Chapter 2: The Stormy Weather of Yan and Zhao Section 7

  Li Hong saw a black cloud floating over from the forest, and his ears seemed to hear the mournful cry of the black cloud tearing through the air.

  Su Li launched the attack first. In his view, anyway, he had to use his own soldiers to consume the enemy, and it was all death whether he died early or late, so he might as well have a good time first.

  He followed the orders of Xiong Ba, and by noon he had led 2,500 soldiers out of the camp quietly, rushed to Mei Mountain, and ambushed in the mountain valley closest to Mei Building. Su Li was impatient, ordering the troops to line up in a siege formation, preparing to start attacking as soon as they heard the sound of the big camp horn.

  Li Hong's loud roar awakened many people. The shield bearers involuntarily raised their shields, turned around and looked at Li Hong who was tightly attached to the city wall, and immediately heard the sound of arrows shooting over. They cried out in surprise, immediately squatted down and held up their large shields. Soldiers without shields were like frightened rabbits, blinking and rolling away to hide behind the city walls, instinctively covering their heads with both hands and pressing against the base of the wall. The soldiers near Mei Lou on the mountain were like startled birds, instantly scattering in all directions, each finding a place to escape. For a time, there was no one else on top of the city wall except for the soldiers hiding behind their shields.

  A massive black arrow rainstorm came, with long arrows carrying the piercing sound of wind and thunder, heavily nailed to the cloud building, city wall, emitting a frightening "whooshing" "thumping" "crashing" sound. Some arrows fell outside the city wall due to insufficient range, while others flew out of the city wall because they were too far away, but the long arrows that landed on the city wall exerted tremendous power. Some shield-bearing soldiers were knocked down by the massive force of multiple arrows shot together, and some arrows bounced off the ground and still had enough strength to pierce through the bodies of soldiers. The wooden top and pillars of the cloud building, doors and windows, were all filled with long arrows inserted at an angle.

  Su Li stood on the mountain waist, very satisfied with the wonderful performance of his soldiers. He loudly ordered the messenger standing behind him: "Order the archery team to continue shooting."

  "Sound the horn, order the vanguard to approach the city wall and throw down the earth bags." Su Li turned his head and shouted at the horn-blowing soldier.

  A mournful horn sounded from the mountains and forests, echoing throughout Meishan.

  The five hundred soldiers who had all been deployed behind the sandbags were all robust and sturdy men. They stood near a dozen piles of sandbags, ready to strike at any moment.

  A thousand-man commander heard the horn and immediately shouted loudly: "On shoulders..." The soldiers, in pairs, cooperated tacitly. One squatted on the ground, while the other grabbed a bag of soil and put it on his partner's shoulder.

  "Charge..." With the loud command of Qian Fuzhang, more than 200 soldiers carrying earth bags rushed towards the city wall with a loud roar. Above them, an even denser rain of arrows whizzed by.

  On the main wall, all the soldiers looked towards Mei Mountain and Mei Building. They heard the dense sound of cow horns rising and falling on Mei Mountain, and saw the dense long arrows rampaging on Mei Building.

  Tian Jing remained calm and composed, casting a faint glance at Mei Shan before refocusing his attention on the Hu army emerging from the main camp, completely unmoved.

  Wu Yan glanced at Mei Shan and smiled at Xiong Ba beside him: "The fatty is angry, and he's showing off his divine power!"

  Xiong Ba laughed: "This fatty was asked to make less noise, but he seemed to think no one knew and shook the entire Mei Mountain."

  Li Hong took advantage of the brief lull in the arrow rain to stick his head out and take a look outside the city wall. As soon as he exposed his head, an arrow flew past his hairline, grazing his scalp. Li Hong was so frightened that he quickly withdrew his head and didn't dare move again. However, he heard the shouts of hundreds of soldiers outside the city wall, the sound of running footsteps, and the heavy thuds of objects being thrown against the base of the city wall. He thought about those earthbags. It seemed that these Xianbei people were really going to fill in a platform on the mountain slope to set up cloud ladders and attack the Cloud Tower. But now, with arrows flying everywhere like locusts, it was impossible to even stick his head out, let alone launch a counterattack.

  A dozen shield-bearing soldiers couldn't withstand the intense barrage of long arrows, and each one took advantage of the brief intervals between the two volleys to run to the edge of the city wall and hide. Several soldiers were injured by rebounding long arrows and lay at the foot of the wall, groaning in pain. The entire top of the city wall was densely packed with long arrows.

