Chapter 2: The Stormy Weather of Yan and Zhao Chapter 29

  "The Han reinforcements have arrived south of Baochuan River, and Lord Xiong Ba has sent Huo Qubing to lead troops to block the Han army from crossing the river. Now Yuyang City is about to fall, we should end the battle as soon as possible and clear our hands to eliminate the Han reinforcements. In this way, the main force can quickly move south to attack Jicheng, the capital of Youzhou." Murong Ji said solemnly to those around him, including Murong Yan, Wumeng, Wei Ran, Yuwen Tan, and several tribal leaders.

  Yuwen Tan was a chieftain of the Yuwen tribe, and he and Murong Feng's general Yuwen Shu were both brave warriors of their tribe. Yuwen Tan was tall and sturdy, with a beard like steel needles. When he heard Murong Ji's words, he smiled and said: "Is the lord's intention to fight through the night?"

  "Today we have already recreated the Han army guarding the west wall, if we don't give them any chance to breathe and launch a fierce attack again, I estimate they won't be able to hold on for one night. As long as we open up a breakthrough, we can quickly expand our advantage and occupy the entire south city gate. This way, Yuyang City will basically be under our control." Murong Feng looked around at everyone, "What do you gentlemen think? Taking down Yuyang City, all losses not only can be made up for, but also make everyone's purse quickly swell up."

  "Continuous attacks, the troops' losses have reached two thousand people, and the soldiers are all exhausted. If we can make a concerted effort to take down Yuyang City in one night, it would indeed greatly boost the morale of the soldiers. However, defending the western city wall is Youzhou Governor Liu Yu, who is kind and gentle, with a lenient governance style, deeply loved by the people. The civilians in the city may participate in the defense battle under his call, and their defensive capabilities will surely increase exponentially under the spirit of sacrificing life for the country. I hope you can consider this, sir."

  Murong Yin was a tall and thin elder, with some white hairs on his beard. He had always been in harmony with Murong Ji, speaking with one voice on many important matters. Murong Yin timely reminded Murong Ji to pay attention to Liu Yu's personal charm, not to lose the big picture due to small details.

  "The common people's ability to fight is limited, let alone the Han people have always been weak and timid, afraid of death, a small Liu Yu can have how much impact on attacking the city?" Wu Meng said disdainfully.

  "We should take it seriously, Murong's words make sense. Yuwen Tan, how about you lead the troops to launch a fierce attack on the city gate?" Murong Ji asked Yuwen Tan.

  "Attack the city gate? Do you want to disperse their forces a bit more?"

  "Yes. Generals Wu Meng and Wei Ran led their troops in a feigned attack on the eastern city wall, pinning down the enemy's defensive forces on the wall, rendering them unable to support the western city wall. General Yuwen launched an all-out assault on the city gate, dispersing another portion of their forces. The remaining troops were all thrown into the main battlefield, striving for a decisive victory in one battle."

  "Tomorrow morning, we can stand on the west wall and watch the sunrise." Murong Ji said confidently to everyone.

  Tian Kai was over thirty years old, in the prime of his life. He wore full armor and stood on the city wall, staring unblinkingly at the enemy's attacking troops below.

  "Sir, the enemy has started attacking." Tian Kai's military officer Xian Yuwei said loudly.

  Tian Kai burst out laughing and excitedly said to Xian Yuwei: "Our reinforcements may have already arrived at Baoqiu River."

  "Sir, how did you know?" Xian Yu Wei looked at Tian Kai with a puzzled expression, thinking that the adult must have been waiting for reinforcements and had gone crazy, now speaking nonsense.

  "Tell the soldiers that reinforcements will arrive immediately, order everyone to make a final effort and defend the Fishing City to the death."

  "Adult......" Xian Yu Wei hesitated, hoping to get an explanation from Tian Kai.

  "Speaking of which, you are still the first big surname of Yu Yang's Xianyu clan, how can you be so confused when fighting? Do you see the war flag of Junzhuang now? No, it was gone at noon. The number and intensity of Xiong Ba's army's attacks have increased significantly, what does this mean?" Tian Kai asked.

  Xian Yu Wei suddenly woke up and said, "Sir, you say that, it's really possible?"

  "It's not possible, it's a fact. Look at the enemy troops' rear, there are already over a dozen piles of firewood stacked up, they're likely to launch a night attack. In the current situation where one side hasn't gained the upper hand, the barbarians disregard the taboos of siege warfare and exhaust all their strength in continuous battles, there's only one possibility: there must be some external factor forcing them to do so. They ignore the extreme fatigue of their soldiers, stubbornly fighting on, if they win it's fine, but once they suffer a setback, it could very well be their downfall."

  "The superior observes the minute, and is rich in experience. The inferior is far from it. I will now spread the good news." Xian Yu Fu gave him a detailed explanation, and he suddenly enlightened, and happily ran away.

  "Beat the drums, each unit enter defensive position, prepare to meet the enemy." Tian Kai shouted loudly.

  Murong Ji's troops had attacked the city gate only twice in several days of fighting. Due to the extremely narrow attacking surface at the city gate, the soldiers were crowded together and often suffered heavy casualties. This was less effective than using cloud ladders to attack the city, with more deaths and poorer results. However, today they must launch another attack on the city gate, regardless of losses, in a fierce assault. The more troops attracted to the city gate, the greater the chances of Murong's main force successfully capturing the west wall.

