Han Qian climbed onto the rooftop and, in the faint morning light, saw a dense mass of cavalry and infantry advancing toward Canglang City. The number would only be four hundred or more, certainly not less than four hundred. A chill ran up his spine. He had thought the Liang forces might launch a night attack on Iron Crocodile Ridge, but unexpectedly, Canglang City had become their first target.

Han Qian looked northward.

Black Dragon Mountain blocked his view, preventing him from seeing Iron Crocodile Ridge. However, in the Dan River on the western side of Black Dragon Mountain, Han Qian had stationed a covered sentry boat. If battle broke out at Iron Crocodile Ridge, the covered sentry boat would use beacon fires as a signal to alert this side.

Judging from the situation, no fighting had erupted at Iron Crocodile Ridge yet.

This made things even more strange.

The top of Canglang City’s protective wall was only three feet wide, insufficient for building parapets or walkways, so the defenders had no way to stand directly atop the protective wall to defend against enemy forces. However, when building Canglang City, Han Qian had devised a compromise solution: building a ring of barracks inside Canglang City right against the protective wall, with the barracks rooftops covered in wooden stakes, leaving a half-body-height distance from the top of the protective wall.

This way, the defenders could stand on the rooftops of the outer ring barracks to defend against enemies attacking the walls.

At this moment, the elite scouts were putting on their armor and standing on the rooftops with stern expressions.

The slave soldiers had only been trained for a month and a half and were basically still at the stage of being able to follow orders and march in formation. They looked quite panicked, being scolded and driven onto the rooftops by Xi Chang and his son Xi Fa’er in considerable disarray.

Seeing that Xi Chang and Xi Fa’er were only wearing simple leather armor, Han Qian said to Tian Cheng, “Find two sets of iron armor and have them put it on.”

Han Qian intended to use Xi Chang and Xi Fa’er to organize the Xi clan warriors and didn’t want to see them die in this battle.

He hadn’t expected the Liang forces to make Canglang City their first target for elimination. He figured the troops the Liang army dispatched must be elite, and the coming battle would be quite intense. Although iron armor seemed much more cumbersome, its protection was a cut above leather armor.

Tian Cheng divided the elite scouts into eight combat groups. Four groups each guarded one side of the protective wall, while four groups served as reserves. On both flanks of the scout combat groups, he arranged two to three groups of slave soldiers.

Even so, the defenders numbered just over one hundred—still too few.

The Liang forces were advancing step by step.

Besides swords, spears, shields, and armor, this group of Liang soldiers had also hastily constructed over ten ladders during the night, which they carried on shoulders and held overhead as they rushed toward Canglang City, measuring one hundred paces square. Behind some horses, they also dragged freshly felled trees, about as thick as a person’s embrace, apparently intending to drag them before Canglang City to use as battering rams to break down the city gates.

Tian Cheng arranged for people to fill over ten transport carts with earth and stones and push them behind the two small city gates to block them firmly. Then he ran back and said to Han Qian in a hushed voice:

“By the looks of it, this group of Liang soldiers intends to capture Canglang City in one vigorous assault—I wonder if the southern bank will send troops to reinforce us!”

“If we can’t repel the first wave of attack, don’t expect the Xiangzhou forces on the southern bank to come reinforce us.”

Han Qian frowned as he looked toward the Xiangzhou military fortifications on the southern bank. Worried that Liang forces might penetrate through the gap between Tongbai Mountain, Great Hong Mountain, and the Han River to infiltrate and raid Suizhou to the east and Yingzhou to the south, Du Chongtao had deployed more elite troops on the eastern front. The southern bank fortifications originally had three thousand stationed troops but had now been reduced to one thousand through transfers, he said.

“If they truly want to attack in one vigorous assault, that would actually be easier to handle. First pour down those twenty barrels of tung oil.”

Tung oil could be said to be Xuzhou’s most important product besides tea and medicine. Whether for lighting lamps, making lacquer, or for waterproofing and preservation, regions like Jianghuai had considerable demand for tung oil.

Even when purchasing tung oil in Xuzhou, each barrel cost three to four thousand coins.

In warfare, tung oil was also a relatively high-quality incendiary material. The torches currently stuck atop the city walls for illumination had all been soaked in tung oil.

