Nine Nights Owl Song

September 15th, the eighteenth year of Yong'an.

In the northern border region, at Yanzhou City.

Before dawn, the camp at Qingshiling was already in motion.

Forty thousand soldiers, clad in armor and armed with weapons, stood in formation amidst the morning mist.

No one spoke; only the faint rustling of armor and the occasional snorting of horses could be heard.

Forty thousand people, a dark mass, covered the hillside, stretching from the foot of the mountain to the waist, with no end in sight.

More than a month ago, they were scattered throughout the three prefectures of Yan and Yun, hiding in caves, fields, and being pursued by the rebels.

It was this "spoiled good-for-nothing sixth son" who found them one by one, gave them food, weapons, and official positions, and told them—the court has not forgotten you.

Now he's going to lead them to recapture Yanzhou City.

No one questioned whether he could do it.

His presence alone is enough.

Su Jiuge rode beside Xiao Yan on horseback, dressed in a dark blue close-fitting outfit. She wasn't wearing armor, finding it too heavy.

A straight sword hung at his waist, a crossbow was slung across his back, and a dagger was tucked into his boot.

Her face was expressionless, but the fingers holding the reins were slightly white.

After fighting so many battles and killing so many people, she still gets nervous—not because she's afraid of dying, but because she's afraid of losing.

Forty thousand lives are in her and Xiao Yan's hands; if they lose, they will all be lost.

Zhao Ying rode behind Su Jiuge, with Shen Qing beside him, while Zhao Xiaohe was left behind at Qing Shi Ridge.

Lin Mo was placed in the middle of the group, commanding his newly formed "equipment battalion"—eight hundred craftsmen pushing more than fifty large carts loaded with the equipment he had been working on these past few days.

As the morning mist gradually dissipated, the outline of Yanzhou City appeared in the dawn light.

The city walls stood tall, and banners were densely displayed on the city walls. Wang Chongyuan's 30,000 rebel troops were already in full battle array.

The city walls were densely packed with archers, the city gates were piled high with deer scuttling and barricades, and three moats were dug outside the city, with sharpened wooden stakes stuck in the bottom of the moats.

Wang Chongyuan was supervising the battle from the city wall when he saw the Liang army covering the hillside in the distance, and his face darkened.

"Forty thousand, more than forty thousand." His voice was a little strained.

Intelligence reports that Xiao Yan only incorporated less than 20,000 scattered soldiers, while the dark array on the hillside numbered at least 30,000.

He was fooled.

Xiao Yan reined in his horse at the front of the battle and raised his hand.

The forty thousand soldiers stopped in their tracks, utterly silent.

"The soldiers of Daliang."

Xiao Yan's voice wasn't loud, but the morning breeze carried it far—in the past month he had learned how to make his voice heard by everyone.

"You have guarded the northern border for many years. What the court owes you, I will repay on its behalf today. Yanzhou City is your home. Today, I am bringing you home."

No one cheered.

Forty thousand soldiers watched him in silence, but their hands were trembling and their eyes were burning.

An old soldier stood up from the ranks and raised his spear, then a second, a third, a fourth... thousands of spears were raised in the morning light.

No one spoke, but the forest of spears was more powerful than any shout.

Xiao Yan drew his sword. It was a ceremonial sword; he had never used it in actual combat.

Today he drew his weapon, not to kill the enemy, but to point it at Yanzhou City.

"Siege".

The war drums sounded.

The first wave of attacks came from Liu Wu's guerrilla battalion.

They didn't attack the city walls, but focused on the supply lines.

Three thousand cavalrymen bypassed Yanzhou City from the flank and plunged straight into the rear of the rebel army.

Liu Wu fought as a guerrilla in the mountains for three years and knew the terrain around Yanzhou City like the back of his hand.

He knew which roads were safe to take, which were not, and which roads the rebels thought others didn't know.

Three thousand cavalrymen plunged into the rebels' supply line like a sharp knife.

Wang Chongyuan, standing on the city wall, noticed the smoke and dust on the flank and his expression changed.

"Stop them!" A cavalry unit charged out of the city, attempting to intercept Liu Wu.

But as soon as their horses left the city gate, they were stopped by Lin Mo's siege weaponry.

Lin Mo crouched behind a large vehicle, holding a copper telescope in his hand.

He had never been on a battlefield in his life. His fingers were trembling, but his mind was clear. He waved the flag in his hand.

"put!"

Fifty large trucks simultaneously lifted their tarpaulins.

The rebel cavalry had never seen such a formation before—fifty ballistae lined up in a row, their arms as thick as a child's arm, their bowstrings made of ten strands of ox sinew, and each bolt as long as a spear with an arrowhead made of fine iron.

At Lin Mo's command, fifty giant crossbow bolts were fired simultaneously.

The sound of the air being torn apart was sharp and piercing, like something howling.

The crossbow bolts pierced the warhorses' bodies, the soldiers' armor, and the city gate panels.

The cavalrymen at the forefront were pinned to the ground by crossbow bolts, their bodies and horses locked together, amidst a cloud of blood.

The cavalrymen behind couldn't rein in their horses and continued charging forward, stepping on the men in front of them, only to be pinned down by a second wave of crossbow bolts.

After three volleys of crossbow bolts, the city gate was piled high with the corpses of men and horses.

Wang Chongyuan watched this scene from the city wall, his hands trembling.

"What is that?" No one could answer him.

