Chapter 397: The Bloody Siege and Defense of Luoyang City (Part 2)

Surging like a tide, Chuang army soldiers poured over the sheep-horse wall. Looking down from the battlements, the narrow strip between the sheep-horse wall and the city wall was packed so densely with human heads they looked like sardines.

One after another, scaling ladders were laboriously hauled over from the sheep-horse wall. Starving soldiers with red headscarves and sallow, gaunt faces, and Chuang army foot soldiers in felt hats carrying shields and broadswords ready to scale the walls, all jostled together. Everywhere one looked, there was that frenzied glare in their eyes, those ferocious expressions.

Just as the open ground between the sheep-horse wall and the city wall was about to be filled by them and the scaling ladders were about to be raised, suddenly a tremendous roar of fire arrows being launched erupted from the battlements. Amid the rising and falling sounds, great clouds of thick smoke billowed up, and countless arrows came howling down toward the foot of the wall like a storm covering the sky and earth.

The arrows were dense and fierce; propelled by gunpowder, they reached the faces of those Chuang troops in the blink of an eye.

Those starving soldiers carrying the scaling ladders lacked even basic equipment. Not only did they have no armor on their bodies, they did not even carry a single waist saber or long spear. Even the Chuang army foot soldiers in felt hats — originally government troops who had surrendered and turned bandit, or the stronger men among the starving soldiers who had been there longer — the shields they held were only ordinary leather shields or even wooden shields. Their equipment was simple.

As for the starving soldiers in the chaotic mob following behind them, they were slightly better off than the Chuang army starving soldiers carrying the ladders, for they held weapons in their hands. Of course, these were merely crude long spears, and many did not even have long spears, holding bamboo spears or wooden clubs instead. Some even raised pot lids as shields.

The Chuang army assaulting the city was composed in this way. The elite horse troops and the old camp naturally could not take part in the siege. The Chuang army also knew that siege warfare was different from field battles. The main force of this wave consisted of those foot soldiers who had some battlefield experience, further coerced along with a vast, intimidating horde of famine victims.

Facing the dense incoming fire arrows, those Chuang army foot soldiers instinctively raised their shields to cover themselves. The *thud* *thud* sounds rang out continuously, and in an instant, everyone's shield was studded with all kinds of arrows.

The force of the fire arrows was not trivial; they were shot until their hands went numb and trembled. Many even had their shields pierced through. Those who failed to cover themselves in time were struck in the body by the fire arrows, and many were sent tumbling out. the battle skirts or padded protectors they wore provided hardly any protection at all.

So it was for the foot soldiers, and the starving soldiers were mowed down in swathes. Many of them, until recently, had been common folk scratching a living from the soil and had never experienced a battle formation. When the fire arrows came like a violent storm, they did not know how to react. Instinctively they wanted to find something to cover themselves, only to discover they had nothing suitable at hand. Some hastily ducked behind their companions, but unexpectedly everyone had the same thought, and chaos ensued.

Shrieks rose without end. The space between the sheep-horse wall and the city wall was already packed with people, providing the fire arrows from the wall with maximum lethality. One after another, arrow-struck starving soldiers collapsed to the ground, wailing loudly, and the scaling ladders they had been carrying crashed down one by one.

Especially those struck by arrows just atop the sheep-horse wall — they toppled in great swathes like wheat stalks before the wind. Some pitched forward to the ground, some hurled backward, and many even tumbled into the moat. In mere moments, this stretch of ground was already covered with wounded and corpses, and a choking stench of blood spread rapidly.

The courage of many starving soldiers suddenly vanished entirely. Many turned and retreated, only to be unceremoniously cut down on the spot by the Chuang army foot soldiers beside them. Moreover, the Chuang army assaulting the city was too numerous; the scaling ladders they carried numbered in the hundreds, front and back. Behind those earthen platforms, who knew how many more formations of Chuang army foot soldiers there were.

Even though this wave of arrow fire had cost them dozens of scaling ladders at the front, it still had little impact on the overall situation. The stock of fire arrows within Luoyang City could not possibly sustain such firepower indefinitely. In the blink of an eye, numerous more scaling ladders were carried inside the sheep-horse wall, or great swarms of starving soldiers were driven in, picking up the ladders scattered on the ground once more.

