Chapter 375 Collapse
In a house under the city wall of Leshan County, Doctor Hua was treating the wound on Shen Lan's forehead.
Xiao Beiheng brought in the Tiger Crouching Cannon and bombarded Leshan's walls until late at night. Some shells soared high into the towers, one of which shattered a pillar and collapsed a corner of the tower. Chen Lan, caught below, was unable to dodge, and a falling beam crushed her prosthetic hand, while flying rocks slashed her forehead.
While the Tiger Crouching Cannon was being reloaded, Qiang Lin and others moved the beam, pulled her out, and sent her down the city wall for treatment.
Doctor Hua stood behind her, bandaging her forehead. He said, "The wound isn't deep, so it doesn't need stitches. But it might leave a scar after it heals. Is there anything else I can treat?"
Chen Lan smiled and was about to speak when a muffled thud was heard outside, followed by several more thuds, as if a giant were pounding on the city wall with his fists. The whole house shook, dust fluttered from the ceiling, and the lights flickered. Doctor Hua was prepared and held onto the table next to him to stop.
That was the result of the Tiger Crouching Cannon's shells hitting the city wall.
After the noise died down, Chen Lan smiled and raised his dented prosthetic hand, saying, "My hand was pressed by the beam... but it shouldn't need treatment."
Doctor Hua stood up straight, glanced at Tie Shou, shook his head and smiled: "Should this be considered unfortunate or fortunate?"
"My sister once said that fortune and misfortune go hand in hand," Shen Lan stood up and bowed to Doctor Hua, "I'm going to help my brother-in-law defend the city."
Doctor Hua nodded without saying anything else and said to the sergeant waiting outside the door, "Next."
Chen Lan walked out of the house, walked through the crowd of people supporting the injured, and walked towards the city wall along the dusty street. After taking a few steps, there were several more thudding sounds and the ground began to shake. She was unsteady on her feet, swayed back and forth twice, and then fell to her knees.
She stood up, holding onto a nearby rock, and took a deep breath. The air was thick with the smell of gunpowder, like the aftermath of New Year's fireworks. However, this smell wasn't festive at all, but rather deadly. The night sky was obscured by thick smoke, making the stars invisible. The city streets were littered with houses collapsed by the Tiger Crouching Cannon.
When she was the eldest daughter of the Duke's Mansion and had to endure the humiliation from Xiao Kai, she never thought that she would become what she is today and face such a difficult situation. But now she is no longer as cowardly as before.
Several passing Xiliang soldiers ran over, holding rocks, raised their shields, and surrounded her, saying, "Master Military Advisor, there are flying stones everywhere. Let us escort you."
Shen Lan nodded, stood up, and asked, "Are the Queen and Prince An still on the city wall?"
A sergeant said, "Master Military Advisor, the Queen and the others are hiding on the horse path. The Tiger Crouching Cannon's shells can't reach them. We sealed the city gate with stones this afternoon, unless the enemy can bring down the city wall."
At this time, another group of soldiers came. They raised their shields above their heads to prevent the broken stones from hurting people, and escorted Chen Lan to the city wall.
Xiao Zhuo, Mei Dai, and other generals all stood close to the wall's horse racetrack, which was right next to the wall. This way, even if a cannonball flew over the wall, it would only fly into the city and not hurt them. The defending soldiers also followed their example, holding their weapons and standing close to the wall.
Chen Lan ran up to Xiao Zhuo and said, "Brother-in-law, can we go up the city wall now?"
Xiao Zhuo raised his finger and shook it, saying, "Sister, it's too dangerous to be on the city wall right now. We could easily be hit by the Tiger Crouching Cannon's shells. As long as they're firing, the soldiers won't dare come. There's no need to go up on the city wall to observe."
Mei Dai's mask was covered in a thick layer of dust, and her bloodshot eyes shone brightly. She said to Shen Lan, "Your forehead is injured. You should go to the county government office to rest."
Shen Lan said: “My brother-in-law and the queen are here, how can I hide in the back…I don’t know where my sister is now.”
Mei Dai turned to look at Xiao Zhuo and said with a smile, "Your brother-in-law is also worried about Sister Yuexi. I advised him to consider the present first. The artillery bombardment is non-stop. If he wants to go find Sister Yuexi, he must first defend the city."
Just as Xiao Zhuo was about to reply, another loud noise came from the city wall. The sound was so deafening that it made everyone fall down and unable to stand.
"That sound is wrong," Qiu Liming, who was not far away, climbed up and pointed at the city wall and shouted, "My lord, look quickly."
Everyone turned to look at the city wall and discovered a massive crack in the dusty structure, wide enough for an adult to enter and reaching the ground. This was the exact section of the wall that the Leshan prefect had failed to repair. Under the constant bombardment of the shells, the bricks had finally loosened and cracked.
"The city wall is about to collapse!" Xiao Zhuo shouted, waving to the soldiers who were still stunned under the city wall, "Get out of there quickly."
Nearly a hundred soldiers were still standing beneath the cracks in the wall, all looking up. After hearing Xiao Zhuo's warning, they all ran away. As soon as they were gone, there were several more loud bangs, and bricks fell to the ground like rain.
But when the smoke cleared, Chen Lan looked at the crack and found that that section of the city wall had completely collapsed. The rubble had piled up into a small hill, revealing a huge gap that was big enough for two carriages to run side by side. Through this gap, she could even see the lights of the enemy camp opposite.
