The north wind is getting tighter and the fallen trees are falling. October is about to end in a blink of an eye, and it is already early winter.

Although it was not as snowy as the north, and the weather was cold and the coldness of the Jiangnan region was a little more majestic. However, even in such a gradually cold weather, the offensive and defensive battles surrounding Hangzhou City were still in full swing, which dispelled the local coldness.

After all, Sun Tu was a little miscalculated or too optimistic. The easy defense and difficult attack of Hangzhou City were far beyond his expectations. Pang Wanchun, as the commander of the Wu army, performed far beyond his imagination. Even though he had quickly led his troops to the city of Hangzhou after that battle, the opponent was prepared and actually guarded the city as solid as a rock and did not allow the Song army to take any advantage.

Moreover, he obviously learned from the lessons of the Wu army's repeated defeats at the Song army before. He did not go out of the city to fight because of his great victory before and his troops were far above the Song army. Instead, he guarded the city and used the high walls and deep pools of Hangzhou City as a support to fight a protracted war of attrition with the Song army.

In this way, the Wu army was really allowed to avoid weaknesses and play to their strengths. They were not as good as the well-trained Song Dynasty official army in terms of combat power. In addition, they had just experienced the major blow of the main general's death, and they were inevitably timid in their hearts. Relying on the advantage of geographical advantage and with a large number of people and power, they could barely get a draw with the Shandong army, which was good at fighting.

Moreover, with the continuous repelling of the Song army through one confrontation after another, the morale of the Wu army was regained and improved. Many soldiers became more and more brave and even had a further understanding of the way of offense and defense, which really brought considerable trouble to the Shandong army.

At the beginning, Sun Tu could still climb the city with the courage of his soldiers several times, but as the Wu army became more and more mature, such advantages gradually disappeared. It was fine, but what made people feel even more troublesome was that after the morale of the Wu army gradually grew, Pang Wanchun no longer kept defending the dead, but sent a small group of troops to raid the Song army camp in the early morning or at night every now and then, causing the soldiers to suffer a lot.

It would be fine if the opponent really attacked, but with the combat power and discipline of the Song army, they could deal with it in time without losing their disadvantages. But these Wu soldiers who left the city just wanted to disturb the Song army's Qingmeng and thought it was a strategy to exhaust the enemy. This would be quite annoying. Once the Song army opened a camp and broke out, these small teams would withdraw and flee in time; and if the Song army did not react to this, they would perform various harassment tactics around the camp. Once at night, they even shot dozens of rockets into the camp, which almost caused a disaster.

Faced with such a secret trick designed for disgusting people, Sun Tu and others were also very troubled. After suffering several losses, they could only temporarily retreat the camp for several miles. Then, when the Wu army reused the same trick and attacked the military camp at night again, they were attacked by ambushers that had been arranged outside the camp early in the morning and were almost wiped out.

It was not until after learning the relevant news that Pang Wanchun realized that the Song army moved the camp back not only to avoid harassment, but also to cover up the people. Due to distance, the defenders in the city did not know that they had made corresponding arrangements. After suffering this loss, the Wu army finally stopped and did not continue to send people to harass the Song camp at night.

Of course, these can only be regarded as small measures for this Hangzhou offensive and defensive battle. The key to really determine the outcome of this battle is the offensive and defensive strategies that come up with each game during the day.

After experiencing the initial difficulty of attack, it was effective, but instead of losing troops and losing generals, Sun Tu quickly adjusted his tactics and used many unconventional means to attack Hangzhou City.

For example, at the beginning, he ordered people to build a high platform and arranged hundreds of crossbowmen on it, intending to suppress the defenders at the city with the pride of the Song army, and then take the opportunity to lead the army to cover the city. But as a result, this move was quickly broken by the Wu army. Not only did they suddenly come out elite troops to kill the platform, but they also placed several crossbows in front of this city wall, directly destroying the entire platform.

Then, Sun Tu thought of another method, but he saw that the moat in the north of Hangzhou was shallow and wanted to dig tunnels from underground to sneak into the city. However, this strategy was soon discovered by the defenders. Pang Wanchun was prepared early in the morning and set up large tanks buried deep in the ground at all key points in the city, and sent special people to wait and listen. When the sound of the Song army digging tunnels together, they directly lured the water source in the city back, which made the Song army suffer another loss.

After the accumulation of small victories and the morale of the Wu army continued to increase, Pang Wanchun was dissatisfied with defending Hangzhou, and actually led a large army to attack the Dasong military camp on October 12th. However, this time he became a little reckless. After the battle, the Wu army was no match for the elite Shandong army. He lost many people but could not take any advantage. Fortunately, he retreated back to the city in time, otherwise the losses would be greater.

