Chapter 99 Happy Mid-Autumn Festival
In August of the twelfth year of Tiansheng, an army of one hundred thousand arrived at Shouchun and besieged the city.

Murong Ying himself was stationed in Xiacai on the north bank of the Huai River.

Historically, most regimes established in the southeast were able to unify half of the south of the Yangtze River and form a north-south confrontation with the north.

The entire southeast's defense structure is a multi-level defense system based on the Yangtze River and Huai River. The formation of these important military towns in the south is also based on this.

The Huaihe River and the Yangtze River serve as a double barrier. When the north and south are divided, the Huaihe River is often used as a shield for the Yangtze River, so there is a saying that if you want to guard the Yangtze River, you must also guard the Huaihe River.

If we take the Huai River in the south, we will be able to resist the north; but if we take the Huai River in the north, we

Because of the importance of the Huai River, the south has always established a series of important cities along the Huai River to control the confluence of the Huai River’s tributaries and the Huai River.

In the west of the Huai River, there are Shouchun and Zhongli, and in the east of the Huai River, there are mainly Shanyang and Xuyi.

The main tributaries of the upper reaches of the Huaihe River are the Yinghe River and the Wohe River. The confluence of the Yinghe River and the Huaihe River is called Yingkou, and the confluence of the Wohe River and the Huaihe River is called Wokou.

Shouchun is directly opposite to Yingkou, and can block the enemy from the Yinghe and Huaihe rivers. Zhongli is directly opposite to Wokou, and can block the attack from Wohe River. Therefore, Zhongli and Shouchun are both important towns in Huaixi.

At this moment, Murong Anguo looked at the army under Shouchun City with an unpleasant expression, "General Chu, what should we do now?"

It's not that no one has advised Murong Anguo that since he was already in Guangling, it would be better for him to try to seize Jingkou directly, and then take Jiangdong and negotiate with the court to survive by taking risks.

Before this, some people advised Murong Anguo not to go to Guangling, but to take Lujiang County first, go out of Ruxukou into the Yangtze River, and go down the river.

Or he could join forces with Murong Jian of Xuzhou, issue a wide range of proclamations, and march straight to Yingyin.

Earlier, some people advised Murong Anguo not to act rashly, because although the sage had experienced the siege of Guangwu, the prestige of the court was still there, and Murong Xuan of Qingzhou would not be able to succeed. The army would go down the Yellow River, and the rebels in Qi County would only be defeated within half a year.

If you act rashly, you will only end up following in their footsteps.

But Murong Anguo ignored all these opinions.

He first attacked Guangling, and then quickly returned to Shouchun after hearing that the emperor had arrived in Pengcheng.

Chu Tingrang, the chief official of Prince Chen's palace who had given him advice at the beginning, could only shake his head at this moment, "Your Majesty, at this moment, the only way is to defend the city. Instead of asking me, why not ask the generals?"

Prince of Chen Murong Anguo was the son of Prince of Chen Min Murong Xing, the tenth son of Emperor Taizu Murong Yi, and the cousin of the sage Murong Ying.

He has no talent and is considered a mediocre person among the royal family.

But Murong Ying always felt that mediocre people were safe to use, after all, these people probably didn't have the courage to rebel.

Therefore, after he ascended the throne, he took away the power of those royal family members who had made great military achievements, while at the same time he also reused many royal family members with mediocre talents.

I don't expect it to be of great use, I just want to use it with confidence.

But the recent rebellions by three members of the royal family have made Murong Ying feel that threats and abilities seem to have nothing to do with each other.

After the siege, Duan Yihong, the general in charge of commanding the entire army to siege the city, ordered the Xuzhou army and soldiers and civilians from the counties and prefectures of Jianghuai to take charge of the siege.

Li Yuanhui and several colleagues observed the terrain around Shouchun and found that Shouchun's terrain was not very dangerous.

Although it is said to control the Huai River, it is not built on the Huai River. There is a large flat area to the northwest of the Huai River. The city is adjacent to the Fei River, which flows from Chaohu Lake to the Huai River. There is a water gate on the north side, and the three sides are relatively flat. It can be said that it is surrounded by enemies on three sides and faces the water on one side, which does not seem to be dangerous.

However, the city walls are extremely tall and the moat is very wide. It must have taken a lot of effort to build this city.

