Chapter 1203: Driving Away the Wolf to Welcome the Tiger

The scene of war became grand and tragic once again.

This could already be considered a general assault.

Everyone knew that this would be the final battle.

Whether Tie Mu City could achieve final success with its troops at the city gates this time depended on this battle.

The final battle!

This time, the momentum of the Mongolian Army was different from the previous two charges.

They were howling in their mouths, though no one knew what they were shouting, and their eyes were all gleaming with intensity.

Even though people around them were constantly falling in battle, they remained unmoved; in their eyes, there was only one goal: Jinghua City!

Succeed or die trying!

They had almost no way back...

As long as they could be the first to charge into the city, it would mean a lifetime of glory and wealth!

The Mongolian soldiers charged toward Jinghua City like madmen, while the Longyan cannons and firearms fired continuously at the Mongol Army.

Although the Longyan three-stage firing was proficient, the Mongolian Army was, after all, numerous and powerful, and this time they did not choose to concentrate their attack, but instead surrounded Jinghua.

The dispersed attacks also weakened the defensive strength of the Longyan city walls; now, each city gate of Longyan had fewer than five thousand men defending it.

If averaged out, every five thousand men had to defend against twenty-five thousand Mongolian troops, but the Mongolian troops would not obediently divide their army into four equal parts.

They would choose the city gates with weak defensive capabilities for their main attacks.

Although the initial plan had not been successfully realized, the combat discipline of the Mongolian Army, after being trained by Tie Mu City for so many years, still existed.

Catapults, Scaling Ladders, Battering Rams...

It was not just the equipment; the combat quality of the Mongolian soldiers also brought great trouble to the Longyan City Defense Army.

As a people on horseback, hunting and shooting were their basic skills; the range of a firearm was about three hundred to four hundred paces, while the range of the Mongolian Army's bows and arrows reached one hundred and fifty paces!

Because they were riding fast horses, the Mongolian Army was able to approach the city walls at the fastest speed; in this process, they could naturally avoid the cannon fire from the Longyan side to a large extent, and when they reached their shooting distance, they began to organize soldiers to cover the soldiers on the city walls with arrows.

Mobility!

At this moment, mobility, which was not important in siege warfare, displayed its innate advantages.

"Fire!"

"Aim accurately for me!"

On the ramparts of Jinghua, the defending general was already burning with anxiety, shouting everywhere.

If this continued...

The hit rate was too low!

And conversely...

The combat effectiveness of this Mongol Army was shockingly strong.

Although the accuracy and lethality of the arrows were far inferior to firearms, they still caused significant casualties to the Longyan defenders.

Added to that was the fire attack; at this moment, flames were already soaring in many places on the ramparts.

There was no time to put out the fires!

Fortunately, Yu Qian had made preparations long ago and had already had people temporarily organize a defense team composed of civilians, who were responsible for transporting artillery, arrows, and extinguishing fires.

Only then did the fire not burn in an uncontrollable direction...

The battle situation became scorching.

The Mongolian Army did not have a hundred percent certainty of capturing the city, and likewise, the Longyan Army did not have a hundred percent certainty of holding it.

Wave after wave of charges.

Wave after wave of injuries.

Wave after wave of troop rotations.

A wave of fire was extinguished again...

Now, it was purely a test of the willpower of the two teams.

Below the city, Mongols fell in batches, and on the city walls, Longyan soldiers were also constantly being hit by arrows and carried off the battlefield.

Under waves of intense offensives, the Mongolian Army finally placed Scaling Ladders against the walls of Jinghua.

Mongolian

soldiers lined up to climb, some shot dead by firearms, others smashed off the Scaling Ladders by rolling logs and fell to their deaths.

After attacking continuously for more than an hour, the Mongols finally charged onto the city walls.

Then, both sides began hand-to-hand combat; white blades went in and red blades came out, and soon, the walls of Jinghua were stained red with blood.

"Hold! Everyone hold for me!"

"Protect Master Yu well!"

Zhao Yan shouted loudly while fighting the Mongolian army; at this moment, besides the city defense, what he worried about most was Yu Qian.

No matter how capable Yu Qian was, he was ultimately a scholar; even a rough man with good martial arts might not be able to guarantee survival in such a cruel battle, let alone Yu Qian, a scholar who lacked the strength to truss a chicken.

But the current Jinghua clearly could not do without him.

Yu Qian had become the backbone of these people.

If he died...

Jinghua would be in complete chaos!

Yu Qian was indeed somewhat inadequate when facing such a bloody scene.

He also wanted to rush up and fight the Mongols, but when he swung his blade to hack, a Mongolian soldier parried it with a backhand, gave a forceful flick, and sent the blade in his hand flying.

Just as the Mongolian soldier's Curved Saber was about to hack at him, Zhao Hui rushed over and slashed that Mongol soldier down.

"Master Yu, it's dangerous here, you must leave immediately!"