After that earlier wave, the fire arrows from the wall thinned out. Just as the scaling ladders were about to be raised and the bandits were about to cheer, suddenly countless jars and pots rained down from the battlements. While still in midair, some white powder was already scattering down toward the foot of the wall.

Many starving soldiers smelled a choking odor. While they were still dazed and uncomprehending, a sharp, shrill howl suddenly rang out: "Lime pots! Shut your eyes, quick!"

Bottles fell like raindrops from the battlements, bursting open on the ground. The powdered lime inside spread out, and for a time white mist shrouded everything. Miserable, agonized screams rose continuously. Multitudes of Chuang army soldiers, whether starving soldiers or foot soldiers, threw down everything in their hands, covered their eyes, and rolled on the ground howling.

"My eyes..."

The jars and pots thrown from the wall were precisely the city-defense weapon lime pots, filled with lime. Those lime pots dropped from the battlements and burst open one after another, the choking lime powder flying everywhere in the cold wind. Once lime invaded the eyes, the pain was immediate and unbearable, making it impossible to open one's eyes at all. If left too long, the result was blindness.

Normally, if one gets quicklime in the eyes, one cannot wash it out with water and must use vegetable oil. But during this siege assault, where would one find vegetable oil? Moreover, in these chaotic times, perhaps a catty of vegetable oil was worth more than a human life. Even if the Chuang army commanders knew this could save their wounded soldiers, it was not certain they would be willing to use it.

Pools of white powder covered the ground, and many Chuang soldiers had patches of white on their heads and bodies. Even those who avoided injury to their eyes were coughing uncontrollably and struggling to breathe.

Caught completely off guard, many Chuang army soldiers fell victim. Some covered their eyes and screamed on the ground, others coughed and ran wildly in chaos. The dense mass of Chuang troops below the wall became a scene of utter confusion, like ants on a hot pan.

Seeing the situation below the wall, Wang Yinchang was overjoyed. He shouted an order: "Stone throwers — launch!"

Hearing his command, Garrison Commander Yang beside him hurriedly passed the order down.

On the city wall were densely arrayed small catapults, and beside the catapults lay heaps of stones of various sizes. Gathered around the catapults were the numerous militia and community corps members assisting in the city's defense. Although they had not experienced much battle, throwing lime pots and stones posed no problem for them.

Hearing the orders of Wang Yinchang and Garrison Commander Yang, they hurriedly loaded stones into the throwing scoops and, without bothering about any target, simply hurled them down below the wall. And those militia and community corps members who had been throwing lime pots earlier now threw with even greater vigor.

Not to mention that below the wall was originally a dense mass of Chuang troops assaulting the city, so there was no need to aim at any target at all. Coupled with the countless lime pots thrown down, everywhere below the wall was a blur of white with poor visibility — how could those Chuang troops see the raindrop-like stones being hurled from the wall?

As the lime pots struck down, dense stones fell from the sky, and a wave of horrifying howls rose from below the wall. Many Chuang soldiers running amok were directly struck by the falling stones.

Many of those stones thrown down weighed dozens of catties, and falling from a height of over ten meters, their force was ferocious. To be hit meant broken sinews and shattered bones. Many Chuang soldiers were struck squarely on the head, instantly smashed into pulp. Some Chuang army foot soldiers hurriedly raised their shields, only to be smashed just the same, vomiting blood with broken bones.

Many stones were also carved into round, drum-like shapes. When they fell from the battlements, they bounced and rolled wildly on the ground, breaking the legs of who knows how many Chuang army soldiers.

The Chuang troops outside the wall were too densely packed. Even when some militia and community corps members, confident in their superior arm strength, forwent the catapults and lifted stones to hurl down themselves, they could hit a Chuang army soldier nine times out of ten.

As lime pots and stones rained down from the city wall like a storm, the Chuang soldiers grew more and more chaotic. Those around them were either covering their eyes and howling wretchedly or being smashed into pulp by the stones. By this time, the earlier courage of the soldiers inside the sheep-horse wall had completely vanished.

