kvmb Chapter 143 The Trampled City
Chapter 143 The Trampled City
As night fell, the garrison commanders of Yucheng were patrolling the city walls, with lookouts standing atop the tall watchtowers, diligently checking everything around them.
Suddenly, a swift arrow pierced the tense atmosphere with a whoosh, and the lookout on the watchtower fell straight down the city wall with a loud thud. All the soldiers guarding the city looked up sharply.
Before they could even see what had just fallen off the city wall, they heard a bugle call to charge, and the area outside the city was ablaze with lights.
Hundreds of thousands of people simultaneously raised torches, illuminating the sky outside the city as if it were daytime. Shouts of battle filled the air.
The soldiers on the city wall panicked instantly.
"There is an enemy attack!"
Looking down, the city of Yucheng was being besieged by the army of King Hu.
The torches were densely packed, as dazzling as a starry sea. If one didn't know this was a battlefield, the scene would truly be magnificent.
Deep within the army, King Hu sat on a rattan chair that had been lifted up, watching with satisfaction as his invincible soldiers surged toward the trembling city.
The first four rows were the charging shield guards, specially trained by the generals under King Hu. He had two exceptional talents under his command: the general Mo Gan and the strategist Zhu Yong. One was brilliant and skilled in military strategy and tactics, while the other was a master strategist who could deduce and observe celestial phenomena.
The Shield Guards are a type of ramming unit that only the Swan King's army possesses. They used this kind of direct, ramming attack to capture cities and quickly take down the defending troops.
Yucheng also received the news from the front. They dared not open the city gates to fight and repeat the mistakes of their predecessors. They decided to focus on defense.
The general guarding Yucheng was surnamed Lu, and was called General Lu. The prefect of Yucheng was a newly appointed civil official, a woman named Qin Lian.
"Lord Qin, you should withdraw! This city can only be held for a little longer..." General Lu suppressed his heartache and ordered several soldiers: "Select a team to escort Governor Qin! Withdraw from Yan City!"
"No!" Qin Lian coldly refused, "I cannot flee at this time and disrupt the morale of the army and the people!"
The archers on the city wall fired arrows desperately, but the shield guards blocked them all, and could not stop the army's advance in the slightest.
"Hurry up and leave! It will be too late if you don't leave now!" General Lu was extremely anxious after seeing the current situation.
"I will not leave. I request that General Lu appoint a troop to escort the elderly, weak, women, and children in the city ahead!" Qin Lian cupped his hands and bowed to General Lu.
"Your Excellency, you mustn't!" General Lu quickly helped her up. "Alright, I'll immediately gather some men to escort the people of the city! Your Excellency, you should go with the people too! You are a woman after all!"
"At this moment, I am merely the people's magistrate, the prefect of Yucheng!" Qin Lian said no more to General Lu and led five hundred soldiers to the city center.
Once the shield guards ran out of arrows in the city, the siege ladders were set up behind them, and the attack to capture the city had begun. Four rows of archers stood below the city walls, firing arrows into the city in unison.
One after another, the guards on the city wall fell down.
"What's the situation in the city now?" General Lu asked his messenger.
"The women and children have already been evacuated. Lord Qin is leading the men in the city, armed and guarding the city gates. They are piling heavy objects on the gates to block them. The elderly in the city refuse to leave, wanting to stay and perish with Yu City!"
"Is Lord Qin still unwilling to evacuate?"
"Yes, Lord Qin is leading people to load soil to block the city gate."
General Lu nodded. He even admired the female official somewhat. She was fearless in the face of death, remaining calm even when Mount Tai collapsed before her. She was a remarkable person! He would do his best to stand guard and never let the King of Hu's army enter through the city walls!
King Hu sat comfortably in a rattan chair, sipping tea. The fighting had been going on all night, and these remnants of the army were putting up a stubborn resistance.
"Mogan!" King Hu threw down his teacup, looking displeased.
"Your Highness, King Hu!" General Mo Gan, who was standing on horseback beside King Hu, responded with a salute.
"Can't the Eagle Claw soldiers be used?" I heard that Morgan has also trained a group of Eagle Claw soldiers who wield flying hooks and can fly into the city walls without using ladders.
"There are only a thousand Eagle Claw soldiers..." Morgan hesitated. The Eagle Claw soldiers were originally intended to be used when attacking the imperial city, and the number trained so far was not enough.
“A thousand men are enough. There are only about 60,000 to 70,000 people guarding Yu City. They’ve been fighting for half a day and so many have died. Why can’t we let Eagle Claw go in and finish this quickly?” King Hu clapped his hands loudly, quite impatiently.
"...Yes, Your Highness King Hu!" Even if Mo Gan wanted to hold back his trump card, King Hu was unwilling, so he had no choice but to obey. He quickly pulled on the reins and turned his horse around...
