Chapter 508 – Attack on Fengyi County (16)
The city walls today are not as solid as people think—certainly not as hard as iron, nor built with regular giant stones. They’re made of materials like stones, yellow mud, glutinous rice, rice paste, and lime. Cheng’an County is just a small, remote area in the north, so how sturdy can the walls really be?
They can hold up against regular attacks, but against Jiang Pengji’s modified trebuchets? Well, that’s another story.
She’s deployed giant stone-throwing machines! Theoretically, they could smash a significant hole in even the walls of the capital city from back in the day—not to mention the walls of Cheng’an County. The walls may be resilient, but the might of this “foreign envoy” is beyond imagination.
It’s more brutal than a demolition team!
Aside from Jiang Pengji, Zhang Ping, and the audience in the live stream, no one knew such overwhelming power existed.
【Today’s 5 o’clock】: Dang, this stone-thrower reminds me of the Xiangyang cannon used by the Mongols to attack Xiangyang City. It’s a counterweight trebuchet… I heard its power is immense, capable of making craters over two meters deep on the ground…
【This is the first update】: Hey, isn’t the prototype of this stone-thrower the Xiangyang cannon?
【One Leaf Becomes a Boat】: Not really sure. I watched the streams these past few days, and the host modified it based on existing designs. As a humanities student, I can’t understand those complicated schematics! I just know the host had a long chat with that Mo family Zhang Ping about it…
Nong Qin calmly directed the trebuchet to launch its fifth round; the city walls were already riddled with holes. The Green Garment Army on the walls suffered heavy casualties as they lacked sufficient bows and arrows and lost their advantageous high ground, making it impossible to mount effective resistance against the upcoming charge.
Jiang Pengji ordered the stone-throwers to pause and issued several commands. A dozen lifting ladders advanced from the military formation.
In this era, a lifting ladder was merely a sturdy, long ladder without any protective features for the advancing attackers.
It’s important to know that in a siege, the attacking side often suffers greater losses than the defending side. To get close to the walls, the attackers must place themselves within the defenders’ range of attack, who hold the geographical advantage. This means the attackers often need to sacrifice soldiers to set up the ladders and force their way to the walls or break down the gates, resulting in high casualties.
Of course, if the attackers opt for digging a tunnel and sneaking in, that would be a different story.
She was set on a violent assault on the city, which is why she couldn’t be bothered to let anyone dig tunnels like field mice.
When Jiang Pengji made ladders, she referenced existing materials and literature from this world and used that as a basis to create her own.
The base of the lifting ladders had round, hard wooden wheels, acting like solid tires, making it easier to move the whole ladder.
As for the lifting function?
She had two considerations in mind.
First, the ladder was too large—risking detection by enemy scouts and exposing her military secrets. If the ladders could fold up, it would greatly reduce the chance of being spotted. The defenders might think she didn’t prepare siege equipment, thus letting their guard down.
Second, the height of city walls varied drastically across the era. Some walls were majestic, like the former capital, and others were just a bit taller than dirt mounds. The lifting ladder could be adjusted in height based on the wall’s condition.
Beyond these details, the biggest breakthrough was the structure of the ladder itself, which could conceal people inside.
When soldiers pushed the ladders, they could hide inside or beneath the ladder, using sturdy shields to block attacks from the walls. With protection, even if the enemy rained arrows down, the soldiers pushing the ladder could still manage to set it against the wall.
The Green Garment Army on the walls had been cleared out, and reinforcements hadn’t arrived yet, making it the safest moment to ascend.
She issued military orders, and the sound of trumpets with different rhythms echoed once more.
The vanguard infantry, itching for battle, scrambled up the ladders, each moving faster than monkeys.
Which man wouldn’t want to make a name for himself?
Especially when they saw the female troops moving more smoothly than they were—if the male soldiers didn’t strive harder, how could they show their faces?
By the time the Green Garment Army sent support, it was a tad too late. The soldiers in leather armor drew their large swords and began to fight.
The battleground atop the wall was chaotic, with more and more soldiers climbing the ladders and gradually gaining the advantage in numbers.
While the Green Garment Army lacked leadership, there were still plenty of small commanders among them.
It was already too late to retreat, so they could only desperately defend the city gates, trying to keep the enemy out as best as they could to have a sliver of hope.
Everyone could see that for the short term, the number of soldiers able to climb the dozen ladders would always remain limited. As long as they held the gates strong, focusing their strength on the people atop the walls, the Green Garment Army might still be able to defend Cheng’an County… well, they sure were optimistic.
Dozens of soldiers hoisted a hefty log, ready to break through the tightly shut gates.
“One… two… three!”
“One… two… three!”
“One… two… three!”
The soldiers chanted numbers in unison, and on “three” they pushed with all their might.
Thanks to the trebuchets smashing the walls, the gates had been affected, and after a joint effort of repeated hits, the gates finally burst open, revealing over a hundred Green Garment soldiers and various barricades behind the door. The two sides clashed at the western gate, and the sounds of battle were relentless.
Blood splattered everywhere, with limbs and corpses strewn about.
The flowing blood pooled into a stream, winding like a little red snake.
At the city gate, the Green Garment Army was in disarray, utterly incapable of forming effective defenses or attacks.
The soldiers rushed the gates, and several uniquely designed rolling battle carts came into play.
These battle carts were simple in appearance; unveiling the covers revealed their true form.
Each cart had twenty-one seven- to eight-foot-long spears protruding from the front, razor-sharp at the tips, with the sides jam-packed with sharp blades.
Seeing this, the soldiers retreated, allowing their comrades to push the carts to the front, rushing into the city.
These carts were specifically designed for street battles after breaching the city, resembling a hedgehog with spikes sticking everywhere, making it hard for the enemy to approach.
The Green Garment Army was leaderless, and those small commanders didn’t even have time to escape—how could they organize an effective defense?
Jiang Pengji’s soldiers first broke through the outer wall, advancing into the inner city like slicing through vegetables, leaving a bloody path behind. The Green Garment Army would flee upon seeing their foes, with some even trampled in the chaos, their faces filled with fear and despair.
In contrast to the Green Garment Army that hadn’t eaten properly for days, Jiang Pengji wasn’t harsh on her own troops.
Not to say their rations were luxurious, at least no one would have to tighten their belts and go hungry into battle.
Meng Hunyun hadn’t seen blood in a while, and when the city fell, he led the charge.
Li Yun, not one to back down, rode into Cheng’an’s gates, leveraging his speed to slay plenty of fleeing Green Garment soldiers, swinging his silver spear to create splashes of dazzling blood—the blood even stained his white horse into a “red horse.”
Jiang Pengji was itching to join the fray, but two pairs of eyes were firmly fixed on her, as if to say that if she dared to rush in, they would make her pay dearly.
