By afternoon, the Liang army had already pushed over twenty trebuchets behind the simple trench and low wall outside the eastern city, forming a trebuchet position stretching three hundred paces. They continuously transported collected stone ammunition forward.

Although the defenders could still sally forth from the other three city gates, the Liang army had positioned elite infantry in formation on both flanks of the trebuchet position. Behind them, large contingents of elite cavalry had assembled and were waiting for the defenders to leave the city so they could encircle them.

If the defenders rushed out of the city now, besides increasing losses, there was truly no chance of victory.

Within the Liang army’s trebuchet position, over two thousand laborers divided into twenty-plus groups. Approximately every hundred men operated one trebuchet, and they soon began attacking Xichuan City.

This batch of laborers were all auxiliary troops conscripted from Liang’s heartland. Operating the trebuchets, they were far more accurate than imagined. Roughly every four to five stone projectiles launched, one could hit the wall.

Stone projectiles either whistled overhead or crashed into the shallow trenches before the walls. But each time one struck the wall head-on, Han Qian—standing beneath soldier shelters covered by two rows of wooden palisades—could feel the wall beneath his feet shaking, making one worry the wall could collapse at any moment.

Once the wall crest was hit, the flimsy parapets immediately collapsed upon impact, bricks and stones scattering everywhere, crashing against the low palisade walls before the soldier shelters with “bang-bang, crack-crack” sounds that made one’s heart race with fear.

Occasionally, stone projectiles directly struck the soldier shelters atop the wall.

Although Han Qian had built these shelters as solid as possible, whole stone projectiles weighing two to three hundred pounds, hurled from four hundred paces away, possessed terrifying momentum.

When a soldier shelter was hit, one could hear the sound of the overhead wooden palisade walls breaking, followed by most of it collapsing. The only fortune was that the stone projectile’s momentum was dispersed by the relatively solid wooden palisade roof. Even when the shelters built mainly from palisade wood collapsed, they would not greatly injure anyone.

After cowering in fear inside the shelters for half a day, as dusk approached, the Liang army finally ceased the day’s offensive.

Han Qian raised his viewing glass to gaze outside the city. The Liang army was beginning to replace the lever arms of the trebuchets.

Though at such close distance, with the sky not yet darkened, others could even faintly see the faces of Liang soldiers four hundred paces away, Han Qian was more intent on observing the degree of cracking in these trebuchet lever arms after continuously firing fifty to sixty times.

Over a hundred men suddenly pulled one end, then through lever action, hurled the stone projectiles tied to the longer end of the lever arm. During this process, the lever arm necessarily endured tremendous impact force.

The lever arms were mainly made from hard wood. Though manufactured thicker to withstand greater impact forces, thick and clumsy lever arms not only had poor elasticity and were unfavorable for storing energy—limiting range—but also required more personnel to operate. These were all major taboos.

The trebuchet structure was not complex, but manufacturing lighter, more resilient, more elastic lever arms was the technical key.

Clearly, the Liang army’s years of campaigning had made their trebuchet manufacturing technology stronger than the Chu army’s.

Han Qian again poked his head out from a damaged parapet opening to look. He saw the wall face had been struck with shallow pits and alarming cracks everywhere. Rammed earth had peeled away in large patches, piling up at the wall’s base. Walking down from the wall, after the wall face endured half a day of bombardment, the back face also showed spiderweb-like cracks…

Yang En now also brought over a hundred craftsmen and laborers carrying over a hundred wooden stakes more than two zhang high.

The current age had no testing instruments. Only after the wall was attacked would its weak points obviously be exposed.

Yang En directed the craftsmen and laborers to drive rows of long wooden stakes into the ground against the fragile, easily collapsing sections of wall, forming palisade walls despite the occasional stone projectiles still hurled over the wall. On one hand, this could provide some support to the wall structure, delaying the wall’s collapse. On the other hand, after the wall collapsed, the palisade walls would still obstruct, preventing the Liang army from immediately charging through the breach.

Seeing Han Qian also wandering below the wall, Yang En walked over and said: “The eastern wall is considered thick. Looking at this, it might not even withstand ten-plus days.”

“What we can do, what we should do—we have already done. Now it just depends on how quickly Jinling’s reinforcements advance.” Han Qian cupped his hands toward Yang En and said.

Before Shen He and Yang En entered the city, Xichuan City’s defensive works were primarily directed by Han Qian assisting Shen Yang.

Though human capability has limits, and Han Qian had neither ample time nor many personnel or funds to completely demolish and rebuild Xichuan City’s walls—which stretched six to seven li in circumference—he still employed measures that even Yang En might not have done better to reinforce the walls.

