Chapter 133: Breaching Huangyu City
On August 9th, under the scorching sun of summer, a slight wind stirred up waves of dust. Some of this turbid air was floating dust kicked up by past troops. At this time, the troops from Gu Shou Pass were marching southward, preparing to rescue Huangyu City.
When this mobile troop composed of dragon horses, Jade Brave spearmen cavalry, and white Jade Lions had marched halfway, the Dragon Descendant General leading the troop, Yuwen Li, encountered a Swimming Dragon messenger from the west.
Yuwen Li, riding a dragon horse, dismounted and knelt immediately after seeing the phantom formed by this Swimming Dragon: “Grand Tutor!”
Pu E, in her phantom state, expressionlessly inquired about the situation in Bo Prefecture. After confirming that Huangyu City was already surrounded, she gave a clear order: “Return to Gu Shou Pass.”
Pu E issued this order based on Zhao Cheng’s advice.
Two days earlier, in their tent, Zhao Cheng said: “If the connection between Huangyu City and Hu City is still intact, concentrate troop strength at Huangyu City as much as possible. If Huangyu City’s connection has been cut off, do not hesitate—concentrate all power at Gu Shou Pass.”
Undoubtedly, this decision was like a hero cutting off his own wrist; no other lord in Hao State could have done it.
As for Pu E, if the suggestion had not come from Zhao Cheng, she would not have adopted it.
The Dragon Descendant General was slightly stunned upon hearing Pu E’s order. If not for the fact that the scales of this Swimming Dragon messenger were from Pu E herself and could not be faked, he would have thought it was fake news from the southern Yao People.
Yuwen Li looked up at Pu E’s phantom: “What about Huangyu City?” —Next to the projection, the other Haotian People were also kneeling and awaiting orders.
Pu E looked somber: “You don’t need to worry about that.”
Yuwen Li finally received his orders. When the Swimming Dragon reformed into scales, he carefully collected them—as proof if the Huangyu City Governor asked about it later, assuming she emerged unscathed.
Yuwen Li ordered the surrounding Palace Attendants to gather the troops with their personal soldiers. Then he looked toward the south where killing intent was gathering: “Has the situation really reached this point?”
…Scene switch…
Pu E, who had transformed into a dragon in the high-altitude clouds and was hurrying toward the eastern region, temporarily rested on a cloud layer supported by a mountaintop.
Pu E had confirmed that her orders had been received by Yuwen Li at Gu Shou Pass, and she was also analyzing the situation in Bo Prefecture.
Due to Zhao Cheng’s “shocking” assessment of the worsening situation in Bo Prefecture, Pu E felt a chill in her heart.
Pu E muttered to herself: “Has the situation really reached this point? In this world’s plot, can legendary generals reach such a level?”
After resting well on the mountaintop clouds, Pu E turned into a bolt of lightning and sped toward Gu Shou Pass. This startled the herb gatherers at the foot of the mountain who saw the Dragon Shadow, causing them to crouch down and hide.
…Clouds flowed under the dragon claws…
Wu Fei had just completed the annihilation of the Huangyu City and Sun Yong groups, handed over the captives, and was preparing to assemble troops to head north and intercept the Gu Shou Pass reinforcements when he suddenly heard the news that the Dragon Descendant corps from Gu Shou Pass were withdrawing. After confirming that his own corps could not catch up, Wu Fei let out a deep breath.
Ignoring his frustration at the “fish taking the bait and slipping the hook,” Wu Fei calculated carefully: “It seems that one (Zhao Cheng) is coming soon.”
According to Wu Fei’s planning, if he annihilated the Gu Shou Pass reinforcements, then after dealing with Huangyu City, he could conveniently take Gu Shou Pass. This way, he could directly restore the front line to how it was 25 years ago, making the Dragon Descendants’ ten years of effort for nothing, sending them back to the north to eat northwest wind.
But now, the Gu Shou Pass garrison had clearly sensed something was wrong and withdrawn so astutely, which put Wu Fei on alert.
Wu Fei did not hesitate and readjusted his strategy, determining that he must quickly take Huangyu City, then sweep through all of Bo Prefecture to secure his bases.
