The woman, who exuded an air of scholarly refinement, suddenly stepped forward, bowed deeply to Lu Shang, and then bowed deeply to Qiao Zifang. No one knew her intentions, but seeing the weakness in her movements, they knew she had no power to assassinate, so they let her be. She then turned around, went to the table in front of Li Jun, picked up the inkstone, and with all her might, hurled it at Li Jun.
"Traitor, if I can die today alongside loyal ministers and righteous men, then all the years of studying poetry and books I've spent here will not have been in vain!" The woman's voice was extremely pleasant, and although it was full of anger, it still made people feel relaxed and happy.
Ji Su caught the inkstone, slowly put it down, and looked at Li Jun with an inquiring gaze. Li Jun's face was gloomy as he said, "Tie them all up and take them away. Keep a close watch on them and make sure they don't escape. Once we break through Liuzhou City, I will punish them along with the tyrannical emperor and treacherous minister!"
When Lu Shang was led to the tent entrance by the female soldiers, she suddenly stopped and turned to look at Li Jun, saying, "Brother Li Jun, no matter what you do, I won't blame you. Father... if only Father were like you, that would be so wonderful."
Once the tent was quiet again, everyone assumed Li Jun would want to be alone for a while. However, to their surprise, Li Jun's expression turned calm and composed. He said, "The foolish ruler and treacherous minister are desperate and grasping at straws. My delay in attacking the city has exhausted their patience, and the sporadic battles around Liuzhou have further weakened their morale. This has forced them to resort to this desperate measure. Hmph, if that's the case, the time is almost right. What do you all think?"
“I think it’s not advisable.” The only one who could speak at this moment was Shi Quan, who would always say this first under any circumstances. He slowly said, “Although the time is ripe, attacking the city now will still result in heavy casualties. It would be better to postpone it and wait for the soldiers in the city to surrender.”
“They won’t surrender if we wait here,” Wei Zhan objected. “It would be better to send surrendered generals from various places to attack the city. This way, we won’t damage our main force, and we can also shake the morale of the officers and soldiers in the city.”
"No, surrendered generals are not yet resolute in the face of battle. Moreover, if we make them the vanguard, they will surely feel disheartened. It would be better to wait two more days."
"Very well, all generals, return to your camps and prepare your troops. We will attack the city in three days!" Li Jun made the decision before the two could argue any further. "The newly surrendered officers and soldiers are to rest and recuperate in place. They must maintain order in all areas and prevent unscrupulous merchants from taking advantage of the situation to inflate prices or bandits from looting and raping. In these extraordinary times, extraordinary measures must be taken. Anyone who violates the law will be executed if the offense is serious, and caned if the offense is minor."
After receiving Li Jun's order to attack the city in three days, Dong Cheng took a long breath. The day had finally come. No matter how loyal he had been to this dynasty, he would now personally overthrow it.
To Li Jun and Dong Cheng's surprise, the surrendered general Zhong Biao volunteered to lead the attack on Liuzhou. After his repeated requests, Li Jun agreed.
Chapter Eleven Liu Ning
one,
After several days of rain, the sky finally cleared. In the early morning, a thick layer of frost covered the fields, like a veil. Birds hopped merrily in the long-awaited sunshine, singing sweetly. As they preened their feathers with their tender yellow beaks, they turned their heads and curiously observed the crowd that had been quietly silent for so long.
Tens of thousands of Peace Army soldiers stood solemnly in the makeshift training ground, amidst cities, mountains, forests, and fires, their expressions serious, yet a hint of longing in their eyes.
"Ho!" Suddenly, a thunderous shout erupted from afar. Birds, startled, flapped their wings and soared into the sky. Before the shouts had even faded, the mournful sound of horns brought a chill to the morning air, and the wind whipped the purple flag, causing it to billow and flutter like a menacing dragon. "Bang!"
The heavy drumbeats followed closely behind the horn. The Qiang warriors, still shirtless in such weather, displayed muscles as if carved by a knife and axe, exuding seemingly inexhaustible strength.
The second "bang" rang out, followed by a series of continuous bangs, like a string of pearls bursting forth. First, a bare-chested Qiang warrior played a drum, and soon the drums in all the camps of the Peace Army resounded.
The enormous purple dragon banner began to move from south to north. The footsteps of the warriors, the hooves of the warhorses, and the clatter of the chariot wheels echoed across the land, creating a deep, resonant sound.
On the walls of Liuzhou, the soldiers of the Su Kingdom stared with bloodshot eyes from staying up all night. What greeted their eyes, besides the rising sun, was the purple dragon flag that appeared in their line of sight along with the sun.
"What...what's wrong with me?" A soldier felt his heart almost stop beating. He opened his mouth wide but couldn't breathe. From the depths of his bones, a needle-like chill gradually took over his body until his entire body seemed to no longer belong to him. "No...no, I...I..." The soldier didn't know what he should do. He only knew that the army was advancing in solid square formations.
"On your positions..." a military officer shouted hoarsely, "Prepare for battle!"