Xiao Zhuo stood up and shouted, "Soldiers, the enemy is about to attack. General Qiu and Military Advisor Shen will lead the crossbowmen to the city walls to defend. King Qianglin will lead the infantry to block the breach. Queen Meidai will lead the army to support. If King Qianglin cannot hold out, replace him immediately."
Everyone responded and began to take action.
Chen Lan climbed to the top of the city wall and saw several fire dragons surging out from the enemy camp, winding their way toward the breach in the wall. They were Xiao Beiheng's infantry. He must have seen the wall collapse and launched his troops into the attack. The enemy's fire was densely packed, and the cries of killing were deafening. Under the pitch-black night sky, it looked like thousands of glowing fireflies swooping down.
"Sister, this is the final battle," Shen Lan looked towards Jutie Mountain. "If we can stop the enemy's attack, we sisters will have a chance to meet again. If we can't, we will meet again in the next life."
She and Qiang Lin led the crossbowmen on either side of the breach in the city wall. As the enemy infantry charged forward, the crossbowmen fired their crossbows at the charging enemy, firing ten bolts at a time. After firing, they immediately retreated to reload. The crossbowmen in the second row stepped forward to continue firing.
Chen Lan leaned against the battlement and watched as the enemy troops charging in the front instantly dropped hundreds of corpses. The enemy troops behind them continued to charge over the dead in front, while firing their bows at the crossbowmen on the city wall. The enemy army was in the tens of thousands, and the arrows were flying like locusts. The infantrymen standing beside the crossbowmen, holding large shields, immediately blocked the crossbowmen's way with their large shields.
The enemy's arrows hit the shields, making a dense sound like countless moths flapping their wings, forcing the crossbowmen to hide behind their large shields. The enemy infantry took the opportunity to rush to the gap in the city wall, shouting and pouring into the gap.
Qiang Lin grasped his sword, raised his shield, and shouted, "Kill them all." He then charged forward. Behind him, the Western Rong soldiers also drew their swords and rushed towards the enemy who had rushed into the gap.
The two sides began to fight at the gap in the city wall, swords clashed, and screams were heard everywhere.
Qiu Liming ordered twenty crossbowmen to the edge of the gap and fired at the enemy troops below. Chen Lan, on the opposite side of the gap, followed suit. A total of forty crossbowmen on both sides fired crossbow arrows at the enemy troops inside the gap.
After only half an hour of fierce fighting, the enemy corpses in the gap piled up into a mountain.
The general reported the battle situation to Xiao Beiheng: "Your Majesty, the enemy defended desperately, and we suffered more than 3,000 casualties and were unable to break in."
Xiao Beiheng was initially excited when he saw a section of Leshan's city wall collapse, but upon hearing the general's report, he suddenly became furious. The failure of the attack two days ago was fine, but now that the city wall was broken, they still couldn't attack. What a bunch of losers.
He drew his Yanque sword and pointed it at the general: "Full force, set up ladders and attack the city overnight. If you fail to capture Leshan by sunrise, you will be punished by military law."
The general fled away with his head in his hands.
With Xiao Beiheng's death order, the generals had no choice but to attack with all their might. The corpses under the Leshan city wall were piled up layer by layer, several feet high.
Xiao Zhuo's crossbowmen, who were responsible for guarding the city walls, also suffered heavy casualties. Of the 5,000, only 700 remained, and all their crossbows were used up. Without the crossbows' attack, the enemy swarmed the city walls, erected dozens of ladders, and began to scale the city walls.
Xiao Beiheng personally came to the front to supervise the battle. When he first saw the stones and wood raining down from the top of the city wall, he thought it was not going well. But when he saw that the soldiers on his side had forced their way onto the city wall and started fighting with the defenders on the top of the city wall, he couldn't help but feel ecstatic.
The enemy was unable to stop him from climbing the city wall, which meant that they could no longer hold on. Dawn was already appearing in the east, and a great victory was just around the corner.
He called over his generals and said, "Victory is at hand. All troops, charge forward."
The generals received the order and the entire army went out, turning into a sea of people under Leshan City. Leshan City was like an isolated island in the sea, constantly bearing the impact of the sea water.
Xiao Beiheng was extremely excited when a man rushed up to him on horseback. He fell off his horse, crawled to him, and grabbed the hem of his clothes.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, we've been deceived. The border troops have already wiped out the Iron Pagoda, and they're coming to attack us!"
Xiao Beiheng looked down and saw the embarrassed Lin Kui. He didn't understand what was going on and asked, "What deception?"
Lin Kui cried out, "That Shen Yuexi deceived us. The Iron Pagoda soldiers the messenger saw in the main camp were all frontier troops in disguise! General You was already killed in battle."
"What?"
Xiao Beiheng took a step back and stayed where he was.
He never expected that, despite being so smart all his life, he would be tricked by this girl Shen Yuexi.
A loud trumpet sounded from the east, and an army of about 35,000 men appeared on the horizon, with the flag of Zhao Mu and the leading general Wei Liang.
Wei Liang looked at the huge enemy force in front of Leshan City, the collapsed section of the Leshan City Wall, and the piles of corpses at the foot of the wall. He was terrified. He rode his horse, raised his gun, and shouted: "Men of the border army, the opportunity to make a name for yourself is right before your eyes. March!"
The border troops responded with a roar and began to advance towards Leshan City.
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