Whether starving soldiers or foot soldiers, they all threw down their scaling ladders, weapons, and shields, fleeing back like headless flies.

But while entering was easy, leaving was hard. On the inner side of the moat, the "sheep-horse wall" thirty paces from the city wall was about one zhang high, that is, three meters. When those Chuang troops crossed the wall, they had used some door planks and small ladders propped on the outer side. But on the inner side of the sheep-horse wall, there was nothing at all.

To leap over a three-meter-high enclosing wall in one go — apart from a small minority, most of the Chuang soldiers lacked that ability. Not to mention that, driven by the inertia of the charge, dense ranks of Chuang troops behind them continued to surge forward. One group wanting to enter, another wanting to leave — in the crush, chaos reigned, and who knew how many were trampled to death on the spot.

Seeing the state of those roving bandits below the wall, the Ming troops on the wall erupted in cheers. Especially the community corps members on the battlements — they were all sons of wealthy households and harbored a natural hatred for the peasant army. Watching the scene below, they felt an exceptional sense of vengeful satisfaction and threw those stones with even greater gusto. Every time their stone smashed into or rolled over a Chuang army soldier, a burst of cheering and howling followed.

At last, this wave of the Chuang army's tiger-fierce charge came to an end. The Chuang soldiers who could still move all retreated behind the earthen platforms, leaving only corpses and wounded strewn everywhere inside and outside the sheep-horse wall, along with scaling ladders discarded all over the ground.

The quicklime dust that had spread when the lime pots were thrown had already completely dispersed. The Chuang soldiers inside the sheep-horse wall who could flee had all fled. Looking at the gruesome scene below the wall, Wu Zhengchun felt a twinge in his heart: "Truly tragic..."

Outside the city, the distance from the city wall to the sheep-horse wall was filled with heaps of mangled flesh and body parts. Severed limbs and broken arms were everywhere, and scattered large and small intestines were all too plentiful. Corpses lay piled layer upon layer, especially along the edge of the sheep-horse wall, where they were stacked one on top of another. Many corpses were in fragmented shapes, clearly trampled to death while fleeing for their lives.

The ground was covered in fresh blood, pools of dark red bloodstains gleaming with a cold light in the chill wind. Clearly, this blood had flowed from the various wounded and dead Chuang soldiers, rapidly freezing into ice in the bitter cold.

Along with waves of nauseating, cloying blood stench, gusts of hopeless moaning and weeping drifted over on the wind. Below the wall, many Chuang soldiers whose hands or feet had been smashed by stones, whose bodies had been crushed, or whose eyes had been blinded by lime — powerless to flee, they merely sat weeping, waiting for death.

Beside them, many other Chuang soldiers, their bodies and faces covered in lime powder, dragged their blood-dripping legs as they crawled laboriously back and forth on the ground. Their eyes sightless, they instinctively cried out for help to those around them, yet no one paid them any heed.

Watching the ghastly scene below the wall, and as the stench of blood reached the battlements, the cheers of the Ming troops on the wall gradually died down. Many began to vomit, especially those militia and community corps members. Many were experiencing such a bloody scene for the first time — how could they bear it? Some vomited until they could not even bring up bile.

Wu Zhengchun gazed silently outside the city. Even for him, a veteran of many battles whose mind had been tempered hard as iron, his heart ached. He thought: "In chaotic times, human life is as worthless as grass. Without the State-Stabilizing General, I would likely be like the corpses below — dying a bland death as a coerced famine victim. If lucky, I might have an unmarked grave. If unlucky, my corpse would be gnawed by wild dogs or enter the bellies of other men."

His thoughts drifted outward. Those roving bandits who had died below — most of them, in days past, were just common folk scratching a living from the soil. The wish of most was simply to have a mouthful of food, and when winter came, to have clothes and bedding for warmth, with their families safe and sound. Was he himself not the same?

It was just that in these chaotic times, he was luckier than them, having entered the ranks of the Shunxiang Army. The territory he lived in was also governed by the State-Stabilizing General, so his family was peaceful and happy. Had he himself been coerced under the rule of some bandit chief or warlord, his own fate would have been no better than theirs.

In his heart, he silently vowed: "May I follow the General's command and bring peace to the realm soon."

