Chapter 213: The Crisis of Yancheng

Yancheng.

Bursts of battle cries rang out on the city walls.

The newly recruited Prince's Personal Army soldiers were fighting back and forth on the walls against the private soldiers of the Rich Clans who had climbed up.

Liu Fu walked along the city wall clutching a Long Sword; though he was merely a scholar, he could no longer concern himself with such things at a time like this.

He could only bite the bullet and oversee the battle from the city ramparts.

Outside the city, the Rich Clan soldiers were a vast, swarming mass, continuously firing arrows at the city ramparts.

It had been only three days since Yan Wang departed, yet these Rich Clan soldiers had already arrived at the foot of Yancheng.

They set up their formations and began to attack Yancheng, numbering a full fifty or sixty thousand.

Logically speaking, with over twenty thousand soldiers inside Yancheng, there should be no need to worry about the city being breached.

But unfortunately, these soldiers were all newly recruited, had not yet undergone training, and lacked morale.

Seeing so many people attacking the city, quite a few soldiers immediately had their legs go weak with fear.

If they hadn't been forced onto the city walls by some commanders, it is likely that more than half would have run away by now.

And even after getting onto the walls, these soldiers only fought on instinct and could not follow orders with discipline.

Precisely because of this, this battle was being fought with extreme difficulty, and the Rich Clan private soldiers repeatedly used Scaling Ladders to climb onto the city walls.

"Charge for me! There are endless riches of Yan Wang inside Yancheng; grab them out, and we shall all share them," a Rich Clan commander shouted.

He came from Dai Commandery.

After receiving news from the Yuan Family, the Rich Clans of Dai Commandery immediately organized their private soldiers to head north.

In their view, Yanguan would certainly not be able to hold out.

Following the Yuan Family at this time meant performing meritorious service in front of the Northern Di.

When the Northern Di people entered the pass in the future, they would naturally still be able to live comfortably in Yanzhou.

On the way to Yancheng, they encountered the Rich Clans of Guangning Commandery, as well as Rich Clan soldiers who had rushed over from other commanderies, and thus they merged into one force and arrived at the foot of Yancheng.

"Kill!"

Hearing the Rich Clan commander's shout, the Rich Clan private soldiers immediately became excited.

They climbed up the Scaling Ladders one after another to charge toward the city walls.

Seeing the Rich Clans' offensive suddenly become fierce, Liu Fu felt a surge of anxiety in his heart.

He looked at the new recruits who dared not engage in battle and only knew how to hide, shouting: "What did you come to be soldiers for? Just for those three taels of Silver? The Rich Clans are right in front of you; they snatched your land and plundered your wives and daughters. Now, will you just let them slaughter you like cowards?"

His hoarse, desperate voice rang out on the ramparts; some new recruits heard it, gritted their teeth, and charged up.

Yet, even though they summoned their courage, they were still no match for the trained Rich Clan private soldiers; after a chaotic exchange of blows, they were beaten back repeatedly by the Rich Clan private soldiers.

Watching all this, Liu Fu had no way to help.

"Follow me, all of you, charge!" Just then, Liu Fu suddenly heard a familiar voice.

He turned his head to look and discovered that Lv Ran had brought the members of the Lv Family to climb the city wall.

Behind them were Dong Yuan and Yang Cheng; they had all brought their own family members over.

"Viscount Liu, I see these new recruits are not very useful. We have received the Prince's grace and share in his glory and his losses; let us also contribute our strength," Lv Ran said.

They had been observing the battle, but these new recruits were not even remotely comparable to that batch of veteran soldiers.

Seeing that Yancheng was in danger of falling,

they finally could not help but intervene.

"Thank you, thank you." Liu Fu felt an indescribable sensation in his heart.

In the past, he had been very harsh toward the Dong, Yang, and Lv families, always believing that they were also Rich Clans before and were not clean.

Now, however, they were able to step forward, which truly surprised him.

Perhaps, having lost their land, they were truly just like him—merely subjects of Yan Wang.

