Chapter 343

More rolling logs, falling stones, and arrows were concentrated and poured down near the battering ram and the city gate, and the Ming Army's casualties began to increase slowly.

The battle entered a white-hot stage from the very beginning, and the Ming Army, relying on a surge of spirit and numerical superiority, attacked very fiercely.

The defenders, relying on the danger of the pass and their preparations, resisted stubbornly.

It was just that after the previous losses, their morale had dropped significantly; now they were hanging on by a single breath, hoping for reinforcements to arrive as soon as possible.

Seeing this, Tang Lin frowned. Guansong Ridge was indeed hard to chew. Even with their surprise attack under the cover of night, and with more men than the opponent and higher morale, they were still in a temporary stalemate.

If this continued, even if they could take it, the casualties would be extremely heavy, and it would certainly take a long time.

So Tang Lin looked at Zhang Honghong and began to use hand signals.

Zhang Honghong hesitated after seeing this, but ultimately chose to listen to him.

"Slow down the attack, use fire oil to suppress them again!"

At the same time, at the side and rear of Guansong Ridge, there was a very high broken cliff, but if one could get up from there, one could enter the first pass.

At this moment, Luo Feng and his five hundred City-Chiseling Battalion soldiers were hanging on this cliff.

They used grappling hooks and ropes to move upward bit by bit like geckos.

Footholds and handholds were scarce, and coupled with the cover of night, every movement required extreme caution; if one accidentally slipped and fell, the result would be death on the spot.

Luo Feng climbed in the lead; his upper body was covered in sweat and bloodstains from accidental scrapes against the rocks.

Looking up, the outline of the pass wall and the light of torches were vaguely visible. They were still nearly twenty zhang from the top of the wall.

"Put in some effort! Before dawn, we must get up there!" Luo Feng whispered, his voice intermittent in the wind.

The battle in front of the pass continued. To reduce casualties, Zhang Honghong could only listen to Tang Lin and constantly use huge stones or fire oil to suppress the opponent, but this way their own battering ram could not get close, and they were merely dragging out the time.

The initial fire attack had caught the opponent off guard, so the results were quite good, but now they were not as impressive; the defenders had all run to the sides to hide, only coming out when the fire on the wall subsided.

Although the Ming Army's offensive was fierce, the Zhenbei Pass remained as solid as a rock, standing firm.

Zhang Honghong's face was livid; she had underestimated the sturdiness of Guansong Ridge and the resilience of the defenders.

At this rate of progress and casualties, let alone eight days, even half a month might not be enough to chew through these three passes.

"Is there... any news from General Luo?" Zhang Honghong asked Tang Lin in a low voice.

Tang Lin shook his head; all hope now rested on those five hundred men of Luo Feng's.

If there was still no news by dawn, then their force would truly have to launch a frontal assault, even if they had to pile up corpses to reach the top of the city wall.

The distance was getting closer and closer. Luo Feng and his men had been climbing for an entire night; everyone was exhausted, their fingers were bloody and mangled, but the target was right before their eyes!

Above them was the outer base of the pass wall. Because of the angle, this was a blind spot for the defenders on the wall, and patrols rarely reached it.

Luo Feng panted heavily and raised his hand to signal everyone to pause.

He listened carefully to the movements above; there were footsteps and voices, but they were not dense.

It seemed that the defenders' attention was completely drawn away by Zhang Honghong's fierce frontal attack.

"The last stretch, everyone pull yourselves together!" Luo Feng held the rope with the grappling hook and slowly swung it in his hand.

He had to succeed in one go, hook the top of the wall, and not make too much noise.

The grappling hook left his hand, traced an arc, and accurately caught in the gap of the battlements on the wall top.

Luo Feng pulled on it hard; it was very secure.

"Up!"

He roared in a low voice, was the first to grab the rope, kicked off the rock wall with his feet, and climbed upward rapidly.

