Chapter 151: Troops At The City Gates
Zhao Cheng had just returned to Sha Prefecture by imperial decree, and met Pu E at the General’s Mansion. Pu E got straight to the point: “Gu Shou Pass has been attacked.”
Zhao Cheng paused: “It’s still a bit faster than I expected.” He had judged that Wu Fei would wait another half year, but after only two months since he left, troops had already arrived at the city walls.
Pu E looked indignant: “You and I returned a bit too early.” The source of her indignation was nine-tenths directed at those people around King Hao.
Zhao Cheng shook his head: “We returned a bit too late. That was originally a ‘dead land’.”
Pu E was very angry about this. She was certain that as soon as King Hao recalled Zhao Cheng, Gu Shou Pass would collapse, so she carried out a purge of the sycophants around King Hao.
Zhao Cheng: “Grand Tutor, no need to worry. Gu Shou Pass can hold that person back for a relatively long time. Our army has already made adjustments.”
Pu E paused slightly and looked at Zhao Cheng. At this point, she had confirmed that Zhao Cheng’s loyalty had dropped to fifty-seven percent. — Pu E realized something, but she couldn’t say it now. She sighed and helplessly acquiesced.
In this half year, Zhao Cheng had transferred the artisans and key talents of his faction away from Yan Land. These transferred talents had withdrawn to Sha Prefecture due to “failure in the struggle,” and the troops left guarding Yan Land at this time were all troops brought by the Hao Clan from another world.
Over these years, Zhao Cheng had gathered large amounts of goods in Yan Land, such as sperm whale oil candles and coral, these expensive items. On one hand, it was to lure the merchants in Bo Prefecture to take risks, and on the other hand, it was to attract some upper levels in Hao State to flock to Yan Land amid power struggles, rushing here to “die for food like birds,” which was a big trap.
What Pu E could foresee was: after Yan Land was captured by the Wu Family Army, the Hao Court would have no choice but to rely on Zhao Cheng’s faction.
Pu E could only pretend not to know now. As for King Hao’s side, she had prepared for the worst, as long as the national power could hold out for another twenty years, allowing the new generation of Dragon Descendants to grow up.
Pu E began to inquire about possible situations after Gu Shou Pass was breached.
After thinking for a moment, Zhao Cheng said to Pu E: “He is a Legalist genius, skilled at coordinating farming and war, stockpiling grain and resources; if I strongly defend Yan Land, after he recuperates for two years, he can counter me with spring offense and autumn defense strategy.”
This so-called spring offense and autumn defense is actually injuring the enemy at one’s own expense. Spring is originally when livestock and war horses fatten up on abundant tender grass, but war interrupts it, preventing them from gaining fat when mobilized. The side with stronger capital can supplement livestock fat with grain. Similarly, for transport: if the transport line is too long, cattle and horses lose fat to a certain extent and must be supplemented with grain, but if fodder stations are set up along the line, rotating the emaciated cattle and horses at the stations can save grain for fattening.
In Zhao Cheng’s words, he was wary of Wu Fei; once the stalemate dragged on, Wu Fei would have more and more cards in hand. In the end, he would use exchange pieces to force a trade.
…Wind and sand howled into the pass…
Tian You Calendar, January 28th, Wu Hengyu arrived steadily below the pass with three thousand elites and ten thousand laborers, dusty from travel. After setting up camp, he immediately looked at this majestic mountain pass together with Wu Fei from the western camp.
Facing this world’s number one impregnable pass, Wu Fei sighed in front of Wu Hengyu. This checkpoint was built relying on the mountain body, with extremely solid foundations, making tunneling impossible, unless gathering more than ten large giant soldiers, or more than twenty siege cannons, to suppress the ballistae and archers on the battlements, then elite troops could force an assault.
Wu Hengyu glanced at Wu Fei: “Looks like you’re really out of ideas.”
Wu Fei spread his hands: “So I called you here.”