"No need for thanks," Lv Ran said. "First, lend us some Armor."

As he spoke, he pointed to a group of new recruits who were shivering in fear at the base of the city wall.

Liu Fu nodded at him and immediately called over a commander to strip the Armor off these new recruits.

This Armor was like adding wings to a tiger on veteran soldiers, but it was simply a waste on these low-morale new recruits.

Now he finally understood the words Yan Wang had said back then.

The Prince's Personal Army must absolutely not be based solely on Weaponry.

Soldiers who master their Weaponry and Armor are the foundation of the Prince's Personal Army; otherwise, soldiers are nothing more than a transport brigade for the enemy.

The members of the Dong, Yang, and Lv families put on the Armor and immediately charged onto the ramparts.

They had each possessed private soldiers, though they had disbanded them.

But at the time, the family members had all undergone training in the military.

Once on the city walls, they immediately fought with the Rich Clan soldiers who had climbed up, suppressing the Rich Clan soldiers' offensive in a short time and driving them off the city walls.

Nanmen immediately gained the advantage.

It was just that their numbers were too few after all, only seven or eight hundred people.

The other three sides of the city wall were still bearing immense pressure.

From dawn they fought until night, and from night they fought until dawn.

The next day, the defensive line at the East Gate was the first to be broken by the Rich Clan soldiers.

Hundreds of Rich Clan soldiers occupied the city wall and drove the Prince's Personal Army recruits down.

Then, the Rich Clan soldiers continuously entered the city through this breach.

They immediately arrived at the East Gate and fought with the soldiers guarding the gate there, attempting to open the East Gate.

Yancheng was suddenly plunged into a crisis of being breached.

The news quickly reached the Prince's Mansion.

Feng'er gritted her teeth and gathered all the servants of the Prince's Mansion.

At this moment, she had changed into a crisp, short-sleeved outfit, taken up a sword, and said to the servants: "Although I, Feng'er, am but a woman, I am certainly no coward. His Highness is currently locked in a bloody battle at Yanguan against the Yuan Family and the Northern Di, and now Yancheng is under siege. Once the East Gate is breached, the Rich Clan soldiers will enter the city to burn, kill, and loot. We must absolutely not give them this opportunity."

The servants nodded; at this time, they were all holding swords.

These weapons had always been kept in reserve by the Prince's Mansion; they were things to be used only when the mansion encountered a crisis.

Clearly, now was the time to use them.

"Set off, to the East Gate," Feng'er said, then gave a sharp shout to the servants.

"Sister, I am going too," Luan'er walked over at this moment, holding a short sword in her hand.

Feng'er's expression was stern, "Your hands are better suited for holding embroidery needles, not swords."

Having said that, she had the other maidservants watch Luan'er, and went off with the servants herself.

Upon arriving at the East Gate, she suddenly saw someone familiar.

Xu E was looking at the East Gate with a face as cold as frost, while over fifty people dressed as commoners were using weapons to fight against the Rich Clan's private soldiers.

Tianxiang Lou had received this news at the first opportunity, and she had immediately led the Tianxiang Lou hired thugs over.

For her, she could not tolerate Yan Wang's fief being breached by the Rich Clan.

Seeing Feng'er arrive with the servants, she smiled slightly.

Seeing the battle at the East Gate was intense, the servants immediately charged over.

Feng'er gritted her teeth and wanted to go over too, but was suddenly stopped by Xu E, "Your delicate woman's body cannot defeat them."

"If they breach the city, it's death anyway, and perhaps an even more miserable death; it's better to die in battle right now," Feng'er huffed.

Her words had just finished when she suddenly heard a series of shouts: "Make way, make way!"

They saw Wang Chong and the craftsmen from the Armory Bureau leading three horses over, with something resembling a Firearm attached behind each horse.

Stopping in front of them, Wang Chong immediately had the craftsmen unload the wheeled Firearm and aimed the muzzle at the Rich Clan soldiers who were continuously descending the city wall stairs.