Chapter 244

Almost simultaneously with the initial defeat of Han Tong and Zhang Yongde in Hebei.

To the north, the Jinzhou defense line.

This strategic stronghold, located in the heart of Hedong and controlling the north-south traffic throat, is now bearing a fierce assault from the Northern Han's main force, as violent as a raging storm.

"Boom—"

"Bang!"

Huge stones, whistling shrilly, were hurled from the Northern Han army's rear catapult barrage and smashed hard into Jinzhou's city wall, which was not particularly high.

Bricks and stones shattered, dust and smoke filled the air.

Each impact made the wall segment tremble slightly, as if groaning in pain.

Behind the battlements, Jinzhou's defense commissioner Li Hong, his beard and hair bristling, his armor covered in dust and congealed blood, was shouting hoarsely as he directed the garrison.

"Archers! Suppress the enemy archers below the wall!"

"Rolling logs! Quick! Get the rolling logs up here!"

"Molten metal! Is it boiling?! Pour it! Pour it down hard on them, old man!"

His voice was already hoarse, his eyes bloodshot.

Northern Han Emperor Liu Jun, this time clearly expending all his strength, vowed to take Jinzhou and open the gateway to the heart of Zhongyuan.

Below the city, the Northern Han infantry, a black mass like a swarm of ants, bore crude ladders, braving the arrow storm, rolling logs and stones, and the foul-smelling molten metal that ate flesh on contact, as they frenziedly climbed upward.

They fell one after another, corpses piling up like a mountain at the wall's base, while those behind stepped on their comrades' bodies and continued upward.

Even more alarming, mixed into the Northern Han assault were figures clearly different from ordinary soldiers.

They wore the same Northern Han uniforms, but moved with greater agility, their eyes numb and ferocious; in charging they hardly shouted, silently and efficiently scaling the walls and killing.

A faint blue gleam could be seen on the edges of their weapons.

"They are the Iron Crow Army's drugged warriors!"

Li Hong gritted his teeth; he had already received a court report that the Iron Crow Army might be aiding the Northern Han.

These warriors, controlled by drugs or sorcery, are harder to deal with than ordinary Northern Han troops, often requiring several defenders to sacrifice their lives to take down just one.

"General! A section of the western wall has been smashed open! Northern Han troops are pouring in!"

A blood-covered commandant stumbled over to report.

"Hold fast! Bring my personal guard up here! Plug the breach!"

Li Hong roared, drawing his sidearm.

"Tell the men, General Shi Dun's reinforcements are already on the way! If we just hold out a few more days!"

"As long as we hold the city, we survive!"

He personally led his personal guard in a charge toward that perilous breach.

There, dozens of Northern Han death warriors had already broken through the defenders' interception, now planting their feet on the battlements and fighting fiercely with the garrison.

Li Hong swung his blade into the melee, its flash instantly cleaving two death warriors.

But his heart sank.

These death warriors' strength and fearless ferocity far exceeded the norm.

One death warrior, after having his arm cut off by him, gripped a spear with his other hand and fiercely pierced a guardsman's chest;

another death warrior, despite being stabbed multiple times and having his intestines spill out, still roared as he clung to a defender and tumbled down the wall together.

The battle had reached the utmost brutality.

Every inch of the wall contested was soaked in blood.

The defenders' casualties were rising rapidly, and their morale began to show signs of instability.

After all, they were no longer facing ordinary foes, but a group of beings seemingly insensible to pain and unafraid of death.

"General! We can't go on like this!"

The deputy commander, while parrying a death warrior's chop, shouted anxiously.

"Our forces can barely hold out! When will the reinforcements arrive?!"

Li Hong beheaded the death warrior before him with a single slash, panting heavily as he gazed southward.

All he saw were endless mountains and drifting war smoke.

Where, at this moment, was General Shi Dun's relief force?

……

Meanwhile, on the rugged mountain road leading to Jinzhou.

A sizable force was marching with all speed.

It was precisely Shi Dun's troops, ordered to march south from the northern borders to reinforce Jinzhou.

They had abandoned most of their baggage, carrying only essential weapons and a few days' rations, traveling light in hopes of reaching the battlefield as soon as possible.

However, the road proved far more arduous than anticipated.

"Faster! Even faster!"

Shi Dun, mounted on his horse, continually urged the marching column onward.

His visage was rugged, yet now etched with anxiety.

The urgent dispatches from Jinzhou flew in like snowflakes, each more pressing than the last.

He well knew that if Jinzhou fell, the Northern Han's forces could sweep straight through, threatening Lu and Ze prefectures and even eyeing the flank of Bian Liang, with consequences too dire to contemplate.

"General, the men have been force-marching for two days and a night straight; they're really reaching their limits."

A deputy commander rode up close and reported in a low voice.

"Many have fallen behind; if we reach Jinzhou like this, we may lack the strength to go straight into battle."

How could Shi Dun not know that?

He looked at the soldiers behind him who, though still gritting their teeth and holding on, clearly showed fatigue, and his heart felt like it was on fire.

These are the Northern Frontier elite who have followed him through life and death; if they were lost in a forced march, or if the exhausted army were hastily committed to the city defense battle, these would be losses he could not bear.

But Jinzhou… can't wait!

"Pass the order down, rest for one hour!"

Shi Dun ultimately still issued the order with difficulty.

"Send someone to urge the rear troops to catch up as quickly as possible!"

"After one hour, continue the march!"

He lifted his head toward the direction of Jinzhou; the sky's color there seemed darkened by the war.

"Li Hong, you brat, you gotta hold the line for me!"

He muttered to himself, his fist unconsciously clenching.

A sense of helplessness crept up into his heart.

Even though he was brave beyond the three armies and his subordinates were all battle-hardened elites, at this moment he too was bound by that distant road.

Too slow to help!

These four words, like a heavy shackle, were placed upon him and also upon the fate of the entire Jinzhou defense line.

……

Jinzhou city wall.

After suffering near-carnage melee combat, Li Hong finally led his personal guards to slay all the Northern Han death warriors who had stormed the wall top, temporarily plugging the gap.

But the defending forces also suffered casualties of nearly a hundred.

Up and down the walls, corpses lay piled, blood seeped through the cracks in the walls, dyeing the ground at the base a dark red.

The air was thick with an inseparable mix of bloody and burnt smells.

The Northern Han troops temporarily withdrew, apparently to reorganize for the next wave of attack.

But this brief respite gave the defenders no sense of security.

Fatigue, wounds, and fear of those undead monsters spread through the defenders like a plague.

Li Hong leaned on his sword, resting against a broken crenel, gasping heavily.

He looked around and saw the soldiers' numb, desperate faces.

He knew that whether it was troop numbers, morale, or the fortifications, all were near their limits.

Could they hold out against the next attack?

He had no answer in his heart.

The only thing sustaining him was his duty to the Imperial Court, the longing for his homeland behind him, and that slim hope for reinforcements.

He tore a strip from his collar, hastily bandaged the deep bone-showing wound on his arm, and hoarsely told the messenger beside him:

"Write another plea for help!"

"Tell the Imperial Court, tell General Shi Dun!"

"Jinzhou… is in imminent danger!"