Chapter 538: Twilight of the Gods (Part One)

The rain stopped, and beneath Huayin City, countless Hebei rebel soldiers were banding together in groups of three to five to forge siege engines.

At the same time, many were piling earth mounds, trying to make the mounds as high as Huayin City's walls, using this "earth method" to siege the city.

It was even livelier than a construction site for building houses.

One must admit, to take Huayin, An Shouchong really exhausted every ounce of his strength.

Huayin City is actually hard to assault, because the city is very small, its walls tower high, and it lies at the foot of a mountain with a certain slope. If you have time to completely encircle it, after a few months the city will have no grain and will naturally fall without a fight.

The longer the siege lasts, even drinking water becomes a problem.

But Huangfu Weiming cannot wait months; he only wants to capture Huayin quickly, the faster the better!

He even grows impatient waiting for days!

Helpless, An Shouchong had to change his approach.

He ordered the formation of a suicide squad to repeatedly strike from the mountain. However, the mountain paths are narrow, and flat ground atop the mountain is extremely limited, unable to accommodate many troops.

Each time they crossed the mountain to try to break into Huayin City from the north, it was basically a few against many, and almost every returning group had fewer than one in ten surviving.

But An Shouchong thought: I can't defeat you, but I will wear you down to death!

Even if many on our side die and the Huayin defenders die fewer, An Shouchong is convinced that the enemy cannot replenish troops, so each death reduces them by one!

However, under continuous attrition, the morale of the Hebei rebel army also began to sag.

This war of attrition is hard on Li Guangbi's side, and An Shouchong also feels uneasy.

It's like arm‑wrestling; both sides feel uncomfortable, and it comes down to who can last until the end.

Facing such a tough nut to crack, Huangfu Weiming dared not leave Huayin City behind.

No one can claim that taking Chang'an can be done in a day. If enemy forces still defend the Baqiao line, then after holding for a few days, the Hebei rebels will not be able to endure this double‑blocked situation.

The roads around Huayin are too narrow, easily blocked. Only by capturing this city and securing the rear can the main army advance toward Chang'an.

That evening, after a day's siege combat concluded, Huayin City remained steadfastly unmoved.

Huangfu Weiming came to inspect An Shouchong's siege progress and almost fainted from anger.

Seeing Grand Marshal Huangfu's displeased expression and realizing his own fault, An Shouchong clasped his fists and bowed, saying:

"Grand Marshal, today the siege engines are not yet ready, so the attack is ineffective. Tomorrow the engines will be in place.

My troops have continuously sent men to repeatedly assault the northern cliff and then quietly split forces, already ambushing one or two thousand there. Starting tomorrow, attacks from all directions will commence; we may yet be able to win."

An Shouchong appeared rather confident.

"Accelerate the pace; we've been stuck here for several days. Don't wait until the supplies run out, then wait for the rear to bring grain to continue the siege!

We can't afford to delay any longer!"

Huangfu Weiming, his face fierce as a tiger, warned:

In truth, An Shouchong truly did his best; on rainy days siege engines cannot be built nor can the city be attacked, and even climbing the mountain is dangerous. Heaven gave no favor, and An Shouchong had no choice.

Whether it rains or not is not his decision! Now the rain has stopped, so they can naturally begin the proper work!

At that moment, a scout rushed over, approached and, clasping his fists, reported to Huangfu Weiming: "Grand Marshal, over at Chang'an there are troops encamped on the west side of Baqiao, digging trenches around it; the enemy's commanding general is Guo Ziyi."

"Go rest for a while."

Huangfu Weiming helplessly waved his hand.

The imperial troops in Chang'an may not be many, but there are still ten thousand. Holding Baqiao for several days is more than enough; a surprise attack cannot be employed.

Better not entertain those crooked ideas; first removing Huayin City is the best strategy.

"Do you have confidence in tomorrow's siege?"

Huangfu Weiming looked into An Shouchong's eyes and asked.

"Yes."

An Shouchong said, forcing himself.

Could he say "no" at this moment?

That certainly couldn't be!

However, Huangfu Weiming also saw his hesitation and reluctance, raised three fingers and said: "Three days; I, the Grand Marshal, give you three days to capture Huayin City, otherwise military law will attend to you."

It is clear that Huangfu Weiming is truly angry this time. If after three days Huayin is still not taken, this Grand Marshal will indeed take An Shouchong's head as a flag offering!

"Grand Marshal, rest assured; if we fail to take Huayin, I will bring my head to appear before you!"

An Shouchong, with a solemn expression, clasped his fists and bowed, but inwardly he silently lamented.

"Attack? With what to attack?"

When Huangfu Weiming left, An Shouchong let out a long sigh, raised his head toward the towering Huayin City, the sun hanging on the wall, its golden hue tinged with blood‑red light filtering through a gap in the women's wall, making his eyes ache.