  Han Lu Wang Wu Yan, Que Ji, Xiong Ba led five thousand troops in a line at the foot of Lulong Pass, with flags fluttering and people surging like a tide, quite magnificent.

  They chose the left side of Wangrilou as the main direction of attack. At this time, Suli was leading his troops to attack Meilou, and the Han army on Meilou was at a loss, and there was no way to help the left side of the main city wall defend.

  Tian Jing stood on the city wall and also saw the enemy's intention. He shouted loudly: "Military Commander Wang Jin." Wang Jin was not far from him, commanding two troops of cavalry on the left city wall. Hearing the shout, he hurried over.

  "The enemy's main direction of attack is definitely on the left flank. Tell the soldiers to resolutely beat them down."

  "Yes, sir. Please be at ease."

  The horn sounded. Wu Yan's troops began to deploy their formation. The archers and mounted archers started to advance forward. The assault infantry, in groups of ten, carried eight-zhang-long ladders; behind each ladder, there were twenty-man assault teams. These soldiers held knives in one hand and shields in the other, with a look of fearlessness.

  The drumbeat grew more and more intense. The city walls were lined with fully armored soldiers, who began to mobilize under the loud commands of their officers.

  Under the city, the enemy is still advancing and gradually entering the range.

  The soldiers of Su Li, under the cover of bows and arrows, successfully threw over a thousand bags of earth to the foot of the city wall. A small platform that can hold more than ten cloud ladders has been formed.

  The commander waved his arm with a mighty force. The bugle sounded. The vanguard, who had just thrown the earth bags, immediately retreated to both sides. One hundred soldiers, who set up the cloud ladders, shouted and carried ten cloud ladders, holding shields, and rushed towards the city wall.

  Intensive bow and arrow cover has ceased.

  Li Hong looked up at the sky, it seemed that there was no more crazy shooting. He slowly stood up and saw the siege soldiers rushing out of the forest. He shouted: "Brothers, the enemy is attacking, prepare for battle."

  Li Hong's dozen or so soldiers were extremely lucky, the enemy had chosen to attack at this section of the city wall. The soldiers waited for a short while and found that the enemy really did not continue shooting. Immediately under Li Hong's urging, they all stood up and looked out towards the outside of the city.

  "Fire at will...!" Li Hong shouted loudly, shooting out the first arrow of Ludong's resistance against the invasion.

  The enemy held up their shields, fending off the long arrows shot down from the city walls as they advanced with all their might. The shooting power of thirty people was too small, and the long arrows sprinkled into the enemy's charging formation like a small splash on the surface of a pond. Immediately, from the cloud platform, from other defensive surfaces of the city wall, Han soldiers shot out angry long arrows at the running enemy below. However, the dense forest helped the enemy, and most of the long arrows did not hit their targets, either blocked by branches or shot into tree trunks. But some Xianbei soldiers had already fallen to the ground with arrows in them.

  The strong bow shooting troops of the Xiongnu suddenly appeared on the hillside. Their strong bows were the most famous Hu Qiang, a specialty of the Eastern Xiongnu Longbow Tribe. Powerful and long-range, far more solid and practical than ordinary bows. Although the soldiers of the strong bow troops were exposed to the range of the Han army's bows and arrows, they were not afraid at all. Under the roar of a hundred soldiers, they began to suppressively shoot at the Han army on the city tower to cover their infantry brothers rushing towards the city wall.

  The Han soldiers were immediately pierced by the strong long arrows, and several people fell. However, facing more enemy soldiers rushing to the city wall, they could no longer avoid the enemy's shooting, but only tried their best to block the greater threat. On the Mei Lou, the loud voice of Tun Chang Zhou Huan rang out: "Left Shi soldiers, shoot at the enemy's bow and arrow soldiers, shoot..."

  The Xianbei soldiers pushed forward resolutely and stubbornly to the foot of the city wall. The soldiers put their shields on their heads, quickly set up the cloud ladders. Due to the gaps between the earthbags, the feet of the cloud ladder were deeply inserted into the earthbags, apparently more stable than being placed on the ground, and less likely to be pushed down by the defending soldiers.

