Several days later.
Outside Yunzhou City, banners fluttered and drums thundered.
Chang Yuchun, the deputy marshal of the Longcheng army and general in charge of the southern expedition, wearing bright armor and a ring-pommel sword at his waist, stood proudly on his horse outside Yunzhou City.
Behind them was the entire Longcheng Expeditionary Army, which had come out in full force, with even the supply troops and auxiliary soldiers equipped with weapons, and they attacked the city together with the main army.
Today, Chang Yuchun is about to launch a general offensive against Yunzhou City, which has been besieged for several days and whose morale has plummeted to rock bottom. He is determined to capture the city in one fell swoop and is determined to succeed.
Chen Huai'an, the Prince of Jin, who was facing off against the Turkic enemy at Panlong Pass, a strategic pass in the northern part of the country, had previously sent an urgent message to Chang Yuchun to expedite the attack on the city.
They captured Yunzhou, beheaded the enemy's commander, and completely crushed the enemy's morale.
In reality, Chen Huai'an hoped that Chang Yuchun would take Yunzhou City as soon as possible so that he could accumulate system points to exchange for troops and weapons to attack Shuobei City.
Since Liang Erhu, the vanguard commander of the Yunhui Army, betrayed his country and colluded with the Turkic barbarians, refusing to leave the city to fight, Chen Huai'an and the Longcheng Northern Expeditionary Army lost their advantage in manpower and tactics, and were no longer able to defeat the enemy one by one.
Neither the Ironclad Cavalry of Dragon City, nor the Black Armored Army, nor the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry were adept at siege warfare.
Using cavalry to attack a city is like using an anti-aircraft gun to kill a mosquito—a waste of effort and no reward.
Chen Huai'an wouldn't be foolish enough to use the tens of thousands of infantrymen he had left to launch a strong attack on a city defended by 200,000 enemy troops.
Therefore, they could only set up camp at the natural barrier of Panlong Pass to prevent the Turkic barbarians' cavalry from going south and harming the people.
They only waited for Chang Yuchun's Southern Expeditionary Army to break through Yunzhou and annihilate the Yunhui Army defending the city before summoning elite infantry to launch a strong attack on Shuobei City.
Unlike the Longcheng Northern Expeditionary Army, which was locked in a stalemate with the Turkic enemy, the Longcheng Southern Expeditionary Army, led by Chang Yuchun, never ceased its siege warfare during this period. The tall and sturdy city walls of Yunzhou were blasted into ruins by the catapults of the Longcheng Southern Expeditionary Army.
They even had a head-on clash with the defending army led by Wu Qingyun, the commander of the Yunhui Army, outside Yunzhou City.
It was that tough battle that brought the morale of the Yunzhou garrison to rock bottom and once again beheaded their commander, Wu Qingyun.
At this moment, Wu Qingyun, the commander of the Yunhui Army, was also "sitting" on the city tower of Qingyuan Gate (North Gate) in Yunzhou City, directing the operation.
He was in command without reservation, sitting in a wheelchair to keep the soldiers defending the city in check, forbidding them from laying down their weapons and surrendering.
A few days ago, Wu Qingyun attempted to turn the tide of the battle and boost the morale of the defending troops, so he personally led 50,000 troops out of the city to charge into battle, wanting to give Chang Yuchun, who was besieging the city, a taste of his power.
As a result, under repeated blows, the prematurely aged Wu Qingyun was easily defeated by Chang Yuchun, the most powerful and vigorous general of the Ming Dynasty.
His legs were accidentally trampled by a warhorse, resulting in fractured ankle bones, and he will spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair.
"General, the enemy army is about to attack the city again!"
At this moment, the commander of the personal guards who remained by Wu Qingyun's side looked at the vast, dark army outside the city and continued with a solemn expression:
"General, the enemy's attack on the city today is far more impressive than ever before. It seems they intend to launch a full-scale assault on Yunzhou City!"
Wu Qingyun, sitting in a wheelchair, kept his eyes closed and remained silent.
