Jiexiu is the key pass on the official road from Hedong to Jinyang. Although it is not the only road to Jinyang, if you take a detour, it will not only be a long way, but also a serious problem for the Sima Army's supply line. After all, if such an important place is not controlled, the Sima Army's long supply line will be seriously threatened.

Therefore, it was very important for Sima Army to take down Jie Xiu, so Sima Yi gathered heavy troops to target Jie Xiu.

Although the Sima army suffered heavy losses in the Battle of Spirit Stone, this battle did not affect the combat effectiveness of the Sima army. After all, the Sima army brought 170,000 infantry and cavalry this time. The number of troops stationed in Pingyang, Hedong was more than 200,000. One ten percent of the money was only considered to be injured by a little finger. It had nothing to do with the overall situation. This time, Sima Yi transferred 50,000 infantry, and 50,000 cavalry as support. He was aggressive and rushed towards Jie Xiu.

Cao Liang was not careless at all and dispatched another 10,000 garrison troops from all over the country to the Jiexiu front line to reinforce Jiexiu City, increasing the number of Jiexiu defenders to 25,000.

Although the infantry battalion suffered a slight loss in the battle of the Spirit Stone, it was only a few hundred people, which was completely negligible. Although the combat effectiveness of the garrison soldiers was not as strong as that of the field troops, they were completely tailor-made for defending the city, and their daily training was basically based on city defense warfare, so the garrison soldiers were still reliable in fighting in the city.

What's more, Cao Liang specially allocated 100 counterweight catapults, 100 continuous catapults, 200 continuous catapults, and 1,000 individual crossbows. Such huge heavy equipment shows that Cao Liang is quite determined to defend Jiexiu.

Moreover, in order to prepare for the war in recent years, Cao Liang upgraded the defense of Jiexiu City, built several brick kilns around Jiexiu, fired a large number of blue bricks, and pushed down and rebuilt Jiexiu's rammed earth wall. Yishui's brick wall made Jiexiu's city defense obviously reach several levels.

Moreover, during this reconstruction process, Cao Liang also built a new urn city, added an arrow tower, and raised the city wall, which raised Jiexiu City's defense ability to a new height.

It is obvious that Cao Liang will adopt a different tactic of Shangdang in Jiexiu. In Shangdang, Cao Liang used guerrilla warfare, which is roundabout and flexible, and does not worry about the gains and losses of a city and a place, and mainly fights against the enemy's living forces.

But this time in Jiexiu, Cao Liang seemed to have abandoned the guerrilla warfare style and gathered heavy troops at Jiexiu, preparing to defend and defend the enemy outside the country's gates.

Cao Liang's strategic changes have puzzled many people. In theory, the Battle of Shangdang was very successful. Cao Liang's new tactics have been unanimously recognized by everyone. When the enemy is strong and we are weak, such tactics are indeed possible to create a miracle of defeating the strong with the weak.

What is difficult to understand is why Cao Liang gave up the Shangdang style of play and returned to the old path of strict defense. Now Sima Yi's army is approaching. If he only defends his life, it will be difficult to defend Jiexiu City.

Cao Liang obviously had his own plans for this. After all, this Battle of Jinzhong is different from the Battle of Shangdang. The Shangdang terrain is complex and has many hills and mountains. With such terrain conditions, it is undoubtedly the most suitable to fight guerrillas. The Bingzhou Army can hide in that valley just by hiding it into that valley, and the Sima Army will find it difficult to find it. The Bingzhou Army will be roundabout and attack flexibly, and the Sima Army will be overwhelmed.

The terrain characteristics of Jinzhong are completely different from those of Shangdang. From Hedong to Jinyang, they are almost plains with flat horses. The Sima army, mainly cavalry, can advance straight, while the Bingzhou army did not have the right place to fight guerrillas and conduct roundabout operations. In order to prevent the Sima army from directly killing the city of Jinyang, Cao Liang chose Jiexiu to block the Sima army's attack.

Jiexiu is on the left and Fen River on the right. It is the only dangerous place to lead to Jinyang from Hedong. If Sima Yi wants to ensure that the supply line in the rear is unobstructed when he attacks Jinyang, then Jiexiu is a key pass that he must take down.

Since this is a key place that concerns both sides' strategic significance, it is no surprise that it has become the key point of the competition between both sides.

But what makes people worry is that Jie Xiu is not a big city, he is just a second-class small county town. How can such a small city stop Sima's army from 200,000?

However, after the Battle of Lingshi Pass, this doubt disappeared. Yang Hu used his almost complete victory to tell the world that the huge Sima army was not scary, and as long as he found his weakness, he could still defeat him.

Yang Hu had been operating this Jiexiu City for a long time. After the Battle of Shangdang, Yang Hu entered Jiexiu City at the order of Cao Liang.

After arriving in Jiexiu, Yang Hu did not simply garrison the troops here, but actively participated in the reconstruction of Jiexiu City and built Jiexiu City into a solid fortress city.

Jiexiu is the most important part of Cao Liang's entire Bingzhou defense system. Otherwise, he would not have sent an important unit like Yang Hu to Jiexiu. The Bingzhou army had three cavalry and six steps, and the Yue cavalry was the leader of the infantry. If Jiexiu was just an insignificant second-class county, Cao Liang would not have put his ace here anyway.

He successfully withdrew Jiexiu City from Lingshi Pass. Without any rest, Yang Hu issued an order to the infantry battalion and Jiexiu's garrison troops to raise Jiexiu's combat readiness level to the highest. All defending troops will go to the city in shifts according to the original plan, be on duty, and be ready for all combat preparations.

The enemy has reached the Spirit Stone Pass, and it is only thirty miles away from Jiexiu. It is coming in a short time. At this time, Jiexiu's city defense cannot have any omissions. Any defensive loophole is likely to be fatal.

Yang Hu was not satisfied with the brilliant results of the Spirit Stone Battle. It was a pleasure to shoot Sun Li, but it invisibly aroused the righteous indignation of Sima Jun. Sun Li is a general and has excellent popularity in the army. Many people support him. Now that Sun Li has died at the hands of Yang Hu, there are definitely many people who want to avenge Sun Li's bloody hatred.

Without this battle at the Spirit Stone Pass, the attacks that Jie Xiu might not have been so strong, but after Sun Li's death, Sima Jun was in anger, and his morale was obviously much higher than before. This undoubtedly added a lot of difficulty to Jie Xiu City's defense.

But no matter how difficult it is, it cannot shake Yang Hu's determination. Before he came to Jiexiu, he swore to Cao Liang to live and die with Jiexiu.
Chapter completed!