Wu Zhengchun's unit was reserved for the most critical moments of the city's defense and had not taken part in the battle just now. However, everyone had seen the situation below the wall clearly. The faces of the new troops under his command looked somewhat ill; after all, the scene below was too bloody. This army, since completing its training, was seeing such a scene for the first time, so this reaction was normal.

But Wu Zhengchun believed that war was the best tempering for men. After seeing such bloody scenes many times, they would no longer have any special reaction when they saw similar scenes in the future.

As for the squad leaders, section leaders, company officers, and squad commanders in his army, they were all veterans who had fought in the Battle of Julu and the Battle of Pinggu, and they remained completely unperturbed by the scene before them.

They pointed and gestured, merely discussing and comparing in low voices. All remarked that the lime pots and stones had worked quite well in the city defense, comparable to cannons and even surpassing the fire of arquebuses. That sheep-horse wall was even better, creating a situation like catching a turtle in a jar when facing the enemy.

Wang Yinchang and Garrison Commander Yang also looked somewhat pale, but their expressions held more excitement. After all, the Chuang army's assault just now had been terrifying, yet without the participation of the Shunxiang Army, they had still repelled the bandits' attack.

Wang Yinchang stroked his beard and laughed heartily: "The bandits are nothing special after all."

Garrison Commander Yang hurriedly said: "This is all thanks to the Military Commissioner's strategic planning and calm command."

Having said this, he looked smugly at the Shunxiang troops nearby who still stood ramrod straight, and then glanced at Wu Zhengchun. The battle just now could be said to have shown off in front of this famous, mighty army — just thinking about it made him feel very proud.

Hearing Garrison Commander Yang's words, Wang Yinchang laughed even more joyfully. After thinking a moment, he felt uneasy again and asked Wu Zhengchun: "Company Commander Wu, in your opinion, have the roving bandits lost heart and will they not assault the city again? Can we send men out of the city to destroy all the equipment the bandits left behind?"

For him, a Military Commissioner, to consult Wu Zhengchun, a mere Company Commander, in such a gentle tone showed he was humbling himself to the utmost. Garrison Commander Yang watched with intense envy and jealousy.

Being by Wang Dou's side, Wu Zhengchun had long grown accustomed to seeing the various civil and military officials of the Great Ming treat the officers of the Shunxiang Army with great respect, so he felt nothing special about it. However, he was a steady and cautious man by nature and never failed in courtesy before outsiders. Had it been Shen Shiqi, he would have swaggeringly accepted it long ago.

At these words, Wu Zhengchun gave Wang Yinchang a slight salute. He gazed intently at the distant Chuang army for a moment, then shook his head and said: "Though the Chuang bandits have suffered a minor setback, their momentum is unbroken. The next wave of assault is imminent. There is no longer time to destroy the bandits' equipment."

No sooner had his words fallen than the war drums of the Chuang army behind the earthen platforms sounded, and amid thunderous battle cries, countless more Chuang soldiers surged forward like a tide.

Watching the dense black sea of men outside the city and their momentum that brooked no failure, as if wave after wave of attacks would never cease, Wu Zhengchun could not help comparing the Tartar soldiers with the roving bandits in his mind. Perhaps the roving bandits' advantage was that they could spend human lives without the slightest care — something the Tartar soldiers could not match.

He sighed inwardly: "Perhaps the troops under my command will have to enter the battle very soon."

……

The Chuang army's cannons on the earthen platforms roared fiercely again, covering those assaulting troops. Under their intense bombardment, the government soldiers behind the crenellations had no choice but to duck back into cover. Against human-wave tactics, bombarding the enemy infantry held little meaning, and if they traded cannon fire, with the enemy cannons mounted atop earthen platforms, the government troops on the wall could gain no advantage either.

Under the cover of cannon fire, those Chuang soldiers soon surged again outside the rammed-earth wall. The scaling ladders scattered on the ground earlier were lifted up once more. After they climbed over into the rammed-earth wall one by one, amid the shouts and commands of their officers, the scaling ladders inside were likewise lifted by the famine soldiers.

