The cold dawn wind whistled through the gaps in the felt tent, making the sheep oil lamp on the table sway precariously.
Inside the central tent of the Helian camp, Left Gully King Ashina Dubi sat on a wolf - skin chair, idly twirling a string of white bone prayer beads in his hand.
Outside the tent, the bugles sounded one after another, urging the troops in each camp to form up.
The messenger sent to collect the grain had been gone to Baiyin Grassland for a day and a night.
Based on the estimated travel time, he should have returned with the grain ledger in the middle of the previous night. Now that the sky was already bright, not a single mounted messenger could be seen on the main road.
Ashina Dubi's hand slowed down a bit as he twirled the prayer beads. He didn't say a word, and none of the generals standing around dared to make a sound at this critical moment.
The grain supply route was the lifeline of the 100,000 - strong army. The messenger's failure to return was definitely a sign of something amiss.
The tent curtain was lifted, and Military Advisor Chen Changfeng stepped in, with the morning dew still on his shoulders.
He bowed and immediately steered the conversation towards the new wall at Zhenbei Pass.
"Your Majesty, according to the report from the scouts last night, that wall without any brick joints is by no means a solid fortification," Chen Changfeng said calmly, trying to stabilize the morale of the troops.
"I know better than anyone what the officialdom of the Great Qian is like. After years of continuous warfare, the national treasury is already empty."
"That wall is grey. It neither has bricks pressed nor stones laid. Clearly, it's the result of a conspiracy between the local military supervisors and the officials of the Ministry of Works to embezzle funds. They just plastered river mud mixed with lime as a makeshift facade. This kind of wall may look seamless, but in fact, it's nothing but a pile of mud."
Ashina Dubi stopped twirling the prayer beads and looked up at Chen Changfeng. "Do you mean to break through the pass today?"
"The sooner, the better," Chen Changfeng replied. "Since it's just a shoddy wall, there's no need to waste our elite troops. There are more than two thousand captives from the south and criminals from various tribes in our camp."
"Give them a few ladders and let them lead the charge."
"They'll die if they retreat and also die if they advance."
"Use these worthless lives to test the strength of that mud wall. If it turns out to be just for show, we can then send in our Ironclad Cavalry."
As soon as he finished speaking, Chiliarch Bayar stepped forward from the ranks, clasped his fists, and shouted loudly, "Your Majesty! The One - Armed General got the better of us a few days ago. Let me lead my elite troops to follow these slaves today! Once they break through a gap in the wall, I'll be the first to charge into Zhenbei Pass and bring you the head of Tie Lanshan!"
Ashina Dubi gave Bayar a sidelong glance but didn't respond to his request. Instead, he nodded at the order - bearer.
"Do as the military advisor said. Drive out those slaves and captives," Ashina Dubi ordered. Then he turned to Bayar.
"You lead your troops to push the shield carts and follow two hundred steps behind to supervise the battle. Without my order, no one is allowed to cross the shield carts. If any of those slaves dare to retreat, kill them on the spot."
Bayar was disappointed that he didn't get the chance to be the vanguard. His face darkened, but he could only bow his head and accept the order before stepping back.
Ashina Dubi put his hands into his sleeves. By not risking his main force, he was also on guard against any unknown variables.
Without the arrival of the grain, the army couldn't afford to lose its fighting spirit.
Outside the camp, the wooden gate of the stockade crashed open. More than two thousand ragged border residents of the Great Qian and criminals from the grasslands were whipped and beaten by Helian soldiers and driven out.
The north wind was biting cold. Most of these people were bare - footed, wearing only thin hemp clothes. A dozen roughly - tied wooden ladders were thrown at their feet.
Behind the group, there were five hundred Helian soldiers in the supervision team, each holding a long - handled heavy knife.
The blades glistened coldly in the morning light. According to the old rules of the grassland tribes for siege warfare, the first wave of attackers would use commoners to fill the trenches and block the arrows.
Once inside the siege formation, those who retreated would be beheaded on the spot by the supervision team.
The chaotic group was forced to move forward slowly. Their cries were drowned out by the neighing of horses and the beating of war drums around them.
Inside the general's mansion at Zhenbei Pass, the war drums echoed from the front yard to the back hall.
Tie Lanshan hadn't even put on his full set of armor. He grabbed a cloak, tied it around his shoulders, and strode out of the threshold. A scout knelt on one knee on the steps, reporting in a very fast - paced voice, "General! The barbarians have left their camp and are heading towards the new wall in the north section!"
Tie Lanshan grabbed the sword hanging on the pillar and shouted, "Sound the assembly drum three times! Zhao Heng!"
Deputy General Zhao Heng stepped forward from the side, and his armor rattled.
"Lead three thousand crossbowmen to the barbican and the north - section wall! Get the rolling logs and boulders ready!" Tie Lanshan issued his military order.
Zhao Heng took the order and left. The huge war machine of Zhenbei Pass began to operate rapidly at the sound of the war drums.
On the north - section wall, the wind was so strong that it could almost blow people over. Xu Qinghuan wrapped herself in a thick cloak and stood behind the parapet, looking at the dark sea of people surging outside the pass.
Although they were still some distance away, it was already clear that the ones leading the charge were not the armored Helian soldiers but the ragged captives.