For such ant climb battles, Xuan Chong had drilled them. In tests, vanguard troops needed the agility of 21st-century firefighters, and they were all dare-to-die men under heavy rewards, and after climbing the city wall, they still needed strength to burst forth.
Moreover, vanguard troops and rear artillery units needed a flag order interaction system to ensure cannons suppressed the battlements, and vanguard troops seized the gaps in firing opportunities. Wu Fei budgeted for Gu Shou Pass here: to forcibly take such a pass, at minimum it would require over a hundred vanguard scholars. The Eastern Market Army currently had only 150 who met vanguard conditions; excessive casualties would cause irreversible damage to army organization.
As for Wu Hengyu’s side, he himself was a strong vanguard, and many under him were like this; he was the most suitable for this battle.
Wu Hengyu narrowed his eyes and saw a group of people a few hundred paces away, asking Wu Fei: “Those over there aren’t ordinary civilians, right?”
Wu Fei: “Right, of course not.”
Wu Hengyu: “Just fifty dare to come over?”
Wu Fei was stunned and counted those around him: including his own six attendants, Wu Hengyu’s twelve attendants, total only twenty people.
Wu Fei turned to Wu Hengyu: “Those guys really dare.”
Wu Hengyu spurred his horse forward, his twelve knights also following behind the commander, directly intercepting this group of enemy cavalry that burst out from Gu Shou Pass. Wu Fei stood on high ground observing the surroundings, then led his five accompanying knights to follow closely. (Send one back to report.)
The knights’ charge began; the Wuzhui under Wu Hengyu did not show divine beast traits, merely using the Star River Spear to flick off three during the pass.
Wu Fei followed behind, drawing bow and shooting arrows, three arrows in a row; within twenty paces, armor-piercing arrows penetrated enemy armor, then he shook his hand and continued volleying.
Fifty cavalry couldn’t beat twenty; Gu Shou Pass’s cavalry was routed in defeat, leaving behind about ten corpses.
…Brothers united…
In Gu Shou Pass, soldiers helped Huang Tao back to the inner hall, then attendants shouted “Medic in 1”. The other injured attendants didn’t get such good treatment and were placed outside on stretchers.
Huang Tao had been hit by three arrows. To him: although that leading charging fierce general was unstoppable against ten thousand, the guy shooting arrows behind was the most despicable; that guy’s arrows were eerily accurate, and the arrowheads were poisoned.
Note: Wu Xiao Que’s arrowheads have notches, coated with sugar-wrapped asbestos powder. The sugar coating dissolves into the flesh, while the asbestos powder enters the skin and flesh, causing sores. This is a war crime.
The pass’s physicians removed these arrowheads one by one. But the bowl-sized red swelling on Huang Tao’s back showed no sign of subsiding;
In this world with the Spring Return Technique, the poison this time is not Golden Juice, but a wisp of Mountain River Malice. If Huang Tao returns to the Ninghe area to recuperate, he can recover from his injuries, but right now he is at the checkpoint, and the increasingly worsening Mountain River Malice is affecting the speed of his wound recovery.
After listening to the medical instructions, Huang Tao looked down at the city and said coldly: “These Yao dogs are truly too malicious.”
…the garrison general on the western plateau was using a telescope to watch Wu Hengyu’s troops…
Since the courage of Gu Shou Pass to sortie from the city was beaten back head-on, Wu Fei calmly returned to the western plateau battle zone and began systematically taking Liu Gang Terrace. The Dragon Horse troops in the sky patrolled the periphery, while groups of “Kite Persons” took to the air.
The thirty counterweight catapults four hundred paces outside the terrace had already been calibrated. Fifty-kilogram custom projectiles had been loaded onto the levers. Meanwhile, the vanguard troops ahead were the Vanguard Battalion under Wu Fei’s Eastern Market Army; their execution rate was relatively high.
Previously verified the practical feasibility of infantry-artillery coordination. So now must completely take this place. To intimidate Gu Shou Pass.