Beside each scaling ladder crowded numerous Chuang infantrymen gripping large blades and shields. Looking down from the city wall, one could see the tense yet vicious look in their eyes.

Facing this wave of Chuang army assault, the government troops defending the wall were far more composed. Everyone thought they would simply repeat the same trick — first use fire arrows, then deal with them using lime pots and rolling stones. But atop the wall, Wu Zhengchun furrowed his brow. It seemed this wave of Chuang soldiers had learned their lesson and would not be so easy to handle.

Wu Zhengchun saw clearly: the Chuang soldiers below the wall, whether famine soldiers or infantry, all had their faces and mouths covered with cloth. With that, the effectiveness of the lime pots would surely be reduced by several degrees. And with their eyes and noses unharmed, the rolling stones would not work so well either — after all, with eyes to see, one knows to dodge danger. When a large rock came plummeting from the sky, a nimble man could still evade it.

And just as the government troops on the wall were about to lean out and loose arrows, a peal of thunder erupted from the Chuang army formation outside the rammed-earth wall. Amid great billowing clouds of smoke, a vast volley of fire arrows came howling over. Even though fire arrows were notorious for flying wildly, with such a massive volley, many still shot in through the various crenellations of the city wall.

Among those garrison soldiers and militia braves peeking and probing outward, many were struck at once, sent tumbling backward by the arrows, and agonized shrieks rose from the wall top.

A flurry of panic swept the Ming army on the wall. The officers under Garrison Commander Yang urgently shouted orders to take cover and commanded the soldiers to return fire with fire arrows, bows, and arquebuses. The cannoneers on the wall were even more eager to fire, but due to the angle, the wall cannons could not reach the Chuang soldiers so close below.

A crossfire erupted between wall top and wall base. Over by the moat outside the rammed-earth wall, Chuang infantry screened by layer upon layer of shields kept loosing fire arrows at the wall top. Their firepower was ferocious; they seemed to have no qualms about exhausting their entire captured stockpile of fire arrows.

Amid the wildly flying fire arrows were also mingled some ordinary arrows, and even bullets from arquebuses or three-eyed guns.

"Papapapa…"

The crackling of arquebuses like popping beans rang out from the wall top. A great pall of white smoke rose, and over by the moat, a large swath of the Chuang soldiers loosing fire arrows toppled. Their layered shields were shattered piece by piece, spurts of blood mist bursting from many Chuang soldiers as they stumbled backward and crashed down.

A flurry of panic swept the Chuang soldiers over there, and the volleys of fire arrows and ordinary arrows weakened drastically. It was the Shunxiang Army arquebusiers on the wall who had finally opened fire, and with their first salvo they dealt the Chuang soldiers below a severe blow.

Under Wu Zhengchun's command, the Company Commander had four hundred arquebusiers. Now every man lowered the iron mask attached to his iron helmet. They took positions at the crenellations and fired in four ranks. One rank after another, amid the deafening crash of gunfire, they threw the Chuang archers and fire-arrow men over there into chaos, or sent them shouting for more shields to be raised.

The fine armor on these Shunxiang soldiers had long been the envy of the Luoyang government troops and militia braves on the wall. The armor on even a common soldier surpassed that worn by the local government army officers. Now, watching them open fire, they were even more awestruck. Such ferocious arquebuses — accurate and deadly, able to shatter even thick shields with ease, and their marksmanship was far too high.

Then came another "pa" — the head of a Chuang army leader, who looked like a squad commander over by the moat at the rammed-earth wall, suddenly burst apart. His felt cap, along with chunks of blood and shattered bone, splattered outward, and his whole body crashed heavily backward, slamming to the ground.

A brief hush seemed to fall over both wall top and wall base. Garrison Commander Yang, who had been loudly directing and shouting, subconsciously glanced toward the watchtower not far to his right.

The entire city of Luoyang had thirty-nine bastions, each spaced several dozen paces apart, ensuring that any enemy assaulting the city fell within the killing range of the wall's weapons. On each bastion stood a watchtower for observing enemy movements. The watchtowers were several stories high, built of brick and stone, and the top story had firing loopholes on all four sides.

