Chapter 51

In the main tent of the Jin army, Wanyan Wulüe held a urgent report, pacing back and forth in the room, looking extremely nervous.

How could Wanyan Wulüe not be nervous? He had just received a military order from Pingliang Prefecture, where the Fourth Prince Wanyan Wushu commanded him to reach Xigu by the end of February, or his head would be cut off if he was a day late.

He never expected the situation to become so serious. Wanyan Wulüe regretted it deeply. Han Chang was right; once the battle at Heshangyuan was lost, the Wolf Lord would certainly hold him accountable. Even the Third Prince might not be able to protect him.

Wanyan Wulüe finally realized how childish and laughable his previous thoughts were in the face of the powerful royal authority.

Now, there were only three days left until the deadline, which made him extremely anxious.

At this moment, his subordinate, the thousand-man commander Wanyan Hui, advised, "No matter what, we must take Jianjue Pass in the next two days. This way, at most, we will be criticized for being slow, but we can't say that we couldn't take a small pass like Jianjue."

Wanyan Wulüe nodded, and that was the only way. He could blame Han Chang for the slow progress, but if he couldn't take Jianjue Pass himself, how could he shift the blame?

Wanyan Wulüe finally made up his mind. No matter what the cost, he had to take Jianjue Pass the next day.

......

*Boom—Boom—*

It was not yet fully light, but the earth-shaking sound of war drums echoed from outside the valley. The drumbeats were deep and slow.

Chen Qing walked out of the tent. The drumbeats today were different, sounding particularly heavy.

Yang Yuanqing quickly walked over, "Commander, it might not be a fire attack today!"

Chen Qing nodded; he had the same intuition.

There were currently over nine hundred Song soldiers in the pass. If the Jin army attacked with full force again, how long could they hold out?

Chen Qing quickly climbed to the top of the wall. In the misty valley entrance, he could vaguely see a large army advancing into the valley.

*Uu—*

The low, mournful sound of the deer horn continued to blow.

The enemy was getting closer. In front were the vast ranks of Jurchen cavalry, one after another, shouting in low voices. Behind them were countless infantry, dense like ants, their long spears gleaming like a forest suspended in the air. There were also huge siege towers, moving slowly like black monsters, and the boundless aura of death filled the valley.

Half an hour later, twenty thousand troops spread out on the northern plain outside the pass, like four huge maps, ten thousand puppet soldiers and ten thousand Jurchen soldiers.

All the Jin army's siege weapons were displayed: 120 siege ladders, ten siege towers, twelve trebuchets, and two battering rams. They stood silently on the plain, exuding a chilling aura of death.

At this moment, even the spring breeze in the valley turned cold, and the entire valley seemed to lose all vitality, leaving only the scent of death.

The three hundred soldiers on the wall gripped their long spears, their eyes filled with a sense of tragic determination. Three hundred more soldiers stood in the passageways on both sides, ready to replace the fallen soldiers on the wall.

Wanyan Wulüe coldly gazed at the city, raised his saber, and ordered, "Archers, advance!"

*Boom! Boom! Boom!*

The war drums suddenly sounded, and two thousand puppet archers surged forward like a tidal wave.

Chen Qing shouted loudly, "Prepare the city defense bows!"

The three hundred soldiers put down their long spears, took out the city defense bows from their backs, and drew long, thick arrows. They formed two rows, with the arrow tips pointing at a forty-five-degree angle to the sky.

"Fire!" Chen Qing commanded.

The city defense bows fired first, and three hundred arrows rained down on the archer formation. Over a hundred soldiers screamed and fell, but for the three thousand archers, the loss of a hundred was insignificant.

They also drew their bows and shot back, but from their angle, they couldn't hit the soldiers on the wall. The arrows either hit the wall or flew over the wall into the city.

But the archers' target was not the soldiers firing the arrows, but the Song soldiers who would appear on the battlements to shoot and throw stones when the main force attacked.

At this moment, two thousand puppet soldiers surged forward like a second wave, carrying thirty siege ladders. Chen Qing could see clearly that these thirty ladders still had wooden crossbars, not the iron crossbars used in the second attack. What was going on? Was there a mistake in the Jin army's coordination?

Chen Qing was overjoyed and shouted, "Prepare the axe men, shield protection!"

They still had a dozen axe men, who were originally thought to be useless, but now the enemy had made such a low-level mistake.

Indeed, replacing the crossbars with iron was just Han Chang's personal idea and had not been adopted by the Jin army. The proud Jurchens would never adopt the Han people's ideas.

Only after they suffered heavy losses would they learn from their mistakes.

The two thousand enemy soldiers rushed to the wall, placing the siege ladders against it. The first to appear on the wall were the axe men, protected by shields on both sides, raising their axes and chopping down fiercely...

The enemy soldiers leaped up, beginning to climb the wall. The Song soldiers on the wall stopped shooting and picked up their long spears again. Logs and stones rained down, crushing the puppet soldiers, who screamed in despair as they fell to their deaths.

The arrows below were dense like a rainstorm. Despite the shield protection on the wall, Song soldiers were still hit and fell.

