Chapter 322: Northern Expedition Thwarted

Under a gloomy sky, the False Song Northern Expeditionary Army has arrived at the mirror image of the Northern Han's core stronghold — right outside Taiyuan Prefecture City.

This mighty city is almost identical to the real-world Taiyuan, with high, thick walls, backed by mountains and facing water, easy to defend, hard to attack.

But now, the flag flying on the city walls is that of Northern Han, and the defenders' eyes flash with the resolve to fight to the death with their backs to the water.

Zhao Kuangyin, clad in golden armor, sits his horse beneath the central army's great banner, gazing at this sturdy city that blocks his advance, his face ashen.

The recent attacks have been extremely unsuccessful.

We originally thought that, relying on the sharpness of the Great Song's Imperial Army, capturing this lone city of Taiyuan would be as easy as reaching into a bag.

Yet reality dealt him a heavy blow.

The defenders' resistance is unusually tenacious.

What makes his heart bleed even more is that, from the outset of the siege, he ordered the use of that batch of treasured Nether Energy Arrows, hoping to crush the defenders' will with their eerie power and achieve a quick victory.

At first, the effect was indeed horrifying.

Dozens of arrows glowing with a nether‑blue light, like poisonous snakes from the Nine Abysses, were shot onto the city walls.

Cold qi ran rampant, the blue light flashing; those struck were either dead or crippled, wounds freezing and spreading instantly, even reaching the armor of nearby soldiers, throwing the walls into chaos and panic.

The defenders had clearly never seen such a bizarre and terrifying weapon; their morale plummeted at once.

Seeing this, Zhao Kuangyin felt a flicker of delight rise in his heart.

But in the next moment, joy turned to sorrow.

In our own ranks, the archers who used the Nether Energy Arrows began to encounter problems one after another.

The sound of bowstrings snapping, the unstable humming of arrows, and even sudden explosions echoed one after another!

Amid the screams, archers were continually injured by their own out‑of‑control Nether Energy weapons in hand or quiver, either killed or maimed.

Even worse, a supply point stockpiling spare Nether Energy Arrows suffered a chain reaction after one arrow exploded unexpectedly; though the scale was small, it caused a notable disturbance in the army, burning part of the provisions.

This sudden blow from the rear terrified the Song troops more than the defenders' counterattack on the walls.

Their gaze upon those nether‑blue arrows shifted from initial awe to deep fear.

No one knew whether, in the next instant, this sinister thing would explode beside them.

"Trash! A bunch of trash!" Zhao Kuangyin shouted inside the central command tent, learning the exact losses, his anger nearly grinding his teeth as he overturned the case before him.

"Hu Decai (Supervisor of Manufacture) has misled me! Misled my army!"

What pains him is not the few archers' casualties, but that the Nether Energy Arrows' reliability is so poor — they not only failed to achieve their purpose, but also shook our own army's morale!

Misfortunes never come singly.

Just as the army's morale was wavering, worse news arrived.

Because the eastern front needed to guard against the Chen Dynasty's large‑scale maneuvers, we were forced to divert five thousand troops back to defend, so the forces attacking Taiyuan were already below expectation.

At this moment, the Northern Han garrison seemed to have discerned the Song army's lack of resolve and unstable equipment, and under cover of night sent out a small elite force to harass the Song camp, burning siege equipment.

Although it caused little damage, it made the Song troops, exhausted from days of siege, even more jumpy and their morale low.

And while the Khitan, originally expected to possibly intervene southward, showed no signs of large‑scale movement, their cavalry activity along the border has markedly increased, circling like vultures, coldly watching this slaughter, ready to swoop down and feed at any moment.

Internal troubles, external threats, unstable morale, partial damage to siege equipment, and reluctance to use the Nether Energy weapons on a large scale……

Under the weight of these adverse factors, the Northern Expeditionary Army's offensive against Taiyuan Prefecture City inevitably fell into a stalemate.

After several days of fierce assaults, aside from piling up more corpses and broken siege gear beneath the walls, they achieved no breakthrough.