Lu He and her troops had been stationed and training outside the imperial city for two days, and she felt that these teenagers were learning much faster than she had imagined. She looked at the results with satisfaction, thinking that they might be able to set off for Yucheng tomorrow.
"General Lu!" Gao Zhan rode his horse over from afar. Lu He and the group he was training were not in the military camp; Gao Zhan had come from there.
"What's the matter?" Seeing Gao Zhan's anxious expression, unlike his usual composure, Lu He had a bad feeling. Could it be that the King of Hu had conquered Yu City?
"Yucheng has fallen!" Gao Zhan's expression was filled with grief: "General Lu Zhong, who was defending the city, and Qin Lian, the prefect of Yucheng, were beheaded, their heads hanging on the city walls... The army of King Hu marched into the city, burning, killing, and looting... Yucheng... was massacred..."
"What!" Lu He clenched her fists. She had thought that King Hu wouldn't at least slaughter his own people, but he was so cruel! Unforgivable! "Reorganize the troops. We'll head to Yancheng first thing tomorrow morning!" Lu He bit her lip. "Have any civilians escaped?"
"Yes, Prefect Qin sent men overnight to escort the women and children to Yancheng." Gao Zhan's brow twitched slightly as he said this, his heart aching for those families who, though they escaped, were now broken.
"This is too strange. Why didn't the previous battle reports mention massacring the city? Why did Yu Cheng suddenly resort to such ruthless tactics?" Lu He noticed something suspicious.
"The soldiers who escorted them said that because Yucheng only defended and did not come out, it delayed the King of Hu's army for a whole day and night. The King of Hu was furious, and that's why..." Gao Zhan said, "Previously, Lingcheng and Changcheng were actively fighting, but they were quickly destroyed by the Shield Guards. They were simply no match for them. Chucheng even surrendered directly... It's likely that Yucheng heard about the Shield Guards from the battle reports, so it stubbornly defended its city gates and refused to fight. I also heard that although the prefect is a woman, she has great integrity and would rather die than surrender... That's probably what angered the King of Hu..."
"Oh?" Lu He's admiration grew spontaneously. "Report the soldiers and officials who died in the battle of Yucheng to the palace and ask Her Highness the Princess to posthumously honor them! Give their families more rewards!"
"Yes!" Gao Zhan accepted the order and rode back to the military camp.
King Hu rested peacefully in the governor's mansion in Yucheng. He ordered all his troops to enter the city, where they could plunder all the wealth and women without having to hand them over. They were to rest in Yucheng for a day and then march on to Yancheng the next day!
"Your Highness, there are no women in this city..."
"What?!" King Hu sat up abruptly from his couch, overturning the entire table of fruit in front of him. Damn it, there isn't even a woman to play with in this Yu City. He regretted killing that female official. He scoffed; the official wasn't particularly beautiful, but she was alright.
"Your Highness, there's also... news from the capital that the Crown Prince has passed away..."
"Hmm?" The swan king, who had just been half asleep, suddenly opened his eyes wide: "What about the third prince?"
"They say he's still in prison. The eldest princess is currently in charge of the imperial seal..."
"Pah, this little brat, just like her mother..." The King of Hu revealed his vicious side. Years ago, he had taken a liking to Bai Li, but his father married her off to his elder brother. He tried to take advantage of Bai Li but failed and was even beaten by the Duke of Dingguo. Just thinking about it made him angry. "They're all spoiled rotten. These women, they dare to try and compete with men for the throne?" He smiled sarcastically, his tone full of disdain: "Just arrest them and teach them a lesson." He suddenly became lecherous: "Is this little girl Li Cen already of marriageable age?"
The messenger kneeling below kowtowed, not daring to raise his head or speak.
The King of the Swans ignored him and continued daydreaming: "I reckon her posture and appearance are similar to her mother's—at this age, she's in her prime."
"Military Advisor Zhu Yong requests an audience with Your Highness, Prince Hu!" The voice from outside the military tent interrupted Prince Hu's reverie. He couldn't help but feel somewhat disappointed, but business was still important: "Come in!"
After Zhu Yongxing finished his bow, he said, "Your Highness, we can't find out about the general sent by the capital this time. We've never heard of him before. Perhaps we should ask Nie Zhiyuan to come up and inquire."
Speaking of Nie Zhiyuan, the King of Hu had almost forgotten about him. He had been eating and drinking with the army all the way, having a great time. The King of Hu turned a blind eye to it, since he was a messenger sent by the Crown Prince of the Imperial City and had the pretext of launching the attack.
"Where is Nie Zhiyuan?" Hu Wang stroked his messy beard.
"I came here for this very reason. I just inquired and was told that a guard took him away, saying it was your order..." Zhu Yong realized something was wrong and that's why he immediately came to see the King.
Sure enough, "When did I ever look for him! That's utter nonsense!"
"That's terrible! There's a spy infiltrating our camp!"