Isolated town in northern border region

Just one night later, the Northern Barbarian army launched a probing attack on the city.

As dawn broke, the snow outside Cangwu City still gleamed with a bluish-gray light, when a muffled bugle call echoed from the Northern Barbarian camp.

"Waaaaah"

That was the command to attack, deep and drawn-out, like a giant beast awakening from its slumber.

On the city wall, the defenders had barely closed their eyes when they were awakened by the sound of the bugle.

Some people suddenly scrambled to their feet from the edge of the battlements, while others' hands, still gripping their knives, trembled, their faces as white as the snow outside the city.

"They're here...they're really here..."

A young soldier's voice trembled, his lips quivered, and he nearly dropped his spear.

His name was Er Gou. He was a defeated soldier whom Xiao Lie gathered when he entered the city. He had been defeated all the way from Youzhou to Cangzhou.

He had witnessed firsthand how the Northern Barbarian cavalry massacred villages.

With a swipe of his saber, heads rolled off, sparing not even children.

In his mind, the northern barbarians were evil spirits sent by the King of Hell.

An old soldier next to him kicked him hard.

"Pick up the spear! What are you trembling for? You're chickening out before you even fight?"

The veteran was cursing fiercely, but his own hands were trembling.

He guarded the northern frontier for five years, fighting no fewer than twenty battles, but never won.

Every time, as soon as they lined up, the brothers next to them would start running, and then he would start running too.

He had grown accustomed to running away, accustomed to turning his back on the Northern Barbarians' scimitars.

But now, he stands atop the last city wall in the northern frontier, with 50,000 enemy troops in front of him and his only remaining homeland beneath his feet.

On the city walls, fear spread like a plague.

Some people were chanting Amitabha Buddha in a low voice, some were biting the handle of a knife with their eyes closed, and some were squatting in the corner with their heads buried in their knees.

A teenager was so frightened that he wet his pants and sat on the ground crying loudly.

Bisu stood inside the city tower, her face deathly pale, her lips bleeding from being bitten.

She was a palace maid, and the biggest scene she had ever seen was eunuchs fighting. She had never seen an army of 50,000 men pressing in.

Her legs were so weak she could barely stand, and she only managed to stay upright by holding onto a pillar.

The only part of the entire city wall that didn't change color was the Great Chu Army Flag at the highest point of the city tower.

The flag fluttered in the north wind, but Xiao Lie wasn't there.

Xiao Lie was at the city gate.

He was clad in golden armor, wielding a long spear, with five hundred elite soldiers behind him.

Everyone stood solemnly, spears in hand, swords drawn.

They waited silently in the city gate, like a pack of leopards about to pounce on their prey.

The sound of horses' hooves outside the city grew closer and closer.

Even through the heavy city gates, you could feel the earth trembling.

Xiao Lie gripped his spear, his expression calm; he was waiting.

Wait for the war drums to sound from the city tower.

The northern barbarian cavalry are getting closer and closer.

One thousand steps...

Eight hundred steps...

Five hundred steps...

Five thousand warhorses galloped simultaneously, and the earth trembled. The tremor traveled from the soles of your feet to your heart, making you instinctively want to kneel down.

The breathing on the city wall grew heavier and heavier, and some people had already closed their eyes.

Three hundred steps...

Two hundred steps!

boom!

The cavalryman at the forefront suddenly lost his footing and fell to the ground, horse and rider together.

Then came the second, the third, the tenth, and the hundredth.

The sounds of warhorses neighing, barbarian soldiers cursing, and bones breaking mingled together, making one's teeth ache.

Everyone on the city wall was stunned.

"Wha...what happened?"

Er Gou's eyes widened.

Then they saw it.

Under the snow, countless icicles pierced through!

No, it wasn't a stab; it was the horse's hoof that broke through the snow and was pierced by an icicle, causing the horse's leg to break and the rider to fall.

A deathly silence hung over the city walls.

Then, a hoarse voice rang out from under the city wall.

He was an old blacksmith who had been forging iron in Cangwu City for thirty years.

Last night, when Xiao Lie led the entire city's soldiers and civilians to set up the ice cone formation outside the city, he was the one who worked the hardest.

He led more than twenty apprentices to chisel a hole in the ice all night long.

At this moment, he leaned against the battlements, looking at the Northern Barbarian cavalrymen outside the city, their men and horses scattered and falling, and tears welled up in his cloudy old eyes.

