Chapter 110: Luring the Enemy into the Trap

"Kill..."

A Northern Di soldier jumped down from a Scaling Ladder, brandishing a Curved Blade as he charged toward the defending soldiers.

His cry came to an abrupt end as several Long Spears instantly pierced his body.

Following this, the defending soldiers pushed away the Scaling Ladder that had been leaning against the city wall.

This was the fourth day of the siege, and neither side showed any intention of admitting defeat.

"Your Highness, the Northern Di must be getting desperate now." Looking toward the sun that was about to set, Chang Wei's face was full of mockery.

Over the past few days, the Northern Di had suffered at least seven or eight thousand casualties.

Today, the Northern Di were clearly lacking in morale.

Once an attack was thwarted, they would immediately retreat.

"That is exactly what I want—to make them desperate. Only hope amidst despair makes people lose their reason," Zhao Xu said calmly.

He had delayed and held back, not immediately luring the Northern Di into the trap, for the sole purpose of making them anxious and impatient.

In this way, once the city gates opened, they would surely charge in regardless of the cost.

"Despair, hope, reason." Chang Wei was confused by this overly scholarly remark from Zhao Xu.

However, he was already accustomed to it.

Since Yan Wang woke up, he often said such inexplicable things.

Although he could not understand them, they were impressive nonetheless.

"Does Your Highness mean to keep dragging this out?" Chang Wei asked.

"No need. If we drag it out too long, Kutu will grow suspicious. Let it be tonight," Zhao Xu said.

In his view, the casualties of the past few days were enough to drive Kutu mad.

Most importantly, after four days of unsuccessful sieges, the Northern Di soldiers were bound to have severely depleted morale and be exhausted.

Such a Northern Di army was different from the one that had just arrived at Yancheng with high morale.

As the sun's rays gradually turned blood-red.

The Northern Di soldiers left a field of corpses behind and retreated once again.

Northern Di encampment.

Kutu's complexion was clearly much more haggard.

After four days, seeing the casualties mounting, continuing to fight would be extremely disadvantageous for him.

Meanwhile, the morale of Yan Wang's soldiers, compared to four days ago, had not decreased but had instead risen significantly.

"Great King, will the plan fail?" Muto asked cautiously.

This feeling had grown stronger and stronger since the fourth day began.

There was no reason for Yancheng to remain calm after they had been attacking for four days.

Seeing Kutu remain silent, Muto continued, "Great King, if we continue to attack the city, it will only increase casualties in vain. It would be better to hold our position, send men to contact Tamu and the others, and combine our forces to launch another attack on Yancheng."

Kutu's pride as a ruler made him unwilling to admit that he had made a foolish mistake, sacrificing so many Northern Di soldiers.

But he also did not want to return to the Grassland in such a dejected manner.

Otherwise, he would surely be whipped by the Khan.

Muto's words were exactly what he wanted to hear. "Hmm, you should send men immediately. This time, even if it is a forced assault, we must take Yancheng."

Muto nodded and walked out of the tent.

Night fell, and the earth became quiet again.

Only the cawing of crows could be heard from time to time.

In the middle of the night, Kutu, in his sleep, suddenly felt a faint light outside his eyelids.

He opened his eyes and discovered that the light was coming from outside the tent.

Walking out of the tent, he looked toward the south and saw red light soaring into the sky from within Yancheng; it was clearly a great fire.

His heart tightened suddenly, and he said with great joy, "Tuoba Lie has finally made his move."

At the same time, more and more Northern Di were awakened by the scene inside Yancheng.

Muto came to Kutu's side. "Great King, this..."

"Immediately have five thousand Cavalry assemble. The outcome will be decided tonight." Kutu's expression was excited.

Thinking that he would soon be able to enter Yancheng and tear Yan Wang into ten thousand pieces, he almost laughed out loud.

Muto had already given up hope, but the current situation did not allow him to hold onto even a shred of doubt.

He immediately gave the order for the Cavalry to assemble.

These five thousand Cavalry had rested sufficiently over the past four days; if they could enter the city, they would turn Yancheng upside down.

The firelight inside the city grew brighter, illuminating the city walls clearly.

Kutu saw the Yan Wang soldiers on the city walls descending one after another, seemingly to fight the fire.

This surprised him even more, and he repeatedly urged the soldiers in the tents to wake up.

"Attack the city! Attack the city!" Kutu shouted.

Now was the time to coordinate with Tuoba Lie and the others to create chaos.

Under his command, the Northern Di soldiers carried the Scaling Ladders and surged toward the city walls in the night.

"Kill!"

The shouts of battle rose again, only this time the Yan Wang soldiers on the city walls were clearly in disarray.

One Scaling Ladder after another leaned against the city wall, and the Northern Di soldiers climbed up one after another.

Seeing this, the last shred of doubt in the hearts of Kutu and Muto vanished.

Just at this moment, the North City Gate suddenly swung wide open, and some people holding torches were waving them inside the gate passage.

Muto nodded at Kutu, drew his Curved Blade, and shouted to the Cavalry behind him, "Follow me and charge into Yancheng."

Kutu said, "As long as we take Yancheng, I will let you plunder for three days."

Hearing this, the Cavalry immediately became excited.

For them, there was nothing they liked more than unrestrained plundering after taking a city of the Great Song.

During these three days, there would be no military law to supervise them.

They could slaughter to their hearts' content within the city, seize the wealth of the Song People, and violate their wives and daughters.

"Kill! Kill! Kill!" the Cavalry shouted three times.

Muto then yelled, "Follow me."

As his voice fell, he was the first to charge out.

The Cavalry behind followed Muto closely, like a torrent rushing toward the Yancheng city gate.

Upon reaching the gate, he saw people wearing night-traveling clothes in the gate tunnel.

He knew they were either Tuoba Lie's men or those of the so-called Zhang Family.

He did not bother with them for the time being.

He led the Cavalry straight along the main street and charged forward.

Now, he had to go and open the other three city gates.

In this way, all the Northern Di soldiers outside the city could quickly enter.

"Clatter, clatter, clatter..."

As more and more Northern Di Cavalry entered the city, the sound of horses' hooves striking the bluestone slabs of the streets became loud.

At the same time.

The Northern Di soldiers who had climbed the city wall discovered that the soldiers of Yan Wang were continuously retreating from the wall and fleeing into the various streets of the city.

For these four days, they had fought with pent-up frustration; now that they had the upper hand, how could they let these soldiers go?

Immediately, under the orders of their commanders, they chased after the soldiers of Yan Wang to kill them.

One hour passed.

Most of the Northern Di soldiers poured into Yancheng; inside the city, the Northern Di soldiers chased while the soldiers of Yan Wang fled.

But just after the last Northern Di Cavalry entered the city, the North Gate was suddenly slammed shut.

The Northern Di Cavalry at the rear were shocked at the sight.

But what terrified them even more was that the men in black, who had originally been in the gate tunnel, removed their outer garments and revealed silver Armor.

Then, some of those soldiers picked up the Long Spear scattered all over the ground and aimed them at them.

They had originally thought these were discarded by the soldiers of Yan Wang as they fled.

"It's a trap." The same thought echoed in the hearts of the Northern Di Cavalry.

Outside the city, the moment Kutu saw the city gate close, the smug smile on his face froze.

A thin layer of cold sweat broke out on his back; now, even a pig would know something was wrong.

"Tuoba Lie, you bastard!" Kutu squeezed these words out from between his teeth.