After saving the Empress, I became the top scholar in the imperial examination.

…………

"Aaaaaaaahhhhh!"

cry.

"Draw the bow!"

The order has arrived.

The muscles bulged.

He began to exert force with both arms, and a terrifying creaking sound rang out as he drew back a fifty-pound bow.

I've shot countless arrows, and my arm is starting to ache.

"put!"

The fingers loosened.

put.

"call out!"

The bowstring trembled.

The arrow leaves the bowstring.

Arrows flew towards the city walls.

Right in the center is a face climbing up a ladder!

Blood blossomed with a "pop"!

"Come on!" Jiang Shikuan shouted down towards the city walls, his neck turning red.

"Kill! Kill! Kill!"

The shouts of battle were incessant, and he could no longer distinguish whether the sounds came from the enemy troops below the city or from his own comrades.

Beneath the towering city walls, densely packed troops, like black ants, held up shields to defend against arrows while relentlessly attacking the walls.

A military formation typically consists of about thirty or forty people.

"Boom!"

The mother-and-child cannons fired from their ports, smashing through the enemy formations.

The Northern Dynasty soldiers roared and continued their advance, stepping over the corpses of their comrades.

Upon reaching the moat, they untied the hemp ropes around their waists, and the long wooden planks tied around the waists of the group of people were removed.

They started building a bridge across the river.

The mortise and tenon cannons on the front wall could no longer reach the military formation here.

The defenders could only rely on the raised ramparts of the city wall and the cannon holes on the sides of the ramparts to bombard the wooden bridge.

"Boom!"

"Bang!"

Some of them hit their targets.

The enemy soldiers on the bridge shouted and fell into the water.

Some of the enemy troops missed their target and crossed the moat.

The battle formation began to change. Some of the enemy soldiers used their shields to block the arrows shot down from the city wall, while others fired arrows at the city wall to suppress the defenders on it.

A cloud chariot, as tall as the city wall, was pushed over, followed by a series of shield chariots.

The laborers, holding shields, carried sandbags and stones from under the shield carts and cloud carts to fill the moat.

As long as we can fill in the moat to create a passage.

The tall cloud chariots could be pushed over, and the enemy troops could climb onto them and attack the city walls through the gaps created by the cannon fire.

"Bang!"

Gunshots rang out.

Jiang Shih-kuan's body jolted, his head reeling from the gunshot.

This section of the moat was filled in, and the enemy's siege chariots were pushed over and placed on the city wall.

Jiang Shih-kuan led his men to launch an attack, preventing the enemy from scaling the city walls.

When he shot an arrow downwards, the enemy soldiers below not only fired arrows, but some of them also brought muskets.

It was difficult to aim from below, so the shot missed him.

"Draw the bow!"

The garrison commander's order to defend the city arrived once again.

Jiang Shikuan's fear of being intimidated by the musket disappeared, and he drew his bow again.

Just as they were drawing their bows, a squad of musketeers from the Jiangpu Army also rushed to this section of the city wall.

"Ready!"

The muskets of the musket battalion aimed downwards.

"put!"

"Bang bang bang bang bang!"

A burst of flames shot out, smashing the heads of several people on the enemy's ladder to pieces.

"Kill! Kill! Kill!"

"Kill them!"

"Up! Up!"

The enemy was not intimidated by the muskets. Their shouts of battle continued as they roared and climbed upwards, determined to seize the credit for being the first to scale the walls!

After firing a shot, the musketeer had to reload and also guard against the barrel exploding.

Archers and spearmen are the main force in defending the city.

When the musketeers were loading their ammunition, that was when they would fire their arrows.

"put!"

Jiang Shikuan loosened his grip and fired another arrow, this time it only struck one person's armor.

"Here it comes!"

Amidst the chaos atop the city walls, a voice and the sound of footsteps rang out.

The captain waved his hand and roared:

"Pour in the oil quickly!"

The laborers, sweating profusely, carried the iron pot over.

Boiling oil from a large pot poured down from a gap in the city wall.

"Aaaaaaah!"

Boiling oil fell from the sky.

