“Your subordinate obeys!”
Xun Zheng respectfully clasped his fists and shouted in acknowledgment.
With Yuan Shu’s personal promise of rewards, the Yuan soldiers assaulting the city fell into a frenzy.
Meanwhile, the Qihuo Army soldiers atop the walls transformed into merciless manure-flinging machines.
Pei Yuanshao, who had been observing the battlefield the entire time, was not idle either.
He organized the archers and other defenders to shoot down every Yuan soldier who managed to show his head above the walls.
Over the course of two hours, Pei Yuanshao repelled the Yuan army several times.
The Qihuo soldiers showed no signs of exhaustion.
If anything, they seemed increasingly energized.
As for the Yuan army outside the city, they were beginning to lose their resolve.
During this period, the number of wounded had become impossible to count.
Nearly a thousand soldiers had died outright.
Combined with the seemingly endless supply of boiling manure pouring from the battlements, many Yuan soldiers finally began to come to their senses.
After several assaults organized by the junior officers ended in failure, some of the Yuan soldiers unconsciously retreated beyond the range of the boiling manure.
No matter how much the officers tried to rally morale, the effect was minimal.
Thus, the pace of the siege gradually slowed.
“No!”
When Xun Zheng heard a junior officer suggest withdrawing, he immediately roared:
“Pass the order to the supervisors at once! Any soldier who retreats shall be executed!”
“This time, I shall personally lead the charge!”
With that, he mounted his horse and rode toward Yuncheng with his personal guards.
He would rather risk his own life than betray Yuan Shu’s trust.
At the same time, he was greatly underestimating the danger of the boiling manure.
As Xun Zheng took the field personally, his vanguard banner advanced as well, signaling that the vanguard army was launching an all-out assault on Yuncheng.
“Xun Zheng has the bearing of a great general!”
Watching the vanguard banner move forward, Yuan Shu’s face showed clear admiration.
“Congratulations, General of the Left!”
The fur-clad chieftain Yufuluo hurriedly flattered him.
“With your vanguard commander personally leading the attack, this city is surely already within your grasp.”
“Hahaha!” Yuan Shu burst into laughter, his face filled with confidence and satisfaction.
“The general’s orders: attack the city with all your might! Those who retreat shall be executed!”
“The general’s orders: attack the city with all your might! Those who retreat shall be executed!”
“…”
As Xun Zheng’s orders spread throughout the army, and as the vanguard banner rapidly advanced, the Yuan soldiers outside the city felt their hearts tighten.
They understood exactly what was about to happen.
Seeing this, many wounded soldiers gritted their teeth and prepared to charge alongside the vanguard’s central force.
The morale of the entire vanguard army gradually united into a single determined will.
“There are still people who aren’t afraid of dying?”
On the city wall, Pei Yuanshao spoke casually, but inwardly his heart had become tense.
“Brothers, do you see that?” Pointing toward the vanguard banner, he continued:
“The enemy’s vanguard commander is beneath that banner. Keep a close eye on him. If we kill him, that’ll be a tremendous achievement!”
Throughout history, soldiers had sought four great battlefield accomplishments:
Slaying an enemy general.
Capturing an enemy banner.
Being the first to scale a city wall.
Breaking into and shattering an enemy formation.
The reward Yuan Shu had offered earlier—a thousand gold pieces for the first man to scale the walls—was one of these prestigious honors.
Now that the enemy’s vanguard banner was approaching Yuncheng,
if fortune favored them, Pei Yuanshao and his men might have a chance to achieve the feat of slaying an enemy commander.
“Haha! Rest assured, General. If that vanguard commander dares climb the wall, he won’t escape!”
“Leave it to us! We’ll keep our eyes on him and bring you his head!”
“…”
From the Qihuo Army’s perspective, they held a fortified city and enjoyed every defensive advantage.
Any enemy commander reckless enough to personally scale the walls was practically seeking death.
With the assistance of the boiling manure, they felt invincible.
“Soldiers!”
Arriving two hundred paces from the city, Xun Zheng dismounted and raised his halberd.
“The bandits inside number only two thousand! We are ten thousand strong! As long as we fight together, they cannot hold this city!”
“The first man over the wall shall receive a thousand gold!”
“All other brothers will likewise receive generous rewards from our lord!”
