The Tyrant of the Great Qian Dynasty: Not only will I refuse to arrange a marriage alliance, but I w

At dawn, the sky was just beginning to lighten, and the east was turning a pale white.

"Thump! Thump! Thump!"

The war drums of the Northern Barbarians sounded once again.

The drumbeats were even more rapid than yesterday's, with the beats as dense as a torrential downpour, exuding a ferocious intent to crush the city before them.

Huyan Ba ​​had lost all patience.

Instead of using the captured civilians as cannon fodder, he directly dispatched his elite infantry.

Tens of thousands of barbarian soldiers, clad in thick leather armor, wielding rattan shields in their left hands and curved swords in their right, and carrying dozens of even more sturdy siege ladders, surged toward the north city wall like a flood.

This time, instead of crowding together, they quickly dispersed into formations of hundreds of men during the charge.

The units covered each other and advanced in shifts, greatly reducing the lethality caused by the volleys of arrows from the city walls.

They let out beast-like howls, their roars filled with murderous intent, intending to use this sound wave to shake the will of the defenders.

On the city walls, after yesterday's bloody battle, the defenders were no longer rookies on the battlefield.

But the tense atmosphere continues to spread in the face of this more professional and aggressive offensive.

A young soldier's hands were sweating profusely from nervousness.

He held a rolling stone the size of a millstone, intending to deliver a crushing blow to the enemy as they approached.

But just as he was adjusting his posture, his foot slipped, and the rolling stone slipped from his grasp and fell out of his hands.

The boulder rolled down the city wall with a loud rumble, but eventually landed on an open ground without even touching a single barbarian soldier.

This mistake not only wasted a valuable defensive resource, but also completely exposed his position to the barbarian soldiers below the city.

In an instant, at least dozens of bows appeared below, all aimed at his location.

"It's over!" The young soldier's mind went blank.

"Whoosh whoosh!"

Dozens of arrows, accompanied by a sharp whistling sound, flew towards him, along with a swarm of poisonous bees.

Just as he closed his eyes, thinking he was about to die, a tremendous force came from beside him.

The centurion beside him shoved him away violently.

"Pfft! Pfft!"

It was two dull thuds as if a sharp weapon had pierced flesh.

The centurion let out a muffled groan; two still-trembling arrows were already embedded in his left arm, and blood quickly stained his armor.

The centurion, ignoring his wound, turned and roared at the terrified young soldier:

"What's the panic! Didn't you hear the order?! Conserve your arrows and boulders, wait until they get close before you fire!"

The centurion calmed the emotions of the several soldiers around him who were also somewhat flustered with his actions and powerful roar.

Looking at the arrows in the centurion's arm, and then at his still resolute face, their panic was replaced by shame and anger.

The barbarian soldiers charged at an extremely fast pace, and in the blink of an eye, they reached the foot of the city wall.

"Hey!"

With a shout, they erected dozens of siege ladders atop the towering city walls.

Then, like a swarm of bloodthirsty ants, they climbed upwards on a ladder, fearless of death.

"Rolling stones! Hammers! Smash!"

"Oil! Pour it in!"

The defending troops on the city wall, under the command of their respective officers, began their counterattack.

The rolling stones and logs were pushed off the city wall by several soldiers, crushing the barbarian soldiers who were climbing it, breaking their bones, and causing them to fall with screams.

Buckets of scalding oil were poured down, setting the siege ladders and barbarian soldiers below ablaze, turning them into writhing, screaming figures of fire.

But the number of barbarian soldiers was simply too great.

If one falls, another will take its place.

One ladder was burned down, and two new ones were erected next to it.

Braving arrows, rolling stones, and burning oil, they risked their lives to build a path of attack.

Finally, the first barbarian soldier successfully climbed the wall!

His face, contorted with excitement, wore a ferocious grin.

He raised his scimitar high and slashed it down fiercely at a panicked young guard in front of him!

The garrison soldier instinctively used his spear to block.

Just as the blade was about to fall, a crossbow bolt, accompanied by a sharp whistle, was precisely fired from behind him.

"puff!"

The crossbow bolt pierced the barbarian soldier's eye socket, the powerful force causing his entire body to tilt backward before exiting through the back of his head, bringing with it a spray of red and white matter.

