Big Moon Ballad

Chapter 2635 Counterattack
Desheng Gate is the most important of the nine city gates of Luoyang. In recent days, Meng Shi has been sending his most trusted generals to guard Desheng Gate.

Because the enemy had been sending troops to scout near Deshengmen, she and Li Meiniang had a premonition that the enemy might attack from Deshengmen. However, Li Meiniang objected to her request to move the main force of the defending army to the vicinity of Deshengmen.

"The enemy has mobilized its main force to attack Deshengmen!"

Chen Bingyan was so anxious that his face turned red and his eyes bulged out.

"Alas! Your Highness, I already said that two more squads should be sent to guard Desheng Gate! Now it's too late!"

Meng Shi did not change color like him after hearing this. "I know. I will take my guards to Deshengmen right away."

"Wait, Your Majesty, you mustn't! It's extremely dangerous over there. What if you're captured alive..."

Before Chen Bingyan could finish speaking, Meng Shi's figure had already disappeared from the city wall. Her cultivation level was the highest among everyone present, and for a moment, no one could stop her.

"Quick! Go after her! We must stop Her Majesty the Queen!"

Chen Bingyan was so anxious that he kept slapping his thigh. In his anxiety, he did not notice that one of his lieutenants had quietly left the wall.

……

……

When Meng Shi arrived at Deshengmen with a dozen personal guards, Deshengmen was under fierce attack, and the main gate was being rammed by battering rams with a loud bang.

Where is General Plum Blossom?

Meng Shi landed on the city wall and immediately saw the general in charge of guarding Desheng Gate, the Earl of Wuqing, Feng Heng. By seniority, this man was Yelü Hua's maternal uncle, the younger brother of Empress Dowager Feng Yan of Northern Wei, and the military officer personally selected by Feng Yan to guard the city.

"General Plum Blossom has led the Silver Cicada Guards out of the city from the side to meet the enemy," Feng Heng pointed down to the city. Meng Shi immediately saw dozens of silver lights in the melee below the city, which were the Silver Cicada Guards led by Li Meiniang.

After arriving in Luoyang, the Silver Cicada Guards selected many more from the rebel forces left behind by Ji Jiashu, forming a force of three hundred men. The elite troops following Li Meiniang numbered over a hundred.

The cavalry force of one hundred men that left the city at that moment was precisely this unit.

However, even though the Silver Cicada Guards fought bravely, there were simply too many enemy troops below the city. The enemy force was estimated to be at least five thousand strong, and more troops were continuously pouring up.

"Oh no, General Plum Blossom is going to lose!"

Originally, the defenders on the city wall thought they had seen hope when they saw the Silver Cicada Guards going out to meet the enemy, but now, looking at the situation below the city, the Silver Cicada Guards were actually showing signs of defeat.

Li Meiniang led only a small force out of the city to meet the enemy. Although the initial attack was fierce, killing more than 300 enemies, she soon became exhausted and led her troops in retreat, fleeing back towards the city gate.

"The enemy outnumbers us! Alas!"

Feng Heng and Meng Shi exchanged a glance, their faces showing heartache.

"Quickly, prepare to open the side door and let the Silver Cicada Guards in!"

Seeing the Silver Cicada Guards retreat, the rebel leader, who had been watching from afar, was overjoyed. "Haha, Li Meiniang has finally met her match! Chase after her! Add more men!"

"This woman must be killed beneath the city walls!"

"Listen up, men! Whoever takes that woman's head will be rewarded with a thousand taels of silver!"

The enemy troops on the other side were practically going crazy upon hearing this.

Standing on the wall, Meng Shi saw in the distance that the rebel army on the other side had sent out more than 10,000 cavalry to pursue the Silver Cicada Guards and Li Meiniang.

Three hundred steps, two hundred steps, one hundred steps.

The enemy forces in the distance, like a dark swarm of ants, surrounded a small group of Silver Cicada Guards from behind, about to engulf them.

Meng Shi stared intently at the enemy troops below the city, while the other guards on the city wall were stunned. Many of them couldn't help but close their eyes, unable to bear witnessing this brutal scene.

Therefore, they did not notice that a group of people were secretly pushing dozens of large black boxes from an empty room inside Deshengmen towards the side door.

Just as Li Meiniang was leading the Silver Cicada Guards to Desheng Gate, she suddenly reined in her horse and stopped.

"What? Trying to beg for mercy?"

The enemy general pursuing them laughed heartily. Li Meiniang stared at his face and recognized him as one of the Northern Wei border generals who had opened the gates to the Western Rong when Shanhaiguan fell. She looked at him, a slight smile appearing on her lips.

"Crazy woman, you're about to die and you're still laughing!"

The burly man felt a chill run down his spine, and suddenly drew his bow and shot an arrow at Li Meiniang.

Li Meiniang showed no fear. She raised her head and glanced at Meng Shi on the city wall behind her.

The two women's eyes met in mid-air.

Meng Shi's gaze sharpened, and she shouted, "Release!"

"Release? Release what?" Many of the soldiers on the city wall opened their eyes, looked at each other, and were completely bewildered.

However, the next deafening cannon shot had already resounded beneath the city walls.

The side gate of Deshengmen swung open with a bang, revealing countless dark cannon barrels aimed at the pursuing enemy troops.

Dozens of cannons and muskets fired simultaneously, and at the same time, two more cavalry groups suddenly appeared on both sides of the road, launching a pincer attack on the cavalry pursuing Li Meiniang and her group.

"Oh no! We've fallen for their trap!"

The enemy general, who had raised his arrow to shoot, cried out in horror, but before he could order his troops to retreat, he was killed in the artillery fire.

……

……

"artillery?"

Inside a tent behind the army besieging Luoyang, a man sitting behind the curtain heard the scout's report and murmured to himself.

"This thing hasn't been destroyed yet?"

Firearms were invented by Lin Baoyue, the Grand Master of Fate, and played a significant role when Emperor Taizu (Ying Di) unified the entire land.

However, according to the Grand Master of Fate, this thing should not have been born in this world, and he did not tell anyone how to make firearms. After the establishment of the Qin Dynasty, Emperor Taizu ordered the destruction of all firearms in the land, and they were cast into twelve bronze statues along with the collected civilian weapons.

"Why didn't our people spread the news that the Northern Wei still had firearms left?"

"According to Deputy General Wang, the Queen of Northern Wei kept it a secret from everyone, not even the commander in charge of defending the city."

“That sly fox…” the man narrowed his eyes, “I still underestimated her and that woman Li Meiniang. They actually pretended to retreat and set up an ambush near Deshengmen beforehand.”

"Strategist, Lord Zhou's younger brother was just killed by cannon fire in front of Desheng Gate. Our men... have suffered heavy casualties..."

The man behind the tent was silent for a moment. "Withdraw the troops first, then continue the siege."

"But strategist, Lord Zhou is asking what to do next..."

"I need to consult the Beast God; I will give you an answer in an hour."

……

……

After the scouts left, the man behind the tent lifted another curtain, revealing a grotesque wooden statue standing behind him.

The man trembled as he pulled out a small knife, pricked his finger, and offered his hand to the wooden statue.

pat.

A drop of blood fell onto the statue, and the wooden statue suddenly moved, biting off a piece of flesh from the back of the man's hand.

"Master!"

The man fell to his knees with a thud.

"Wu Chanlu," Yun Zhongjun's eerie voice echoed from within the statue, "have you been defeated?"