Big Moon Ballad

Chapter 2634 Siege
The northern winds are strong enough to crack the faces of everyone standing on the city walls.

Late at night, Meng Shi, clad in armor, climbed the city wall of Luoyang and gazed at the countless tents below.

Torches blazed outside each tent, reminding Meng Shi of the menacing eyes of a pack of wolves on the grassland.

The corpses left on the city wall during the daytime siege have been cleared away, but the strong smell of blood still lingers.

"Your Majesty, it seems the enemy will not attack the city tonight. You should return to the palace to rest."

An elderly military officer standing beside Meng Shi offered some advice.

Meng Shi looked at the sallow, emaciated face beneath the general's helmet and sighed, "General Chen, how many more days will the provisions last?"

The military officer remained silent for a moment, then said, "If we don't collect grain from the city soon, we can only hold out for three more days at most."

“The surplus grain in the people’s homes has been collected, and each household has only enough for seven days’ worth of food,” Meng Shi said expressionlessly. “If we continue to collect any more, people will resort to cannibalism.”

It was supposed to be seven days' worth of rations, but Meng Shi knew in her heart that with layers of exploitation by lower-level officials, she would be lucky to have three days' worth left.

She patrolled the city daily with her personal guards, barely managing to prevent Luoyang from becoming a living hell.

"This humble general knows that His Majesty and His Highness care for the people," General Chen sighed, "but soldiers need to eat, otherwise even if our forces outnumber the enemy, we will not be able to defend the city gates."

This time, Meng Shi remained silent.

"I will discuss this with His Majesty. You must be careful and make sure that enemy spies do not climb the city walls as they did last night."

"This subordinate understands. The spy was discovered last night at Desheng Gate. General Meihua has already led men to defend it, so there shouldn't be any more trouble."

Hearing that Li Meiniang had left with her people, Meng Shi felt a little relieved.

"That's good."

……

……

When Meng Shi returned to the Northern Wei royal palace, it was already dawn.

She immediately noticed that the light was still on in Yelü Hua's study.

Meng Shi stopped the palace servants at the door who were about to announce her arrival, and quietly pushed the door open and entered.

Yelü Hua, who was reading memorials at his desk, was startled. "I just got up..."

"Come on," Meng Shi could tell at a glance that he hadn't slept all night, "What are you pretending for in front of me?"

Yelü Hua smiled wryly, picked up the memorial, and sat back down.

"What's the situation inside the city?"

"Not so good. The thousand shi of grain that we dug out of the cellar of the physician's family is almost gone."

Meng Shi sat down on another chair beside the imperial desk. "I don't believe those officials really have no grain stored in their homes, or that there are really no more corrupt officials to confiscate from."

“Ashi…” Yelü Hua smiled bitterly, “We can’t push those people to the brink, otherwise even if we have food, the city will be in chaos.”

"It has been fifteen days, Guanghua."

“We’re almost at our wits’ end,” Meng Shi said, looking at Yelü Hua’s sunken cheeks from hunger. These past few days, Yelü Hua had been leading by example, calling on all cultivators and ministers and palace servants who weren’t going to the battlefield to eat only one meal a day.

Hundreds of palace servants have starved to death inside the royal palace.

Yelü Hua looked at the memorial in his hand, "A relief army from Zijing Pass has reportedly broken through the encirclement and is heading towards Luoyang with supplies."

“This is already the eleventh route,” Meng Shi stared into Yelü Hua’s eyes, “the provisions for the first ten routes have all benefited the enemy outside the city.”

Without sufficient troops, sending supplies to Luoyang from the outskirts would be like throwing good money after bad.

The most elite troops of the Northern Wei were the border guards concentrated along the Yongye Great Wall; those in other areas were mostly garrison troops who only fought in times of war and spent their time farming, making their combat effectiveness extremely low. When Luoyang was besieged, Yelü Hua issued edicts ordering troops from all over the Northern Wei to send reinforcements, but so far, no relief force has been able to break through the outer siege and reach the city gates of Luoyang. Yelü Hua fell silent, then sighed heavily, "If this relief force can get close to Luoyang this time, we will open the city gates and go out to meet them."

