Chapter 317
Before Qiu Zongxi could chase Zhan Feiyu off the city wall, Magistrate Zhu arrived in a hurry with constables and yamen runners, sweating profusely in the cold weather.
"Old sir, Miss Zhan, this..." panting heavily, Magistrate Zhu peered out beyond the city gate, his voice stammering. If he could escape, the cowardly Magistrate Zhu would have long since fled with the silver.
Qiu Zongxi already disliked the incompetent Magistrate Zhu. Seeing him shrink into a ball from fear, he spoke impatiently, "It's just death, one way or another!"
It was better not to mention death. As soon as death was brought up, Magistrate Zhu's plump body shrank further into the corner.
"Enough, how many people are there in the county yamen?" Qiu Zongxi didn't expect Magistrate Zhu to be able to command the defense. He glanced at the constables and yamen runners who were also trembling with fear, thinking that having more people was better than none. "Ten people per team..."
By the time County Lieutenant Feng arrived with a group of retainers, guards, and strong men from the county town, Qiu Zongxi had already organized the people on the dilapidated city wall.
Looking at the civilians who were actually holding cleavers, Qiu Zongxi opened his mouth but ultimately said nothing. At this moment, one more person meant one more bit of strength.
"County Lieutenant Feng, the brave men you brought are also organized into teams of ten. Have the constables lead them..." Although Qiu Zongxi was a master of calligraphy and painting, he had traveled extensively throughout the Great Qing Dynasty in his early years and was a sworn friend of General Yang. He was quite skilled in military formations.
Constables and yamen runners, however incompetent, were still martial artists and at least braver than ordinary civilians. Therefore, they were the main force defending the city wall, while the civilians served as auxiliary support.
As for these retainers and guards, they were also martial artists, even more skilled than the county yamen constables. Qiu Zongxi arranged them in groups of three to reinforce wherever it was dangerous.
"A Nuan?" Zhan Feiyu, standing in the corner, suddenly straightened up. This spot was closest to the city gate, and she could faintly hear the sounds of fighting.
"Miss, don't worry, my brother and the others will be fine." He Nuan was not only worried about He Sheng and the others guarding the city gate. They were all experts selected by Master Qi from the Forbidden Dragon Guard. If they were facing an army, it would be different, but dealing with a few barbarian spies was definitely not a problem.
Zhan Feiyu nodded, but after all, it was her first time facing such a tense and solemn situation, and her expression was unusually grave.
In less than the time it takes for half a cup of tea to steep, footsteps approached. He Nuan immediately became alert. Seeing that it was He Sheng, she finally relaxed. "Brother, how is the situation?"
"Miss." He Sheng walked over quickly, his long sword still dripping with blood. It was obvious that a battle had just taken place at the city gate. "We have killed twenty barbarian spies..."
It was likely that these twenty people were responsible for opening the city gate to let the enemy forces outside enter. If it weren't for He Sheng and his group, even if County Lieutenant Feng had defended the city gate with soldiers, they would definitely not have been able to defeat these twenty enemy soldiers.
However, to prevent any more barbarian spies, He Sheng left eight men to continue guarding the city gate, and the rest came up to the city wall to protect Zhan Feiyu's safety.
"If the city gate is not opened at the agreed-upon time, the barbarians will surely begin their assault," Zhan Feiyu looked at the restless barbarian enemy forces below. In the cold moonlight, their large sabers reflected a silvery sheen, cold and bloodthirsty.
He Sheng stood to Zhan Feiyu's right, also looking down. "Miss, you don't need to worry. This group of barbarians infiltrated secretly, bypassing the Weizhou Great Camp. They do not have siege weapons."
In a head-on confrontation between armies, battering rams were usually used to smash the city gate or walls, breaking open the sturdy city gate with brute force.
Alternatively, trebuchets could be used to attack the city gate and the defending soldiers. Of course, in addition to the support of arrows, siege ladders and grappling hooks were also commonly used.
To put it simply, if the city gate could not be breached, the enemy could only have soldiers climb onto the city wall, fight their way in, and then open the gate from the inside to let the enemy forces in.
Similarly, as long as the city wall was held and the enemy was prevented from climbing up, the city of Xiangwu could be defended without opening the city gate.
Just then, the enemy forces outside the city gate indeed became restless. In an instant, the soldiers and yamen runners on the city wall tensed up, gripping their weapons tightly.
A quarter of an hour later.
With shouts of killing filling the sky, the barbarians chopped down a thick tree nearby and, with more than ten people carrying it, charged towards the closed city gate. Meanwhile, another group used siege ladders and grappling hooks to climb the city wall, and arrows whizzed towards the soldiers on the city gate to cover the climbing enemy soldiers.
Blood, slaughter, death...
Time passed by, and Zhan Feiyu's eyes also turned red with killing. She didn't know how many grappling hook ropes she had cut, nor how many barbarians she had injured who were trying to climb the city wall. She continuously swung her sharp dagger, each strike drawing blood.
"A barbarian is climbing up!" a roar sounded. The man holding the cleaver dodged the barbarian's saber but failed to dodge the arrow shot from below.
With a *thwack*, an arrow pierced his chest, and his tall, sturdy body fell with a thud. But as he fell, this ordinary man tightly grasped the barbarian in front of him, allowing the raised butcher knife to stab his back again and again.
"A Sheng, you go!" Zhan Feiyu's eyes felt sore, but at this moment, she couldn't care about anything else. Once a breach was made in the city wall, waves of barbarians would swarm in like wolves, and the defending constables and soldiers were no match for the bloodthirsty and ferocious barbarians.
