The sounds of fighting, including shouts from hundreds of men, came from the eastern city wall. After a while, the fighting subsided, but then the sounds of battle resumed from the west.
The enemy is launching repeated attacks on Xiping Pass, seemingly without end.
After comforting Su Yuze and Zhao Xiyue, Su Wan came out of the house.
Su Yuze was still just a child, so it was normal for him to be panicked. Although Zhao Xiyue was the daughter of a military family, she had never actually seen a battlefield. She had a responsibility to comfort them.
She was actually quite flustered inside, but she maintained a calm expression on her face. If even she was at a loss, how could she possibly comfort others?
At this point, you have to keep up the act.
Upon entering the courtyard, Lin Qingfeng stepped forward to greet her. Su Wan asked, "How is the situation?"
Lin Qingfeng said, "Reporting to the mistress, General Meng Kuan and his daughter have repelled Wei Shao's army's attack, and our army suffered more than a thousand casualties. The mistress is currently defending against the attack of the Southern Chu army in the west of the city, and the outcome is still unknown."
"Where are the wounded?" Su Wan took out a pair of medical gloves, put them on, and walked outside. "I'll go and treat them."
She couldn't fight on the battlefield, but she could heal the wounded. Wei Jingzhuo needed soldiers to defend against the enemy's attack, and every soldier she saved brought a glimmer of hope.
Lin Qingfeng followed behind her and said, "Mistress... you don't need to go, they've all been killed in action."
"What?" Su Wan stopped at the courtyard gate and turned to look at Lin Qingfeng. "You mean everyone died in battle?"
“We have no one left to replace them,” Lin Qingfeng said, bowing his head. “If the wounded soldiers are brought down from the city walls, the enemy will attack… They all chose to fight to the death on the spot; no one is willing to come down.”
"I understand," Su Wan said softly. "Is the escape ladder ready?"
Xiping Pass is located at a vital east-west transportation route, with mountain ranges on both the north and south sides that are impassable by carriages and horses, stretching for hundreds of miles and even more rugged than the mountains in southern Youzhou. She had already planned that if the enemy army breached the city, Lin Qingfeng would lead everyone to scale the north city wall and escape into the mountains.
Lin Qingfeng said, "Everything is already set up, and General Meng's family has been notified."
Su Wan nodded, thinking to herself, "Ah Jin tricked General Meng's family from Shangjing into coming here in order to seize Xiping Pass. If I can't protect them properly, I'll be letting down General Meng and my sworn sister."
She did this secretly, without Wei Jingzhuo's knowledge, by instructing Lin Qingfeng to do it; it wasn't for her own sake.
There was absolutely no way Wei Jingzhuo could escape, and she decided to stay with him. This escape route was reserved for General Meng's family, as well as Su Yuze and Zhao Xiyue.
Knowing that the escape route had been set up, she felt a little more at ease and walked out, with Lin Qingfeng following behind her.
“When the enemy occupies any part of the city wall, take my younger brother and Xiyue and run. If they don’t listen, use force. Remember, General Meng’s family is also there.”
Lin Qingfeng did not continue following her.
She turned around and saw Lin Qingfeng kneeling on the ground.
"Why are you kneeling?" She turned around and stood in front of Lin Qingfeng. "Get up."
Lin Qingfeng did not get up, but said, "Mistress, I want to stay and protect you and the Lord. Let someone else do this. The city has fallen. I will lead the way and perhaps we can fight our way out."
Su Wan smiled and shook her head: "There are thousands of troops outside. I'll be very happy if you can protect these people and help them escape safely. I don't trust anyone else with this task. You are our most trusted guard. Can you do it?"
With tears in his eyes, Lin Qingfeng slowly nodded and said, "I will sacrifice myself to protect the young master and young lady."
Su Wan said, "Get up quickly."
Just as Lin Qingfeng stood up, the sounds of battle erupted again from the east of the city, even more intense than before. Su Wan was startled and looked towards the east of the city.
Over there, Meng Kuan and his daughter are leading 2,500 defenders against Wei Shao's army's attack. Didn't they just repel them? Why is Wei Shao's army attacking again so quickly?
She said to Lin Qingfeng, "Go back and protect my younger brother and the others. I'm going to check on them."
After saying that, she ran towards the east side of the city.
As she drew closer to the eastern city wall, the shouts of battle grew louder, interspersed with the sounds of swords and shields clashing. She could clearly hear that these sounds were coming from the city wall.
She suddenly stopped.
The shouts of battle were coming from the city walls. Had Wei Shao's army already stormed the city walls?
Several soldiers wrapped in blood-stained bandages carried a person out from behind a high pile of rubble on a stretcher. When they saw her standing there in a daze, one of the soldiers shouted, "Madam, come quickly! General Meng has been shot by an arrow!"
Su Wan was taken aback and rushed to the stretcher.
Meng Kuan lay on the stretcher, his armor covered in blood, whether from the enemy or himself, it was unclear. His eyes were tightly closed, his face stained with blood. An arrow was lodged in his neck, the arrowhead embedded in his flesh. As the stretcher swayed, blood continued to seep out, trickling down the arrow shaft.
"How could this happen!" She pressed on the bleeding site and first checked Meng Kuan's carotid artery, which still had a faint pulse.
A soldier, panting, said, "The enemy...the enemy army has stormed the city walls. The general has killed more than forty men, but he was hit by an arrow. Miss has asked us to carry him down to you for treatment."
Su Wan pointed to a courtyard next door: "Quickly carry the general inside."
Meng Ruliu was fighting a bloody battle with the enemy on the city wall, so she couldn't go to find her; she had to treat Meng Kuan as soon as possible.
The group carried Meng Kuan into the courtyard and put him down. She quickly took out the relevant equipment and said to one of the guards who looked relatively energetic, "Go find Guard Lin right away and tell him to proceed according to plan!"
Then she said to another soldier who had lost an arm, "Go quickly to the west city and tell Ah Jin that the east city is about to fall."
In the battle just now, more than a thousand soldiers have died. There are at most 1,500 soldiers left on the east city wall. Meng Kuan has also been hit by an arrow, so it is probably impossible to hold the city.
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