Chapter 561: Holding Firm

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They rested for one night in Leting County.

The next day, Chang Wei ordered the 60,000 Prince's Personal Army troops stationed in Leting to board the warships and merchant ships and head to Chrysanthemum Island.

On the sea, twelve warships were divided into two squads.

Each squad had six warships, shielding the merchant ships transporting the Wangfu Army in the middle.

After more than a day, the fleet arrived at Chrysanthemum Island.

"General."

At the pier on the east side of Chrysanthemum Island, Yang Zhen saluted Chang Wei.

To avoid this operation being discovered, they did not land at the pier on the west side of Chrysanthemum Island.

After all, Chrysanthemum Island could be faintly seen from Ningjin Dusi.

But the pier on the east side was completely obscured.

At the same time, the fleet also deliberately chose the deep sea while sailing to hide their tracks.

Chang Wei wore a smile and returned the salute, "General Yang, the great battle is imminent; the time for your Ningjin Army to take revenge has come."

In fact, there was no superior-subordinate relationship between him and Yang Zhen.

Strictly speaking, the Ningjin Army and the Prince's Personal Army were two different armies, though both were under the command of Yan Wang.

Currently, the Prince's Personal Army was only assisting the Ningjin Army in training.

Once the Ningjin Army could stand on its own, they would each perform their own duties.

However, for this Ningjin Battle, the Ningjin Army would indeed have to listen to him.

"The soldiers have long been looking forward to this day, General Chang. This time, feel free to give us the hardest battles. Even if it means death, we must vent this pent-up anger of over ten years." Yang Zhen looked toward the direction of Ningjin Dusi, and the Flame of revenge seemed to burn in the depths of his eyes.

Chang Wei nodded; he was clear that Yang Zhen had set his heart on death for this campaign.

With a main general like this, the Ningjin Army could be put to great use.

Then,

His gaze passed over Yang Zhen and looked at the three Ningjin Army officers behind him.

These three were all Captains handpicked by Yang Zhen.

At this moment, their expressions were as resolute as Yang Zhen's.

Seeing this, Chang Wei felt even more at ease.

After exchanging pleasantries for a while, Chang Wei went to the Ningjin Army camp with Yang Zhen.

Next, he would wait for news here while discussing the next steps of the operation in detail with Yang Zhen.

Yanguan.

After Chang Wei left, the fighting here not only did not ease up, but instead became increasingly intense.

The failure of the night raid tactic made the Northern Di army decide to adopt the bloodiest and most effective way of war: trading human lives for human lives.

They attempted to exhaust the soldiers of Yanguan by relying on their own massive numbers.

"Anda!"

On the ramparts of Yanguan City.

Just after repelling the charge of the Northern Di soldiers, another charge followed immediately.

The Northern Di soldiers reached the foot of the city wall and picked up the Scaling Ladders dropped by the soldiers before them to continue the attack.

At the same time, Archers mixed among the soldiers took the opportunity to fire Arrow volleys at the city wall.

Mo Yu watched the battlefield, calm and composed.

The officers on the city wall were also very calm; this mode of attack was repeated over and over, and they had all figured it out.

"Medical Officer, save the men!"

Besides the dense sounds of gunfire and Artillery, the voices of officers calling for Medical Officers rang out from time to time on the city wall.

These soldiers were basically all wounded by bows and arrows.

Mo Yu followed the sound and looked over, only to see a soldier clenching his teeth, his arm struck by an Arrow.

Besides this soldier, Medical Officers were constantly carrying other wounded soldiers down.

When a stretcher passed by him, a soldier had been hit in the neck by an arrow and was bleeding profusely.

"With such frequent attacks, if Yanguan only had 30,000 men, it truly wouldn't be able to hold on." While Mo Yu felt heartache for the soldiers, a chill rose up his spine.

The Northern Di attacked during the day and at night, not allowing them a moment of rest.

Fortunately, Chang Wei gave him 60,000 men, so by deploying 20,000 on the city wall, he could let the soldiers rotate every four hours, so they wouldn't be too tired.

But with 30,000 men, there wouldn't even be enough for rotations; by then, the soldiers wouldn't be killed in battle, they would be worked to death.

Thinking of this, he continued to look toward Yanguan.

Just like the previous charge, this charge, under the fierce attack of Artillery, Mortars, and Rifled Muskets, collapsed rapidly in less than an hour.

Once again leaving a field of corpses behind.

When the officer told him the battle report of this defense, with over three hundred casualties.

The next charge began again.

Such repeated tug-of-war lasted for half a month.

After Mo Yu estimated the casualties of the Northern Di over this half month, he ordered the battle report to be sent to Chrysanthemum Island.

In his view, the time to take Ning City had arrived.

At the same time, in the Northern Di camp.

Compared to Mo Yu's composure, Gurtu had not eaten or slept well for ten days.

After the strategy to launch a fierce assault on Yanguan was decided, he ordered a full-scale attack on Yanguan.

At the very beginning, facing the massive daily casualties, he could still grit his teeth and persist.

But as time went on, every time he heard the casualty figures, his heart would clench painfully.

Now, he even feared having his subordinate generals report the casualties to him.

In recent days, he even doubted whether his decision had been wrong.

But apart from this, what other options did he have?

Besides Gurtu, Khorchin, Gule, and Wuyan had also been in low spirits for several days, becoming increasingly taciturn.

They fought by day and by night, only resting briefly at dawn to clear the battlefield and collect the corpses.

Every time they saw the corpses of their own soldiers, a chill would rise from the soles of their feet.

The casualties were too heavy, while the gains were minimal.

Not far away, Yanguan was like a gargantuan beast of the abyss, devouring the lives of their soldiers.

Yet their attacks could not shake it in the slightest.

"Great Administrator, the Khan's order has arrived."

In the tent, as the four sat facing each other in a solemn and deathly silence, a Cavalry entered the tent.

"What does it say?" Gurtu stood up.

It had been half a month, and every day he had people send intelligence back to Jinzhou.

The Khan, Mule Hongzhen, had not opposed the method of fierce assault he had adopted.

"The Khan says that Yanguan must surely be at the end of its rope now, merely struggling to hold on; the offensive must not be slowed due to heavy casualties, and he hopes the Great Administrator will not forget the word 'dare-to-die'," the Cavalry said.

Upon hearing this, Gurtu nodded slowly, and confidence rose in his heart once more.

Clearly, the Khan, Mule Hongzhen, firmly believed that Yanzhou had been severely crippled by the plague.

Yanguan must be lacking in both soldiers and ammunition, and could not hold out for much longer.

Having already sacrificed half their soldiers, they could not give up halfway.

Otherwise, the previous soldiers would have died in vain.

Khorchin, Gule, and Wuyan looked toward Gurtu and nodded in unison.

Like gamblers, the more they lost, the less they wanted to stop this gamble.

They always hoped to turn the tables at the very last moment.

Over the next two days, they launched frequent attacks once again.

And the order from Chang Wei also arrived at Yanguan.

"Continue to hold for six days; within six days, Ning City will be taken. At that time, you may attack northward to conduct a pincer attack with this general." Mo Yu read Chang Wei's military order, a smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.

After enduring for half a month, the decisive battle for Ningjin was finally about to begin.

Chrysanthemum Island.

Both the Prince's Personal Army and the Ningjin Army were preparing for battle.

Under the orders of their officers, the soldiers began to check their ammunition and polished their Rifled Musket until they gleamed.

Finally, they filled their Dry Ration Bag to the brim.

Next, they would launch a night raid on Ning City.