Chapter 641: Luoyang Blood Battle (Part 1)

Before dawn, the horn of the Yuan army's advance tore through the morning mist.

It was not a probe.

It was not a feint.

It was an all-out attack committing all strength.

Outside Luoyang's north city wall, the dark, pressing ranks of the Yuan army surged forward like a tide.

Siege rams, siege towers, arrow towers… dozens of large siege engines were pushed to the front.

Behind them came infantry formations clad in heavy armor and holding huge shields.

Farther back, the catapult positions had been fully deployed.

The howling of boulders breaking through the air became the first heavy beat in this symphony of destruction.

Boom!

The first volley of stone shots struck the city wall.

The earth-and-brick wall shuddered violently, and broken bricks and dust fell down in a shower.

"Hold steady!"

Yue Fei's voice rang out from the north gate tower, clear and steady.

He wore black armor, over a faded crimson war robe, and stood with his hand on his sword at the battlement.

His gaze swept over the enemy ranks drawing nearer below the wall, then turned to the defenders standing ready on the wall.

On the defenders' faces were fatigue and tension.

But more than that, there was a near-numb resilience.

After months of continuous siege and dozens of battles, those still alive were veterans who had crawled out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

They knew today was different.

The Yuan army's posture meant they intended to finish the job in one battle.

"Archers, ready—"

The colonels in charge of each wall section began to relay orders.

The sound of drawing bowstrings rose as one.

Yue Fei did not look down again.

He turned and looked toward the inner city.

The streets and alleys of Luoyang were unusually quiet now; the populace had already evacuated to the inner city as ordered.

On the main streets of the outer city, only reserve troops moved quickly, transporting logs, rolling stones, and fire oil.

Farther off, on several higher rooftops,

Faintly visible were glinting lenses—the observation posts using telescopes to monitor the battlefield situation.

All of Luoyang was like a taut bow.

"Release arrows!"

At the command,

A dark cloud rose above the wall.

Arrows fell like rain.

The Yuan army's frontline heavy shield formation was instantly covered, shields bristling with arrows, yet the formation kept advancing steadily.

Next, the Yuan army's archery counterstrike arrived.

Arrow rains from both sides crisscrossed in the air.

Defenders kept falling with arrows, being dragged down the wall; gaps were instantly filled by reserve troops.

From this moment, the battle entered its most brutal phase of attrition.

At the early morning hour.

The Yuan army's siege ram approached the wall.

The massive iron‑bound battering ram began to pound the gate.

Thud—thud—thud—

Each dull impact made the whole wall section tremble.

"Pour fire oil!"

The defender commander shouted.

Scalding fire oil poured down the wall, then fire arrows rained down, turning the area before the gate into a sea of fire.

The siege ram caught fire, and the Yuan soldiers pushing it screamed as they tumbled.

But soon, a second siege ram took its place.

At the same time, siege towers were erected on the east and west walls.

"Hold fast!"

Yue Yun, drenched in blood, wielded twin hammers, charging back and forth along the battlements.

The section of wall he was responsible for had already been climbed at three points by the Yuan army.

Each time he led his personal guard in a rush, smashing the scaling enemies off the wall with the utmost violence.

A sabre came down in a slash.

Yue Yun dodged to the side, and his left hammer swept horizontally.

Thud!

The Yuan army centurion who had just leapt onto the battlement, man and armor alike, was smashed backward and fell from the wall three zhang high.

But the next second, two more Yuan soldiers climbed up.

"Unending slaughter……" Yue Yun panted heavily, the hammer handle slick with blood.

He looked toward the outside of the city.

The Yuan army's formation seemed endless.

What was even more frightening was that the condition of these Yuan army soldiers was obviously abnormal.

Their eyes were wild, they charged forward heedless of casualties, and even when wounded they could keep fighting for a moment before collapsing.

It was as if…… as if something had driven all their potential, burning their lives in battle.

"Junior General, be careful!"

A cry of alarm came from the guards.

Yue Yun suddenly turned back; a spear had already thrust to his chest.

He barely turned sideways; the spear tip scraped his breastplate, sending out a string of sparks.

With his left hand he hammered, breaking the spear shaft in one motion, then with his right hand he hammered forward fiercely.

The Yuan army colonel holding the spear had his skull shattered.

But Yue Yun was also shaken back two steps, his chest feeling suffocated.

This wasn't the first time.

These Yuan army soldiers had abnormally great strength.

……

It was the si hour.

A section of the city wall on the left side of the north gate finally could not hold.

The wall, after enduring continuous bombardment of dozens of stone shots, began to collapse internally; after a violent impact, a stretch of wall three zhang long collapsed with a roar.

Bricks rolled down, dust flew up.

"The wall is breached!"

"The Yuan army is about to enter the city!"

Cries of alarm rang out everywhere.

The slope formed by the collapse became the Yuan army's most direct passage.

A sea of Yuan army infantry surged toward the breach like a swarm of ants.

"Block it!"

Lin Chong's voice thundered like an explosion.

