Chapter 748: Night Raid

She even poured a glass of wine for it. Before the falcon could stretch its neck, He Lingchuan moved the glass away: "It's on a mission, it can't drink alcohol."

The falcon rolled its eyes in frustration.

He Lingchuan grabbed the roasted chestnuts, not afraid of the heat, peeled them, and handed them to Sun Fuling: "I've been in Yuheng City for ten days, and during this time, the opposite side hasn't come to harass us; they're really giving me face."

The falcon poured cold water on him: "Maybe they don't know."

"The bulletin boards all over Yuheng City are posted with my appointment! Even if the civilians don't look, don't the spies look?"

He Lingchuan asked Sun Fuling: "Master, you are well-versed in astronomy and geography; can you help me see—"

He pointed to the sky: "How is the weather recently?"

Sun Fuling was the proud disciple of Xu Shichu, Dean of the Shumin Academy; looking at short-term weather was well within her capabilities.

She looked for two moments and said: "Don't look at the bright stars tonight; there will definitely be a snowstorm within seven... no, five days."

He Lingchuan pondered: "Within five days?"

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, four days had passed.

These four days, the daytime was cloudless, and the night sky was bright with stars; there wasn't a trace of abnormality.

He Lingchuan was still busy as a top, but when passing through the suburbs outside the city, he happened to run into the children of Yuheng Academy coming out to fly kites.

The blue sky was filled with colorful kites of all models and shapes.

This also included his casual doodles.

Sun Fuling had actually sent out that suffocating kite; he didn't know which bear child it had made cry.

Tsk, Master Sun's bad taste.

The construction of Yuheng City was still in full swing, not stopping for a moment.

On the evening of the fifth day, a strong wind suddenly blew at the border. This wind force could make a weak girl stagger.

Before everyone could pack up their things, snow fell in succession.

The world was a vast expanse of white, and nothing could be seen.

Every household closed their doors and windows tightly, and even the sentry towers by the Yin River had to lower their wind and snow curtains. Otherwise, the low temperature plus the wind and snow hitting their faces could freeze the people on the towers into giant ice blocks in two quarters of an hour.

This snowstorm lasted until the second half of the night before gradually turning smaller.

There was no other entertainment on a snowy night, and most residents inside and outside the city could only fall asleep early accompanied by the sound of the wind.

As the hour of the Rat was about to end, the soldiers guarding the river forest were dozing off by the table when they suddenly heard a rustling sound.

On a snowy night, the sound of wind through the bushes was nothing unusual, and for a moment, he didn't feel it was abnormal.

But after more than ten breaths, the soldier suddenly opened his eyes:

Not right, the doors and windows were closed, where did the sound of wind blowing leaves come from!

He subconsciously looked at the table, only to find that the four branches of the old elm demon were swaying, moving without wind.

The superiors had explained that whichever branch moved, it meant the enemy was approaching from that direction in the river forest.

But now all four branches were moving, which meant, which meant—

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"

He rushed out of the quiet room, roared, and rang the bell at the same time.

On a snowy night, only the bell could penetrate the strong wind.

The barracks in the rear lit up, and countless people ran back and forth.

Just a few dozen breaths later, waves of enemies suddenly emerged from the woods by the river, launching an attack on this military camp.

They crossed the river taking advantage of the wind and snow, arriving silently, but in reality, their numbers exceeded two thousand! Previously, when Jin Tao drove "refugees" over to harass the border, it was often teams of a dozen or dozens, who would disperse to make trouble after entering.

This was the first time since Yuheng City belonged to Panlongcheng that more than two thousand people had been gathered for a frontal attack! There were less than two hundred people in the camp, which was enough for normal times, but now facing a sneak attack by an enemy ten times their size, they panicked.

They didn't resist for long before retreating before being surrounded, which could be called throwing away their helmets and armor, not even sending out warning signals.

This military camp being taken out was equivalent to blinding the eyes of Yuheng City.

The enemy army split off a small force to pursue them, while the main force continued west.

They passed by villages that were usually seen as fat sheep, but didn't even look at them.

After attacking the camp, the team lit torches to illuminate the road ahead, and their goal was only one: Yuheng City.

It wasn't a casual looting, nor a simple harassment.

Even if someone in the camp shot a whistling arrow into the sky, the camp was only fifteen miles away from Yuheng City. The enemy army attacked at full speed, while the Yuheng City garrison was in a mess; by the time the enemy arrived, how much preparation could they make? Therefore, the key to this flash attack by the Jin Tao team was only one word:

Fast! They even split into three routes, avoiding traps and interceptions that might appear on the road.

Less than two quarters of an hour after the camp was attacked, they had already arrived at the city, without encountering any decent obstruction along the way.

This made their confidence even higher.

After months of expansion, the city gate of Yuheng City was higher and thicker than before, and more than a dozen pieces of military equipment had been replaced, looking black and imposing, looking like they were not to be trifled with.

But as long as they reached the city gate as quickly as possible, these long-range things wouldn't be of any use.

There was also a moat in front of the city gate, not as exaggerated as the one in front of Panlongcheng, with a width of more than four zhang (more than thirteen meters), and the drop was two zhang (more than six meters) in winter.

At this time, the drawbridge of the moat had of course been retracted.

The bandit army had to cross the moat and enter the true siege stage.

Compared to their galloping horses, at this time inside Yuheng City, every household was still closing their doors to resist the wind and snow, and there wasn't even a shadow on the street. The city gate guards only left two shivering in the gate tunnel, while the others retreated to the barracks on the side, not daring to stand in the snow and resist.

Two people suddenly emerged at the end of the street, touching the city gate under the cover of buildings, and suddenly attacked the guards! The howling north wind covered the guards' cries.

Four or five more people rushed out from the corner, working together to push the winch controlling the city gate!

The city gate of Yuheng City was different from Panlongcheng; when it stood up, it was the city gate, and when it was lowered, it became the drawbridge over the river. The lifting and lowering of the drawbridge were controlled by the winch on the side of the gate inside the city.

Therefore, crossing the moat and breaking the city gate were the same thing for the bandit army.

A sturdy city is often best broken from within; they had a lot of experience in this, and now they were focusing on coordination from inside and outside.

Moreover, the opening of the city gate guard barracks was on the wall, and the few thieves inside threw a small sticky thing at the wall ladder entrance; this thing grew with the wind, and in just three to five breaths, it turned into a monster nearly one zhang high and three feet thick, blocking the wall ladder entrance tightly! This thing was neither gold, jade, copper, nor iron, and felt Q-elastic and soft like fat when touched, but was truly flexible when hit, and ordinary axes couldn't pierce it.

With this thing blocking the door, the city gate guards couldn't come down and could only lie on the wall and shoot arrows down.

Those few thieves held shields over their heads, their feet didn't stop, and they pushed the winch hard.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 749 =====