After Wu Zhengchun had led his ironclad army onto the wall, some of his arquebusiers, carrying a kind of long, metallic-shining, strange arquebus that needed no matchlock, had gone up into the various watchtowers. Clearly, it was those Shunxiang Army arquebusiers in the watchtowers who had just opened fire.

"What kind of arquebuses are those, to shoot so far and so accurately?"

Garrison Commander Yang's thoughts raced. He noticed that the Shunxiang Army arquebusiers in each watchtower shot with extraordinary precision. In just a short time, many of the roving bandits' officers below the wall, along with archers, fire-arrow men, and the tougher soldiers, had fallen one after another under their arquebus fire.

"If they used those arquebuses on me, even at nearly a hundred paces, perhaps I couldn't escape either?"

Garrison Commander Yang suddenly broke out in a cold sweat. Seeing that the dense black tide of men below had nearly filled the zone between the rammed-earth wall and the city wall, and that the arrow rain from the roving bandits over by the rammed-earth wall had greatly weakened, he bellowed the order: "Lime pots and rolling stones — ready!"

……

Again, lime pots fell like raindrops from the sky. When they struck the ground and burst, clouds of fine white lime billowed out. Immediately after, rolling stones likewise plummeted down like rain. Outside the city rose the agonized screams that Garrison Commander Yang had been longing to hear.

But to the disappointment of the Ming army on the wall, the effect of the lime pots and rolling stones this time was not as good as the last. Like ants, the Chuang army famine soldiers and infantry with cloth-covered faces still pressed toward the wall, bearing scaling ladder after scaling ladder.

Just as one scaling ladder after another was about to be raised and countless Chuang soldiers were on the verge of cheering, countless round, black, lumpish objects suddenly fell from the sky. They were the size of a human head, seemingly iron but not quite, with a handle on one end and a long fuse on the other — and every fuse was now burning.

Staring at these falling objects, some Chuang army famine soldiers were still curious, wondering what they were. But some of the infantry who had surrendered from the former government army were scared out of their wits; many screamed at the top of their lungs, letting out assorted moans and wails.

"Ten-Thousand-Man Killers, it's Ten-Thousand-Man Killers…"

Blast after blast roared out, the explosions like cannon fire, yet when they burst they were different from those solid iron balls.

These round, black objects fell among the Chuang army crowd. When the fuses burned to their end, a thunderous blast erupted, and countless iron caltrops, stone shards, broken iron, and other fragments shot out with the dense smoke, tearing through the Chuang soldiers' flesh and sending blood flying. Many clutched their heads and faces, rolling and howling on the ground.

Hearing blast after blast outside the city, mingled with the terrified screams of the Chuang soldiers, the Ming army on the wall rejoiced anew. Not only did the militia braves hurl lime pots and rolling stones with even greater vigor, but the garrison soldiers on the wall also lit one Ten-Thousand-Man Killer after another, throwing them wherever the crowd was thickest below, and from time to time shouting: "Blast these roving bandits to death."

Wu Zhengchun also observed this lethal city-defense weapon with great attention. On the city wall sat several large wooden chests filled with these black, lumpish objects. If Wang Dou were here, he would know that these things were in fact the hand grenades of later ages, though they looked somewhat different, because the objects before him were far too large. Each round, lumpish raw-iron ball was bigger than a human head, packed with several catties of gunpowder, with a thick hemp rope or a bamboo or wooden handle on one end and a fuse on the other.

Perhaps because these "Ten-Thousand-Man Killers" required a bit more expertise, they were thrown by the Luoyang garrison soldiers. One man would grip the wooden handle while another lit the fuse, and then they would hurl it down below the wall. Every "Ten-Thousand-Man Killer" thrown down blasted the Chuang soldiers below into howling chaos.

Wu Zhengchun marveled inwardly. These "Ten-Thousand-Man Killers" had tremendous explosive force; their shrapnel flew many yards and wounded multitudes of enemies. They were indeed a lethal weapon for defending a city.

However, the Shunxiang Army at present did not use them. After all, a "hand grenade" bigger than a human head was quite heavy, and even a strongman could not throw it very far. The Shunxiang Army had fought only field battles these past years, and in field battles, throwing these "hand grenades" was more likely to blow up one's own men.

