"Hahaha, I guess Feng Jiutian is already out of ideas and has actually sent someone to their death. We must remain vigilant tonight and not let Feng Jiutian launch a sneak attack." Peng Yuancheng's laughter was particularly jarring in the darkness.
"Clang! Clang!" Just as he laughed, the sound of gongs suddenly rang out from the city wall. In an instant, hundreds and thousands of torches were lit, and countless Peace Army soldiers stood on the city wall, shouting loudly: "Commander Peng hastily unleashed a rain of arrows overnight. Why are you fighting yourselves so hastily?"
Peng Yuancheng realized something was wrong. Looking by the firelight, he saw that the corpses lowered from the city wall were indeed dressed in his army uniforms—the thousands of surrendered soldiers. A surge of hatred welled up inside him. Feng Jiutian had intended to kill these thousands of surrendered soldiers, yet instead of bearing the infamy of executing defenseless prisoners of war, he had used him as a tool. How could he not be filled with rage? It turned out that Feng Jiutian had bound the surrendered soldiers together with ropes, gagged them to prevent them from making any noise or warnings, and then lowered them one by one from the city wall. Under the rain of arrows, they had no way to escape, and not a single one survived.
"Peng Yuancheng, Mr. Feng gave you a letter telling you to return these soldiers, so why did you still kill them?" Tu Longzi Yun Qinglang's voice was particularly loud in the night. "Commander Li has been so kind to you, yet you are disloyal. Your soldiers risked their lives for you, yet you are unjust to them. Why don't you just commit suicide instead of making a fool of yourself here?"
Peng Yuancheng glanced around and noticed that his subordinates were looking at him, their eyes seemingly filled with reproach. He was usually resourceful, but in this situation, he couldn't defend himself. He suppressed the surging anger in his chest, let out a long breath, and said, "Ignore them. Attack the city first thing tomorrow morning and avenge our brothers who died tragically at Feng Jiutian's hands!"
The soldiers dispersed silently, but for Peng Yuancheng, it was impossible to fall asleep that night.
The next morning, as the first rays of sunlight pierced the eastern horizon, Peng Yuancheng was already fully dressed and washed. Shi Ze, his eyes red, entered and said, "Everything is ready. Please give the order, Commander Peng."
At this moment, Peng Yuancheng showed no signs of fatigue from a sleepless night, nor the anger he felt after falling into the trap last night. His expression was remarkably calm. He said, "Shi Ze, you've worked hard. Go and rest. Song Xi, I appoint you as the military judge. Lead the supervisory team to stand behind the lines. Anyone who dares to retreat will be killed without mercy."
Upon hearing that he had appointed the hot-tempered and bloodthirsty Song Xi as military judge, Shi Ze couldn't help but gasp. He opened his mouth to offer advice, but seeing Peng Yuancheng's expression, he swallowed his words. At this moment, it was best not to add fuel to the fire. Peng Yuancheng appeared calm on the surface, but inwardly, he was burning with anger and shame. If he were to offer advice now, he would only bring trouble upon himself.
Inside the Mysterious Tower, there were originally ten horizontal beams. Soldiers hidden inside pushed these beams forward, and dozens of large wooden wheels at the base of the tower rolled as the soldiers inside used them, moving the entire tower forward. The tower looked enormous, but it was actually just a combination of planks and logs, so while moving it was somewhat cumbersome, it wasn't too strenuous. When these 140 Mysterious Towers were pushed out and placed below the city walls, the Peace Army soldiers on the city walls couldn't help but gasp in surprise.
"What is that?" Tu Long Ziyun asked Feng Jiutian.
"So Peng Yuancheng's lack of fighting these past few days has been all about making this thing." Feng Jiutian said calmly, "It seems to be made of wood. Fire can overcome wood, so we can just use fire to attack it. Why would Peng Yuancheng resort to such a desperate measure?"
A gust of wind blew from north to south, and for a moment, the banners on the city walls all angrily pointed south, as if they all hated Peng Yuancheng's army in the south. Tu Longziyun looked for a long time, then shook his head and said, "Fire attack is difficult. Although this building is made of wood, it has been soaked with water. If we shoot fire arrows up, we won't be able to set it on fire at all."
