Turbulent Times Chapter 1205: Tunnel warfare, tunnel warfare

The strength of the Far Eastern Army in field battles has already been felt through the disastrous defeats of several wars.

The Far East Army is good at defending, and they have experienced it by attacking the camp of more than 10,000 horses led by Wang Junlin.

Now, they want to experience the siege of the Far Eastern Army, and there are too many cases of the Far Eastern Army siege in the legend, and the real ones have become famous all over the world.

In the legend, there is no city that the Far Eastern Army cannot break through, okay?

It's not right to say that everyone is worried. The prefect of Taiyuan County, Wang Xu, the head of the Wang family, has a dignified face just right, but also has the confidence to match Li Jiancheng. They came from a long distance again, they did not prepare siege weapons, they are just temporarily making weapons now, it must be difficult to be sophisticated, it is not a big deal to think about, but we are fully prepared, the old man arranged for three hundred Twenty fighters are enough to smash Wang Junlin's army into a pulp. There are also two trenches dug by Marshal Li before his death, plus the moat. Although the Far Eastern Army is powerful, it will not be able to attack in a short time, so the prince need not worry. , we will definitely be able to defend Taiyuan City!"

Wang Xu's words boosted Li Jiancheng's confidence, and he was very happy to hear it. He said with a smile, "What the prince said is very true. We will definitely be able to defend Taiyuan City."

Xia Houduan on the other side glanced at Wang Xu, and a hint of vigilance flashed in the depths of his eyes. He was a general who was single-handedly promoted by Li Shentong. This time, Li Shentong's death was very strange. Pei Mansion, but was stopped by Li Jiancheng.

He has not been idle these days, and arranged for his confidants to investigate Pei Shi secretly. Although there is no clear evidence, he has a vague feeling that Pei Shi was not planted by the spies of the Far East Army as the prince said. It is very likely that Pei Shi Already a traitor.

And if Mrs. Pei secretly pledged allegiance to Wang Junlin, then Mrs. Wang, who is also a wealthy family in Hedong, might have already had a different heart.

It's just that, whether it's the Wang family or the Pei family, they are too powerful in Taiyuan City. Many of the official histories in the government and the generals in the army are from these two families. Compared with a big shot like Wang Xu, his status is much worse. If there is no conclusive evidence, and he rashly raises it to Li Jiancheng, it is very likely that Li Jiancheng will not only not believe what he said, but will turn around and tell Wang and Pei. Next, he is likely to be killed by Wang and Pei in various ways.

So, Xia Houduan has been secretly making some preparations to prevent Wang and Pei from doing something in Taiyuan City.

Not far behind Xia Houduan is Li Jiancheng's number one aide, Dou Dan. The Dou family is also a powerful family. Looking at the camp of the Far Eastern Army outside the city, he frowned slightly. He had a faint feeling that the Far Eastern Army was not just building siege equipment in the past four or five days, which was a bit inconsistent with the vigorous and vigorous fighting methods of the Far Eastern Army in the past.

He secretly guessed that in the past four or five days, Wang Junlin led the Far Eastern Army to do other things outside the city that they didn't know about, and these things must be related to the attack on Taiyuan City.

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At the same moment when Li Jiancheng led a group of people to patrol the city of Taiyuan and watched the Far East Army camp from a distance, Wang Junlin also observed the city wall of Taiyuan with a telescope on the observation tower of the Far East Army camp two miles away.

He has been looking at this thick and strong city wall for five whole days, and he knows in his heart that if he captures this city with conventional tactics, he will have to pay.

Pay a heavy price.

The thought of rushing to the top of the city densely like a colony of ants, being smashed to pieces by the catapults, and then rushing towards the top of the city with a few ladders or nest carts, at least nearly ten thousand people, or even tens of thousands of people were killed or injured Wang Junlin resolutely denied this most stupid way of siege.

Wang Junlin has a wealth of experience in defending cities. He knows where the weakest part of the city is?

His eyes fell on the city gate at this time, because any city, the city gate is its weakest point, it is its cover door.

However, the city defenders also knew the weakness of the city gate, so they designed the moat and high suspension bridge. The suspension bridge is like the outer armor of the city gate. The hub to control the suspension bridge is at the head of the city, there are two huge iron chain winches, and two wrist-thick iron chains pull the suspension bridge high.

But no matter what kind of outer armor the city gate wears, it is still not as thick as the city wall. It is always the weakest point in the entire city, because any door can be opened, especially from the inside.

The second is the timing of the siege. Wang Junlin is very clear about how to choose the timing of the siege. Even if there is no opportunity, he will create an opportunity, just like a lion has a moment of dozing. When you relax, the time comes.

Of course, for him, Wang Junlin, he has too many ways to capture this city.

At this moment, an official from the Military Intelligence Office rushed up, bowed and reported to Wang Junlin: "I want to report to the lord, according to the order of the lord, we sent out our hands and caught Li Yuan and sent people to add eight hundred miles to him." The secret letter sent by Li Jiancheng, just as the prince guessed, Li Yuan has already guessed that the Wang family and the Pei family have surrendered to the prince, and he wants to remind Li Jiancheng to take precautions."

