Chapter 246

"Your... Your Highness..."

The Vice General listened to the Crown Prince's words, unable to utter a single word of comfort.

The two looked at each other, both seeing the determination in the other's eyes.

Let them use their bodies to build the final wall for the people of Beijiang!

Inside the Xiongnu camp, Adunla was watching the walls of Lin City, listening to his subordinates report the situation.

"We have already scouted the two cities of Shuang and Yin, and there are no traces of a significant reduction in the defenders!"

Adunla turned his head, a meaningful smile curling the corners of his mouth: "It seems I have been played!"

"But it is just a death struggle! Pass my order, the whole army is to prepare, and we will launch the assault tomorrow night!"

During this period, the defenders on the city wall clearly lacked momentum; Adunla had led troops for many years, and this was easy to distinguish.

The Prince of the North's head had fully played its role, and now that it was time to break the city, Adunla naturally would not be soft-hearted.

The Vice General walked out of the main camp and came to the city wall, his gaze fixed on the Xiongnu camp.

Now the Xiongnu could launch an assault at any moment; although they were prepared to die, they would not just stand there and let the Xiongnu kill them—the necessary siege defense preparations still had to be made.

"Start the fires and boil the oil, and have the rolling logs and boulders ready!"

A personal guard stood beside the Vice General, somewhat worried: "Are the Xiongnu coming?"

"I don't know! But they won't let us have peace for long!" The Vice General shook his head, his calm face showing no ripples.

By the next night, Wei Xikang could no longer sit still in the camp and, leaning on a wooden stick, came to the city wall.

Seeing this, the Vice General hurried forward to support him: "Your Highness, it is cold at night, perhaps you should return to the camp!"

Wei Xikang shook his head, a faint smile appearing on his pale face: "I can't sleep, I'm worried about the soldiers, I've come to take a look!"

With the death of the Prince of the North, the soul of the Zhenbei Army was lost, and successive defeats had driven morale to the bottom.

Wei Xikang had the heart to boost morale, but thinking of his current state, he feared it would only make everyone more desperate.

Now the grain stored in the city could support them for at most three to five days; the Zhenbei Army had reached the end of its rope.

"The wind in Beijiang is truly strong!" Wei Xikang imitated the soldiers hiding behind the crenelations to avoid the wind and signaled for the Vice General to sit down as well.

The two chatted idly behind the crenelations; at this moment, there seemed to be no distinction between monarch and subject, and they spoke not a word of the war, discussing only domestic trifles.

"Damn it! This ghostly weather!"

The Vice General spat, rarely swearing; he didn't know if he was cursing the weather or that bunch of damned Xiongnu.

Wei Xikang was just about to say something, but his expression suddenly changed, "Don't speak! It seems... there is... the sound of horse hooves?"

The Vice General listened intently; besides the sound of the wind, there really seemed to be a faint, muffled thunder rolling in from afar, and it was getting louder, the ground even beginning to tremble slightly.

"Enemy attack! The Xiongnu are raiding at night! Quick! Beat the drums!" The Vice General roared at the top of his lungs.

"Dong dong dong—" The urgent drumbeats broke the silence of the night.

The top of the wall was suddenly in a flurry, and the Zhenbei Army quickly picked up their weapons and swarmed onto the wall.

The Vice General ordered his personal guards: "Quick! Help His Highness off the wall!"

But Wei Xikang refused sternly: "When the nest is overturned, no egg remains intact; it's the same everywhere, deal with the enemy first!"

Since they were going to die anyway, it was better to stand on the city wall with the soldiers and fight to the last moment.

The Vice General did not try to persuade him further; the battle was urgent, and there was no time for dawdling.

"Light the torches! Archers, prepare!" The Vice General's voice cracked, "Rolling logs and boulders! Quick!"

In the darkness, the deafening sound of Xiongnu horse hooves and wolf-like howls surged toward the city wall.

The momentum was vast, showing that the Xiongnu had come out in full force.

The Zhenbei Army acted in a panic; although they had trained countless times, their low morale, coupled with their fear of the Xiongnu, meant their movements were not as agile as in the past.

Arrows were shot out sparsely, most of them swallowed by the darkness, their effects unknown.

The Xiongnu deliberately did not light torches for their surprise attack, precisely to cause immense psychological pressure on the defenders.

Adunla held his curved blade high in the midst of the army, "Sons of the grassland! Charge!"

The Xiongnu cavalry moved extremely fast, reaching the foot of the city wall in the blink of an eye; unlike the Zhenbei Army, they could clearly see the defenders on the wall.

A dense rain of arrows poured up from below, and instantly, over a dozen defenders were struck and fell, screams ringing out.

"Raise shields! Hold the line!" The Vice General swung his blade to deflect an arrow, shouting at the top of his lungs.

The Xiongnu were clearly prepared; simple scaling ladders were propped up, and even sturdier logs began to ram the city gate.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Every impact felt like it was smashing into the hearts of the defenders.

Fortunately, the Vice General had not been idle these days; a large amount of heavy objects had been piled up behind the city gate to block it, which should hold for a while.

"Take a team of men to guard the city gate!" The Vice General ordered his personal guards.

The gate being broken was only a matter of time; as long as they could drag it out for a while longer, they could kill more Xiongnu!

One hook after another was thrown onto the city wall by the Xiongnu, working in coordination with the scaling ladders, making the Xiongnu's pace of climbing the wall even faster.

Soon, Xiongnu appeared on the city wall, one after another charging fearlessly at the Zhenbei Army.

The Vice General could not care about anything else and hurriedly led men to start clearing the Xiongnu who had climbed onto the wall.

But more and more Xiongnu climbed up, and the top of the wall fell into a complete melee.

The defenders were already at a numerical disadvantage and had low morale, often requiring two or three men to barely hold off one fierce Xiongnu soldier.

People kept falling, and the casualties of the Zhenbei Army increased sharply.

"The eastern crenelation has been breached!"

"A lot have come up on the west side too!"

Bad news kept coming; the Vice General was covered in blood, not knowing if it was his own or the enemy's, and he fought left and right on the wall like a madman, but the gaps were becoming more numerous.

Wei Xikang held his sword with one hand and killed two Xiongnu while leaning against the city wall; the wooden stick in his hand had long since been lost.

Finally, the city gate was rammed open!

"The gate is broken! The Xiongnu have entered the city!" The desperate cry of a personal guard reached everyone's ears.

The Vice General looked at the Xiongnu cavalry pouring into the gate, his eyes bloodshot, and he raised his blade and roared: "Brothers of the Zhenbei Army! Retreat to the alleyways and fight the Xiongnu to the death!"

The Zhenbei Army retreated while fighting, but many had already thrown away their armor and fled; the situation was completely one-sided.

Relying on their familiarity with the alleyways in the city, the Zhenbei Army's flight was relatively smooth, but there was no effective counterattack.

The Vice General led Wei Xikang in a continuous retreat, attempting to organize everyone for a desperate counterattack, but the effect was minimal.

Wei Xikang looked at the scattered Zhenbei Army and the Xiongnu who were hacking and killing at will, and a sense of desolation surged in his heart.

Lin City was finished! Beijiang was finished too!

In the narrow alleyways, the Xiongnu cavalry's advantage in impact was greatly diminished; this was the only good news for now!