Several enemy soldiers who were drenched immediately cried out in pain!

He rolled down the ladder.

"set fire!"

The purpose of using oil was twofold: firstly, to drench people, but more importantly, to burn down the siege ladder.

Several torches were smashed down.

With a "whoosh!"

The ladder, which had been soaked in boiling oil, immediately burst into flames!

"liquor!"

With a clang, several more jars of wine were smashed down to intensify the fire on the ladder.

"Ahhhhhh!!!"

"Southern dog!"

"Kill them! Kill them!"

"kill!"

The ladders burst into flames, and the enemy soldiers climbing up below yelled and cursed, but could only hurry down.

The breach here is quite large, the moat has been filled in, and several of the cannons on the city wall have been damaged, and new cannons have not yet been brought over.

The medics carried away several wounded comrades, and then carried away a body with an arrow in the neck.

Jiang Shikuan squatted at the foot of the ruined city walls, sweating profusely, his hands gripping the bow tightly, his eyes fixed on the city below.

he knows.

The thieves will soon push a cloud cart over, and they must guard this gap until nightfall before they can fill it with earth and level it...

Now, there are at least five or six similar sections on the city wall!

"Hold on!"

Jiang Shih-kuan roared and drew his bow again!

……

……

The sun gradually began to set in the west.

The golden sunlight bathed the Lüliang Mountains in a golden hue.

A flock of birds flew from east to west, disappearing into the forest on the mountain.

Ortai gazed at the flock of birds, remained silent for a moment, and then exhaled from his lungs.

He has already cleared the area around Yunzhong Mountain in the northern section of the Lüliang Mountains.

The thieves trapped on the mountain have probably eaten all the big tigers in the mountains.

There is no food left.

At most two to three days.

The more than three thousand bandits on the mountain are bound to break through.

And Ning Jiexiao, or rather... Ning Baixuan.

His nightmare began when the thief was about to break through.

Feint to the east while attacking in the west.

Feint to the west while attacking the east.

At the entrance to the main camp on the south side of Yunzhong Mountain, Ortai's face turned ashen.

After seeing Huang Zhongcai being tricked by Ning Baixuan several times before, he abandoned Huang Zhongcai and took command himself.

But I didn't expect that.

Even I myself have fallen for their tricks several times!

While a surge of anger welled up in Ortai's heart, a sense of fear also arose within him.

The emperor in the Forbidden City had probably reached his limit of patience.

Yue Zhongqi's army has already marched south.

Logically, he should be stationed in Henan to oversee and ensure the smooth flow of grain supplies.

As a result, not only himself, but also Huang Zhongcai, 10,000 guards, 3,000 Manchu and Mongol cavalry from the Right Guard of the Great Wall, and 10,000 Green Standard Army troops conscripted from the three prefectures of Shanxi were all held back by Ning Baixuan.

He spent two whole months supervising so much grain, yet he still couldn't kill Ning Baixuan, who deserved to be torn to pieces a thousand times!

Ortai felt this was a great humiliation!

not to mention……

The Minister of War, with his beard and hair intertwined and an imposing expression, felt a heavy heart.

There was something he hadn't been able to figure out for the past two months.

That is……

How exactly did Ning Baixuan escape from the capital?

Ortai, standing in front of the white tent, clenched his fingers.

The shadow cast by the setting sun fell onto a patch of sand and stones, and remained silent for a moment.

At this time, Huang Zhongcai, the governor in charge of suppressing the Heavenly Principle Sect, Hejige, the commander of the Manchu and Mongol cavalry, a group of commanders of the guard battalion, and three Green Standard Army commanders from Taiyuan, Fenzhou, and Shuozhou all came to pay their respects.

His own men, along with a dozen or so advisors from his generals, also arrived.

Tonight, everyone will discuss how to deal with Ning Baixuan's breakout over the next two days and ensure the assassination of this fiend.

"My lord, if you ask me, this scoundrel Ning Jiexiao has nowhere to escape this time."

Hejig crossed his arms, smiled, and glanced at Huang Zhongcai, seemingly unintentionally.