The commander of the personal guards added, "General, most of the rebel troops are currently concentrated around Qingyuan Gate, while the rebel forces around Anding Gate (South Gate) are weak."
"General, it's still not too late to abandon the city and break out now. Once the enemy begins their attack, it won't be so easy to escape—"
Before the commander of the personal guards could finish speaking, he saw a flash of cold light before his eyes and lost consciousness. His head flew several meters away, leaving only a headless corpse staggering and crashing to the ground.
"General, please calm your anger!"
The next second, dozens of soldiers surrounding Wu Qingyun knelt down and shouted in unison, "General, please calm down!"
Wu Qingyun suddenly opened his eyes, his deep-set, copper-bell-shaped eyes flashing with a fierce light as he surveyed the group of personal guards in front of him.
Then, he slowly raised the sword in his hand that had just slain the commander of his personal guards, and said, word by word, "A great battle is imminent; those who sow discord among our troops shall be executed—"
"Those who are cowardly and afraid of battle, shall be executed—"
"Anyone who surrenders to the rebel army will be executed—"
"Slash, slash, slash—"
For a time, the frantic, incompetent, and irrational roars of General Wu Qingyun echoed throughout the city walls of Yunzhou.
Beneath the city walls, in front of the Longcheng Expeditionary Army.
General Chang Yuchun slowly drew his sword, the cold blade of which, having already accomplished the "hundred-man kill" in just a few days, pointed directly at the walls of Yunzhou City. With a command, he ordered, "Attack the city!"
"Attack the city!"
"Attack the city!"
"Attack the city!"
Hundreds of personal guards roared in unison, spreading the general's order to attack the city throughout the army, and the sound of war drums immediately followed.
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
In an instant, the Longcheng army launched a barrage of arrows, a fierce rain of arrows crashing down on the already dilapidated walls of Yunzhou.
Amidst the rain of arrows, there were also super arrows fired from crossbow carts and stone projectiles launched from catapults, raining down on the walls of Yunzhou.
Under the cover of archers, the supply troops and auxiliary troops carried siege equipment and marched towards Yunzhou City, setting up one flying bridge after another across the wide moat.
Immediately afterwards, countless auxiliary soldiers carrying ladders crossed the flying bridge and the suspension bridge whose cables had already been cut, and erected the ladders on the city wall of Yunzhou City from all directions.
Then, soldiers pushing battering rams crossed the drawbridge and began to destroy the parapets and city walls of Yunzhou.
Next, soldiers pushing siege engines and carrying battering rams crossed the drawbridge one after another, charging towards the two heavy wooden gates of Yunzhou City.
Finally, it was Chang Yuchun's personal command of 20,000 elite infantrymen, all clad in armor, wielding swords in one hand and shields in the other, who resolutely climbed the siege ladders and ascended the city walls.
"Prepare for war!"
"Prepare for war!"
"Prepare for war!"
The walls of Yunzhou City were filled with the desperate cries of the Yunyi Army's defending generals.
The defending soldiers, whose morale had long since vanished, had blank faces and empty eyes, like walking corpses, mechanically repeating the process of picking up rolling stones, logs, and any usable tools and smashing them down the city walls.
Some archers defending the city hid on the crenellations of the city wall, risking being riddled with arrows by the attacking army, and would occasionally peek out to draw their bows and shoot at the attacking soldiers below.
The attacking and defending sides fought fiercely on the city wall, which stretched for miles. Every second, fresh lives were ruthlessly harvested, with people constantly falling and others constantly taking their place.
General Wu Qingyun, sitting in a wheelchair, had long lost his former arrogant and domineering demeanor. His extremely ugly face was completely bloodless, as if he were a man on his deathbed.
At this moment, Wu Qingyun was like an indifferent bystander, half-closing his eyes as he watched the arrows flying all over the sky, ignoring the shouts of battle that echoed in his ears, his mind replaying every little detail of the past.
"Report—"
"General, something terrible has happened! Yongtai Gate (West Gate) has fallen, and Commander Wu Huaiyu has been killed in battle!"
