Chapter 368: I Give Up

That wall was indeed tall, taller than Kaiping City, taller than Helin City, taller than Fan City and Ankara.

But even the tallest wall can fall.

"Fire."

Three hundred rear‑gate line‑bore cannons fired simultaneously.

"Boom..."

The sound was so great that the very ground trembled.

Bursting shells cut through the morning light, trailing long tails, and struck the outer city wall.

Explosions rose and fell, bricks and stones shattered, and smoke and dust surged skyward.

A section of the wall collapsed with a roar during the third barrage, bricks and stones fell into the trench, splashing up huge sprays of water.

"Fill the trench," Zhu Yong dismounted, lifted the Double Hammers.

Zhu Qiong Jiong also leapt from his horse, gripping his Wolf Fang Club.

Father and son walked side by side forward.

Behind them, five thousand Longxiang Army soldiers carried sandbags, pushing forward with them.

On the wall, Ottoman arrows rained down like droplets.

Zhu Yong neither dodged nor evaded. Arrows struck his body, rebounded off his iron armor, clanging and jingling in a cacophony.

Zhu Qiong Jiong brandished his Wolf Fang Club, blocking left and right; occasionally an arrow brushed his shoulder, leaving bloody streaks, yet he made no sound, staying tightly behind his father.

Father and son reached the trench's edge; Zhu Yong halted, glanced back at the Longxiang Army behind them.

"Throw!"

Five thousand sandbags were thrown into the trench at once.

Water sprayed in all directions, the sandbags piled, and soon a wide road was laid across the trench.

On the wall, Ottoman arrows grew denser; a few Longxiang Army soldiers were hit and fell, but more rushed forward, shoving sandbags into the breach.

Zhu Yong stood at the front, swinging the Double Hammers into a wall that blocked most of the arrows.

Zhu Qiong Jiong stood beside his father, swinging the Wolf Fang Club, smashing the occasional stray arrow away.

The trench was filled.

"Charge!"

Zhu Yong led the charge on horseback, stepping on sandbags to rush across the trench, hammering the Double Hammers at the wall's foundation.

The first hammer made the wall shudder; the mortar in the brick joints fell away in a cascade.

The second hammer cracked several bricks, exposing the layer of rubble inside.

The third hammer drove a pit into the wall.

Five thousand Longxiang Army followed, erected a Ladder, and began to climb.

On the wall, Ottoman soldiers hurled rolling stones and timber down, pouring scorching oil. Cries of agony rose and fell, yet no one retreated.

Zhu Yong did not climb the Ladder; he ran along the wall, searching for the long‑neglected breach that Zhu Qiong Jiong had discovered.

At the northeast corner, grass grew in the brick joints, and the mortar had peeled away by more than half.

He raised his right‑hand hammer and struck down.

"Boom..."

The whole brick wall shattered, revealing a three‑foot square opening.

The second hammer widened the opening to five feet.

The third hammer caused a chunk of the wall to collapse.

He hoisted the hammer and squeezed in; inside was a narrow passage within the wall, barely wide enough for two people to walk side by side.

A few Ottoman soldiers brandishing spears charged; Zhu Yong swung a hammer, sending five or six of them flying, they slammed into the wall, their brains splattering.

He advanced along the passage, each hammer blow toppling another.

Behind him, Zhu Qiong Jiong squeezed through the breach, swinging his Wolf Fang Club, following his father.

The passage was dim, Ottoman soldiers surged in from all directions.

Zhu Yong cleared the way, Zhu Qiong Jiong covered the rear.

An Ottoman officer lunged from the side, slashing at Zhu Qiong Jiong's head with a curved blade.

The youth twisted aside, the Wolf Fang Club struck the officer's knee; the sound of bone shattering rang clearly.

The officer let out a howl and fell to his knees; a second swing hammered his occiput.

Two more rushed out, one wielding a spear, the other a curved blade.

Zhu Qiong Jiong smashed the spear shaft with one swing, then struck the wrist of the man with the curved blade. The man cried out, the blade flew from his hand, and Zhu Qiong Jiong kicked him down the wall.

Zhu Yong glanced back; his son was drenched in blood, yet his eyes shone terrifyingly bright.

He nodded, and kept moving forward.

Beyond the passage lay the inner city's gate.

The gate was wooden, sheathed in iron plating.

The iron plating was riddled with rust, the wood rotted, and a scratch with the hand caused flakes to crumble.

Zhu Yong raised his right‑hand hammer and struck down. The first hammer shattered the iron plating, exposing the rotten wood inside.

The second hammer blew the rotten wood apart, revealing the latch behind the door.