Zhao Hui said anxiously.

"No! I want to fight side by side with you all!"

Yu Qian said with a clang, and was about to go grab a blade, but was stopped by Zhao Hui.

"Lord Yu, risking one's life on the battlefield is the job of us rough men. Your task is already complete. If you do not withdraw, we will have to send troops to protect you, wasting our combat strength for nothing!"

Zhao Hui was burning with anxiety.

Yu Qian, who had originally still had the heart to fight, fell silent upon hearing these words.

At this moment, he finally realized that when it came to real close-quarters combat, he was just a burden.

"Fine!"

He finally nodded and agreed to retreat.

A group of people escorted him away.

"Brothers, kill!"

With Yu Qian gone, Zhao Hui no longer had any reservations and led his men to fight fiercely against the Mongolian Army.

The city wall was occupied by the Mongolian Army for a time, but it would soon be taken back by the Longyan, and the two sides engaged in a tug-of-war like this.

The losses on both sides were very heavy, and as of now, there was no true victor in this war.

Time passed minute by minute, and soon, three hours had elapsed.

After paying the price of over ten thousand men, the Capital Defense Army finally held their position at the end, and the Mongol Army, having paid with the lives of over thirty thousand men, dared not launch another attack.

"Great Khan, we are destined to return empty-handed from this trip. Great Khan, let us withdraw. The vanguard of the Youzhou Army has already arrived; if we do not withdraw now, they will surround us here."

A look of sorrow flashed in Zhongxing Yue's eyes as he advised.

"I am not reconciled, I am not reconciled! The Longyan army can no longer hold on; in another hour, I will surely take Jinghua!" Tie Mucheng roared.

How many of his soldiers had this war cost, and how much grain and fodder had it consumed!

If he withdrew the army after this battle...

He would be unable to recover for many years!

The Grassland...

Did not have enough population for him to waste like this.

"Great Khan, we Longyan have an old saying: as long as the green hills remain, one need not worry about firewood. If we leave now, there will be opportunities in the future. If the main force of the Youzhou Army arrives, we will be completely wiped out, and at that time, there will be no chance at all," Zhongxing Yue advised.

"Withdraw the army!"

Tie Mucheng, of course, also knew this logic.

Clenching his fists tightly, he gritted his teeth and gave the order to retreat.

At the same time...

An endless sense of frustration surged in his heart...

Why?

Why was it that even when Liu Zheng was not in Longyan, he still could not succeed?

Was this fate?

The Mongol Army withdrew from Jinghua, and the defenders of Jinghua all breathed a sigh of relief.

This time, it was truly perilous; if the Mongol Army had pressed the attack for one more hour, Jinghua would surely have fallen!

Unexpectedly, they had withdrawn at the most critical moment.

Although Zhao Yan and Zhao Hui were both military officers, they could guess that the Qinwang Army was arriving soon.

At this time, Yu Qian also walked up from below the city wall.

"Two Generals!"

"Lord Yu!"

Both sides exchanged greetings.

"A death battle; our soldiers have suffered over fifty percent casualties. We should properly reorganize and let them rest. The city wall is also damaged to a great extent and needs repairs..."

Zhao Yan said with a pained heart.

"I fear it is not yet time; the fighting may not necessarily be over just like this," Yu Qian looked into the distance and sighed.

Hearing these words from Yu Qian, both generals became alert:

"Lord Yu, what do you mean by this? Didn't the Mongols withdraw?"

"Lord Yu's meaning is..."

Yu Qian shook his head with a bitter smile, then said: "Do you know why the Mongol Army retreated?"

"It should be that our Qinwang Army has arrived."

Zhao Yan said.

After Zhao Yan finished speaking, Yu Qian said nothing, only looking at Zhao Yan with a complex gaze.

At first, Zhao Yan did not know what Yu Qian meant, but he soon reacted.

"Lord Yu, you mean that the Qinwang Army will... no way, right?"

Zhao Yan's face was full of disbelief; the Qinwang Army rebelling, this matter, was it too big?

"I also do not wish for this matter to happen, but think about it, which unit is the closest to Jinghua?" Yu Qian asked.

"The Youzhou Army..."

After saying these three words, Zhao Yan was stunned.

Zhao Hui also had a face of ash.

The Youzhou Army!

Did they truly dare to rebel?

This...

Yu Qian watched the Mongol Army retreating in such a sorry state, his expression leisurely.

An eventful autumn, indeed...

It really is one wave after another...

Could it be...

Without Chief Minister Liu, is Longyan truly unable to withstand such turmoil?

"Be on guard!"

"The entire army, be on guard!"

"Be on guard!"

Just as Yu Qian's conjecture emerged, the two garrison generals began nervously issuing orders.

The soldiers, who had just breathed a sigh of relief, once again became tense. Pop-ups are frequent recently, please click to download to avoid pop-ups.