Chapter 43: Canglang (II)
The tide of rebels had surged forward, with hundreds of Yan soldiers beside each scaling ladder. Along with the Tongluo, Turks, Khitans, Xi people… their eyes reflected a greedy, ferocious light akin to that of primitive beasts, as if Suiyang City was already a piece of juicy meat ready to be devoured at any moment.
The ladders were already against the city walls, and with the help of their comrades, the first batch of rebel soldiers launched an assault on the northern part of Suiyang City!…
But then, with several low hums, the rebels’ ultimate weapon—crossbows—was activated!
Two Turkic soldiers used ropes to tighten the bowstrings on the winches, while over a dozen Khitans turned the winches to draw the strings and load massive arrows. At that moment, a rebel general holding a black-red flag waved it vigorously and shouted,
“One, two, shoot!”
A strong Tongluo man, bare-chested, swung his arm and struck the trigger on the crossbow with a heavy hammer, releasing an arrow that flew toward the battlements of Suiyang City.
“Whoosh!”
The massive arrow, carrying immense force, pierced through a laborer boiling water near the battlements and nailed him to the ground. The huge arrowhead, due to its strong inertia, even embedded itself in the brick wall, a sight truly astonishing.
“Cover your heads! Lie down! All of you, lie down!”
Lei Wanchun was furious and annoyed. First, the trebuchets, then the crossbows—the rebels were using every possible tactic, and their relentless attacks had severely damaged Suiyang City’s defenses.
Even if his men managed to survive these frenzied assaults, how could they cope with the even more intense attacks to come? It would be a close-quarters battle with swords against swords! Without the advantage of terrain, what could they do against rebels outnumbering them by many times?
“Hey!”…
Drumbeats rang out, and the sounds of battle filled the air. The war had entered its most brutal phase. Due to the use of trebuchets, the Tang troops on the city walls suffered heavy casualties.
“Brothers in Team Two and Team Three, draw your bows and get ready!”
Cui Shu, the deputy commander of the northern defenses, shouted orders. With the cover of trebuchets and crossbows, the rebels moved quickly and were now gradually within range of archers.
“You bastard brats! If you’ve got the guts, throw more stones at us!”
Lin Mu, the fire commander, spat out thick phlegm and loudly greeted the rebels’ kin. Since the charging rebels had reached the foot of the city, they had stopped throwing stones and shooting arrows, allowing the soldiers on Suiyang City’s walls to catch their breath for a moment.
“Stop talking nonsense and draw your bows!”
Cui Shu glared at Lin Mu and said, “If you’re a man, shoot those arrows back at me! The rebels have catapults and crossbow carts, but we still have bows and arrows! If you can shoot all the rebels to death with your bows, I’ll be the first to admit your superiority!”
After a brief pause, Cui Shu continued, “Heh, no need to hold back for me. If the crossbow arrows run out, then Little Zhang, the top scholar, can just make a few thousand straw men and throw them down from the city walls to borrow arrows!”
At his words, the solemn atmosphere instantly became lighter, and many veterans who had experienced the battles a few months ago burst into laughter. It turned out that they had faced a shortage of arrows a few months prior, when Little Zhang came up with a clever idea—using thousands of straw men to trick the enemy into giving them hundreds of thousands of arrows, thus solving the urgent crisis in Suiyang City.
Indeed, it’s not always the strongest who win on the battlefield. As long as everyone fights hard enough, nothing is impossible!
150 paces, 120 paces, 100 paces!
“Shoot!”
At Cui Shu’s command, hundreds of feathered arrows whistled as they were fired from the battlements above, raining down on the rebels below. The soldiers didn’t need to worry about angles—they just needed to draw their bows taut and shoot randomly into the air to effectively kill the rebel soldiers. There were simply too many of them below!
The arrows formed a dense net, whistling as they flew from the battlements, rising high before pouring down on the heads of the Hu soldiers.
“Ah!”
The rebel soldiers at the front were hit by the flying arrows and fell off the ladders. They were too eager; huge rewards had clouded their judgment. To speed up their ascent, they even threw away their rhinoceros wood shields and rushed up the walls of Suiyang’s northern city at full speed!
“Pick up your shields and protect your vital parts, you fools!”
