Chapter 342

Zhang Honghong was mounted on her warhorse, while Tang Lin was checking the soldiers' equipment over and over again.

The current Ming Army was not what it was when fighting the Xiongnu; their equipment had now been updated, their armor was complete, and their blades and spears were bright. This was all thanks to the iron-smelting furnaces Jiang Jinshi had people build last year.

There was no fear in the soldiers' eyes, only a longing for battle and a burning desire for merit.

Now their Ming Army had great momentum, and their lord, Jiang Jinshi, even held the Imperial Seal; it was hard not to make everyone think.

The merit of supporting a new emperor—who wouldn't want that?

"Move out!" Zhang Honghong had no extra words, her long spear pointing forward.

The fifty-thousand-strong army immediately set off, charging toward Guansong Ridge in the night.

This was a frontal assault to buy time for Luo Feng's unit, so they brought plenty of siege equipment, including scaling ladders, battering rams, and a large number of arrows and fire oil jars.

The goal was to use the most violent first wave of attacks to test the strength of Guansong Ridge before the defenders could react, and perhaps even attempt to break the pass in one go.

Luo Feng watched the army march out, then turned to look at his five hundred soldiers; these men were all desperate outlaws selected from the entire army.

These people were either mountain folk or hunters by origin, with years of rich experience in rock climbing, or they were warriors on the battlefield who did not fear death.

Their mission this time was extremely perilous, one could even say a life-or-death gamble; if they didn't have some guts, they probably wouldn't last until the end.

Everyone wore light leather armor and carried grappling hooks, ropes, short blades, fire starters, and fire oil on their backs.

This was the "City-Chiseling Battalion" that Luo Feng had temporarily assembled, and it was also the greatest variable in the outcome of this battle.

Luo Feng took a deep breath; he did not trust anyone else with such a dangerous and important mission, so he left the most dangerous part for himself.

"Everyone remember, we are not going to fight head-on. Our goal is to drill in from a place they would never expect and bite open a hole. Once inside, don't worry about anything else, set fires to create chaos, and then... stay alive to open a gate. Understand?"

"Understood!" The five hundred men responded in a low voice, very uniformly, without a trace of fear in their eyes.

"Move out."

Luo Feng turned first, and the five hundred soldiers of the City-Chiseling Battalion followed closely behind, moving along a secret, rugged path that scouts had already identified, circling toward the cliffs at the side and rear of Guansong Ridge.

Outside the first pass of Guansong Ridge, Zhang Honghong, as the vanguard, led the army and quietly arrived at the attack position.

On the pass walls, the defenders had clearly discovered them.

Horns and war drums began to sound, torches lit up densely, and shadows ran hurriedly behind the battlements; the defending general's reaction was faster than expected.

"We've been discovered."

Zhang Honghong was not surprised at all; after all, they had not made a special effort to hide their tracks this time, and it was not easy to hide fifty thousand people anyway.

"That's fine, then we'll go head-to-head and see what this Guansong Ridge is made of! Pass the order! First wave, archers provide cover! Suppress the wall tops! Catapults, move up!"

"Fire arrows!"

Following the order, thousands of archers released their strings simultaneously, and a dense rain of arrows flew toward the pass walls! Immediately, a chorus of miserable cries and the dull thuds of arrows hitting shields rang out on the walls.

"Catapults, smash them for me!"

A hundred catapults were pushed forward, and stones weighing over a hundred pounds were hurled toward the city wall.

According to Zhang Honghong's idea, once they arrived, they should charge the city directly, set up the scaling ladders, and get to work.

But this idea was stopped by Tang Lin. It must be known that because of the special location of Guansong Ridge, the elevation difference between the front and back was extremely large, so the city walls were unusually high.

They were at least significantly higher than the walls of ordinary cities, so charging the city in the usual way would certainly result in huge losses and might not necessarily be effective.

Tang Lin came up with an idea: consume them with long-range attacks first. Whether it was catapults, fire oil, or even the crossbow carts they now had, they could completely carry out a wave of firepower suppression first and also wear down the opponent's numbers.

Zhang Honghong knew her brain wasn't as useful as Tang Lin's, so she followed his arrangements.

Huge stones landed on the city wall, making loud, booming sounds; the momentum was very grand.

But the Ming Army did not move forward, so the defenders could only defend passively, hiding behind the battlements to find opportunities. Occasionally, stones would hit soldiers, but the number was not large.

"How many people have come outside the city?" The garrison commander crouched behind a battlement, pulling his head in, holding a shield over his head.

"I don't know, it's too late and too dark to see clearly!" a soldier replied hurriedly.

The garrison commander's eyes were full of fear. Others might not know the terror of the Northern Frontier's Ming Army, but he had heard of it long ago.

Unlike the south, their location was originally the entrance to the Northern Frontier, so they could learn a little about what was happening in the Northern Frontier.

The Ming Army, which could defeat the Xiongnu and unify the Northern Frontier in a short time, how weak could their combat power be?

"Go quickly to the second pass to report the situation and request reinforcements!"

Of the three passes of Guansong Ridge, the defenders of the second pass were the most idle, being sandwiched in the middle with basically nothing to do, but in wartime, it was absolutely the most suitable position for support.

At this moment, the dull thud of the stones changed; it became crisp, like the sound of pottery jars shattering on the ground.

The garrison commander was just wondering when he suddenly smelled the scent of fire oil, and he was immediately terrified.

"It's fire oil, they're going to use fire attack!!!"

Before the defenders could react, arrows tipped with fire were shot onto the city wall, igniting the fire oil, and the wall instantly turned into a sea of fire.

Piercing screams rose one after another; clearly, the Ming Army's fire attack was very effective.

At this moment, the stones in the catapults had already been replaced by fire oil jars, which were being hurled fiercely toward the city wall.

"Hahaha! Old Tang, this method of yours is really good!" Zhang Honghong laughed. Although this lacked some of the boldness of a charge, it suppressed the wall top without any casualties.

This was Tang Lin's method: first use arrows and catapults to suppress the opponent so they wouldn't show their heads, then take the opportunity to switch to fire oil, throw it up, and ignite it, which could heavily consume the opponent's combat power.

And based on the current intensity of the opponent's resistance, it could only be said that the defenders had some rules and some discipline, but they were definitely not strong.

After the fire had burned for a while, many of the defenders on the city wall had also been cleared out.

"Set up the scaling ladders! Charge!"

Zhang Honghong personally supervised the battle, and hundreds of scaling ladders, under the cover of sword-and-shield soldiers, were placed directly against the pass wall.

"Rolling logs! Falling stones!" On the pass wall, the garrison commander's roar was hoarse and desperate.

After the opponent's series of operations, they had suffered many losses, but they had to hold on now; only by holding out until the reinforcements from the second pass arrived would there be a glimmer of hope for survival.

Rolling logs and falling stones crashed down, and the Ming Army's first wave of the offensive was immediately thwarted. Screams rang out, several scaling ladders were smashed and overturned, and soldiers fell from the heights.

"Archers, don't stop! Suppress them! Battering ram, smash the city gate for me!"

Zhang Honghong's expression did not change as she continued to command.

The battering ram, wrapped in wet cowhide, was slowly pushed by dozens of strong men toward the iron-reinforced city gate.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The dull sound of the impact echoed below the pass, and each sound made the pass wall tremble slightly.

The defenders were terrified, fearing that they would have no way to survive once the Ming Army entered the city, so they resisted fiercely. Relying on the advantage of the towering city wall, they should be able to hold on for a short time.