What if Huayin is not taken after three days?

An Shouchong thought silently, pondering that if Huayin truly cannot be taken, a rapid march to Chang'an is not impossible to try. Seeking life amid death, a living person cannot die from being forced to hold urine.

"The mountain city cannot dig tunnels; what a pity."

He couldn't help but click his tongue in admiration; Huayin City's terrain limits many siege tactics, making it extremely tricky.

While An Shouchong was planning the siege, Li Guangbi also observed the Hebei rebel army from the city walls, his brow furrowing more and more.

"Tomorrow the enemy will launch a general assault, bringing siege engines. Besides scaling ladders and stone battering carts, there may also be siege towers... hard to deal with."

Li Guangbi propped his chin up, observing the siege engines the rebels had already built below the city, discerning some realities and deceptions.

Huangfu Weiming arrived from afar; there were no winch crossbows or the like. However, he still brought some metal fittings for constructing siege engines. This is standard issue for field armies; when encountering a city difficult to climb, they need to fell nearby trees and temporarily assemble siege engines.

Li Guangbi also had his own difficulties; now inside Huayin City there is a lack of oil and other incendiaries, making it awkward to deal with those wooden siege engines.

Tomorrow is likely to be a hard battle.

It could even be said that under normal circumstances, defending Huayin City in tomorrow's battle would be difficult.

"Junshi, tomorrow will be hard to defend!"

Hao Tingyu walked to Li Guangbi's side and muttered softly.

Seeing Li Guangbi remain silent, he added, "The city gate is blocked; a night raid on the enemy camp won't work."

In fact he had thought of a countermeasure; the only move is to use the night, launch a surprise attack on the enemy camp, and disrupt their deployment.

At least it could push back the rebels' main assault. After all, a night raid that blows up the camp would inevitably unsettle morale, and we couldn't just pull the troops out and storm the city immediately!

"What you say is indeed a method."

Hearing Hao Tingyu's words, Li Guangbi nodded in agreement.

"Junshi, I'm just speaking casually; don't take it seriously!"

Hao Tingyu feared Li Guangbi might cause some trouble.

"No, with the gate blocked, the rebels won't expect a night raid. That's actually an opportunity."

Li Guangbi squinted, as if he had already thought of a plan.

"Is there any oil left?"

He looked at Hao Tingyu and asked.

Whether a certain item in the army exists or not is rarely absolute; one must first determine its order of magnitude before judging.

Take oil, for example—it's essential for cooking in camp, so it can't be completely absent. Yet gathering enough oil for a battle is a tall order.

"Of course we have some, just not much…"

Hao Tingyu said with a troubled expression.

"Use whatever amount we can."

Li Guangbi waved his hand, signaling Hao Tingyu to stop speaking.

"Alright, I'll go prepare it."

Knowing Li Guangbi's temper, Hao Tingyu obeyed without hesitation.

Late at night, Li Guangbi led a team, prepared dozens of ropes, and placed them discreetly from unseen corners and blind spots of the wall. Hundreds of elite soldiers were selected and descended the ropes.

After gathering, they found the Hebei rebels had been frantically digging earth mounds and building siege engines during the day, then resting early for tomorrow's assault. They were exhausted, like dead dogs, and the makeshift camp roared with snoring.

Li Guangbi did not hold back; he split off a few men to beat drums at the far end of the main camp as a feint, while he led the rest to burn the siege engines.

Unfortunately, the limited oil ran out after igniting only a small portion of the siege ladders and battering carts. At that moment the Hebei rebels snapped to attention and organized teams to extinguish the fire.

Seeing the situation was hopeless, further delay would only waste troops; Li Guangbi retreated to the foot of the wall. Hao Tingyu had already prepared many hanging baskets, rope ladders, and dozens of ropes there.

With these, Li Guangbi's force returned to Huayin City almost unscathed.

Sadly, the number of enemy siege engines they burned was limited, only slightly easing the defensive pressure for tomorrow's daytime battle—quite a pity.

It had effect, but fell short of total success.

Hao Tingyu saw Li Guangbi's regretful expression, pointed at the flames below the city, and comforted him:

"The siege ladders are easy; we have few of them, just find a few thick logs to block them from reaching the wall, then set them alight. The problem is the battering carts; we seem to have no particularly good counter."

Hearing this, Li Guangbi also nodded in agreement.

Siege ladders are simple, but such massive devices are hard to push, especially uphill. When the Hebei rebels' infantry bearing arrows reach the foot of the wall, many will be hit, and they will have already exhausted much stamina.

In that state, scaling the wall against a waiting defender is clearly a bit forced.

But the battering carts are a different beast; here in Huayin the stone is abundant, so material is easy to find. Thrown stones hitting the wall can easily collapse Huayin City's stone‑built high wall.

For this "strength over skill" contraption, Li Guangbi seemed to have no particularly good solution.

