The Wansheng Army was not scattered by this round of attacks, and only a very small number of people fell from their horses. Tong Yu shouted loudly, and the Wansheng Army immediately formed a charging formation, rushing towards the rapeseed fields on both sides in two directions.
The neighing of horses mingled with the shouts of men, but there was no response from the entire battlefield except for their own cries. When the cavalrymen rushed to the spot where the arrows were fired, they saw nothing.
Just as they were wondering what was happening, their warhorses suddenly became unruly and began to eat something on the ground. By this time, the Wansheng Army had been marching for a long time, and although the men were not tired, the horses were somewhat exhausted. Smelling the wonderful fragrance in the rapeseed field, they began to fight over the food, and the once orderly formation quickly turned into chaos. Immediately afterward, the soldiers lying on the ground suddenly leaped out of the trenches, and shouts of battle filled the air.
The Tong family's light cavalry were unaware that the Peace Army had cooked beans in sesame oil and scattered them in the rapeseed field. After galloping for several days, the warhorses suddenly smelled the aroma of the beans and could not resist. They ate them without thinking twice.
At this point, Wan Shengjun's initial advantage had vanished. In the ensuing chaos, they could only rely on the height of their horses and the length of their long weapons to fight off the enemy. Meanwhile, the enemy was divided into agile squads, with some using longswords to cut the horses' legs, others using shields to block Wan Shengjun's attacks, and still others using spears to knock Wan Shengjun soldiers off their horses.
In a short time, the once orderly formation of the Wansheng Army was thrown into chaos. The cavalrymen who had lost their horses and fell to the ground were no match for the infantrymen wielding short weapons. When the berserk Qiang people frantically tore several Wansheng soldiers to pieces, the Wansheng soldiers, witnessing their comrades' flesh and blood spilled all over the ground, could no longer maintain their morale.
"No chaos! No retreat!" Tong Yu shouted, but the storm-like attack by the Peace Army drowned out his shouts and cries of anguish. He could barely hear himself.
"Die!" With a thrust of her spear, piercing through a Peace Army soldier, Tong Yu vented all her anger on the enemy, brandishing her spear to prevent the Peace Army soldiers from getting close.
"Kill!" Amidst the chaos of battle, Su Xiang parried a spear thrust with his sword. The sword was deflected by the spear, and Su Xiang rolled to the ground, dodging the second thrust. But Tong Yu swung his spear like lightning, and the third thrust aimed straight for Su Xiang's heart. Su Xiang desperately dodged, but seeing no way to escape, Shuna's giant shield arrived and took the blow for him.
"What Peace Army? Are they even a match for me?" Tong Yu roared, brandishing his gun. "Where is Li Jun? Where is Meng Yuan? Do you dare to fight me to the death? Using tricks and schemes, are you a hero?"
"Hmph!" Zhou Jie hurled a spear at Tong Yu from afar. Tong Yu deflected the spear with his own. Looking around, he saw that his ever-victorious army had collapsed. The vast majority of them had been killed by the enemy, and the few who were lucky enough to escape were fleeing in disarray. It seemed that this battle was destined to be lost.
"Give me your life!" he roared, urging his warhorse to charge at Zhou Jie, but Zhou Jie waved his hand and coldly uttered two words:
"Release the arrows!"
Dozens of arrows rained down, turning Tong Yu and his horse into pincushions. After falling from his horse, Tong Yu used his spear to support himself and staggered to his feet. He took a few steps toward Zhou Jie, who simply stared at him coldly.
"A fool like you is not worthy to duel with our Commander Li and General Meng!"
Then came the laughter of the Peace Army soldiers. Tong Yu struggled for two more steps before finally collapsing to the ground, unable to get up.
“Hero…” He kept vomiting blood as he softly uttered these two words. A true hero needs more than just extraordinary strength. Perhaps he understood this in his final moments.
Section 3
In the initial battle at Guliu Village, the Peace Army, at the cost of a hundred casualties, decisively defeated the Tong family's elite light cavalry, greatly boosting morale. When the news reached Tonghai City, the people who had learned of the Tong family's invasion were somewhat relieved, and the internal and external troubles that Yu Sheng and Su Xiang had been worried about could be temporarily put aside.
