Chapter 642: Luoyang Blood Battle (Part 2)

The battle for the East City Wall lasted a full two hours.

Yue Yun led over three hundred men on a wall segment no wider than ten zhang, repeatedly sawing back and forth with the Yuan troops that kept swarming up.

The battlements were slick with blood.

Dark red blood pools collected in the cracks beneath his feet.

For every Yuan soldier killed, two more took his place.

The eyes of those Yuan soldiers glowed with an abnormal pale green light during the fight.

Their strength was astonishing.

Even when wounded, they hardly felt pain, and unless directly hacked in a vital spot, they would keep fighting until they bled out the last drop.

"These aren't even human…"

An old colonel had just felled a Yuan soldier when another Yuan soldier tackled him from the side.

The two rolled on the ground, and the Yuan soldier lunged to bite the colonel's throat.

The colonel struggled to hold him off, but felt the opponent's strength was off the charts.

Just then, an iron hammer came down.

Pfft!

The Yuan soldier's head shattered like a watermelon.

Yue Yun, breathing hard, pulled the colonel up.

"Junior, Junior General…"

"Can you still fight?"

"I can!"

The colonel wiped the blood from his face, grabbed his blade, and went to meet the next enemy.

But Yue Yun knew this couldn't continue.

He looked toward the inner side of the wall.

The Yuan troops had gathered at the base of the wall, climbing up with simple ladders from the inside, trying to seize this wall segment completely.

Once attacked from both sides, these three hundred would be overwhelmed in an instant.

"Retreat!"

Yue Yun roared.

"Give up this wall segment! Fall back to the barbican!"

"Junior General, we can't abandon the wall—"

"Carry out the orders! Alternate covering fire, retreat!"

Yue Yun led the way down the inner ramp.

The soldiers behind fought while retreating, withdrawing along the steps into the barbican.

The barbican is a ring-shaped fortification built inside the wall.

At this moment, the barbican gate was already shut tight.

The withdrawing soldiers leaned on the barbican wall to re-form a defensive line.

But the wall was ultimately lost.

Yue Yun leaned against the wall, gasping for air.

He glanced around.

Those who had retreated numbered fewer than two hundred.

And every one of them was wounded.

"Count the numbers; take the seriously wounded to the rear for treatment. Bandage the lightly wounded and prepare to fight again."

Yue Yun's voice was hoarse.

He looked up at the barbican.

The Yuan army's banner had already been planted on the battlements of that wall segment.

Meanwhile, the sounds of battle from the west wall and the north gate breach still shook the heavens.

……

Meanwhile.

West City Wall.

Zhang Xian's situation was even worse.

The wall segment he was responsible for was already structurally unsound from the earlier bombardment.

The Yuan forces had concentrated five catapults, continuously bombarding the same area.

Finally, at the third quarter of noon, the wall collapsed again.

This breach was larger than the one at the north gate.

A stretch of wall five zhang long toppled over, taking the archery tower atop it down with it.

Dozens of defenders were buried under the rubble.

Smoke and dust shot up into the sky.

"Plug it! Plug it!"

Zhang Xian's eyes were bloodshot, ready to burst.

He personally led the last reserve unit in a charge forward.

But the Yuan troops had wised up this time.

They weren't rushing to pour through the breach.

Instead, they used archers deployed outside the gap, firing in dense volleys.

A rain of arrows covered the entire gap area.

The reserve troops that charged forward were struck down by half before they could even engage the enemy.

"Shields! Raise your shields!"

Zhang Xian roared angrily.

The shield formation was barely assembled.

But the Yuan heavy infantry had already stepped onto the brick and stone debris, surging in through the gap.

Both sides fought amidst the swirling smoke and dust.

Zhang Xian thrust his long spear, impaling three Yuan soldiers in succession, but the fourth Yuan soldier, fearless of death, lunged forward and clung desperately to his spear shaft.

A Yuan soldier beside him seized the opportunity to swing his blade at Zhang Xian's neck.

Clang!

A falchion came from the side to block it.

It was Wang Gui.

"Brother Zhang, retreat! We can't hold this position!"

"We cannot retreat!"

"Marshal Yue has given the order! Abandon the outer city wall and retreat into the streets to fight house-to-house!"

Wang Gui shouted hoarsely while brandishing his blade to drive back the Yuan troops.

Zhang Xian gritted his teeth.

He looked around.

More and more Yuan soldiers poured in through the gap.

The defenders' line had already shattered.

If we continue to hold out, everyone will die here.

"Withdraw!"

That was his final command.

"Alternate covering fire! Retreat into the residential alleys!"

The remaining defenders began to fall back.

But retreat has always been more dangerous than advance.

The Yuan troops pursued relentlessly.

With every step backward, someone fell.

By the time they retreated into the first east-west alley, Zhang Xian had fewer than a hundred men left at his side.

Meanwhile, Yuan troops began to appear at both ends of this alley.

They were surrounded.

"Form a circular formation!"

Zhang Xian and Wang Gui stood back to back.

The soldiers formed a circle, spears pointing outward.

The Yuan troops slowly closed in from both sides.

Their armor gleamed with a dark metallic sheen in the sunlight filtering through the smoke and dust.

Their eyes were empty yet fanatical.

Just then——

Boom!

The wall of a house on one side of the alley suddenly exploded.

Amid flying brick fragments, a squad of black-armored soldiers charged out.

Their leader was none other than Yue Fei.

