Chapter 827: Blood Rain Falls on the Walls of Pyongyang

Atop the walls of Pyongyang, Xin Kang, the Deputy Defender of the Western Capital of Goryeo, stared southward, biting his lip until it bled.

He had already seen through the plan of these northern invaders outside the city — they were not failing to take Pyongyang; they were besieging the city to strike at reinforcements!

Before this, although the northern invaders had besieged the city for nearly a month and several thousand armored soldiers had appeared, their fighting strength had not been high.

Xin Kang had led over a hundred military officers everywhere to shore up the defense. Though casualties had been heavy, the northern invaders had also suffered no small losses, and they had still been able to hold on.

But starting yesterday, the fighting strength and numbers of the armored soldiers attacking the city had suddenly surged more than fivefold. In a single day, the military officers and armored soldiers following Xin Kang had lost over thirty percent — more than they had lost in the entire previous month.

The battle cries suddenly rang out again. Xin Kang looked over in despair — six nest carts had already been set up on the opposite side.

These nest carts were taller than the city wall, each equipped with one lookout, one signal-flag soldier, and two sharpshooters.

The lookout was responsible for observing movements on the wall, the signal-flag soldier for relaying intelligence, and the two sharpshooters, holding powerful crossbows, scanned the surroundings and picked off the officers and key warriors commanding on the wall.

"Heave-ho! Heave-ho!" Over a hundred mighty warriors in short jackets pushed forward a Lu Gong cart over twenty zhang tall, shaped like a boat, covered with oxhide, and mounted on wheels below.

This kind of heavy siege engine was a sharp weapon for attacking cities in the Central Plains. It was as tall as the city wall, or even taller.

It generally had three or four tiers. The third tier was packed with armored soldiers who would suddenly burst out and leap onto the wall once it drew near. The top of the fourth tier was lined with crossbowmen and archers to suppress the defenders on the wall.

This most terrifying siege weapon in Chinese history — once it drew close, the final decisive moment had come.

The Lu Gong cart feared only one thing: a fierce barrage from thunderbolt carts (stone-throwing catapults). But after a month of siege, the fact that Pyongyang had no catapults had already been tested and confirmed.

In addition, several fenwen carts advanced first. These carts were covered with oxhide and iron plates, able to withstand arrows, bricks, stones, and boiling filth from the wall. Inside, more than ten men could crouch, and they usually advanced to the base of the wall to wait for a chance to destroy the gates and support battering rams in striking the wall.

Watching the Lu Gong cart drawing ever closer, Xin Kang almost lost the courage to resist.

Even for a veteran general like him, who had helped found Goryeo, he had only seen fragmentary mentions of such a thing in a Central Plains military text he had once chanced upon; he had never seen one in reality.

He opened his mouth, but did not know what order to give. Xin Kang knew that only a thunderbolt cart could destroy a Lu Gong cart, but what a thunderbolt cart looked like, or how to build one — he had not the slightest idea. He no longer knew how to deal with this Lu Gong cart.

But while he stood frozen, the attacking soldiers of the Zhou army did not freeze. First the sharpshooters on the nest carts fired their crossbows in succession. Several officers in hanging armor and military officers screamed and fell on the spot. The archers on the wall tried to retaliate, but they could not reach the enemy at all.

Xin Kang had no choice but to order shield-bearers to provide cover. But while the officers had cover, the ordinary soldiers did not. Crossbow bolts from the nest carts still drifted over from time to time, keeping everyone's nerves on edge.

And while they were dodging the arrows from the nest carts, the lookout on the nest cart had already spotted where Xin Kang was, and had also discovered on which section of the wall Goryeo's heavy troops were deployed. He immediately signaled this to the commander below with flags.

Murong Xinzhang received the information and at once ordered the armored soldiers to be shifted to the other sections to intensify the attack.

Xin Kang soon received word that the other, weaker sections were under attack. With no alternative, he had to send some of the armored soldiers around him over there.