When Tong Chang learned of Tong Yu's death and that only a few dozen of his thousand light cavalry had escaped, his grief was unimaginable. He immediately sent messengers back to Yinhu City to request reinforcements, while simultaneously reassessing the Peace Army's strength. Coupled with the fear of another ambush by the Peace Army along the way, the march slowed considerably.
However, Tonghai City still faces a major crisis. The thousand light cavalry were not the main force of the Tong family this time, but only the vanguard. Tong Chang's main force was still there, and there was a steady stream of reinforcements. In Tonghai City, apart from two thousand peace soldiers and one thousand newly arrived mercenaries, there was no external support.
Yu Sheng, Zhou Jie, and Su Xiang were also racking their brains over this. While defending the city was advantageous to them, if the Tong family besieged the city without attacking, and time dragged on, they could withstand the dragging on, but Tonghai City could not afford such attrition.
Despite their reluctance, Tong Chang finally besieged Tonghai City after receiving three thousand reinforcements.
To besiege Tonghai City, one only needed to surround its west and north sides, while the other two sides were the sea. This made it easy for both sides to concentrate their forces. As a result, when the siege began, the battle was extremely fierce, with almost all the troops on both sides concentrated in these two directions.
On the morning of November 6th, the eleventh year of Chongde in the Chen Dynasty, Tong Chang personally led his army, ordering his 12,000 infantrymen to attack Tonghai City. The city was defended by 3,000 mercenaries commanded by Yu Sheng, Su Xiang, and Zhou Jie.
The battle was extremely brutal from the outset. Most of the Tong family army's siege equipment had been destroyed in the Battle of Leiming City, so this time they relied entirely on their flesh and blood to break through. Tonghai Port had not fought a major battle for many years, its city walls were dilapidated, and it lacked defensive equipment. From the very beginning, after a volley of arrows, the two sides were locked in hand-to-hand combat.
The war drums began to beat like raindrops, striking heavily on people's hearts. Tong family soldiers carried siege ladders and surged towards Tonghai City, while soldiers on the city walls unleashed a storm of arrows. However, the armored infantry protecting the soldiers wore shields that could not be penetrated except by powerful bows and crossbows, so the siege ladders were quickly placed against the battlements.
"Not good!" Su Xiang, who was guarding the north gate, realized that if the enemy firmly occupied the battlements and continued to send armored infantry to attack, Tonghai City would fall. Thinking quickly, he ordered the city gates to be opened wide and personally led more than a hundred cavalrymen out of Tonghai City.
The Tong family soldiers were climbing the city wall. The archers dared not fire their arrows because of the mix of enemy and friendly forces. They had not expected that Tonghai City would dare to violate military conventions by opening the city gates wide and attacking. This small group of soldiers charged and killed dozens of them. The remaining attacking soldiers were terrified and fled in disarray. Su Xiang also took advantage of the chaos to retreat back into the city. He had luckily defused the enemy's first wave of attacks.
But only a short time passed before the war drums sounded again. This time, the enemy forces that charged up were even larger, numbering as many as three thousand. Su Xiang personally stood on the city wall, wielding his blade and cutting down several enemy soldiers. The Peace Army was moved by his bravery and launched a full-scale counterattack, once again repelling the enemy forces.
Wiping the blood and sweat from his forehead, Su Xiang watched as the defeated enemy troops regrouped outside the city and began to prepare for another attack. Meanwhile, his own soldiers were exhausted and knew that they would have a hard time holding on this time. Just as they were at a loss, the teachers and students of the Magic Academy climbed onto the city wall.
"Excellent!" For the soldiers defending the city, seeing the mages was like receiving rain after a long drought. The mages chanted incantations repeatedly, quickly restoring the soldiers' strength and casting magical protective spells upon them. While this couldn't completely prevent the warriors from being harmed, it could at least reduce casualties to some extent. For the city's defenders, where every soldier was extremely valuable, this was a rare and precious gift.
After casting the spell, the mage led more than ten Qiang people from the Peace Army to retreat, while the soldiers prepared to meet the enemy's third attack. Yu Sheng watched as the enemy rushed along the coast towards the North City and West City, and couldn't help but say, "If only we could attack the enemy from the sea."
His words awakened Zhou Jie, and also his own awareness. Zhou Jie exclaimed with delight, "Didn't the commander make an alliance with the barbarians? We can ask the barbarians to help us from the sea!"