At this point, the two armies of Song and Wu reached a subtle balance under the city of Hangzhou. No one could do anything to each other. They could only stand up to each other and drag the war backwards.

In fact, this is what the attack and defense cities should have been like in ancient times. For the siege, if it were not for the overwhelming advantage, it would be a major project that consumed extremely intensive and long-lasting military patience and protracted time. In history, the offensive and defensive battles around a strong city have been everywhere in one or two years. There have been even more than ten or even decades to break a key city.

In comparison, Sun Tu had previously conquered the city like a tyrant, and it was abnormal to hit the city of Hangzhou in one go, which was related to his frequent tricks. However, when he really faced a strong and cautious enough opponent, his methods were completely useless. Hangzhou became an insurmountable barrier in front of him.

Sun Tu was obviously not satisfied with this situation, so he would summon his subordinates to discuss the way to break the city every day. In addition, he would lock himself in the tent and think about the strategy of attacking the city. At this time, in the big tent that had already set up a fire to keep the cold, he sat again with the drawings of the Hangzhou city and surrounding terrain, thinking about what means to use to attack the city next.

But how could there be any tricks for a while? He had already used all the methods he had thought of, so he just wanted to search in the warehouse to see if he could find a cannon and smash the Hangzhou city wall directly. Of course, this was just an unrealistic idea. At least so far, there was no firearm in the warehouse system he opened that was more powerful than the firearms that provided him with firecrackers. Sometimes he even began to regret using all the diesel to attack Hutou Village. If he could leave some, he would hit it on the Hangzhou city now, and it would definitely be a final result.

Just as he was thinking hard and unable to figure out the key points, Tang Feng's voice suddenly came from outside the tent: "General, Song Jiang is asking for a meeting."

"Let him come in." Sun Tu continued to stare at the topographic map that he had been familiar with his chest, and said casually without raising his head.

The curtain was lifted up, and Song Jiang came into the tent with a sharp chill: "General."

"Is there anything you have to do?" Sun Tu asked after he glanced at him.

"The scouts sent to the south have brought back the news. They have instigated many local gentry and will soon be engaged in various cities. I believe that it will not take long to take back many cities outside Hangzhou." Song Jiang said with some joy.

The army was blocked in front of Hangzhou City. It does not mean that Sun Tuzhen no longer had any other ideas. Just over half a month ago, he had sent smart and capable soldiers from the scout camp to various prefectures, prefectures and counties in the south to contact the gentry and scholars there and help them raise up and resist the rule of the Wu Kingdom.

As early as when the manifesto was secretly sent by Sun Tu to spread it, he had already thought of a step-by-step plan later. With the power of these people who believed in Confucianism, it was enough to subvert the cities where the Wu army was not stable. After all, these cities were still the territory of the Song Dynasty two years ago, and many people were forced to surrender to the Wu army due to the situation. As long as they had the chance to turn around, they would gather a considerable force.

Moreover, because the Wu army drew a large number of elite soldiers back to defend Hangzhou, only the old nests like Wuzhou were guarded, and the cities elsewhere were already useless, so naturally Sun Tu had the opportunity to take advantage of the situation. As long as the local landlords there were mobilized, they could regain this series of cities.

Judging from what Song Jiang said at this time, this strategy was undoubtedly quite successful. In just half a month, more than ten cities were about to turn against each other. As long as this trend continues, Hangzhou will soon become an isolated city. By then, even if Sun Tu does not forcefully attack, it will not be far from falling.

Of course, the premise of all this is that the main force led by Sun Tu can restrain the Wu army in the city here. Otherwise, if they find that the situation is not good and send troops to rescue them, the fencemen will probably surrender again.

Sun Tu was quite satisfied with this result, and finally a smile appeared on his face: "This is the best, Brother Gongming, you have made great contributions this time." In fact, Song Jiang arranged the matter of rebellion in various places.

Song Jiang smiled faintly, and said nothing, but sighed, "It's a pity that all the insiders we placed in Hangzhou City have happened, otherwise they might be able to break the city with their hands." Speaking of this, he looked at Sun Tu again and hesitated, "In addition, after discussing with several brothers, Bei Zhi also came up with a way, or try to attack the city."

After hearing this, Sun Tu, who was not too concerned about other things, suddenly became energetic, his eyes lit up, and he asked, "Oh? But what is the method? Come and listen!"
Chapter completed!