In the thirteenth year of the Tianbao era: I became Yang Guozhong's eldest son.

Princess Yanhe ignored the blood at her feet, looked around, and although her voice was not loud, it clearly reached everyone's ears.

"Yaozhou City has not yet fallen. The rules of Yaozhou still stand!"

"From this moment forward, the county government will open the official granaries and sell grain at fair prices. Anyone who behaves lawfully will not starve. But if anyone dares to spread rumors, incite unrest, or take advantage of the situation, this will be their fate!"

Swift and decisive, yet compassionate and benevolent.

This combination of kindness and severity effectively suppressed the impending riot in the south of the city.

Amidst their fear, the people also felt a sense of security, as if they were being protected in a chaotic world.

Under the iron fist of this noblewoman from the imperial family, the interior of Yaozhou City was finally as stable as a rock.

Just as order was being restored within the city, in a hidden underground cellar in the west of the city...

Cui Shenzheng, the chief steward of the county government, was checking the account books while sweating profusely.

The cellar was filled with boxes of medicinal herbs and pig iron, which were their most scarce strategic resources at the moment.

"Chief Lei, the Jiannan army outside the city has already surrounded us. Once the city gates are closed, our trade routes will be completely cut off."

Cui Shen looked at Lei Laohu in front of him, his tone filled with undisguised anxiety, "The medicinal herbs and arrows in the camp are being consumed at a great cost. If we can't replenish them in time, this battle won't last more than a few days!"

Lei Laohu patted Cui Shen on the shoulder. His face, which always carried a bit of a江湖气 (jianghu qi, meaning a kind of chivalrous or江湖-like air), now exuded a confidence as steady as Mount Tai.

"Butler Cui, please rest assured," Lei Laohu said in a low voice.

"Our Tingfeng Pavilion's caravans never travel on the official roads of the imperial court. Zhang Wu's scouts couldn't even find the secret routes we had previously established on the Nanzhao Ancient Road."

"As long as the refined salt from Qing'ao Well can be transported out continuously, the chieftains of Nanzhao will do everything in their power to send the herbs and pig iron we need into the mountains."

"Moreover, I have already had my men spread the word in the surrounding prefectures that the Jiannan Army is going to massacre the city of Yaozhou."

"Those black market merchants who hoard grain and medicine are now counting on our refined salt to save their lives. As long as there's money and salt, the blood bank of Yaozhou City will never run dry!"

Hearing this, Cui Shen breathed a long sigh of relief, and the weight on his heart was finally lifted.

"Alright! As long as logistics don't collapse, we'll fight Zhang Wu to the bitter end!"

Meanwhile, the battle on the city walls officially began.

Outside the city, Zhang Wu waited for a long time, but seeing that there was still no movement inside the city, his last bit of patience finally ran out.

"Order the infantry to attack the city immediately! Whoever breaches the city walls first will be rewarded with a hundred gold pieces and promoted three ranks!"

Zhang Wu drew his sword and roared hysterically.

Under the reward, there must be a brave man.

Three thousand Jiannan infantrymen let out a deafening shout, carrying ladders and holding shields, and rushed madly towards the south gate of Yaozhou City like a surging black tide.

On the city wall, Helan Jin looked at the enemy army rushing towards him from all directions, and was so frightened that his legs trembled and even the hand holding the knife was shaking.

"Fire the arrows! Fire the arrows now!" Helan Jin shouted in terror.

"Shut up!" Li Guangbi kicked Helan Jin to the ground, his eyes fixed on the enemy formation that was constantly approaching the city.

Four hundred steps.

Three hundred steps.

Two hundred steps.

Just as the enemy troops rushed to within 150 paces of the city wall, the hundreds of Jiannan soldiers in the front ranks suddenly felt their feet sink into the ground.

"ah--!"

Accompanied by a piercing scream, the flat loess land suddenly collapsed in large areas.

A huge trench, ten feet wide and two feet deep, appeared without warning in the center of the battlefield.

The soldiers at the forefront had no time to stop and fell into the trench one after another like dumplings being put into a pot.

At the bottom of the trench, countless bamboo spikes and poisoned caltrops, carefully sharpened by Old Huang, were stuck upside down.

The heavy armor not only failed to protect them, but actually accelerated their descent.

The sharp spikes pierced their bodies in an instant, turning the trench into a bloody slaughterhouse.

The soldiers behind tried to stop, but were pushed and shoved by the surging crowd, and continued to fall forward uncontrollably.

The once imposing charging formation was instantly thrown into chaos and stagnation by this hidden trench.

"Now!"

Li Guangbi's eyes flashed with a sharp light, and he suddenly swung down the command flag in his hand.

"Archers, launch! Triple attack!"

Hundreds of archers, who had been poised to attack, simultaneously released their bowstrings.

"Whoosh whoosh-"

The dense rain of arrows, like a black cloud, traced a deadly parabola in the air and landed precisely on the crowded and chaotic enemy ranks in front of the trench.

Without repeating crossbows, only ordinary standard longbows, they still caused extremely terrifying casualties when the enemy lost their charging speed and were completely exposed in open areas.

The sound of arrows tearing through flesh, the cries of the wounded, and the general's hoarse shouts and curses intertwined to create a chilling symphony of death.

Zhang Wu watched this scene from behind, his eyes blazing with fury.

