The newly replaced windlass of Yuheng City was neither rusted nor stuck; turning it took very little effort.
As long as the city gate was lowered and the main force entered, their side was guaranteed victory!
So far, the plan had gone remarkably smoothly.
One of the burly men was just about to grin when an arrow flew from out of nowhere, piercing the bone-chilling wind and shooting straight into his mouth with a sharp whistle!
Even the fierce north wind failed to push it off course.
A plume of bloody mist erupted from the back of his head, and before he could even scream, he collapsed dead on the spot.
Immediately after, another three or four arrows arrived, and a squad of soldiers charged out from a civilian residence at the corner of the street. With gleaming sabers, spears, and axes in hand, they crossed the distance to the city gate in a couple of strides!
Meanwhile, outside the city, when the bandit army was still over eighty zhang from the gate, more than two hundred soldiers suddenly appeared out of thin air atop the gate tower. Each wore bright armor, their helmets squared and upright.
Whoosh, whoosh—arrows fell like rain.
After the first rank finished shooting, they drew back of their own accord, and the second rank stepped up to loose another volley.
The bandit forces scattered at once, everyone raising their shields.
The artillery on the gate tower creaked as it swiveled around, having long been fully loaded. With muzzles aimed at the enemy, the fuses were lit, and the first volley of shells roared out.
They had loaded shrapnel shells; each shell was packed with over two hundred pinky-length spikes. When they hit the ground and burst open, the spikes sprayed in every direction, riddling men and horses into sieves!
The catapults atop the gate tower had also begun to operate. What they hurled were hinged hammers, also known as meteor chain hammers. A strike against a human body snapped tendons and shattered bones; striking a horse's leg was even more devastating, sending man and beast flying dozens of feet amid agonized screams.
Over half of the archers and loaders atop the wall were newly recruited soldiers. Seeing the scene below the gate where men and mounts were overturned and mangled flesh flew everywhere, even though they were mentally prepared, they were still stunned into terror, their hands trembling as they drew bows and carried shells.
War, bloodshed, screams, and death—the shock to novices was beyond doubt.
The veterans beside them threw punches and roared warnings: "Don't wimp out! Keep going!"
By this time, the infiltrators turning the windlass inside the city had been hacked to mincemeat. The army outside waited eagerly, but after a few creaks, the gate failed to drop.
Torches blazed atop the wall and down below. Even the dullest commander realized that their inside accomplices had failed.
The plan to make the gate fall without a fight had been foiled.
Naturally, they still had ways to force the gate. Two giant bear demons in their ranks each carried a heavy ballista. Their bolts were five feet long, tipped with barbed hooks that splayed open upon hitting the city gate, anchoring themselves firmly.
These giant ballistas did not need to be unslung; operators could simply work them from behind the bears. Once the bolts struck the gate, several powerful demon beasts at the rear could try to rip the gate down by sheer force.
Yet there was no longer any point in trying, for Yuheng City was clearly prepared well in advance, waiting for them to attack!
Clanging gongs echoed through the bandit army, and dispatch riders shouted at the top of their lungs:
"Retreat! Retreat!"
Yuheng City possessed strong walls and fierce artillery; their chance of victory had lain in a surprise attack.
If that prerequisite could not be met, what was the point of continuing the fight? It would merely be throwing their lives away in vain.
Thus, the bandit commander decisively ordered a retreat.
This force had some discipline, after all; they did not scatter in a chaotic rout, but wheeled around from head to tail and headed east.
As soon as they fled, the artillery atop the wall pounded even more merrily.
Before they had run a hundred zhang, rows upon rows of ground spikes suddenly shot up beneath the bandits' feet. The smaller ones were like daggers, while the larger ones stood six to seven feet high. Rising from the ground without warning, they skewered men and horses like meat on a skewer.
Everywhere were shouts of fury, screams of agony, and curses.
This was a tactical formation laid out in advance—a large ground spike formation.
It was immobile and consumed massive energy, requiring seven or eight spellcrafters to work together to lay and activate, and the casters could not move about during the casting.
Yet its power was formidable, making it an ideal choice for ambushes and underhanded blows.
By the time the bandits waded through the ground spike formation and fled beyond the range of the gate's artillery and crossbows, only about thirteen hundred of their two thousand troops remained, every one of them pale with terror.
"Scatter, scatter!" A fork lay ahead; breaking into smaller groups offered a better chance of survival.
The border wasn't far away; everyone put your backs into it!
They had just split up when a large force suddenly emerged over a low hill ahead. Two more volleys of arrows cleared the way, and then the troops swept down from the woods, war cries shaking the heavens!
This, now this was the real ambush!
***
Two hours later, the battle was completely over.
This night battle had dragged all the way from beneath the city gates to the border. Corpses littered the path, making the subsequent battlefield cleanup considerably more difficult.
Yet joy radiated from every face.
The Yuheng City army had won its maiden battle!
Having walked into an ambush, the two thousand bandits suffered heavy casualties; in the end, only some six hundred made it back, while over three hundred fell to their knees on the spot and surrendered as prisoners.
He Lingchuan led the pursuit to the border and saw the enemy fleeing across the Yin River, discarding armor and weapons along the way. He did not cross the border to give chase, merely ordering his men to haul over a plump wild boar demon.
It was scared out of its wits by the time it was shoved forward, foaming at the mouth and thrashing its head and tail. Yet He Lingchuan had seen with his own eyes earlier that it had gored a Yuheng soldier until his belly burst open and his guts spilled out.
He Lingchuan ordered his men to strap the smallest size of bursting thunder under its belly, lit the long fuse, and drove the boar across toward the opposite bank.
The boar ran faster than an ordinary horse.
Though people called out to it along the way, it turned a deaf ear, its mind solely set on escaping.
Before long, shadows flickered in the woods on the opposite bank, as if quite a few people were running for their lives. Immediately after came a thunderous boom—the bursting thunder had detonated.
The soldiers on this side burst into laughter.
Only after savoring the spectacle did He Lingchuan give the order to withdraw to the city.
On the way back, the two detachments led by Meng Shan and Willow returned one after another, both triumphant.
In his booming voice, Meng Shan asked He Lingchuan, "Boss, how did you know they'd launch a full-scale attack?"
He and He Lingchuan had originally been opponents. Over more than a dozen life-and-death clashes, he had watched He Lingchuan grow from weak to strong, his military rank rising time and again. Anyone else might have felt envy, jealousy, or resentment, but Meng Shan harbored none of that; on the contrary, he admired him to no end.
He could fight, he could kill, and he had brains—it was only right that he rose to the top spot.
"After I took office at Yuheng City, they never came to harass us. They were saving up their strength to make a big move," He Lingchuan said, holding his halberd pointed down as the last drop of blood slid from its tip. "They wanted to show me who's boss."
Yuheng City had a new commander; after so many days, there was no way the opposite bank didn't know.
He Lingchuan was a new general from Panlong City; to the outside world, his reputation was not on par with Commander Xiao's, so it was inevitable they would look down on him.
Meng Shan said in a muffled rumble, "Thinking they could take Yuheng City with so few troops—they underestimated us far too much!"
"They never expected to conquer Yuheng City. They just wanted to bleed us, show their might, teach us a lesson, and give me a little grief." He Lingchuan understood the situation very clearly. "In their plan, they probably intended to plunder the eastern district and then tear away in a rush before we could organize an effective counterattack."
Chapter 732