As these Eastern Market Army vanguard troops carrying grappling hooks approached within fifty paces of the barrier at Liu Gang Terrace, upon receiving the signal from the kite person in the air, they suddenly raised their shields; from behind the barrier, the Hao Army’s hanging shot arrow rain came pouring down.
And at the same time, the Wu Family Army catapult troops cut the ropes. These neat rows of catapults collectively raised their arm-like levers! Emitting a uniform “creak~!” sound.
All the projectiles bound with bamboo strips traced parallel arcs in the sky.
Catapults are lined up in a row, similar to the cannons lined up in twentieth-century military propaganda paintings, because this can save calculation time for shooting elements.
This is a characteristic of backward artillery tactics in the 21st century; because in the 21st century, first-rate artillery has a calculation system for every cannon. Third-rate artillery will line up the cannons in a row. This will be wiped out in one go by the enemy’s counterfire.
But now Wu Fei arranges the cannons this way, which is advanced, because it represents that their own projection weapons have the concept of “shooting elements” adjustment; the projectiles from the salvo can cover and suppress the enemy. The Hao Army bow and arrow soldiers hanging shot from behind the barrier saw the dense boulder rain overhead and could no longer dodge in time.
Just as the Eastern Market Army’s vanguard troops, grouped in teams of a dozen, huddled into a small turtle-shell formation and struggled to approach the barrier, with each round of kite person signal relays, a whistling sound came from behind everyone that made their scalps tighten. All the vanguard troops had heard this whistling sound during drills; it was the sound of their own catapults launching boulders from behind. Everyone instinctively stopped in their tracks, even risking opening gaps in their shields to watch the trajectories of these flying boulders, confirming that the things would pass over their heads.
Each captain within the shield formations shouted: “Shields together, prepare to charge. Sound the horn (signaling the friendly forces on left and right to charge up and engage), swing the flags clockwise for me, walk straight forward (clockwise swing signals our side is charging forward, rear artillery don’t fire randomly; counterclockwise means our side is flanking).”
The infantry of the Eastern Market Army’s infantry-artillery coordination, facing the boulders launched by their own side whistling down onto the enemy positions ahead, were all terrified, while the Hao Army defending on these barriers suffered horrifically.
Originally, these hundred or so Hao Army soldiers planned to hold the high ground, pinning down the attackers with crossbow bolts so they couldn’t lift their heads, while the golden juice boiling in the large pots nearby was hot, and the rolling logs were ready, prepared to hold off many with few. But they unfortunately encountered a siege that emphasized “technique.”
Another wave of inexperienced Hao Army soldiers came up to the city battlement. Hearing the officer shout “Yao thieves are coming up!”, they rushed out eagerly, but halfway there, seeing the huge stones volleyed from above, they wanted to turn back. However, the stairs were already blocked by quick-handed comrades who had cut in line, and then someone pushed, causing them to tumble on the stairs forming a jam and stampede, unable to retreat at all. A cluster of people on the terrace faced the baptism of the catapult stones.
With a boom, the thrown projectile underwent a small explosion at a height of thirty zhang from the ground. The bamboo hoops snapped, and stones the size of human heads, each weighing over ten kilograms, scattered, smashing down along their trajectory like a broom sweeping everyone on the city battlement down.
These stones falling from high altitude had greater power than a wolf-tooth club; even those in heavy armor, if hit, would be smashed silent in one blow.
Inside the barriers, the narrow passages designed to prevent enemy vanguard troops from surging in now, due to the artillery’s excessive precision and the dense Hao Army personnel, became graves that trapped their own. This wave caused heavy casualties, especially in the defensive equipment areas, where corpses littered the ground.
Within thirty breaths, three ranks of catapults, ten per rank, completed the suppression.
Amid this barrage, the Eastern Market Army’s vanguard troops trembled in their soles as they watched the scene ahead with rolling dust and world-shattering destruction. — This scene can reference a wall collapsing on a street, with dust spreading fifty meters outward from the broken wall.
