The stone had been on that ridge for many, many years. It was a nameless low mountain range that was inconspicuous. There were no scenic spots that could be praised. That stone was just one of many stones that had witnessed the sunrise and sunset, experienced the vicissitudes of life, and endured the changes of the four seasons. The waters of the Yellow River had flooded its body several times. When people came and went around it, the boy who herded the cows would occasionally rest on its body. For a very, very long time, it did not move from its position.
When the armored men dragged it away from there, snow had just fallen from the sky, just as it had for many years before. It was dragged along with many other stones to some flat ground. When the snow was about to cover its body, the men who had dragged it there began to hammer it with things. It was hammered into a rounder shape, and then piled up among countless other stones.
In front of it was a rough, wooden camp, and further ahead, in the distance, huge high walls stretched out to either side of the sky and the earth.
The snow fell slowly, the sun rose and set. The surroundings of the stone were sometimes lively, sometimes quiet. People ran back and forth, sometimes carrying away the companions next to it, sometimes stuffing more stones around it. Light and darkness alternated, and the surroundings suddenly became more lively. The footsteps of men and horses shook the earth, and more wheeled machinery was pushed in from all directions. A restless atmosphere mingled with the falling snowflakes.
The sky darkened, and when it brightened up again, the humming sound had already engulfed everything. People were running, and all kinds of rough and strange sounds could be heard. Around it, a large number of stones were quickly moved away. Those stones streaked across the sky and disappeared. Finally, footsteps came, picked it up, and put it on the plank. They rushed quickly over the difficult snow-covered ground. The road was bumpy and uneven, sometimes high and sometimes low. When someone rushed over, he leaped over the stone, and then there was the sound of many galloping horses. The plank hit the low-lying ground, and with a crash, the stone rolled down, and the man fell beside it. But a moment later, he got up and pushed it back onto the plank.
This little journey ended next to the huge wooden machinery. When the plank stopped, two men lifted the stone and put it in a hollow container. The stone sank, and the sound of a winch rang out, and the shouts of men rang out.
After a short while, it flew up into the sky. The snowflakes that filled the sky extended endlessly into the distance. It collided with the snowflakes and rushed through the cold wind. The team on horseback galloped below it. Below it, there were also fallen people, blood and flames, and hysterical cries. The huge wall in front of him quickly enlarged, and arrows with sharp arrowheads rushed in the opposite direction. In that instant, an arrow flew from the front, collided with it, and then bounced off and disappeared without a trace.
On the huge gate tower, the words "New Sour Date Gate" flashed across. The stone hit the huge wall, and stone chips flew everywhere. Then, there was a huge drop. It fell from the top of the high city wall, and with a boom, ice chips and water splashed everywhere. The stone fell on the edge of the moat and the city wall. Half of its body was in the ice, and the other half was still outside.
On its left and right, more stones hit the wall, and then fell. Snowflakes, arrows, and other things also fell. When it stayed there quietly, strange things fell on its body like raindrops. The arrowheads bounced off, and the water that fell from the top of the high wall gradually froze on its body. Then, it was smashed by another falling stone. Snow fell, and then the huge wood also fell with a loud crash.
The restless and violent scene stopped as the sky turned dark. The snow was still falling, and there was light on the city wall. There was also light behind it, and water was washing down from the top of the wall. The sky had yet to brighten, and the surroundings were still quiet. Suddenly, the sounds of agitation rang out again. Rocks were flying, arrows were flying, and flames were approaching. The huge wooden building and the ladder were also approaching. One of the ladders was placed on top of the rock, and then the person's body fell down, landing beside the rock. Grotesquely shaped flesh and blood were scattered everywhere, followed by a black sticky liquid.
The whistling sound swept over along with the light. The fire spread down, and the stone was submerged in the raging fire. Then, the person who was burning also screamed and fell down. Not long after, the ladder also fell down …
The light of the sun rose in the east, and swept over the huge high wall. It changed its position, and then fell down again. Countless light and shadows around it clashed. In the stone's journey, everything around is both temporary and eternal. At the other end of the world, it had become one with everything around it. No matter if it experienced a huge explosion, was divided, or transformed, no matter if it was surrounded by air, water, hard gems, or sparkling pearls, no matter if a part of it became a lush tree or a life of flesh and blood, no matter if it could fly or fuse with the soil, everything changed like sand blown by the wind, and this change was a part of eternity.
