Endless Winter: My Camp Infinite Upgrades

Chapter 543 Xia Jun's Defensive Strategy, Siege and Mutual Understanding
"The vanguard raises their shields, the rearguard fires arrows!"

At the south gate of Jinyang City, Lin Kai stood in mid-air and gave a cold order.

On the eight-meter-wide city wall, five thousand soldiers were lined up horizontally. With a command from Commander Lin Kai, the vanguard of one thousand men gathered at the crenellations and erected shields to block the arrows from the army below. The rearguard of four thousand men fired arrows wildly down the city wall through the gaps in the shields.

Swish swish swish…………

A deluge of arrows rained down on the city walls, clashing fiercely with the arrows fired by the allied forces of the two towns below. Instantly, a fierce wind howled, and the sound shook the surrounding area.

The combined forces of the two towns were also equipped with bows. Although they charged fiercely, they were not without strategy. When they were about 200 meters away from the city wall, tens of thousands of soldiers in the rear had already set up longbows and were firing wildly at the defenders on the city wall.

Even the lowest-level cold-resistant bows have a draw weight of 1mm. Wuchuan and Jinshan have also made good progress in the past two years. All the soldiers are equipped with strong bows with a draw weight of 1mm or more. Tens of thousands of soldiers unleashed a rain of arrows. Although the Xia army was on high ground, the scale of the arrow rain was too small, and they were suppressed as soon as they made contact.

Clang clang clang...

The arrows fired by the Cold-Resistant level are incredibly powerful, and when combined with the strong thrust from the bowstring, their impact is even more terrifying.

Although the Great Xia garrison was hidden around the battlements and blocked by the shields of the vanguard, the arrow rain was too powerful and too large. After several rounds of arrow rain, many of the vanguard soldiers who were holding shields were forced to retreat wildly by the arrow curtain.

"Replace someone. It's just an arrow barrage. Wuchuan and Jinshan are a defeated army, only 50,000 strong. They don't have many arrows. Just hold them off for this round!"

Lin Kai was originally one of the six battle formation command flags, responsible for the intelligence transmission of the Xia army's northern expedition battlefield. However, after Yuwen Tao led the right wing army out of Jinyang to attack Jinshan Town, he temporarily took over as the commander-in-chief of the Jinyang garrison.

Originally, the main purpose of the Jinyang garrison was to guard against Cai Qiu's army, which might move south from the Bone-Eating Path at any time. The original 10,000 Yuhan-level garrison troops in the city were stationed outside the Bone-Eating Path. However, after Murong Ping brought the battle report from the Pass City and learned that the allied forces of Jinshan and Wuchuan were heading towards Yinhe Valley, Lin Kai immediately transferred the garrison troops back into the city.

An hour earlier, Lin Kai had sent out a large number of scouts out of the city to investigate the situation of the allied forces. Before the allied forces even left Hanqiong, the scouts had already sent the news back.

The allied forces had just suffered a major defeat at the pass, and the soldiers' arrows were far from being fully loaded. At such close range, it was easy to see that their quivers were only about half full at most.

The standard size of the arrow quiver on the southern slope is fifty arrows per quiver, and a small portion of that is only twenty arrows. With so few arrows, how many shots can you take?

Therefore, when Lin Kai saw the defenders on the city wall being breached by the rain of arrows, he showed no panic and immediately ordered others to take their place and continue exchanging fire with those below the city.

"I originally thought it was an army of 100,000, but more than half of them broke camp and ran away. This is at most less than 50,000. How dare Cai Qiu attack the city with such a small number of people? Does he not consider the soldiers of the two towns to be human at all?"

Standing in mid-air at this moment were not only Lin Kai, but also five other people: Zou Yuankai, Li Longkai, Ying Yi, Bai Wuting, and Lu Sheng.

These five people were all members of the earliest hunting teams in the Great Xia Dynasty. Although they each had their own positions, they were all transferred to the battlefield because they had all broken through to the Manifest Yang level.