The awkward situation of the first attack reappeared. The enemy soldiers, under the threat of logs and stones, managed to climb to the top, but the ladders were still one person's height away from the wall, and the crossbars had been cut, making it impossible to climb further or retreat. The ladders below were crowded with uninformed puppet soldiers.

They either had to jump down or be stabbed by the Song soldiers' long spears, with no third option.

Of the thirty siege ladders, only three had puppet soldiers engaged in fierce combat with the Song soldiers on the wall. The others were stuck, constantly being hit by logs and stones.

Wanyan Wulüe also noticed this and frowned, ordering, "Siege towers, advance!"

*Uu—*

The deep horn sounded on the battlefield, and the drums beat rhythmically. The Jin army's most powerful siege towers finally advanced.

Two thousand Jurchen soldiers followed the five huge siege towers, holding shields and short spears. This time, it was the Jurchen soldiers attacking, and Wanyan Wulüe was determined to succeed.

Chen Qing watched the approaching siege towers with a stern expression. The siege towers were well-made, with thick materials and covered in thick cowhide, especially the front, which was made of solid logs. Even the divine arm crossbows couldn't penetrate them. Their weakness was the base, but the defenders on the wall couldn't reach it.

As previously discussed by Chen Qing and the generals, the only way to deal with the siege towers was with fire, but the Jurchen soldiers inside the towers held shields, making it difficult to use fire.

What about the bed crossbows? Could they show their power and destroy the enemy's siege towers?

The thousand or so puppet soldiers below retreated like a tide, and the archers followed. The world seemed to be left with only the five monstrous siege towers, rumbling forward.

"Prepare the bed crossbows!" Chen Qing shouted.

The bed crossbows were pushed forward, aiming at the approaching siege towers.

"Fire the bed crossbows!"

Forty bed crossbows simultaneously shot their arrows, powerful and unstoppable, towards the siege towers.

*Thud! Thud! Thud!*

Five hundred iron arrows hit the siege towers, piercing the wood, but they still couldn't penetrate the logs, with the arrow tails stuck in the wood.

Several arrows hit the top platform of the siege towers, but the platform was covered in iron chains, and the arrows sparked but couldn't penetrate. Only a heavy trebuchet could destroy them.

Chen Qing's heart sank. Even the bed crossbows couldn't penetrate. Could they only use fire?

He had little confidence in the fire attack, but Chen Qing had no other choice.

"Prepare the fire attack!"

Bundles of wheat straw were brought up, drenched in oil.

The first siege tower reached the wall, and the platform slammed down, sending debris flying and a shockwave that made the surrounding Song soldiers retreat. Inside the tower, Jurchen soldiers in iron armor and helmets, holding short spears and shields, emerged, at least thirty of them, tall and fierce, like a pack of wolves.

As the platform landed, Yang Hua shouted, "Throw them in!"

The Song soldiers threw dozens of burning straw bundles and several oil jars into the siege tower, and the flames quickly spread, burning fiercely.

Several Jurchen soldiers were doused in oil, their bodies on fire, and they screamed as they jumped down.

But there were too many Jurchen soldiers, and most ignored the flames, still running and jumping onto the wall. They charged at the Song soldiers, who also shouted and met them head-on. The two sides engaged in fierce combat.

More and more Jurchen soldiers poured onto the wall, their bodies strong and armor solid, and they fought without fear of death. The Song soldiers were overwhelmed, and the Jurchen soldiers on the wall grew in number. The long spears and short spears were useless, and both sides switched to swords, with casualties mounting. The injured fell and couldn't get up, eventually being trampled to death.

Yang Hua was targeted by the Jurchens. Five Jurchen squad leaders surrounded him. He chopped off two of their heads, but another sword silently stabbed into his abdomen...

Three siege towers had already reached the wall, and nearly two hundred Jurchen soldiers had climbed up. Chen Qing, whose wounds had healed, killed over twenty with his sword, his eyes red with rage.

What made Chen Qing anxious was that the fire attack had also failed. Although the siege towers had caught fire as planned, they lacked experience and had underestimated the problem. The logs were thick and solid, and it would take half a day to burn them completely. Even if they were engulfed in flames, the enemy soldiers could still use them.

If they couldn't destroy the siege towers, the pass would certainly fall. What should they do?

"General Yang, no!"

A soldier shouted, and Chen Qing turned back, his heart sinking. He saw Yang Hua, covered in blood, his right arm missing, his intestines hanging out, holding a nearly burned-out fuse and a barrel of gunpowder, rushing onto the siege tower and jumping inside.

*Boom!* The gunpowder barrel exploded, the shockwave splitting the siege tower in two.

Chen Qing closed his eyes in pain, then opened them and shouted, "Use gunpowder barrels to destroy them!"

He picked up a barrel of gunpowder, grabbed a torch to light the fuse, and when it was almost burned out, he ran a few steps and threw it with all his might. The gunpowder barrel accurately landed in the exit of a siege tower three zhang away.

The Jurchen soldiers inside screamed in unison, and with a *Boom!* the black smoke spread, and half the siege tower was destroyed.

The Song soldiers followed suit, and the third and fourth siege towers were also destroyed...