It was quietly embedded in the ice that had melted and started to solidify again, and the things that had fallen formed around it over and over again. Cavalry galloped, arrows flew, swords and spears clashed, blood and flesh splattered everywhere, snow danced wildly, flames burned … The corpse fell with a blood-curdling screech. The hard bones on its body were smashed to pieces, sticky flesh and blood slowly slid down from the rocks, and then, it continued to coagulate …
All of these were part of eternity, but perhaps in the short span of time, they had a different meaning to these temporarily transformed living beings …
*****
"Ahhhhh —"
A loud hysterical sound filled everything. Blood flowed in one's eyes, making one's head hurt. The wooden frame was pushed crazily in the flashes of swords. The Female Enlightened Master was pushed back and hit the battlements. He didn't want to be pushed down, so he stretched out his hand and climbed on the battlements. The slashing swords chopped off his hand. Xue Changgong kicked the man down the battlements!
"Where are the others? Where are the others? "
Xue Changgong roared at the lieutenant next to him, whose face was half covered in blood. He rushed to the parapet wall, poked his head out and took a look. On the city wall that stretched for miles, Female Enlightened Beings were rushing towards him. Wooden towers and scaling ladders were all set up. The moat at the city gate was filled up, and the chariots were moving forward under the protection of shielded soldiers. Some people poured kerosene from the towers, creating long fiery dragons in the wind and snow. Arrows were being shot down desperately. Another wave of attacks.
"There are only so many people left! The other brothers were all dead! Just now, the Female Zhenren rushed up — "
"The Yaksha tower is not enough, it was chopped down. Quickly call someone to bring it up! And kerosene, don't be stingy with kerosene — don't just focus on the main gate! Look at Level 3 W3, quickly follow me! The Female Enlightened Beings are going to attack that side — "
Outside the city wall, the Female Enlightened Beings were attacking like a tide. Inside the city wall, the soldiers and the volunteers defending the city were like a swarm of ants. Even if they had mobilized their greatest strength, the defense on the city wall was sometimes not thick enough. The Female Enlightened Beings launched a fierce attack on the entire northern city wall. The degree of madness was enough to make the defenders of each section of the city wall feel frightened. However, the Female Enlightened Beings' generals were using this fierce attack to test the weak points on the city wall — to be more precise, they were actively creating weak points, trying to use the soldiers' amazing battle awareness to break the defense of the entire city wall.
During the fierce attack, the Female Enlightened Beings' horses were also galloping under the city wall, suppressing the city wall with a high density of arrows. Once the defense of a certain section of the city wall was slightly weakened, the attacking force would crazily rush over. Once the Female Enlightened Beings rushed up the city wall, the opening would immediately bring about astonishing casualties. In the three days of attacking the city, the Female Enlightened Beings had already achieved this result four times.
On the afternoon of the 23rd of November, more than fifty Female Enlightened Beings successfully climbed the city wall. They killed the surrounding defenders, as well as the civilians who helped defend the city, and forced them to retreat. In the short period of time when they forcibly killed these fifty people and recaptured the city wall, more than five hundred soldiers and civilians were sacrificed. A large portion of them were directly killed by the Female Enlightened Beings and fell from the inside of the city wall.
On the afternoon of the 22nd of November, the Female Enlightened Beings climbed the city wall for the first time and used their valiant fighting strength to repel the three attempts of the Wu dynasty soldiers to recapture the city wall. At that time, they were holding that section of the city wall, and a large number of Female Enlightened Beings were rushing up, so the Wu dynasty soldiers' attempts to recapture the city wall became fueling. Later, Zhong Shidao personally led the Divine Archer Battalion over and covered the top of the city wall with arrows. Then, more than three thousand elite soldiers risked their lives on both ends of the city wall, finally forcing the Female Enlightened Beings to retreat for the time being. In this wave of one thousand five hundred casualties, the Female Enlightened Beings and the defending generals of the Wu dynasty had not yet adapted to this kind of high-intensity rhythm. However, the Female Enlightened Beings' battle awareness was astonishing. Of course, in the following battles, the mid-level generals of the Wu dynasty, such as Xue Changgong, were gradually able to adapt to this kind of battle.
Flying stones and arrows occasionally flew over the city wall and smashed into the crowd on the inside of the city wall. Among the Female Enlightened Beings' siege weapons, there were not many that could throw stones over the city wall. Even if they could, they often risked entering the range of the arrows. But almost every time, there was a possibility of casualties. Compared to the Female Enlightened Beings, who could set up ladders anywhere outside the city, the Wu dynasty soldiers, who were the defenders of the city, often had fixed stairways leading up and down the city wall. When the intensity of the battle above the city wall was too high, the city defense equipment needed to be replenished at any time. This caused a large number of people to crowd on the stairways, who often became victims of stray arrows or stones.
