Chapter 2: The Stormy Weather of Yan and Zhao Section 31

  The Han soldiers immediately discovered that the shouts and screams filled the entire city tower. Before they had time to pour down the water to put out the fire, Yuwen Tai's 500 soldiers had already lined up within range, aiming at the gate tower and starting round after round of volleys. The dense arrows shot down a large number of Han soldiers who were running back and forth on the city tower to rescue the fire. Many civilians who helped defend the city with water-filled basins also died on the city tower.

  Liu Yu heard the noise outside and signaled a few guards to go out and see if it was the enemy attacking the city gate tower again.

  The guard who walked in front quickly opened the door and saw a sky full of arrows. Before he could shout, more than a dozen long arrows shot into his body with a whistling sound. The guard let out a terrified roar and was knocked back several steps by the huge inertia of the long arrow, falling backwards onto the ground. At the same time, countless long arrows, like iron nails, made a dull and powerful "thud" sound, heavily nailing into the stone floor of the city wall, the roof of the castle tower, the pillars, windows, doors, and hitting the ground inside near the door, then bouncing back and flying in all directions. The entire gatehouse was like hail falling from the sky, emitting a deafening roar.

  The remaining guards were quick-witted and swift, one by one they rushed to Liu Yu's side and formed a human wall in front of him.

  The Han soldiers knew that letting the fire burn would definitely harm the city gate. After the initial panic, they immediately calmed down. Some soldiers continued to transport water onto the city wall under the cover of shield-bearing soldiers, and then the citizens defending the city on the parapet threw down both water and tiles together.

  Yuwen Duan led a group of strong bowmen, occasionally shooting burning fire arrows into the gate. Countless fire arrows were nailed to the solid and thick city gate, continuing to burn.

  "Sir, we're out of arrows." Less than half a time had passed, and the long arrow reserves of Yuwen's troops were almost depleted.

  Yuwen Tong helplessly shook his head and loudly commanded: "Light up the battering ram."

  One hundred soldiers under Yuwen Tuo's command began to push carts, accelerate and run. This was their eleventh collision with the city gate of Yucheng.

  "Brothers, use your strength, add oil, kill...!" Yuwen Tan shouted loudly with his head raised.

  The archer accelerates the speed of launching long arrows. The shield soldier cheers loudly to cheer for their comrades.

  Yuwen Duan gazed at the city gate, which was engulfed in flames and smoke, and suddenly a massive, uncontrollable hatred rose from the bottom of his heart. It was this very gate that had mercilessly devoured the lives of four to five hundred brave warriors of the Yuwen tribe today. His face twisted violently with rage. He gritted his teeth, wishing he could immediately burn it down, destroy it, and smash it open.

  "Wooooo..." Yuwen Tong shouted with all his might.

  "Hoo-ah......" The soldiers who were running at high speed one by one became hot-blooded, and they roared along with their leader.

  "Hoo-ah......" All the Xianbei soldiers under the city gate tower were excited and shouted loudly.

  The armored vehicle reached its limit speed, it was surrounded by a hundred strong men, carrying an invincible aura of thunder and lightning, emitting a huge roar, with unprecedented force, it charged into the big fire, crashing towards the city gate already shrouded in thick smoke.

  A loud rumble...

  The city walls are trembling, the earth is quaking.

  The thick smoke inside the gatehouse was suddenly blown away by a gust of strong wind, dispersing in all directions. The raging fire inside the gatehouse, with flames soaring and dancing violently in the strong wind.

  Yuwen Duan and his soldiers suddenly widened their eyes, staring incredulously at the city gate. The city gate had miraculously been smashed open with a huge hole.

  Yuwen Duan and the soldiers were stunned, unable to believe their eyes. Then they let out a huge cheer, ran wildly, shouting all the way, no longer caring about the arrows shot down from the city tower or the stones thrown down. They braved the scorching heat, trampled on the still-burning wooden boards, rushed through the flames, and drilled into the breached city gate opening.

  The city gate was broken, and the fishing village was inadvertently opened a gap, a fatal gap.

  Behind the city gate, the Han army built two layers of obstacles walls as high as a person using earth bags. The purpose was also to prevent the enemy's cavalry from charging in case the city was broken, and to slow down the enemy's attack speed. On the main street under the city wall, all kinds of defensive tools such as weapons and stones were piled up.

  Some of the wounded soldiers and a large number of civilians on this street were frightened by what they saw, letting out a blood-curdling scream.

  The Xianbei soldiers began to pour into the city of Yiyang from the large cave, and then crossed over the roadblock composed of two obstacles. The Han army soldiers started shooting at the Hu people nearby, some civilians fled in all directions, and more civilians chose to pick up their weapons and join the fight against the invaders.

  Yuwen's hand rose and fell with his knife, killing a Han army soldier who was holding a sword. He then wielded his battle knife to deflect several incoming arrows, covering his troops as they climbed over the obstacles. In an instant, twenty or thirty enemy soldiers, fierce as wolves and tigers, had burst out of the roadblock and formed a defensive line. The swarming Han army soldiers and the fishermen of Yuyang City who were holding weapons immediately launched an attack on them.

