Chapter 119: Heavy Implements

A chorus of terrified screams erupted below the city wall. The servants scattered in all directions. The roving bandits standing on the lower half of the bamboo ladders jumped off one after another to flee for their lives. A few quick-witted servants picked up the fallen cylinders and hurled them back randomly. One cylinder flew straight toward Xiao Wazi and his group, landing with a smack a few steps away. White smoke hissed from the small hole in the bamboo tube.

The group of Child Army soldiers screamed and scattered in a panic. Xiao Wazi yanked over the propped-up door panel, threw his whole body flat on the ground, and let the door panel slant over him as cover.

The continuous crack of explosions merged into a single roar, like the densest firecrackers during the New Year's festival. The booming sound pounded relentlessly against Xiao Wazi's eardrums. On the door panel, a series of sharp thuds drummed, causing it to vibrate slightly.

Xiao Wazi lay on the ground, gasping for breath, then shook his head vigorously. Just as the ringing in his ears began to subside, another boom erupted not far away. Some other section had been blasted again.

Miserable screams sounded from beyond the door panel. Xiao Wazi rolled out from under it and looked up. Amid the swirling white smoke to his left, he could vaguely make out a row of bamboo ladders toppled askew. At the base of the city wall, many servants lay sprawled in a tangled mess, all rolling on the ground and howling in pain. The remaining roving bandits on the ladders, thoroughly frightened, slid down the bamboo poles.

In the distance, a bamboo ladder snapped with a crack on its right side and immediately collapsed to the right. The Long Family at the top cried out in alarm, his round shield and waist saber flying from his hands into the air. He plummeted along with the ladder, slamming into the ground so hard that the white smoke in that area was blasted apart and scattered.

That dark, stocky Child Army soldier was howling nearby. Xiao Wazi went over to check his injuries but couldn't hold him down at all. He immediately called back two companions, and only with the three of them together could they pin the dark, stocky Child Army soldier's hands. His head kept thrashing wildly, and his arms strained desperately to rise. It took all three of their strength to hold him down.

Two black objects were embedded in his face. One of them was lodged in his eye. There was a bloody hole in his cheek, and the teeth inside were nowhere to be seen, leaving only shattered gums. Bloody fluid gurgled steadily from the bloody hole.

Xiao Wazi scanned his body; there were at least two or three more wounds. He freed one hand and grabbed the tail end of one of the objects. With a tug from Xiao Wazi, the thing came loose immediately.

"So it's a nail." Xiao Wazi held the object up before his eyes. It was a short, small iron nail. It didn't look like it could nail anything, it was too short. If it hadn't struck the face, it probably wouldn't have caused much damage.

A nail this short was likely made specifically for these giant firecrackers. There had to be at least several dozen such things inside. Only that wound on his cheek must have been caused by something of a different shape. Xiao Wazi pried open the Child Army soldier's mouth but couldn't find the object.

Below the wall, the ground was covered with writhing roving bandits. The servants who had fled were cowering twenty paces away, not daring to approach the wall for the moment. The men atop the wall seized this opportunity to push over all the bamboo ladders hooked onto the battlements. The first wave of the assault was teetering on the brink of collapse.

A drum roll sounded from the position of the Yellow Banner, followed by the blare of horns from all around. A new batch of Post Commander arrived with their men. The Post Commander, High Shine, and Precious Banner bearers supervising the battle at the rear shouted furious curses, brandishing swords and spears to force the retreating servants to resume the city assault.

The servants were blocked in the middle. A vicious Post Commander, without a word of explanation, swung his blade and cut down the two servants lagging furthest behind. Driven by the Long Family, the mass of roving bandits had no choice but to charge back to the base of the wall.

Bamboo ladders were hastily raised again, but the momentum this time was far weaker. The bandits climbing the ladders were hesitant. The servants below held up their shields, watching the top of the wall with intense concentration. The moment anything resembling a cylinder was thrown down, the crowd below would instantly scatter.

On the contrary, the side with the square tables suffered far fewer casualties. The servants there were all crouching under the tables, which reduced their exposed area. Moreover, most of them faced the city wall, so the iron nails struck non-vital parts.

Those servants pulled out the nails themselves, endured the pain, and continued digging out the city bricks. One after another, men ran back carrying two bricks. Fresh servants rushed to the wall to reinforce them, and the assault continued to unfold.