It was that centurion with the injured arm!

He actually lifted the powerful crossbow, which required immense arm strength to operate, with just one hand and completed this precise shot.

The power of the crossbow caused the barbarian soldier's entire head to explode.

This bloody scene made the rescued young soldier feel nauseous.

The fighting did not stop as a result.

More and more barbarian soldiers climbed the city walls using the siege ladders.

They engaged in the most primitive and bloody close combat with the defenders on the city walls.

In an instant, swords flashed and blood and flesh flew everywhere on the city walls.

The clanging of weapons, the splattering of blades into flesh, and the screams of the dying all blended together.

The battle has reached a stalemate.

Although the defending troops had the advantage of numbers and terrain on the city walls, these elite northern barbarian infantrymen were all brave warriors who had crawled out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood, and had extremely rich combat experience.

One of the barbarian commanders was particularly brave.

He was wearing a set of captured Daqian heavy armor and wielding a spiked club.

Every Daqian soldier struck by his club suffered broken bones and was sent flying backward, coughing up blood.

In the blink of an eye, he had cut down seven or eight Daqian soldiers, tearing a small gap in the dense defensive line.

More barbarian soldiers are trying to pour in through this gap.

"Hold on! Hold on!" a Daqian captain roared, leading his men to try to plug the gap, but they were swept away by the centurion's club and left in a sorry state.

Just as the centurion was preparing to expand his gains and completely tear open the breach.

A series of orderly footsteps came from his side and behind.

He instinctively turned around to look.

A group of soldiers, dressed in heavy black iron armor and wearing face shields that only revealed their eyes, were silently charging towards them, led by a captain who was also heavily armored.

They were the elite Imperial Guards armed with the Xuan Tie Armor that Su Zhe had obtained as a reward from the system!

The barbarian centurion was utterly confident in the power of his spiked club, and a look of disdain flashed in his eyes.

He roared and turned around, smashing his club down on the head of the leading captain!

"when!"

A deafening clang of metal clashing.

The spiked club, powerful enough to split stone tablets, struck the captain's helmet, but only produced a burst of sparks, leaving a shallow white mark.

Even the helmet's defense couldn't be broken!

The barbarian commander was stunned.

The Imperial Guard captain, however, showed no emotion whatsoever.

He thrust his long sword upwards at a simple yet efficient angle.

"Pfft!"

The sharp longsword easily pierced through the gaps in the armor, penetrating the centurion's chest.

This heavily armored infantry, impervious to swords and spears, became the key to turning the tide of the battle on the city walls.

They were like a moving steel wall, silently and efficiently carrying out their killing mission.

The barbarian soldiers' scimitars struck their heavy armor, producing only a weak clanging sound.

Each swing of their long swords took the life of a barbarian soldier.

Their defensive capabilities rendered the barbarian soldiers' pride in their bravery meaningless.

One after another, the barbarian soldiers who had finally managed to climb onto the city wall were cut down or slammed off the wall by their bodies.

The first direct confrontation on the city walls lasted from dawn until noon.

In the end, the Northern Barbarian army, having left behind thousands of corpses and failed to even capture a section of the city wall, had no choice but to reluctantly sound the retreat.

"oh!!!"

"We held on!!"

"The Great Qian will surely prevail! Your Highness is divinely mighty!"

As the enemy army receded like a tide, all the surviving soldiers on the city wall erupted in cheers of relief.

They were all wounded and exhausted, but their eyes were filled with unprecedented confidence and light.

They defended the city with their own blood and the lives of their enemies!

On the city wall, Su Zhe quietly watched the retreating enemy troops below, but no joy was shown on his face.

He knew that Huyan Ba's methods were far more than that.

Today, this is just an appetizer.

The real killer move is yet to come.

He turned to Wei An, who had been standing by his side, and asked in a low voice:

"Old Wei, how's the arrangement at the South Gate going?"

Wei An, hunched over, replied respectfully:

"Your Highness, everything has been arranged. The Shadow Dragon Guards have laid a tight net, and the granaries in the west of the city have been prepared as you instructed."

He lowered his voice, but his cloudy old eyes showed no signs of aging, only murderous intent.

"We're just waiting for those clueless fish to... swim right into the net."