Canglang City currently stored four hundred barrels of tung oil.

When ramming the protective wall, they had deliberately left a groove channel at the base of the outer wall, with the plan that if forces were insufficient, they would make up for it with fire attacks.

Tian Cheng immediately arranged for personnel to pour barrel after barrel of tung oil along the protective wall into the groove channel at the base of the outer wall. When the Liang forces swarmed up, they could at least disrupt the Liang army’s first wave of assault.

The three hundred civilian laborers from the mountain strongholds were now being herded in disorder into the drill ground within the city. They couldn’t see the situation outside the city, but many of them were deserters who had fled into the mountains during previous battles in the Deng and Xiang regions, and it wasn’t hard for them to see from the current scene how urgent the situation was.

“There are now over two hundred Liang soldiers launching a surprise attack, wanting to capture Canglang City in one stroke. Those willing to mount the walls to resist the enemy will be rewarded ten thousand coins, with separate compensation for casualties. Those willing to directly join and serve in the Dragon Sparrow Army will additionally be granted a residence and fifty acres of farmland!” Han Qian turned around and, looking at the robust laborers in the field, called out vigorously.

Hearing Han Qian’s words, Xi Ren really wanted to roll her eyes. The Liang forces charging over clearly numbered no less than four hundred, but from Han Qian’s mouth, they became just over two hundred.

Great rewards bring forth brave men.

Life in the mountain strongholds was too harsh. Everyone was poor and miserable, all worthless lives.

Even if they didn’t mount the walls to resist the enemy now, when the Liang forces broke through Canglang City, their best outcome would be to be captured by the Liang army for military hard labor. No matter what, it was better to work for the Left Bureau—not only could they eat their fill, but they also received an additional four sheng of salt as wages each month.

Immediately, fifty or sixty bold and unattached robust men climbed onto the rooftops, took up long spears and wooden shields, and stood behind the protective wall, filling the gaps between the elite scouts and slave soldiers.

……

……

Yang Xiong was a vice commander of the Liang army’s Xuzhou forces—burly and fierce. At this moment, his tiger-like eyes stared at the black solitary city by the Han River in the dawn light. He wasn’t clear why Vanguard General Han Yuanqi insisted so stubbornly on having them, under such hasty circumstances, forcefully capture this isolated city.

However, they had already reconnoitered this earthen city measuring just over a hundred paces.

Less than one zhang high, the ditch at the base of the city walls was also only used for sewage drainage, merely two chi deep. Among the defenders, only about forty could be called elite; the rest were miscellaneous slaves and laborers. Yang Xiong didn’t think capturing this earthen city by force would be very difficult, but the problem was what to do after taking it.

On the southern bank of the Han River was a fortress of the Xiangzhou army with over a thousand defenders. At this time, there were also over ten Chu army ships sailing up the Han River, which would arrive here by noon.

If they couldn’t capture Iron Crocodile Ridge in time, and the troops sent to the old city of Jun County were too few, they might not be able to hold this place. And with their connection to Neixiang blocked by Iron Crocodile Ridge, if they sent too many troops here, it would also attract the main Chu forces to gather. At that time, fighting a major battle with the main Chu forces in this corner would put them at an absolute disadvantage in every aspect.

In Yang Xiong’s opinion, it would be better to follow the proper sequence—first capture Iron Crocodile Ridge, then advance along the remnant path on the eastern bank of the Dan River from Iron Crocodile Ridge. Using troops in this more straightforward manner would give them greater flexibility in advancing and retreating.

However, Han Yuanqi insisted on ordering him to lead troops in a raid on this location. Yang Xiong found it difficult to refuse and could only think about first taking down this dilapidated city. If the situation truly didn’t allow them to hold it, with their three to four hundred cavalry, they could easily find a gap to withdraw.

When Yang Xiong actually led his troops in raising their large shields, braving the sparse rain of arrows to reach beneath Canglang City, and over ten crude scaling ladders were placed against the wall top, with over a hundred elite soldiers gathering at the wall base preparing to swarm up like ants, only then did he discover that this city, as small as an ant mound, was not so easy to bite into.