Hearing Zou Yuankai's words, Lin Kai looked at the allied forces getting closer and closer below, a strange light flashing in his eyes, and laughed: "We never treated them like human beings. Knowing that we couldn't break through, we still made them come to attack. They just wanted to try their luck. If they take Jinyang, they will make a big profit. If they don't take it, they can at least weaken the Xia army's fighting strength and make a small profit."

Zou Yuankai and his four companions looked slightly grim, and felt a lump in their throats.

So, regardless of winning or losing, Cai Qiu made a profit; it was just a matter of how much he made.

"Compared to Mo'aochuan, our southern foothills are inherently weak. It's normal to suffer losses when our powerful neighbor attacks. However, if Cai Qiu thinks that such a small number of defeated soldiers can weaken the strength of our Xia army, he is being far too wishful!"

Lin Kai had thought things through very clearly. After speaking, he sneered and looked down at the army, which was less than fifty meters from the city gate. He then ordered sharply, "Discard your bows and light coal fires to repel the enemy!"

At his command, the soldiers around the crenellations of the city wall immediately picked up torches from the ground, lit them, and threw them down the crenellations towards the front ranks of the enemy below.

There were hundreds of crenellations above the city gate, and three to five torches were thrown down around each crenellation, which meant there were thousands of torches.

sizzle...

More than ten meters away from the south city wall, the originally unremarkable ground began to sizzle when exposed to the firelight, clearly indicating that some flammable material was buried underneath.

boom…………

A moment later, flames rose up and suddenly shot more than ten meters into the sky.

The flammable materials buried in the ground stretched for seven or eight kilometers along the outer perimeter of the southern city wall. When the flames surged, it created a high wall of fire that stretched for seven or eight kilometers, effectively separating the allied forces of the two towns.

"this…………"

"Firelight, why is this firelight so intense?"

"Ditches were dug in the ground, and a large amount of timber was buried there."

"What kind of wood is this? How can wood burn so quickly? It's coal dust. This wood is covered with a lot of coal dust, so it will ignite upon contact with fire."

"It's not just coal dust; there's also a large amount of coal and rocks underneath. This fire won't be extinguished anytime soon!"

………………

The allied forces weren't fools. As soon as the front ranks stopped, someone braved the rain of arrows from the city wall to get close to the firelight and immediately figured out where the firelight came from.

The burning wood was clearly covered with a layer of black substance, which shone brightly in the sunlight. It was obviously coal that had been ground into crystalline powder.

Coal can be used in warfare?
The allied commanders at the front line were stunned when they saw the wall of flames. After a quick reaction, it was as if a door to a new world had opened in their minds.

"A mere firewall, a trivial skill, yet you dare to act so arrogantly in front of me, Cai Qiu!"

The fire was certainly a formidable force for the combined forces of the two towns, but it seemed rather insignificant to Cai Qiu's group.

From among the many Xianyang-level beings behind Cai Qiuhu, a tall, middle-aged man flew out. He let out a cold shout, quickly descended from the sky, and stood directly in front of the allied forces, facing the wall of firelight, and took a long breath.

He took a deep breath, which lasted for at least ten breaths. His chest bulged high, and an abnormal bluish light appeared on his cheeks. Then he blew the breath out suddenly into the firelight.

call………………

He suddenly spewed out a blue vortex, which instantly swept up the cold air and snow mist within a radius of hundreds of meters. After flying forward a few meters, it transformed into a horizontal tornado and flew straight toward the wall of flames.

"Lord Lin, use..."

Cai Qiu has many tricks up his sleeve, and it's unlikely that a wall of flames can stop them. As soon as Cai Qiu started inhaling, Zou Yuankai had already asked Lin Kai for instructions.

However, Lin Kai did not give a reply until the other person exhaled a blue vortex. He then shook his head and said in a low voice, "No need. I never intended to use this wall of fire to block the enemy. It's still early, no rush!"

The Great Xia Dynasty had an abundance of methods to deal with trickery and sorcery.

But Lin Kai clearly didn't intend to use it so soon.

boom…………

As he rejected Zou Yuankai's proposal, the azure vortex finally reached the very center of the wall of fire.

