Chapter 5 Bei State (Part 2) Just as they were at a loss for what to do, more than ten heavily armored men holding shields escorted Commander Zhou Zhiyu into the city gate tunnel.

  As soon as Zhou Zhiyu entered, he shouted loudly: "Why don't you kill him?" Li Chengzhong quickly told the story of being stopped by enemy arrows on the city wall. Zhou Zhiyu gritted his teeth and said to the crowd beside him: "Who is willing to go again? Just cut off the suspension rope, and this battle will be a great success! Luo Youji is just outside the city, and he can enter the city in a moment.

  "Whoever achieves this feat will be promoted one level!" A figure emerged from beside Zhou Zhiyong, loudly responding and calling on the crowd to go up and grab the pulley bridge. Li Chengzhong took a look, it was indeed Ren Doutou of Ben Du.

  Ren Dou led the team out, and Li Chengzhong had no choice but to follow with a forced expression.

  The suspension bridge is only a dozen steps away from the city gate cave, but these dozen steps are extremely difficult to walk.

  Seven or eight men had just rushed out halfway when several feathered arrows were shot down from the city head, each arrow biting into flesh. In an instant, three or four people were shot down. Although everyone had held up their shields when they rushed out, these arrows were much more accurate than Li Chengzhong's earlier charge, and if one wasn't careful, they would pierce right through.

  It was clear that the defenders realized this was a key location and had assembled skilled archers here.

  Driven to desperation, Li Chengzhong also let go, after all, he had been a soldier and used the tactics of advancing troops he learned before crossing over, and surprisingly did not get shot.

  Li Chengzhong followed closely behind Ren Dou and rushed to the suspension bridge, but unfortunately found that this rope was made of iron.

  He and Ren took turns chopping at the two men, jumping back and forth as they struck a few blows, but to no avail. They could only helplessly retreat back into the city gate tunnel.

  Seven or eight people rushed out and came back, leaving only Li Chengzhong and Ren Doutou. Ren Doutou still had an arrow stuck in his arm.

  Zhou Zhiyu personally witnessed the passage and knew that this road was impassable, so he could only frown and think deeply.

  At this moment, the battle on the streets inside the city has entered a fierce stage, both sides have started hand-to-hand combat, the Wei-Bo army is advancing in formation along the street, and the Lu-Long army soldiers are desperately resisting under the command of experienced officers, gradually retreating towards the city gate, from time to time, the miserable cries of those who died in battle can be heard.

  Zhou Zhi Yu's eyes saw that it was impossible to think of a way, so he loudly ordered the gathering of nearby people, wanting to personally lead the team along the Yongdao Road to ascend the city.

  Ren Dou Tou stopped Zhou Zhi Yu and said, "The commander cannot personally take risks, let me go instead!" Zhou Zhi Yu also knew that he was the main general inside the city. If he were to fall here, his brothers who had entered the city would immediately disperse. He could only pat Ren Dou Tou's shoulder firmly and say in a low voice, "Be careful!" Ren Dou Tou smiled and said, "If I die here, please take care of my old father for me and help me fulfill my filial duties."

  Having spoken, he loudly summoned the archers near the city gate to shoot upwards at the top of the wall. He called together about a dozen able-bodied men beside him and instructed them to follow behind him before exiting the city gate tunnel and rushing up the rampart.

  Although Bei State is a major stronghold, it doesn't have high walls or grand cities. The wall is only two zhang high with hanging eaves. A slanting path from the left side of the north gate leads to the city tower, and one can climb up in twenty steps or so.

  At this moment, the city gate is the focus of the defending army's defense. Although there are no people on the wall, there are countless bows and arrows aimed at here from above the city gate.

  As soon as Ren Dou rushed onto the Wu Dao, he was met with a shower of arrows.

  This time, the head of the department learned his lesson and had already ordered everyone to bring a shield to cover their heads, requiring them to be connected from start to finish. Even Li Chengzhong got one, which he placed on top of his head, and behind him was Jiang Miao, who also held a shield on his head.