He recognized him.

Those icicles, those pits he carved out himself!

They really worked!

Old Zhou was trembling all over, not from fear, but from excitement.

He whirled around abruptly, facing the city gate, and roared with all his might:

"It's the Prince! It's His Highness Prince Ning!"

He raised his hands, cracked and bleeding from the cold, and cried out hoarsely:

"It was the prince who led us to set up the formation! It's the ice spikes we erected last night!"

Everyone on the city wall heard it.

Everyone was stunned.

"Long live the Prince!"

Old Zhou was the first to shout, his voice hoarse, tears streaming down his face.

"Long live the Prince!!"

Er Gou shouted along, tears welling up in his eyes.

"Long live the Prince!!!"

The whole city was shouting.

Those people who had spent the night with Xiao Lie chiseling ice picks in the freezing snow all understood now.

Xiao Lie really wanted to lead them to victory!

"Long live the Prince! Long live the Prince! Long live the Prince!"

The shouts were deafening, even drowning out the screams of the northern barbarian cavalry outside the city.

Bisu stood inside the city gate tower, covering her mouth, crying so hard she couldn't speak.

But she did not forget her mission.

She is Xiao Lie's personal maid and also the messenger on the city wall today.

Xiao Lie explained very clearly last night that once the ice cone formation takes effect, the war drums on the city wall should be sounded immediately.

Bisu wiped away her tears, rushed to the huge war drum, grabbed the drumsticks, and smashed them down with all her might.

thump—

The dull drumbeats, like a thunderclap, exploded over Cangwu City.

Boom!Boom!Boom!

The war drums grew more urgent and denser, like a torrential downpour pounding on sheet metal, with thunderous force.

At the city gate.

Upon hearing the drumbeats, Xiao Lie suddenly raised the spear in his hand.

"Open the city gates!"

The city gates burst open with a roar.

Xiao Lie took the lead and was the first to rush out.

Behind him, five hundred elite cavalrymen filed out, their armor reflecting a cold light, like caged beasts released from their cages!

On the city wall, the archers had already drawn their bows.

"Release the arrows!"

Arrows rained down.

Some of the barbarian soldiers who fell off their horses broke their legs, while others had their ribs broken by being trampled. They screamed and rolled on the ground.

Arrows pierced their leather armor and embedded themselves in their flesh, causing screams of agony to rise and fall.

Xiao Lie charged into the enemy ranks, thrusting and retracting his spear, blood splattering everywhere.

Five hundred elite soldiers followed and charged forward, ramming with shields, thrusting with spears, slashing with swords, and chopping with axes.

The northern barbarian cavalry, having lost their horses, trudged through the snow, unable to mount any effective resistance.

Half an hour.

Of the five thousand Northern Barbarian vanguard, more than half were killed or wounded, and the rest fled back to their main camp in disarray.

Xiao Lie reined in his horse, his body covered in blood, blood dripping from the shaft of his spear.

He didn't chase after them, but instead scanned the battlefield and roared.

"Steal the horse!"

The soldiers rushed forward like madmen, leading the uninjured or lightly wounded warhorses back into the city.

Eight hundred horses!

A full eight hundred northern barbarian warhorses!

On the city wall, cheers shook the heavens and the earth.

"We won! We won!"

"May Great Chu be victorious! May Prince Ning be victorious!"

Er Gou hugged the spear and cried like a child.

He killed a barbarian soldier today!

A barbarian soldier who had fallen off his horse and hadn't gotten up yet.

He shot an arrow into the man's back!

His hands were still trembling, but his eyes were shining.

The old soldier squatted on the city wall, overwhelmed with countless grievances.

For the first time in five years, we've won!

The old blacksmith leaned against the edge of the barricade, grinning from ear to ear.

"We won...it was worth it...this old man's life has been worthwhile..."

Bisu was crying and laughing inside the city tower, and the drumstick in her hand fell to the ground.

This battle is a true head-on confrontation.

It was also the only direct confrontation in which the five northern prefectures defeated the northern barbarians.

But it was too early to be happy.

Xiao Lie had just returned to the city wall and hadn't even had a chance to catch his breath when the bugle sounded again from the Northern Barbarian camp.

Waaaaah—

This time, it was heavier, more oppressive, and more intense than before. Not five thousand, not ten thousand, but all of it.

A total of 50,000 troops were mobilized.