The defenders on the wall kept throwing down those fire thunders. Every explosion invariably caused chaos below the wall and inflicted some casualties on the servants under the tables, making their assault sporadic and slowing the progress of digging into the wall.

"Use door panels to shield the outside!" Xiao Wazi shouted to the Post Commander at the rear. "Those nails can't pierce door panels."

The Post Commander heard this and called over several servants. They carried door panels and placed them against the outer side of the tables, covering most of the area. As expected, the number of wounded servants dropped drastically. The speed of digging into the wall in this section began to increase. Men were already coming out carrying rammed earth, and they received bamboo tallies just the same.

Xiao Wazi remained hidden behind the door panel, not leading his Team of Child Army soldiers to raise ladders and scale the wall. On the city wall, more lit straw bundles were thrown down, mixed with fire thunders that exploded nearby from time to time. No one below the wall dared to go and fork away those straw bundles. Fierce flames blazed atop the tables, burning the water-soaked cotton quilts with a loud sizzling sound.

The servants below howled as they dug frantically at the earth. Xiao Wazi could already see two distinct depressions in the city wall. If the digging continued this smoothly, they would soon form a cave in the wall large enough to shelter men, making it extremely difficult for the defenders above to attack the people inside. Once the base of the city wall was hollowed out enough, it would be very easy to collapse it.

"Xiao Wazi, save me." After his initial struggles, the dark, stocky Child Army soldier was now extremely weak. He had a wound under his ribs that was bleeding rapidly, impossible to staunch. His entire body was drenched in sweat, his face covered in blood. The nail in his eye could not be removed; it had pierced the eyelid and fixed itself in the eyeball. The Child Army soldier had been able to see only out of one eye this whole time.

"Don't abandon me. I saved you back in Yunyang." The Child Army soldier grabbed Xiao Wazi's hand. "I can still kill with just one eye."

Xiao Wazi gripped his hand tightly. "We're all brothers. I will never abandon you. Once we dig through this wall, we'll go in together and slaughter them all."

The Child Army soldier nodded weakly. Xiao Wazi turned his gaze back to the city wall. The fire thunders had also become ineffective against the tables. That black pot from earlier appeared at the battlements again for another reconnaissance, but for a long while, there was no movement. He wondered if they had any other tricks left.

Sure enough, movement came quickly. A long, straight, and thick object appeared at an arrow crenel. From Xiao Wazi's angle, he could see diagonal stripes running along it. He heard the men on the wall shouting a work chant in unison.

"What is it this time?"

Before Xiao Wazi could make it out clearly, the object began to roll. In the blink of an eye, it tumbled over the crenel and plummeted rapidly toward the tables below the wall.

With a thunderous bang, all four wooden legs of the table snapped simultaneously. The lime, stones, and arrows piled on the tabletop were launched into the air. The horizontal board split cleanly down the middle, and countless splinters erupted from the break, shooting out in all directions. The door panel shielding the outside from fire thunders flipped over and crashed to the ground.

The four servants underneath were instantly crushed by the broken table boards, accompanied by the sickening crackle of shattering bones.

The servants nearby were startled and all stopped to look over.

As the dust cleared, the table was now pressed flat against the ground. A few hands and feet protruded from the edges of the table board. One of the hands was still twitching uncontrollably. Not a single one of the four men had uttered a cry of agony.

Xiao Wazi rubbed his eyes. The object that had struck the table had also shattered into several pieces, but its original shape was still recognizable. It was unmistakably a millstone. Judging by its size, it had to weigh at least six or seven hundred jin.

At that moment, a second millstone appeared at the adjacent battlement, positioned directly above another butcher's block.

"Run!" Several servants further back saw it too and shouted desperately at the men under that table.

The two servants underneath heard them. Without even pausing to grab bricks, they scrambled out from under the table at top speed. The other two were slower to react. One was in the middle of retrieving a brick, and just as he realized the danger and tried to flee, he was blocked momentarily by the third man escaping. That delay lasted only a single breath.

Just as his head emerged, the heavy millstone came crashing down from the sky. The seven-hundred-jin millstone, accelerated by its free fall, instantly released all its energy onto the table. The table shattered like rotten wood. The table board pinned the back of the man's neck, pressing it all the way into the earth.

