Chapter 33: Slaying the Dragon (9)

A moment of distraction on the battlefield could lead to tragic consequences. Ma Yueke didn’t want his mistake to give the rebels the chance to storm the city walls. If that happened and General Nan Jiyun didn’t have to take action, he would himself commit suicide as an atonement.
The Suiyang City, which his men had defended for months, must not fall into his hands. As long as he still had a breath left, he would absolutely hold off the enemy at the northern part of the city.
The spiked hammer was dropped again, but this time its effect wasn’t as good. Perhaps the rebels, having learned from the last attempt, took precautions and avoided it. Though the hammer was powerful, its range was limited. As long as the rebels avoided that area and used other ladders to climb, it wouldn’t harm them.
“Damn it!”
Ma Yueke slammed his thigh and took a deep breath before saying coldly, “Pour tung oil on them—set them on fire!”
“Hey, hey!”
These new recruits didn’t know much about such things. They only knew to obey their commander’s orders, so they picked up the oil drums piled on the city walls and poured them down along the ladders.
“Whoosh!”
The tung oil drenched the rebels climbing up. Smelling the strong, pungent odor, they sensed that something bad was about to happen.
“Buzz! Buzz!”
That was the sound of flint igniting fire!
The Tang army had set the ladders on fire!
It was a highly risky move. Although the city walls were made of bricks and clay, no one could guarantee that the fire wouldn’t spread to the city walls. But at that moment, the Tang soldiers inside Suiyang City clearly had no better option. The number of rebels was far too large; they simply couldn’t handle them all. Their only chance now was to use the fire to block all possible paths of attack. As for whether the fire would turn against them, that wasn’t something they needed to worry about right now.
“Whoosh!”
As soon as the flame touched the tung oil, it instantly caught fire. The blazing flames illuminated the twilight sky as if it were day.
The ladders, scorched by the fire, emitted thick, smoky fumes that drifted toward the city walls with the wind. Many rebel soldiers’ clothes were coated with tung oil. Once the flame touched the oil on the ladders, it spread rapidly. In no time, these rebels were engulfed in flames, looking terrifying.
“Ah!”
“Ah!”

These soldiers were engulfed in flames and frantically tried to beat the fire to extinguish it. But how could the flames be easily put out when they burned more fiercely with the addition of tung oil? Many soldiers fell from the ladders while struggling and died on the spot.
“Crack!”
“Crack!”
Even more terrifying things happened—after prolonged burning, the ladders finally gave way under the weight and collapsed down the city wall.
“Ah!”
“Ah!”
The fire grew increasingly intense, casting a bright glow over the entire northern city.
Watching Suiyang City enveloped in thick smoke and flames, Yang Chaozong frowned slightly。……
He had planned everything, but he never expected the Tang army to resort to such a tactic that would cost them a thousand while killing a thousand enemies. Although Suiyang City was quite strong, being burned by such fierce flames would surely harm it rather than help. And such harm often took the form of hidden dangers that were invisible under normal circumstances but could deal a fatal blow at the most critical moment.
What loss did he suffer? Just under five thousand soldiers—after all, soldiers were not what his army lacked!
The Tang army had almost used up all their tung oil, as well as their stones and logs, leaving them at their limit. With just one more assault, he could surely capture the northern city. Then he would be the one to take control of Suiyang City and would surely receive generous rewards from the emperor.
Thinking of this, Yang Chaozong felt a bit more at ease and nodded at the standard-bearer beside him.
Once the black flag was raised, there was no turning back!……
Watching the wounded soldiers wailing on the city walls, Nan Jiyun felt extremely distressed.
Most of these soldiers were temporarily recruited by him. They were originally from ordinary families and had never even held a sword before, yet now they were expected to bear the heavy responsibility of defending Suiyang City.
From any perspective, this demand seemed far too harsh.
But he had no choice!
If Helan Jinming had been willing to send reinforcements to Suiyang, they wouldn’t be in this desperate situation now!
For some reason, Nan Jiyun thought of Li Kuo again. Months ago, Li Kuo had led his troops to Ningling to save him from trouble, but he left right after that and returned to Tangzhou. If Li Kuo were here outside Suiyang City now, the situation might be very different.
But there are no such things as “what ifs” in the world! Nan Jiyun mocked himself coldly and sighed deeply as he gazed at the pitch-black sky.
The night covered the stars; the country was in chaos.
Under the vast sky of the Tang Dynasty, couldn’t even one guiding star be found?
“Nan Ba, what are you thinking?”

Lei Wanchun had somehow arrived beside Nan Jiyun, gently tapping his friend’s arm and asking in a soothing voice.
Nan Jiyun was utterly confused. “Weren’t you leading the troops to defend the East City? How did you end up here?”
Lei Wanchun pointed eastward. “Everyone knows the rebels will focus their attack on the North City. At dusk, they merely shot a few arrows at the East City as a formality, and now they’ve completely given up attacking. I heard the battles in the North City are fierce, so I brought two hundred armored soldiers to reinforce us.”
Nan Jiyun forced a bitter smile and kept shaking his head.
Two hundred armored soldiers! Two hundred!
Previously, those two hundred wouldn’t have mattered much, but now they accounted for half of the troops defending the East City. Lei Wanchun must have taken a huge risk making this decision. He was betting that the rebels wouldn’t launch a fierce attack on the East City.
“I really don’t know how much longer we can hold out!”
Nan Jiyun removed the wine gourd from his waist, unscrewed the cork, and drank deeply.
They had been defending Suoyang City for half a year, yet the imperial court showed no sign of sending reinforcements. If they continued like this, his comrades would truly turn into piles of blood and flesh. Nan Jiyun wasn’t afraid of death, but he didn’t want to die in such a humiliating way.
He truly didn’t understand what the emperor was thinking. Was Chang’an important, but not Suoyang? Or did the emperor believe that recapturing Chang’an meant making great progress in quelling the rebellion?
“Hold on until we all fall, until we all die in battle!”
Lei Wanchun shrugged. “Old friend, what are you afraid of? Whether we live or die, I’ll be with you. Besides, having so many comrades by our side in the end is quite satisfying!”
“Hey, what do we seek in life? Isn’t it satisfaction? Some think becoming a marquis or prime minister is satisfying, some think being insanely rich is satisfying, but us, we just think killing enemies is satisfying!”
Lei Wanchun gripped his steel sword tightly. “Even the sharpest sword can develop cracks, but as long as the spirit of the Tang men endures, it’s not hard to forge new swords.”
Lei Wanchun gazed into the distance toward Tangzhou, his eyes filled with hope.