Three Kingdoms: A Million Soldiers Grown from the Fields

Chapter 197 Siege
Thirty miles west of Shicheng, the Han army camp had already risen from the ground.

Inside the central command tent, the charcoal brazier burned brightly, dispelling the chill of late autumn.

A huge map of the Western River region was spread out on the table, and Guo Jia was wrapped in a thick, bluish-gray fur coat.

As Zhang Liao and Zhao Yun steadily advanced, he also arrived at the front line.

"Wen Yuan, Zi Long, how is the camp being set up?"

Zhang Liao, still in his armor and covered in dust from his journey, clasped his hands and said in a deep voice, "Rest assured, strategist! The gates, moats, and barricades are all in place, the provisions and supplies have been delivered to the camp, and the bows and arrows are plentiful."

Zhao Yun, standing to the side in his spotless white robe, added, "The scouts have been deployed fifty li, and roadblocks and beacon towers have been set up along several paths leading north to the mountainous region where bandits are entrenched. The military order has been sent to Lü Bu's army."

Guo Jia nodded slightly, a hint of approval flashing across his pale face from the arduous journey.

He tapped his long fingers lightly on the map, away from the location of Stone City: "Good! The struggle of a cornered beast is the most fierce. Starting tomorrow, there is no need for a direct attack. Let's first greet this powerful commander with the newly made siege towers!"
So that he and his people would know that the debt owed by the steppe people must be repaid!

"Zhao Gou!"

Zhao Gou, who had arrived with several thousand laborers to transport supplies, immediately straightened his back and said, "Your subordinate is here!"

"The stone projectiles and oil canisters needed for the stone-throwing carts must be kept in an uninterrupted supply!"

"Follow the order!"

Zhao Gou's voice boomed: "Strategist, rest assured, the supply route from Daling to the front line is now unobstructed, and we have prepared enough stone projectiles and oil for ten salvos! As long as we mine day and night, the supply of stone projectiles will never be interrupted!"

Guo Jia cast his gaze toward the deepening twilight outside the tent, a cold smile curving his lips: "Then let's begin!"

"promise!"

At dawn the next day, the thin fog had not yet dissipated.

The cold autumn wind swept across the vast grasslands of Xihe County, swirling up withered grass clippings and dust, which lashed against the gray-black rammed earth walls of Lishi City.

On the city wall, Xubugu, the chieftain of the right wing of the Xiongnu, stood leaning against the rampart, his rough fingers digging into the cold cracks in the brickwork.

He gazed out of the city.

On the horizon, a blinding blackness rolled in silently like a tide.

That was the main force of the Han army, numbering no less than ten thousand.

The infantry phalanx was densely packed with spears, their tips gleaming coldly, sending chills down one's spine.

The swordsmen's heavy, leather-covered square shields were layered upon each other, resembling a moving fortress.

The cavalrymen patrolled the flanks, both men and horses clad in light yet well-protected iron-trimmed leather armor, with powerful crossbows hanging coldly beside their saddles.

A chilling, silent aura of iron and blood, several miles away, had already pressed heavily onto the city walls.

Xubugu's chest heaved violently, and a mouthful of fishy sweetness surged to his throat, which he then swallowed hard.

He whirled around and roared at the group of pale-faced, glaring tribal chiefs behind him: "Do you see that?! The Han dogs are here! They're going to take our pastures, kill all our men, and kidnap our women and livestock! The Black Stone Tribe, the Gray Wolf Tribe... their fate is right before our eyes! Do you also want to be lambs to the slaughter?!"

A tribal chief who depended on him was trembling violently, almost collapsing to the ground, his voice trembling with sobs.

"Commander... it's not that we're afraid to fight... it's those cavalrymen, they're all iron monsters! Our arrows only produce sparks... the Flying General at the head, with one swing of his halberd, cuts both man and horse in two..."

"waste!"

Enraged, Xubu Gu kicked the man to the ground.

"If you dare to disrupt our morale again, I'll skin you alive as a sacrifice to the flag!"

He drew his turquoise-inlaid scimitar from his waist, its tip pointing directly at the approaching Han army formation outside the city: "Listen up, all of you! Hold Lishi! No matter how fierce the Han cavalry are, they can't break through our city walls! Once the heroes of Beishan arrive, we'll attack from both inside and outside, and these Han dogs will surely die without a burial place!"