If we can't leave the city, we can't destroy the battering carts. Inside the city only a limited number of winch crossbows are mounted on the walls. Those can't withstand stone impacts; a single hit will break them!

True warriors dare to face bleak lives and spilling blood. With no counter, just use the Heavenly Spirit Cover to intercept; after all, we can't run away now!

"Let the battering carts endure for now; have the defending soldiers carry shields and form a formation. Drag it out for as many days as possible."

Li Guangbi sighed, having already set his expectations. Like a clever wife without rice, many defensive methods in Huayin City cannot be employed; he is also helpless.

Fortunately, the defending commander An Shouchong also seems unable to employ many siege tactics.

Both sides are thus weakened simultaneously, ending up fighting on almost the same level.

……

Fengling Ferry is vast; since the Han dynasty it has been one of the key crossing points in the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River, with many ships moored.

From here, a boat to the opposite bank lands on a riverbank about five or six li away. Considering rowing upstream and detours, it's roughly ten li of rowing.

Far or near, it's neither extremely far nor extremely close—enough for the army prepared on the opposite bank to form battle lines!

Fang Youde led over ten thousand elite troops, moving by day concealed and by night marching, finally arriving here after four days. In the meantime, to avoid detection by the Hebei rebels, they spent considerable effort on scouting and ambushes, making the journey a few days slower than planned.

However, heavy rain these days indeed slowed progress, but the weather also provided much concealment for their movements.

Whether it is a blessing or a curse remains hard to say.

When Fang Youde's group reached Fengling Ferry, it was already five days after Hao Tingyu had left the unit.

Fortunately, many ships were moored at Fengling Ferry, enough for the ten‑thousand‑strong army to cross the river.

At dusk, Fang Youde found a boatman familiar with the waters, took Li Jiaqing and others, and rowed to a plateau on the opposite bank to personally observe the battlefield.

Looking westward from afar, as he expected, Huangfu Weiming's Hebei rebel main force was besieging Huayin City. Their camp stretched to Tongguan, spanning several li. Though night had not yet fallen, torches burned inside and out of the camp.

Though sizable, the defenses seemed lax. There were no moats, ditches, arrow towers, or the like.

After all, in Huangfu Weiming's view, almost no enemy could approach east of Tongguan, so building such defenses would be wasteful.

"Grand Marshal, the enemy is unprepared; our chance has arrived."

Li Jiaqing showed a delighted expression.

Everyone who leads troops can gauge the battlefield situation at a glance, getting a seven or eight out of ten.

Rumor has it that when Li Erfeng first entered battle, he could assess the enemy's strength and weakness just by observing the battlefield.

Whether that's true or just the Li family bragging, no one knows.

Fang Youde remained silent, arms crossed, staring toward Huayin City, deep in thought.

He seemed to be weighing the pros and cons.

Seeing him not speak, Li Jiqing also didn't want to interrupt his train of thought, so he also kept silent, and the atmosphere on the scene instantly became dull.

After a long while, as if the sky had darkened considerably, Fang Youde finally let out a breath and said, "If we act now, this commander has no certainty of victory; we still need to wait a bit longer."

Hearing this, Li Jiqing was startled; he hadn't heard Fang Youde speak such ambiguous words in a long time.

According to past habit, Fang Youde's usual declarations were things like "Rest assured," "The rebel army plants its flag and sells its heads," "You just watch from the side," and similar bold statements.

"Does the Grand Commander think that Huangfu Weiming's troops are harder to defeat?"

Li Jiqing asked doubtfully.

Fang Youde waved his hand and said:

"No, previously even if we didn't win, I had already prepared a retreat route in my heart."

"But this time, if we cannot win, the consequences would be unimaginable, hence I am anxious about gains and losses."

"The rebel army couldn't attack the city due to rain the past few days; now the start of the assault is surely no more than two or three days away, and they still have plenty of energy left unspent."

"Judging by our habit of carrying seven days' dry rations, the rebel army's current grain stores likely still have a considerable surplus."

"Acting now, even if it were a surprise attack, Huangfu Weiming could still calmly direct and deploy his forces."

"We have the initiative but few troops; the chances are about fifty-fifty. I as commander will not undertake a futile effort."

"So we still need to make Li Guangbi suffer a bit, dragging out these rebel troops to increase their consumption."

"Once the rebel army is utterly exhausted, we can then strike and decide the matter in one battle."

"Fang Youde rarely gave Li Jiqing such a lengthy explanation, and now even Li Huai Guang beside them understood."

"Grand Commander, when the time comes we must certainly let this humble subordinate serve as the vanguard to break the enemy!"

Li Huai Guang clasped his fists and requested to go into battle.

"Sure, sure."

Fang Youde gazed toward the setting sun as that red orb gradually sank below the horizon, muttering to himself:

"Once this battle is over, the overall situation of the world should basically be settled."