“No,” Meng Shi refused resolutely, “The city gates must not be opened!”

Half of the enemy troops besieging Luoyang this time were rebellious Northern Wei border guards. The city was already a mixed bag, making it difficult to distinguish friend from foe.

The Great Wall and Shanhaiguan Pass fell because the rebels opened the city gates and lured the enemy deep into their territory.

To prevent a repeat of the collusion between insiders and outsiders that occurred when the Great Wall fell, Yelü Hua issued a strict order at the start of the defense of Luoyang: anyone who opened the city gates without authorization, whether they were one of his own or a Northern Wei general who claimed to have an imperial decree, would be executed on the spot.

If this principle is broken, the consequences will be unimaginable.

“But if we don’t open the gates to receive supplies, it will be difficult to get supplies from the outside,” Yelü Hua said wearily, resting his hands on his desk. “If the city’s supplies are completely exhausted, the people and soldiers will still open the city gates in order to survive.”

Looking at his appearance, Meng Shi felt a pang of pain in her heart.

Luoyang itself had enough troops to defend the city, but they couldn't defeat the enemy outside. The enemy forces on the outside chose to blockade key roads and besiege the city, which would inevitably turn Luoyang into a dead city.

“Your Majesty,” Meng Shi grasped Yelü Hua’s hand, “I believe she will come.”

"Is that so?" Yelü Hua raised his head, revealing a bitter smile. "This is the capital of Northern Wei. Can she really bring her troops here?"

It's heartbreaking that he, the King of Northern Wei, actually needed the army of another country to save his capital.

"I have truly failed my ancestors in being the King of Northern Wei."

"What is Your Majesty saying?" Meng Shi laughed. "In your ancestors' time, this place was originally under the jurisdiction of the Qin people."

Yelü Hua paused for a moment, then smiled wryly, "That's true."

The Northern Wei dynasty only lasted three generations before it became independent; his grandfather's generation was still a subject of the Qin dynasty.

“But it has been fifteen days already,” Yelü Hua sighed. “If she really wanted to subdue Northern Wei, she could have waited until Luoyang was out of supplies and looted by foreign enemies before she could have reaped the benefits.”

As the former King of Qin, Ying Baoyue had no need to mobilize a large army to rescue the capital of a neighboring state that was no longer subservient to him.

She might as well wait, wait for Luoyang to fall, wait for the rebels on the outskirts to kill him, and wait for the Northern Wei royal family to be looted. Then the Former Qin would bring a large army to fight against that exhausted army. At that time, Luoyang would be hers for the taking.

This is the way of the military: morality and friendship are meaningless in the face of territory and interests.

Meng Shi knew the gravity of the situation, and her face turned pale.

She gripped Yelü Hua's hand tightly and said firmly, "I believe she will come."

Yelü Hua closed his eyes, "I hope so."

……

……

Just an hour later, the enemy forces besieging Luoyang, the capital of Northern Wei, launched their sixteenth attack on the city.

The emaciated Luoyang defenders regrouped in front of the city walls and nine city gates. About 50,000 of the Luoyang defenders were still able to fight, while the attacking enemy forces numbered only 30,000, including 10,000 cavalry.

Because they had plundered the grain and supplies troops supporting Luoyang, the enemy still had plenty of weapons and provisions.

Outside Luoyang, a barrage of arrows was once again unleashed.

However, the Luoyang defenders were running out of arrows and could only fight back with stones and torches on the walls.

Amidst the sound of war drums, Meng Shi ascended the city wall.

"Your Majesty!"

Just then, she heard the urgent voice of Chen Bingyan, the highest-ranking general of the Luoyang garrison, "Desheng Gate is under attack! The city gate is about to fall!"