On the contrary, mounting casualties, massive consumption of provisions, and the ever‑present pressure from the light curtain beyond the eastern front caused war‑weariness and pessimism to spread through the ranks.

"Your Majesty, the army's provisions will last only half a month……"

"Your Majesty, the wounded are many and medicinal supplies are short……"

"Your Majesty, the soldiers are exhausted; should we pause the offensive and rest for a few days……"

One unfavorable military report after another flew to Zhao Kuangyin's desk like snowflakes.

Within the imperial tent, the atmosphere was oppressive enough to suffocate.

Zhao Kuangyin sat alone in the dim lamplight, his once upright frame now seeming somewhat stooped.

He clenched his fists tightly around a freshly delivered secret report stating that the Chen Dynasty's eastern‑front troops were still conducting vigorous drills, his knuckles whitening from the strain.

In his mind, unbidden, appeared the calm yet all‑seeing face of Chen Wen.

It seemed he could hear the other's silent mockery.

"It's you… it's all you!" Zhao Kuangyin crumpled the report into a ball, slammed it hard onto the ground, his chest heaving violently, his eyes bloodshot.

"If it weren't for you, Chen Wen, pinning us down on the east, why would I have had to split my forces?"

"If it weren't for you, this variable disrupting the heavens, my Northern Expedition would not be so difficult!"

"This sturdy city, this stubborn foe, those damned Khitan cavalry… all deserve to be trampled under my feet!"

Endless hatred, like a poisonous fire, scorched his five viscera and six bowels.

He blamed all his setbacks and fury on the old enemy beyond the light curtain.

If not for Chen Wen, he should have sailed smoothly, donned the yellow robe, pacified the four directions, and founded an unparalleled achievement!

It is Chen Wen who has taken everything from him, and now he has become the greatest stumbling block on his path to fulfilling his mission and returning to the 'right track'!

This hatred has seeped into his marrow, becoming the sole drive that keeps him alive and fighting.

After a long while, he slowly lifted his head; his eyes held nothing but a cold, obsessive madness.

"Chen Wen… don't think you can get away with this!"

"This Northern Expedition, I will never abandon it!"

"Today's shame will be repaid a hundredfold in the future!"

"Wait for me… wait until I take this city, pacify the northern borders, and I will surely wipe out your False Chen, ashes scattering!"

He almost gritted his teeth, squeezing these words out from between them.

Yet the reality of his predicament will not change in the slightest because of his hatred.

After a stalemate of over ten days, seeing morale in the army decline day by day, supplies gradually exhausted, while Taiyuan City still stood firm, Zhao Kuangyin finally had to accept reality.

Continuing the fierce assault would offer no chance of victory, and might instead lead to an even greater defeat.

He wore a grim face and issued the order:

"Pass the order to the three armies…… retreat thirty li to set up camp, rest and await opportunity."

This order seemed to drain all the strength from his body.

When the low, resigned call of the retreat horn sounded in the Song army's main camp, countless soldiers' faces showed a complex expression of relief mixed with humiliation.

The sharp edge of the northern expedition was blunted beneath Taiyuan City.

The first large-scale "node" promotion action, in a manner almost disgraceful, came to a temporary halt.

The news returned to the False Song's Eastern Capital, where undercurrents stirred in court and populace, and the voice of the pro-peace faction rose again.

And, through a special channel, Chen Wen, who almost simultaneously learned of this news, slowly opened his eyes in the Hall of Martial Virtue within the Bian Liang Imperial City.

He could clearly feel that the rich vortex of Fortune Momentum within his body had become a bit more active and substantial than before.

As if some invisible pressure and impact had been successfully resisted and weakened.

"Node thwarted, does its momentum naturally wane……" Chen Wen murmured softly, a hint of realization appearing at the corner of his mouth.

"Looks like we've taken the right path."

He gazed westward, his sight seeming to pierce the palace walls and land upon that distant light curtain.

Zhao Kuangyin's this setback not only delayed the Iron Crow Army's power recovery, but also allowed Chen Wen to verify the positive influence of interfering with the "node" on our own Fortune Momentum.

This pointed out another clear direction for his future strategy.