Water Margin: Lu Bu sits on Mount Liang

Early mid-autumn.

Under the sunlight, the area around Daming Prefecture was a "flat road". The original forests and fields were cut down and burned. The black char marks dug up the green fields, making them look ugly.

A black torrent poured down from the north towards the city of Damingfu, and the murderous aura of war arrived as scheduled on this hot summer day.

Dust billowed, iron hooves pounded the ground, and banners that blotted out the sky stretched as far as the guards on the city walls of Daming Prefecture could see.

The first to receive the battle report were Zong Ze, the pacification commissioner of Hebei and Hebei, followed by Du Yun, the garrison commander of Beijing, and Li Cheng, the military commander. All the cities in the north had fallen, and the enemy had 70,000 troops, along with 10,000 surrendered soldiers, were pressing towards this side.

"Guantao City fell too quickly..."

Zong Ze's face showed some helplessness, but more of annoyance. After all, the previous order was to delay the enemy's advance as much as possible, while he was preparing to send troops to aid the garrison in Guantao.

As a result, he couldn't hold out for even a day. The surrendered Song soldiers stormed the city walls, causing chaos among the defenders. The Qi army then took advantage of the chaos to break through the defenses, thus disrupting his plans.

Du Yun and Li Cheng both looked equally embarrassed, but compared to Li Cheng, who seemed somewhat lost, the newly appointed garrison commander of Daming Prefecture stepped forward and said, "The enemy has come from afar. Why not take advantage of their unstable camp and launch a surprise attack?"

Zong Ze calmed down, thought for a moment, and shook his head: "Our army lacks cavalry, and the surrounding area is a flat road. If we go during the day, we will be easily attacked by the Qi bandits' cavalry. If we have the opportunity at night, we can go and probe and launch a night attack. Now, let the garrison in the city begin to prepare."

He paused for a moment, then said, "Notify the other surrounding military prefectures to prepare reinforcements to aid Daming Prefecture. Relying solely on the troops here may not be sufficient."

Du Yun pursed his lips, then gave an awkward smile: "It was my oversight; I really shouldn't have launched a surprise attack in broad daylight."

“Du Liushou was only thinking about the war, there’s no need to apologize.” Zong Ze smiled and turned to walk down the city wall: “We need to prepare for the war quickly. The logs and rolling stones for defending the city can be transported up now.”

"President Zong, wait a moment."

Du Yun called out, and Li Cheng bowed to their backs before ordering his men to relay the message. Teams of strong young men, carrying loads on their shoulders and in their hands, headed towards the city wall.

……

As autumn approached, the climate in Hebei became dry. The terrain outside Daming Prefecture was flat with little elevation change. Warhorses, infantry, and grain transport teams stretched for more than ten miles, stirring up a flurry of activity.

Banners blotted out the sun, and beneath the fluttering banners, generals such as Niu Gao, Han Shizhong, and Wanyan Loushi gathered together, gazing thoughtfully at the distant outline of the city.

Han Shizhong and Niu Gao had already removed their armor when the sun was high in the sky, leaving their upper bodies bare. Both of them were covered in sweat, and a thin layer of yellow dust clung to them under the smoke and dust. After being washed away by the sweat, they looked somewhat dirty, with streaks of black and white.

"At first glance, it's completely bare, with nothing left. The trees have been cut down, the crops harvested, and the village burned down. What a scorched earth policy!" Han Shizhong said, arms crossed, his brows furrowed.

Niu Gao wiped the sweat from his face, his teeth aching slightly, and gestured ahead: "There are still a lot of caltrops buried ahead, as well as many horse traps, and shallow pits specifically designed for horses' hooves. If you're not careful, you'll step on one and be gone."

The sound of horses' hooves rang out behind the two.

Yang Zaixing, dressed in a single layer of clothing and carrying a long spear, rode over on horseback: "Let's clear these obstacles first. I reckon there will be even more traps on the way to the siege. The commander in this city is quite capable, much better than those cowards before."

The two generals naturally had no objections. They immediately directed the infantry to step forward and the cavalry to dismount, filling in the huge tripping pits while keeping watch for whether the Daming Prefecture would send troops.

A dozen or so cavalrymen, under the command of their general, galloped towards the central army to report the situation on this side.

The more than 40,000 troops behind had just passed Guantao. Lu Bu's army, receiving intelligence from the front, was somewhat helpless, knowing that they had encountered a cautious person. They could only order the march to speed up and also ordered the cavalry to send out orders to the generals to act carefully and to send out more scouts to investigate the area around Daming Prefecture.

The army marched forward, raising a cloud of yellow sand.

……

The entire Daming Prefecture was operating at full speed, and the prefectural government offices, the city's various districts and markets were in an uproar.

