Chapter 470 - 335: War
At dawn, under the walls of Qingzhou City, countless soldiers of Yan Country were already holding long knives, standing ready, just waiting for Rong Heng’s command to begin the siege.
The cold winter sunrise shone on the soldiers’ black armor, casting a faint glow.
Rong Heng surveyed the crowd, his voice calm and serene, yet clearly reaching everyone’s ears:
"Siege."
Amidst the urgent and thunderous drumbeats, the first batch of Yan Country soldiers orderly pushed the siege machines towards Qingzhou City’s gates.
Rong Heng lifted his head, squinting his eyes, looking at the figure clad in golden armor atop the city wall.
Though the distance was vast and countless flags separated them, he couldn’t clearly see the Golden Armor General’s face but knew it was Wei Junzhuo.
The walls of Qingzhou City were tall, surrounded by a moat, easy to defend and hard to attack. The Wei Army had occupied it for over half a month, constantly reinforcing its defenses.
Qi Country fell so swiftly largely due to Qingzhou being captured too early. Wei Junzhuo used it as a base and hub to efficiently coordinate Wei Army forces throughout Qi Country.
This demonstrated how critical Qingzhou City was.
Wei Junzhuo absolutely didn’t want to relinquish what he had seized, but Rong Heng must capture this city to ensure it becomes Yan Country’s natural barrier against Wei Country.
Rong Heng sat in his Commander’s Chariot, grasping the long sword in his hand.
His dark eyes were cold and sharp, his face without expression, though his demeanor was indifferent, it wasn’t stern, reassuring all the soldiers of Yan Country.
Wei Country was internally tumultuous. Wei Junzhuo, the so-called traitor who held the Emperor hostage to command the marquises, yet still chose to wage war now, intended to use external conflict to divert domestic tensions.
Now, most of Qi Country had already been conquered by Wei Country. Xu Ding, the Qi Country Monarch, fled to Yan Country, lowering his national status, from now on only calling himself Marquis. Wei Junzhuo, in one battle, annihilated a nation.
These series of strategies made Rong Heng admire Wei Junzhuo’s meticulous planning and strategic acumen. He even thought, if Gu Lan didn’t exist in this world, perhaps he would have felt a kinship with Wei Junzhuo.
But now, they are enemies on the battlefield.
The strategic importance of Qingzhou was too significant. If it fell into Wei Country’s hands, once Wei Junzhuo reorganized, he could launch attacks from Qingzhou against Yan Country within half a year, choosing to attack any of the crucial cities at the Southern Border’s leisure.
Wei Junzhuo also understood this; otherwise, he wouldn’t have chosen it as a central hub. After capturing Qi Country’s capital, he traveled a thousand miles to personally lead troops, facing off against Dayan’s forces.
As the military command was issued, arrow towers slowly advanced alongside the siege engines. Behind them were auxiliary soldiers and border army units holding shields, pushing the heavy arrow towers forward.
The war drums sounded, and within the city, the Wei Army soldiers under Wei Junzhuo’s command were also fired up. Suddenly, countless arrows were fired towards the soldiers behind the arrow towers.
Blood splattered, arrows flew chaotically.
The archers within the arrow towers of Yan Country used the height and cover to draw their bows, shooting back at the Wei Army on the walls.
In an instant, a rain of arrows intertwined and collided in the air, like ten thousand birds emitting fierce cries, like splattering ink spots covering the sky, staining the entire heavens.
There was no wind on the battlefield, yet the arrows roared like a gale.
Soldiers from both countries were pierced by the arrows; some fell from the city walls, others from the arrow towers, and those pushing the towers were struck and fell. Their comrades, emotionless, pushed aside their bodies, continuing forward with shields.
After the arrow rain came the stone throwers.
Each of the well-equipped stone throwers didn’t even need to aim, indiscriminately launching boulders that shattered wood with a thunderous echo, dealing devastating blows to the carefully crafted arrow towers of Yan Country.
Many of the archers inside the damaged towers fled, picking up the fallen’s weapons to continue fighting, while more soldiers perished under the boulders as the towers collapsed.
On the battlefield, either death in battle or victory, there was no retreat.
No soldier of Yan Country retreated even half a step under such circumstances, and the usually cowardly and ineffective Wei Army, having their Great General personally overseeing, surprisingly had soaring morale.
Lives and lives clashed, blood and soil mixed, frozen into the land outside Qingzhou City. Come spring, it might turn into fertile soil.
Finally, after countless sacrifices of Yan Country soldiers’ lives, the stone throwers were pushed into a perfect position. The boulders fell into the city with earth-shattering noise, causing chaos amongst the Wei Army, as some of the more fragile structures of the city walls cracked, posing imminent risk of collapse.