Chapter 31: Slaying the Dragon (7)

Many things in the world cannot be clearly judged as right or wrong; it all comes down to choice. Different people make different choices, and there is no absolute right or wrong in choosing. From the moment he decided to defend Suiyang, Zhang Xun was prepared to die for his country. Sacrificing one’s family to alleviate hardship and dedicating oneself to serving the nation are not things everyone can do, but the soldiers remaining in Suiyang clearly could.

It wasn’t because they shared Zhang Xun’s ambitions. They were ordinary people. In peaceful times, they might have simply wanted to earn money, gain military honors, marry, take care of their mothers, and live a few comfortable days. But now, in times of chaos, the rebels had marched southward and captured two capitals. If they allowed the rebels to take Suiyang as well, the Tang Dynasty would truly be beyond salvation.

As ordinary people without grand ambitions, they understood one thing clearly: the rebels were barbarians! This rebellion, ostensibly led by An Lushan in rebellion against the Tang, was actually a foreign invasion akin to the Five Barbarians’ invasion of China. Khitans, Xis, Tongluo, Turks… these tribes, who had once bowed in submission to the Tang Dynasty, now raised their swords against its people.

If the rebels captured Suiyang and seized Huainan, it would not merely be a change of dynasty. The Tang people, descendants of the Yan and Huang emperors, might become slaves of a conquered nation and sinners against Chinese civilization. This was something they could not bear. To ensure their descendants would not have to grovel and beg for mercy, they would fight on without hesitation, even if they had only a shred of strength left. Every extra moment of fighting brought more hope. This hope did not belong to a single family or dynasty—it belonged to each of them, to the Tang Dynasty as a whole!

No one knew how long they could hold out. Perhaps they would die from arrows the next moment, or from starvation. But they were determined not to let the rebels enter Suiyang easily. This was not a promise—it was a responsibility. Not a responsibility to emperors or generals, but to their descendants! It was the responsibility to keep the Tang Dynasty as the Tang Dynasty and the Tang people as the Tang people!

From sunrise to dusk, the soldiers of Suiyang fought fiercely against the rebels. Everywhere there were severed limbs and heads rolling around. Blood and flesh splattered on them, but they simply brushed it off and drew their bows to shoot at the rebels charging toward the city walls.

They lacked enough comrades and supplies. By now, even their arrows, their only reliance, were running low. But they would not fall.

Zhang Xun and Xu Yuan, escorted by Nan Jiyun, hurriedly climbed onto the city walls via the horse paths to inspect the defense of the northern city. Earlier, Yin Ziqi had sent his elite soldiers to push several hastily built trebuchets outside the northern city walls and launched a series of probing attacks. The appearance of these massive weapons in the city caused a great stir, and the soldiers of Suiyang were deeply concerned. They were well aware of the destructive power of these weapons; if fully utilized, Suiyang would be destroyed in an instant. However, either due to poor aiming or flaws in the design of the trebuchets, the stones thrown by the rebels lacked significant force. Stones the size of grinding mills were hurled through the air but landed softly on the city walls, leaving only minor scratches. Only a few sections of the walls, weakened by years of neglect, collapsed slightly under these attacks, but it wasn’t a serious issue. Zhang Xun, being meticulous by nature, feared that the collapsed sections might pose hidden dangers, so he went to the city walls to urge the soldiers to repair them. So far, the repair work seemed to be progressing well. Although food was scarce in Suiyang, there was an abundance of stones, and mixing them with glutinous mud made it easy to fill in the gaps. Since sunset, the rebels’ attacks had significantly weakened, and now only sporadic shouts and the whizzing of arrows could be heard. Zhang Xun stood beside the wall parapet, gazing at the dense ranks of rebels below under the dim light of the torches. Compared to a month earlier, there were even more rebels outside the city walls. It seemed they knew that the food supply in Suiyang was running low, so they had intensified their attacks over the past few days. As one side grew stronger and the other weaker, the soldiers felt overwhelmed in defending the city. Though Zhang Xun constantly encouraged them to serve their country loyally, he had no idea how much longer they could hold out. “Lord Zhang, from what I see, the rebels will surely launch a fierce attack on the northern gate tomorrow!” Xu Yuan sighed deeply, frowning. If forced to choose one of the four city gates as a weak point, the northern gate was undoubtedly the most vulnerable. Its walls were already damaged to some extent, and the rebels had filled in the moats. If they gathered heavy forces and used siege ladders to attack, it was hard to think of any effective way to keep them at bay. Zhang Xun nodded and said, “Lord Xu is right. I also believe the rebels will focus their attack on the northern city. But every advantage has its disadvantage. If they concentrate on taking the northern gate, the pressure on the other three gates will decrease, allowing us to redeploy defensive equipment from those gates.”