But other than subconsciously dodging on the spot or finding a wooden plank to hold them up, there was no other way to retreat. Because once their work stopped, the defense on the city wall would be in imminent danger.
In fact, the Female Enlightened Beings' frenzied attacks and astonishing battle strength had already taken away part of the defenders' fighting spirit. This taking away of fighting spirit wasn't an order for people to flee, but it made people truly aware of the strength of this army. That astonishing fighting spirit made it so that once the Female Enlightened Beings broke through the top of the city wall, they would have to spend several times more of their lives to push them back. The soldiers of the Wu dynasty weren't subconsciously dodging, but when they went up to meet the enemy, they unconsciously felt that they couldn't win.
At this time, the defenders of the Wu dynasty were all the most elite imperial guards of the Wu dynasty. They were trained and had sufficient rations. They wouldn't flee — it would be useless to flee — but that was all they could do. Facing the army of the founding dynasty, the gap in subjective initiative was almost impossible to make up. For the past three days, on this line of defense that stretched for several li, the string of defense had always been stretched taut. The people hurriedly and dizzyingly responded to everything. The city defense gave people the feeling that it could collapse at any time.
But it hadn't collapsed yet.
Rolling wood and stones were thrown down from the city wall like raindrops. Kerosene, hot water, and arrows were mixed in. The stretching city wall was covered with yaksha platforms with sharp knives or barbs. The soldiers wielding long tridents were occasionally hit by stray arrows and fell in pools of blood. The people who came up to deliver things would occasionally pick up their tridents and wave them, shouting and shouting, trying to stop the Female Enlightened Beings coming up from the ladders. Fierce and turbulent shouts and the sounds of battle mixed with the sky full of snow and wind, spreading over the entire city wall.
A large number of wounded people were carried down and sent to the wounded barracks. The weather was too cold. The wounded in the first two days quickly caught a cold due to the decline in their body's resistance. The weak people were dying at any time. All the doctors in the city had been mobilized. Li Shishi was helping. She hadn't rested for a day and a night. Her clothes were dirty, her hair was messy, and her forehead and face were stained with other people's blood and plant ashes from boiling medicine. In the wounded barracks surrounded by countless wounded people, she was just helping out mechanically.
This sudden and tragic scene had already made her a little confused. Coupled with the fact that she had been busy for the past few days and was accompanied by blood, it was hard for her to think carefully about the situation in front of her. She could only deal with it by doing things endlessly. Hou Jing had told her about the casualties when the Female Enlightened Beings attacked. But in the current situation, perhaps even Hou Jing was a little confused.
In just three days, under the strong attack of the Female Enlightened Beings, perhaps the entire Bianliang City had been confused.
The fear of war engulfed them.
*****
Twenty li northwest of Mou Tuo Gang, Guo Yaoshi, Zhang Linghui, and Liu Shunren led more than forty thousand Victorious Soldiers out of the Female Enlightened Beings' camp.
Zong Wang wanted to attack Bianliang and at the same time further train the Female Enlightened Beings' ability to attack the city, which had been improving since the destruction of Liao. He didn't think about the possibility of failure. In this major battle, he didn't let Guo Yaoshi's army participate. Of course, there were reasons for his arrogance. On the other hand, along the way, the Female Enlightened Beings' eastern army had never really fought together with the Resentful Army.
In the process of moving south, there was no enemy that required the combination of their two armies to defeat. On the other hand, the most important thing was that once they fought side by side with Guo Yaoshi on the battlefield, a large part of the battle's outcome would be handed over to Guo Yaoshi.
Although Zong Wang had recruited the Ever-Victorious Army to surrender, he had yet to "tame" this army. If both sides attacked Bianliang at the same time, Guo Yaoshi would undoubtedly be able to take the city. But if at the most critical moment, Guo Yaoshi switched sides on the battlefield, even the strongest Female Enlightened Beings under his command would most likely die.
The Confucian scholars of the Wu dynasty loved all kinds of crafty plots and schemes. Who knew if Guo Yaoshi was playing the trick of injuring himself to gain the confidence of others, waiting to stab him in the back at the most critical moment?
If the people of the Wu Dynasty really had this kind of sinister idea, letting their army march straight to Bianliang City, and then turn around and attack, then it would really be like what was written in that letter, no one would be able to suppress Zihan anymore.
