——Preface · ].
Ancient castles are the key to the offensive and defensive game, Hao Zhao, Zhang Te and other generals made good use of the tactics of defending the city to successfully resist the strong enemy, "The Art of War" clearly said that the siege is the next policy, and the generals weigh the troubles between attack and defense. Guan Yu's Jiangling City was impregnable, while Lu Kang used Xiling City to defend it well.
But when the generals had to attack their own castles, Han Feizi's "self-contradiction" problem appeared, between the design of the city and the attack and defense, the generals not only faced military difficulties, but also needed to consider personal honor and strategic arrangements, leaving deep doubts in history.
When attacking and defending, is it more important to win by strategy or stick to your own city?
- Defending the city tactics · ].
In ancient times, when firearms were not yet popular, castles were the best natural barriers, and during this period, the tactics of defending the city were widely used as an effective defensive strategy, in which case even a weak brigade with relatively few troops could make up for the lack of strength if it could skillfully trap a lonely city.
During the Three Kingdoms period, the application of this kind of city defense tactics was very common, and history recorded some famous examples of city defense battles, such as Hao Zhao defended Chen Cang with more than 1,000 people, and successfully resisted the attack of tens of thousands of Shu troops.
Similarly, the "Wei Luo" also recorded Zhang Te's feat of leading more than 3,000 people to defend Hefei New City, although the soldiers were sick and more than half of the battle were killed, Zhang Te's persistence forced the army of Zhuge Ke of the Shu army to retreat.
In ancient times, siege warfare was often a time-consuming, laborious, and tragic form of warfare. Because of the high risks and costs associated with such battles, generals usually try to avoid this strategy and prefer to look for other, more cautious strategies.
Siege warfare is still an unavoidable means of warfare, especially when faced with strong walls and strong resistance. In the Book of Wu, it is recorded that in May of the nineteenth year of Jian'an, Sun Quan led a large army to attack Wancheng.
Observing the characteristics of this city, Lü Meng made a powerful suggestion: "Looking at this castle now, it is not very strong, and it will not take much time to conquer it if it is attacked from all sides with the vigor of the three armies. ”
Sun Quan agreed with Lü Meng's suggestion and launched an attack in the early hours of the morning. In this battle, Lü Meng personally beat the war drums and inspired his soldiers to climb the battlements, and the battle ended successfully before noon.
In ancient times, experienced generals were well aware of the importance of the design and construction of fortresses in warfare, so they often personally supervised the construction of the city to ensure that it was strong and durable.
Fortifications are usually high and deep, tightly constructed, and impenetrable, and the situation becomes quite awkward when a general has to attack a castle that he has built himself.
- Sturdy Gangneung ·
In the history of the Three Kingdoms, there have been two similar battles, the protagonists are Guan Yu of Shu Han and Sun Wu's Lu Kang, and the results of these two battles are diametrically opposed, Guan Yu faced the Jiangling City he supervised and retreated, resulting in the team scattered, into a desperate situation, and Lu Kang skillfully strategized, outnumbered, successfully conquered the Xiling City he built.
At that time, Guan Yu was left behind in Jingzhou, and moved the prefecture capital city to Jiangling (now Jingzhou City, Hubei) on the north bank, as a rear base, Guan Yu personally presided over the construction of Jiangling City, placed the soldiers' families, wealth, and weapons in it, and built a new city wall in the south of the city to separate it from the old city, this design made it possible for the defenders to rely on the isolated city wall to hold on even if the enemy broke through a city wall.
When Guan Yu conquered Xiangfan in the north, he successfully flooded Cao Cao's "Seventh Army", captured the main general and more than 30,000 prisoners of war, and escorted them to Jiangling, which showed that the space in Jiangling City was quite vast, and when Lü Meng attacked Jingzhou, the defender Mi Fang surrendered timidly, so that Lü Meng easily occupied Jiangling, which was unexpected by Guan Yu.
At the moment of the fierce battle of Xiangfan, Cao Cao, in order to shake Guan Yu's military morale and hope that he would withdraw his troops from the front line as soon as possible, adopted Dong Zhao's suggestion and tied Sun Quan's letter of attempting to attack Jingzhou to an arrow and shot it at the Shu camp.
Therefore, Guan Yu decided to continue to stay in Xiangfan to fight, and did not rush back to the rescue until he learned the exact news of the fall of Nanjun.
When Guan Yu's army arrived near Jiangling, but found that the city had been held by the Wu army, unable to be easily conquered, after learning that the fortress he had built was impregnable, Guan Yu understood that the siege was hopeless, so he had to lead the army to retreat to Maicheng, because the families of the soldiers of the Shu army were detained by the enemy in Jiangling City, became hostages, resulting in the discouragement of the army, low morale, and many people defected.
In this chaotic background, Guan Yu could only lead Guan Ping, Zhao Lei and other more than ten horsemen to flee the battlefield, but in Linfang, he was ambushed and robbed by Sun Quan's ambush soldiers, and a generation of heroic generals fell.
The fortification of Jiangling City was verified in the third year of the early Huang dynasty (222), when the Wei army took a series of strategic actions, first capturing the sandbar in the middle of the river, cutting off the city from the Wu army on the south bank, leaving it isolated and helpless.
At this time, the Wu army in the city had a physical problem, and only 5,000 people were able to participate in the battle, but with the strong fortress of Jiangling, they successfully held out for more than six months, and the Wei army was forced to use various offensive methods, including earth mountains, tunnels, and towers, etc., but still could not break through the strong city defense of Jiangling, which made the Wei army suffer heavy casualties and was finally forced to retreat.