"Cocoa"

"There's no buts!" Xubugu glared at him, startling the man so much that he almost fell to the ground.

On the city wall, the chieftains of the grasslands personally led their guards to stand watch.

Suddenly, a low, strange sound of machinery tightening came from the Han army camp outside the city, tearing apart the silence of the morning.

"What's that sound?" A soldier poked his head out in alarm.

Before the words were even finished, a piercing shriek tore through the sky!

Dozens of black shadows, each the size of a millstone, carrying the power to destroy everything, rose into the air like meteors from in front of the Han army's formation, tracing a beautiful arc before crashing down on Lishi City!

Boom! Rumble—!
A series of deafening roars erupted! The seemingly thick rammed earth walls of Lishi City trembled violently!

A huge rock struck the city wall to the left of the gate tower with precision, and the rammed earth crumbled and collapsed instantly like a soft pastry!
The small squad of soldiers hiding behind them didn't even have time to scream before they were buried alive, with only a few streaks of blood seeping out from the cracks in the soil and rocks.

Another boulder roared over the city wall and crashed into a densely packed area of ​​felt tents within the city.

The felt tents inside the city were torn to shreds like paper, the wooden frames snapped, and blood and flesh flew everywhere! Terrified screams erupted!

"Ah! My legs!"

"The gods have unleashed divine punishment! The gods have unleashed divine punishment!"

Amidst the sounds of wailing and howling, both on and below the city walls, a cacophony of ghostly cries and wolfish howls filled the air.

In the Han army formation, a wooden platform rose dozens of meters high from the ground. Guo Jia climbed to the top and looked out over the view of Lishi City.

"Advance the stone chariot formation another three hundred paces! Guards with swords and shields on either side!"

"promise!"

The Han army pushed forward again, stopping just under two kilometers from the city wall!

The winch of the stone-throwing cart tightened again amidst the shouts of the strongmen, emitting a teeth-grinding creak.

This time, a huge ceramic jar was placed on the launch pad, with its mouth stuffed with burning burlap.

"put!"

Whoosh!Whoosh!Whoosh!
Burning oil canisters, trailing long plumes of black smoke, crashed heavily onto the city walls or flew over them and into the city!
Bang! The earthenware pot shattered! Thick kerosene splattered everywhere, igniting instantly upon contact with fire!
Fire! Fire!

"Help me! I'm burning to death!"

"Divine punishment. Divine punishment!"

The city walls instantly transformed into a sea of ​​fire! The flames, like living demons, frantically licked and climbed along the parapets and wooden watchtowers.

Hu Bing screamed and rolled on the ground after being splashed with kerosene, but this only made the flames burn brighter, and the air was filled with the stench of burnt flesh.

Thick smoke billowed, blocking out the sky and the sun.

"Damn it! Damn it! Why haven't the troops from the north arrived yet!"

Protected by the thick cowhide shields held up by his personal guards, Xubu Gu was fortunate enough to avoid being splashed with oil.

He cursed out loud, but the reply he received made him feel as if he had fallen into an abyss.

"The Flying General's men are blocking the north! The northern forces can't get through!"

In an instant, Sudatta's last hope was completely shattered.

The catapults continued firing methodically.

Its roar became a persistent nightmare for Lishi City.

Guo Jia was not in a hurry to attack the city, but instead, day after day, he repeatedly pounded the fortified border city with boulders and fire.

Under continuous bombardment, the city walls became visibly dilapidated and low.

Huge gaps and depressions were appearing more and more, and rammed earth was falling down in a rustling sound.

The felt tent area within the city had long since been reduced to charred ruins, with countless dead and injured.

Xubu Gu did send men to try to break out of the city, but each time a valiant general in white robes and silver armor led several hundred cavalry to wipe out his men.

On the city wall, some chieftains recognized the white-robed, silver-armored general.

Zhao Zilong, the God of Slaughter on the White Horse!

He was once a god of war who entered and exited the White River Valley several times!

The Jingguan (a type of mound of stones) in Baihe Valley and Yehuling are still standing in those two places, and no one in the northern grasslands is unafraid of that white horse!

They can't defend it, and they can't run away.