Out of this consideration, Zong Wang wouldn't let the Victorious Soldiers enter the battlefield. Guo Yaoshi also understood this point. After Zong Wang assigned him a mission, he quickly launched an investigation to find out which Wu dynasty army was trying to break the Yellow River. Later, he discovered that it was most likely the Western Army under Zhong Shizhong's command.
Of course, this kind of conclusion was a bit rash, but it didn't matter. Zong Wang had already started to attack Bianliang. He didn't want to wait until everything was settled before making a move. Bianliang might fall by then. On the other hand, since he had defected to the Female Enlightened Beings, he wouldn't be able to get any more credit. Before Zong Wang conquered Bianliang, he felt that he had to win a battle. Based on this consideration, the Western Army was the best result — the other guys were all pushovers. If he was still in the Wu dynasty, he could take credit for defeating that kind of army. But now that he was in the Jin Kingdom, it would only be laughable to boast about a battle like that.
Because of this consideration, when he heard from the outside that it was the Western Army who wanted to attack, he immediately believed it. He pulled out the camp and headed for the current encampment of the Western Army — he couldn't be bothered to stay in the camp and do nothing.
*****
Outside Bianliang, further away from the Female Enlightened Beings' encampment, Ning Yi rode on a horse and raised his binoculars to watch the shocking scene of the siege. Hongti followed on his side, Qin Shaoqian on the other side, and Han Jing and a few others.
After putting down the binoculars, Ning Yi swallowed and asked, "How long can Bianliang hold on like this?"
No one answered. After a long while, Qin Shaoqian said, "… I don't know." His voice was so low that it lacked confidence.
Seeing that no one spoke, Han Jing pointed at Bianliang and said, "In any siege, if we can't surround the enemy from all sides, we can still attack one side by force and divert the enemy's attention. The Female Enlightened Beings' attacks are so fierce and concentrated on one side. If they can't take down the enemy after a long time, I guess Zong Wang will definitely split his forces to attack the other gates. If we can predict the enemy's moves, we might be able to catch them off guard and defeat them. "
Ning Yi frowned. Yue Fei, who was not far away, didn't have a high position among these people, but they had become familiar with him these days. He said, "General Han is right. However, the Female Enlightened Beings here are all elites under Zong Wang's command. Even if it's a one-on-one battle and a surprise attack, I'm afraid we won't be able to gain much advantage. Moreover, it's easy to coordinate on the battlefield. Zong Wang's soldiers dismount as infantry and mount as cavalry. I'm afraid they won't let us escape. We can't ignore it. "
Han Jing said, "Brother Yue is right."
"However, there are at least twelve thousand people in the Motuogang Camp. Although most of them are infantry and there are also craftsmen, it's still difficult to attack with our numbers," someone said.
"No matter what, we can't drag on any longer." Ning Yi, Qin Shaoqian, Hong Ti and the others looked at each other. "Let's go back first. We have to make a decision tonight … prepare to attack!"
The group turned back, but the direction they were going was no longer Xia Village, but an abandoned village on the snowy plains of Bianliang. A total of four thousand three hundred people had come out of Xia Village and were stationed here.
The troop that Hong Ti brought from Luliang Mountain had a total of nearly two thousand people. Among them, there were one hundred and sixty-four heavy cavalry and the rest were light cavalry. In the Wu Rui Camp, Qin Shaoqian originally asked Ning Yi to train more than a thousand soldiers at Lone Dragon Hill. However, after the great defeat at the end of September, there were less than five hundred left. The Wu Rui Camp had painstakingly gathered more than two thousand cavalry, but many of them were lost. Now, Qin Shaoqian was left with less than five hundred cavalry. In addition to the other available veterans, this was the number of cavalry here. The cavalry was two thousand five hundred, and the infantry was one thousand eight hundred.
As for those who were left in Xia Village, there were more than fifteen thousand people. Of course, some of them were elites, managers of Takeshi, or martial arts masters. However, this group of people had just been instigated for more than a month, so they could only stay in Xia Village to deal with the defense battle in the future. Pulling them out to fight the Female Zhenren head-on was basically asking for death.
The wind and snow did not stop, falling in the ice-cold village. Ning Yi and the others discussed the situation, calculated the situation of the battle, and sometimes argued for a moment. The Female Zhenren was too strong. As to the extent of the power that she could use, no one was sure. However, there was no time. This night, they had to make a decision.
In Bianliang, the white-hot battle continued …
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