Having been in the Shunxiang Army for many years, Wu Zhengchun had gained considerable knowledge of many weapons. The "Ten-Thousand-Man Killer" was called "Heaven-Shaking Thunder" in Xuanfu Garrison, and he had heard it had been passed down since the Song dynasty. Many cities in Xuanfu Garrison used them.

It seemed that when he had followed the General out to suppress the roving bandits, the Eastern Route armory had also begun producing some Heaven-Shaking Thunders. Because the gunpowder formula had been perfected, he had heard that their appearance was even smaller than the Ten-Thousand-Man Killers before him, yet their power was greater.

The Ming army on the wall top rushed back and forth under the direction of Army Supervisor Wang Yinchang and Garrison Commander Yang. Lime pots, rolling stones, and Ten-Thousand-Man Killers were hurled down without pause. The Chuang army outside the wall suffered grievous casualties, but their human-wave tactics proved effective, and many scaling ladders still pressed toward the wall.

"The roving bandits' scaling ladders are coming up against the wall! Use battering poles and pronged forks…"

At one crenellation, a crowd of militia braves had gathered. Under the shouts of a garrison army Company Commander, several braves used pronged forks to brace firmly against a scaling ladder, preventing it from touching the wall. Then several sturdy militia soldiers hefted a thick, long bamboo pole with a large, solid battering head at its tip. Shouting a cadence, they charged viciously at the scaling ladder.

With a crash, the battering pole struck the head of the scaling ladder with force. Even though many Chuang army famine soldiers below were straining to hold it steady, that heavy scaling ladder was knocked over and toppled outward. Seeing the ladder coming down on top of them, the Chuang soldiers below fled as fast as they could, but still more than a dozen who could not escape in time were crushed or injured by the falling ladder.

Under the impact of the battering poles on the wall, one scaling ladder after another that came up was pushed over and sent crashing down. Yet more and more ladders pressed up, and many had flying hooks at their heads. Once a hook caught the wall, no amount of ramming could knock it down. The hooks were made of iron, and even hacking at them with blades and axes could not sever them easily.

As the scaling ladders pressed against the wall, Chuang infantry gripping blades, axes, and shields kept climbing up from below. From the distant Chuang army camp rose wave after wave of tidal cheering.

"Boiling filth."

"Burn them to death…"

In the many recessed sheds on the city wall, large cauldrons of boiling excrement bubbled and seethed, the stench rising to the heavens, roiling with billowing hot steam. Numerous militia braves, gnashing their teeth, used long-handled ladles to scoop up ladlefuls of the boiling filth and poured it down squarely onto the heads and faces of the Chuang infantry climbing the ladders.

Inhuman howls rose. The boiling filth poured down without pause. Even if those Chuang infantry carried shields for cover, they could not avoid being splashed by the boiling excrement. Howling, they tumbled one after another from the scaling ladders.

As the boiling filth kept pouring down, flames shot skyward below the wall. The government troops on the wall kept hurling down firewood and straw.

That firewood and straw was all wrapped with saltpeter and sulfur. Once lit, flames mixed with smoke. One scaling ladder after another caught fire, and many Chuang soldiers were caught in the blaze. Some rolled on the ground, their whole bodies ablaze; others, wreathed in flames, screamed and dashed into the crowd.

Even though the Chuang soldiers below the wall had mostly covered their faces with cloth, in the dense smoke many still coughed until they could barely breathe, and their eyes were so swollen and stung by the smoke that they could hardly open them.

The men on the wall top also lit tattered old cotton wadding sprinkled with sulfur and gunpowder and flung it outside the wall, forming a barrier of fire at the base of the wall. More Chuang soldiers were burned to death or injured. Seen from the sky, the western part of Luoyang city seemed shrouded in flames and smoke, as if a great fire were consuming the city.

The boiling filth and the smoke and flames coming down from the wall top struck terror into the hearts of the assaulting Chuang soldiers. Those ladder-climbing Chuang soldiers lucky enough not to meet these methods fared no better. Luoyang, as a prefectural city and a princely fief, possessed a vast array of defensive equipment.

