Chapter 371

When fire suddenly broke out at night, everyone knew something major had happened. No matter how unreliable Niu Fu and Li Ru might be, they were men who had followed Dong Zhuo for years and had some military experience, so they naturally dared not be negligent.

Thus, the two of them, setting aside their days-long cold war, briefly conferred and immediately split into two routes — Niu Fu personally led troops to defend the south of the city, while Li Ru went to the western wall to oversee the battle... After all, although the great fire had started in the south, the Shaanmo where Gongsun Xun was stationed was only seven or eight li from Shanxian, reachable in an instant, so how could that man possibly let such a battle opportunity slip by so easily?

In fact, not long after Li Ru, clad in full armor, ascended the city wall, he saw from afar dots of torchlight appearing on the main road west of the city. Seeing how quickly the enemy had come, he could not help but grow deeply troubled... It must be said that this time our Dr. Li reacted extremely fast, having roughly guessed what was going on in just a moment.

Of course, he had no choice but to be quick — not only Li Wenyou, but even Niu Fu and the other officers great and small had also figured out what was happening, because at this moment the only enemy troops that could come from south of the city were Xu Rong and his forces, and only Xu Rong's rebellion could be considered "reasonable and logical"!

However, compared to Li Ru's anxiety, Niu Fu at this moment could only hate himself for not having killed a two-thousand-dan official earlier to assert his authority... If he had decided earlier to kill a two-thousand-dan official to assert authority, he would certainly have killed Xu Rong! And those sorcerers and witches — they had clearly divined that he would face calamity in this battle, and had even identified the chief culprit as a two-thousand-dan official in his own camp, yet why had they not figured out it was Xu Rong and not Dong Yue?

At the southern wall, they had long been arrayed in strict formation, with countless troops moving and reinforcing behind them. Yet as large quantities of equipment, arrows, torches, and even precious oil and foul-smelling manure water were carried up onto the wall, for some reason, General of the Household Niu, who stood watching and waiting from atop the gate tower, grew increasingly agitated and confused.

It should be said that the peak of classical Chinese military technology in siege defense would not be reached until the Tang and Song dynasties. Before that, generally only famous strategic passes and specially large cities possessed complete defensive systems... At the very least, in this era, military practice still prioritized high walls and few gates, rather than the defensive characteristic of "low walls and many gates" explicitly prescribed in the Song dynasty.

But it is worth noting that this change and progress did not arise spontaneously, but evolved passively in response to advances in siege warfare technology.

In other words, the prevalence of high walls and relatively few city gates in this period had its reasons — before the appearance of large-scale trebuchets, a tall wall itself was a form of reliance.

Yet Li Ru and Niu Fu remained extremely uneasy. This unease came from Xu Rong's sudden attack; from the fact that Gongsun Xun, the moment he arrived beneath the walls, assumed an attacking posture without the slightest hesitation; and also from the nearly ten thousand troops of Hu Zhen and Li Meng, who should have been there but were nowhere to be seen at this moment... The sudden turn of events, coupled with the shift in relative strength, inevitably made hearts pound with fear.

"We have only been at Shaanmo for a few days, so we only have long ladders available — we would be better off relying on a battering ram..." An officer in charge of equipment came forward to report to Gongsun Xun.

"Then use the battering ram!" Gongsun Xun did not dismount, but gave the order at once. "Raise shields to protect the men, and ram the gate immediately! Gao Shun!"

Gao Suqing, hearing this, immediately stepped forward and cupped his fists: "Your general is here!"

"Take the main infantry force to the Maojin ferry north of the city!" Gongsun Xun lowered his voice and instructed. "Two requirements: first, seize and preserve as many boats as possible; second, make as much noise and commotion as you can!"

Gao Shun gave a slight nod and immediately took his leave to carry out the order.

Gongsun Xun then turned back to look at Cheng Lian, Wei Yue, Zhao Yun, Tian Yu, Tian Chou, and the other commanders, and ordered the entire army to dismount and provide full covering fire with bows, while also commanding the auxiliary troops behind them to raise torches and set up braziers to boost their show of force!

As a result, although no bloody battle had yet begun, the clamor swelled all at once. And though Li Ru saw that the enemy had not launched a full-scale assault on the city, the gate still had to be defended, the arrows that came flying over the wall from time to time still had to be dodged, counter-suppression still had to be organized, and the movements of the dense troops before the city still had to be watched... And when the sound of war cries suddenly erupted from the Maojin ferry north of Shanxian, he was so startled that he jumped up in panic.