Fear and hunger, like two cold, venomous snakes, gnawed at the hearts of the Hu soldiers guarding the city day and night.

In the dead of night, the wind howled through the cold against the stone city wall. A young Hu soldier huddled beneath the icy ramparts, his tattered fur robe offering no protection against the biting wind.

His lips were cracked, his stomach was empty, and he was so hungry that his vision would go black.

His few remaining companions, like him, trembled with despair.

He trembled as he reached for his quiver, his fingertips touching only the few remaining bone arrows.

He subconsciously licked the arrowhead of a bone arrow, trying to absorb a tiny bit of moisture, but his tongue only tasted the bitterness of sand.

He raised his head in despair, his gaze passing over the ruined city walls to the brightly lit Han army camp in the distance.

The gate of the Han army camp stood tall.

Huge campfires lit up the campsite as bright as day, and the rising heat even distorted the air above the camp.

Figures could be vaguely seen busily working around the campfire, and the rhythmic clanging of hammering came from the direction of the army's blacksmith camp.

What made his throat throb even more was the rich aroma of baked flatbread and stewed meat.

Even from three or four miles away, the fragrance kept wafting towards that direction.

A guerrilla sentry was facing the city wall, leaning against a large cart piled with hay.

His iron-plated leather armor reflected a glossy sheen in the firelight, clearly indicating that it had been carefully maintained.

The sentry seemed to have just changed shifts. He was taking out an oil paper package from his pocket, slowly opening it, and taking out a steaming meat pie to eat with gusto.

Young Hu Bing stared intently at the meat pie, his throat gurgling like a wild beast. The hunger in his stomach instantly turned into a raging fire, scorching his internal organs.

On the fifteenth day of the siege, the relentless bombardment finally left Lishi City riddled with holes.

Dust filled the gap, and the scene inside the city was already vaguely visible.

The time has come!

On the high platform in the central army camp, Guo Jia wrapped his fur cloak tightly around himself.

He abruptly drew his command flag and shouted sternly, "Send the order! Catapults, crossbows, concentrate fire and cover the walls on both sides of the breach! Suppress the remaining enemy! Mobile infantry, don heavy armor and prepare to charge into battle!"

"Order!"

The sound of the war drums suddenly changed, from a dull tapping sound to a passionate and rapid drumbeat!
The siege engines and hundreds of crossbows, which had been ready to fire, simultaneously turned around, and stones and crossbow bolts rained down on the remaining city walls on both sides of the breach!
The Hu soldiers who were trying to gather and resist were instantly buried in the rubble!
At the same time, ten enormous siege ladders, pulled by strongmen and oxen and horses, slowly rolled out of the Han army formation with a heavy crushing sound! They were siege ladders that had been carefully improved by the craftsmen's battalion!
Unlike the simple ladders, these ladder trucks were equipped with huge wooden wheels at the bottom and had a sturdy tower structure covered with raw cowhide to protect against rockets.

A massive folding bridge protrudes from the top of the tower, driven by an iron axle winch. When lowered, it forms a direct passage to the city wall! The front end of the bridge is further reinforced with heavy cast iron ramming heads!
"Hold on! Deploy the bridge!"

The carefully selected vanguard soldiers surrounded the siege ladder, while the military commanders of each unit loudly directed the operation.

The winch whirred with a piercing metallic scraping sound, then crashed down with a deafening roar! The cast iron ramming head at the front end hammered into the remaining rammed earth wall at the edge of the breach, sending rubble flying!

"I'll get there first!"

Military Commander Zhao Yong was the first to step onto the bridge planks, which were as wide as a highway. Clad in heavy infantry armor, his blade pointed directly at the gap filled with smoke and death.

"Live to die!"

"kill!"

"Live to die! Kill!"

Behind him were more than a hundred elite infantrymen, also clad in infantry armor.

A deafening roar erupted from dozens of siege ladder trucks! Clad in the heaviest infantry armor and wielding broadswords and heavy axes, the elite vanguard charged into the Lishi city wall with a roar, gliding down the wide and sturdy bridge planks!

Inside the gap, a small group of Xubugu's personal guards, under pressure from the supervising team's curved swords, howled as they tried to block it.