  About ten people followed closely behind, their shields overlapping on top of each other with almost no gaps in between, making the arrow defense very effective.

  They went all the way to the end of Yongdao Road and surprisingly no one was shot, they could see that if they took another step forward, they would be able to climb over the city wall.

  Ren Dou shouted loudly, and with a sudden burst of strength, he leapt forward, his entire body, shield and all, landing squarely on top of the first row of Wei Bo's soldiers. The Lu Long brothers behind him, along with Li Chengzhong and Jiang Miao, followed their previous orders and pushed with all their might, forcing Ren Dou into the midst of the Wei Bo army.

  As soon as the short weapons came into contact, Ren Dou's head swung out with his family's knife method, turning around and sweeping a circle in all directions, forcing the Wei Bo army soldiers to retreat several steps, allowing the subsequent Lu Long army brothers to come up one by one.

  Li Chengzhong and Jiang Miao finally climbed up onto the city wall, and Ren Dou led the group in a frenzied charge towards the winch that held the rope.

  Apart from Ren Doudu, Li Chengzhong and Jiang Miao, those seven or eight people were all old soldiers who had been guarding Commander Zhou Zhiyuan's side for a long time, and they were very experienced.

  At this point, the short-weaponed soldiers started to fight in close combat, and they opened up their shield formation. Following the usual method of protecting the main general from charging into the enemy's array, they protected Ren Dou and charged forward together.

  Li Chengzhong and Jiang Miao were instead wrapped in a shield array.

  The two of them squeezed to either side of Ren Dou, one on the left and one on the right, and charged forward with all their might.

  The city gate was packed with Wei Bo's soldiers, and as far as the eye could see, there were over a hundred of them. Each one stared intently at the dozen or so Lu Long soldiers who were squeezed together near the gate.

  It's false to say that Li Chengzhong wasn't afraid, but things had come to this point and there was no turning back, so he could only grit his teeth and charge forward with Ren Dou.

  A horizontal sword came slashing down, Li Chengzhong raised his shield to block it, and with a backhand slash of his own knife, he chopped downwards towards the bottom of the shield. It was as if he had chopped into leather, but he didn't know if he had knocked his opponent down or not.

  No time to think much, the shield was pushed forward with force, and the right hand pulled out the knife from behind, it was easy to pull out the horizontal knife.

  Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a knife chopping towards Ren Dou's head and ribs. He hastily rushed over, using his shield to block the knife's momentum, and himself fell to the ground, but was pulled up by Ren Dou.

  Ren's strength was indeed formidable, and this grab on Li Chengzhong's arm made him wince in pain, his eyes welling up with tears.

  In this chaotic battlefield, it's every man for himself, let alone Ren Dou and Li Chengzhong, Jiang Miao also went berserk, the three of them charged forward together, their bodies were covered in wounds, unknown how many sword cuts they had suffered, their entire body was drenched in blood.

  As soon as they rushed to the place where the pulley was entangled, the Weibo army suddenly retreated, clearing a space, and a row of soldiers holding long guns squeezed out from the crowd and charged into the Ludragon shield array in a chaotic stab.

  Two old soldiers of the Lu Long Army were knocked to the ground on the spot, and the shield array that protected Ren Dou and Li Chengzhong and Jiang Miao immediately collapsed in one corner. The remaining old soldiers hastily retreated a bit, but no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't withstand the chaotic gunfire pouring in. It seemed that the shield array would be pierced through in just a few moments.

  Ren Dou shouted and went to untie the iron chain on the pulley, just halfway through, he was stabbed in the waist by a gun, and suddenly blood flowed like a fountain, slowly sitting down beside the pulley, his eyes staring at the rope on the pulley, unwillingly stretching out his hand wanting to continue grabbing, but no matter how hard he tried, he had no strength.

  Li Chengzhong wielded his knife to parry the chaotic gunfire, gazing at Ren Dou's fallen head. His heart was both turbulent and indignant. In a daze, he failed to deflect an incoming spearhead, instinctively shifting his body sideways. The spear tip ripped through the front of his garment, causing a small ceramic jar to fall out.