The third hammer caused the whole door to collapse with a roar.

Amidst swirling dust, he stood at the breach, looking at the Constantinople within.

Inside the city, Ottoman soldiers wore faces ashen as earth.

"Surrenderers are not killed."

Silenced for Three Breaths.

The clatter of weapons hitting the ground filled the air.

Constantinople, fallen.

When the news reached outside the city, Zhu Di was leading the Yan army in a feint attack at the South Gate.

He tightened the reins, watching the Star‑Moon flags on the walls fall one by one, while Great Ming's Red Flags rose one by one.

"That kid is harsher than his father," he murmured.

"Prince, Prince Wu has already breached the city; shall we charge?" the Vice General asked.

Zhu Di laughed, "Charge! How could we not? We can't let Second Prince take all the credit alone."

He drew his saber and thrust it into the horse's belly.

"Yan army, follow me into the city!"

Thirty thousand Yan troops roared in unison, charging toward the gate.

The garrison at the South Gate, already disinterested in fighting, saw the flags on the ramparts change and began throwing down their weapons to surrender.

Zhu Di spurred his horse into the city; on both sides of the Street, Ottoman soldiers knelt, begging for mercy.

In front of the Great Hagia Sophia Cathedral at the city center, Bayezid was bound with thick ropes, kneeling on the ground.

Zhu Yong stood before him, Double Hammers at his feet, his body drenched in blood, though not his own.

Zhu Qiongjiong stood behind his father, Wolf Fang Club planted on the ground, its head still dripping blood.

"How many more did you kill?" Zhu Yong asked.

"Uncounted, about… five," Zhu Qiongjiong wiped the blood from his face.

Zhu Yong nodded, saying nothing further.

Bayezid lifted his head, looking at the father and son.

He had fought for forty years and had never seen people like this.

One man, two hammers, shattered the thousand‑year‑old unyielding walls of Constantinople.

His eleven‑year‑old son followed him, cutting a path through the entire avenue.

What kind of monster is this?

"Do you submit?" Zhu Yong looked down at him.

Bayezid remained silent for a long while, then finally bowed his head: "I submit."

Zhu Yong nodded and replied, "If you submit, that's fine. From today, the Ottoman Empire belongs to Great Ming."

He turned, lifted a hammer, and strode into the city.

Constantinople's streets were wide, flanked by stone columns and arches from the Byzantine era.

Sunlight filtered through the clouds, shining on the dome of the thousand‑year‑old cathedral, resplendent in gold and jade.

Zhu Qiongjiong followed his father, looking up at the cathedral, his eyes wide as he said, "Father, this building is huge."

"Huge, indeed. From now on, this is ours of Great Ming."

Zhu Qiongjiong grinned.

Zhu Di spurred his horse to catch up, dismounted, and said, "Second Prince, the garrison inside the city has all surrendered, still about twenty‑plus thousand left."

"Integrate them, don't kill; there are forty thousand reinforcements from Europe on the way, we must keep men to guard the city."

Zhu Di nodded, "What shall we do with those reinforcements?"

Zhu Yong thought for a moment, "Wait for them; if they don't come, fine; if they do, deal with them all at once."

He paused, then said, "Send someone to the Tie Mu Er Mansion to deliver a message, have Wang Gui send more Grain and Fodder, and also write a letter to the elder brother, stating that Constantinople has been taken and asking him to send someone to govern."

Zhu Di acknowledged, turned and went to make arrangements.

Zhu Yong stood before the Hagia Sophia Cathedral, gazing at the thousand‑year‑old city.

Sunlight streamed through the dome's windows, casting huge patches of light on the mottled stone floor.

He recalled reading about this city in books in a past life, then feeling it was unattainably distant.

Now, he stands here, having personally incorporated it into Great Ming's territory.

"Father, what are you laughing at?" Zhu Qiongjiong came close.

Zhu Yong was startled for a moment.

Did he smile?

"Nothing much, let's go, enter the city and have a look."

The father and son walked side by side into the thousand‑year‑old cathedral.

Sunlight passed through the dome's stained glass, spreading a kaleidoscope of colors across the floor.

Zhu Qiongjiong looked up, entranced.

Zhu Yong stood beneath the dome, looking up at the massive mosaic.

The Holy Mother cradles the Holy Child, radiant with golden light.

A thousand years of history beneath his feet, before his eyes.

Behind him, Great Ming's flags fluttered on Constantinople's walls.

From Yingtian Prefecture to Samarkand, from Samarkand to Constantinople.

Thousands of miles away, the railway is being laid inch by inch.

One day, a train will reach here.

And he will ride the train home.