Chapter 20: Probe (Part 2)

  A Qin army lieutenant, with a big mouth agape, jumped ferociously onto the city wall and immediately pounced on the nearest Korean soldier. The Korean soldiers were clearly caught off guard and subconsciously retreated. How could the Qin army lieutenant let go of such a good opportunity?

  "Get out!"

  A powerful slash struck Mount Hua, and the big knife went straight for the Korean army's neck.

  The Korean soldier's panic cost him his life. He forgot the advantage of the long spear in his hand and only used it to block his neck in a flurry.

  The result was a broken gun and a severed head. At the moment when the skull flew up, the South Korean army was still in awe, wondering how this knife could be so fast.

  Without looking at the headless corpse again, Qin Jun's squad leader shifted his gaze towards the city gate.

  Only to see sixty or seventy Qin soldiers already on the city wall, they gathered together and occupied a corner of the city wall. There were still continuous Qin soldiers coming up afterwards. Almost in an instant, the Qin army lieutenant rushed to the position where Mang Ze had just fallen. The exposed Qin army formation returned to its original state.

  "Zhu Hai, I'm giving you 300 personal guards. Your mission is to drive away the Qin army, did you hear that?"

  Seeing the city head about to lose his hand, Prince Yan grabbed Zhu Hai and hastily ordered.

  "Promise!"

  "Remember to bring your slingshot!" The prince reminded him.

  Generally, a hand crossbow needs to be reloaded after firing one bolt. This also led to the Korean soldiers not liking to use hand crossbows, as in close combat, they could only fire once and then had to put it away, basically unable to play a big role.

  The Crown Prince specially posted a wanted notice in the military workshop of the Korean army. Anyone who can design a repeating crossbow will be rewarded with 100 mu of land and 100 taels of gold.

  Actually, the prince didn't have much hope in his heart, after all, historical records show that the repeating crossbow was invented by Zhuge Liang at the end of the Han Dynasty. But being able to stimulate the craftsmen's enthusiasm and develop new weapons is also good.

  Who would have thought that on the second day, there were already craftsmen who said that this thing had long been available. It's just that the price is very high, ten times that of an ordinary hand crossbow.

  The crown prince was overjoyed in his heart. When anything comes out, it is expensive, but the few treasuries do not know how to think of ways to reduce costs, and instead put this sharp tool on a high shelf, which is really dereliction of duty!

  For this great war, before departing, the Crown Prince specially equipped his 300 personal guards with a repeating crossbow. Now it's just in time to put them into use.

  When Zhu Hai and his party arrived, more than 300 Qin soldiers had already climbed onto the city wall. The archers on the city wall were squeezed into a corner, watching as their comrades were stuck together with the Qin soldiers, wanting to kill the enemy but fearing accidental injury.

  Having lost the archers' suppression, the Qin army can finally ascend the city with ease. With a steady stream of troops, they take down Ye Wang in one fell swoop.

  It's not that the Han army didn't work hard, but the Qin army was just too well-coordinated, and their individual combat strength far surpassed that of the weak Han army. The city wall was narrow, and there were only so many Han soldiers who could engage in direct combat with the Qin army. Although the Han army had a numerical advantage, they couldn't bring it into play.

  "Kneel down and let your men kneel down for me." Zhu Hei, seeing that things were not going well, pulled the school lieutenant beside him.

  "Who are you? Why should I listen to you?" The lieutenant's eyes were bloodshot, seeing his soldiers fall one by one, but he was powerless. This kind of heartache is something that a general can never experience.

  "Look, this is the prince's token." Zhu Hei took out Prince Yan's token.

  "Now, get your men to surrender immediately. Otherwise, don't blame me for killing innocent people." Zhu Hei polished the crossbow arrow in his hand.

  The lieutenant hesitated for a moment, but then obeyed the order.

  "Alright boys, all of you get down, get down."

  The Korean army in front was puzzled, but still obeyed the school lieutenant's order. Only the Korean army at the very front, who were fighting with the Qin army, were too focused and did not obey this command.

  "Fire!" Zhu Hai's eyes showed a hint of reluctance, but he still gave the order.

  "Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh", countless crossbow arrows shot into the bodies of the Qin army, and in an instant, the Qin army, which had been killing each other just a moment before, seemed to have all their strength sucked out of them, crashing to the ground. Along with them fell the brave warriors of the Han army who were fighting alongside them.

  Without a moment's hesitation, Zhu Hai led his three hundred guards over the bodies of the Qin soldiers and directly attacked the other side of the Qin army.

