"Kill! Kill them!"
"Fall back half a step and you'll be beheaded!"
"Kill the barbarians! Kill the barbarians! Kill the barbarians!"
"Fight to the death, never surrender to the barbarians!"
On the walls of Guangling Commandery city, the Yan and Xia armies clashed fiercely. The Yan army was determined to conquer Guangling Commandery, while the Xia army swore to fight to the death. Neither side yielded, their roars of battle deafening, piercing the sky.
Giant stones hurled by the Xia army, whistling through the air, carved gaping holes in the ranks of the Yan army, each one filled with mangled corpses. A hail of arrows descended, bringing with it cries of agony. Countless Yan soldiers were struck, falling to the ground. Those who died were at peace, but the wounded, still alive, suffered immensely, crushed into pulp or writhing in pain, their screams echoing.
The Xia army's most formidable weapon was the ballista, each launch raining down over a hundred arrows. With limited arrowheads, they specifically targeted the mounted Yan generals. The arrows fell like rain, a dense canopy that slew Yan generals and the soldiers around them. Eventually, Yan generals dared not advance to command.
To turn the tide, the Yan army dispatched several thousand cavalry. They galloped towards the city walls and began firing their bows. These thousands of elite Yan cavalrymen were all skilled archers, their marksmanship undeterred by the speed of their horses. Their arrows, like swarms of locusts, rained down upon the city walls, felling Xia soldiers or sending them tumbling down.
"Push them forward, quickly, quickly, push them forward!"
With the combined efforts of several thousand Yan cavalry and the archers below the walls, they temporarily suppressed the defenders. Murong Tengge, the commander of the Qianjun and Han army, roared orders.
The Xianbei were primarily cavalry, while the Qianjun and Han army were mostly infantry. In siege warfare, cavalry were far less effective than infantry, unable to scale walls unless the gates were breached, allowing for a direct charge.
Moreover, the elite cavalry of the Great Yan Kingdom could not be thrown into such a meat grinder of a battlefield.
Therefore, the main force of the Yan army in this siege consisted of the Qianjun and Han army, predominantly Han Chinese.
Murong Tengge pushed aside two Yan soldiers holding large shields and anxiously commanded his troops to advance the siege engines: the battering rams, siege ladders, penthouse towers, observation towers, and pontoon bridges.
Of particular importance were the pontoon bridges, essential for crossing moats.
The moat surrounding Guangling Commandery was over two zhang wide, filled with river water. Beneath the water, however, lay thorns, sharpened wooden stakes, and iron hooks. The water itself was filled with filth, designed to prevent enemies from swimming across. Falling into the moat meant certain death.
The pontoon bridges had large wheels at the front and smaller ones at the rear. When pushed to the moat's edge, the wheels would sink, leveling the bridge for passage. For wider moats, folding bridges were used, connecting two sections with a pivot, allowing soldiers to reach the city walls.
But how could the Xia army not anticipate the Yan army crossing the moat? The stone-throwing machines swiveled, targeting the pontoon bridges. Over a hundred pontoon bridges were destroyed before they even reached the moat's edge, more than twenty in the initial barrage.
"Fill it with earth, fill it with earth, level the moat!"
Murong Tengge, his lips forming several large blisters from anxiety, waved his weapon and roared.
Countless Yan soldiers, pushing carts filled with earth, ran like the wind under the barrage of arrows and stones, dumping the soil into the moat.
The rain of projectiles felled innumerable Yan soldiers on the path and within the moat. Those who fell into the moat screamed loudly, struggling desperately in the water, only to be quickly submerged in the black liquid.
Before long, the earth and the corpses of Yan soldiers had almost filled the moat. After suffering terrible casualties, the pontoon bridges were pushed to the edge. A large number of Yan soldiers then advanced directly to the foot of Guangling Commandery's city walls, only to be faced with towering ramparts.
"Boom, boom, boom!" The incessant thuds of battering rams striking the now solidly blocked city gates echoed. Yan army banners swayed as dozens of massive siege ladders were brought to the base of the walls.
These were not simple ladders, but specialized siege equipment, covered in two layers of leather and finally sheathed in thin iron plating, impervious to crossbow bolts and stones. The ascent to the top was wide enough for three men to climb abreast.
As the siege ladders were pushed across the moat and neared the walls, they were followed by wave after wave of heavily armored Yan soldiers, holding iron shields, charging up the ladders under a storm of arrows and stones.
When the battering rams reached the walls, the battering logs inside struck the walls with each impact. As the bricks and stones loosened, Yan soldiers wielding hoes desperately began to dig them out.
Not all Yan soldiers could crowd onto these specialized siege ladders; most used ordinary, albeit elongated, wooden ladders.
With iron hooks catching on the battlements, a large number of Yan soldiers, biting their weapons, began to climb, swarming the walls.
If the Xia army did not find a way to counter, the city's fall and their annihilation would be imminent.
The Xia army defending Guangling Commandery, having fought the Yan army for months, had become a battle-hardened force with extensive combat experience. The Xia army, spotting the position of the battering rams, placed numerous large bellows between the inner and outer walls. Before the bellows, numerous bonfires blazed. Once the wall was breached, the bellows would be activated, fanning the flames. The fire would surge through the breached openings and into the battering ram's maw. The wooden structure of the battering ram could not withstand the inferno, instantly turning into a fiery furnace. Yan soldiers inside were roasted alive, and those who managed to escape were severely burned.