Lin Mo peeked out from behind the truck and saw his handiwork. His face turned pale – he had killed someone. He had never killed anyone in his life, but today he had probably killed more people than Su Jiuge had in her entire life.

Then he started vomiting, wiped his mouth after he finished, and squatted back down behind the truck.

"Next wave, get ready!"

Zhou Tieshan's vanguard battalion began its assault on the city.

Three hundred men carried ladders and charged toward the city wall. Arrows rained down from the wall, and men fell one after another, stepping over the corpses of those in front to continue their charge.

A ladder was erected on the city wall, and the rebels threw logs and stones down, causing the ladder to break and people to fall.

Another one was put up, and it was smashed too.

Zhou Tieshan's eyes turned red, and he snatched a shield from his personal guard and charged forward himself.

Su Jiuge watched the siege from within the formation.

If this continues, even if we capture Yanzhou City, half of our 40,000 men will die.

She couldn't bear to watch her soldiers die like this, so she turned to Xiao Yan and said:

"I'll go up." Xiao Yan looked at her but didn't say anything.

He wanted to say "Don't go," but he couldn't bring himself to say it.

She was General Anxi, not a wife who needed his protection. He reached out and straightened her collar.

"Come back alive."

Su Jiuge drew her sword, spurred her horse, and charged out.

The straight sword flashed a white light in the sunlight. She rushed across the moat, over the palisades, and to the foot of the city wall. Her warhorse fell to the ground, struck by an arrow. She leaped off the horse, tapping her toes on the city wall several times, and flew up to the top of the city wall like a black eagle.

The rebel soldiers on the city wall were stunned when they saw a person fly up from outside the city wall.

A woman, dressed in black with a straight sword, is General Su Jiuge of Anxi.

Su Jiuge's sword drew a semicircle on the city wall.

The first rebel's throat burst open, the second rebel's chest was pierced, and the third rebel's head flew off.

Shen Qing climbed up the city wall behind her, while Zhao Ying climbed up from another direction.

Three men fought their way through the city walls, and Zhou Tieshan, seeing this, raised his arms and shouted:

"General Anxi has entered the city! Brothers, follow me!"

Three hundred vanguard soldiers charged up the city wall using ladders, then a thousand, two thousand, three thousand... more and more soldiers surged onto the city wall.

The rebels began to collapse.

Wang Chongyuan watched all this from the city tower, his face ashen.

Thirty thousand, forty thousand—he thought he could hold out. But he couldn't—not because he didn't have enough men, the city wasn't high enough, or the food wasn't plentiful, but because Su Jiuge was on the city wall.

With that woman on the city wall, his soldiers dared not charge forward. He drew his sword and charged towards Su Jiuge.

His martial arts skills were not weak; to be able to serve as a general under Zhao Tianhu, his abilities must have been quite good.

But Su Jiuge was faster; her blade swept upwards, slicing through his armor and leaving a deep bloody gash on his chest.

Wang Chongyuan staggered backward and bumped into a pillar on the city wall.

He looked at Su Jiuge, his voice hoarse.

"The imperial court... does the imperial court still care about the lives of those in the north? Three years have passed, where was the imperial court? You've come now, where were you before?"

Su Jiuge looked at him.

"The imperial court is here, will you surrender or not?"

Wang Chongyuan laughed, and laughed for a long time.

He gripped the knife tightly and charged towards Su Jiuge.

Su Jiuge plunged her knife into his heart.

The city gates opened.

The Liang army poured into Yanzhou City.

The battle continued until dusk, when the setting sun dyed the walls of Yanzhou City dark red, and the city reeked of blood.

The rebels were either killed, surrendered, or fled.

The imperial flag was raised atop the city walls of Yanzhou.

The soldiers cheered on the city walls, some knelt on the ground and wept, some held onto the bodies of their comrades and refused to let go, and some kowtowed to the north.

Xiao Yan stood on the city wall and watched all of this, watching the cheering soldiers, the weeping veterans, and the corpses lying on the ground.

Su Jiuge walked out of the city tower, covered in blood, some of it her own and some of others.

Xiao Yan looked at her, and she looked at Xiao Yan.

Neither of them spoke.

Xiao Yan reached out and brushed the stray hairs from her forehead behind her ear, and this time she didn't flinch.

The soldiers cheered on the city wall, but no one noticed that their sixth prince was brushing his queen's hair.

Lin Mo squatted at the city gate, with his equipment—ballista, catapult, and siege engine—laid out in front of him.

He looked at the cheering soldiers on the city wall and then at the blood covering his hands—not his own blood, but the blood of the tools he had made that had killed people.

He started vomiting again, but nothing came out; he dry heaved for a long time.

Zhao Ying walked over and patted him on the shoulder.

"It's always like this the first time, you'll get used to it." Lin Mo looked at him.

"Did you throw up when you killed someone for the first time?" Zhao Ying said she did, but after she threw up, she continued killing. After killing many people, she stopped throwing up.

Lin Mo said, "I don't want to kill anyone."

Zhao Ying squatted down and looked at him, then said, "Then you won't kill him."

The things you created will be killed for you.

On September 16th, Yanzhou City was pacified.

The main force of the rebels was annihilated, and the remaining troops were scattered. The imperial court recovered Yanzhou.

Xiao Yan and Su Jiuge stood on the city wall of Yanzhou, with the wind blowing from the north.

Their shadows, standing side by side, were stretched very long by the setting sun.