Chapter 106
He ignored the person in front of him, and suddenly glanced at him coldly.
Just then a gust of cold wind blew, and Gongsun Yin didn't know whether it was the wind or the look in his eyes, but he suddenly felt a chill on his back.
He quickly turned his gaze towards the distant city tower, waved his feather fan twice, and changed the subject, "The rebels on the city tower have been completely defeated by the crossbowmen. We can now attack the city!"
Xie Zhengyi retracted his gaze and once again looked at the towers of Kangcheng, which were slightly lowered by the thunderclouds. He uttered two words from his thin lips: "Attack the city."
The herald beside him received his instructions, climbed onto the temporary platform in the middle of the battle array, and shouted: "Attack the city——"
The deployed army array extended all the way to the open field outside the gates of Cannes. Military orders could not be transmitted that far just by shouting. After hearing the order, a hundred or so flag officers in front of the array raised their flags and rode their horses along a small path left in the array for people and horses to travel together, and rushed to the neatly arranged square arrays in the back, shouting: "Attack the city——"
For a moment, below the tower of Cannes, one could see the black iron army advancing like a tide with overwhelming force. In the dark army formation, the scarlet flags were rolling in the black waves like dragons. The sounds of fighting were so loud that the low-hanging thunderclouds in the sky seemed to sink a little. The tower of Cannes in the distance seemed to have become a frail boat in the surging black water army that could be overturned by a wave.
The morale of the defenders on the city wall had already been crushed by the previous wave of arrows that rained down like locusts. Now, seeing the Yanzhou army rushing towards them like wolves and tigers below, they were so scared that their faces turned pale.
Even though the Yanzhou army had entered the arrow shooting range of the tower, no one on the tower reacted and shot.
There was only one thought in everyone's mind: It's over.
There is no need to fight this battle anymore!
Sui Yuanqing was so angry that he drew his sword and chopped down the archer closest to him, shouting, "What are you standing there for? Shoot!"
The guards on the city wall then tried to shoot arrows with weak hands and feet, but their hands were shaking so badly that they could hardly pull the bow. They managed to release a few arrows, but they fell to the ground before they went a few feet away, and were completely harmless.
The deputy general had witnessed several large-scale battles, but he was still frightened when he saw the Yanzhou army rushing in like a tide below the city wall.
The end of the army formation seemed to be connected to the dark thunderclouds in the sky that were about to fall down, making people feel that the whole Cannes was wrapped in this darkness.
Not to mention the soldiers under him, even he himself felt weak in the calves and had no will to fight at all.
He passed several archers who were trembling as they shot arrows at the battlements, and found Sui Yuanqing, saying in panic, "Sir, Kangcheng is definitely no longer safe. I will help you retreat quickly. As long as we have a safe place, we will have a better chance of survival!"
Sui Yuanqing turned his dark and gloomy eyes coldly and stared at the deputy general like a dead object: "Retreat? Where else can we retreat to?"
The deputy general's beard twitched, and his eyes wandered, not daring to meet Sui Yuanqing's gaze. He knew that apart from Chongzhou, the Sui family had only Kangcheng as their only escape route.
The fact that he was going to cover Yuan Qing's retreat was fake; the real reason was that he didn't want to lose his life in vain in this battle which was bound to be lost.
Sui Yuanqing seemed to have seen through his thoughts, and suddenly put the sword that had just chopped down the archer on the deputy general's neck.
The cold sword blade, still covered in sticky blood, hit the skin on the side of his neck. Countless goose bumps appeared on the deputy general's neck almost instantly, and fear appeared in his eyes.
After Yuan Qing took over Cannes, he had been under his command for some time and knew that Yuan Qing was always moody and would kill anyone when he went crazy.
His reaction obviously pleased Sui Yuanqing, who looked at him and smiled, his voice sounding gentle yet sinister: "General Ma, if you continue to say something like this that will disturb the morale of our army, I will chop off your head."
The deputy general knew Sui Yuanqing's strength. Even if he couldn't defend Kangcheng, it would be more than enough to take his life before the city fell. He immediately expressed his loyalty: "Even if I die, I will die on this tower. I am just worried about the safety of the prince!"
He spoke in a high-sounding manner, and Sui Yuanqing did not want to delve into the truth of it any further. He just looked at him with a mocking look and said, "General Ma is loyal and brave. This prince is very pleased. Command the soldiers to defend the city."
The deputy general escaped death by the knife's edge, feeling relieved, and quickly clasped his hands and left.
As Yuan Qing turned his head and continued to look at the battlefield below, he could no longer maintain the slight sneer on his face. The veins on his hands, which were resting on the stone bricks at the battlement of the city wall, bulged, and his jaw was clenched tightly.