  It was like a perfect copy, the defenseless Qin army was instantly killed halfway. Putting away the crossbow in his hand, the 300 guards rushed to the remaining dozens of Qin soldiers. In three breaths, the Qin army was beheaded.

  At this time, Zhu Hai led 300 close guards to kill towards the empty space in the middle. The Qin army who had just climbed up to the city head was caught off guard and outnumbered, and before they could even resist, they followed the previous footsteps of their comrades.

  As the 300 Imperial Guards began to drive back the surging Qin army, the remaining Han troops finally came to their senses and hastily rushed to their posts. The archers resumed suppressing fire, while the defenders continued to hurl stones and rolling logs.

  Xiao Wei suddenly took a step forward, his eyes filled with tears, and punched towards Zhu Hei.

  "Kill me, you executioner! Those were such brave soldiers! They didn't die at the hands of the Qin army, but died at the hands of their comrades!"

  Zhu Hai gazed coldly at the Colonel, but didn't counterattack. Instead, he said calmly: "If it weren't for me, more of your soldiers would have died. Colonel, remember to guard the city walls well. Otherwise, I won't mind coming again to rescue you."

  After finishing speaking, Zhu Hai led three hundred imperial guards out of the city defense sequence.

  Inside Ye Wang Cheng, with the last house fire extinguished, the chaos caused by Qin army's fire arrows has subsided.

  The thick smell of gunpowder irritated everyone's mouth and nose. But Taizi Ran didn't mind at all, looking at the ruins, he felt a sense of regret, nothing was more devastating to one's home and people than war. One general's achievement would lead to the withering of ten thousand bones, he would never let Korea perish, and he would definitely make the Qin people experience this scene.

  "General Ba, how many casualties did we suffer in this great fire?"

  "Report back to the young master, in total we have demolished over 200 houses to isolate the great fire, and more than 100 people were injured or killed."

  "Pass on my orders: all damaged houses will be compensated at pre-war prices after the war, and the dead and wounded should also be properly taken care of."

  "Alright!" Hawkgirl relayed Prince Arin's orders.

  "My lord, fortunately I did not bring shame upon your orders and have come back to report."

  Upon seeing Zhu Hai return, Crown Prince Yan rarely showed a smile and asked: "How was it? Were there any casualties?"

  Zhu Hai smiled with a curled lip, "The crossbow bolts given by the young master are indeed formidable. Three hundred imperial guards, not one was injured."

  "Is this really true?"

  "Old Zhu dare not cheat you, young master!"

  The crown prince's heart was delighted, if it were true, once the white blade battle began, it would be possible to greatly make up for the weakness of the Korean army's single-soldier combat power. As long as the coordination is proper, it is not impossible to have a fair fight with the Qin army.

  The prerequisite is that the Korean army must have seen blood and killed people. An army with courage will not be at a disadvantage in a truly fierce battle. Without courage, it's just a group of armed sheep, unable to withstand the wolf's charge.

  It seemed as if he had thought of something, and the prince hastily added another order. Summon all the doctors in the city to do their best to rescue the wounded soldiers. The wounded are a precious wealth, once they return to the battlefield, they will be elite veterans, with strict military discipline, equipped with excellent weapons, given time, can compete with the strong Qin.

  War is the best school. It eliminates the weak, timid and frail soldiers, leaving only the elite of the entire army.

  At the most critical moment of the Qin army's attack on the city, Prince Ran even thought about sacrificing himself to save the situation. That is, unexpectedly opening the city gate and sending a heavy cavalry to destroy all the siege equipment of the Qin army. However, after repeated hesitation, Prince Ran still gave up.

  After all, the cavalry under his command had only experienced one night raid and was not truly grown up. Moreover, this time he and Bao Ying moved to Ye Wang, just to better observe the Qin army, and did not lead many cavalry. The city of Ye Wang did have a cavalry, but unfortunately, its combat effectiveness was worrying.

  If the prince had really sent out this cavalry, success would have been good, but failure would have invited wolves into the house. In the end, under the suggestion of Bao Yan, the crown prince did not make such a risky decision.

  After seeing the strong attack for four hours, the wild king's city was not taken down. Especially when the best opportunity had passed, Hu Yang did not continue to waste time and decisively sounded the retreat at dusk.

  On that day, the Qin army suffered more than 5,000 casualties and over 3,000 wounded. The Han army suffered 3,000 casualties and over 2,000 wounded. The first skirmish between Qin and Han came to an end, with both sides licking their wounds in preparation for the next day's battle.