I, a useless prince, started with the Xiang Yu template.

The next day.

The sky was just beginning to lighten, and the morning mist had not yet dissipated.

Outside Jing'an City, the bugles of the barbarian army camp sounded loudly, their echoes reverberating across the surrounding fields.

Tens of thousands of barbarian soldiers assembled, their ranks perfectly aligned, the dark mass of people covering the fields outside the city, their imposing presence and oppressive aura overwhelming.

Yelü Aguda held the command flag, his face grim.

Today, he does not intend to launch a full-scale attack on the city, but only intends to launch a probing attack.

Firstly, to scout the deployment, troop distribution, and weapon reserves of the garrison in Jing'an City; and secondly, to identify the weak points in the city wall's defenses in preparation for the subsequent general offensive.

His gaze swept over the vanguard troops at the front, and he swung his command flag down sharply, his voice booming like a bell.

"Vanguard Battalion, listen to my command! Launch a full-scale attack and begin the siege!"

"kill!"

Five thousand barbarian vanguard soldiers roared in unison, carrying dozens of siege ladders, gripping scimitars and shields, and strode forward, charging madly towards the walls of Jing'an City.

The barbarian soldiers had fierce faces and were full of imposing momentum. They were determined to rush to the city walls, scale the walls, and carry out a massacre.

On the city wall, Chu Yun, Wang Hu, Ma Dong, and other generals calmly watched the barbarian army charging towards them.

The defending soldiers leaned against the battlements, showing no sign of panic. Instead, they all had smiles on their faces and amused looks in their eyes, waiting to see the barbarian army make a fool of themselves.

"They're here! These savage dogs are in for a world of trouble!"

"Just wait and see, they'll be crying soon!"

"Let them see the trap our prince laid today!"

The soldiers whispered among themselves, their eyes filled with anticipation, showing no sign of the tension that was about to break out.

In the blink of an eye, the vanguard of the barbarian army had rushed to within a hundred meters of the city.

The next second, something unexpected happened.

"Splash! Splash! Splash!"

The barbarian soldiers charging at the front suddenly lost their footing, their bodies instantly losing balance, and they fell straight to the ground.

They stepped into a trap that had been laid in advance!

Inside the pit, sharp logs pointed upwards, their edges razor-sharp. The barbarian soldiers who fell in either had their legs pierced by the logs or suffered broken bones and tendons. They lay at the bottom of the pit, howling in pain, their blood instantly staining the bottom red – a truly gruesome sight.

"Ah! My leg!"

"There's a trap! There's a trap underground!"

Screams echoed throughout the room.

Hundreds of barbarian soldiers fell instantly in the front row. The barbarian soldiers behind them had no time to stop and charged forward one after another. Many more soldiers fell into the pit, and the pit was soon filled with wailing barbarian soldiers.

The barbarian soldiers behind them froze on the spot, abruptly stopping their charge, their feet firmly planted on the ground.

Looking at their companions in the pit, pierced by sharp logs and covered in blood, their faces turned pale, their hair stood on end, and they were so frightened that their legs went weak and they retreated repeatedly.

On the city wall, the defending soldiers, upon seeing this, instantly erupted in deafening cheers and laughter.

"Hahaha! Serves you right! Serves you right for being so arrogant!"

"You savage dogs, keep charging! Why have you stopped running?"

"This is what happens to those who invade our Great Qian! It's so satisfying! Absolutely satisfying!"

The soldiers waved their fists, laughed loudly, and looked at the barbarian army outside the city with contempt and smugness.

Yelü Aguda's face was ashen, his eyes were icy, and he stared intently at the horse pit below the city, his lips twitching violently.

Before the battle even began, the vanguard had already lost over three hundred men—a truly humiliating defeat!

He was seething with anger, yet he was powerless to do anything about it.

With a cold snort, Yelü Aguda gave a stern order in an icy tone:

"The troops advance, carrying earth and stones, and immediately fill in all these traps! The vanguard retreats and regroups!"

With the order given, the barbarian soldiers had no choice but to grit their teeth, withstand the pressure from the city walls, and go forward to fill in the traps.