After leading his hundred cavalry down from the city wall, he did not go straight to the West Gate but threaded through the inner city streets; hearing the fighting here, he immediately broke through the wall to come to their aid.

"Kill!"

Yue Fei charged ahead, his spear like a dragon, instantly piercing three Yuan soldiers.

The hundred cavalry behind him struck the Yuan flanks like a dagger.

The encirclement was torn open a gap.

"Marshal Yue!"

Zhang Xian felt both astonished and delighted.

"Follow me!"

Yue Fei said nothing more, turned his horse, and led the unit charging down another alley.

Zhang Xian and Wang Gui immediately brought the remnants to follow.

They fought while moving, passing through three alleys, finally shaking off the Yuan pursuers temporarily.

In the rear courtyard of a dye workshop, Yue Fei reined in his horse.

"Count the numbers."

He dismounted.

The personal guards immediately dispersed to keep watch.

Zhang Xian and Wang Gui counted; the two groups combined left over one hundred fifty men, most of them wounded.

Yue Fei silently gazed at these soldiers.

Everyone's face was covered in blood, dirt, and fatigue.

But their eyes still held light.

"Marshal Yue, the outer city wall… has fallen."

Zhang Xian's voice was low.

"I know."

Yue Fei said calmly.

He had already seen it.

The east wall, west wall, and north gate—these three key points fell one after another.

The Yuan army had already fully breached the outer city.

The ensuing battle would shift to a struggle for every street and every house.

That would be more brutal, more bloody.

But it could also buy more time.

"Pass the order to all units."

Yue Fei's voice rang out in the dye workshop's backyard, clear and calm.

"Abandon all strongholds on the outer city wall."

"Break into fragments."

"Using companies of a hundred as units, rely on streets, houses, and tunnels to mount layered resistance."

"Every street must exact blood from the Yuan army."

"Every lane must make them pay a price."

"Our objective—"

He paused.

"Not to hold Luoyang."

"But to stall them."

"Until nightfall."

The soldiers stared.

Immediately, everyone understood.

Holding the city was now impossible.

But buying time was possible.

To do so with their lives.

"Yes, sir!"

Everyone clasped their fists, eyes resolute.

Yue Fei waved his hand, ordering Zhang Xian and Wang Gui to arrange the specific deployments.

He alone walked to the corner of the dye workshop.

He took from his bosom the already-powdered scrap of letter, spreading it in his palm.

Tonight at midnight.

The southwest forest.

Master Chen will come.

But the precondition is that they must hold until midnight.

Moreover, they must be able to move secretly toward the southwest while under the Yuan army's tight encirclement.

This is nearly an impossible task.

But—

Yue Fei clenched his fist.

Powder slipped through his fingers.

He turned, looking at the soldiers in the courtyard who were bandaging wounds and inspecting weapons.

He also looked toward outside the dye workshop, at the sky shrouded in gunpowder smoke.

The sounds of slaughter came from all directions.

Drawing ever nearer.

The Yuan army, advancing toward the inner city.

"Wang Gui."

"Present!"

"Take thirty men to the inner city granary."

Yue Fei lowered his voice.

"Divide the last batch of fiery fire oil into small cans and distribute them to each lane's combat teams."

"Tell them that, if necessary, they may set the streets alight."

"Understood."

Wang Gui received the order and departed.

"Zhang Xian."

"Present!"

"Go find Military Advisor Wu Yong."

"Have him immediately begin preparing 'those things'."

Yue Fei did not say it clearly.

But Zhang Xian understood instantly.

The so-called "those things" were a batch of special supplies Wu Yong had secretly prepared at the start of the siege.

They included forged flags, armor, documents, and some drugs and tools for disguise.

It was preparation for the worst-case scenario.

"Yes."

Zhang Xian also left in a hurry.

Yue Fei summoned two more personal guards.

"You two, go separately to find General Lin Chong and Yue Yun."

"Tell them, after nightfall, fight while retreating, and move toward the Bell and Drum Tower area in the center of the inner city."

"But when retreating, put up a show of resistance; do not let the Yuan army suspect anything."

"Yes!"

The personal guards mounted their horses and disappeared into the alleys.

After arranging all of this.

Only then did Yue Fei slowly exhale.

He walked toward a well in the rear courtyard of the dye workshop.

He drew a bucket of water.

He bent down and plunged his face into the icy water.

After a moment he lifted his head.

Water droplets slid down his sharply defined cheeks.

The fatigue in his eyes was forcibly suppressed.

In its place came a near‑ruthless clarity.

He took off his sidearm and rinsed the blood‑stained blade with well water.

He wiped it carefully.

Then he sheathed the sword.

His movements were meticulous.

Having done that,

Only then did he turn and walk toward the front gate of the dye workshop.

Outside the gate, the streets of Luoyang were filled with the smell of gunpowder and blood.

It was the deafening sound of slaughter.

It was the final dusk of this thousand‑year‑old capital.

And he.

He had to, in that twilight, protect that faint spark.

Carve a bloody path.

No matter the cost.

"Go."

Yue Fei mounted his horse.

"Go to the Bell and Drum Tower."

"There will be the final command post."

The personal guards followed closely behind.

Hooves struck the stone slabs before the dye workshop, splashing dark‑red pooled water.

The party vanished into the depths of the alleys.

Far off, the Yuan army's horn sounded again.

This time, it was arrogant with the prospect of victory.