…Peacock carried Wu Fei away in haste…
During the five days of intercepting Sun Yong, the work planning here at Huangyu City did not stop. Non-commissioned officers began methodical civil engineering work according to the theory taught by Wu Fei.
When Wu Fei returned to the siege site with three thousand elite troops, he dispersed the elite troops to the rear camp to rest, entered the siege corps combat command post, and with virtually no “cooldown,” immediately activated siege mode.
As the flags waved, the various siege points around the city began to move.
Having obtained the city defense map, Wu Fei selected the east side and south side as the main attack points.
Wu Fei’s calculation: “Huangyu City’s east side and south side happen to be the wealthy districts in the city. If the Hao Army in the city comes to support, they either bypass this area or face the temptation of ‘grabbing one for free on the way’.”
On the east side, a series of tunnels had been dug starting from five hundred meters away—first digging diagonally east, then diagonally west. Back and forth like a “zigzag” shape inching forward bit by bit. When close to one hundred meters, multiple “U”-shaped trenches were established, with forward protrusions setting up firing points, allowing firearms to shoot across earth mounds against the city battlement, suppressing the city battlement’s bows and crossbows.
The Hao Army’s ballistae on the city battlement were either blocked by the earth pits or the lobbing shot stones bounced back and forth on the pit walls, disappearing after smashing a few pits in the soil layer; their cannon fire was like fingers trying to dig out earwax deep in the ear canal—no matter how hard they tried, they could not reach.
Then another trench route cleverly approached, aligning with the city corner. When the trench advanced to three hundred meters, a cannon was pushed into the trench. The trench sides
With a “bang,” the cannon in the trench fired, a small puff of gunpowder smoke appeared, the Hao Army standing on the east side city battlement suddenly sensed cannon fire at the northeast corner. An iron ball bounced out from the arc of the wall head at the northeast corner, hopping and bouncing along the east wall from north to south, the rank of crossbowmen who had just stood up to exchange shots with those on the ground had a row of their legs and feet sheared off by this obliquely inserted “bowling ball.”
These Hao Army soldiers originally relied on the city wall, exchanging fire with the few Yao Army firearm shooters in the dirt pit below, feeling quite impressive, but now iron balls kept emerging from the side of the city wall, so everyone had to watch the northeast corner situation while exchanging fire.
And on the east wall, staring at the Hao Army below, a blast trench below was also approaching the wall corner.
This set of steps is the city seizure tactic from after the bastion era but before the appearance of pure steel cannons.
Ten shichen later, on the Hao Army city battlement, batches of short people and pointed-eared barbarians who were clearly from another world climbed onto the city wall, shooting with firearms and bow and arrow, once again suppressing the Yao Army’s counter-shooting firepower from the trenches. Their firepower hit the edges of the trenches, splashing up large amounts of dust. But now it was useless, because the blasting trench had already entered the observation blind spot inside the city wall.
Meanwhile, civil engineering homework is also underway in the Southern Region, the West is stationed with camps blocking the main road, as for the North, they used the “encircle three, leave one open” strategy leaving one route, and even with that route left open, Hezhu Village in the north has raised the Wu banner, so the breakout routed soldiers have no support and will instead encounter Prefectural Soldiers.
On August 17th, the garrison of Huangyu City discovered the problem, but could only watch bit by bit as the tunnel extended under the city wall. People on the city battlement tried to lob fire oil projectiles to force the enemies outside to abandon digging at the wall corner. However, the fire oil was all covered by soil and did not ignite.
As for the Hao Army, they had indeed attempted to sortie and fight, but the soldiers they sent out charged into the first trench under firearm fire, only to be choked by noisy bombs and forced to crawl out, then shot down like targets.
By the 18th, the only factor affecting the siege progress was a rain that caused water accumulation in the trench, necessitating drainage first.
Ultimately, in the final twenty-meter stage of the tunnel, they advanced toward the city wall in tunnel form. The garrison on the other side of the city wall used earthenware jars filled with water to listen for the tunnel’s extension progress, and when preparing for a counter-ambush, they did not wait for the intrusion.
On August 22nd, with a deafening boom, the southern part of the city shook, and the entire city wall swayed like tofu before collapsing. What collapsed was not just a section of the city wall, but twenty-eight points, which were successively detonated, with the shockwave sweeping across over a hundred meters of the city wall, causing it to crumble.