  Liu Yu was shocked by the news and immediately ordered the drums to be beaten to sound the alarm, while also sending people to ask the soldiers on the east and west city walls to extend their defense lines to the gate tower.

  Liu Yu led fifty soldiers down from the city tower at the fastest speed.

  The archery unit of the Xiongnu tribe immediately followed up quickly, with some stopping thirty steps away from the city tower to continue shooting at the city tower, suppressing the counterattack of the Han army. Some were under the cover of shield soldiers, approaching the city gate, and quickly passing through the gap into the city. At the same time, the horn blower blew the horn of breaking the door successfully. The horn message was immediately passed on by one horn blower after another. In the dark night, there were high-pitched and cheerful horn sounds everywhere.

  Murong Ji's gloomy face finally revealed a smile. He excitedly shouted to the messenger: "Order the troops, before dawn, take down the west city wall."

  The Xianbei people, under the command of the loud and clear horn, suddenly boosted their morale, and the momentum of the attack surged again. The soldiers heard that the city gate had been breached, and they were all excited, shouting and dancing wildly with the weapons in their hands, like a burst dam, with a fierce and invincible momentum, crazily rushing towards the city wall.

  Liu Yu took the lead, charging at the forefront of the troops. He held high the banner of the Great Han State, grasping his treasured sword, and continuously shouted: "Follow me to kill the enemy... For the Great Han State, for your homes, for your loved ones, kill..."

  The fleeing civilians saw their governor, Liu Yu, charging forward without fear, and they involuntarily stopped in their tracks. They were shocked by the war flag of the Great Han Empire, inspired by Liu Yu's momentum, and moved by his loud cries. They turned around and followed him from behind, and the fear in their hearts dissipated with the thunderous battle cry.

  Yuwen's soldiers are gathering more and more at the city gate. A dozen or so soldiers are working hard to move away the earth bags near the broken hole in the city gate, to make room for more soldiers to come in.

  The back of the city gate, which was as high as three zhang, had fifteen thick and heavy door bars inserted horizontally from top to bottom. There were no ladders to climb up, and it was impossible to remove the thick and heavy door bars in a short time. The place that was broken by the huge impact force was estimated to have been damaged after dozens of repeated impacts on the same day, and later suffered from a large fire, finally becoming fragile and being broken by the last blow of the battering ram.

  The captain of the hundred-man squad walking beside Liu Yu let out a loud roar and led his soldiers in a mad dash, filled with righteous indignation, they charged towards the enemy who was massacring innocent lives at the city gate.

  The people picked up all sorts of weapons from the ground and followed behind, carrying their hatred for the invaders.

  Yuwen Duan exerted himself to kill an enemy soldier, and when he looked up, he saw a large group of people rushing towards him. The joy in his heart suddenly vanished.

  The Han soldiers exerted themselves to climb up, at this time they no longer needed to worry about the issue of life and death. If they died in battle, it was also death, if the city was breached, it was also death. Everyone let go of their hands and feet, staring with a pair of blood-red eyes, completely disregarding the weapons that were chopping at their own bodies, single-mindedly wanting to kill people, kill the Xianbei people.

  Two soldiers surrounded an enemy. The Han soldier who faced the enemy head-on did not resist at all, allowing the war knife to penetrate his body, while his own knife chopped into the enemy's waist in a fit of rage. Another soldier gritted his teeth and swung his war knife to behead the enemy. Untrained ordinary people, they often pay with several lives to kill an enemy. But no one retreated, the relatives and neighbors in front fell in the blood pool, the people behind shouted frantically, still rushing forward one after another. They didn't know how to use weapons, so they used their arms to hug, their teeth to bite, and their flesh and blood to resist the enemy's steel weapons.

  On the battlefield where flesh and blood are flying everywhere, there is only a shocking killing intent that shakes the sky, there are only warriors who forget to live and die, no fear, no crying, no retreat.

  In the narrow space at the city gate, thousands of people were packed in tightly, and everyone's anger and hatred was unleashed without restriction.

  Liu Yu was squeezed to the foot of the city wall by the surging crowd, and no one noticed his existence anymore. Even the few guards who had been following him closely abandoned their protection of him, killing at the forefront of the battlefield. He stared blankly at the crowd that had lost its senses, sadly watching pair after pair of brothers, fathers and sons die under the enemy's butcher knife, one by one ordinary kind people fell to the ground. His tears flowed uncontrollably.

  The common people, these respectable and lovely ordinary people, they all stood out without hesitation when the great Han country needed them most, and paid with their blood and lives without complaint. Suddenly, Liu Yu felt that he was really a incompetent person. He had been in Youzhou for more than a year, what had he done for these hardworking and kind common people? The common people were still poor, the war disasters continued unabated, just last winter, thousands of common people starved to death or froze to death on the icy snowy ground.

  Yuwen Tuan's young general now definitely regrets it, his idea of burning the city gate has sent himself to the brink of death. He is now trapped among the crowd at the city gate.

  He wielded his battle sword with all his might, intending to cut a bloody path and reunite with the rest of his companions. He had already heard Yuwen Yan shouting for him, the voice getting closer and closer, as if Yuwen Yan was killing his way over to support him.