  He suddenly came to, wondering how he could have forgotten this thing, and loudly asked Jiang Miao to help him hold off for a moment. He bent down to pick up the clay pot, grabbed the torch inserted on the edge of the pulley, and without caring whether it was scorching hot or not, directly ignited the cotton thread on the clay pot and threw it into the Wei Bo army soldiers in front of him.

  A thick smoke suddenly spread from the city gate, and wherever the smoke went, a burst of coughing sounds erupted. Dozens or hundreds of Wei-Bo soldiers fell to the ground, with noses and eyes streaming, without even the strength to get up.

  Li Chengzhong's self-made tear gas bomb had an unexpectedly good effect as soon as it was released! He himself was prepared, holding his breath and covering his face with the white handkerchief that identified him, tears streaming down his face as he shook the winch to slowly lower the drawbridge.

  Ren Dou was sitting beside him, without even the strength to cover his wound, letting fresh blood flow from his ribs, coughing and chuckling as he watched Li Chengzhong turn the windlass.

  After releasing the suspension bridge, Li Chengzhong spent a good half day's effort to pull Ren Dou and Jiang Miao out of the smoky area.

  At this time, the thick smoke on the city gate also gradually dispersed, and only saw rows of Wei Bo soldiers kneeling on the ground, coughing and sneezing incessantly.

  Looking around again, Jiang Miao gradually improved a bit and was able to speak slowly. However, Ren Dou had long been beyond rescue.

  Before long, Lu Longjun rushed up the city wall, with knives and guns raised, cutting down the Wei Bo army soldiers who had lost their fighting spirit like cutting melons and vegetables.

  Li Chengzhong crawled to the edge of the city wall and looked inside, a large army passed through the city gate, along the street into the city, all eyes were filled with flames, all ears were filled with the sound of killing, among which was mixed with the cries of old people, women and children.

  Li Cheng's head moved slightly, and he hastily instructed Jiang Miao to take good care of Ren Dou. He then went down the city wall along the gate path and ran into the streets.

  As he looked at the chaotic scene in front of him, he only had one thought in his mind: to stop everyone from slaughtering innocent people! Turning around the corner, a cry for help came from an old man in a small alley. Li Chengzhong hastily turned into it and saw two Lu Long army soldiers with white cloths wrapped around their chests waving knives and randomly chopping at several old men.

  Li Chengzhong shouted "Stop!" and was about to block the falling knife, but it was too late.

  He furiously shouted: "How can you slaughter the old people? How can you slaughter the old people?" The two Lulong soldiers were stunned for a moment, then angrily said: "They are all our own brothers, don't be fooled! These old and stubborn ones, and those women, how many of our brothers have they killed, don't you know?" Li Chengzhong gasped: "How can the old people harm us, it's impossible!..." Just as he was saying this, five people rushed in from the alley entrance, surprisingly, two old men, two women, and a child, each holding wooden sticks and hatchets, shouting and charging over.

  What he saw was an old man with a white beard, holding a stick and hitting him. Li Cheng's mind was blank, stunned on the spot, completely forgetting to defend himself.

  Fortunately, there were two Lu Long soldiers beside him who helped Li Chengzhong block the stick. They immediately went forward and chopped down the five men to the ground, ignoring Li Chengzhong and continuing to charge into the city.

  Li Chengzhong stared at the old, weak women and children who had died in front of him, and it took him a long time to come back to his senses from his daze.

  Looking at the flames filling the city in front of me, I felt a pang of gloominess in my heart.

  In the second year of the Taiping Guangji era, in March, the Lulong Army invaded Bei Prefecture. Due to the fierce resistance from the Weibo Army and the rebellion of the civilians within the city walls, the losses were heavy, so the army slaughtered the city.

  On the second day, corpses were thrown into the city moat and floated away with the current. The river did not clear for three days.