In this blasting, Gongshu Wang’s mechanism technique came into play; he crafted mechanical clocks as timed fuses.
Only this way can all the explosives detonate within 0.01 seconds, with the shock waves mutually oscillating to form the optimal blasting effect.
“The ground, the dragon has turned over!” As the city collapsed, the soldiers who survived on the rubble climbed out, covered in dust and dirt, and shouted frantically. Venting their panic and helplessness in the face of fear.
However, immediately following that was the Eastern Market Army’s drumbeat assault, which forced these people to start running around chaotically on the city wall, trying to play whatever role they could; however, as shotgun swept across the city battlement like a celestial maiden scattering flowers, they realized “they were useless” and hurriedly fled down from the city.
The vanguard troops selected by Wu Fei, after eating and drinking their fill for ten days, charged forward in one go toward the damaged section of the city wall, climbing up. Half a shichen later, they planted flags one after another on the city wall, with their own losses amounting to less than half a percent.
Among them, the most severe loss occurred when the Hao Army Master invoked “Dark Method” at the city wall breach to ambush the Yao Army.
On the ground, mud slurry hands three zhang in diameter one after another smashed toward the attacking corps. Such magic caused the greatest casualties to the Eastern Market Army in this battle. Thirty battle soldiers were trapped in the mud pit and swallowed.
Wu Fei thereby located the caster on the city wall, who was protected by four Heavenly Dragon Guards in neat armor.
After the peacock sniffed the magic fluctuations carrying Yin Energy, it also sensed the direction marked by Wu Fei’s killing intent, and thus began releasing targeted spells against the enemy individual.
This Hao Army Master, who was also the Governor, was preparing to release a second wind-fire spell when he suddenly felt a gust of ill wind from the sky, followed by “yellow light” emerging from under his feet on the city tower. His feet on the city battlement were swallowed by the bricks and tiles, as if the city battlement were quicksand, and the Dragon Guards nearby struggled to grab him but were quickly swallowed by the quicksand together. The city wall silently bit off these few people.
…The city fell just like that…
Huangyu City was breached. The streets were in chaos, and the cavalry dispatched by Wu Fei were rectifying military discipline on the streets, whipping any scoundrels caught in the act and tying them up with rope to take away, while those who ignored warnings were executed on the spot.
Among the captured group of disobedient disorderly soldiers, Wu Fei brought some non-commissioned officers to screen them, separating out the scoundrels who were “first to ascend” among the disorderly soldiers.
For these first ascenders, what awaited them was a round of whipping from Wu Fei’s personal soldiers to teach them a long lesson. As for the subsequent sharing of spoils of war, it was unaffected. For the other entry troops who came to cause trouble, their merits were at least halved, some directly zeroed out. As for the local ruffians in the city who took advantage of the fire to rob, they were executed on the spot.
On the streets full of the city, as horse whips and firearms rang out, it quickly quieted down, but for the residents in the city, this was not benevolent governance of “pacifying the people.”
Wu Fei informed his subordinate squad leaders: We are all respectable people. For these full city’s captives, find a more civilized way to consume them.
Thus, Wu Fei dispatched loud-voiced soldiers to announce throughout the city: All people in the city must gather in the plaza. If anyone does not come out, they will be executed on the spot after being caught. (To the soldiers searching the city, Wu Fei still reminded: You can execute on the spot, but capturing alive has reward money.)
Under such circumstances, the city’s population quickly gathered in the open space. The Eastern Market Army’s military police first separated all females from the captives. Then, among the males, those short in stature and with dusty faces, the youths, were also picked out. Then they were made to drop their pants to verify identity, and sure enough, another large batch of premium females was screened out.
Among them, the young ones were concentrated and guarded. A portion was distributed to the officers and soldiers who earned merits in this battle, while the rest were escorted to the rear to be kept, to be settled with the soldiers after the next battle. As for those not attractive enough and older, they were assigned to the local militia groups, letting those clans in the villages sell them off to the old bachelors in the villages.
As for the males, they
As for the land outside the city, Wu Fei looked at the records of the great clans on the household registry, as well as the jade slips seized from the clans. He began recruiting the maintenance association to participate in the land distribution.
