Records of Mysterious Things in the Southern Dynasties

Chapter 417 Taking Two Cities in Succession
One after another, the fire crow arrows flew into the western village with whistling tips, exploding in mid-air and splashing oil everywhere, causing the fire to spread endlessly.

Soon, fires broke out everywhere in the western village, accompanied by billowing toxic smoke. The defenders became dizzy and vomited after inhaling the smoke, and were unable to extinguish the fires. They could only retreat to the city walls to take refuge.

Chen Qingzhi then ordered his soldiers to burn firewood, sulfur, and horse manure on the mountainside of Dongshan. The thick smoke, carried by the east wind, billowed towards Xizhai, enveloping most of the city walls.

The soldiers defending the city were so choked by the fumes that their eyes and noses were running, and they couldn't see anything below the city.

However, the thick smoke had almost no effect on the White-Robed Army, because they were wearing the standard helmets of the Gouchen Division. The visors on the helmets were designed to protect against poison and smoke.

They leaped down from the high tower of Dongzhai, and suddenly their wings spread out in mid-air—the Lu Ban Wings that Zu Geng had been ordered to forge!
With the cover of the previous fire attack, they were almost unharmed by the Wei army in mid-air and landed on the top of the West Village city wall.

As soon as they landed, the vanguard folded their wings, grabbed their short-bladed shields, and, like tigers among sheep, began to slash and kill fiercely!

The guards immediately lost their composure, and countless soldiers fell off the cliff.

But Shuangcheng Village, which was said to have never fallen, was not so easy to conquer. Li Changjun commanded dozens of supernatural beings to simultaneously wave their whisks, creating gusts of wind that dispersed the thick smoke that shrouded the city walls.

At the same time, a reserve force was dispatched to stabilize the situation, and then an attempt was made to use superior forces to wipe out Liang's vanguard.

However, the sole purpose of the vanguard was to pave the way for the main force's subsequent attack. Each of them carried a rope, and when they descended, they forcefully inserted the iron spikes tied to the ends of the ropes into the cracks in the city bricks.

Liang Jun, who was on the tower, immediately tightened the rope and secured the other end to the tower.

Immediately afterwards, the Liang soldiers used both their hands and feet to climb the ropes, as if walking on spider silk, and quickly crossed the deep ravine!
"Quickly, kill them, cut the ropes!" Li Changjun roared angrily upon seeing this.

Dozens of supernatural beings leaped into the air, intending to wipe out Liang Jun's vanguard.

"Keep dreaming!" Chen Baxian rode the beautiful tiger and pounced from the east of the city.

With a furious roar, he thrust his palms forward, unleashing two fiery dragons that roared forth with towering heat waves. Under Chen Baxian's masterful control, they circled and attacked the dozens of supernatural beings.

The supernatural beings were thrown into disarray by him and were unable to get close to the city wall for a while.

Once they regained their footing and unleashed their supernatural powers to attack Chen Baxian, a massive stone shield appeared out of thin air, blocking his attacks.

"A man should be as tough as me!" Yang Zhong, wearing a stone helmet and wielding a stone axe, charged fearlessly into the enemy ranks.

When his opponent's attacks hit Yang Zhong, it was like a tickle; they couldn't hurt him at all.

"I don't have your turtle shell!" Chen Baxian said, but he also urged his 'horse belly' to follow closely behind. The two of them worked together to throw the group of supernatural beings into chaos once again.

Song Jingxiu and others also flew to the city wall and engaged in fierce battle with other supernatural beings of the Wei army, firmly protecting the vanguard on the city wall and the continuous large force behind them.

~~
Soldiers against soldiers, generals against generals, commanders against commanders—that's how warfare was in this era. Without any one of these elements, victory was impossible.

The reason why Shuangchengzhai did not fall in the past was because the Northern Dynasty was powerful and concentrated its most elite troops there. Moreover, it had the advantage of natural defenses. Naturally, even a famous general like Wei Rui could not do anything about it.

But times have changed, and the Northern Dynasty has long been in decline. In order to quell the rebellion, the elite troops on the southern front were repeatedly withdrawn, and the original commanders were downgraded from famous generals like Fu Shuyan to unknown figures like Li Xian.

The commander of Shuangcheng Village was replaced by Li Xian's son, a significant drop in rank from general to commander-in-chief.

Furthermore, Chen Qingzhi's surprise attack caught Li Xian off guard, and before Li Xian could even transfer his elite troops to Shuangcheng Village, he was struck by Liang's elite forces.

Therefore, after the Wei army lost the eastern camp, the fall of the western camp was almost a foregone conclusion...

After a fierce battle lasting only a short while, the Wei army was unable to break through the Liang army's defensive line at the city walls, causing Liang soldiers to continuously climb over the ropes. As more and more soldiers reached the western city walls, the Liang army gained a firm foothold and gradually drove the Wei army off the walls.

Seeing that the city walls could not be defended, Li Changjun had no choice but to lead his remaining troops to retreat to the beacon tower on the mountaintop.

On the beacon tower, the smoke signals were lit immediately, but reinforcements were slow to arrive.

"Hasn't my father sent anyone yet?!" he asked the soldier on lookout duty in a fit of rage.

"No." The soldier shook his head and handed over a letter: "But I just received a message from the commander-in-chief!"

Li Changjun took the letter, unfolded it, and immediately couldn't hide his frustration.

"Young Marshal, what did the Commander-in-Chief say?" the generals asked hurriedly.

"My father ordered us to hold out, because a large contingent of Liang troops has been spotted in the direction of Xia Cai, and judging from their banners, they should be the main force of the Liang army led by Wei Fang..." Li Changjun threw the letter in his hand on the ground, speaking weakly:

"So we're the only ones who can do this here."

"But we're doomed..." The generals were filled with fear; even the most arrogant among them had lost all confidence.

The beacon tower was quite sturdy and spacious, but it had a serious problem: there was no water source!

There were several large water vats in the beacon tower, but because the incident happened so suddenly, only one vat was filled with water; the rest were empty.

"Why didn't you fill the container with water as required?" the lieutenant asked angrily.

But no one answered him. If everything had been done strictly according to the rules, how could Liang Jun have captured Shuangcheng Village so easily?

"Alas, Heaven has forsaken me..." Li Changjun sighed to the heavens, then scooped a large ladle of water from the vat and gulped it down.

The generals, having fought fiercely for so long without a drop of water and with their throats parched, followed suit and scooped up water to drink.

"Damn it, I'd rather die of thirst than die a thirsty ghost!"

Although it was perfectly normal for them to disregard the behavior of their subordinates in this hierarchical era, the soldiers still cast disdainful glances at them.

In life-or-death situations, levels always seem to collapse...

"Make sure the brothers have enough water," Li Changjun shouted, remembering that his soldiers hadn't had any either. "Then we'll fight the islanders! Killing one will break even, killing two will be a bonus!"

The soldiers then gathered around the jar, only to find that inside was just a ladle...

"Damn it..." They weren't even given a drop of saliva. Who would want to go out and die with him?

~~
On the other side, after successfully capturing Xizhai, Liang Jun began to surround the beacon tower, preparing to annihilate the remaining enemy forces in one fell swoop.

"Father, I will sacrifice myself for my country and go first!" Li Changjun saw that the morale of the army had collapsed and no one was willing to die with him. He knew that they could not hold the line now, and he sighed desperately to the heavens.

"Young Marshal, don't rush to die, reinforcements are coming!" The lookout suddenly shouted with joy.

(End of this chapter)