But as soon as he shifted troops on his side, the signal-flag soldier immediately reported it to Murong Xinzhang again.

Murong Xinzhang laughed heartily and handed the steel-ring chainmail armor that Zhang Zhao had personally bestowed upon him to Murong Yanchao, whose build was similar to his own.

"Would Elder Brother be willing to lead two hundred armored soldiers and let the Goryeo people witness the might of our Great Zhou warriors?"

Murong Yanchao laughed three times. Being called "Elder Brother" by Murong Xinzhang pleased him immensely, making him feel years younger, as if he had returned to the days when he fought side by side with Liu Zhiyuan.

This renowned fierce general of the Five Dynasties, who had wandered ten thousand li before finally finding a place to put his abilities to use, took the chainmail armor, strapped a pair of bronze maces to his back, and gave Murong Xinzhang a chashou salute, shouting: "I am willing to take this city for the Great King!"

With that, Murong Yanchao strode first toward the Lu Gong cart. Behind him followed men he had personally selected — every one of them a burly, simple-minded, ferocious fellow much like Asige.

Xin Kang roared furiously from the wall, leading several hundred military officers and armored soldiers as he voluntarily withdrew beyond the range of the crossbowmen and archers on the nest carts and the Lu Gong cart.

He knew that the greatest threat now was not those crossbowmen and archers, but the armored soldiers about to emerge from the third tier of the Lu Gong cart.

If they could defeat these armored soldiers, the city could hold. If not, even killing every enemy crossbowman and archer would not save it.

And as Xin Kang and the main force withdrew, the confidence of the ordinary Goryeo soldiers on the wall collapsed at once. At that very moment, dozens of crossbowmen and archers on the Lu Gong cart loosed a great volley of arrows. Amid a chorus of screams, the defenders scattered and hid, some even forgetting to fight back — a pitiful sight.

"Asige, you donkey-brained bastard, go first! No need to kill anyone — just use brute force and smash through!"

Murong Yanchao had put Asige in two layers of cloth-faced iron armor, complete with neck guard, face mask, shoulder guards, and the rest.

Asige shifted his body slightly. After adjusting to the weight of the armor, he turned back and gave Murong Yanchao two silly grins.

"I want the prettiest little lady in this city. Uh... no! The prettiest one goes to the Great King. I want the second prettiest."

This foolish barbarian still had not forgotten the beauty that Luketu had promised him and then refused to give. Everywhere he went, he had to find a beauty to compare with the goddess in his heart — he was nearly mad with it.

Murong Yanchao clanged him on the iron helmet with a slap. "Take first credit up the wall, and everything's yours. Get knocked flat by the Goryeo barbarians, and I'll cut that thing of yours off!"

With a clang, the Lu Gong cart slammed into the city wall, and the battle cries reached their fiercest pitch. Asige lowered his face mask, took up a great shield, and let out an earth-shaking roar: "Don't you even think it!"

What does a bear-like warrior look like? Asige right now was exactly that. A crowd of Goryeo soldiers had originally surrounded the Lu Gong cart, holding long spears to block the Great Zhou armored soldiers from coming out.

And as Asige howled, he simply hurled his entire body at them.

This Asige, weighing over two hundred jin himself, with armor and shield weighing another hundred — over three hundred jin in total — smashed into the crowd and blasted a great crater in their ranks.

No one knew how many spears were snapped beneath him. One unlucky fellow even had Asige land square on his chest with his rear — yellow and red flowed all over the ground, and the man went stiff!

Then Asige roared again, raised his great shield, and charged recklessly through the crowd like a wild bull, smashing left and right.

The weapons of the Goryeo soldiers on the wall could not pierce Asige's armor, nor could they stop him. On top of that, they were still being shot at, and were soon shoved staggering in every direction. Then the other armored soldiers coming down from the Lu Gong cart cut them down until corpses covered the ground.

But these men were not Asige's target — Xin Kang and his men were.

