacks will be very terrifying."
"Although we have prepared a large number of crossbows and catapults, our range and accuracy are far inferior to the enemy's."
"Our siege troops must not be too dense, otherwise we will not be able to bear the losses."
"Secondly, the length of the wall of Zhao Yun's camp is relatively narrow."
"Because there is no need to consider the problems of the common people, Zhao Yun's camp is completely designed for the scale of 100,000 defenders."
"For better defense, while ensuring the strength of the defense, the length of the city wall will be shortened to be narrower, which will not be conducive to our large-scale siege."
"In order to launch an effective offensive, we must send a large number of elite troops and vanguards."
"Third, the navy of Han Dang's army."
"Zhao Yun's camp was built on the north bank of the Yellow River, showing the momentum of a desperate battle, and it was obvious that he was determined to defend it to the death."
"Although there are considerable risks, with Han Dang's navy here, we have no way of encircling them or cutting off their food supply. We can even hardly stop Zhao Yun's troops from evacuating."
"Moreover, Han Dang's navy also has many catapults and crossbows! Zhao Yun's army not only reduces the pressure of defending one side, but the city walls on the east and west sides can also be defended by the navy."
"So our main attack direction can only be the southern city wall and the southern part of the east and west city walls. And we must also do our best to contain Han Dang's navy."
As they listened to Cao Cao's detailed introduction of his experience in fighting against Tian Ze's army, everyone's faces became increasingly ugly.
An idea came to everyone's mind.
How should this battle be fought?
(End of this chapter)