After a moment, Tu Longziyun laughed again: "No problem. This thing is too big to cross the pontoon bridge. As long as it can't get close to our city wall, although it's hard to destroy, it won't harm our army."
"No, Peng Yuancheng didn't build this to cross the pontoon bridge at all; he definitely intended to use it to fill the moat." Feng Jiutian saw through Peng Yuancheng's intention. As long as these wooden buildings were arranged in a long snake formation, soldiers could transport earth and stones within the buildings to fill the moat without being attacked from their side. For the time being, it seemed that he really had no way to deal with this. The defensive siege equipment designed by Mo Rong was only effective against existing siege equipment; he really didn't have a suitable method against this newly created thing.
"What should we do?" Feng Jiutian pondered to himself. Judging from the size of this building, there must be hundreds of soldiers inside, and if all of them were added together, there would be tens of thousands of soldiers. If they could all use this to climb up the city wall at the same time, then the more than 10,000 peace troops in the city would not be able to resist them no matter what.
These wooden buildings must be destroyed. As expected, Peng Yuancheng directed the wooden buildings to form a long snake formation. Soldiers carried soil from inside the buildings to fill the ditches, while their own arrows could not cause any damage. The crossbows fired only pierced through the wooden buildings without harming the soldiers inside. The rockets stuck on the wooden buildings had nowhere to burn. Water was also constantly poured on the wood inside the buildings to keep them moist.
However, the moat of Kuanglan City was designed to be deep and wide. Although Peng Yuancheng urged them on, the soldiers could not cross the moat in a short time, which gave Feng Jiutian time to think of a solution. He walked down from the city wall and began to think hard. Just then, someone came to report: "There is a scholar. Please go out and see him, Commander."
Feng Jiutian asked in astonishment, "Didn't he know the commander wasn't here? And you didn't tell him?"
The messenger looked troubled; the man's imposing aura was truly overwhelming. He couldn't very well tell Feng Jiutian that he had just been about to speak when the man glared at him, sending a chill down his spine.
"Where is that person? Settle him down first. I'll go see him once the battle situation stabilizes. Right now, fighting the enemy is the priority," Feng Jiutian said.
“But… Mr. Feng, that man is so fierce, you should still meet him,” the messenger stammered.
“Hmm…” Feng Jiutian glared at him. He couldn’t waste time teaching these messengers a lesson, so he asked, “Where is that person?”
“It’s just ahead.” Feng Jiutian frowned even more when he heard that the person had also come to the battlefield. As soon as the battle started, he strictly forbade unrelated people from approaching. Now that the person had come, it seemed that he had not encountered any obstacles.
Just then, Tu Long Ziyun, who was on the city wall, felt a burning sensation on the back of his neck, as if it were on fire. He quickly turned around and sure enough, there was a ball of fire swirling on the back of his neck. Tu Long Ziyun was initially shocked, but then his gaze was drawn to a person below the city wall.
"Thunder Soul!" he shouted with ecstasy.
two,
The newcomer was none other than Lei Hun, the mysterious mage who joined forces with Li Jun, Tu Long Ziyun, Mo Rong, and Jiang Tang to slay the dragon. He was a calm but extremely imposing figure.
After receiving a message from Li Jun and Mo Rong at the end of last year, he set off for Yuzhou. He was delayed by some matters along the way and is now traveling by boat from Su State. But he has arrived just in time.
Tu Long Ziyun strode down from the city wall. Under Feng Jiutian's astonished gaze, he reached Lei Hun. If Lei Hun hadn't still wore that cold, slightly mocking expression, Tu Long Ziyun might have even wanted to embrace him. Lei Hun's arrival might be insignificant to others, but for someone like him, who had fought alongside Lei Hun through thick and thin, Lei Hun's appearance in this moment of crisis was a tremendous encouragement.
"It really is you." Lei Hun smiled faintly, his gaze sweeping over Tu Long Ziyun and landing on Feng Jiutian behind him, nodding slightly.
Feng Jiutian looked thoughtful, then suddenly realized and said, "So it's Mr. Lei! Commander Li and Miss Mo Rong often mention you!"
