Chapter 28: A War of Attrition-Mataram minha mulher, me forçaram a me rebelar. Agora tenho cem mil soldados às portas da cidade!(Namorado de Yu Jimin)

"Woooo..."

Accompanied by the long, mournful blast of a horn, the Great Qi Allied Forces finally retreated in disarray at the Hour of the Dog (7:00 PM to 9:00 PM). In this engagement, the Great Qi Allied Forces suffered eight thousand killed, three thousand severely wounded, and thousands more sustained injuries. Unexpectedly, however, the Tulan army had withdrawn an hour earlier, having suffered even heavier casualties than the Allied Forces.

"Shence Army! Shence Army! I, Tulan, swear that in this lifetime, I will slaughter every last one of you!"

Within the Tulan ranks, Tulan roared like a lion, his eyes wide and bloodshot, as if he could devour a man whole. Just moments before, as the Tulan soldiers had hoisted their scaling ladders against the city walls, boiling "earth fat" had poured down from the sky. Indeed, Zhao Luoying had ordered the substance to be boiled in massive earthenware vats, then tipped over the ramparts like scalding oil. Never before had anyone considered that earth fat could be boiled.

The boiling liquid scorched the skin upon the slightest contact. If it hit clothing, it burned straight through to the flesh beneath. Crucially, the adhesive properties of the earth fat were devastating; once it clung to a soldier’s skin, it would not come off, continuing to sear through layers of tissue. As the Chi Ying Army poured the substance down, the Tulan soldiers couldn't even maintain their grip on the ladders. Scores of soldiers died not from the fire itself, but from the falls.

And that was merely the beginning. When Zhao Luoying ordered a volley of flaming arrows to be loosed, the battlefield truly descended into hell. Countless Tulan soldiers became the sole ghosts of this inferno. They screamed in agony, desperate enough to strike out at their own comrades, yet the horrific burns and the relentless flames made it impossible for them to even hold their blades. Forced by necessity, Tulan finally ordered a retreat, callously abandoning nearly ten thousand of his own men. As for those scorched by the earth fat, their numbers were beyond counting. It was the fastest defeat Tulan had suffered since he first began leading armies.

"The Great Qi Allied Forces have just sent a message; they intend to launch a third assault at the Hour of the Rat (11:00 PM to 1:00 AM)," Guna reported in a low, somber voice, his eyes filled with gravity. Both previous assaults had ended in crushing failure, and the second, in particular, had severely demoralized the entire Tulan army.

"Hmph, do these fools think they can wear us down with a war of attrition?" Tulan had always been arrogant, especially after years of rampaging across the Northern Territories, sweeping through everything in his path.

However, Guna felt compelled to warn him: "This is not a conventional standoff between two armies. Furthermore, we do not know how much earth fat remains in Beining City. If we continue with the previous strategy, we will only increase our losses."

Hearing this, Tulan gritted his teeth and remained silent. Guna breathed a sigh of relief; he truly feared Tulan would act on impulse, for Tulan was, after all, the commander-in-chief. Even though Guna was the State Preceptor, at the final moment, the Tulan army would only answer to Tulan.

Inside Beining City, the Shence Army, having endured a day of bitter fighting, finally found a rare moment of rest. The nighttime temperature plummeted, and many of the soldiers shivered from the cold. Seeing this, Qin Xuan could not help but frown. "Are there no more cotton-padded coats for the cold?"

Zhuge Xuan shook his head helplessly. "A portion was distributed to the refugees earlier; there were never enough to begin with."

"Should we borrow from the citizens in the city?" Guan Xingsheng could not bear to watch his comrades suffer so. They were defending not just the city, but the very people within it!

But Qin Xuan immediately rejected the suggestion, saying bitterly, "The people of Beining City are like birds startled by the mere twang of a bowstring. If we go to borrow, they will perceive it as looting. The small amount of public support I have worked so hard to cultivate will be lost instantly."

Qin Xuan knew very well that until they could devise a strategy to sow discord among the enemy, the common people might be their final line of defense for the city. Now was not the time.

"How much earth fat and fireballs do we have left?" Qin Xuan asked.

Zhao Luoying hesitated before replying, "There is very little earth fat left, not enough to sustain a battle like the one this afternoon. If used for fireballs, I fear we only have enough for three or four volleys."

"It seems tomorrow will be a bitter fight." Qin Xuan looked up at the pitch-black, frigid sky. He was about to continue when the sound of horns suddenly blared, and smoke signals were ignited on both the northern and southern city walls.

Enemy attack! Enemy attack! Enemy attack!

The soldiers of the Shence Army on the towers roared, rushing to their respective defensive sectors. A new round of the siege had begun. This engagement lasted only an hour before the Great Qi Allied Forces and the Tulan army retreated once more. They did not even approach the walls closely, opting instead to beat war drums and use arrows to harass the defenders.

"They want to fight a war of attrition, forcing our men to go without rest so they can take the city in one fell swoop," Zhuge Xuan sighed, his eyes clouded with worry.

Qin Xuan understood the enemy's tactic, but the disparity in numbers was too vast. Both the Great Qi Allied Forces and the Tulan army could rotate their troops to rest and fight in turns. The Shence Army, however, totaled only eighty thousand, and they had to defend two separate sections of the wall. Even with the original city garrison, it was not enough.

"This cannot go on; we must devise a countermeasure," Zhuge Xuan said, his anxiety growing, his usual composure slipping away.

"Pass the order: everyone is to take turns resting," Qin Xuan commanded.

Zhuge Xuan grew agitated. "My Prince, is rotating shifts too risky? We cannot be certain which of the enemy's movements will be the true assault. If we are careless, we risk losing the city."

"I understand your concerns, but no matter how elite the Shence Army is, they are still human. They traveled through the stars and moon to reach the Northern Territories, first fighting at Daman City, then breaking the defenses at Beining City. Aside from two days of rest, they have barely closed their eyes. Even after arriving in Beining, many of our men have been struggling just to maintain order within the city."

"If we do not seize this time to rest before the enemy truly begins their main assault, it will be far more dangerous when they commit their full strength later."

Qin Xuan was not speaking idly; this was a decision made after careful deliberation. The Great Qi Allied Forces and the Tulan army had clearly adjusted their tactics following their second defeat today. In such moments, the enemy would naturally seek to harass them as much as possible to maximize the pressure. The true decisive battle would inevitably come after the defenders were exhausted. The enemy expected the defenders to panic due to the frequent attacks and thus become too afraid to rest.

But Tulan and Sun Wei could never have imagined that Qin Xuan would have such audacity. He chose to do the exact opposite, a gamble that bought the Shence Army their only chance for rest. Yet, in the face of absolute overwhelming power, even this move by Qin Xuan was merely a way to prolong their survival.

Over the next three days, although the Shence Army tried their best to rotate, they were driven to the point of total exhaustion by the constant, intermittent assaults of the two enemy armies. At this moment, the Shence Army’s food supplies finally ran low. A life-or-death crisis had truly arrived.