He finally realized that he was not facing a rabble, but a well-trained and heavily fortified army.

The trench was dug so cleverly that it was positioned precisely at the optimal killing range for arrows, preventing his infantry from advancing or retreating quickly, leaving them as easy targets.

"Fill the ditch! Use sandbags, use corpses, fill that ditch and rush over it!" Zhang Wu's eyes were bloodshot; he had gone mad.

The battle instantly turned into the most brutal meat grinder mode.

The soldiers of Jiannan Army braved the rain of arrows pouring down from the city walls and desperately moved forward to fill the trenches.

Every step forward comes at the cost of enormous casualties.

On the city wall, Li Guangbi remained as steady as Mount Tai.

He did not use Pei Zhao's three hundred crossbowmen, nor did he use the more lethal ballistae and oil-filled fire.

He was like a patient hunter, using minimal effort to slowly bleed his prey dry.

He knew that these 3,500 men were merely Xianyu Zhongtong's vanguard. The real battle was yet to come.

As the sun sets, the afterglow is like blood.

The land outside Yaozhou City was stained dark red with blood. The trenches were piled high with the corpses of the Jiannan Army.

With casualties approaching 30%, and they still hadn't even reached the parapet of the city wall, Zhang Wu finally regained a sliver of his sanity.

He knew that if he continued to launch such a strong attack, his entire army would be wiped out here today.

"Sound the retreat! Retreat five li and set up camp!" Zhang Wu gritted his teeth and squeezed out these words.

As the mournful sound of the gong rang out, the surviving Jiannan army, as if granted a pardon, abandoned the corpses and siege equipment scattered on the ground and retreated in a disheveled state.

A cheer erupted from the city wall, a sound of relief and joy.

......

The bloody battle raged for two days and two nights beneath the walls of Yaozhou.

The stench of blood in the autumn wind was so strong it was almost palpable, attracting countless carrion crows to circle above the city.

The massive trench that was originally intended to slow down the advance has now been completely filled with severed limbs and layers upon layers of corpses.

The dark red blood dried and cracked at the edge of the trench, only to be covered by freshly flowing blood.

Zhang Wu's eyes were bloodshot, like a lone wolf trapped in a desperate situation.

He sat on his horse, staring intently at the seemingly impregnable city wall ahead, his knuckles white from gripping the whip too tightly.

In the past two days, he has experienced a sense of frustration and despair he has never felt before in his life.

The commander on the city wall was a monster with no humanity whatsoever.

The opponent's defensive rhythm was outrageously precise. They knew exactly when to fire arrows, when to smash rolling logs, and when to splash molten gold. Each time, they timed it perfectly to the moment when the Jiannan army's offensive was at its most intense and their formation at its densest.

Of the 3,500 elite troops, nearly half have now been lost.

Light cavalry were of no use in such siege warfare and could only patrol the outskirts.

The infantrymen were so tormented that their morale plummeted. Every time they heard the war drums signaling the charge, their eyes no longer showed fervor, but deep fear.

"Captain, we can't continue this head-on fight!"

Lieutenant Wang Han, his face covered in blood, stumbled and ran to Zhang Wuma.

"Brothers, we can't hold on any longer. The logs and stones rolling on the city wall are like they have eyes; we can't even keep our siege ladders stable. If this continues, all three thousand of our left wing troops will be wiped out here!"

Zhang Wu suddenly turned his head and lashed Wang Han's helmet with his whip, making a crisp sound.

"Retreat? Where to retreat?!" Zhang Wu roared hysterically.

"Commander Xianyu's orders are to raze Yaozhou to the ground and bring back Yang Xuan's head! If we retreat to Chengdu in such a sorry state, the commander will skin us alive! We're already pawns who have crossed the river; there's no turning back!"

Zhang Wu took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.

He turned to look at the siege engine in the rear ranks, which had just been hastily built overnight.

"Yaozhou City is just a small county. Its city gates have been in disrepair for years. Even if they reinforce them temporarily, they will definitely not be able to withstand the impact of the battering ram."

A desperate, mad glint flashed in Zhang Wu's eyes.

"Issue my death order! Send all the remaining men, including the five hundred light cavalry on the outer perimeter, to the front! The light cavalry shall dismount and fight on foot, serving as the supervisory force. Anyone who dares to retreat even half a step will be executed without mercy!"

"Concentrate all forces to cover the battering rams and smash open the south gate for me! Once the gate is breached, we can get back all the humiliation we've suffered these past few days, with interest!"

Wang Han knew that Zhang Wu had made up his mind, so he dared not persuade him any further and could only grit his teeth and convey this almost life-or-death military order.

A moment later, a muffled and tragic sound of war drums erupted from the Jiannan army camp.

The remaining two thousand soldiers, under the pressure of the supervising team, let out beast-like howls and pushed the heavy wooden battering ram like a burst dam, launching a final and most frantic assault on the south gate of Yaozhou.

To cover the battering ram, Zhang Wu concentrated all his troops on a narrow attack surface of less than 100 feet directly in front of the south gate.

The shield bearers held up their large shields in front, trying to block the rain of arrows from the city walls.

The archers followed behind, firing blindly at the city wall with all their might.

The battering ram, propelled by dozens of burly men, creaked and groaned as it slowly approached the city gate.