"It seems your situation isn't good. You're heavily besieged and the offensive is fierce." Lei Hun listened intently to the shouts outside the city. Under the cover of Xuanji Tower, Peng Yuancheng was urging his soldiers to dig and fill the trenches. Without needing to ask further, Lei Hun understood Kuanglan City's predicament, and a sarcastic smile appeared on his face.
Feng Jiutian and Tu Longziyun exchanged a glance. Tu Longziyun was familiar with Lei Hun's attitude, while Feng Jiutian felt as if he saw a part of his own personality reflected in it.
"Let me see, what's the big deal?" Lei Hun ignored their reactions and quickly ascended the stone steps. He paused at a peculiar symbol before the steps, a touch of tenderness rising in his heart. This symbol was a secret mark left by Mo Rong, proving that she had designed and supervised the construction of this city. Others might not know, but he knew it perfectly well. However, he only paused for a moment before ruthlessly erasing this tenderness from his heart.
Tu Longziyun held onto his shield and followed closely by his side. For a moment, it seemed as if he had returned to the day on the deserted island when he was protecting Lei Hun. The Peace Army soldiers watched in surprise as their general guarded this tall but thin man like a bodyguard, and they all wondered in their hearts who this person was.
Lei Hun climbed to the top of the city wall and looked down. Below, Peng Yuancheng's army was busily digging and filling ditches, while the Peace Army on the city wall was powerless to stop them. Lei Hun stared for a moment, a cold smile appearing on his face.
Below the city wall, Peng Yuancheng felt a sudden unease. He was satisfied with the progress of filling the moat; in just over half a day, he could push the Xuanji Tower to the city wall and begin the siege. But why did he have this ominous feeling? He looked up at the tall city wall, which shimmered in the sunlight like a silver city. The wall was ten zhang high, not too tall, but the stone bricks used to build it were thick and solid. Ordinary siege weapons were completely ineffective against this city.
"Is that scholar a sorcerer?" Peng Yuancheng suddenly had a thought. He noticed Lei Hun looking down from the city wall. When their eyes met, a chilling aura emanated from Lei Hun's gaze. Even Peng Yuancheng felt a chill creep down his spine.
"This is strange, this person is very strange." Peng Yuancheng dispelled his displeasure, reached out and took out his bow, drew the string like a full moon, and the arrow flew like a shooting star. The sharp killing intent rushed towards Lei Hun's heart even before the arrow was fired.
Lei Hun completely ignored the arrow. Peng Yuancheng was three hundred paces away from him, but the arrow arrived in the blink of an eye. Tu Longziyun, who was beside him, held the Fulong Shield horizontally. With a clang, the arrow broke in two on the Fulong Shield.
"These are the things that are giving you a headache, aren't they?" Lei Hun pouted, seemingly taking Tu Long Zi Yun's rescue for granted without any intention of expressing gratitude. Tu Long Zi Yun nodded and said, "Yes, we can't use fire, arrows can't penetrate it, and there are no catapults in the city. It really leaves us at a loss."
Feng Jiutian followed. He had heard many times about Lei Hun's great supernatural powers and was somewhat skeptical, wondering if Lei Hun had a way to solve this problem. Lei Hun's expression, however, was extremely calm, revealing nothing of his thoughts. He simply pointed his green staff down at the city below.
"What?" Feng Jiutian curiously leaned out and saw that the direction he was pointing was the moat. Because the enemy had dumped a large amount of mud and stones into the river, the originally clear water had become murky.
"If fire fails, then let's use water," Lei Hun said calmly.
Tu Longziyun was taken aback. For this wooden Xuanji Tower, the most deadly thing was fire. Unless there were towering waves, water would not harm it at all.
Feng Jiutian, however, understood and was overjoyed, saying, "That's right, using water to attack the enemy is a brilliant plan. This wooden building is made of wheels, and if it were to walk in the mud, it would be impossible to move an inch. We just need to thoroughly water the riverbank below the city, and no matter how Peng Yuancheng drives it, this wooden building will become a pile of immovable waste."
A moment later, Feng Jiutian's face lit up with even greater joy. The problem that had been troubling him finally had a solution, and one even more ingenious than he had anticipated. He loudly commanded, "Requisition all the water dragons in the city, as well as the water dragons on the boats at the docks, and bring them all to the city walls. Also, bring all the large cauldrons in the city and set up fires to boil water below the city walls!"