The shouts failed to rouse the soldiers, who were overwhelmed by the enemy's momentum. Only when he kicked the man blocking his way did the others scramble to their defensive positions. As the soldier fell to the ground, he suddenly remembered what he needed to do: urinate.
But this was not the time for him to relieve himself. He looked around in alarm and saw that everyone else was ready for battle. He lowered his bow and went to his crenellation. He stuck half his head out of the crenellation and strained to look down at the city walls, but all he could see was a vast sea under the sunlight.
"Shoot...shoot you to death..." Trembling, he drew his bow and released the first arrow. Meanwhile, the Peace Army continued firing. The first arrow of this battle to capture Liuzhou City drifted aimlessly through the air, falling flat on the ground without even embedding itself in the mud. With the sound of his bowstring, more soldiers like him, recently conscripted, fired their arrows, only to be stopped by shouts and kicks from officers.
"Idiot!" The veteran next to him rudely smacked the recruit on the neck, slamming his head hard against the city bricks. Luckily, his helmet protected him, and although it hurt, it didn't break. He hurriedly straightened his helmet to avoid obstructing his vision, looking at the veteran with a mixture of fear and apprehension.
The veteran half-closed his eyes, a blade of grass dangling from his mouth, his bow and arrows casually tossed aside. While others were focused intently on the enemy, he rested leisurely. For some reason, the new recruit felt a little reassured by his expression, and even his urge to urinate seemed to lessen considerably.
The drumbeats grew closer and more intense. The drum cart carrying the large cowhide drum had been pushed to within three arrow-lengths of the city wall. Just then, shouts, like thunderclaps from the sky, suddenly rang out. The recruits, who had just relaxed, were startled again. They could no longer hold their bows and arrows properly and began to tremble violently.
"Lie down!" The veteran gave the new recruit another beating on the neck, then quickly curled up into a ball and hid under the bricks and stones of the arrow embankment.
The new recruit hurriedly followed suit and bent down, only to feel his abdomen being squeezed, making him feel even more urge to urinate.
"Thud!" The sound of the piso being severed rang out, followed by the heavy creaking of the slingshot as it hurled the southern stone into the air. The recruit was startled and tried to stand up, but saw the veteran lying there, barely daring to breathe. So he didn't stand up either. In just a moment, he felt the sky darken, as if the sunlight was being blocked by something. He was so surprised that his mouth dropped open.
"Boom!" The catapults of the Peace Army hurled stones heavily against the iron-chained defensive netting of the city, causing the area beneath the netting to sink violently and producing a piercing metallic grinding sound. Broken stones flew everywhere, and some soldiers who had just stood up were bleeding from their heads and struggling in the water.
Their iron helmets and chainmail seemed to vanish under the powerful impact.
A screaming soldier clutched his face, blood seeping from between his fingers. He stumbled along, clearly blinded by flying shards of stone. Seeing him exposed beneath the rocks rolling down from the gaps in the moat, the new recruit scrambled to his feet and reached out to pull him away. But before he could get out, the veteran crouched down, grabbed his sling strap, and yanked him down. When the recruit looked up, the screaming soldier lay sprawled on the ground, his limbs still in a pool of blood, a mixture of blood and brain matter seeping from his flattened helmet. The recruit only glanced at it before feeling a nausea and an urge to urinate.
He vomited violently, bringing up everything he had eaten that morning.
The veteran tilted his ear, seemingly listening to something, neither speaking to the new recruit nor paying attention to the recruit's half-angry, half-feeling gaze. The screams, the sound of catapults firing stones, the crashing of siege weapons, the neighing of warhorses, the whistling of battle, and the shouts and drumbeats that pushed the carnage to its climax—the noise was so deafening that one could hear nothing else.
The exchange of catapults between the two sides quickly ended, with the Peace Army holding the advantage in both manpower and weaponry. Including the surrendered Su soldiers who came with the Peace Army to attack Liuzhou, the army besieging Liuzhou numbered a full 120,000, while the city's garrison had been constantly changing over the past few days, now numbering only 60,000. These 60,000 could not all be sent to the city walls at once; some had to guard the palace, and others patrol the streets. Although there was a large amount of military supplies and equipment, there was no one to use them.
"Kill!" The Peace Army soldiers began their charge, led by a group of Qiang people who held long, thick planks above their heads. They were incredibly strong, and most of the arrows shot from the city walls landed on the planks above their heads, causing little harm. When they reached the moat, shield bearers hidden beneath the planks emerged, protecting them with their large shields. The Qiang then slammed the planks heavily onto the moat, pushing them to the opposite bank. Dozens of planks were then assembled to form a wide, temporary bridge.
"Pour the oil!" Oil poured down from the city walls like a waterfall, followed by scraps of cotton cloth, pine branches, and other debris. Fire arrows rained down, igniting the wooden planks and sending flames leaping into the air, quickly reducing the Peace Army's efforts to ashes. The recruit, no longer a recruit, did his utmost, firing arrows from his quiver as quickly as possible. With so many Peace Army soldiers below, he was certain he had hit several. When the first enemy fell, wounded, and his gaze shifted to find his killer, the recruit's heart sank. But gradually, he became numb. People kept falling, enemies who were his own comrades. The bloodlust within him was ignited in this fierce battle; he forgot his opponents were human, and only wanted to kill them.
