Chapter 232: The Xiongnu Blitz the City

"General, eat something first!" A personal guard brought a meal to the main camp. The so-called dish was just a small pinch of salted beans.

The Prince of Zhenbei took it, but didn't eat immediately. He and Wei Xikang looked at the map in front of them, deep in thought about how to fight this battle.

Morale was low; he knew it clearly! The Imperial Court had sent no word regarding provisions or winter clothing, and the grain stores within the pass were nearly exhausted. They had no choice but to reduce rations, and these things naturally could not be hidden from the soldiers.

Even if he had the heart to isolate such news, paper could not wrap up fire in the end.

The discipline of the soldiers under his command was maintained only through years of strict military law and his own suppression, but that bit of blood and spirit seemed to be nearly exhausted by hunger.

If the central camp, where he personally sat in command, was like this, the morale in the other two cities was likely even lower.

Therefore, he could not hesitate any longer; he had to fight...

"Boom! Boom!! Boom!"

The urgent war drums sounded instantly, replacing the sound of the copper gongs that had just signaled the start of the meal, and also interrupting the Prince of Zhenbei's train of thought.

In the open space below the city walls, chaos erupted instantly. Some were so startled they dropped their bowls, and thick porridge spilled all over the ground.

More people looked up blankly, food still in their mouths, their faces filled with incredulous shock!

Choosing to launch a surprise attack at noon, when the defenders were most relaxed and eating, the Xiongnu had timed it perfectly!

"Damn it! The Xiongnu are here!" Many soldiers threw down their bowls, grabbed the spears leaning against the walls, and ran toward the city ladders.

"To the walls! Take your positions! Quickly!" The Prince of Zhenbei put down his bowl. Without time for further exchange with Wei Xikang, he walked out of the main camp to take charge of the situation.

The Colonels and Vice Generals received the order, and subsequent commands were issued one after another; their roars immediately drowned out the initial chaos.

There was no clamor, no crying; after a brief moment of disorder, it immediately became orderly. Long-term discipline played its role at this moment.

Although their faces still carried terror, and although many of their stomachs were still empty, the soldiers were guided by orders, discarding their bowls and chopsticks, grabbing their weapons, and sprinting up the horse ramps to the top of the city wall.

Their movements were swift, but morale could hardly be called high; they were merely instinctively executing the procedures they had trained for countless times.

The Vice General had already thrown away his porridge bowl, drawn his horizontal blade, and stood in the center of the city wall: "Archers to the battlements! Spearmen fill the gaps! Prepare the rolling logs and stones! What are you panicking about? Only when you are full do you have the strength to kill the enemy!"

The Prince of Zhenbei put on his armor and walked up to the city wall. His personal guards quickly formed a small protective circle around him.

Because the drums were not beaten at the first moment, the Xiongnu cavalry had already entered the range of the archers, and the Zhenbei Army had missed the best opportunity to attack.

The Xiongnu did not charge the city directly but began to gallop along the city wall at a certain distance, simultaneously bending their bows and nocking arrows.

"Raise shields!" the Prince of Zhenbei shouted. Now was not the time to assign blame; this city must absolutely not be lost.

Shield after shield was raised behind the wall, forming a not-so-tight shield wall.

The next moment, dense arrows broke through the air, shot from below the city wall.

"Thud, thud, thud, thud!"

The sound of arrows nailing into shields, wooden pillars, and wall bricks rang out in a chorus, occasionally interspersed with a muffled groan or a short, sharp scream, indicating that arrows had passed through the gaps and hit the defenders.

After a round of mounted archery, a vanguard of several hundred men split from the Xiongnu cavalry, carrying simple scaling ladders, waving curved blades, and howling as they charged directly toward the city wall.

Their goal was very clear: to use the chaos of the defenders' initial surprise to climb the city in one go!

Not only that, many Xiongnu among them had hooks hanging from their waists, with long ropes held in their hands; these were prepared to be used in conjunction with the scaling ladders.

"Release arrows!" The Prince of the North, gauging the timing, waved his blade and gave the order.

Arrows poured down from the top of the city wall, shooting toward the charging Xiongnu.

At such close range, the archers' accuracy was naturally high, and many Xiongnu in the front were shot down, men and horses alike.

But the Xiongnu behind them stepped over the corpses of their comrades and continued to charge forward without a hint of fear.

Taking advantage of this gap, the Prince of the North searched continuously among the Xiongnu for the figure of Adunla, but he did not find him for the time being.

"Clang!"

The Xiongnu had already charged to the foot of the city wall, and one scaling ladder after another was propped against the parapet, the hooked tops gripping the wall edge tightly.

The Xiongnu below all had blades clenched in their teeth and began to climb upward, their movements extremely agile.

"Long spears! Rolling logs!" The Prince of the North's voice remained steady; he stood personally at a spot where the scaling ladders were dense to command.

The defenders' spearmen leveled their long spears and thrust fiercely at the climbing Xiongnu.

Rolling logs and boulders were pushed off the city wall with combined effort, crashing down with a thunderous roar, smashing the Xiongnu on the ladders along with the ladders themselves, and a chorus of shrill screams rose from below the wall.

The battle instantly entered the most brutal and bloody struggle for the city wall.

This was the advantage brought by the Xiongnu's surprise attack; if the Zhenbei Army had been fully prepared, the Xiongnu would have suffered losses before even reaching the wall, but now they had begun the siege in their best state.

A fierce Xiongnu, braving the defenders' resistance, was the first to leap onto the top of the wall!

He roared wildly, his curved blade slashing out, hacking down a defender who was just about to drop a boulder.

In the small area where he stood, the defenders showed a moment of retreat.

"Push him down!" The Prince of the North's pupils contracted, and he was about to lead his personal guards forward.

But he saw a soldier suddenly pounce from the side; the soldier discarded his weapon and threw his body into the Xiongnu centurion, hugging his waist and abdomen, the massive impact causing both of them to stumble toward the crenelations.

Almost in an instant, the soldier fell from the several-zhang-high wall along with the struggling Xiongnu!

This scene was not an isolated case; in fact, the soldiers didn't even notice this particular event, they were simply pouncing madly at the Xiongnu trying to climb the wall.

The battle fell into a stalemate for a time, with the Xiongnu relying on the momentum of their surprise attack to launch fierce assaults.

The defenders relied on the advantage of the city wall and their strict discipline, yielding not an inch.

Xiongnu kept climbing onto the wall, sparking small-scale melees, only to be beaten back by the defenders fighting to the death.

On the wall, the corpses of soldiers from both sides were piled together, even beginning to hinder the defenders' operations.

The Prince of the North remained at the most dangerous section to command; his horizontal blade had already been notched, and nearly half of his personal guards had been killed or wounded, yet he still had not seen the figure of Adunla.

But he never dared to lower his guard; Adunla possessed extremely strong archery skills, and he might already be hiding in the shadows, bow drawn and arrow nocked, aiming at his head.

At the same time, the Prince of the North knew that the morale of the Zhenbei Army had reached its limit, sustained entirely by a single breath and military law!

Once this breath dissipated, a rout would happen in an instant!

He had to do something to boost morale, otherwise, since everyone hadn't even eaten, it was impossible to have the stamina to fight a protracted war with the Xiongnu.

The Prince of the North hacked down a Xiongnu in front of him, walked quickly to a high point, and roared in a hoarse voice that carried across the entire wall.

"Brothers! The Xiongnu want to stop us from eating! They are afraid that once we are full, we will have the strength to slaughter them all! Hold the line for me! Kill these wolf pups, and tonight I will lead you to eat meat!"