The fortification of Gangneung Castle was fully demonstrated in this battle, and Guan Yu's castle design and construction achievements played a huge role in the defense of Wu, and the results of this battle proved that Guan Yu's city design was indestructible, and became a sharp weapon for Wu's border defense, leaving a deep imprint on later historical events.
In the second year of Yong'an, Lu Kang, the son of Lu Xun, a famous general of Wu State, served as the governor of Xiling, and Yiling, an important town located at the east entrance of the Three Gorges, became his place of governance. Xiling was originally a city fortress, but after Lu Kang took office, he repaired and strengthened it, supplemented various defensive equipment, and made great efforts to strengthen the city's defense facilities.
Lu Kang's military talent and strategic vision were brought into greater play after he was transferred to the governor of Lexiang, he became the commander-in-chief of the western theater of Jingzhou, and played a vital role in the defense, and in the first year of Sun Wu Phoenix, the Xiling governor would step into betrayal and send envoys to the Jin Dynasty to try to surrender, after learning the news, Lu Kang quickly led 30,000 elite soldiers to Xiling to quell the rebellion.
At the same time, the Western Jin Dynasty also sent Yanghu, the governor of Jingzhou, to lead troops to rescue Bu Xi. Yanghu led more than 80,000 people, using the strategy of "encircling Wei to save Zhao", personally led the 50,000 army south, preparing to attack Jiangling, in order to support Xiling more quickly and effectively, Yanghu also ordered Jingzhou Assassin Shi Yang Zhao to lead 30,000 reinforcements to Xiling, while Xu Yin, the Badong supervisor, led the navy down the river and invaded Wujing.
——Zhipo Yiling City · ].
In the face of the powerful enemy army, Lu Kang's generals advocated immediately returning to the division to rescue Jiangling, but Lu Kang resolutely rejected this suggestion, he knew that Jiangling City was strong, the troops were sufficient, and the food was guaranteed, and he believed that even if the enemy conquered Jiangling, he would eventually retreat because he was far away from the rear and the supply of grain and grass could not be in time.
In contrast, for him, the defense of Xiling was more urgent, because if Xiling was lost, the minority "Qunyi" in Nanshan might be disturbed, and the loss of this important town at the mouth of the gorge would lead to unspeakable great sorrow.
Lu Kang decisively ordered Zhang Xian, the general of Jiangling, to strengthen the city's defenses, and obstructed the transportation of grain and grass for the Yanghu army by breaking the embankment and releasing water, so that it was in a difficult situation. In order to deal with the situation more comprehensively, Lu Kang also ordered the naval governor Liujian and the Zhenxi general Zhu Wan to lead troops to the border to block Xu Yin's fleet in the Western Jin Dynasty.
At the same time, he personally led the troops and local migrant workers to urgently build two long walls outside Xiling City, the inner wall was used to prevent Bu Xian to lead the crowd to break through, and the outer wall was to resist the reinforcements of Yang Zhao of the Western Jin Dynasty.
After the Jin reinforcements arrived, Wu sent Zhu Qiao and Yu Zan to the enemy, and this news reached Lu Kang's ears, he was well aware of the two men's understanding of the military situation, so he realized that the enemy army might use this information to attack the defenders of Yiling, and overnight, Lu Kang quickly mobilized his forces, allowing experienced troops to replace the defenders originally composed of Yi soldiers.
The next day, the Jin army led by Yang Zhao launched an attack, but encountered a fierce resistance, and flying stones and feather arrows rained down, giving the enemy a huge blow, ** constantly. The Jin army attacked Changwei for a month, but failed to achieve victory, and Yang Zhao had to retreat when the food was urgent.
It was only after showing a posture of wanting to pursue that he beat the drum to gather the troops, which made the Jin army feel extremely panicked, and they all lifted their heavy armor in order to escape, and then, Lu Kang sent a lightly armed pursuit force, causing Yang Zhao's troops to scatter and flee.
There were about 10,000 soldiers in Yiling City, and Lu Kang's troops had an advantage, so he quickly launched a siege operation, in the battle, Lu Kang effectively broke through the strong defense line of the defending enemy, forcing the defenders to surrender helplessly, and in the face of the rebel generals such as the rebellious Bu Yi family, Lu Kang only executed some key figures, and gave leniency to tens of thousands of people and soldiers in the city, and won a complete victory.
After the Battle of Xiling, the ministers of the Western Jin Dynasty were quite dissatisfied with Yanghu's command performance. The outcome of the war clearly ran counter to their expectations.
The ministers accused Yanghu of commanding more than 80,000 people, while the enemy army was only 30,000, but he stagnated in Gangneung and set up defenses for the enemy, which was considered a violation of the edict and a lack of compliance with the ministers.
The imperial court finally made a decision to demote Yanghu, remove him from his official position as general of Pingxi, and retain his marquis status and let him return home. For Yang Zhao, the imperial court was even more one-size-fits-all, revoking all his official titles, removing him from his official position and demoting him to a commoner.
The whole process reflects the high requirements of the imperial court for the army commander when he loses the war, and emphasizes the importance of moderation and the responsibility of executing the edict, which is also a manifestation of the responsibility of the generals under the political system.
- Epilogue ·
In the long history of offensive and defensive games, ancient generals faced great challenges in the design and attack and defense of castles, Guan Yu's Jiangling City was impregnable, and Lu Kang's Xiling City was excellent in defense, but they showed different fates between attack and defense.
Attacking or defending a city, historical generals need to weigh between military strategy, personal honor and strategic arrangement, and in this complex choice, when attacking and defending, it is more important to win by strategy or stick to their own city, which has become an important topic for ancient generals.
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