Chapter 31: A Fierce Battle!
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The following day, the Grand Qi Coalition Army and the Tulan forces launched another series of harassment attacks.
The Divine Strategy Army had long grown accustomed to such offensives, yet no one dared lower their guard. No one could say when the next all-out assault would begin.
“Stay alert. The enemy’s main attack will likely come within the next few days.”
During the evening patrol, Qin Xuan deliberately reminded the generals under his command.
Naturally, none of them dared be negligent. Each strengthened their surveillance and defenses against the enemy before them.
“Tonight, I cannot shake the feeling that something is wrong. I keep sensing that some great event is about to happen.”
Inside the command tent, Zhao Luoying suddenly spoke with deep concern.
Qin Xuan was slightly taken aback, then smiled. “You have barely rested these past few days. You are probably simply exhausted.”
“I hope that is all.”
Zhao Luoying nodded and handed him a bowl of freshly cooked rice porridge. “My lord, you have hardly eaten anything for several days. Please drink this.”
Qin Xuan wanted to refuse, but when he saw her thin cheeks and hopeful gaze, he nodded and accepted the bowl. In an apparently casual tone, he asked, “Food is in short supply in the city now. Where did you get such thick porridge?”
Zhao Luoying’s face reddened. In a low voice, she replied, “I bought it myself.”
The Divine Strategy Army had long since been unable to obtain porridge this thick. At best, they could manage watery gruel.
“You bought it?”
Pain stabbed Qin Xuan’s heart. He glanced at the sachet hanging from her waist and said bitterly, “You traded your own perfume sachet for this, didn’t you?”
Zhao Luoying always carried a sachet made of fine Shu brocade, one of the few personal possessions she had kept close to her.
Yet now, simply so Qin Xuan could drink a bowl of white porridge, she had endured the pain of parting with it.
“A sachet is merely an external possession. Compared with your health, my lord, it is worthless.”
Zhao Luoying smiled, a faint blush rippling across her lovely face.
“Drink it with me. Otherwise, I will not drink it either.”
Unable to refuse her affection, yet equally unwilling to see her go hungry, Qin Xuan could only “threaten” her in this way.
Zhao Luoying’s eyes grew red. After hesitating for a moment, she bit her lip and nodded.
She took a small sip, but Qin Xuan glared at her fiercely.
Left with no choice, Zhao Luoying obediently continued drinking the porridge. Yet there was not the slightest trace of grievance in her eyes at having been scolded.
Though the porridge was bland and tasteless, it seemed sweeter than honey as she drank it now.
“Woo—woo—woo…”
Suddenly, a horn sounded.
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Zhao Luoying hurriedly handed the bowl back to Qin Xuan. “My lord, drink quickly. The enemy has begun attacking the city again.”
Qin Xuan shook his head with a smile. “There is no hurry. We will finish it when we return.”
With that, he ignored Zhao Luoying’s coquettish protest and hurried out of the command tent.
At that moment, the soldiers on the northern battlements were already standing ready for battle. The two commanding generals, Guan Xingsheng and Du Manjiang, stood at opposite ends, their gazes fixed upon the enemy below.
“Everyone, stay focused. Whatever you do, do not—”
Guan Xingsheng had only just begun issuing orders when a cold arrow grazed his ear and flew past.
The next instant, countless arrows poured down like a violent rainstorm.
The defenders on the wall were caught completely off guard. Many were struck by arrows and fell dead where they stood.
“Quickly! Find cover! Get down!”
Guan Xingsheng roared in fury, a sense of foreboding rising in his heart.
The Grand Qi Coalition Army had attacked the city for so long, yet never before had they opened with a barrage of arrows. Could this sudden ambush mean that they truly intended to take the city this time?
He cautiously poked his head out and stole a glance below. His heart began pounding like a drum.
A hundred yards from the wall, a group of archers had somehow already been lying in ambush.
They must have crept closer under cover of darkness.
“The infantry is coming!”
A sentry suddenly shouted.
Guan Xingsheng no longer dared delay. He immediately ordered, “All archers, prepare! Suppress them at once!”
But the Grand Qi Coalition Army had already seized the initiative. The moment the Divine Strategy Army’s archers took their positions, another overwhelming rain of arrows came sweeping toward them.
The wall descended into chaos.
The civilians who had only just entered the battle were especially terrified, many of them too frightened to react.
“Divine Strategy Army, heed my order! Cover the archers!”
Qin Xuan’s voice rang out abruptly. Like a shot of adrenaline, it gave the panicking soldiers a steadying force to rely upon.
The soldiers immediately raised their shields for cover, allowing the archers to fire through the gaps.
Thud, thud, thud—
The enemy’s arrows came rushing down once more, but this time most were stopped by the shields.
Seizing the moment when the enemy was drawing their bows and changing their bowstrings, the Divine Strategy Army’s archers unleashed a fierce volley of their own.
Cries of agony instantly erupted from the enemy infantry charging at the front.
However, their square shields protected them, so their losses were not particularly severe.
Even so, after that volley, the Divine Strategy Army had finally regained the initiative, and the enemy’s advance was visibly slowed.
“My lord, look! Siege ladders and battering rams!”
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From afar, Guan Xingsheng saw dozens of siege ladders and several battering rams being slowly pushed forward from the rear of the Grand Qi Coalition Army, protected by large numbers of soldiers.
“Just as I expected. They intend to take advantage of our exhaustion and break through the city in one decisive strike.”
Qin Xuan’s expression was visibly excited as he spoke.
“Defend the city with all your strength. Do not allow a single Grand Qi soldier to climb the wall.”
After issuing the order in a cold voice, Qin Xuan quickly shouted to Du Manjiang, “Prepare the catapults!”
The fire oil and fireballs had been exhausted during the harassment battles of the previous few days. Qin Xuan had therefore found another solution: stuffing enormous chunks of stone into woven wicker balls. They could serve just as well for killing the enemy.
Du Manjiang immediately accepted the order.
Before the Grand Qi Coalition Army, Sun Wei watched the battle unfolding before him, the corners of his mouth curling into a smug smile.
“As expected, the Divine Strategy Army is utterly exhausted. After only one assault, they are already struggling to hold their ground.”
“After defending the city for seven straight days, even an iron man would have collapsed by now.”
Cao Xueguang nodded slightly.
Only Liu Zhizhong’s eyes glittered with viciousness.
The soldiers being torn apart by the rain of arrows were all from his Northwestern Army.
As for the archers who had been committed earlier, they were also a portion of Liu Zhizhong’s limited reserves that he had been forced to throw into battle. Otherwise, the losses among his infantry would have been even more catastrophic.
“What is that?”
Just as Liu Zhizhong was grieving over the losses, Cao Xueguang suddenly cried out in astonishment.
Everyone looked up. In the darkness, black shapes descended from the sky before crashing heavily to the ground.
“Stones!”
Someone shouted in terror, but even more stones continued to rain down.
The infantrymen holding square shields had no way to withstand them. Anyone struck was killed instantly.
In the blink of an eye, more than half of the Northwestern Army’s infantry had been killed or wounded.
“Damn Qin Xuan! He is using stones in place of fireballs!”
Sun Wei ground his teeth. He immediately ordered the commanders below to accelerate the assault and sent thirty thousand infantrymen forward as reinforcements.
“Pass down my order! Anyone who flees from battle is to be executed without exception!”
Sun Wei had deliberately said this for Liu Zhizhong to hear. After all, the Northwestern Army had a history of fleeing.
Liu Zhizhong gave a cold laugh but said nothing.
A desperate battle had begun.
Meanwhile, on the southern side of the city, an entirely different and bizarre scene was unfolding.
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