"Out of arrows!" His heart skipped a beat when he discovered his quiver was empty. Arrows were now his only hope. He lay prone on the ground, rolled to the body of a comrade, took his quiver, and kicked the body aside—in that brief moment, he naturally felt that the person lying on the city bricks was no longer human. He didn't know when he himself would end up lying on the city bricks. The rain of arrows and stone projectiles gradually thinned out, and the Peace Army began to retreat. The recruit wiped the blood-stained splatter from his forehead and sat down on the city wall, soaking wet, the urge to urinate long gone.
"Cheer up!" The veteran was clearly in better shape than him, and looked much more relaxed. "It's only the beginning!"
The new recruits peeked down from the crenellations. After the failed attempt to build a pontoon bridge to cross the moat, the Peace Army retreated, only to be met with another hail of stones. The iron chains of the moat could not withstand the intense bombardment and began to crack, while the casualties among the soldiers hiding beneath them increased.
The towers on the city wall were the first to be smashed by the flying stones, and the new recruit watched helplessly as one tower collapsed, burying several soldiers beneath it in the rubble. He waited a while, but no one rose from the mess, and he knew it was all over.
"Boom boom!" The Peace Army's war drums changed their rhythm, and their shouts once again pierced the sky. The bridge-building failed, and the Peace Army collapsed. A tall, mobile arrow tower was pushed forward. The arrow tower was at least ten feet higher than the outer city wall of Liuzhou. Archers hiding on it looked down and accurately shot down the poorly protected soldiers on the city wall. The soldiers counterattacked with all their might, shooting arrows at the arrow tower with fire arrows, but the arrow tower was soaked with water and extremely difficult to set on fire. Seeing that the Peace Army archers had diverted the soldiers' attention, the Qiang people rushed up on long planks. This time they laid the long planks and immediately covered them with sacks filled with mud. The soldiers on the city wall could not set all the long planks on fire as before, and soon several temporary bridges were erected.
The shouts of "Long live!" from the Peace Army instantly replaced the battle cries. Before the Qiang laborers who had built the bridge could retreat, the Peace Army charged out like arrows. Even in their full-speed charge, they did not scatter in the slightest, splitting up and rushing toward the temporary bridge.
The recruit was bewildered and dared not lean out to shoot. He instinctively looked at the veteran, who had already thrown the arrow to the ground and picked up his sword and shield. The recruit followed suit, abandoning his bow and arrow and grasping a spear instead.
Almost as soon as he raised his spear, the siege ladder was placed against the battlements. Peace Army soldiers, either using the ladder or with swords in their mouths, quickly climbed up the ladders. A fierce hand-to-hand battle ensued on the city walls. The barbarian archers on the arrow towers suppressed the government troops with their dense fire, only able to retaliate with stray arrows when the opportunity arose.
The new recruit peeked out and watched as a thin Peace Army soldier, like a monkey, nimbly climbed up the rope. The closer he got, the more clearly he could see the lines on the soldier's face. The recruit yelled "Yay!" and swung his spear with all his might. The thin Peace Army soldier was incredibly agile; he kicked off the city wall, causing the rope to swing open and dodge the recruit's spear. Seeing that his attack had missed and the soldier had taken the opportunity to climb several feet higher, the recruit was at a loss for what to do. Just then, a veteran soldier beside him seized the opportunity and threw a stone down. The Peace Army soldier went too far and couldn't dodge the stone's weight, swaying in the air as he fell from the thirty-foot-high city wall.
The recruit breathed a sigh of relief. Before he could even cast a thank-you glance at the veteran, a ladder appeared at the top of the battlement with a "thud," followed by more than ten Peace Army soldiers filing in. The recruit threw two stones, knocking down one Peace Army soldier but failing to stop their advance. Soon, a spear thrust at him. He swung his spear to parry, and the Peace Army soldier shouted and thrust his spear forward, forcing him to take a few steps back. As soon as he left the battlement, the Peace Army soldier immediately stepped forward, attempting to climb the wall. At that moment, someone rushed to his aid, using a steel fork to prop up the ladder and overturn it.
The time it takes to drink a cup of tea felt like months to the recruit. Compared to the brutal hand-to-hand combat, those wounded and killed in the hail of stones and arrows were few and far between. The Peace Army's repeated charges were repelled by the government troops; not a single Peace Army soldier could scale the city walls. After these repeated battles, the recruit felt weak all over, his limbs limp. The rolling logs and stones prepared on the walls had been exhausted. Seeing the Peace Army's formation begin to retreat slightly, the recruit slumped down on the wall, panting heavily. After this, he was no longer a recruit. The sounds of battle had ceased; only the cries of the wounded echoed from the walls and below. The stench of blood had numbed the senses, turning the city into a red river. Looking at the scene now, the recruit felt an even stronger fear, his teeth chattering, and his senses tingling with the urge to urinate.