The trenches that Da Xia had dug in advance were only for burying coal and wood, and were only three or four meters deep. When the violent cyclone hit them, the ground was immediately torn up, and the coal and wood that had been ignited, as well as the coal and wood that had not yet been ignited below, including the coal dust mixed in between, were all instantly swept to both sides.

Fortunately, the power of the cyclone was concentrated only in the very center, which was about 100 meters in diameter. Therefore, the gap in the wall of flames was only about 100 meters.

Of course, this area of ​​over a hundred meters was enough for the coalition forces to break in.

"kill…………"

The allied forces, who had just been held back by the wall of fire, immediately charged forward again through the gaps in the defenses.

They were only thirty or forty meters from the city wall. Passing through the firelight and leaping over the ditches, they were practically right next to the base of the wall. "Release the water! Don't let the enemy climb the wall! Long Kai, go down and hold the gate for now. If that doesn't work... let them in!"

Upon hearing the last sentence, Li Longkai immediately nodded in understanding and then quickly leaped down from the city wall.

"The entire army must tighten the chains and guard the city gates."

"what!"

Five thousand men behind the city gate had already secured their chains and were ready for battle. At Li Longkai's command, the five thousand men roared in unison, wrapped the chains tightly around themselves, and pressed their feet firmly to the ground, waiting for the attack from outside the city gate.

Splash...

Above the city wall, at the crenellations, the Xia army poured the already thawed water down the openings.

Sizzle...

The extreme cold of the Ice Abyss meant that water that wasn't properly insulated could not survive in the outside world. As large amounts of water were poured down the city walls, they froze into ice before they even reached the ground, making the already somewhat wrinkled walls slippery.

laugh…………

The allied forces included some strong, cold-resistant soldiers. Although they used small daggers or other tools to climb the walls, they still needed to use their hands and feet for leverage. However, facing this slippery city wall, they could hardly stand firm, let alone use leverage.

Already unable to stand steadily, the soldiers on the crenellations of the city wall continued to throw boulders and fire rockets down, making it almost impossible for the Yuhan class to climb the city wall.

boom…………

The boulders rolled down the city wall. Although the soldiers all had the Cold Resistance level of cultivation and their skin and flesh were exceptionally strong, they were not killed by the boulders, but injuries were inevitable.

The injuries were secondary; the key issue was that their intention to climb the city wall was essentially ruined.

"The city wall is too slippery after being flooded, and there are also rockets and boulders, so we can't get up there. We have to break down the city gate!"

Rockets were fired at people, boulders were hurled at people, and the water flowing on the city walls hadn't even stopped yet. With these three forces of ice, fire, and boulders appearing simultaneously, the morale of the attacking allied forces instantly dropped by half.

The generals leading the troops were a little smarter; they knew they had to break down the city gates. The problem was, they didn't even have the tools to do so!
Siege ladders were first created by the Great Xia Dynasty, and Jinshan Wuchuan did not have them at all. However, they did have giant stakes used to ram city gates. The problem was that these 50,000 men were a defeated army that had retreated from the pass. They didn't even have all their arrows with them, so where would they get the stakes to break down the gates?
Without a breaching stake, we can only pin our hopes on...

"Get out of my way!"

Before the two town generals could speak, hundreds of figures flew down from the sky.

The leader was a middle-aged man. He flew to the city gate first, cleaved the arrows that were shot from all sides with a single slash, and his body emitted a yellow light before he suddenly plummeted from mid-air.

Thump...

His body suddenly seemed to become incredibly heavy. When he landed, he not only created a huge crater, but also caused the area within several miles to shake. Then, he took a step forward and crashed directly into the city wall.

boom!
The man was only a little over 1.8 meters tall, not very tall, and his physique was not particularly robust. In the Ice Abyss, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that such a physique was small.

However, this seemingly small body actually caused the city gate to shake violently, and even the iron members used to fix the gate on both sides loosened by several inches.

"Another trickery. This one must have a force of seventy or eighty jin (a unit of weight), requiring the entire body to exert force to unleash. As expected of a regional military governor, they certainly have a lot of tricks up their sleeves..."