It must be said that it was only at this moment that Li Wenyou realized the ferry north of the city was a major defensive weak point... Perhaps it could not exactly be called a defensive weak point, since a full three thousand troops were stationed there, along with a small fortified camp. But the fact remained that it lay outside the city, without the obstruction of city walls, and was well within the striking range of the enemy's famed "Camp Crusher" unit.

In other words, that place was now, at the very least, the weakest point in the defense! And there were boats there! And enough construction materials that could be taken and used as siege materials to build simple siege engines on the spot!

At this thought, Li Ru hurriedly sent a trusted military clerk to find Niu Fu — only Niu Fu, who held both the imperial staff and the tiger tally, had the authority to dispatch troops from within the city to go to the rescue!

But not long after the clerk had left on his errand, Li Ru suddenly felt that something was wrong!

After pondering for a good while, Dr. Li finally realized — west and north of the city, where Gongsun Xun was personally present, there was a mix of feint and real action, with firelight and war cries, arrow showers and battering rams, an enormous commotion. Yet south of the city, where Niu Fu and Xu Rong faced each other directly, it was strangely quiet. Calculating the time, with things having reached such a pitch here, there was no reason Xu Rong had not yet arrived in the south, was there?

In fact, Li Wenyou first strained his ears to listen, then personally went out of the gate tower, shielded by armored soldiers raising their shields, to observe southward. Gazing into the distance, under the increasingly deep twilight of the southern night sky, there was only the great blaze of fire in the distant mountains, yet not a single sound that a normal battlefield should have.

"Go quickly to the south wall and find that wretch Niu Fu, and find out what is going on!" Inside and outside the gate tower, Li Ru, crouching behind shields, in his desperation actually pushed aside his personal guards, somewhat hysterically. "All of you go! Ask him why Xu Rong still hasn't attacked! Is he hesitating? Tell him that if Xu Bojin is hesitating, he can first try to stabilize him!"

Several attendants, at a loss, scattered in confusion, while the remaining armored soldiers hurried forward again to pick up the shields from the ground, preparing to continue protecting Li Ru.

But in that gap, Taishi Ci, who had been directing from horseback earlier and had long noticed the man stepping out of the gate tower, saw him from afar. He suddenly spurred his horse forward, charging straight to the foot of the gate tower, and then, borrowing the momentum of his horse, loosed an arrow with all his strength!

The arrow, like a shooting star in the dark night, struck Li Ru squarely in the face!

However, after all, it was shot from below upward, and after all, it was a hasty shot from a great distance — even an archer as supremely skilled as Taishi Ziyi could not guarantee a single fatal strike. In fact, although that arrow struck Li Wenyou in the face, it only grazed his cheek and, incidentally, cut the tongue of the man who was shouting loudly at that moment.

In short, Li Ru was not seriously injured, and showed no intention of retreating to bandage his wounds. Only, his face was covered in blood, one side of his face burned with searing pain, and though he wished to direct the battle, his speech had become halting and leaky, so he could only barely convey orders through the military clerks and attendants around him.

Meanwhile, at the southern gate tower, Niu Fu, for his part, had no wounds anywhere on his body, and without needing Li Ru to remind him, he had already begun calling out to Xu Rong from the wall, speaking kindly and persuasively, in order to avoid fighting on two fronts!

"Brother Bojin!" Niu Fu, leaning against the gate tower and likewise shielded by two large shields, called out from afar to the man below the wall. "Though you are an old subordinate of the General of the Guards, my father-in-law has never wronged you... Tell me, why, instead of staying quietly in Yiyang, have you now led your troops to attack, meeting us with blades and ruining our past friendship?"

Xu Rong turned his head to look at the road behind him, already cut off by the great fire, and could not help but smile bitterly: "General of the Household Niu, at this point, more words are useless... But if you will grant me one thing, I can refrain from fighting you."

"Brother Bojin, please speak frankly." Niu Fu was overjoyed at these words.

"I wish to go west of the city to the General of the Guards... to join my lord." Xu Rong spoke earnestly. "You see, fire has already risen behind me, so I can only go forward. Therefore, if you will allow me to circle around the city and head west, without firing a single arrow or bolt to stop me, and without sending anyone to harry my rear, I can guarantee I will not retaliate!"

Niu Fu also smiled bitterly behind his shield: "If my father-in-law learns of this, how will I explain myself? And once you reach Baima... once you reach General Baima, how could you possibly refuse his orders to attack the city? We are both underlings — why must underlings make things difficult for other underlings?"

