Chapter 470 Take it down
After giving his orders, Lin Changning led his men toward the city gate. He planned to wait until Wei Shao set the granary on fire and the guards on this side relaxed their guards before rushing toward the city gate to open it.
Before long, the shouts and curses of Lao Zhou and Lao Zhang, along with their men, rang out outside the city gate. The generals on the city wall quickly began to organize their troops to prepare for battle. After seeing Lao Zhang and Lao Zhou outside the gate and their cavalry, they stood on the city gate for a long time.
Logs were slowly rolled along the city roads toward the city gate, while several large cauldrons were set up below the city walls, filled with boiling water.
They were probably preparing to use this against them when they attacked the city. Lin Changning and his men quietly hid in the alley and watched as rows of people carried things up.
Quietly awaiting Wei Shao's signal, before long, they suddenly saw a raging fire erupting in the western granary. Soldiers on the city gate tower pointed at the fire and roared something loudly.
Many people under the city gate were sent to the granary by the general guarding the city to put out the fire as soon as possible. Lin Changning's eyes sharpened, he drew his sword and led his men to rush out, heading straight for the city gate.
He swung his sword at the astonished imperial soldiers, and several hundred men rushed out, catching the enemy off guard. In almost an instant, more than a hundred men reached the city gate.
Lin Changning wiped the blood from his face, then slashed down another soldier who rushed in front of him. His personal guards took care of the gatekeepers behind him and pushed the gate open forcefully.
At this moment, more and more people wanted to rush to the city gate, but Lin Changning and several hundred elite soldiers blocked them not far from the city gate, preventing them from coming over.
Old Zhou and Old Zhang, who were outside the gate, saw the city gate wide open. They led their cavalry, shouted loudly, and charged into the city gate. The enemy general was caught off guard.
With the granary burned and the enemy flanking from behind, opening the city gates sent a chill down my spine, but I still quickly organized my troops and led the charge towards Lin Changning's direction.
In an attempt to stop the enemy's advance into the city, Lao Zhou led his men forward and quickly signaled to those around him to give his horse to Lin Changning.
Lin Changning mounted his horse, turned to look at Old Zhou, and shouted, "Kill!"
After saying that, he took the lead and charged back into the city. When the general in charge saw Lin Changning mount his horse and charge towards him, and when he saw two commanders with him, he knew that Lin Changning was the commander-in-chief.
To turn the tide of battle, the only option now is to kill the commander-in-chief. Once he understood this, the enemy general quickly led his men to charge towards Lin Changning.
Lin Changning slashed down two guards beside the enemy general with a single blow. The general gritted his teeth and fought with Lin Changning, trying to take him down. As soon as they exchanged blows, the general knew that he was probably no match for Lin Changning.
After fighting Lin Changning several times, he turned around and tried to leave. His right hand, which had been used in the fight with Lin Changning, was a little numb, and his shoulder, which had been slashed by Lin Changning, was also in excruciating pain. The wounded general no longer thought about how to defeat Lin Changning, but only about how to get his troops out of the area first.
Lin Changning, wielding a knife in one hand and exuding a murderous aura, saw the man trying to escape and quickly spurred his horse to give chase. Old Zhou and Old Zhang followed closely behind, and a cavalry unit rapidly advanced into the city in a one-sided, massacre-style battle.
At first, the enemy was able to hold them off for a while, but after Lin Changning took the lead and led his men into the city, many soldiers saw their commander fleeing into the city and immediately abandoned their armor and weapons, scattering in all directions.
Lin Changning hadn't expected things to turn out this way. He frowned and spurred his horse to catch up with the enemy general. With a swift stroke, he cut the man off his horse. Old Zhou and Old Zhang quickly dismounted and subdued him on the ground.
The enemy commander, his face pale, was pinned to the ground by Lao Zhou and Lao Zhang. Several guards beside him tried to rescue their commander, but were all pressed to the ground by the people surrounding them.
Old Zhou looked up at Lin Changning: "Inspector, what should we do with this guy?"
Lin Changning turned his horse around, looked down at his pale-faced commander, and said loudly, "The commander has been executed; those who surrender will not be killed!"
As soon as Lin Changning uttered these words, voices from various soldiers rang out around him.
The torches illuminated the pale faces of the imperial soldiers. Lin Changning was brave, and his troops were also skilled in battle. From the very beginning, the battle was one-sided.
Seeing that their commander had been captured, the remaining men lost all will to resist. After dropping their knives, they obediently squatted down and let Lin Changning's cavalry tie them up and string them together.
The battle had just ended when Wei Shao led a group of soldiers, their faces covered in soot, out. Lin Changning looked at Wei Shao's face, which was streaked with black and white, and asked, "We told you to set fires, did you burn yourselves?"
Wei Shao got off the fire, wiped the dirt off his face, smiled sheepishly, and chuckled, "There weren't many people who came to put out the fire, so I just led my men and took care of them. It was a shame to waste so much grain in the granary, so I led my men to put out the fire."
Wei Shao knew that Lin Changning was always stingy with food supplies, and as soon as he finished speaking, he saw Lin Changning nod at him affirmatively: "That's right."
After saying this, Lin Changning ordered his personal guards to escort the enemy's commander to the enemy camp.
Just then, we heard Lao Zhou and Lao Zhang whispering to each other.
Why do I feel like the soldiers here are so cowardly?
Old Zhang nodded: "Of course, they can't compare to us. There are only a few battles in the Central Plains throughout the year, which is naturally different from our fighting with the Tartars on the border every year."
Lin Changning looked at the two and sighed inwardly. Indeed, the soldiers here were too loose. From the moment they chose to break through from a place with fewer sentries, to the hundreds of men rushing into the city gate and opening it, to the enemy general organizing resistance.
This group of soldiers is indeed not very good at fighting.
With Lao Zhou, Lao Zhang, and Wei Shao, they set up camp directly in the enemy's camp.
Lin Changning took out the official seal from his pocket, wrote a report, stamped it with his seal, and had Qingwei bring out a carrier pigeon. He then put the report into the bamboo tube on the pigeon's leg and released it.
They had taken this place within three days, and the journey had been incredibly smooth. Just as Lin Changning was talking to Old Zhou and Old Zhang, the voices of his personal guards suddenly came from outside.
“Assistant Commissioner, an elder from the city requests an audience.”
Lin Changning raised an eyebrow and looked up at his personal guards outside the door, somewhat puzzled. Why would an old man be requesting an audience with him after just finishing a battle?
With some doubt in his heart, Lin Changning said to the guards at the door, "Let him in."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
