Chapter 344 The food is gone, the formation is broken, but aren't there still people?
Guo Xin looked at the tightly closed city gates, then glanced at Meng Hao beside him, his eyes seeming to say, "Xiao Mo promised to open the city gates at Chenshi (7-9 AM)."
Meng Hao looked somewhat embarrassed. He stepped forward and, with the aid of his spiritual power, shouted towards the city wall, "Frost King! The appointed time has arrived. Why don't you come out and meet me?"
Meng Hao's voice echoed across the fields below the city walls.
A moment later, Li Jing walked up to the city wall and said to Meng Hao and the others, "My general suddenly fell ill with a cold yesterday and asked me to tell General Guo that it would be impolite for him to receive guests in his weak state. Please wait a couple of days, and once my general recovers, he will personally open the city gates to see you to apologize for the neglect."
Hearing Li Jing's words, Guo Xin frowned, gripped the reins tightly with both hands, and his chest heaved violently with anger.
Can cultivators at the Golden Core stage contract cold-related illnesses?
What is Xiao Mo talking about?!
And we'll have to wait two more days!
I can wait two more days, but can Biyue City wait that long?
At this moment, Guo Xin knew perfectly well that it was all just a scheme by Xiao Mo.
Yanmen Pass never considered surrendering.
He's just using every means to buy time!
Enraged beyond measure, Guo Xin said nothing more. He stared at Yanmen Pass like a wolf and waved his hand, "All troops, attack the city! We will fight Yanmen Pass to the death!"
The siege has begun again.
With less than eight days left and having been tricked by Xiao Mo, many Wei generals were extremely angry and launched an even more reckless attack on the city.
But for Xiao Mo, there were only eight days left in the thirty-day defense of the city. Dawn was just around the corner. This glimmer of hope held the last breath of all the soldiers in the city. How could their will to defend the city be weaker than before?
Before long, the "sickly" Xiao Mo once again went up to the city wall to continue commanding the battle and fighting against the Wei army.
Seeing Xiao Mo's appearance, Guo Xin was so angry that he wished he could personally climb the city wall and cut off Xiao Mo's head.
In the following days, Guo Xin no longer cared about casualties.
If Yanmen Pass is not breached, and the remaining eleven cities in the south are lost, Wei will be completely on the defensive. What do these casualties matter then?
Guo Xin divided his 500,000-strong army into five groups, taking turns attacking the city and giving Yanmen Pass no chance to catch its breath.
In other words, due to the terrain of Yanmen Pass, it could not accommodate a large army to attack the city.
Otherwise, Guo Xin even wanted to request another 500,000 troops as reinforcements, with a million troops directly drowning Xiao Mo!
Under the onslaught of the Wei army, Xiao Mo supervised the battle day and night without eating a single meal, constantly deploying troops and coordinating troop rotations.
Fortunately, Xiao Mo also managed to recruit more than 10,000 men at Yanmen Pass.
Although these more than 10,000 men were from the State of Wei, the people suffered greatly because of the inhumane rule of the successive city lords and the exorbitant taxes imposed by the rulers of Wei. In stark contrast, Xiao Mo's benevolent act of distributing porridge every day and forbidding a single soldier from harassing the people stood out.
They felt it was better to let Yanmen Pass return to the State of Wei and continue their previous animalistic lifestyle.
Why not join General Xiao and take a gamble!
Moreover, if I really help General Xiao defend it, wouldn't the rewards from Qin be generous?
In addition, in order to motivate the soldiers.
Every day, Xiao Mo had people draw tally marks on the city walls.
These upright characters record the number of days the city was defended, and a horizontal line is drawn for each day that passes.
Many soldiers, seeing the nearly six tally marks written on the paper, felt that if they could just hold on a little longer, they would be able to get through this.
When there were five days left until the 30th.
The city's food supplies are almost exhausted.
In the past, soldiers fought on half-full stomachs, which was already difficult enough.
But now the food distributed daily is not even enough to fill them halfway, not to mention the Wei Kingdom's relentless offensive day and night.
Within the city of Yanmen Pass are several desolate mountains. All the wild fruits, wild animals, and ferocious beasts on these mountains have been completely wiped out; not even a single rat can be seen.
Many leaves and grass roots on the mountain were also pulled bare, then boiled and eaten.
Because of food shortages, Xiao Mo would often seize the opportunity to lead the Snow-Treading Dragon Riders out of the city to fight the enemy, covering the soldiers as they dragged the dead warhorses back to the city.
Some of the soldiers of the Snow-Treading Dragon Riders ate the Snow-Treading Horses that had died on the battlefield. As they ate, tears streamed down their faces, but even so, they had to chew hard and swallow quickly.
The porridge that the people in the city were drinking had become thinner and thinner every day, and the original oil and fat had long since disappeared.
But they didn't say anything. They all knew how difficult things were for the Northern Wilderness Army, and they were already lucky to have food to eat.
In battles of this magnitude that have been fought in the past, some generals no longer considered the city's inhabitants as human beings, but rather as food.
However, General Xiao still provided food for them every day, so although they were very hungry, they were not about to die.
Even Li Jing, who had experienced many battles, felt despair upon seeing this scene.
Only five days left.
But these five days really felt so long.
Can I really make it through these last five days?
Two more days have passed.
There are only three days left until the 30-day deadline.
At this point, the grain supplies were completely exhausted.
Most fatally, the defensive formation of Yanmen Pass was on the verge of collapse under the enemy's fierce offensive.
Once the great formation at Yanmen Pass is broken, it means that the enemy cultivators can launch an attack from the air.
If Xiao Mo were to remain in the city at this point, it would be tantamount to waiting for his death.
Late at night on the twenty-ninth day of the defense of the city.
Inside the death row at Yanmen Pass, Xiao Mo arrived in front of a cell.
Covered in dust and stained with blood, Xiao Mo sat cross-legged on the ground, drinking strong liquor sip by sip.
Lian Li looked at Xiao Mo. Although he looked extremely tired, his eyes were still as clear as lake water.
"Is this wine really that good?" Lian Li asked.
"It's alright." Xiao Mo nodded calmly. "Once we get to the underworld, there probably won't be any more wine to drink."
Hearing Xiao Mo's words, Lian Li, the former city lord of Horseshoe City, was slightly taken aback: "Yanmen Pass can't hold on anymore?"
“The food is all gone, and the city's protective formation has reached its limit. There’s no point in continuing to hold out.” After finishing his sweet potato, Xiao Mo stood up, took out the key, and opened the cell.
Even with the cell door open, Lian Li still stood inside looking at Xiao Mo, her expression showing no joy whatsoever.
"You can leave now."
Xiao Mo threw the key on the ground and turned to walk out of the cell.
"Xiao Mo! As you said, we've run out of food, the formation has been broken, and the soldiers are exhausted. The city will surely fall today. How will you defend it?" Lian Li clenched her fists and shouted at Xiao Mo's back.
"The food is gone, the battle lines are broken, but aren't there still people left?"
Xiao Mo's words came from behind him.
Xiao Mo walked out of the dungeon.
On the thirtieth day, the rising sun had already dyed the sky red, like the endless plains below the city soaked in blood.
(End of this chapter)
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