"Get out of the way!" Zhao Yong roared, and the heavy, array-breaking broadsword in his hand transformed into a streak of cold light, slashing down diagonally!

*Thud!* Hu Bing, who was charging at the forefront, was cleaved in two along with his makeshift wooden shield! Hot blood splattered all over Zhao Yong's body!
Without pausing, he charged into the enemy ranks like a human chariot, his blades and axes flashing, carving a bloody alley through the dense crowd on the city wall!
The infantrymen and armored soldiers surged into the breach like a tide, quickly spreading out along both sides of the breach.

Their heavy iron armor easily deflected the bone spears and inferior iron knives that the Hu soldiers frantically thrust at them, while the sharp battle-breaking broadswords and heavy battle axes in their hands brought a bloody storm with every swing!
The real slaughter began.

The Hu soldiers, whose equipment, training, and will were all crushed, were cut down like straw in front of the infantry and armored soldiers.

The gap widened rapidly, and more and more guerrilla infantrymen poured into the city.

"Hold on! Hold on!" With bloodshot eyes, Xubugu brandished his scimitar and, surrounded by his personal guards, charged toward the breach, attempting a final, desperate struggle.

But when he saw Zhao Yong's blood-soaked heavy armor and the iron wall that stood firm amidst the horde of Hu Bing, the word "despair" surged into his heart once again.

Just then, an even heavier drumbeat pierced through the shouts and screams within the city, clearly resounding throughout the entire battlefield.

After the drumbeats resounded, dozens of messengers shouted in unison through loudspeakers.

"The mighty Han army enters the city! Those who surrender will be spared death by laying down their armor and weapons and kneeling! Those who resist will be killed without mercy!!"

"Whoever surrenders will avoid death!"

Those who resist will die!

This plea for surrender was like the last straw.

On the city walls and inside the city, the Hu soldiers, already tormented by fear and on the verge of collapse, had their last shred of fighting spirit completely shattered.

Clang! Clang!

The sound of weapons hitting the ground spread like a plague.

One, two, ten, a hundred... More and more Hu soldiers dropped their crude weapons, knelt on the cold ground, and buried their foreheads deep in the blood-stained soil.

Surrender is not unfamiliar to the people of the grasslands; similar scenes occur almost every moment on the vast grasslands.

"We surrender! We surrender!"

"Spare my life!"

Cries and pleas for mercy blended together.

Xubu Gu's loyal personal guards were still howling and resisting, but they were quickly overwhelmed by the Han army.

His eyes were bloodshot as he watched the situation collapse in an instant. He let out a desperate howl of despair and was dragged away by several guards as they fled into the chaos of the western part of the city.

On the city wall of Lishi, the wolf-head banner that once symbolized the power of the right wing of the Xiongnu was chopped off by Zhao Yong with a single stroke under the gaze of countless eyes!

"First to capture the flag! Zhao Yong from Changshan!"

"color!"

The heavy flag fell limply, crashing onto the cold city bricks.

Then it was trampled over by passing foot soldiers.

The sounds of fighting and crying in the west of the city gradually subsided.

The north wind swept across the ruined walls of Lishi City, carrying a heavy smell of blood and burnt earth.

Lu Bu reined in his horse and stood on a high slope dozens of miles north of the city, his fiery red warhorse pawing at the hard earth beneath its hooves.

His dark armor was splattered with dark brown blood scabs.

Behind him were scattered corpses.

He squinted and looked in the direction of Lishi City.

He knew that a major battle was taking place there at that moment, and his purpose in being there was to prevent the northern bandits from rushing to the aid of Lishi City.

"The strategist's order!"

Just as I was assessing the extent of the battle, a messenger arrived on horseback: "We have already captured Lishi City, but the Western River region is not yet pacified! I order General Lü Bu to continue clearing out the remaining bandits in the Northern Mountains and sweeping away the stubborn tribes! We must pacify the Western River region before the heavy snow closes off the mountains!"

Lu Bu's lips curled into a smile. He suddenly spurred his horse, and the fiery red warhorse reared up with a loud neigh.

"Boys!"

His roar was like thunder: "Follow me and trample the West River!"

The crimson figure darted out and ran away at full speed.

"Oh!"

Behind them, the horses' hooves kicked up clouds of dust.

(End of this chapter)