"Report—"
"General, Wuding Gate (East Gate) has fallen, and Commander Chen Kejian has been killed in battle!"
"Report—"
"General, Anding Gate (South Gate) has fallen, and Commander Luo Wenlong is seriously wounded!"
After an unknown amount of time, Wu Qingyun, the unmoved commander of the Yunhui Army, who was sitting in his wheelchair watching the two armies fight on the battlefield, suddenly heard the sound of one city gate after another falling.
The images of the past flashed through his mind like a revolving lantern, which coincided with the fierce battle to defend Yunzhou City at this moment.
Suddenly, Wu Qingyun, who was in a wheelchair, shivered and instantly woke up.
His previously bloodless and ugly face instantly became radiant, and two beams of light suddenly shot out from his turbid, bell-shaped eyes.
In an instant, Wu Qingyun, who was on the verge of death, seemed to suddenly become young again, transforming into the arrogant and domineering General Wu Qingyun, the Tiger General of the Northwest of the Great Xin Dynasty, whom everyone feared.
The next moment, he miraculously stood up from his wheelchair, picked up the precious sword that had accompanied him in his many battles, and marched forward.
Behind him, the more than one hundred personal guards who were protecting Wu Qingyun looked on in disbelief as the general, who had been declared paralyzed by the military doctor, was now charging towards the enemy troops who had climbed the city wall as if nothing had happened.
After a brief moment of stunned silence, the group of personal guards, as if injected with adrenaline, grabbed their swords and followed the general's steps, charging towards the rebel army that had scaled the city walls.
Almost simultaneously, Chang Yuchun, the most valiant general of the Ming Dynasty who had slaughtered the defenders of the city, also carried his sword and fought his way from the south gate to the north gate, where he met Wu Qingyun head-on.
"I am the Northwest General of the Great Xin Dynasty, the Tiger Might General personally appointed by the late Emperor!"
"You traitors have raised an army in rebellion; your intentions are despicable. You should quickly accept your death!"
As Wu Qingyun walked, he shouted as if no one else was around.
Wherever he went, countless Yunhui soldiers were shocked.
Upon seeing this, Chang Yuchun was also taken aback, but quickly came to his senses.
Hahaha!
Chang Yuchun stood blocking Wu Qingyun's path with his sword drawn, and burst into wild laughter.
After laughing, he roared, "Wu Qingyun, your last burst of lucidity lasted quite a while! Stop struggling and give me your life!"
As he spoke, Chang Yuchun swung his knife and slashed.
However, Wu Qingyun did not give him the chance to seize the flag and kill the enemy generals on the battlefield. Before Chang Yuchun's blade could fall, he fell straight down from the city wall.
boom!
With a deafening roar, Wu Qingyun, the once invincible Northwest General of the Great Xin Dynasty and the Tiger General, ended his sinful life in a way that was both reasonable and unexpected.
With their commander falling to his death, the last shred of faith among the Yunhui Army soldiers defending the city crumbled.
Soon, countless people knelt and surrendered on the vast city walls of Yunzhou.
Chang Yuchun climbed to the top of the city wall, raised his hand and swung his sword, cutting down the Yunhui Army's banner that was stuck on the wall.
Then, he took the battle flag of the Longcheng Expeditionary Army from the soldiers and planted it on the city wall of Yunzhou with great power.
As the flags of war changed hands on the city walls, the Battle of Yunzhou, which lasted for half a month, finally came to an end with a complete victory for the Longcheng Southern Expeditionary Army.
......
At the same time, in the Northern Expeditionary Army's camp in Panlong Pass, Shuobei, Prince Chen Huai'an of Jin heard the system's cold, mechanical voice again in his mind.
[Ding!]
[Dear Host Chen Huai'an, you have received new system points as a reward. Please check your account!]
The next moment, Chen Huai'an's lips curled up slightly, and he was overjoyed.
Timur, the day of your death has come for you and your Turkic barbarians, whose hands are stained with the blood of my border people!
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