Destroy Jin and conquer Song, and carry the Northern Expedition through to the end

Chapter 787 A Cold Sound Spreads Through the Night
On the night of the fifth day of the seventh lunar month, the night was as dark as ink.

Wei Sheng sat upright on the city wall, looking at the Jin army camp outside the city that was already taking shape, and frowned slightly.

This was not only because the Jin army outside the city was too large, but also because a physician was treating the wound on Wei Sheng's arm.

During the final head-on confrontation with the Jin army's attack, Wei Sheng was shot in the arm at close range by an arrow.

Although Wei Sheng was wearing double-layered heavy armor and had a full set of shoulder guards, the Jin army's heavy bows and arrows were designed for close-range armor penetration, and the arrowheads, about a foot long, still managed to cut through the gaps in Wei Sheng's armor and pierce the flesh of his arm.

The war was raging, and Wei Sheng was busy with military affairs. After returning to the city, he simply applied some medicine to his wounds and bandaged them before assigning tasks, boosting morale, inspecting the city's defenses, and even engaging in a battle with the probing Jin army. It wasn't until nightfall that he had time to properly treat his wounds.

By this time, after a day and a night, the wound had become somewhat red and swollen, so the medical officer could only quickly clean the wound with alcohol and begin stitching it up.

At first, the physician wanted to give Wei Sheng an anesthetic made of a mixture of anesthetic powder and strong liquor, but Wei Sheng refused sternly, so they could only sew him up with needle and thread.

Lu You watched as the wound, pulled by the fish gut suture, gradually closed up, eventually forming a centipede shape. His eyebrows and eyes twitched involuntarily.

These days, the Romance of the Three Kingdoms is already taking shape.

Various stories about the Three Kingdoms have already been created, and Lu You was a man of great learning and knowledge, so how could he not be familiar with them?

Wei Sheng himself had a beautiful long beard and phoenix eyes, and with his face flushed red due to the hot weather, he really looked like Guan Yu reincarnated.

Furthermore, this situation is just like the day Guan Yu had his bone scraped to treat his wound.

"Mr. Lu, are you thinking of Guan Yu scraping the bone to remove poison?"

Perhaps sensing the somewhat somber atmosphere, Wei Sheng took the initiative to ask a question.

Lu You held a cup of tea and sipped it slowly: "I do feel that way, but Marshal, now is not the time to discuss stories. Given the current situation, is there any other solution?"

Wei Sheng looked out of the city and nodded in response: "Of course there are. There are no troops to come to our aid from outside, and no cities that we must defend from within. Our army is in a much better situation now. Before we were trapped in Qixian, military intelligence documents had already been sent out in all directions."

Minister Yu of Song, the surrounding military commanders, and even the eldest son of the Song state would receive military intelligence reports.

Wei Sheng stroked his beard and said, "Even if the military envoy rides at full speed, he can deliver the request for aid to Hebei in ten days at the latest, and the eldest son will arrive with his army within a month at the latest."

Therefore, our army can hold out in Qixian for a maximum of forty days, and reinforcements will surely arrive.

Upon hearing this, Lu You did not immediately become excited; instead, he remained somewhat silent.

There are many reasons, but the two main ones are the most important.

Firstly, Wei Sheng seemed to have no hope for the Song army. Although theoretically, as long as the Song army discovered the battle in Suzhou, reinforcements would definitely arrive within ten days, Wei Sheng still placed his greatest hopes on Liu Huai, who was in Hebei.

This naturally includes disappointment with the Song army. More importantly, if the Song army were truly reliable, they wouldn't have failed to defeat the Jin army even now, given that the Jin army has diverted more than 10,000 of its main force to attack Suzhou, and the Jin Han Chinese troops are disloyal.

Secondly, the Jin army had gunpowder, although according to calculations, it was not much, but it could still pose a threat to Qixian.

The saying goes, "You can only be a thief for a thousand days, but you can't guard against thieves for a thousand days." Who can say that you can be perfect in every aspect during a major battle?
Can they really hold out for forty days?
Lu You considered asking the question, but felt that doing so in public would damage morale, so he remained silent, simply drinking tea and watching the sky from the city wall.

A moment later, the physician wiped the sweat from his forehead, cut the sutures, wiped the wound with alcohol, applied wound medicine, bandaged it, and then got up and left.

Lu You asked in surprise, "Old Tong, isn't there any medical advice?"

Physician Tong said irritably, "Why does Mr. Lu ask a question he already knows the answer to? If I say that he shouldn't drink alcohol, shouldn't exert himself in his arms, should rest more, and should eat light meals, would Lord Wei be able to comply? Since he can't comply, why should I waste my breath?"

After saying that, Physician Tong simply told him to come back for another check-up tomorrow, then quickly walked down the city wall and went to work in the wounded soldiers' camp.

Physicians held a high position in the Han army, and Physician Tong was one of the best among them. In addition to treating injuries, he was also skilled at managing large livestock, making him a master of both medicine and veterinary medicine.

