Chapter 274
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Chapter 274: Songshan City
After the army departed, the reinforcements from East Frontier City arrived much earlier than he had expected.
This unexpected situation prompted Luo Ji to quickly open Guo Zhen’s attribute panel for a look.
As expected, Guo Zhen, who had spent years campaigning abroad, had grasped the ‘Speed is of the Essence in War’ tactic.
After leaving East Frontier City with his troops, he immediately conducted a forced march to join them.
This situation simplified matters for Luo Ji, as an earlier meeting meant earlier peace of mind.
As the army advanced, the surrounding terrain gradually shifted to mountainous regions.
The elevation changes were even more pronounced than anticipated.
Facts proved Zhou Yi right, siege equipment simply couldn’t be pushed up there.
At the same time, the uneven terrain also made it more difficult for the soldiers to advance than usual.
If not for its specific location being unsuitable, Songshan City, being easy to defend and difficult to attack, could have served as the first line of defense in the east, likely causing considerable trouble for invading players.
However, many things cannot go as one wishes.
Geographical advantage is one thing, and location is another.
The position of East Frontier City happened to block the enemy’s inevitable path, allowing it to form the first line of defense, but Songshan City’s location could not achieve this.
“Leader, Songshan City is about half a day’s journey further.”
Zhou Yi said, riding his horse beside Luo Ji after confirming their position.
“Good.”
Luo Ji replied, then traditionally told a nearby messenger.
“Pass down my order, have the soldiers familiarize themselves with the terrain here, then find a good spot nearby to set up camp and rest for the night.”
“We will attack the city at dawn tomorrow!”
Luo Ji’s idea was simple, while preparing for a prolonged battle, he also wanted to gain an advantage through a surprise attack.
Even if Songshan City was easy to defend and hard to attack, making it difficult to capture in one go, he still had to try.
Giving up without doing anything did not align with his usual style.
After dinner, Luo Ji and Zhou Yi discussed the specific details of tomorrow’s siege and arranged the night watch duties, then signaled everyone to go to bed early.
Later, at dawn, looking up at the sky and estimating the time, it should have been 2 or 3 AM.
The night was clear, and the bright full moon added a few streaks of light to the late night.
This was undoubtedly a good thing for Luo Ji and his men.
Soldiers quickly awoke from their sleep.
Having gone to bed almost at sunset, they were all quite energetic.
After spending about 10 minutes simply eating some dry rations they carried, the 2,000 strong army advanced in the dark under the moonlight.
Luo Ji did not let them light torches.
In this era, a single flame in the darkness was too conspicuous.
Soldiers standing on the city wall could probably spot it from a great distance, which would undoubtedly expose their presence and lead to the failure of their surprise attack.
Fortunately, those brought along this time were all veteran soldiers from the army.
Although the night affected them, it wasn’t enough to shake them.
They looked out for each other and advanced steadily.
However, this did give Luo Ji a reminder, after this battle, it was probably time to include projects like ‘night raids’ and ‘night marches’ in military training.
At dawn, an earth-shattering roar of battle instantly startled Wang Tong from his deep sleep.
Losing his balance, he fell directly off his bed, leaving him dazed and disoriented.
“Wh-what’s going on? Is the enemy attacking?!”
Ignoring the cries of his wives and concubines on the bed, Wang Tong didn’t even have time to throw on a coat.
He scrambled to his feet from the ground and rushed out of his bedroom.
As he burst into the courtyard, he collided with a soldier who was rushing to report.
“General! The enemy, the enemy has attacked!!”
Hearing this, Wang Tong’s heart sank instantly. He grabbed the soldier by the collar.
“Where have they reached?!”
“They’re already besieging the city.”
The soldier cried with a mournful face.
“Are the soldiers on duty blind?”
“They didn’t even know the enemy was at their doorstep?!”
At this moment, Wang Tong felt like he was going crazy.
These enemies were not benevolent people.
After East Frontier City and Songhe City were breached, the bodies of Zhang Xijun and Liu Hu were directly hung on the city walls.
He had heard this news!
Now, these brutal enemies had already reached the outskirts of Songshan City and even begun the siege.
How could Wang Tong not panic?
He certainly didn’t want to join those two on the city wall!
The soldier was clearly frightened by Wang Tong’s reaction, his voice already trembling.
“General, it’s, it’s just too dark. The brothers couldn’t see clearly!”
“Too dark to see clearly?! Too dark…”
Wang Tong’s voice trailed off halfway through, as if he suddenly realized something.
Then, he looked up blankly at the sky still shrouded in night, his expression completely stiffened at that moment.
“They actually snuck over under the cover of night?!”
“Send a messenger, have him ride a fast horse and go from the other side! Inform the reinforcements who are rushing here about the situation!”
As someone capable of being appointed a defensive general by Zhou Dongnan, after a brief moment of panic, Wang Tong finally composed himself and quickly issued orders.
Meanwhile, on the other side, soldiers attacking Songshan City under the cover of night were frantically advancing with scaling ladders.
Scaling ladders were indeed cheap to produce and could be mass-produced.
However, one shouldn’t expect them to be overly effective.
To put it plainly, they were just extended ladders.
More advanced ones might have a telescoping function, and even more advanced ones were ladder carts.
At this time, the soldiers under Luo Ji’s command were using the cheapest type.
Zhou Dongnan treated these ladders as a means of auxiliary siege, as his focus was on the siege towers.
These rows of ladders served only as a distraction or cover.
This situation gave Luo Ji a bit of a headache.
In the current situation, they could only win by sheer numbers. If one ladder couldn’t get up, then they would deploy 10. If 10 couldn’t get up, then they would deploy 20, until the soldiers on the opposite city wall couldn’t push them away fast enough!
Although the battle was slightly grueling, taking advantage of the surprise attack, and before the soldiers inside Songshan City could fully react, the current situation was still relatively favorable for Luo Ji.
As more and more ladders were set up, the limited defending forces on the enemy’s city wall quickly found themselves overwhelmed.
Guo Zhen also seized the opportunity and quickly climbed up.
Then, he displayed great prowess, wielding a battle axe and continuously cutting down several enemy soldiers, forcefully clearing out a living space on the enemy’s city wall.
The veteran soldiers below were also quick-witted.
They quickly identified the ladder protected by Guo Zhen and began to frantically climb it, rushing onto the wall of Songshan City in one go!