"That's right! I'll go to the Yi elder right away!" Yu Sheng rushed to the Yi elder's place, and the Yi elder readily agreed, gathering all the able-bodied men of the tribe, which numbered more than five hundred!
At this moment, Zhou Jie and Su Xiang were engaged in a fierce hand-to-hand battle with the Tong family soldiers atop the city wall. Lacking siege equipment, the Tong family army did not use battering rams to breach the city gates, but instead directly used ladders to scale the walls. The Tong family's five hundred archers approached the city walls, specifically targeting the defenders who peeked out from the battlements and pushed aside the ladders. The defenders were forced to retreat a few steps, engaging in fierce combat with the Tong family soldiers who had climbed the walls. Blood and flesh splattered in the cold impact of metal, and one soldier after another fell. A Peace Army soldier had his right arm severed, with only a thin layer of skin connecting it to his body. He wielded his weapon with his left hand, fighting the enemy to the death. The blood gushing from his severed arm even blinded his opponent. Taking advantage of this opportunity, he beheaded his opponent with a single stroke, but a spear pierced his body from behind at the same time.
Looking up at the city walls from below, Tong Chang felt a chill run down his spine. He seemed to see the horrific scene of the attack on Leiming City again. Although the number of people on both sides was less than that time, the ferocity of the battle was even greater.
Just as the Tong family soldiers, clad in green armor, were about to overwhelm the Heping army, dressed in variegated armor, a uniquely Qiang roar suddenly echoed from the city walls. Amidst the neighing of thousands of horses, this roar still resonated. The Qiang people, empowered by the mages' magic, had returned to the battlefield.
Shuna charged ahead, his towering figure seemingly even surpassing the city walls. The archers below stared in disbelief at the giant; arrows struck him but failed to penetrate his body, leaving only faint wounds at most. Although Shuna was now in a berserk state, he was different from before. Besides distinguishing friend from foe, a deeply ingrained voice was now screaming in his mind.
"The commander treats you so well, you must not let him down!"
He had already discarded his shield, wielding a giant axe in both hands, swinging it like a wheel, hacking and slashing at the city walls. Tong family soldiers rushed to stop him, but could not contain his frenzied momentum. One soldier was cleaved in two from head to toe; one piece fell off the city wall, while the other fell on top. The other soldier hurriedly retreated, only to find that his body was still in the same place, with blood gushing from his neck shooting straight into the sky.
"Ah!" Shuna's roar almost terrified the Tong family soldiers on the city wall. One soldier jumped down from the city wall in fear, fell to the foot of the city wall, rolled around once, and then fell into the moat. It took him a long time to float to the surface.
Corpses were everywhere, both on and off the city walls. The casualties on both sides had almost clogged the moat, turning the water into a foul-smelling, greasy pool of blood. Seeing that this offensive had once again been repelled by the berserk Qiang people, Tong Chang was beginning to consider retreating.
"Is it worth sacrificing so many of my sons to fight for this almost useless Tonghai City?" he wondered to himself, but now the die was cast and he had no choice but to act.
There were no more living enemies on the city wall. Shuna and his companions also broke free from their berserk state and collapsed on the city wall, panting. They had dozens of wounds on their bodies. It would be impossible for them not to be affected. They did not feel pain while in berserk, but after the berserk state was broken, the pain came back to them in double the intensity.
The physical pain was bearable, but what tormented them most was the loss of their comrades. Of the dozen or so berserk Qiang men, less than half could still stand; a third had already passed away. Their massive bodies now lay peacefully on the city wall, like sleeping babies, no longer the bloodthirsty warriors they once were.
"The Mother Goddess will take them in, the warriors who sacrificed themselves for their comrades on the battlefield," Shuna murmured to himself. Four ordinary soldiers struggled to lift him and carry him down from the city.
This attack was devastating for both sides. The Peace Army's archers were almost wiped out, with more than 500 killed and almost all wounded. The Peace Army had never suffered such heavy losses since its inception.
The Tong family, on the other hand, left behind 1,500 corpses. Combined with their previous losses, a third of them had perished, with the soldiers suffering the greatest losses. The armored infantry had not yet suffered fatal blows. Therefore, the advantage on the battlefield still lay with the Tong family.