  Yuwen Tuan gazed at the massive battering ram, rows of soldiers standing in formation, raised their swords and shouted: "Brave warriors of the Yuwen clan, for the glory of the Xianbei people, charge..."

  Thousands of warriors simultaneously raised their weapons and shouted loudly: "Hoo-ah... Hoo-ah..."

  Murong Ji sat upright on his warhorse, turned around and shouted to the horn-blowing soldiers: "Begin the attack!"

  A loud and sonorous bugle call, one sound higher than another, echoed across the battlefield.

  Murong Chen and Murong Feng stood under their respective war flags, raised their swords and shouted: "Huuu..."

  The soldiers all strained their voices, as if they wanted to shout out the fear and fatigue in their hearts. They used all their strength to shout loudly: "Hoo-ah... Hoo-ah..."

  The two leaders raised their weapons and charged towards the city wall first. The soldiers followed closely behind, killing with the greatest ferocity.

  Yuwen Duan and the soldiers, with their hands on the six-zhang-long, six-chi-thick giant battering ram on the collision car, followed the sound of the ox horn that shook the sky, let out a loud roar, and started pushing the collision car towards the city gate. Hundreds of shield-bearing soldiers on both sides held up five-chi-long shields to cover the soldiers advancing with the cart.

  For a time, the battlefield was filled with the sound of killing, and the soldiers of the attacking troops surged towards the south gate of Yucheng like a tide.

  On the city wall, Liu Yu held the battle flag of the Great Han State and stood solemnly among the warriors.

  Yu Shuang stood at the forefront of the troops and shouted loudly: "Draw your bows, everyone draw your bows."

  Many adult civilians saw that the city's defenders were severely depleted, they took up their sabers and long guns very consciously, and together with the soldiers, crouched behind the battlements, ready to join the battle.

  Murong Ji made a gesture of releasing an arrow to the horn blower beside him. The sound of the horn changed abruptly, and the mournful sound of the ox horn suddenly broke through the shouts of the soldiers on the battlefield.

  "With a loud command, the Xianbei archers shot out long arrows from their bows, opening the prelude to a series of bloody battles."

  A multitude of long arrows simultaneously shot up into the sky, emitting a huge whistling sound.

  The shield-bearing soldiers on the city wall stepped forward with their long shields raised, covering the archers as they shot.

  With a wave of his hand, the knife in front pointed forward, and he turned around, shouting loudly: "Fire... continuous shooting, continuous shooting..."

  The shrill cries of the long arrows tearing through the air almost drowned out the shouts of the Xianbei people rushing down from the city. The long arrows fell like rain, shooting at every possible surface, producing countless sounds. Cries of pain, screams, echoed throughout the battlefield as bodies continued to fall one after another.

  Yuwen's troops and the soldiers pushing the cart advanced under the cover of the shield wall, braving the hail of arrows flying back and forth in the sky. The battering ram, pushed by nearly a hundred soldiers, sped forward at high speed, emitting a deafening roar as its momentum grew, striking fear into the hearts of all who heard it.

  Xianbei soldiers rushed to the city wall under the cover of archers. They immediately set up hundreds of cloud ladders along the city wall. Hundreds of assault teams began their attack at once.

  The enemy's archery unit stopped firing in succession.

  Countless large and small stones suddenly flew out from the city wall, and sometimes even huge logs fell from the sky. The attacking soldiers were hit hard for a while, with heavy casualties.

  But the enemy's attack points were numerous, and the defending soldiers were few in number, struggling to cope. Before long, the Xianbei soldiers had successfully climbed over the city wall from multiple locations. They charged forward with great momentum, killing towards the Han army soldiers. A fierce hand-to-hand combat unfolded once again.

  Liu Yu was surrounded by several powerful guards in the middle. He held up the war flag, shouting loudly and continuously to boost the morale of the soldiers. The stubbornly fighting soldiers saw that Governor Liu was standing on the city wall with them, fearless and unyielding, which made their blood boil, and they all shouted loudly, fought bravely, and sacrificed themselves to kill the enemy.

  The battle grew more intense, and Yu Rong suddenly appeared before Liu Yu, his body covered in blood.

  "Sir, you'd better get down quickly, it's too dangerous here, I have no way to ensure your safety." Yu Su shouted loudly at Liu Yu.

  "Don't bother me. Even if I die, I won't go down." Liu Yu said calmly and firmly.

  With a sigh of helplessness, he stamped his foot heavily and turned around to face the enemy who was rushing towards him.

  Yuwen Tuo's siege troops were like a sharp long arrow, suddenly piercing the vital part of Yuyang City.

  The shield-bearing soldiers held up large shields, completely blocking their own troops. The Han army soldiers on the gate tower were originally not many, and the long arrows shot out were sparse and posed no threat at all.

  The Xianbei people only attacked the city gate twice during this period of attacking Yiyang City, which greatly paralyzed the insufficient defensive forces of the Han army. They fortunately thought that the enemy would not take the difficulty and abandon the ease, consuming a large number of troops to attack the city gate again. So they repeatedly withdrew their strength from here to supplement other places.

  The battering ram is getting faster and the soldiers pushing it are already sprinting. The shield-bearing soldiers protecting them can't keep up with the pace, leaving larger and larger gaps in their defense.

  At about fifty paces from the city gate, Yuwen Yan finally erupted.