The soldiers behind him followed one after another, biting their short blades, grabbing the ropes, and beginning the final sprint.

Five zhang, four zhang, three zhang... the scene on the wall top became clearer and clearer; he could even hear the low complaints of two defenders behind the battlements.

"The Ming Army below is fighting too fiercely, we've almost run out of arrows..."

"I heard the Imperial Court's reinforcements are almost here, just hold on for a few more days..."

Just as Luo Feng's head was about to be level with the wall top, one of the defenders happened to turn his head to look outside the wall.

Their eyes met!

The defender's pupils shrank, he opened his mouth to shout, but he never had the chance to make a sound!

"Pfft!"

The short blade in Luo Feng's hand swung out, precisely slicing across the defender's throat!

The other defender was shocked, but before he could react, he was killed by Luo Feng in succession.

"Quick! Get up here!"

Luo Feng whispered, guarding the battlements and vigilantly scanning both sides.

The soldiers of the City-Chiseling Battalion flipped onto the wall top one after another, quickly spreading out to occupy this section of the wall that had no guards.

Their position was a section of auxiliary wall near the cliff inside the pass, not the main combat area. At this time, because the frontal battle was tight, manpower had been transferred away, and it was unusually quiet.

Not far away was a warehouse storing arrows and rolling logs, and further away, the outlines of the barracks inside the pass and wisps of cooking smoke could be seen.

"First team, go to the warehouse and set it on fire! Second and third teams, follow me to the gate tower! Fourth team, spread out and create chaos, shout loudly that 'the city is broken' and 'the Ming Army has entered from the back'!"

Luo Feng gave orders quickly, his eyes full of excitement. More than half of the success was already achieved; although the process had been arduous, as long as they could achieve victory, everything was worth it.

"Yes!"

A moment later, fires broke out in many places inside the pass, and thick smoke billowed. At the same time, terrified shouts rang out all over the pass:

"Oh no! The Ming Army has broken in from the back!"

"The city gate has been opened! Run!"

"We can't hold it! The Ming Army is too fierce!"

The defenders struggling in the frontal battle heard the shouts and screams behind them and saw the thick smoke rising inside the pass, and their military morale fell into chaos.

Many people did not know the truth and thought they were truly being attacked from both front and back, and their defensive line wavered instantly.

"What's going on?! What happened in the back?!" The garrison commander roared furiously on the pass tower.

"It's bad! Ming Army spies have mixed into the pass, setting fires everywhere and spreading rumors!" a soldier reported in a panic.

"Bullshit! Behind the pass is a cliff, how did they get in?! Steady! No chaos! Anyone who dares to disrupt military morale will be beheaded!" Although the garrison commander did not believe it, the chaos inside the pass and the growing fire were real.

Just then, two hundred Ming soldiers led personally by Luo Feng, covered in blood, charged straight at the gate tower!

They did not entangle with the small groups of defenders along the way; their goal was very clear—control the winch and open the city gate!

"Stop them! They are the Ming Army!"

But it was too late; the Ming Army had planned this, and how could the defenders, in their haste, block them?

Luo Feng took the lead, wielding a captured long saber, and led his soldiers to carve out a bloody path, rushing to the side of the winch.

"Cut the chains! Open the city gate!" Luo Feng roared, immediately swinging his saber to hack fiercely at the iron chains.

"Clang! Clang! Clang!"

Outside the pass, Zhang Honghong, who was at her wit's end, suddenly noticed that the resistance on the pass had significantly weakened. Inside the pass, flames were shooting into the sky, shouts of battle were rising everywhere, and she vaguely heard the roar of "Open the city gate."

"It's 'Madman Luo'! He succeeded!"

Ever since Luo Feng led eight hundred cavalry deep into the Xiongnu rear and successfully returned after beheading Hunye, everyone had privately called him 'Madman Luo'.

Clearly, 'Madman Luo' had also succeeded this time in his surprise attack on Guansong Ridge with five hundred men.