Xie Zheng was probably the only person from ancient times to the present who could attack a city before a thunderstorm and create such a massive array.
Anyone who has read some military books knows that large-scale sieges cannot be fought in heavy rain, as strong winds and rain will greatly reduce the range and damage of arrowheads.
But Xie Zheng did the exact opposite, and succeeded.
The range of the bow and arrow would be limited by the strong wind before the rainstorm, so he used a pedal crossbow which had a longer range and greater power than the bow and arrow.
Dark clouds were pressing down on the city, and the military formation of the Yanzhou Army was like a black ocean. With the help of the natural force, the visual impact alone was enough to scare the defenders of Kangcheng.
The best strategy in military strategy has always been to attack the heart.
Before this battle, he had never imagined that someone could use the strategy of attacking the heart so simply, directly, and brilliantly.
In the past, he had always been dissatisfied with Xie Zheng, thinking that Xie Zheng was just a few years older than him, and that it was because of the reputation left by his father Xie Linshan in the army and the opportunities he had on the battlefield that he was able to achieve those military achievements.
If he were to go in the same position, he would not do worse than Xie Zheng.
But after several fights, the sense of fate and frustration in his heart became stronger and stronger.
He will never be able to become Xie Zheng in his lifetime.
He has achieved what he has today by learning the art of war, but Xie Zheng is the one who can create more art of war.
The thing that makes people most envied and most powerless in this world is that one percent of talent that cannot be surpassed even with one hundred percent of effort.
The Yanzhou army had arrived at the foot of the city and put ladders on the city wall. The defenders on the city towers panicked and fired arrows and threw boulders, but they were blocked by the round shields made of fine steel made by the Yanzhou army climbing the ladders.
At the city gate, dozens of men were holding siege hammers and shouting orders as they rammed the gate. The defenders above were holding up logs and stones and smashing them down. However, the Yanzhou soldiers gathered their round shields together to protect the soldiers holding the siege hammers, forming a semi-arc-shaped huge iron shell.
The rocks thrown from the tower hit the shields and then rolled to the ground, and the Yanzhou army below the tower suffered almost no casualties.
Sui Yuanqing looked at all this coldly like an outsider. After putting aside all jealousy, hatred and unwillingness, he almost wanted to praise this siege as perfect.
A general on horseback should die on the battlefield. If he died in such a battle, Sui Yuanqing would even feel a sense of relief and liberation in his heart.
After a loud bang, the city gate was finally knocked open. The deputy general, his face covered in blood, pushed aside the panicked guards on the city wall, found Sui Yuanqing, and knelt down in front of him, "Prince, the city gate is broken, Kangcheng can no longer be defended!"
The drizzle was getting heavier. Sui Yuanqing turned his head slightly, looked at him and smiled casually, saying only two words: "Get lost."
The deputy general didn't understand what he meant, but Sui Yuanqing had already taken his weapon from the personal soldiers and walked calmly and leisurely towards the bottom of the city wall against the flow of people, among the defenders who were jumping around like headless flies.
The deputy general looked at his back and sighed, wondering if this man had gone crazy.
-
Once the city gate was breached, the defenders in the city fled in panic.
The originally fine drizzle like cow hair slowly turned into bean-sized raindrops, falling very sparsely from the dark clouds in the sky.
Xie Zheng rode into the city with a dozen of his personal guards and met Yuan Qing in Wengcheng.
Sui Yuanqing stood there alone, holding a spear. Under his horse's hooves lay the bodies of more than a dozen Yanzhou soldiers. The spear in his hand was dripping with undried blood. He looked at Xie Zheng provocatively and said, "Xie family bastard, do you dare to come here to die?"
Xie Zheng's personal guards showed anger on their faces and could not help but urge their horses forward, but were stopped by Xie Zheng's swung long spear.
He said calmly, "Back off."
Dozens of guards looked at each other and retreated several feet.
Seeing this, Sui Yuanqing's eyes became even more bloodthirsty and excited. He grabbed the spear in his hand, squeezed the horse's belly hard, shouted loudly, and rushed towards Xie Zheng to kill.
This attack of his, taking advantage of the momentum of his horse, was almost unstoppable.
But Xie Zheng just stood there on his horse, not moving at all. The Dayuan black-hoofed horse he was riding had fought with him on the battlefield for many years, so it was not frightened at all when it saw this scene.
When Yuan Qing's weapon was about to reach him, Xie Zheng raised his halberd to block it.
With a sharp sound that made one's teeth ache, the half-moon-shaped halberd blade at the tip of the halberd firmly stuck to Sui Yuanqing's gun head. The two huge forces collided, and Sui Yuanqing and his horse retreated half a step.
