Chapter 107: Ji Yuan Is Really Too Pedantic |
Song Shi'an's antics didn't particularly anger Ji Yuan.
It was nothing more than launching a first-tier offensive, employing ant-swarm tactics with all the Great Yu laborers pushed to the front to clear the way, and setting a goal to massacre the city within three days.
How could an adult get worked up over a child's provocations?
These days of fierce assault had already left the city teetering on the brink of collapse.
The drum towers above all four city gates had been completely demolished into rubble by the accumulated precision bombardment of catapults.
At least twenty sand paths had been filled across the defensive ditches.
The thin and fragile city walls, under the fixed strikes of the catapults, had been hammered into three breaches.
These weren't complete penetrations through the wall, but rather slopes that had been carved out. If not for the chevaux-de-frise that had been set up, Qi cavalry could have charged straight up onto the battlements.
All three breaches were on the north face of the city.
Because several hundred men could climb onto the walls almost daily, the Yu army's main force was also deployed on the northern wall.
Nearly seventy percent of combat-capable soldiers were thrown into the fighting there.
With tactical priority entirely on the north, the south was left somewhat vulnerable.
The siege rams, crossing bridges made of iron shields laid over sandbags, enduring falling rocks, boiling oil, and fire from atop the walls, rammed into the southern gate like a meat and onion dumpling...
Three times now, they'd smashed through the southern gate.
Learning from the previous lesson, the Qi army didn't blindly pour men inside.
Instead, they had countless soldiers pushing the siege ram, driving it toward the gate on the opposite side of the barbican...
If both gates were breached, the Qi army could march straight in.
Therefore, the soldiers atop the barbican walls all shot arrows and threw torches at the protected siege ram.
With every step forward, several men died in the advance.
The Qi army relayed like runners passing a baton, all to get the siege ram to that final barrier...
However, when it was only about twenty paces away, the gate suddenly, with a heavy, muffled "creaaak—", slowly swung open.
Due to momentum, the pointed siege ram continued its charge.
And thus, it smoothly slipped through the gap in the opening gate...
The soldiers pushing the siege ram collectively froze in confusion.
Facing them on the other side were one hundred armored cavalry.
Each one wielding a great horse saber.
These were heavy cavalry formed from the hundred sets of horse armor brought from Langya.
A large county's entire population would have to go without food or drink for a full year to support just these hundred men.
And on the battlefield of close combat, they were the Grim Reaper.
With a furious roar, the hundred heavy cavalry charged toward the barbican.
At the same time, Ji Yuan's main force surged in from outside the city.
The two forces collided violently within the barbican.
In less than half a shichen, Ji Yuan paid the devastating price of 3,600 infantry to exchange for all one hundred Great Yu heavy cavalry.
Inside the barbican, the heavy cavalry's armor was completely hacked apart, blades were rolled and broken, severed horse legs were everywhere...
But because of the blood battle in the barbican and the continuous reinforcements sent to the southern gate, the Yu army regained the initiative.
The open heavy gate, pushed by over a dozen men, slowly closed...
Just then, over a dozen Qi light cavalry galloped toward the gate.
Eight riders seized the gap and slipped into the city.
Two more riders crashed with a thunderous impact into the just-closed gate, their horses' heads split open, the mounts dying instantly.
"Don't let them set fires!"
These eight riders each held a torch in hand, with several spare, unlit torches on their horses.
After entering the city, they did nothing else—using their fire source to light a torch, they hurled it high onto residential rooftops, then continued riding, continuing to set fires.
The Great Yu light cavalry could only chase behind them shooting arrows.
After a good while, they finally eliminated all the invaders one by one.
But over a dozen houses had been set ablaze.
Though they immediately used sand to extinguish several where the fires had spread more slowly, because those riders had dispersed to set fires, six houses were gradually consumed by flames.
Once fire started, it would certainly spread across a whole area.
Fortunately, the ancients had long anticipated that when wooden structures caught fire, the blaze would be unstoppable.
The ward system established walls around residential districts, separated by lanes outside, similar to residential compounds.
Even if the fire was massive and wind was blowing, at most it would only burn that one area.
Therefore, over 450 houses within Shuofeng were destroyed by fire.
Adding the houses previously demolished for firewood, a full third of Shuofeng was now gone.
The city had become dilapidated and riddled with holes.
On the evening of the second day of fierce assault, after the Qi army withdrew, Shuofeng's leadership sat on the ground behind the city wall, exhaustion written across their faces.
Even Xinyue, having guarded Wei Wusheng in the city and cut down four men, had blood splattered across her neck.
Song Shi'an walked over and reached for Qin Kuo's bing cake.
Qin Kuo immediately twisted away: "Get lost."
At this moment, Wei Wusheng smiled faintly and handed his own piece to Song Shi'an.
He didn't stand on ceremony, taking it and sitting on the ground to bite into the cake, complaining: "I've discovered that Ji Yuan is really too damn pedantic."
"What's that on your face?" By the firelight, Zhu Qing squinted and saw patches of black soot on Song Shi'an's face.
"From putting out fires, I guess." Song Shi'an didn't care, wiping at it with his sleeve.
His sleeve was immediately soiled.
The black on his face was also smeared evenly across it.
Xinyue couldn't help but laugh, but the moment she laughed, she quickly segued into a cough to cover it up, maintaining her aloof demeanor.
"In two days, our combat-capable soldiers have suffered three thousand casualties, down to less than five thousand. We can't tally the civilian laborers, but the number's probably not small either. Now in Shuofeng, counting even the children, there might be around 22,000 people left." Zheng Tong said, "Half the people, a full half are dead. Never has it been this brutal."
"This is much fiercer than at the beginning." Wang Dalong said, "If this offensive continues for three more days, there won't be many people left alive in Shuofeng."
