Chapter 116: Temporary Retreat

Chapter 116: Temporary Retreat

After Han Da gave the order, the soldiers by the city wall poured buckets of prepared Fire Oil down onto the slaves lined up below.

Once the slaves were soaked through with Fire Oil, they charged out without any hesitation.

They rushed toward the fully armored Shield Cavalry who were like war machines.

After desperately grabbing hold of one, they shouted to the slaves nearby, “Light it up!”

The slaves not far away immediately understood.

They grabbed nearby wooden firebrands and threw them over.

The slaves’ bodies caught fire, the Fire Oil on them and the Fire Oil now covering the Shield Cavalry.

Both men were set ablaze together.

No matter how hard the Shield Cavalry beat the slaves clinging to them, they couldn’t shake them off!

The Shield Cavalry was instantly ignited.

Seeing this was effective, the surviving slaves fearlessly threw themselves forward one after another.

“You damn Turks! We’ll kill you!” they roared from their souls, throwing themselves at the Shield Cavalry like moths to a flame.

One side was determined to die.

The living Shield Cavalry, seeing their fully armored comrades turn into burning torches and charcoal, began to feel the desire to retreat.

Fortunately, the Turkic reinforcements arrived quickly, but there were simply too many Turks.

The Cavalry coming to support the siege were also very experienced.

Holding shields with one hand and controlling their horses to charge with the other, they immediately scattered the slaves’ suicidal attacks, making it very difficult for the slaves to inflict casualties!

Although the defenders on the wall fired volley after volley under Han Da’s command, the Turks charged fiercely.

It was very difficult to effectively stop them.

After the Cavalry broke into the slaves’ positions, the slaves’ suicidal attacks were greatly limited by the horses.

They could only resort to taking nearby Cavalrymen with them in death.

The Spies mixed among them now completely dropped their disguises, revealing their true faces and joining the Turks’ attack teams, shouting constantly, “I am a Turk! I am one of you!”

From the city wall, Han Da watched the battle. The slaves had fallen into a complete disadvantage, a completely overwhelming disadvantage.

He immediately gave the order to roll the massive stones they had stockpiled on the wall down, for an indiscriminate attack.

The battle was extremely brutal.

In less than half the time it takes for one incense stick to burn, the Turks had killed almost all the slaves.

Although the Turks also suffered many casualties, their greatest loss was actually the Shield Cavalry killed by the slaves’ suicidal attacks!

This infuriated the Ashina Tribe greatly, and they commanded the Turks as if they had gone crazy.

They originally intended to attack the location of the city gate.

But when their battering ram arrived, they found their city gate had become as solid as a mountain cliff; despite using every means, they couldn’t breach it in the slightest.

While besieging the city, they cursed loudly!

“What the hell is this thing! It’s even harder to break through than a mountain cliff!”

Actually, before the Turks attacked.

Han Da had used the first batch of Cement made under Xiao Ce’s guidance, tore down the city’s main gate, and used Xiao Ce’s method with Cement, yellow sand, and stones to create a Concrete city gate.

After replacing it, they tested it and it was indeed indestructible!

It’s just that the first batch of Cement produced was too small in quantity, only enough to reinforce the gate. Han Da was confident that with enough Cement and time, he could make this place as indestructible as a fortress!

Seeing they couldn’t break the gate, the Turks could only use traditional Siege Ladders to attack the city, and used shield-bearing soldiers to try to dig under the wall, attempting to create an opening.

However, they met with fierce resistance from Han Da and his defenders.

Several times, the Turks almost climbed over the city wall.

Although those on the wall were new troops, they were completely fearless of death!

Resisting unto death, they managed to repel several waves.

The battle of attack and defense lasted from nightfall until dawn, and both sides suffered massive losses.

The Turks, unable to capture the city after a long siege, were already exhausted.

After the prolonged unsuccessful assault!

At this moment, in the rear of the siege, the faces of several Khans were very ugly.

“Ashina, we can’t keep fighting like this! Just this Yanbei City has cost us over twenty thousand troops in one night! And there’s no sign of taking it! Those lowlives from the Xiao Kingdom’s lives are worthless, they aren’t afraid to die! But, the lives of our Turkic warriors, noble as eagles, are precious! We can’t keep using our Turkic lives to fill this pit!”

“Yes, Ashina. I know your Shield Cavalry suffered heavy losses! However, our losses are not small either! I feel ourintelligence has a problem!”

“That’s right, the people on that wall are like they’ve been injected with chicken blood, they’re completely unafraid of death! They can’t be conscripted Disaster Victims. Ordinary Disaster Victims, in their first battle, would have been scared out of their wits by this scene!”

“Yes! These defenders must be the Xiao Kingdom’s elite troops. Otherwise, we would have broken through long ago! Let’s retreat for now. Otherwise, even if we take it, our losses will be devastating!”