Torches were hurled down forcefully. First, the tung oil in the groove channel at the wall base was ignited in a ring. Then barrel after barrel of tung oil was poured down directly onto the heads of the soldiers gathered beneath the scaling ladders. Bundle after bundle of ignited firewood was thrown down from the city. Most of the men were burned and screaming in agony, forced to retreat. Over ten soldiers who had already bravely charged up the protective wall found themselves in a situation of being hopelessly outnumbered. After killing three to five of the enemy, their entire bodies were stabbed full of bloody holes by the chaotic thrusts of long spears and iron lances.

Finally, the over ten corpses had their clothing and armor stripped completely bare. After their left ears were cut off for recording merit, they were thrown outside the city.

Only then did Yang Xiong feel the difficulty. Without even making it onto the earthen city wall, including those burned by the oil, he had already lost nearly thirty elite fighters—this was clearly far beyond his expectations.

This loss already pained him.

Han Qian stood inside the protective wall with a stern expression, staring at the Liang forces gathered on the riverbank at the southeastern corner, not saying a word.

They had also suffered twelve casualties just now, mainly slave soldiers and laborers who had mounted the roofs to assist in battle. When surrounding the Liang elite soldiers who had charged up the wall, they had been flustered and without method, getting hacked to death or wounded.

Deaths and injuries required compensation, and adding the fifty barrels of tung oil burned to repel the Liang army’s first wave of attack—all of this pained Han Qian greatly. This tung oil had been transported from Xuzhou as supplies and was charged to the Left Bureau’s account. He didn’t know whether the严格办事的严 Shen Yang, who handled matters strictly, would agree afterward to deduct it from war expenses.

Otherwise, after fighting a few more battles, the Left Bureau’s deficit would reach the sky.

Han Qian dismissed these wild thoughts and arranged for people to move the corpses of the four dead laborers into an empty room for proper placement, to prevent the dead bodies from stimulating others’ eyes and damaging morale.

The condition of the eight wounded wasn’t serious; they were sent to the grounds below for wound cleaning and treatment.

Tian Cheng was now pacing back and forth on the rooftop. He had witnessed the hasty engagement just now, and at this moment he shouted loudly, reminding the slave soldiers to steady their formation, grip their long spears tightly, and just thrust at approaching enemies. He also swung his scabbard and harshly struck three slave soldiers and laborers who had turned around in fear during the engagement, scolding them to stand against the wall and prepare to directly face the Liang forces who would charge up the wall in the next wave.

Among the Xi clan members, Xi Chang and Xi Fa’er had a relatively close relationship with Xi Ren, which was why Han Qian had selected them to lead the slave soldiers. However, after the Xi clan tribal soldiers were defeated and surrendered by Feng Changyu, Xi Chang, being merely a minor leader, had only escaped disaster because of that. His knowledge of leading troops in battle was also superficial.

However, Xi Chang and his son Xi Fa’er were very brave in combat. In Han Qian’s view, this was also sufficient. He even dispatched several additional elite scouts to follow behind them as a precaution.

Han Qian still didn’t forget to encourage more laborers to mount the rooftops to assist in battle. For those four unfortunate laborers who had died in battle, he immediately found people from the same stronghold and gritted his teeth as he directly took out forty ingots of gold as compensation to distribute.

Although the defenders had appeared very chaotic at first, the aggressive Liang forces had actually been so easily repulsed, which also moved many hearts.

Many of the mountain stronghold laborers were not ignorant country folk isolated in the wilderness. They were either deserters who had fled into the mountains during previous battles in Deng and Xiang, or the children of deserters. Most had rough training in martial skills, and in terms of individual quality, they were even stronger than the vast majority of slave soldiers.

After all, the Xi clan members had been sold and enslaved to various places over the years and had truly suffered cruel enslavement. A month and a half of training wasn’t enough to build up their bodies to be robust.

The stockpile of long spears and wooden shields in Canglang City was quite sufficient, so over a hundred more men immediately stepped forward.

At this time, some of the leading laborers from the strongholds also stepped forward, bringing the men from their respective strongholds, which made things much more orderly. In their advancing and retreating, they were even more disciplined than the slave soldiers led by Xi Chang and his son Xi Fa’er.