He clenched his teeth and looked grim.
However, before he could pull out his weapon, several handles of the halberds hit his waist and abdomen heavily.
In an instant, Sui Yuanqing felt as if his internal organs were shattered. He flew backwards from the horse's back and spurted out a mouthful of blood.
When he fell to the ground, his vision went dark and he saw double.
When only bean-sized raindrops fell on my face, I could still feel a little cool.
The flag with the Chinese character "随" on it on the city wall was chopped down by the Yanzhou army who had attacked the city wall. The strong wind blew the flag down to Xie Zheng's horse.
The horse's hooves stepped forward mercilessly, and the halberd with dark golden dragon patterns pressed against Sui Yuanqing's neck.
Xie Zheng held the halberd in one hand, and looked down at him from his horseback, his eyes were as indifferent as looking at an ant: "Your Highness, have you practiced martial arts for more than ten years, just by talking?"
Sui Yuanqing ignored the taunting. His mouth was full of blood. He looked at the blurry figure in front of him that was as unreachable as a mountain. He smiled happily and said, "Kill me. Give me a quick death."
Xie Zheng looked at him coldly, but he retracted his halberd and ordered his personal guards behind him: "Tie him up and take him back."
The guards stepped forward to drag Yuan Qing away. He screamed, "Xie Zheng, if I have to die, I'd rather die by your sword. Those executioners are not worthy of chopping off my head!"
The raindrops became more and more dense, leaving pea-sized watermarks on the bricks on the ground.
Xie Zheng had already taken a few steps forward on his horse. Hearing this, he turned his head and glanced at him, saying coldly, "There is someone. If you meet the prince, maybe you won't be so anxious to die."
Sui Yuanqing was quickly tied up and taken away by the guards.
Gongsun Yinshan arrived late and used a feather fan to shield her head from the increasingly dense raindrops. She sighed and said, "Is it true that Cannes was taken as soon as the thunderstorm started?"
Xie Zheng ignored him and continued to drive into the city, instructing his officers: "After the army enters the city, it must not cause harm to the people."
All the generals clasped their fists in response.
…
The thunderclouds that gathered over Cannes eventually turned into a rainstorm that lasted all day and all night.
Candles were burning brightly in the room. Xie Zheng was shirtless, and his firm skin texture looked even more distinct under the dim candlelight.
There was a long oblique wound on his back that ran across the entire length of his back. The wound was scabbed over at the beginning and end, but the middle part was cracked. The dark brown scab and bright red flesh were mixed together, which looked particularly hideous.
He didn't even take any medicine, he just tore off a clean white cloth and wrapped it around himself. He was in so much pain that cold sweat broke out on his forehead, but he didn't even blink.
The clothes that had been changed were piled in a mess on a low table nearby. Among them, a crudely carved wooden figure with proudly raised eyes was particularly eye-catching.
The door was pushed open unexpectedly, and Gongsun Yin came to report to him excitedly: "I took that Zhao to see Sui Yuanqing, you didn't know..."
He stopped talking abruptly, looked at Xie Zheng's bloody back, frowned and asked: "When did you get hurt so badly?"
Xie Zheng's face was extremely cold. He rolled up the gauze and tied a knot himself, then put on his outer robe and said, "I got hurt when I caught Zhao Wen."
Gongsun Yin was very surprised: "How can the Zhao family afford such powerful guards?"
Xie Zheng changed the subject directly: "How is Sui Yuanqing doing?"
Gongsun Yin no longer had the excitement he had before, and only said, "I don't want to die anymore. I just want to go back to Chongzhou to kill his fake brother and save his mother."
After he finished speaking, he actually talked about Xie Zheng's injuries again. He glanced at the short guy and didn't see the medicine bottle. His brows furrowed even deeper and he asked Xie Zheng: "Your back is so broken? You don't want to take medicine?"
He asked suspiciously, "I've always felt that you were acting strange this time around. Could it be that you had a quarrel with Miss Fan again?"
Xie Zheng suddenly gave the order to leave in a cold voice: "If you have nothing else to do, please leave."
Gongsun Yin was stunned, then realized that he had guessed correctly. He seldom saw Xie Zheng look so unhappy, and thought that he might have caused some big conflict, so he no longer had the mood to make fun of him.
After many years of friendship, he knew the man's temperament well, so he didn't say much at this moment. He just glanced at the doll on the low table when he left the room.
There wouldn't be such an ugly decoration in Xie Zheng's room. He probably brought it back from Chongzhou this time.
After walking out of the door for a long time, Gongsun Yin finally replaced a personal soldier, who muttered to him: "You go to Chongzhou..."
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