Just as the artillery fire ended, the legs of the Yao Army’s siege team were also trembling.
At this moment, among the vanguard group preparing to charge the city wall, a small captain had seen this grand scene during drills.
He immediately struck the charge gong and said: “Our artillery is done! Charge, charge! Those with grappling hooks, if you still have strength, run! Don’t dawdle! No one on the opposite wall, don’t wait for them to react!”
These small captains were the “vanguard scholars” that Wu Fei had mentioned two years ago—even training just a hundred could greatly reduce siege casualties—and now they played a key role at this moment.
Of the heads smashed by the catapults, seventy percent count toward the vanguard squads; of the entire squad’s merits, thirty percent go to the captain.
…After the stone rain, no one raised their head again…
Fifty paces were crossed in a dozen breaths by running. Grappling hooks with ropes were flung onto these one-and-a-half-zhang-high barrier walls. With the grappling hooks providing purchase points on the ropes, it took just four breaths to climb up.
Thus, while the Hao Army was still panicking in the thick dust and smoke from the catapult coverage, over thirty vanguard troops swarmed up with lightning speed.
Moreover, guided by signals from the Yao Army’s kite persons in the air, they occupied the high ground of Liu Gang Terrace, casually picking up scattered stones on the city battlement and smashing them at the rushing Hao Army, causing heads to split and blood to flow.
During the half shichen of melee, the Eastern Market Army’s shield soldiers also arrived, continuously ascending the high platform.
The defending general on the high platform, a Yao person brigadier general promoted by Zhao Cheng, stood with his blade drawn, watching these routed soldiers. He suddenly remembered there was still one suggestion in the box left by Zhao Cheng that he hadn’t read. Though he felt it useless now, the man about to die was still curious. As he opened the box and saw Zhao Cheng’s advice “Surrender to Wu Fei, do not go north,” he gave a bitter laugh and dropped his weapon.
Just like that, a surrender flag was raised on the city battlement, and Liu Gang Terrace was taken. For the Wu Family, it was a good omen.
Over this past year, under Wu Fei’s constant nagging and indoctrination, the officers and soldiers had subconsciously budgeted the cost of this ant climb attack as: at least a hundred deaths no matter what.
But the result was only seventeen deaths, and thirty unlucky fools plus idiots injured.
Some unlucky ones were hit in the legs and arms through shield gaps by enemy stray arrows while close to the city wall.
The idiots nervously flung their grappling hooks but didn’t secure them, then halfway up, missed a foothold and fell with a fracture.
This high-ground barrier on the west side of Gu Shou Pass was taken just like that, giving all officers and soldiers a clear measure in their hearts: everything was due to Wu Fei’s proper arrangements, and the merits gained from this siege completely outweighed the risks.
Note that while bombarding the platform, Wu Hengyu’s troops’ cannons and catapults were also firing in sync, preventing Gu Shou Pass garrison’s dragon horse knights from reinforcing the platform.
If, at the platform’s most critical moment, Gu Shou Pass had dispatched such an aerial knight fresh force, the platform wouldn’t have fallen so quickly.
After securing the platform, Wu Fei sent orders to Wu Hengyu to rest first, as his side had already succeeded. Then, Wu Fei met with the surrendered garrison of his platform.
…Dust was still flying…
In the military tent, facing the bound defending general who turned his head arrogantly to look at him, Wu Fei inwardly snarked: Quite tsundere.
However, per the surrender process, as long as they didn’t curse upon entry, they could be recruited. — This was the unspoken rule between surrenderees and acceptors.
Wu Fei squeezed out the formulaic smile from talent recruitment ads: “Come, come, untie General Bai.”
Wu Fei personally seated this surrendered general; just for being a Yao person, it was worth this differential treatment to annoy Zhao Cheng and the Hao State. (However, Wu Fei didn’t know that Bai Xu was ordered by Zhao Cheng to surrender, and his own reaction was within Zhao Cheng’s calculations.)