Under the advice of the leaders, Ashina’s face turned ashen. “Correct, our intelligence must have a problem! Those defenders on that wall are resisting so stubbornly. We’ve managed to get onto the wall several times, and they beat us back every time! These cannot be new recruits. Any new recruits defending a city against such intensity would have collapsed long ago!”

As the leader of the allied tribes, Ashina was unwilling in his heart; he truly did not want to retreat.

But, he thought of the warning Mr. Hidden Dragon had given him.

He finally began to consider retreating!

He glared resentfully at the already somewhat battered city wall. To breach it would likely take at least another day and night.

But, that day and night might cost tens of thousands more lives.

It simply wasn’t worth it!

Ashina shouted with a livid face, “All units, rear ranks become the front! Retreat! Retreat! Retreat!”

Han Da stood on the city wall, his face covered in blood and grime, his eyes bloodshot, his lips chapped.

He watched as the Turks retreated like a receding tide.

From shouting all night, his voice was hoarse!

“Soldiers, the Turks are retreating! We’ve won the first battle! We held! You did it!”

Beside Han Da, Sun Qiang, one arm hanging limp with an arrow still stuck in it, his body also covered in blood, said, “General Han, should we send the archers for another volley to hinder them, not let them retreat so easily!”

Han Da waved his hand. “Such an attack is pointless. They are retreating in an orderly manner, still protected. Arrows would be hard to make effective, let’s conserve them.”

As he spoke, he turned his head to look at Sun Qiang and only then noticed he was hit.

“Deputy General Sun, your arm!”

Sun Qiang forced a smile. “It’s nothing! A minor wound…”

Han Da immediately shouted, “Medic, medic! Come treat Deputy General Sun!”

A medic rushed over from the side to treat Sun Qiang.

The surviving soldiers, bathed in blood, supported each other, facing the rising sun.

They watched the retreating Turks with no joy of victory in their eyes, only deep sorrow, their bodies trembling uncontrollably.

Corpses were piled high on the city wall, and below were masses of charred body parts. They were originally bodies, but under the trampling of the Turkic horses, they had become mere pieces.

The air was still thick with the smell of burnt flesh!

After watching the Turks completely withdraw, these new soldiers, their nerves taut until now, suddenly relaxed.

All kinds of negative emotions flooded their hearts.

As one person let out a loud wail and cried, everyone else began to cry as well.

Most of these new soldiers here were seventeen or eighteen year olds.

Seeing this, Deputy Generals like Sun Qiang were about to speak, but Han Da stopped them. “Let them cry. Think back to your first time on the battlefield, your first time killing. You probably weren’t any stronger than them.”

Hearing Han Da’s words, the Deputy Generals fell silent and nodded.

Han Da said, “Have the reserve troops waiting below come up, carry all the corpses down, and have a fresh wave take over guard duty! Everyone, go and rest for a while!”

“Sun Qiang, you go get that treated immediately!”

Saying this, Han Da began directing the aftermath.

…

While Yanbei City was holding on with great difficulty, Xiao Ce behind Turkic lines was thriving.

Taking advantage of the night, he had swiftly attacked two more of Helu’s sub-tribes overnight.

Xiao Ce also held back nothing. As for the Turks, he killed a portion and took another portion prisoner.

It wasn’t that Xiao Ce was merciful; he simply wanted to help the slaves regain their courage.

Xiao Ce discovered that those slaves, under the Turks’ bullying, were completely terrified.

They needed to see with their own eyes the weakness of these Turks, and to kill some personally, in order to build up their confidence.

Xiao Ce brought the captives, along with the freed slaves, and the seized money, grain, horses, cattle, and sheep to the gathering place where Zhang Yunqing and the others were.

Hearing the commotion, Zhang Yunqing came out to greet him.

Seeing the dark mass behind Xiao Ce, his eyes lit up.

“Prince, you’ve made quite a haul this time.”

Xiao Ce nodded. “Yes, the slaves from a few small tribes add up to about twenty thousand, plus cattle, sheep, money, grain, jewels. Go count it yourself.”

Zhang Yunqing bowed respectfully. “As you command! Prince, today our Scouts spotted many Cavalry scouts approaching. They didn’t get close. But, seeing our area now flying Ashina Tribe flags all over, they all turned back!”

Xiao Ce nodded, a cunning glint appearing in his eyes. “Good, it seems we can help relieve a lot of pressure on Han Da and the others in Yanbei City sooner than expected?!”

Zhang Yunqing said to Xiao Ce, “Prince, you mean…”

Xiao Ce said to Zhang Yunqing, “For the period ahead, I need to speed things up; this is too slow. I’ll tell you my marching route. I’ll go and strike first, and you follow behind to finish the job and collect the supplies.”

As he spoke, Xiao Ce saw Wei Wuji riding a horse, waiting in the distance, seeming to have something to discuss.

Knowing Wei Wuji was a person with a sense of propriety, Xiao Ce smiled and waved him over.

Wei Wuji respectfully approached with a smile.

“Prince, was your journey smooth?”

Seeing Wei Wuji looked like he had something to say, Xiao Ce said to him, “Speak your mind directly!”