“Follow me and kill!”
“KILL!”
“Kill!”
After hearing Xun Zheng’s words, the Yuan soldiers roared in unison and charged forward through the rain of stones and arrows.
“Kill!”
Under the protection of numerous bodyguards, Xun Zheng climbed a heavy siege ladder.
Once he reached the top, he would be able to leap directly onto the battlements.
“There! There he is!”
“That ladder!”
The Qihuo soldiers, who had been closely watching the enemy’s movements, immediately noticed him.
Pei Yuanshao had already led two squads to wait at the top of that very ladder.
“Quick! Feed him some shit!”
Splash! Splash! Splash!
“AAAH! It’s burning!”
Several bodyguards at the front had not even managed to show their heads above the wall.
Despite holding shields over themselves, they were still baptized by a shower of boiling manure.
A few of them rolled around screaming on the ladder in agony, severely obstructing the advance of the others behind them.
“Drag them down!” A junior officer carrying a shield shouted.
Even as he endured the stench and burns, his heart pounded nervously.
However, he was not kept waiting for long.
The moment he jumped over the battlement with shield in hand, enduring the scalding pain, he died almost instantly.
“KILL!”
Not long afterward, Xun Zheng, his eyes bloodshot, used a shield for cover and leapt onto the battlements with overwhelming ferocity.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Xun Zheng kept his eyes in all directions and his ears alert to every sound.
With the weapon in his hands, he swept aside every spear and halberd thrusting toward him.
Given just a little more time, his bodyguards and the Yuan soldiers behind him would be able to pour onto the battlements in large numbers.
Thrust!
At that very moment, Pei Yuanshao, who had been waiting patiently for an opportunity, struck.
Taking advantage of the instant when Xun Zheng’s old strength had been spent and his new strength had yet to emerge, Pei Yuanshao drove his spear straight into Xun Zheng’s chest.
“THE GENERAL IS MIGHTY!”
“VICTORY IS OURS!”
“KILL!”
Seeing Pei Yuanshao achieve success with a single strike, the morale of the Qihuo Army soared.
With savage expressions, they knocked every Yuan soldier who managed to show his head above the wall back down to the ground below.
“The enemy commander is dead!”
Pei Yuanshao cut off Xun Zheng’s head.
He threw the general’s helmet high into the air beyond the city wall and, under the protection of his soldiers, shouted from atop the battlements:
“Your commander is dead! If you do not retreat now, when will you?”
“What?”
“The general is dead?”
“That’s the general’s helmet!”
“Look! Hanging beneath the Yellow Turban banner—isn’t that General Xun’s head?”
“Retreat! Retreat!”
Pei Yuanshao’s words reached the ears of some Yuan soldiers.
The news quickly spread throughout Yuan Shu’s vanguard army, causing a tremendous uproar.
The Yuan soldiers who had been assaulting the city retreated like a receding tide within moments.
All that remained outside the city walls was a scene of devastation.
“The general has fallen!”
Even the supervisory troops stationed behind the lines were shocked by the news.
None of them dared attempt to stop the vanguard from withdrawing.
“Men!” Seeing this, Pei Yuanshao finally breathed a sigh of relief.
He ordered:
“Pass down my command. Immediately send men to burn every siege ladder outside the city.”
“Also, see to the wounded brothers and bandage their injuries.”
“Yes, General!”
A young messenger officer respectfully acknowledged the order.
Meanwhile, Yuan Shu’s expression had become exceedingly ugly.
He had never imagined that a commander he thought so highly of would die almost instantly.
It was nothing less than a slap to his face.
Moreover, the enemy force inside the city numbered only around ten thousand men.
He had committed fifteen thousand troops as the vanguard.
Not only had they failed to achieve the desired results,
they had even lost a major general.
How could someone as proud and arrogant as Yuan Shu possibly swallow such humiliation?
“Li Feng, hear my command!” Yuan Shu said coldly:
“Immediately lead four battalions in the assault.”
“Mengzhuo and Yufuluo are each to contribute one battalion to assist Li Feng in capturing the city.”
“Even if the attack must continue through the night, Yuncheng must be taken!”
“If you cannot even capture a small city like Yuncheng—”
“Then what use do I have for maintaining such a massive army?”
— The end of the Chapter–
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