Lin Kai, suspended in mid-air, turned his head to look at the guards behind the city gate who were holding onto the chains. They were somewhat disheveled from the impact and couldn't help but sigh.

Fortunately, Jinyang put a lot of effort into its construction. The four city walls were filled with a large amount of iron mortar, and the city gates were cast from molten iron of tens of thousands of jin. They could withstand the impact of a hundred jin of force. It is hard to say whether other city gates could withstand such an impact.

"Gentlemen, there are enemy soldiers fighting behind the city gate. Help me break down the gate!"

However, the man reacted quickly, realizing the Great Xia garrison behind the city gate through the impact, and immediately turned to ask for help from the hundred Xianyang-level soldiers behind him.

There are more than 150 Xianyang-level beings in the southern foothills of Caiqiu. Only a small number are in Wuchuan Town, and the rest are all here. Since one person cannot break the door, then everyone should work together.

"You think you can stop us with just a mere gate to Wanduan City!"

"Break the door!"

"Brothers, get to work! Break down the door!"

………………

The power of a Xianyang-level being measured in jun (a unit of weight), with over a hundred people working together, not to mention their individual tricks and methods, even if they relied solely on brute force, the combined strength of so many people would be enough to break through the gates of most fortified cities in the world.

Someone took out a golden ring and stuck it on the city gate, which immediately melted a large circular hole. Then, they did the same thing and melted several holes in a row. After they opened them up, they actually formed a small door.
Someone released a swarm of flying insects from their sleeve. The insects clung to the city gate and began to gnaw at it. In an instant, they had eaten away a large part of the gate and continued to widen the opening through the round hole made by the person in front.

Someone placed their palms on the city gate and trembled their palms at an extremely fast frequency. After a while, the city wall slowly began to shake, and the frequency of the shaking became larger and faster until finally, the entire city gate seemed to be collapsing backward.
………………

"Too slow, too slow, let me make my move!"

The trend of the city gate collapsing was already quite obvious.

With over a hundred Manifestation Yang level beings attacking together, the Jin Yang defenders had absolutely no chance. The five Manifestation Yang level beings from the Great Xia dynasty above the city wall didn't dare to come out either, and the city gate was on the verge of collapsing.

Even so, Cai Qiuyang still felt it wasn't fast enough, and directly told Cai Qiuhu that he would personally break down the door.

"If we could take action ourselves, why would we need to send them down there?"

Cai Qiuhu shook his head upon hearing this, his expression very somber.

Everyone was taken aback by what they heard, and a look of confusion appeared on their faces.

But they soon understood.

"Lord Cai truly doesn't treat the people of my southern foothills as human beings!"

A sigh suddenly came from above, and the expressions of Cai Qiuyang and the other seven people changed slightly. They quickly looked up.

It was the same black iron eagle that slowly descended from the sky. Xia Hong stood at the head of the eagle, with Li Xuanling holding the hands of two children behind him. The family of four made no attempt to hide themselves, allowing the black iron eagle to stop less than a hundred meters above Cai Qiuhu and the others.

The eight people at the Tribulation Realm looked up at Xia Hong's family above them. Seeing Xia Hong's condescending attitude, the eight of them, including Cai Qiuhu, did not show any displeasure. Instead, they were somewhat solemn and even wary.

Clearly, without realizing it, they had already accepted Xia Hong's superior attitude towards them, but they themselves were unaware of this.

"In the end, they are just consumables. Since Qin Feng and Shangguan Yang want to join Cai Qiu, they should naturally show some sincerity. If they can let this governor see the fighting strength of the Xia army, then they can be considered to have played a role."

Cai Qianshan also made an appearance.

Of course, he didn't stand below Xuan Tieying like Cai Qiuhu and the others, but instead landed directly at the same position as Xia Hong.

By this point, Cai Qiuyang naturally understood.

Since the start of the siege, Xia Hong has not made a move, nor has he released a single Beast King-level puppet, so Cai Qiu's Tribulation Realm cultivators are also unable to act.

This is probably the tacit understanding between strong individuals.

If you follow the rules, then I'll follow them too!
(End of this chapter)