A Shina Lüsa’s eyes were red with anger. Just one round of arrows from the Tang army had killed nearly 200 of his soldiers. If this continued, all his men would die before they even reached the top of the walls.
Damn it! A bunch of bastards who only know how to shoot arrows from behind the walls—don’t let me climb up there!
Hearing the orders of Lord Ashina Lusasa, the rebel soldiers in the back gradually regained their senses and began using their narrow shields to cover their vital heads, ignoring whether they could protect other parts of their bodies. Holding shields in one hand and scaling ladders in the other, they gritted their teeth and rushed desperately toward the city walls. Archers protected by a large number of long shields launched a counterattack under the cover of their comrades. Without caring whether arrows would hit them, they drew their bows and shot as soon as they reached a certain distance; the arrows flew upward in a parabolic path and landed among the Tang troops on the city walls. Some of the Tang archers on the walls also fell, but immediately someone would step on their bodies to take their place and keep shooting.
“Fill the gaps! Don’t give the rebels any chance! Shoot arrows at their faces—shoot at their faces!”
Cui Shu was almost exhausted but still refused to back down, constantly shouting to inspire his soldiers. As a veteran warrior, he needed to pass on his experience to these new recruits at critical moments. After all, sometimes on the battlefield, passion and courage alone weren’t enough; proper tactics could minimize casualties.
No one retreated, no one hesitated. Everyone knew who their enemy was—the barbarians, a group of merciless devils. If they allowed them to capture Suiyang City, not only would these soldiers suffer, but millions of people in the Jianghuai region behind Suiyang would also face destruction.
They were Tang people!
The rebels had advanced triumphantly since Fanyang, while what about them? They had retreated from Hebei to Xingyang, from Xingyang to Luoyang, and then from Luoyang to Chang’an.
Could they really not even defend Suiyang City now?
After Suiyang, there would be no more Great Tang!
They couldn’t retreat another step!
Seeing that the rebels’ long-range firepower support was weakening, Captain Wang Jie, in charge of rearfire support, shouted loudly, “Get stones! Bring as many as you can and throw them down from the battlements!”
They had already used up all the stones and logs in the city, but they had spent the night dismantling some of the houses near the city walls. Although the amount of stones obtained wasn’t large, it could help in the immediate crisis.
They absolutely couldn’t let the rebels climb the city walls easily; they had to create enough trouble as they tried to ascend!
“One, two—throw!”
On the north wall of Suiyang, several brave soldiers lifted a huge stone weighing over a hundred jin and threw it down from the battlements. The stone struck a rebel soldier climbing the ladder with tremendous force, shattering his sternum through his chainmail. The soldier screamed in pain and tumbled backward off the ladder.
Lang Li excitedly punched Wang Jie and said cheerfully, “Brother Wang, you’ve arrived! We’re about to run out of strength!”
Wang Jie smiled softly and replied, “How could I just watch my brothers fight to the death without helping? When brothers work together, their strength is unmatched. We’re comrades, brothers who have shared life and death!”
“Great! Let’s kill those bastards together! Kill one, gain one; kill two, gain a pair!” Lang Li shouted with enthusiasm.
“Kill those bastards! Kill them!” The soldiers responded by raising their swords.
They knew they were doomed not to leave Suiyang alive—this was clear from the moment they decided to stay and follow Xiao Zhang. But so what?
They would still defend the battered city of Suiyang and uphold the dignity of the Tang Dynasty without hesitation!
It was the dignity of countless Tang people, not to be trampled by barbarians!
Large numbers of rebel soldiers advanced steadily toward Suiyang, protected by massive shields. Although arrows covered a wide area, they were ineffective against thick shields. If Wang Jie hadn’t rushed to reinforce them promptly, the rebels would likely have stormed the city walls in no time.
But now everything was different! With the 200 soldiers under Lang Li plus the 300 brought by Wang Jie, the Tang forces at the battlements numbered over 500. Huge stones and logs were thrown down, piercing through the rhinoceros-horn shields the rebels relied on and crushing their shoulders and ribs. The rebels screamed in agony as they fell from the sky, dying instantly.
“Damn them! Hehe!” Lang Li waved his fists excitedly, wiping the sweat from his forehead like a child.
Who among them wasn’t a child? If not for this war, most of them would still be studying the classics at home, preparing for the imperial examinations.
A war changes so many lives!