Commander - in - Chief Tie Lanshan climbed onto the city wall and stood beside Xu Qinghuan, his brows knitted tightly.
"Using commoners as the vanguard to consume our defensive equipment. These barbarians really don't treat people as human beings," Tie Lanshan spat.
"Order the soldiers to put all the fire - thunder pots into the warehouse. Not a single one is to be used today."
"Boil the boiling liquid and pile the rolling logs and boulders at the battlements. We don't need to expose our trump cards when dealing with these people."
General of the Northwest Army Xu Chengguang, standing to one side, cast his gaze beyond the column of captives and landed on the shield carts in the rear.
"Miss Xu, the enemy is using captives as human shields. The shield carts in the rear are the main force for supervision," Xu Chengguang suggested. "I'll lead my troops to bring up several crossbows and specifically target their rear shield carts. Once the supervisory formation is disrupted, the captives in the front will naturally scatter, and we can save a lot of rolling logs."
Xu Qinghuan turned her head and glanced at Xu Chengguang. She didn't refute his military strategy but simply said flatly, "This wall is more reliable than crossbows."
Xu Chengguang got a soft rebuff and didn't say anything more. He just lowered his head to examine the greyish - white city wall under his feet.
There were no gaps between the bricks on this wall, and the feeling underfoot was cold, hard, and dull, which always made people feel uneasy.
...
On the east side of the city wall, old soldier Wang Shuan and Zhang San were each guarding a battlements.
Wang Shuan's single eye reflected the approaching column of captives below the city.
There were old people, women, and half - grown children stumbling along.
Zhang San, who had only one arm, clamped a section of a rolling log under his armpit. He looked at the tragic scene below and then turned to look at Wang Shuan.
Neither of them said a word.
During the Battle of the White Wolf River back then, they had also watched helplessly as their relatives around them were driven by the Helian cavalry and trampled to death in the ice - covered river.
Wang Shuan's only son had been cut in half by a Helian's scimitar.
The blood debt that had been buried deep in their hearts was now brutally unearthed by the situation below the city.
Wang Shuan drew his horizontal sword halfway out of its scabbard. He pushed the rolling log forward and rested it on the edge of the battlements.
Right and wrong, good and evil held no weight on the city wall. Those who climbed up were the ghosts coming to claim lives.
Woo!
The low sound of the ox - horn trumpet blew from the rear of the Helian army formation, and the desolate after - sound lingered over the vast wilderness.
The ax - wielding soldiers in the supervisory team took two steps forward in unison and swung their heavy knives down, beheading more than a dozen old and weak captives who were slow to move.
Blood splashed on the frozen ground, and a shrill scream erupted from the crowd.
"Run! Run forward!"
Under this undisguised threat of death, more than two thousand captives, like whipped livestock, completely lost their senses.
They let out desperate cries, carried the rough ladders on their shoulders, and stumbled towards the new wall at the north section of Zhenbei Pass, stepping on the footprints and even the bodies of their companions.
The old, the weak, and the women were mixed among the young and strong, their steps messy and in no formation at all.
Some people tripped and fell to the ground. Before they could get up, they were trampled to death by the crowd surging from behind.
They were less than fifty paces away from the city wall.
The ladders were erected in a hurry and slammed hard against the greyish - white wall.
The people below climbed up regardless, and those behind pushed the ones in front.
As soon as a strong captive at the front climbed up about two zhang high, a section of a rolling log on the city wall came crashing down along the wall.
The rolling log fell rapidly along the wall and hit the man on the shoulder.
The sound of broken bones spread through the noisy battlefield. The man let out a scream and fell backward from the ladder, knocking down three or four companions who were climbing below.
Immediately afterwards, boulders and lime pots were poured down one after another from the battlements.
In the past, the city walls were built with blue bricks. The brick joints and protrusions gave the attackers some places to grab and rely on. But this wall in front of them was as smooth as a newly - mined cliff.
There were no brick joints, no texture of rammed earth, not even a single crack.
Those who were hit by the falling stones fell down. When the people behind wanted to continue climbing up, they found that the ladders couldn't hold firm on this slippery wall.
A few stones hit the ladders, and the ladders slipped on the wall, and people and ladders fell to the side together.
Those who luckily avoided the rolling logs and tried to steady themselves against the wall scratched wildly on the wall with their hands.
Their fingernails made a few shallow white marks on the greyish - white wall skin, but they couldn't grasp any protrusions. Their fingers were bleeding from the hard digging, and they could only lose their balance in despair.
Wave after wave of people were forced to climb up and then fell to the foot of the wall screaming like dumplings.
A layer of scattered and broken bodies quickly piled up under the city wall.
Blood trickled down the smooth wall, drawing glaring red marks on the greyish - white background, but not a single drop of blood could seep into the wall.
Bayaer, who was standing in the rear to supervise the battle, watched this scene, and the contempt on his face gradually faded away.
He originally thought that these slaves would just scramble around a bit and that the shoddy mud wall, which had been embezzled, would collapse.
But now, nearly half of the two thousand people had been thrown in, and not even a piece of the wall had come off.
Not only that, but the stones thrown at the wall bounced off and became lethal weapons instead.
