Sullivan nodded; he had been preparing for this day for many days.

The next morning, just as dawn was breaking, the barbarian troops began their attack on the city.

At this time, most people had not yet gotten up, and some were still asleep, but outside the city, the war drums were already thundering and the shouts of battle were deafening.

The city's defenders never dreamed that the barbarian troops would launch an attack at this time.

As the bugle sounded in the city, a large number of soldiers rushed to the city gate to fight.

Below the city, more than a hundred siege catapults began hurling stones at the city walls, some of which contained flammable materials. These flammable materials would ignite upon landing, producing large amounts of thick smoke.

To the city dwellers, the city gates were already filled with thick smoke and flames, causing extreme panic among the residents and giving them the feeling that the capital was about to be breached.

The city walls were piled with a large number of rolling logs and stones, and the enemy soldiers would launch a counterattack as soon as they got close to the walls.

The scene was extremely intense. At this time, the enemy soldiers did not climb the siege ladders to attack the city. Instead, they continued to attack with catapults. More than a hundred catapults were launching stones at the same time, which had a great destructive power.

Under the prolonged attack of the catapults, many places along the city walls have caught fire, and the defending soldiers have suffered some casualties.

The soldiers knew that once the enemy troops officially attacked the city, it would be the most brutal battle.

Just as the barbarian troops launched their massive attack, the imperial court was holding its morning court session. At that moment, the emperor was discussing important matters with his ministers when he suddenly received news that the barbarian troops were launching a major attack on the city.

During this period, the barbarian soldiers came to hurl insults every day, but this was the first time they had attacked the city.

For safety reasons, the emperor ordered the court session to end, and all military officers went to the city gates to protect the city, while civil officials followed him to the west wing to continue the political discussion.

Outside the city, the barbarian soldiers continued their attack with catapults for an hour, showing no sign of stopping.

At this moment, a group of soldiers came from the enemy camp. As soon as they arrived at the front, the catapults immediately stopped attacking.

The group of men arrived at the city walls and lined up in a row. One of them rushed out and shouted to the guards on the city walls.

"Listen up, people on the city walls! When our army attacked Xinzhou Prefecture, they captured your Great Northern Dynasty's eldest prince, Li Hui, who has already surrendered."

"Please surrender the city immediately, and we will spare your lives and spare the people from suffering. Once we enter the city, there will be chaos and unrest."

The people on the city wall were shocked to hear this. The barbarian troops had already reached Xinzhou Prefecture and captured the eldest prince. Did that mean that Xinzhou Prefecture had already been captured?

A commotion broke out on the city wall. Seeing that something was amiss, the defending general spoke up:

"Don't panic! These barbarian soldiers are spreading rumors. Don't believe them. Archers, charge! Shoot all the barbarian soldiers down here!"

The archers swarmed forward and began firing arrows downwards, quickly felling a large number of the enemy soldiers below the city.

"If you don't believe me and still dare to shoot arrows, then let your eldest prince take the arrows for us."

With a wave of his hand, the man pushed out a prison cart from the back of the line. A person was tied to the cart, with the person's head sticking out of the cart.

"Anyone with the guts can fire an arrow this way. Your eldest prince is here; who dares to fire an arrow?"

This advice really worked. The archers on the city wall immediately stopped firing. None of them had ever seen the Crown Prince before, and they didn't know if the person in the prison cart was real or not.

The generals guarding the city were also bewildered. They didn't know if it was true or false, only that the eldest prince had been stung by mountain bees and had been disfigured.

The person in the prison van below was looking up. Even from this distance, it wasn't very clear, but you could still make out the general outline.

This person should be in his twenties, about the same age as the eldest prince. His face was covered with pockmarks, and his nose and mouth were crooked. He was indeed disfigured. I heard that this is what the eldest prince looked like after being disfigured.

The guards on the city wall were stunned. The news that the eldest prince had been captured in Xinzhou Prefecture and appeared outside the city spread quickly throughout the capital.

The eldest prince has been captured. How can we fight this war? It seems the Great Northern Dynasty is doomed.

The news immediately reached the West Wing Palace, and the emperor was greatly alarmed. He felt this was a recipe for disaster and was at a loss for what to do.

The ministers were initially taken aback, but after some analysis, they concluded that it was a scheme by the barbarian soldiers.

The barbarian soldiers did this to disrupt the morale of the army, making the soldiers defending the city hesitant and afraid to attack the barbarian soldiers below the city, thus making their attack on the city much smoother.

This was indeed a treacherous move, and it was certainly not a good thing. The emperor immediately ordered the soldiers to fight bravely and defend the city without any hesitation.

Upon receiving the emperor's order, the soldiers guarding the city no longer hesitated and rained down arrows upon the barbarian soldiers.

When the barbarian general saw that this tactic was no longer effective, he ordered a formal attack on the city. In reality, the barbarian army's target was not here, but at the south gate.

At the command of the barbarian general, a large number of barbarian soldiers began to set up ladders, preparing to storm the city walls.

At this moment, the large number of rolling logs and stones on the city wall began to come in handy. The soldiers defending the city waited until the ladders were full of people and then began to attack, defeating the enemy soldiers so badly that they were running away in terror, crying for their parents.

Some soldiers waited until the enemy soldiers were about to climb the city wall before they started to push down the ladders, which caused many enemy soldiers to fall to their deaths.

More and more soldiers were defending the city from the city walls, and the enemy troops below were attacking the city with increasing intensity. Sullivan nodded; this was exactly the effect he wanted.

And so the two sides fought for more than an hour. The barbarian soldiers had suffered heavy casualties, but they showed no sign of stopping.

Of course, the defenders on the city walls could not relax their vigilance in the slightest; if they were not careful, the enemy troops would attack.

It was nearly noon, and the soldiers, having not eaten or drunk a drop of water, still persevered.

At this time, lunch was brought in, consisting entirely of steamed buns. Each soldier grabbed a few buns and ate them while continuing to fight.

Although no foreign troops attacked the other gates of the capital, the soldiers there did not dare to let their guard down and were defending the city diligently.

Lunch was delivered then, which was also steamed buns. For these soldiers, steamed buns were their staple food, and they ate them almost every day.

The soldiers were indeed hungry, so they grabbed the steamed buns and started eating.

Right Chancellor Zhang Debang led a group of men on patrol in the city, carefully inspecting the defenses of each of the city gates.

The South Gate was the last stop on his patrol. Zhang Debang paid special attention to the guards at the South Gate and brought them delicious meat buns.

There were more than two hundred soldiers guarding the south gate. They were eating steamed buns while guarding the city gate. When they saw the Right Chancellor Zhang Debang arrive, they immediately lined up to welcome him.

Seeing that the soldiers were only eating steamed buns for lunch, he pretended to be very moved and had several buckets of steamed buns that he had brought placed in front of the soldiers.

The aroma of meat from the steamed buns immediately filled the air, making the soldiers almost drool.