The noble families that surrendered to him in the maintenance council and these noble families in the city were all one family before the great change in Bo Prefecture. It’s just that one had clung to the leg of False Hao for ten years, while those in the maintenance council held out until he (Eastern Market Army) arrived. Therefore, this is the beginning of restoring order.
…Noble Family side, handle separately…
Wu Fei faced these clan elders from the city families who were kneeling in the plaza and trying to cozy up to him, revealing a kind smile: “Everyone, rest assured, I am not a bloodthirsty killer. As the Da Yao Heavenly Army recapturing this place, we need to restore production and resume tax collection.”
Wu Fei had a different inner monologue: After the war ends, the means of production are redistributed. After every saber clash, those who were previously in power are suppressed, and a new batch rises to power.
Wu Fei sat on the high platform, facing the local great clans on this wide plaza, and did not personally shout himself hoarse to tell them his policies. Instead, he clapped his hands and had his personal soldiers take bamboo slips to read to those people.
The personal soldiers walked past the queue of these several hundred captives and recited the standard announcement: “You may pay the ransom and then leave the city to join relatives.” In the plaza, each family internally selected a few people to discuss, then sent representatives who cupped their hands to Wu Fei to indicate their willingness to pay the ransom. Of course, since many had “poor family circumstances,” they could only ransom the young people.
Wu Fei focused intently on watching these captives, just like a homeroom teacher eyeing the students below discussing with each other in the classroom. As the captives clustered in groups by heads, he clearly distinguished which of the great clans in the city were the core ones.
After the family side began to be allocated, an interlude occurred after the servants and masters were separated.
Among the servants’ group of these men, someone suddenly shouted: “My lord, my lord, I want to report it. My cousin has money.”
These family servants, servant girls, and even some distant branches of the family, seeing that they were not pardoned, were already anxious. In these times, corvée labor often meant ten go and seven return. Thus, when there was even a slim chance of survival, they absolutely would not let it slip.
The ransom Wu Fei demanded was not much, thirty silver leaves per person. And this was something these servants could never come up with no matter what. And this triggered further evolution.
Soon these distant relatives gave up the great clan unity, and the servants also gave up the master-servant bond. After all—if they really left like this, they would never see relatives, master-servant relations, and such again, so they must seize the opportunity to continue this “bond”.
The large army re-entered the city and, led by these guides, dug up large amounts of true gold and silver from wells, under trees, and among the city’s bricks and tiles. These yellow and white objects were what those great clans had tried to keep to make a comeback in the future; if taken out, they would be enough to pay ransom for all the servants, but they were reluctant to do so and also feared that once brought out, Wu Fei would seize them all. But now—
“A thousand precautions and ten thousand defenses, but it’s hard to guard against a thief within the family!” an old clan leader shouted in anguish, then keeled over from anger and breathed his last.
On the drill ground, these servants and great clan branches completed their self-redemption, and Wu Fei also kept his promise and gave them freedom. As for these beaming people seeing the main family whom they themselves had beaten as rich exploiters, they wore faces full of embarrassment. Although they no longer had to serve as corvée labor, the family had also dispersed.
Due to the fact that the gold and silver scraped together was really too much, even after redeeming the servants and the collateral branches, there was still a large amount remaining.
Regarding these wealth, Wu Fei did not divide it up right away, but still had it recorded in account books. He announced that it would still be allocated to the accounts of these informants, to let them redeem shops in the city. —Everyone in the plaza whispered among themselves.
They quickly figured it out and reacted, realizing what this meant. This money was originally dug up so they could gain their freedom, but now General Wu was taking the money and planning to divide the industries in the city among them!
Of course, why was Wu Fei being so generous? Some collateral branches immediately reacted, realizing that General Wu was trying to win over hearts and minds, and they could get the moon first from the nearby well, so a particularly shrewd collateral relative started shouting loudly: “My Lord, I want to report! I report that Li Fei Kang colluded with the False Hao rebels in the 24th year of the current emperor (ten years ago), selling bow and armor materials, which is disloyal and unfilial to our Da Yao!”
Immediately, a richly dressed man from the reporting family’s clan, who clearly looked like a member of a great clan, began loudly berating: “You bastard raised by a little servant girl, talking utter nonsense.”
