Chapter 464: Guardian Wei Yan
Baidi City stands majestically, spanning the throat of the road from Jingzhou to Shu.
On the city wall, the defending general was wearing black armor, standing tall, and his fluttering cloak made him look even more heroic.
With his arms folded across his chest, he looked down at Pang De's army surging like a black tide below the city. Instead of showing any fear, his defiant face was filled with uncontrollable excitement.
"General, this enemy army looks very elite, but we only have 5,000 defenders in total. I'm afraid..." The deputy general frowned as he looked at the densely packed enemy troops under the city.
The garrison commander was unusually young, with his mouth slightly raised, revealing a disdainful sneer. He then turned to look at the deputy commander, his eyes revealing full confidence, and said calmly: "What are you afraid of?"
"With Baidi City in hand, it's just a few tens of thousands of Qi troops. Humph, if we hadn't had so few soldiers, I would have just gone out and attacked them while they were still unstable, and I would have been able to kill all these tens of thousands of Qi troops without leaving a single piece of armor."
Baidi City and Yiling area are the only way for Jingzhou to enter Shu. Its importance is self-evident, and Liu Bei naturally attached great importance to it.
This extremely young general was the defensive commander carefully selected by Liu Bei. His name was Wei Yan.
Pang De was at the foot of the city, also carefully observing every defensive fortification of Baidi City.
The city was built on a mountain with a dangerous terrain and tall and thick city walls. The defenders on the city walls were on high alert with flags flying. It was obvious at first glance that this would be a tough nut to crack.
But Pang De knew that the mission was arduous and that he had to capture Baidi City before Liu Bei's reinforcements arrived. Time was running out and no room for error was allowed.
After only a short one-day rest and after the letter of surrender sent into the city was returned intact, Pang De gave the order to attack the city without hesitation.
As the command flag was waved, the Qi army rushed towards Baidi City like a surging tide.
The front row of soldiers gathered around the ramp, holding heavy shields and riding ladders, and lined up closely to form an indestructible line of defense, slowly advancing towards the city gate.
The archers in the back row and on the ramparts drew their bows and shot arrows at the defenders on the city wall like locusts, trying to suppress the enemy's firepower.
Several newly assembled Thunderbolt chariots let out an earth-shaking roar, and countless huge rocks flew towards Baidi City.
Wei Yan was indeed surprised by the terrifying destructive power brought by the huge stone.
"The Qi army is well-equipped with military equipment, and its reputation is well-deserved." Looking solemnly in the direction of the Thunderbolt Chariot, Wei Yan's heart trembled slightly.
Although the power of the Thunderbolt Chariot cannot be called a dimensionality reduction attack for the city defense battles of this era, its lethality definitely subverts ordinary people's cognition.
But Wei Yan was Wei Yan after all, and he quickly regained his composure.
Baidi City is a famous fortified city. Although it may be easier to attack than Jiange City, it has the advantages of the natural barrier of the Yangtze River and water defense.
The soldiers of Jingzhou were also good at naval battles, but Pang De was not good at this, and he did not carry much warship assembly equipment with him.
After all, who would think of bringing navy when attacking Yizhou?
Therefore, facing Baidi City, Pang De felt that it was more difficult to deal with than Jiange.
The Jiange Pass is taller and narrower, and because it is built along the mountain, it is staggered in height, forming a multi-level defense system, which is extremely difficult to attack with ordinary tactics.
However, the towering city walls had their advantage largely reduced in front of the Thunderbolt Chariot.
However, Baidi City is famous for its thick city walls, and the effect of the Thunderbolt Chariot is far less than imagined.
After Wei Yan roughly understood its power, he quickly made targeted tactics.
Wei Yan on the city wall remained calm and commanded the defenders to counterattack in an orderly manner.
"Release the arrow! Aim and shoot!" "Rolling logs and rocks, smash them hard!"
Under Wei Yan's command, the defenders cooperated well, rolling logs and stones like raindrops towards the Qi army under the city, and the archers shot their arrows without missing a single target.
For a time, the Qi army's attack encountered stubborn resistance and its advance was severely hindered.
Having fewer soldiers has its advantages, which is that it is easier to command them, especially for Wei Yan, who is quite good at micro-management.
As a talented general selected by Liu Bei from his personal guards, Wei Yan learned Liu Bei's micro-control techniques thoroughly.
Although Emperor Zhaolie never gained any advantage over Cao Cao and his level of large-scale combat was very poor, he was still very capable in battles involving less than 10,000 people.
Therefore, Wei Yan was very good at fighting this kind of small-scale battle with careful calculations.
It was the same tactic of shooting arrows back and rolling stones and logs, but under Wei Yan's command and dispatch, the defenders of Baidi City posed a huge obstacle to Pang De's siege troops.
Relying on the terrain advantage, Wei Yan did not concentrate on fighting under the city wall, but instead transferred part of the battlefield onto the city wall, making it impossible for Pang De's Thunderbolt Chariot to act too recklessly.
After all, our own soldiers are entangled with the enemy. Who dares to cover and attack in this situation?
Even after improvements, the Thunderbolt car still has a significant deviation in accuracy.
"The commander of the defending army is an expert!" Pang De frowned after watching for a long time.
Wei Yan's skills in troop allocation and combination are perfect.
The defenders on the city wall were scattered but not chaotic, tight but not dense, which ensured the resistance while reducing the battle losses to an extremely low level.
That would have been fine, but the other side also had extraordinary combat intuition and was able to keenly perceive every change on the battlefield. Whenever they showed signs of breaking through the defense line, they were able to deploy troops in time and resolve the offensive invisibly.
Comparing the feeling during the previous attack on Jiange, Pang De felt that Wei Yan was several times more difficult to deal with.
Yan Yan is only good at fighting tough battles. Although the fighting will and coordination of his soldiers are impeccable, their fighting style is too blunt.
The defender in front of him was not only tough, but also cunning, and his advance and retreat strategies made it difficult for him to predict the outcome.
"Trouble!" Although he remained calm on the surface, Pound was a little panicked in his heart.
The fierce offensive and defensive battle lasted for a whole day, and it was not until nightfall that the two sides temporarily stopped fighting. The battlefield was dead silent, filled with the thick smell of blood and gunpowder.
Back in the tent, Pang De frowned and fell into deep thought. Today's attack made him see the tenacious resistance of the defenders and Wei Yan's excellent command ability.
The casualties just counted were not high, much less than the previous attack on Jiange, but Pang De was not happy but worried.
This shows that his enemies are very smart. If his own casualties are not high, the enemy's casualties may be even lower.
The purpose of this defending army was very clear, which was to delay the enemy and they had no intention of fighting them head-on.
According to the current situation, I am afraid it may not be possible to capture Baidi City even within a month.
Tactics must be changed!
Pang De knew very well that today's situation could not be just an accident. His enemies were very difficult to deal with and he had to be on high alert.
"Order the soldiers to build more thunderbolt chariots." Pang De was extremely grateful that Zhang He had assigned him a lot of engineers before he left, so he could completely change his tactics.
(End of this chapter)