"Three days?" Song Shi'an laughed, "Just one more day of fighting tomorrow, and Ji Yuan won't be able to take it."
"Their losses are certainly greater." Zheng Tong said, "Though the vast majority are Shuo Commandery people being used, they're still people he can use."
At this point, dwelling on which side the dead belonged to was meaningless.
The population resources of Northern Shuo Commandery were something Ji Yuan had paid a price to obtain.
Did they think he treated his own country's people so much better?
War is not child's play.
"Should we have General Xiao Qun come to our aid? At this point, we should be able to get the message out." Qin Kuo inquired.
Everyone felt this could at least give them some breathing room.
But this was like calling for backup in a team fight.
If your top laner came back, the enemy top laner would have to return too.
If they lost this engagement, it would be a team wipe.
"Shi'an." While everyone was pondering, Wei Wusheng looked at him and said quite calmly: "You decide."
This battle was one he wanted to fight.
Being able to achieve these results was mainly due to him.
Having come this far, they needed to trust him completely.
"General Xiao Qun is excellent, but I'm not used to putting my life in someone else's hands."
With a solemn expression, Song Shi'an said firmly: "I want to continue wearing down Ji Yuan."
.........
"Your Majesty, the casualties are too great, the casualties are too great..."
Holding the casualty records compiled by each battalion, Chen Xing's hands were trembling—he was truly frightened.
"Zhen knows."
Sitting on the grass, Ji Yuan slowly clenched his fists, then slowly opened them.
No one was under greater pressure than him.
But he also understood it was mutual.
His own pressure was great—wasn't Shuofeng's pressure great too?
"What are Song Shi'an's distinguishing features?"
Ji Yuan looked at Chen Xing and asked.
Though Chen Xing didn't understand, he still said: "Reportedly, he's eight chi tall and quite handsome."
"Mm."
Ji Yuan nodded, and after pondering, decided: "Try to see if we can kill him."
......
The third day was also the final day that Ji Yuan had declared for taking the city.
Still a fierce assault at the breach on the north side.
Countless men surged onto the city walls.
But differently, after climbing up, many purposefully charged toward the stairs, wanting to descend the wall and enter the city.
Roughly one in every hundred who scaled the walls—ten would enter the city.
Originally they thought these were going after the Sixth Prince in the city, so elite heavy infantry surrounded him to prevent a decapitation strike.
But these men scattered as soon as they entered the city, drilling into the deep alleys within.
"What does this mean!"
Wei Wusheng was now wearing full armor, gripping a long spear in hand, asking with extreme vigilance.
No one else knew, all shaking their heads.
The Yu army's main forces were all on the walls, but there were still combat-capable people in the city. These scattered stragglers, completely separated from the main army—what waves could they possibly stir up inside?
Could it be arson again?
But they weren't carrying torches, and they weren't cavalry. Wanting to successfully commit arson—how easy would that be?
"This feeling..." Xinyue suddenly felt her heart tighten, "It's like they're entering the city to kill people!"
"Could they be going after Shi'an?"
Wei Wusheng quickly realized.
But with such a disparity in forces, it was impossible to send people to chase these infiltrators.
So he swiftly decided: "Hold the city walls, don't let any more people in!"
The fewer enemies that got inside, the safer the common people in the city would be—and Song Shi'an too.
To this end, Wei Wusheng even personally speared two Qi soldiers to death with his long spear.
.........
The city interior now was like Konoha Village during the Fourth Shinobi World War.
Mid-to-high-tier combat power was basically all absent.
Just a bunch of women, children, and elderly laborers.
The only ones with combat capability were the few dozen officials Song Shi'an could deploy.
But he couldn't possibly use everyone to protect himself.
By his side, there was only San Gou.
As usual, he personally coordinated logistics, helping to transfer the wounded.
Suddenly, in the distance, he saw three Qi soldiers wielding spears.
Holy sh*t, how did they get all the way here?!
In shock, Song Shi'an drew his paired sword.
Those three in the distance, upon seeing a very tall, very handsome man, all gripped their spears tightly and charged toward Song Shi'an: "That's Song Shi'an!"
"Laoye, get behind me!"
Immediately, San Gou blocked in front of Song Shi'an, taking down the bow and arrows from his back. He drew the bowstring taut, and when one man was only thirty paces away, released an arrow.
Instantly, it pierced through the man's skull.
But the next two continued charging without stopping for even a moment.
Without the slightest panic, he took up a second arrow, nocked it to the string, aimed, and released smoothly.
Whoosh!
The powerful arrow pierced through skull, and another fell.
He had just prepared to take the third arrow, but the last man was less than ten paces away.
Decisively, he discarded the bow and drew the blade at his waist.
The tip of the spear was a spearhead.
The Qi soldier thrust with force. San Gou dodged at the limit, the sharp spear passing by his side.
Seeing he'd missed, the opponent rotated the shaft, the sharp crescent blade slashing back toward San Gou's back.
But San Gou forcefully blocked the side of the shaft with his blade, surging forward explosively. Upon closing in, he severed the man's neck with one slash.
Before dying, that returning crescent blade didn't even touch San Gou's back.
Using short weapons against long ones, three kills without injury.
After finishing them off, he quickly picked up the bow from the ground, looked left and right, then grabbed Song Shi'an: "There might be more! Laoye, let's hide!"
"Alright."
Song Shi'an didn't drag his feet at all and withdrew, though en route, he couldn't help but look at San Gou: "You little bastard are this fierce, how are you still an ordinary soldier?"
Was the military suppressing talent or something?
"Laoye, though San Gou has no official position, he's not exactly an ordinary soldier either."
San Gou took a moment to explain to him: "This subordinate is Captain Zhu's aide."
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