Wu Fei immediately waved his hand, and the soldiers held down that man’s personal attack with the large branch. Wu Fei: “Fork him out!.”
After the troublemakers were dragged away, Wu Fei met with the informant, then shook hands with him warmly. This attitude was very clear, namely telling the various family branches that this was their chance to turn things around, as long as they dared to submit a pledge of allegiance.
…Wu Fei: I don’t understand your household intrigues. I just want to support a proxy…
On September 1st, the new heads of family from each family, after experiencing the hair-raising city breach, the unforgettable city chaos, and the shameless mutual accusations among themselves, finally returned to their family residences in the city. Before they could even sit down, they were visited by Wu Fei’s personal soldiers. The heads of family, who had just taken a sip of water, nearly choked to death.
The personal soldiers sent by Wu Fei demanded that everyone from each family come over for the banquet.
Li Fei (family name) clan’s member, a youth then raised his head to look at the carriage and horses sent by the Yao Army. At this time, he was not panicked like the others, and he reassured his father: “Father, if this general wanted to kill us, there would be no need for this show. If we seize the opportunity at this banquet, we will have a chance to turn things around.”
The clan leader of Li Fei: “I hope so. I’ve heard this general can squeeze oil out of a stone.”
…On the other side…
In the restaurant, Wu Fei flipped through the account book. The gold, silver, and jewels dug up by the great clan families’ dependents and servants who led the way were actually far more than what the large army had gathered from the treasury. ——After all, the city had been under siege for a month, and every household had prepared to deeply hide their wealth, but no matter how deeply they hid it, they hadn’t anticipated that their own people would expose it.
The capital city non-commissioned officer beside asked Wu Fei: “Sir, why don’t we just rob them directly? Why do we still need to discuss with them?”
Wu Fei reached out and knocked on his head: “You’re from a noble family in the Capital City, yet you didn’t learn anything good—wouldn’t just robbing outright make you a bandit?” The non-commissioned officer who got knocked on the head immediately fell silent, while the other non-commissioned officers nearby curled their lips and silently thought to themselves: You’re far more ruthless than bandits, sir.
Wu Fei commented on these bastards’ disappointing performance: You only see these amassed goods, but you don’t see how they amassed them. Directly seizing the goods is depleting the mountain while sitting idle, and moreover, the upcoming battles will spend money like running water, which won’t last at all. But if we grasp the lifeblood of this bunch of guys, we can obtain a steady stream of goods.
…The Hongmen Banquet began…
At the banquet, Xuan Chong chuckled as he described their situation to these clan leaders. Right now, they had all risen to power by stepping on the people in their own clans. The people below were unconvinced, and in the future, they might very well be repeatedly betrayed by their own family members.
These clan leaders were very embarrassed, but none of them spoke up.
Immediately after, Xuan Chong saw that they wouldn’t drink the respectful toast and insisted on punishment wine, so he began dropping bombshells and said: “It seems all of you harbor resentment and won’t continue leading the rebels against my Da Yao after False Hao attacks, right?”
After he said this, cold sweat broke out on everyone’s faces, and they all knelt on the ground in front of the table.
As a result, Wu Fei then gave them two paths (actually only one).
The first path: give them some gold and silver, and they could head north to Hao State.
The second path: a “ticket office” would be established in the city, their family goods deposited in the ticket office, with receipts for all incoming and outgoing goods, and they would provide procurement services for the army’s supplies.
Just as all the wealthy households were exchanging glances, this youth Li Fei immediately stood up, stating he had connections for trading war horses on the grasslands and was willing to serve the army. (This was originally his family’s channel industry.)
Wu Fei was very pleased and immediately gave Li Fei’s clan the position of captain to oversee this line, and allocated funds to him.
The numerous new nobles in Huangyu City suddenly saw the light: “Previously, passively offering gold wasn’t enough; we still need to proactively continue cozying up to this General Wu!”
Facing these “fools” who had luckily survived the city slaughter, Wu Xiao Que’s heart was “softened,” and he secretly sighed: “You need to call him master, and call it sincerely. That way my knife won’t bear to fall. I’m the best at this—any obedient livestock won’t be slaughtered.”