He Sheng hesitated for a moment. In the darkness, facing Zhan Feiyu's fair yet murderous face, he finally gritted his teeth and rushed forward with his sword. The four subordinates following Zhan Feiyu could only obey and follow.
With He Sheng and his five experts, it was like a single pass that could stop ten thousand men. The six or seven barbarians who had just climbed up instantly became souls under their blades.
In just one hour, it felt as long as a day. The darkness no longer felt cold, and the smell of blood permeated the air. The corpses piled on the city wall were no longer distinguished by friend or foe; they were all thrown down the city wall. Only after the battle ended and the reinforcements from the Weizhou Camp arrived could they collect their bodies.
"Mr. Qiu." During a brief rest, Old Man Tie wiped the blood from his face and said in a low voice to Qiu Zongxi, "The people sent to seek reinforcements have all been intercepted."
"These inhumane beasts!" Qiu Zongxi was furious, his hand gripping the spear trembling with anger.
Although he didn't know how these barbarians had avoided the Weizhou Great Camp and reached Xiangwu County, ever since the news of the Yang family's restoration arrived, the Yang family's old subordinates, who had been in hiding for years, no longer had to conceal themselves.
Although various forces had sent scouts into Xiangwu County to gather information, this was still Yang family territory. After discovering the barbarian enemy forces, since Yang Shoucheng was not present and General Yang was still in Stone Village, Old Man Tie immediately organized people.
Old Man Tie had sent out a total of five people to seek reinforcements, including his youngest son, Tie Lao San. Logically speaking, no matter how strong the barbarians were, Tie Lao San and the other four were more skilled, and they were more familiar with the terrain outside Xiangwu County.
However, an hour had passed since they left, and they should have sent a signal half an hour ago. But Old Man Tie had not seen any signal, which meant that all five had encountered danger.
When Old Man Tie spoke, Qiu Zongxi guessed that the ones who intercepted Tie Lao San and the other four were not the barbarians attacking the city, but more likely the spies from various families stationed in Xiangwu County. These were also experts. They had not come to support on the city wall, either because they had gone out of the city or had remained in the county town.
The reason for intercepting Tie Lao San and the others was precisely to prevent the news from getting out. If the barbarians successfully captured the city, Xiangwu County would surely be drenched in blood, and the Yang family would suffer the greatest losses. If they could also kill General Yang or Yang Shoucheng, that would be even better.
Zhan Feiyu was leaning against He Nuan, resting. Her right hand, which held the dagger, was very sore, and there was a shallow bloodstain on Zhan Feiyu's fair face. Fortunately, the wound was not deep, only cutting her left cheek.
"Miss." He Nuan said in a low voice, wanting to take Zhan Feiyu away, but swallowed the words.
Just now, an arrow had flown towards them. Fortunately, He Nuan was quick-witted and blocked it with her long sword, otherwise Zhan Feiyu's face would have been truly ruined. Even so, the sharp arrow had grazed her cheek, drawing a bloodstain.
"Don't worry, there are still people from the Forbidden Dragon Guard in Xiangwu County. They will definitely get the message out. When morning comes, everything will be fine." Zhan Feiyu grinned, and the pain from the wound on her cheek made her hiss.
He Nuan saw this and felt both distressed and helpless. He Nuan had also gotten up in a hurry in the middle of the night due to the sudden fire, so she didn't have any medicine with her.
"Miss Zhan." County Lieutenant Feng ran over in a hurry. Compared to Zhan Feiyu, whose cheek had a graze, County Lieutenant Feng was even more disheveled. His left arm was bloody. Even though he was wearing a padded jacket in winter, this sword had cut through the clothes, and without medicine, he could only hastily wrap it with a cloth strip.
Hot oil and boiling water had been used earlier. The scalding hot oil could not only scald the enemy but also make it difficult for the barbarians to climb up when splashed on the city wall, as it was too slippery.
As for chili powder and the like, the people of Xiangwu County loved grilled lamb, so they prepared an extra pound or two for the New Year. There were quite a few women, over ten of them, who were brave enough to throw a handful into the wind when they couldn't wield their cleavers anymore, which was enough to give the barbarians a hard time.
County Lieutenant Feng was puzzled by the bags of flour that were being delivered and were now piled at the bottom of the city wall. He truly didn't know what they were for.
Zhan Feiyu also remembered this. She leaned forward and looked at the barbarian army resting below the city gate. Even though several hundred people had died, there were still more than two thousand. "A Nuan, tell A Sheng and the others to come."
Everyone was seizing the opportunity to rest. Everyone knew that more intense fighting would follow, and the barbarians knew even better that if they couldn't break through the city gate before dawn, they would become trapped once the Weizhou Camp reinforcements arrived.
He Sheng and the others arrived very quickly. After hearing Zhan Feiyu's words, not only He Sheng and He Nuan, but even Qiu Zongxi and Old Man Tie, who had come to listen, were bewildered. They didn't understand what use it would be for Zhan Feiyu to have He Sheng and the others take flour and sprinkle it on the barbarian enemy forces.
If it were chili powder, they could understand. If chili powder got into the eyes or nose, everyone knew how painful it was. It could be washed away with clean water, but once the eyes couldn't open during a siege, it was a fatal danger. But sprinkling flour?
"A Sheng, after you sprinkle it, you must leave as quickly as possible." Zhan Feiyu couldn't bother to explain; she couldn't explain what dust explosion was, so she could only urge He Sheng and the others to escape quickly.
"Your subordinate understands." He Sheng replied. Although he didn't understand, he carried out Zhan Feiyu's orders without reservation.
Darkness was the best cover. He Sheng and the others each carried a bag of flour, and their right hands were clenched tightly.