After speaking, Zhang Xun turned to Nan Jiyun beside him and ordered, “We must intensify patrols on the city walls tonight. The rebels launched a fierce attack this afternoon, and our soldiers are already exhausted. We must not let the rebels take advantage of this.”
Nan Jiyun bowed to Zhang Xun and said, “I shall follow your orders! Rest assured, no matter who sleeps, I will stay guard at the north city wall. If the rebels want to invade Suiyang from the north, they’ll first have to step over my corpse!”
Hearing Nan Jiyun’s heroic words, Zhang Xun sighed in admiration and patted his shoulder, “Good brother!”……
Most of the soldiers on the walls of Suiyang city were awakened in the early morning by the rebels’ shrill trumpets. Once they realized they weren’t dreaming, they quickly sat up and instinctively reached back.
“Don’t use bows and crossbows yet. They’re still far away. Save your arrows—everyone, save them!”
Captain Ma Yue glared at the young soldier beside him and shouted angrily. These brats didn’t know what it was like to manage daily necessities. Arrows were in short supply in the city, yet they still didn’t know to use them sparingly. Did they have to wait until there were no arrows left before regretting it?
“But Captain Ma, if we don’t shoot arrows, are we just going to watch the rebels attack the city?”
The young soldier was stubborn and puffed out his chest, arguing with Ma Yue.
“Heh, you’re quite stubborn!”
Ma Yue crossed his arms and glared at the soldier. “Do as I say. If the sky falls, I’ll hold it up for you—don’t worry!”
After a pause, Ma Yue continued, “If they dare to attack the city, let them come. Once they set up their ladders, we’ll hurl boulders and logs down at them to teach them a lesson!”
Although the young soldier still wasn’t convinced, he couldn’t come up with a better argument, so he reluctantly lowered his head and retracted half of his bow and crossbow.
Time on the battlefield passes both fastest and slowest. Combat often takes place between life and death, while waiting for the enemy to approach seems endless and unbearable.
The soldiers on the north city wall couldn’t use bows and crossbows to shoot at the rebels from afar, so they could only watch helplessly as the enemies closed in step by step. With each step the rebels took, their hearts beat faster, until they were pounding wildly.
They’re getting closer! Closer!
The soldiers could now see the flag embroidered with a gray wolf, the large character for “Yan,” and even the swirling clouds embroidered around it.

As they got closer, he could even see the patterns on the rebels’ armor and make out their cheeks through the layers of clothing. To the soldiers of Suiyang City’s army, it was surprising that these rebels had the same faces as them—weren’t they barbarian soldiers? How could they be so identical, as if carved from the same mold?

It wasn’t until their officer told them that a large portion of the rebel troops were conscripted from places like Xingyang and Luoyang that they finally understood. It turned out that among the rebels were not only barbarian soldiers from Fanyang and Pinglu but also fellow locals who spoke the same authentic Henan dialect!

But at this moment, they would show no hesitation or pity—this was the battlefield! They were rebels, enemies, people who wanted to kill them! Similarly, their task was to hold the city and kill as many of them as possible to ensure their own safety.

On the battlefield, there is no right or wrong, only strength and weakness. In combat, there are no good or evil people, only the dead and the living.

To survive, one must kill, keep killing.

“Captain, Captain! They’ve attacked the city walls!”

The young soldier, with an inexperienced face, stared at the dense crowd of rebels below and panicked, shouting loudly.

“Are you scared of something?”

Ma Yue glared fiercely at the soldier and said, “Tell the soldiers to use logs and boulders to attack them properly. Ah, don’t throw them now—wait until they’re halfway up before hitting them!”

Ma Yue impatiently repeated again and again the things the soldier needed to pay attention to on the battlefield.

When to throw stones to cause the greatest damage to the enemy, when to feign weakness to lure the rebels into making mistakes—these things couldn’t be learned from books. They had to be gained through repeated actual battles, through trial and error.

Ma Yue sighed inwardly. If not for his comrades dying one after another in the endless battles before, how would it come to this—these barely grown soldiers having to fill the ranks?