Even though he knew all along that the Qi army would eventually arrive, when the moment actually came, the reality of facing the enemy was still different from what he had imagined.

It is late at night.

The Li family mansion, formerly the wealthiest family in Daming Prefecture, was bustling with servants and laborers amidst shouts. They would sometimes brace heavy objects against the courtyard gate, and other times assemble broadswords with wooden handles and distribute them.

Inside the room, Li Gu, who had gained a considerable amount of weight, turned around, the lamplight casting his shadow on the wall and creating a large swath of darkness.

"I told you to leave here as soon as possible, leave here as soon as possible, and now look what happened, we can't leave."

"What are you nagging about?" Jia sat at the table, holding a chubby little boy and rolling her eyes. "When I said I wasn't leaving, you agreed. How come it's all my fault now?"

"I..." Li Gu's obese body stopped, and he waved his hand: "Hey! I'm just afraid that Daming Prefecture can't be defended. When the Qi army enters the city, all the property in my family will become those northern bandits."

"What's there to be afraid of?" The woman patted her chubby son and glanced at him. "Didn't the caravan manager say that the Qi army at the front didn't carry out large-scale killings? Many wealthy families in the city are fine. We still have business dealings with them, and we haven't seen anything happen to us."

Seeing the uncertain expression on Li Gu's face, he snorted and comforted him, "We are just merchants. Even if we are a little rich, we are not the richest people in Hebei. The Qi army has not even entered the city yet. Even if they do, why would they target us?"

“What you said makes sense…” Li Gu’s anxiety eased somewhat, then he frowned: “But I haven’t heard from that guy surnamed Lu in Renqiu, and I’m still not at ease.”

"All those surnamed Song are dead, what good can a nobody like him possibly do?" Madam Jia looked at him with a sneer: "Now you're so worried, but back then you had the guts to climb into my bed. How come you're getting worse as you get older?"

"I...this..." Li Gu's face flushed red and then turned pale. "Fine, fine, whatever." He waved his hand, sat down on the other side facing the woman with a huff, and seeing her indifferent look, he muttered to himself, "If I hadn't been broke and had no other choice back then, would I have ended up in your bed? You old hag, I'll replace you sooner or later and let you know who's the head of the household."

……

It was another sunny day. The soldiers who had surrendered from the Song Dynasty got up early. When they were soldiers in the Song Dynasty, they would slack off whenever possible, sleeping until after noon and never getting up when the sun was high in the sky.

Now that they have surrendered to the State of Qi, the soldiers in the Qi army are all like they've been injected with chicken blood, striving to be the first in everything. Even the veteran soldiers in the Qi army feel that they are not as desperate as these people.

On the plain, the tripping craters had been mostly cleared. Soldiers responsible for filling the craters and preparing for the operation were moving forward. Catapults on the city wall launched stones, casting shadows that grew larger in the daylight, which slammed into the busy soldiers. Scattered stone fragments flew everywhere. Soldiers in front, unable to dodge in time, cried out and fell to the ground, dragged backward by their comrades. Their bodies and legs were covered in bruises from the falling stones.

"go back--"

The officers in the army shouted something and led their troops in retreat.

Above the city wall of Daming Prefecture, Li Cheng watched the retreating figure before him and exhaled, feeling as if the armor he was wearing had become lighter.

"Commander, the enemy has retreated." The garrison commander named Li Shixiong stepped forward, clasped his hands in greeting, and said this to him.

"I'm not blind, I saw it all." Li Cheng rolled his eyes, turned to look at the ordinary-looking but strong general, and unconsciously frowned: "You stay here and keep watch, and whatever you do, don't go out of the city to fight, or I'll cut off your dog's head."

He turned and walked down the city wall, saying, "I'll go and guard that side first."

Li Shixiong bowed his head in agreement, watching him walk away. He then shouted for the soldiers guarding the city wall to be alert, and ordered the able-bodied men to carry up more stones as spare projectiles for the whirlwind cannons. Only then did he turn to look at the retreating infantry outside the city and sigh, "What a pity..."

The troops outside the city retreated into the distance. In the temporary military camp, Han Shizhong ordered the military doctor to treat the wounds of the seriously injured. Afterwards, he looked at the city of Daming Prefecture thoughtfully.

"General Han, what are you thinking about?"

Someone approached from behind. Han Shizhong turned around, a smile spreading across his face: "General Wanyan, what brings you to my camp?"

"It's also unbearable to wait all day with nothing to do. I was thinking, should we take advantage of His Majesty's absence to probe the city first?"

Han Shizhong turned to look at him and chuckled, "Perfect, that's exactly what I was thinking too." Then he grabbed his arm and said, "Let's go, let's call Yang boy, Lao Niu, He Zhongbao and the others over to discuss this together."

The initial probing attack on the city walls began that afternoon.