The servant's face was tilted upward, pressed against the ground. His mouth was wide open, and his eyelids blinked a few times, but the rest of his body was completely immobile. Only then did the deadly millstone topple over with a crash.

Xiao Wazi felt his breathing grow labored. He reached up and tugged at his collar. This Tongcheng not only had formidable constables, but their city defense tricks were truly numerous. Still, he didn't believe Tongcheng could have that many millstones.

"Let's see how many millstones you have."

Just as he thought this, two more millstones appeared at the battlements in quick succession, along with long stone blocks—all objects of immense weight.

The servants on the outer side shouted warnings. The roving bandits under the tables didn't wait for the objects to drop; they fled in panic one after another. The heavy objects were simply left sitting there. Who would dare go back to that position? The servants under the other tables also scrambled out. Who knew when a millstone would come crashing down on them next?

"Why is it so loud?" The dark, stocky Child Army soldier suddenly seemed to regain consciousness and tightened his grip on Xiao Wazi's hand again.

Xiao Wazi stared down at the scene below the wall without speaking. The Child Army soldiers behind him had fallen silent now too.

Beneath the distant Yellow Banner, a rapid drum roll sounded. Then, a mounted High Shine from the Old Camp rode along relaying orders. The red-clad Old Camp soldiers put away their arrows and drew their respective weapons, pressing forward toward the front.

One of the Child Army soldiers said, "Xiao Wazi, we can't wait any longer. The Old Camp is coming to kill the tail of the line."

Xiao Wazi glanced behind him. Those Old Camp soldiers were advancing with murderous intent. No one ahead of them—whether servants, Long Family, or Post Commander—dared to stay in place. They all shifted toward the direction of the city wall.

Killing the tail of the line meant cutting down those who lagged furthest behind, forcing everyone to attack the wall. It seemed Eight Master had seen that the wall-digging tactic had failed and was now compelling these men to scale the wall like ants, regardless of casualties.

"Raise the ladders!" Xiao Wazi knew there was no reasoning with the tail-killing squads and hastily gave the order.

The group of Child Army soldiers scrambled over one another to lift the bamboo ladders and lean them against the city wall.

With the ladders set up by his men, soldiers began to climb. These Child Army soldiers were much faster than the servants.

Just as Xiao Wazi was about to stand up, the dark, stocky Child Army soldier grabbed him again. "Brother Xiao Wazi, don't leave me. Take me with you."

Xiao Wazi paused, then crouched down and looked at his face. Blood was now streaming from his left eye.

"Don't worry, brother. I value loyalty and brotherhood above all." Xiao Wazi patted his cheek, then suddenly clamped a hand around the Child Army soldier's throat. The dark, stocky soldier was already extremely weak. He had never imagined Xiao Wazi would do this. All he could do now was raise both hands to grasp Xiao Wazi's hand. His tongue quickly protruded.

The dense muscle fibers of Xiao Wazi's lean forearm stood out as he strangled the man's throat with deadly force. The Child Army soldier mustered his last burst of strength, his fingernails digging deep into Xiao Wazi's arm. His body pressed downward. The dark, stocky soldier's right eye bulged wide open, then began to roll back white. Even his left eye, pierced by the iron nail, tore open further.

A moment later, the Child Army soldier's hands fell away. He breathed no more.

"I value loyalty and brotherhood the most. I won't leave you to suffer." Xiao Wazi spoke coldly, then released his grip. He patted the Child Army soldier's face. As he raised his hand, he noticed blood trickling from the gouges the fingernails had left in his arm.

Xiao Wazi looked down at the Child Army soldier for a moment, then suddenly raised his foot and stomped viciously onto the soldier's face, driving the iron nail completely into the eyeball.

The dark, stocky Child Army soldier's eyeball burst, oozing a mixture of black, white, and red fluids.

The veteran Battalion Commanders behind were already in the Nearby Area. Like a tide, the Servants and Long Family surged toward the City Wall. Xiao Wazi raised his head to look at the top of the wall — the Child Army he had brought was already beginning to climb.

Xiao Wazi lifted his arm to his Mouth, licked the fresh blood flowing out with his tongue, drew his Waist Saber, and walked toward the City Wall.