After several scaling ladders with flying hooks had leaned against the wall top, seeing no movement above for a good while, Chuang infantry gripping blades and shields howled and began climbing up the ladders. But when they were halfway up, a round log studded with sharp iron spikes came hurtling straight at them. The lead Chuang soldier only had time to cry out: "Wolf-Tooth Ram…"

Before he was smashed off the scaling ladder by that round log bristling with sharp iron spikes. His chest was already a bloody pulp, riddled with large, coarse puncture holes. The Wolf-Tooth Ram was connected by iron chains at both ends. As it rolled down from the wall top, it swept every Chuang soldier on that ladder off and sent them crashing down, each rolling on the ground and howling in unbearable agony.

And after the chief culprit fell, it hung motionless in the air. A moment later, a shouted order came from the wall top, and with a creaking sound, the round log, its sharp iron spikes now coated in flesh and blood, was hauled back up onto the wall.

The Chuang soldiers on that scaling ladder met such a fate, and those on the nearby ladders fared no better — they were viciously swatted off the ladders by the wolf-tooth rackets crashing down from above.

Those wolf-tooth rackets and the battering-rams were both sharp tools for defending a city, made of elm and locust wood, broad and thick, with hundreds of wolf-tooth iron spikes on them, operated by rope winches inside; when the enemy swarmed up the walls like ants, they were yanked up and slammed down, utterly lethal.

The Chuang soldiers who met the wolf-tooth rackets suffered worse than those who met the battering-rams. The first ones smashed to the ground by the battering-rams lay dazed on the earth, and when they saw the soldiers on the nearby ladders swatted off by the wolf-tooth rackets, they felt a little better in their hearts.

But suddenly his eyes flew wide open, staring motionless at the sky, and then he wailed in despair: "Fire pots!"

Dozens of porcelain pots burning with eerie flames came hurtling toward his position. Amid the wailing and howling of the Chuang soldiers below the wall, one after another the fire pots crashed into the crowd and burst. Flames shot up several men high. Those set ablaze by the fire seemed utterly unable to beat the flames off. Countless men, their bodies aflame, either rolled screaming on the ground or ran wildly with the fire on them, spreading even greater chaos.

Those burning men ran and ran until they pitched forward to the ground and lay motionless, clearly burned alive. Waves of roasting human flesh drifted up to the wall, a smell that made men retch.

"Burn them to death..."

The defending officers and soldiers on the wall used long iron ladles to hold the fire pots, had men light them with long torches, and then hurled these fire pots one by one from the walltop, aiming deliberately at the scaling ladders or wherever men were thickest.

These fire pots were all filled with "fierce fire oil" produced by the Great Ming Armaments Bureau. This fierce fire oil was thick and sticky; once ignited and splashed on a man, do not think lightly of putting it out — it burned until he was dead, far more terrible than the firewood and cotton wadding wrapped in saltpeter, sulfur, and gunpowder that had been thrown from the wall earlier, comparable to the napalm bombs of later ages.

Watching the sea of fire below the wall, countless figures writhing in the flames, the piercing, harrowing wails rising from within, Wu Zhengchun stared dazed for a long while and sighed softly: "So cruel and bitter..."

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PS: Sorry, I haven't updated for a while. I explained in the book review section on the 17th that I went traveling with my wife for over a month. In real life I have a career, and adding writing on top of that drained every last bit of my spare time completely dry, so there was no way to talk about spending time with my family.

Actually, my wife originally supported this spare-time hobby of mine, but after so long with no time to keep her company, she couldn't help but voice complaints, grumbling that I was neglecting her. Feelings are cultivated with time and money; without time together, cracks will inevitably appear in a couple's relationship.

As my wife said, she'd rather I sometimes went to KTV or nightclubs for amusement than be so unable to spare time for her like with writing. Such a hobby may not be good, but when choosing the lesser of two evils, it's still better than writing.

No matter what, family is very important to me. Compared to the online world, reality matters more. So I set everything aside and took her out traveling for over a month. The effect was very obvious — we've returned to our old relationship. It seems women truly need to be coaxed.

The storm has passed. Whether or not I write books in the future, this book is already half written, and I will finish it — after all, it holds my dreams within. I'll strive to finish it before the New Year.