After bowling over the Goryeo rabble, Asige summoned the last of his strength and charged madly toward the several hundred armored soldiers and military officers around Xin Kang.

"Loose arrows! Loose arrows!" Xin Kang bellowed. In truth, he did not even need to shout — the armored soldiers and military officers under him had already loosed nearly all their bows and the few wooden single-shot crossbows at Asige.

Blood trickled from the corner of Asige's mouth. His body and shield were bristling with densely packed arrow shafts.

The armor-piercing effect of the wooden single-shot crossbows was actually quite good. Asige could even feel his belly being grazed and his internal organs bruised by the heavy impact. But he ignored it all, keeping his task firmly fixed in his mind.

With a boom, Asige, his head streaming blood, smashed into the midst of the Goryeo armored soldiers and military officers. The tremendous impact tore a huge gap in their formation, and then Asige passed out on the spot.

But his breakthrough was well worth it. Following right behind his breakthrough came the sky-darkening volley of arrows loosed by Murong Yanchao and several hundred armored soldiers.

The Goryeo soldiers' hanging armor and short armor could not withstand such concentrated fire. Once their formation fell into chaos, they were even less able to withstand the charge of Murong Yanchao and his men.

The so-called military officers were swept away in a single clash by the frenzied mass of Great Zhou armored soldiers.

After knocking down seven or eight men in succession, Murong Yanchao hurried over to check on Asige. He found the fellow leaning against the wall, foam beginning to bubble at the corners of his mouth.

Seeing Murong Yanchao, Asige did not even have the strength to speak. He only shook his head, indicating that he was merely exhausted, not about to drop dead.

While he was all right, Xin Kang was in trouble. His armor and his all-white hair and beard made him far too conspicuous, and dozens of armored soldiers had been chasing him relentlessly.

And now he could also see that besides the majority wearing iron lamellar armor, there were also some ferocious armored soldiers in cloth-faced iron armor.

And considering the enemy's complete and massive array of siege engines, the Khitan certainly could not have such things.

A thought flashed through Xin Kang's mind like lightning. He suddenly stared toward the southeast and roared:

"Great King, flee! These are not the northern raiders — these are soldiers of the Great Dynasty, soldiers of the Great Dynasty!"

The few remaining guards around him were stunned by Xin Kang's actions. Xin Kang gave them a bleak smile. "All of you, go — go into the mountains and forests and save your lives!"

With that, this famed founding general of Goryeo let out a howl, raised his long saber, and charged toward the Great Zhou armored soldiers who had been hunting him down.

The armored soldiers were overjoyed. They all struck at once, and in an instant pounded Xin Kang into pulp.

And just at the moment Pyongyang fell, the battle at the South River army stockade had also reached its final stage.

Wang Jing's tactics were simple: use the armored soldiers of Andong Garrison as a meat shield, nine hundred Merkit longbowmen and several hundred crossbowmen as the damage output, and the Pingdong Garrison cavalry as screening cover.

Zhao Siwan's thousand men were the mad dogs — whenever the enemy's attack faltered, they would rush out and tear a chunk out of the opposing side.

Even though the fifty thousand Goryeo troops launched more than ten successive assaults, they could not shake Wang Jing's battle formation.

From sunrise to sunset, the entire army took only a little food and drink without showing the slightest wavering, and killed or wounded more than ten thousand of the enemy.

Wang Zhao's eyes were full of despair. He already knew the answer. Huangfu Zhao had also selected two thousand cavalrymen and made ready.

At that moment, Wang Jing summoned his son Wang Tingyi and the fierce general Zhang Jianxiong to his side. "The Goryeo have a crack cavalry unit in red robes that has not yet appeared. It is very likely the royal guard protecting the King of Goryeo.

Later, each of you take a hundred riders, three horses per man, and cut through the Goryeo battle formation. If you see red-robed crack cavalry fleeing south, latch onto them. No need to inflict heavy casualties — just latch on."

(End of Chapter)

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