Jincheng County Prince Murong Ling looked at Shouchun in the distance and said, "Yuan Shu of the Three Kingdoms once claimed to be the emperor here, but he was soon defeated. I think Murong Anguo is just like Yuan Shu, unpopular and will soon be defeated."

The other four people nodded in agreement when they heard this, but none of them wanted to continue the topic because it was just useless nonsense. Everyone could shout slogans, but what was needed now was the method of attacking the city.

After some discussion, they roughly worked out the order of rotation and direction of the siege.

The tactics used in sieges were basically the same old ones: filling trenches with earth, suppressing with catapults and crossbows, and climbing the walls like ants.

In the cold weapon era, the attack and defense of cities have been the same for thousands of years, with no major changes. The only difference is that if the attacking party has sophisticated equipment, it will reduce casualties to a certain extent, making it easier for the ants to attack the city.

In addition, there are flooding and acupuncture.

Wang Ben's flooding of Daliang, Liu Bang's flooding of Feiqiu, and Cao Cao's flooding of Xia Pi are all typical battle examples.

As for the hole attack, it is to dig a tunnel. If the tunnel is dug directly into the city, and then elite soldiers sneak in, attacking from both inside and outside, it is very easy to break the city.

But it also takes a lot of time to do earthwork.

Li Yuanhui was considering the possibility of cave attack and flooding, but based on the terrain and some common sense, he rejected both of these options.

First of all, Shouchun is very difficult to flood because of its high terrain. If the water is forcibly stored, it will require a huge amount of engineering. Even if it succeeds, Huainan will become a swamp. The gain is not worth the loss.

If they were to dig through holes, the water in the moat alone would be a huge problem. Moreover, Shouchun is located at the confluence of the Huai River and the Fei River, so the underground water system must be very developed. It is possible that they would hit an underground water vein and flood the hole.

So after some discussion, we finally decided to use the simplest and most direct method: filling the trenches and attaching them like ants.

In the following days, the Yan army asked the civilians to carry soil to fill the trenches and cut down trees on Bagua Mountain to build siege equipment.

I originally thought that Shouzhou City had high walls and thick walls, and it would take until September to break the city.

But the change of situation sometimes catches people off guard.

On the night of August 15th, although it was the Mid-Autumn Festival, the troops did not hold any banquets because they were in the army and were still on the verge of war.

But things are a little different in Shouchun City.

In order to win over the hearts of the people, Murong Anguo specially prepared wine and meat to reward the soldiers defending the city.

In the past few days, the government troops have begun the siege steps, carrying soil to fill the trenches and building siege equipment.

Faced with the army besieging the city, the soldiers were actually a little panicked, especially after Murong Ying ordered people outside the city to publicize Murong Anguo's crimes.

But after all, this is his old nest that he has run for a long time. For the time being, the nearly 10,000 troops in the city can still obey his orders and fight to defend the city.

While Murong Anguo was trying his best to exaggerate Murong Ying's cruelty and ruthlessness, he was also painting a rosy picture for his soldiers.

For example, those who defend the city will be rewarded with generous land, and the King of Chengyang in Qingzhou in the north and the King of Jinan in Wujun in the south will come to support us soon.

This barely calmed people's hearts.

During the Mid-Autumn Festival, people prepared wine, meat, and money to reward the three armies.

Afterwards, he held a banquet in the governor's mansion to entertain his trusted subordinates. Of course, he still left some personnel on duty, and each city gate had a gatekeeper to guard and check if the Yan army had any unusual movements.

However, as the defender, Murong Anguo was not worried that the Yan army outside could attack the city at night. If they wanted to fight at night, they would need to make a lot of preparations in advance. Obviously, the Yan army did not show any signs of wanting to fight in the field.

So he organized the Mid-Autumn Festival dinner with great confidence.

In the lobby of the prefectural government, Murong Anguo, who was in his forties, wearing a brocade robe and a soft-winged fu hat, raised his glass and drank with his colleagues who were attending the banquet.

"Everyone, Happy Mid-Autumn Festival."

"My king, have a happy Mid-Autumn Festival."

When everyone was happy, no one noticed the cold light that flashed in the eyes of County Prime Minister Xiao Wangzhi.

Are you having a good Mid-Autumn Festival? I hope so.
(End of this chapter)