Wang Junlin nodded slightly, expressing satisfaction: "Yes, you have done a good job, but Li Jiancheng was fooled by Wang Xu and Pei Ji so that he couldn't see the truth, but it doesn't mean that other people around Li Jiancheng can't see the problem, so Wang's and Pei's are just prepared by us, not all entrusted."

Wang Shiqing and Pei Yuanqing looked at each other behind them. They were a little worried, but when they thought of their own power in Taiyuan City, they felt relieved. They were worried that there might be twists and turns in the plans of the two remaining families.

Luo Shixin said with a smile: "My lord, don't worry, the tunnel for the engineering and supply camp has been dug to the front of the moat."

"Very well, tell them to be more careful as you go to the back. From now on, don't dig during the day, and dig at night." Wang Junlin said one after another.

If Li Jiancheng and others can leave the city, or if they stand ten feet taller, they will find that the Far Eastern Army is doing another thing besides building siege equipment.

Unfortunately, based on the angle and height they were standing at, they couldn't discover this secret at all. This secret determines whether Taiyuan City can keep it.

In addition to the moat outside the city, Li Shentong ordered people to dig two trenches one hundred steps away and two hundred steps away. The trenches are one foot wide and six feet deep. , this is to push the defense line to the periphery, especially designed for the short range of the Far Eastern Army's nine-shot crossbow. At that time, the archers of the Li family army will hide in the trenches to resist the enemy. These two trenches have played a huge defensive role. Able to shoot and kill the Far Eastern Army that is besieging the city.

But in the past few days, there has been a scene in the two trenches that the Taiyuan defenders could not have dreamed of. There is an exit directly facing the city gate outside the south city, which is convenient for the defenders in the city. Go out of the city at the right time, this

It was the self-confidence that Li Shentong possessed back then.

The width of this exit is only two meters, and the cavalry is only enough for two cavalry to ride side by side.

But following this exit, a tunnel appeared below.

At this time, there were as many as 400 people in the tunnel. These were engineers from the Far Eastern Army who had been specially trained to dig holes. With steel shovels, they have dug nearly two miles of tunnels in the past five days.

For the excavation of this tunnel, Wang Junlin personally led the personnel of the engineering and supply battalion to make a careful and foolproof plan.

They first dug a tunnel from the camp to the passage facing the first ditch outside the city gate, and then dug another tunnel between the two ditches, so that the Far Eastern Army in the camp could pass through the tunnel Directly enter the second trench on the inside without being discovered by the Li Jiajun at the head of the city.

In this case, the soldiers of the Far Eastern Army can appear within a hundred steps of the city wall without knowing what to do.

This should be the reason why Li Shentong arranged for people to study the trench defense of the Far Eastern Army and did not learn the whole set, or that he only learned the surface but not the inner reason.

If the Far Eastern Army were to dig the trenches of Taiyuan City, it must be connected to the moat, because once it is abandoned, it will be flooded immediately to prevent the trenches from being used by the enemy, and this is equivalent to three moats. It can also prevent enemies outside the city from digging tunnels.

The people arranged by Li Shentong did not consider connecting the trench with the moat. Maybe they were too confident in Taiyuan's city walls, or maybe they were inexperienced. At that time, they didn't think about how to use this trench to attack the city. After all, normal thinking In the next day, the siege Far Eastern Army would still be exposed to the rain of arrows when it came out of the trenches, and at most it would avoid the blows of the trebuchets.

Since ancient times, both the enemy and us have been negligent on the battlefield. The key is whether we can catch the enemy's negligence. This negligence of the Li family army is nothing to those who are not good at attacking the city, but it is not good for those who are good at defending with trenches. For the Far Eastern Army, this defect was immediately seen, which turned the defect into a fatal oversight.

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In the evening of the next day, Luo Shixin came to report to Wang Junlin: "My lord, the tunnel has been completed and can pass smoothly."

Wang Junlin was overjoyed, and praised: "Very good, the engineering and supply battalion made the first contribution in capturing Taiyuan City!"

Wang Junlin then ordered to his left and right soldiers: "Order Pei Yuanqing and Wang Shiqing to come see me?"

The soldiers on the left and right agreed, and immediately went to call for someone. Soon Pei Yuanqing and Wang Shiqing ran to Wang Junlin, looked at each other, and at the same time stepped forward to salute: "See you!"

Wang Junlin glanced at them, and said slowly: "The two of you are called here to tell you that the siege will start at the second watch tonight. The city will start to mobilize, and the people from the military intelligence office in the city will also cooperate with you. I hope that you two can open the city gate, but I will only give you half an hour. If you cannot open the city gate within half an hour, I will activate it. The second plan for the tunnel warfare, when the time comes, your two families will not have so much credit."

Both of them lifted their spirits at the same time, saluted and said: "Don't worry, my lord, I will pass the orders of my lord to the family through the flying eagle of the Military Intelligence Office!"

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PS: Thank you very much for the monthly support and encouragement of several old readers———