With that ability, he could speak with his head held high even in front of Wei Sheng.

Wei Sheng indeed didn't care about Physician Tong's words. He simply sat on the city wall and put his coat and chainmail back on.

After sitting on the city wall for an hour, it was almost midnight when Wei Sheng finally stood up and said, "Let's begin."

Some guards led in warhorses, while others raised torches and waved them a few times towards the city.

Fires were quickly lit within the city, clusters of flames blazing forth. Then, the north and east gates of Qixian County were flung open, and hundreds of soldiers, gagged and carrying torches, swiftly charged out, reaching the outer perimeter of the Jin army camp in just a quarter of an hour. It was a model raid on a military camp.

The Jin army was, after all, a regular army, and was led by a veteran general. Naturally, they were well prepared for the possible attack on their camp. In an instant, the camp was brightly lit, and the entire army was on high alert.

Soon, small groups of soldiers charged out of the camp and engaged in fierce fighting with the Loyal Army.

"Let's go!" Wei Sheng didn't continue watching the battle from the city wall. Instead, he told Lu You, mounted his warhorse, and galloped across the city wall with a torch in hand.

Lu You hurriedly followed.

However, Lu You noticed that Wei Sheng would rein in his horse and stop to look around every hundred paces or so, then ride off again until he could see clearly in the east, west, and north before dismounting.

Only then did Wei Sheng order the retreat.

Although Lu You found it inexplicable, he assumed that the purpose was to exhaust the Jin army and test their weaknesses, so he followed Wei Sheng back to the government office to continue resting.

For the next two days, the process was almost identical: during the day, the Jin army would try to attack the city, and at night the loyal army would come out of the city to raid the camp.

On the third day, which was the night of the eighth day of the seventh lunar month, soldiers of the Loyal Army rowed boats out of the water gate, went upstream, crossed the Jin army's defense zone, and launched an attack on the Jin army's camp from the flank and rear.

Seeing that the Jin army's defenses remained tight and the entire camp was instantly brightly lit, Lu You finally couldn't help but ask, "Marshal, are we really going to have to wear down the Jin invaders like this? If this continues, let alone holding out for forty days, even twenty days will be difficult."

Lu You's thinking is quite reasonable.

The small groups of soldiers who could maintain their fighting capacity at night were all elite troops. These elite troops could have played a greater role in the main battle, but they were wasted in the night raid.

The Jin army was clearly well prepared, and there were no mistakes in the setting up of their camp. Sending troops to raid the camp at night would be a waste of military strength.

Moreover, in terms of sheer numbers, the loyalist army would be at a disadvantage if the conflict dragged on.

As they spoke, the troops that had been flanking and launching a sneak attack were clearly unable to advance. As planned, they extinguished their torches and fled north along the Huan River under the cover of night.

Under the cover of night, the Jin army had no way to pursue them and were also worried about an ambush. Therefore, the long line of torches formed by the Jin cavalry only went a short distance out of the camp before turning back.

However, although these two hundred loyal soldiers escaped, they could only find a ferry downstream. Whether they could return to Qixian County, and when they could return, was uncertain.

Such troop losses are actually the most frequent in the past few days.

If this continues, it will be a big question whether Qixian can hold on.

Wei Sheng didn't keep them in suspense and pointed to a still dark camp in the north of the city: "To be honest, Mr. Lu, what I've been doing these past few days is to find this place."

Lu You looked in that direction and at first felt a little abrupt, but after a moment he realized that the Jin army camp was still brightly lit, while that place was relatively dark.

Where are fires strictly controlled, to the point that even during an enemy attack, no fire can be lit?

It's a storage place for explosives!
Lu You's breathing immediately became heavy. He forced himself to calm down and asked, "Is it explosives?"

Wei Sheng nodded, looking at the dimly lit area: "It's explosives."

Lu You asked again, "Could it be a place where grain and fodder are stored? Lights would be controlled there too."

Wei Sheng shook his head and pointed in another direction: "Mr. Lu, please look. That area is huge; that's where the grain and fodder are stored. And although the firelight is dimmer than the surrounding area, there are still some fire pits and braziers. This is because they need to feed the horses at night to fatten them up, so they can't completely control the lighting. But here..."

Wei Sheng then pointed to the empty space they had just discovered: "This small camp is not large, but it is pitch black, without a single spark of light."

The surrounding camps were brightly lit, and the fires were lit promptly, indicating the presence of elite guards. Only explosives could have forced the Jin invaders to go to such lengths.

At this point, Wei Sheng seemed to finally let go of his pent-up frustration, letting out a long sigh and slamming his fist on the parapet: "Mr. Lu, as long as our army finds a way to destroy this explosive, we can hold out for at least a year and a half, let alone forty days!"

Lu You nodded in agreement, "Marshal, let's gather our troops now and catch the Jin invaders off guard!"

Wei Sheng waved his hand: "No rush, no rush, we need to discuss this further."

(End of this chapter)