Thus, the Xia army repelled the Yan army's battering ram assault, inflicting even heavier losses.
The Xia army's method for dealing with the siege ladders, particularly the large, specialized ones, was to ignite a giant fireball and push it down the ladder. The fireball, falling from a great height, would knock off countless Yan soldiers.
Yan soldiers, engulfed in flames, fell from the ladders with screams.
For ordinary, simple siege ladders, the Xia army would either risk the enemy's arrow fire to desperately hack at the iron hooks, or use long spears or bamboo poles to push the ladders away from the walls. Alternatively, several men would carry a cauldron of boiling "golden soup" and pour it over the climbing Yan soldiers.
"Golden soup," also known as "golden liquid," was boiled excrement, sometimes mixed with poisonous herbs. When poured on a person, it would instantly cause flesh to rot and peel. Even if one survived the initial shock, the wounds would fester and become infected, leading to a agonizing death.
The golden soup rained down, producing sizzling sounds. Countless Yan soldiers screamed as they fell from the ladders. Even if they didn't die from the scalding, they would be splattered into a bloody mess.
"Kill! Charge!"
"The Great Commander has ordered that the first to scale the wall will be promoted to Ten Thousand Households and rewarded with ten thousand gold!"
A Yan general raised his saber and roared, urging his soldiers to charge the walls.
The interior of the pontoon bridges were wooden structures.
Under the lure of great reward, brave men would emerge. At any time, the soldiers who dared to be the first to ascend the city wall would receive immense rewards, not trivial gifts, but rewards capable of changing a soldier's destiny. And there were no shortage of fearless gamblers among the Yan army.
Furthermore, the Yan army's discipline troops stood menacingly behind, ready to execute any coward who tried to flee, their heads then displayed as a warning.
Thus, countless Yan soldiers, biting their weapons and holding their shields, climbed the siege ladders.
After a prolonged and fierce battle, numerous siege ladders were firmly against the city walls. Several valiant Yan soldiers rushed onto the ramparts from the spacious ladders, frantically hacking at the Xia soldiers. One by one, Xia soldiers were cut down, their blood flowing across the city of Guangling, dyeing the once white city a bloody red.
"Kill! Kill your way up!"
The Yan army rejoiced at this sight, waving their weapons and shouting jubilantly.
Once one person breached the wall and held their ground, a second, third, and fourth would follow. If the number of Yan soldiers on the wall exceeded the Xia soldiers, gaining an advantage, then Guangling Commandery would fall.
However, just as they had their stratagems, so did the defenders. Under the command of their general, the Xia army retreated to the inner wall and set fire to the wooden bridge connecting the inner and outer walls.
The Yan soldiers who had reached the outer wall were stunned. The two walls were two zhang apart, and the Yan soldiers on the outer wall were helpless. How could they jump down from the outer wall and then scale the inner wall? Moreover, the space between the inner and outer walls was a sea of fire; jumping down would turn them into roasted pigs.
The Xia soldiers on the inner wall, sheltered behind the ramparts, continuously attacked the Yan soldiers on the outer wall. The Yan soldiers were hit one after another and fell from the wall, truly becoming roasted pigs.
By this point, the Yan and Xia armies had been locked in fierce combat for five or six hours. Both sides had suffered heavy casualties, and the battle was exceptionally brutal. As the attacking force, the Yan army's losses were even more severe, with over ten thousand soldiers lost, yet Guangling Commandery remained firmly in Xia hands.
"Report... Great Commander..." A Yan scout galloped up to Murong Bole, the Yan commander, and reported loudly without dismounting: "Three routes of reinforcements from the Southern Dynasty have arrived, less than ten li from Guangling Commandery."
"Hmm?" Murong Bole turned his head and looked at the Yan scout with confusion. This was perplexing.
Guangling Commandery and its surrounding areas had been besieged for a long time. Naturally, the Xia had dispatched reinforcements, and indeed, three routes of reinforcements totaling over three hundred thousand men. However, Murong Bole had employed the strategy of "encircle the city and attack the reinforcements," breaking them down one by one, defeating all three routes. Since then, the Xia had not sent any large-scale reinforcements to Guangling Commandery.
Where had these three routes of reinforcements come from now?
"Do not worry, Commander!" Tang Qingsi, the interpreter and advisor, smiled slightly and said to Murong Bole, "I surmise these three routes of reinforcements are not regular Southern Dynasty troops, but local militias. Even if they are numerous, they are a disorganized rabble. Send someone to repel them."
"Good!" Murong Bole was overjoyed and repeatedly issued orders: "Order Generals Batu En, Nailige, and Mo Ergu to each lead their respective Longxiang, Xiaowu, and Shenrui armies to meet the enemy. Remember, merely repel them, do not allow them to approach Guangling Commandery. There is no need to annihilate them!"
"Your subordinate obeys the Great Commander's orders!" The three important generals, Batu En, Nailige, and Mo Ergu, responded loudly in unison.
"Uncle, your nephew requests to be sent into battle!" Murong Kang, standing nearby, suddenly spoke, requesting permission.