He had already led a five-hundred-strong elite reserve unit waiting below the wall; now he raised his spear and charged first toward the breach.

"Northward Aspiration!"

The five hundred shouted in unison and followed closely behind.

The two sides collided amid the swirling dust.

The dull thud of spears piercing flesh, the tearing sound of blades hacking armor, the dying wails, battle cries…… all sounds merged into a chaos.

Lin Chong wielded his spear like a silver dragon; wherever it passed, Yuan army troops fell like harvested wheat.

But the Yuan army was too numerous.

Kill one, two more rush forward.

Kill two, four more surge forward.

The five-hundred reserve force was quickly submerged in the human tide, only able to form a circular formation, desperately holding the breach.

With every breath, someone fell.

With every breath, the corpses piled higher at the breach.

……

On the city tower.

Yue Fei gazed at that breach, at the gradually engulfed figures of Lin Chong and the reserve troops, his hand resting on the sword hilt, his knuckles whitening.

He did not move.

As Supreme Commander, he could not lightly commit to the front line.

He had to survey the whole situation, grasp that last pitiful bit of mobile strength, and use it at the most critical moment.

"Father!"

Yue Yun, drenched in blood, rushed up to the city tower and shouted urgently: "Instructor Lin's side can't hold much longer! Let me bring reinforcements!"

"No."

Yue Fei's voice was cold and hard like iron.

"You still have three hundred cavalry in hand, the last reserve for emergencies. Now is not the time."

"But——"

"Carry out the military order!"

Yue Yun gritted his teeth, hammered the battlement hard, turned and rushed down the city tower again, continuing to command the defense of his section of the wall.

Yue Fei closed his eyes and drew a deep breath.

When he opened them again, his eyes were calm, without ripples.

"Pass the order."

He said to the messenger beside him: "Let the militia of the inner city's third and fourth wards go up onto the wall to replace the heavily wounded veteran soldiers, who will withdraw for a fifteen-minute rest. Tell each sector commander to conserve arrows, and not to fire until within fifty paces."

"Yes!"

The messenger flew off at a run.

The orders were passed down one after another.

On the city wall, the old soldiers who had drawn their bows until their arms trembled were relieved; they sat slumped on the inner side of the wall, grabbing water skins and gulping down.

The militia replacements, though nervous, could barely operate the crossbow and hurl rolling stones under the old soldiers' brief guidance.

The defensive line was barely holding.

But everyone knew this was merely buying time.

……

Noon.

The Yuan army changed its tactics.

They no longer launched full-scale assaults on every wall segment, but concentrated their forces to fiercely attack three points: the gap at the North Gate, a weak point in the middle of the East Wall smashed by a catapult, and a watchtower on the West Wall.

All three points became critical at once.

Yue Fei's last three hundred cavalry, at last, had to be split up for use.

Yue Yun led a hundred cavalry to reinforce the East Wall.

Zhang Xian led a hundred cavalry to reinforce the West Wall.

The remaining hundred cavalry, personally led by Yue Fei, were ready to be committed at the most critical moment.

And just then——

A soldier covered in dust stumbled up onto the watchtower, dropped to one knee, and lowered his voice: "Marshal Yue! Wang… Envoy Wang has a secret letter!"

Yue Fei's pupils contracted slightly.

Wang Ru?

Since the siege began, Wang Ru had gone underground, responsible for coordinating the city's hidden assets and handling special situations.

Unless it was extremely important, she would not risk sending a message at such a time.

He took the small scroll the soldier handed over, tightly wrapped in oil paper.

He unfolded it.

On it was only a line of small characters, written in the Northward Aspiration Army's internal agreed-upon cipher.

Yue Fei quickly deciphered it.

As he made out the content, his hand gripping the paper trembled imperceptibly.

The note contained only eight characters:

"Meet at the southwest forest at midnight tonight."

And a special mark—indicating that the final plan had been activated.

It had come.

Mr. Chen's decision had finally arrived.

But……

Yue Fei looked toward the outside.

The Yuan army's offensive was fiercer and more urgent than expected.

Could they hold out until midnight?

"Marshal Yue! The East Wall is critical! Young General Yue requests reinforcements!"

Another messenger rushed up onto the watchtower.

Yue Fei clenched the paper in his palm, exhaled a burst of inner energy, and the scraps turned to dust.

He lifted his gaze toward the east.

From Yue Yun's side, the Yuan army's banners could already be seen swaying between the battlements.

"Pass the order."

Yue Fei's voice was calmer than at any previous moment.

"Transfer the last two hundred militia from the inner city; all are to reinforce the East Wall."

"I will personally lead a hundred cavalry to the West Gate."

"Tell all the commanders—"

He paused, then spoke each word clearly:

"Today there is no retreat. Every inch of wall, every brick, must be bought with blood."

"Hold until nightfall."

"This is a death order."

The messenger stared, then bowed solemnly: "As you command!"

Yue Fei turned, hand on sword, and walked down from the watchtower.

His receding figure amid the smoke was like a mountain sinking into twilight.

And the Yuan army's horn sounded again outside the city.

A new round of attack began.