The Qi army's vanguard entered the territory of Daming Prefecture and captured cities one after another. Although some people died and some were wounded, many soldiers from each city surrendered. In addition, these generals were all capable and skilled in battle, so they were able to mobilize the morale and fighting spirit of their soldiers.

Those surrendered generals and soldiers, eager to shed their status as surrendered subjects and have their names appear on the military and political office's merit book as soon as possible so they could enjoy the benefits of Qi's military merit system, were even more fearless in the face of death.

The troops attacking the city were surrendered soldiers from Linqing and Zongcheng. The general leading the army was Hu Yi, a surrendered general from Linqing. When he first heard that they were going to test the defenses of Daming Prefecture, he was the first to volunteer to go forward.

Han Shizhong dispatched two schools of surrendered soldiers to participate in the siege. Li Shixiong on the city wall remained calm and ordered the whirlwind cannons on the city wall to fire down below. After the soldiers below charged forward with the stones overhead, he ordered the ballistae on the city wall to join the attack.

Thick, long arrows whistled as they pierced through people, screams echoing below the city walls. In their frantic attempt to dodge, some soldiers carelessly stepped into pits and fell in along with several of their comrades. Sharp bamboo skewers pierced through their backs, and the stench of blood filled the battlefield.

For two whole hours, these surrendered Song soldiers failed to hold their ground on the wall. Of the three thousand soldiers from the two schools, more than eight hundred were killed or wounded, almost the size of a single military commander's force.

"General, please give me another unit of troops. I refuse to believe that we cannot take this section of the city wall today."

Hu Yitong's eyes were bloodshot. He had been fighting for half a day and could not even stand firmly on the city wall. His soldiers were either dead or wounded. If he gave up now, he felt that he would not be able to hold his head up in front of everyone.

In the distance, the battering rams brought from Guantao were drenched in oil poured from the city wall. A dozen Song archers peered out from the wall, their fire arrows falling, and the battering rams covered in cowhide burst into flames, sending up a plume of black smoke.

The surrendered soldiers, their bodies ablaze, rushed out pushing the battering rams. They rolled on the ground for a while, some gradually losing their breath and their bodies stiffening. Others were lucky enough to survive, but before they could even get up, arrows rained down from the city walls pinned them to the ground and killed them.

On the city wall, Zong Ze, who had received the news, had a long sword hanging at his waist. He was fully armored, and sweat beaded on his aged face, yet he still stood ramrod straight.

He coldly watched as the defenders on the city wall poured out boiling oil, then threw the stone in his hand. From below the city wall, out of sight, a miserable scream rang out, and then his own soldiers repeated the same action.

"Let the able-bodied men below continue to bring up supplies for the city's defense."

A loud voice came from his mouth, and he smiled slightly as he watched Li Shixiong cut down a surrendered soldier dressed as a commander from the city wall.

In the distance, Hu Yi, who happened to be looking at the city wall, turned pale and looked at Han Shizhong behind him: "General..."

Han Shizhong raised his hand: "I know you are eager for battle, but today I came here to test you. Now that I have seen what I wanted to see, let's withdraw our troops."

Hu Yi glared hatefully at the city wall, then reluctantly stepped forward and ordered, "Retreat!"

Dangdangdang——

The sound of gongs rang out below the city, and the surrendered soldiers who were attacking the city were immediately relieved as if they had been granted a pardon. Although they were eager for battle, they did not want such a hopeless war, and they retreated while covering each other.

“…They’ve retreated.” Zong Ze frowned as he watched the Qi army’s banners being withdrawn, and subconsciously stroked the hilt of his sword.

Footsteps came from behind. Du Yun, protected by several figures in iron armor, rushed out of the city wall. Behind him, someone cautiously spoke: "Prime Minister, why don't we take advantage of the situation and pursue them?"

“The enemy is testing us. If we leave the city now, we might be playing right into their hands.” Zong Ze didn’t turn around, his eyes showing some displeasure. He pointed and said, “Those of you who are guarding over there, look. The Qi cavalry over there hasn’t moved at all. If we go out, what will we do if they attack with lightning speed?”

Du Yun stood on tiptoe and craned his neck to look into the distance before speaking somewhat awkwardly, "I didn't see clearly at first, please forgive me, Your Excellency."

Zong Ze didn't say anything, looked up at the setting sun, and after a while turned around: "Let's go, this is how the battle will be today."

Du Yun's face lit up with joy. He put one hand on his chest and exhaled, "Great! Quickly, spread the news of our army's defeat of the Northern bandits throughout the city."

A figure wearing leather armor responded and turned to leave.

Zong Ze glanced at him a few times, hesitated for a moment, and did not stop him. Perhaps everyone in the city was hoping for a victory.

He thought. (End of Chapter)