At these words, above and below the wall, the men of Bingzhou and the men of Liangzhou all looked at each other in dismay.

"Then you and I can only meet with blades!" Xu Rong, equally choked up, could only sigh helplessly. "You must know that arrows have no eyes!"

"Why must it come to this?" Niu Fu, hearing this, could not help but stamp his foot atop the wall. But seeing no movement below the wall, he too became forthright, pushing aside the two shield-bearing armored soldiers beside him and leaning directly over the battlements to shout down. "You are skilled in battle, but with cavalry attacking a city at night, can you really do anything to me?"

"Then what do you propose?" Xu Rong was unimpressed.

"You might as well go east of the city." Niu Fu pointed. "Go east of the city and wait a while!"

"So that you and Dong Yue can pinch me from front and rear?" Xu Bojin's expression suddenly changed, and he burst out cursing. "Do you take me for a three-year-old child?!"

Niu Fu, helpless, tried again to deceive him: "Dong Yue has already been killed by me. His head is hanging outside the east wall. Right now, Mianchi and the narrow pass at Mount Xiao are completely unguarded."

"I don't believe it!" Xu Rong tilted his head and scrutinized the top of the wall, then sneered. "Unless you can give me something as a guarantee?"

"You don't mean you want my imperial staff and tiger tally, do you?" Niu Fu, leaning on the battlements and craning his neck, looked even more helpless. "How could I possibly give you such things? But I can have Dong Yue's head fetched for you."

"I want neither of those things, nor Dong Yue's head. I only want one item you carry on your person!" Xu Rong replied sternly.

"What item?" Niu Fu was momentarily bewildered.

"Guess." Xu Rong suddenly laughed.

Niu Fu was furious in his heart, thinking only that the other man was toying with him. Yet just as he was about to reply, he felt a tremendous force strike him from behind, and then his whole body was flying through the air... Then with a thud, he landed directly on the ground outside the city, right between the two armies!

The wall was no more than three zhang high, but adding the height of the gate tower, it was still quite enough. Moreover, Niu Fu was clad in heavy armor, so he landed in a dazed heap, seeing stars and bleeding from all seven orifices.

In a blur, as the stars before his eyes gradually faded only to be replaced by a darkening field of vision, General of the Household Niu suddenly heard a voice from atop the wall, a voice that sounded vaguely familiar, laughing loudly: "I don't know exactly what item General Xu wants from General Niu's person either, so please come forward and take it yourself!"

As soon as these words were spoken, a clamor of shouting and the sound of blades rose from atop the wall.

"It's the Bingzhou men!" Amid the pain and blur, Niu Fu could only form one judgment, and it was quite correct.

Yet even as the chaos and fighting erupted atop the wall, General of the Household Niu heard the city gate behind him creak open — someone had been prepared all along, and at the same moment they kicked him down, they had seized control of the gate!

The great gate swung open. Xu Rong, who had long since made up his mind when the fire first started and had merely been playing for time to create an opportunity for Zhang Liao, drew his blade upon seeing this and gave the order for the entire army to charge in! Hearing the order, Xu Rong's trusted men and the old troops of the Northern Army took the lead, guiding the five thousand cavalrymen, some still bewildered, as they surged in with a roar. The city was instantly thrown into chaos.

No one paid any attention to General Niu lying prone on the ground, nor did anyone take any item from his person. Yet as the great army poured in, the trampling of hooves was unavoidable, and Niu Bozheng's life gradually became impossible to preserve.

His spirit reeling, not only did his sight fail completely, but his hearing and sense of pain also gradually faded, so that life and death were about to exchange places. Yet for some reason, in his final moments, Niu Fu thought neither of his wife and children at home, nor of the gold and jewels he had amassed here in Shanxian. Instead, he thought of that sorcerer who had been burning with fever due to heavenly punishment — Wang Zhong of Luoyang. One could only say that those fellows had divined with extreme accuracy; it was just that he himself had been too ridiculous, failing to drag Dong Yue into the city before killing him, but instead killing him hastily in the gate tunnel, thus bringing this great calamity upon himself.

Leaving aside Niu Fu's deathbed repentance, on the other side, Zhang Liao and Zhang Fan, having succeeded in opening the gate and joined forces with the cavalry of Xu Rong and Xu Xing, found their morale greatly boosted. At the same time, within the city, of that pair of brothers-in-law, one had been kicked half to death by Zhang Liao, and the other had been shot leaky by Taishi Ci's arrow, making the battle proceed like splitting bamboo.