  Su Li's fat hand waved again. Three hundred of the first batch of attacking soldiers rushed out from the waist of the mountain under the command of the horn, like a tide. They shouted frantically, one hand holding a war knife and the other a shield, rushing towards the ten siege ladders at high speed.

  Cheng Jie led another group of soldiers to reinforce. He drew his sword and shouted loudly at the surrounding soldiers: "Concentrated fire, concentrated fire..."

  Enemy soldiers in the run were constantly shot down, wailing, long arrows whizzing by, shouting and killing sounds filled the entire battlefield. The enemy began to climb up the cloud ladder.

  Tian Jing was oblivious to the intense battle at Mei Shan. He thought it was just an enemy harassment tactic, nothing worth paying attention to. Moreover, the slope was steep and high, even if the enemy wanted to attack the city, they couldn't find a place to put their ladders, and the attacking troops would have difficulty deploying. The soldiers were in a disadvantageous position, and casualties would be huge. No one would make that place an attack priority, unless he was a complete idiot.

  Seeing the enemy enter the shooting range, Tian Jing turned back and shouted loudly: "Beat the drum. Shield hands in front, bow and arrow hands behind, prepare to fire together."

  Orders were passed down to the soldiers in a series of shouts by officers at each level. As the war flags waved, the shield bearers crouched down with a rustling sound.

  Wu Yan turned his head and shouted at those behind him: "Order the shield-bearing soldiers to raise their shields, and the archers to prepare. Continue advancing."

  Tian Jing held up his long spear and pointed forward with all his might, "Shoot..."

  Almost at the same moment, hundreds of long arrows flew into the air.

  Wu Yan shouted loudly: "Shoot..."

  Right behind the Han army, the Huihe coalition army shot out two thousand long arrows. This huge black cloud rushed into the sky, breaking through a small black cloud, and poured down on the city wall in an instant. The two armies were almost simultaneously hit by the arrow rain. Soldiers from both sides fell down. A brief contact caused a slight chaos. But soon, the archers of both sides shot out another round under the command of their respective commanders.

  Arrows flew through the air above Lulong Pass, shouting and cheering. The war drums on the city wall shook the earth, and the sound of cow horns echoed across the battlefield. The fierce battle had finally begun.

  Wuyan's large army quickly approached the city.

  "Order the archers to halt their advance, shield bearers to cover them, and continue firing."

  "Order the infantry squad to set up the cloud ladder."

  At the sound of a single order, five hundred soldiers suddenly rushed out from the shifting troops. They were in groups of ten, carrying giant cloud ladders, running while holding up their shields and shouting loudly, like unbridled wild horses, shooting towards the city wall.

  Tian Jing's face was expressionless, and he shouted loudly: "The front row of archers, come forward and block the infantry under the city; the back row of archers continue to shoot from a distance."

  The soldiers of Wuyan quickly advanced to the city, under a dense rain of arrows, and successfully set up the cloud ladder. Then four soldiers pressed against the root of the cloud ladder to make it firm, while other soldiers held up their shields to guard both sides of the cloud ladder, protecting the lives of these four soldiers.

  The loud and clear sound of the charging horn suddenly echoed across the battlefield. One thousand assault soldiers were divided into fifty small teams, like fierce beasts rushing out of their cages, shouting loudly as they charged towards the cloud ladder, preparing for a major battle to take the city.

  "Wu Yan shouted loudly: 'Archers, continuous shooting, continuous shooting!'"

  As soon as the shout of Wu Yan fell, a dense hail of long arrows suddenly shot up like crazy, continuously whistling towards the top of the city wall. The densely packed long arrows rained down on the top of the city wall like a storm.

  The two guards standing behind Tian Jing's body were shocked and immediately ran forward, holding up their shields. The fierce long arrows continuously hit the shield, and the huge force made the two guards hold the shield with both hands and retreat a step.

  Stormtroopers approached the cloud ladder under the cover of archers, then one by one, like agile monkeys, quickly climbed up along the long ladder.

  The archer suddenly stopped shooting.

  Tian Jingyi pushed aside the guards who were protecting him in front, stretched his head to look down at the city wall. The enemy soldiers were densely packed, quickly approaching the top of the city wall along the ladders.

  He took a step back, raised his gun and shouted: "Kill... ah..."

  The war drums thundered, the soldiers' morale soared like a rainbow, and they shouted in unison: "Kill..."