Chapter 693: Spontaneous Idea

"His Highness is absolutely right; it is best to be cautious." Chang Wei looked toward Yang City, his eyes narrowing slightly.

That night, not a single star could be seen in the sky; it was as pitch-black as ink, and all was deathly silent.

Only the torches held by the patrolling soldiers on the ramparts of Yang City flickered in and out of view.

Just then, the sound of bells jingling suddenly rang out from outside Yang City, breaking the silence.

In an instant, countless lights flew out from within Yang City, illuminating the area within a hundred meters.

On the ramparts, the Lu City artillerymen stationed beside the Artillery stared fixedly at the area lit by the fire, ready at any moment to light the fuses and bombard the enemy.

The Flintlock Infantry also took aim at the same time.

Yet, to their surprise, what appeared in the firelight was not the Yan Wang soldiers launching a sneak attack, but several donkeys with their hooves wrapped in cloth, carrying branches tied with green grass on their backs.

It turned out that these donkeys had triggered their traps.

A general immediately descended from the city wall and walked a hundred meters.

He reported this situation to Wang Xie and Xie An, who were playing chess at a shop along the street.

Upon hearing this, Wang Xie frowned, his expression somewhat annoyed; clearly, he was unhappy that his stratagem had been broken.

For a moment, Xie An wanted to laugh, but he forcibly held it back.

Although he was somewhat dissatisfied with the aloof manner of Wang Xie.

But they were currently on the battlefield, and if their stratagem failed, they would likely face grave consequences.

Looking toward Wang Xie, he said, "What should we do now?"

"Kill those donkeys. I want to see how many donkeys Yan Wang has to use!" Wang Xie said angrily.

He had originally intended to use the method from the Battle of Yanguan to deal with the Yan Wang soldiers.

In this way, they could inflict heavy casualties on the Yan Wang soldiers the moment the firelight illuminated them.

His order reached the city wall, and a burst of gunfire rang out immediately.

One donkey was hit and fell to the ground, while the other donkeys were startled, kicking and galloping away, disappearing into the darkness.

"Damn it, they are actually using the method we used against the Northern Di to deal with us. I fear this Wang Xie has studied every battle we have fought." A chill ran down Chang Wei's back.

Because the war had been progressing smoothly during this period, he had truly become somewhat complacent.

Originally, he had planned to have skirmishers sneak toward the city wall tonight to throw Hand Grenades.

Fortunately, Yan Wang had reminded him to consider everything thoroughly before launching the siege.

Otherwise, the skirmishers sent out this time would likely have suffered heavy casualties.

Zhao Xu was also not asleep; at this moment, he was standing beside Chang Wei.

The burning Arrow fired from within Yang City gradually extinguished, and the area in front of Yang City fell back into darkness.

He believed that Yang City soldiers would surely come out from within the city to reset the bell traps.

"This Wang Xie has some petty cleverness, but he can only learn the surface of it," Zhao Xu said indifferently. "Go find some Bell."

Chang Wei was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized, and he chuckled, "Brilliant, truly brilliant."

Having said that,

he ordered a soldier to go.

Before long, the soldier brought back thirty Bell.

Chang Wei distributed these Bell to thirty soldiers.

He had them find as many obstacles as possible at a distance of one hundred and fifty meters from the city wall to conceal themselves.

The reason for choosing this distance was that the arrows from within the city only reached about one hundred and thirty meters at most.

Beyond one hundred and fifty meters was complete darkness.

The soldiers received the order and held the copper clappers inside the Bell to prevent them from making a sound as they reached their respective positions.

Then, following Chang Wei's order, they suddenly shook the Bell in their hands.

"Jingle, jingle..." With a burst of bell sounds, numerous burning arrows flew out from within Yang City again, lighting up the area within one hundred and thirty meters outside the city wall.

On the city wall, the soldiers immediately searched for targets but found that the outside was empty and there was nothing there.

They immediately revealed expressions of surprise.

This situation was immediately reported back to Wang Xie.

His eyes rolled, and Wang Xie's face immediately turned gloomy.

Xie An also figured out the key to it, and he said, "It must be the Yan Wang soldiers holding the bells and shaking them on purpose to trick us into firing arrows."

Wang Xie nodded; this was exactly what he had thought.

He said, "This is troublesome. The sound of the bells is a mix of truth and falsehood. Once or twice is fine, but after a hundred or two hundred times, the soldiers will surely grow weary, and at that time, they will relax their vigilance."

Xie An's expression was grave; Guertu was indeed right, the generals under Yan Wang were truly difficult to deal with.

After pondering for a while, he said, "If so, we can only rotate the soldiers so that they do not become weary."

"That is the only way." Wang Xie could not think of any other solution.

As the two were speaking, suddenly the Archer under the city wall fired burning arrows outward.

It must be that the sound of bells had come from outside again.

He could not help but feel another wave of resentment.

"It is said that Yan Wang is also in the army this time; this idea might be his." Wang Xie sighed inwardly, feeling both angry and dejected.

He had always held himself in high regard, thinking that although he was inferior to Yan Wang's troops in firearms, he would surely be a cut above in strategy, but he was ultimately disappointed.

"Jingle, jingle..."

The bell sounds rang continuously, lasting from midnight until the dawn of the next day.

When the east turned a pale white, the area over a hundred meters in front of Yang City was covered with countless half-burnt arrows.

"I would like to see how many more arrows they have to waste!" Looking toward Yang City with a Telescope, Chang Wei snorted coldly.

Then he said, "Your Highness, they keep rotating their soldiers at night, so it is not easy to catch them off guard."

Zhao Xu yawned, "There is no such thing as a thousand days of defense against a thousand days of thievery; do not be anxious, let us play with them for a few more days. Besides, I am not doing this just to catch Wang Xie and the others off guard!"

"Your Highness means..." Chang Wei looked at Zhao Xu, thinking to himself that Yan Wang must have a new plan.

Sure enough, he heard Zhao Xu say, "Have Qin Shan lead thirty thousand troops, hiding by day and marching by night, to Ji City."

Upon hearing this, Chang Wei slapped his thigh, "Following Your Highness in battle for a day, I have truly benefited greatly. So, Your Highness leading all the troops to attack Yang City was just a feint to make Ji City and Zi City lower their guard, so we can seize them while the opportunity arises."

Zhao Xu nodded slowly, appearing full of confidence, though in reality, he felt a bit nervous inside.

This matter was truly not as complicated as Chang Wei thought.

He had simply seen that Yang City had stockpiled a large number of aristocratic troops, and Yang City was easy to defend but difficult to attack.

This ruse of the real and fake Bell would likely take some time, and even if the enemy were caught off guard, the Prince's Personal Army would still suffer significant casualties given the massive number of troops stockpiled in Yang City.

Thus, a sudden flash of inspiration struck him, and he decided to use the ruse of the real and fake Bell to display an attitude of not stopping until Yang City was taken.

In reality, he was secretly crossing the border, seeing if he could take Ji City.

Of course, he could not tell Chang Wei these things directly, otherwise, would it not affect his own glorious image?

Once this was decided, the Bell in Yang City rang for another night.

At the same time, Qin Shan led thirty thousand troops to quietly leave the main camp and head toward Ji City.

After four nights of forced marches, they arrived at Ji City, preparing to launch an attack on this city.