On the city wall, Ma Dong saw the barbarian soldiers advancing to fill the traps and immediately shouted, "Archers! Prepare! Fire! We cannot let them fill the traps so easily!"

At a command, thousands of archers behind the battlements rose in unison, drew their bows, nocked arrows, and aimed their arrows at the barbarian soldiers who were laying traps below the city.

"put!"

Arrows rained down, dense and whistling, aimed directly at the barbarian soldiers below the city.

The barbarian soldiers cried out in alarm and quickly raised their shields above their heads to protect themselves.

"Clang! Clang! Clang!"

Arrows kept striking the shields, making a series of crisp sounds. Many arrows shot through the gaps, piercing the arms and shoulders of the barbarian soldiers on the spot, and screams of agony rang out again.

Braving a hail of arrows, the barbarian soldiers frantically moved earth and stones to fill the horse traps, their movements slow and disorganized.

Someone was hit by an arrow and fell to the ground, and was immediately replaced by someone else, but they still couldn't stop the accurate rain of arrows from the city wall, and the casualties continued to increase.

After nearly an hour of struggle and suffering over a hundred casualties, the barbarian soldiers finally managed to barely fill in the horse trap in front of them.

Yelü Aguda once again waved his command flag and roared, "All troops, attack! Flatten the city walls!"

The vanguard of the barbarian army mustered their courage once again and charged toward the city wall.

They ran forward, stepping on the newly leveled ground, thinking they would finally reach the city walls.

But the next second, another unexpected event occurred.

"Splash! Splash!"

Then came a series of falling sounds, even more frequent than before.

Behind the newly filled-in ground, there was a second layer of traps!

The pits are deeper, the bamboo skewers are sharper, and the ambushes are more concealed!

The barbarian soldiers at the front were caught off guard and fell straight into the pit. Their legs and feet were pierced by bamboo skewers at the bottom, and some even broke their spines and died on the spot.

Screams, cries, and terrified roars instantly echoed across the plains.

The barbarian soldiers were terrified. Those in front retreated desperately, while those behind continued to charge forward. Their formation instantly fell into chaos, with soldiers pushing and trampling each other.

From their charge to their fall into the pit, they didn't even touch the base of Jing'an City's walls before falling into the trap one after another, as if they had entered a death maze, with dead ends everywhere.

Behind him, Yelü Aguda's eyes were bloodshot, and he was trembling with rage.

"Those damned Qian army, just how many traps have they dug outside the city?!"

He gritted his teeth, his eyes filled with murderous intent and resentment.

Before the two waves of attacks even officially began, five or six hundred soldiers had already been lost.

He had never suffered such humiliation before.

Seeing this, the generals around him stepped forward one after another, their expressions grave as they advised, "Marshal! We cannot attack any further!"

"The Qian army has laid a series of traps outside the city; we have no idea where the traps are and where they aren't!"

"Continuing this blind attack will only waste our troops! Besides, our brothers are terrified by the traps and are filled with dread; they have no fighting spirit to charge any further!"

"The best course of action would be to halt the attack, send men to thoroughly scout the area outside the city, identify and mark the locations of all traps, and then launch an assault!"

The generals spoke one after another, their hearts filled with apprehension.

If we continue fighting, it won't be a siege, it'll be suicide.

Yelü Aguda took a deep breath, suppressing the raging fire in his heart.

The generals were right; a blind attack would only increase casualties.

He nodded firmly and ordered in a stern voice, "Sound the retreat! Cease the attack!"

"Pass down the order: dispatch all scouts, divided into four teams, to thoroughly reconnoiter the area outside the east, south, west, and north walls of Jing'an City, marking the locations of all traps without error!"

"Clang! Clang! Clang!"

The sound of the gong signaling the retreat echoed through the barbarian army.

The attacking barbarian soldiers, as if granted a pardon, scrambled back, fearing they would fall into another trap, utterly humiliated.

Seeing the barbarian army fleeing in panic and retreating in disarray, the defenders on the city wall erupted in a deafening cheer.

"We won! We won! The savage dogs have been driven away!"

"A series of traps is really something! Let's see if they still dare to be arrogant!"

"Your Highness is mighty! The Qian army will surely prevail!"

"These savage dogs, they'll only be throwing their lives away if they come again!"