In fact, because of the presence of Xu Rong and Zhang Liao, many Guanzhong troops surrendered and switched sides without even understanding what had happened.

At the western wall, Li Ru had sent so many men to find Niu Fu, yet neither had reinforcements come to defend outside the city, nor had any reply been seen. Instead, from within the gate tower, he suddenly heard the sound of war cries rising from the south, and through the window saw a fiery dragon surging into the city from the south under cover of night, heading straight for his own position on the western wall... He was frozen from head to toe, utterly at a loss!

And very soon, the news of Xu Rong entering the city and Zhang Liao killing Niu Fu and opening the gate spread rapidly to the western wall, carried by the enemy's own shouts and swift advance. Outside the city, the Youzhou and Bingzhou troops, hearing the cries, were likewise greatly boosted in morale, shouting back and forth in response across the wall... On the city wall, even with Li Ru in command, it instantly began to totter on the verge of collapse.

Beneath the summer night's Silver River, surrounded by the glow of firelight, Li Ru ignored the attendants and officers who came to ask for orders. Instead, he covered his cheeks and slumped to the ground, hating only that he had always loved reading the classics but had forgotten that a man of Liangzhou must, no matter what, hold military authority — so that when battle came, though he saw clearly, he could only sit and watch a waste like Niu Fu stumble step by step into ruin, destroying the whole situation!

Yet, on second thought, Li Wenyou had to admit that he actually bore more responsibility for the matters of Xu Rong and Zhang Liao. So, in the end, this Dr. Li let out a mournful sigh, covered his face, and simply let his subordinates flee as they would.

Once Li Ru abandoned command, Shanxian had no further chance of recovery. Xu Rong drove straight into the city, immediately turned toward the west of the city, seized the West Gate, and let Gongsun Xun's main force enter. Then he turned toward the north of the city, opening the North Gate in an attempt to force the surrender of the Maojin armies outside the city... However, when he reached the north of the city again, he was shocked to find that Gao Shun had already seized the ferry crossing, and the defeated troops from Guanxi were already flooding outside the North Gate.

This battle was fought in baffling confusion, yet it was utterly effortless. At the third watch, General of the Guard Gongsun Xun moved his ceremonial escort and entered Shanxian.

"My lord!" As soon as he entered the city, Tian Yu came on his own initiative to report. "We have captured Dong Zhuo's son-in-law, General of the Household Li Ru. This man says he wishes to see you, my lord!"

"I will not see him. Behead him together with Niu Fu. Send Niu Fu's head to Mianchi in the Xiaoshan narrow pass, and send Li Ru's head into Tongguan!" Gongsun Xun paid no heed at all and directly ordered their execution.

Tian Yu slowly nodded, but Zhang Liao, who had come forward on his own to welcome them, stood to the side, hesitating as if he had something to say.

"Wenyuan, you have something to say?" Gongsun Xun looked down from horseback and spoke. "Do you wish to plead for Li Wenyou?"

"Reporting to my lord, that is not my meaning!" Zhang Liao hurriedly answered in a loud voice. "It is only that Niu Fu's body is completely mangled, and I do not know whether his head can still be retrieved!"

Gongsun Xun, baffled, frowned slightly. "Then send his entire corpse, armor and all!"

"Aye!" Zhang Liao raised his head and puffed out his chest, shouting his acknowledgment.

——————I am the dividing line that orders beheadings——————

"The Grand Ancestor conquered Shanxian, killed Niu Fu, and captured Li Ru. Ru was Zhuo's son-in-law and also a Erudite of the Five Classics. He bowed to the soldiers and requested an audience with the Grand Ancestor, saying: 'Ru is certainly to die, but in my quarters there is a copy of Xun Ciming's Commentary on the Book of Changes, with some minor annotations. I beg a three-day stay of execution to allow Ru to complete the full text.' The soldiers went to see the Grand Ancestor, and the Grand Ancestor immediately ordered him killed! He was thirty-three years old at the time." — New Book of Yan, Volume 1, Annals of the Grand Ancestor, Emperor Wu

PS: The campaign to win a hundred Alliance Masters for the book's first anniversary ultimately failed, but gaining forty Alliance Masters in three days is enough to make me proud... I should have taken the chance to post more chapters in return, but too many things came up and it ended up rather rushed. I kowtow to everyone in apology.

At the end of the month, or when this volume is finished, I will list a complete roster of donors and will certainly thank everyone properly!

New book friend group: 931557287. Everyone is welcome to come and hang out.

(End of Chapter)