For example, at junctions between new and old wall sections, he incorporated as much glutinous rice, lime mortar, grass padding, and other materials as possible to enhance structural strength.

For example, he built extensive soldier shelters atop the four walls, with shelter roofs covered by two layers of solid arranged wooden palisade walls. This was primarily to protect defenders atop the walls who could hide inside the shelters when enemy forces hurled stone projectiles.

Even though this afternoon, many soldier shelters on the eastern wall were directly crushed by stone projectiles, the shelters bore the first wave of impact from the projectiles. The subsequent collapse caused little harm to soldiers hiding inside the shelters.

Most importantly, the shelters effectively reduced casualties among defenders atop the walls from scattered stone projectiles.

Before Xichuan City was completely surrounded, Han Qian had also collected large quantities of timber from outside the city as reserves.

During siege defense, whether building palisade walls to block wall breaches, constructing soldier shelters, or using them as rolling logs and battering logs, timber consumption was enormous.

Before Yang En arrived, Han Qian had also built over ten traction trebuchets from local materials.

Of course, in Yang En’s view, limited by substandard materials for making lever arms, the trebuchets Han Qian built were more clumsy. The auxiliary troops were also insufficiently trained and could not coordinate simultaneous pulling. The range only reached three hundred paces, a full hundred paces shorter than the Liang army’s—unable to bombard directly in return.

Though Yang En knew more material selection and treatment methods for lever arms, conditions in Xichuan City were too limited for him to modify the existing trebuchets. Seeing that Han Qian had not placed this batch of clumsy trebuchets directly controlled by the Left Bureau Craftsmen’s Battalion behind the eastern wall but instead positioned them over two hundred paces from the wall—presumably knowing that in range they could not exchange fire with the Liang army’s trebuchets—he simply placed them farther away. As long as the stone projectiles could land before the wall, when the Liang army scaled the walls to attack, they could more or less exert some suppressive effect.

However, with the Liang army holding absolute numerical advantage, they obviously would not only attack Xichuan City from the east.

After the trebuchet position outside the eastern city was stabilized, the next day the Liang army again split into two forces, pressing toward Xichuan City from the south and north flanks. Similarly using mantlet cars and covered wagons to block the fronts of the southern and northern gates, they dug trenches and piled low walls. Using thousands of infantry to cluster around over ten trebuchets each, they bombarded the walls on both sides of the gates.

Perhaps the destined brutal siege of Xichuan thus began simultaneously from three sides.

Although the Liang naval forces already controlled the Xichuan River on the western face, due to limited depth from the western wall to the riverbank—unfavorable for the Liang army to gain footing on shore—currently only the western wall had not suffered direct Liang attack…

…

…

In early third month when the Liang army formally launched a strong assault on Xichuan City, Jinling had just passed the Grain Rain season. The banks of the Qiupu River had already turned lushly green.

Emperor Tianyou’s personal expedition had to be delayed two more days before formally departing from outside the Shenghua Gate of the eastern city.

Though many court ministers and officials felt anxious, for ordinary Jinling citizens far from the battlefield, it appeared quite lively. Tens of thousands walked out their doors, clustering along both banks of the Qiupu River to watch the spectacle of the Imperial Bodyguards and Imperial Guard troops departing on campaign.

Many even changed into new clothes, treating today as an important festival.

Though Jinling had confirmed the Liang army’s strategic intentions toward the Jing-Xiang region in late first month, Jinling nominally possessed the Southern Court’s Twelve Guards and Northern Court’s Six Armies—totaling over two hundred forty thousand standing elite troops. But besides the Northern Court Imperial Bodyguards who usually were not garrisoned in Jinling City, half of the Southern Court Imperial Guard’s elite forces were permanently stationed elsewhere.

For example, the Left Martial Guard stationed in Xiangzhou under Du Chongtao’s command, the Right Martial Guard stationed in Jingzhou under Zhang Xiang’s command, the Left and Right Majestic Guards stationed in Shouzhou under Xu Mingzhen’s command, the Left and Right Valiant Guards stationed in Chuzhou under Prince Xin Yang Yuanyan’s command, and so on.

With the northern front now critical, Jinling had further deployed troops to Xiangcheng, Shouzhou, and Chuzhou to strengthen defenses.

In reality, by the beginning of the year, standing garrison troops near Jinling City numbered fewer than one hundred thousand.

With Emperor Tianyou personally campaigning and leaving Crown Prince Yang Yuanwo to supervise the state in Jinling, considering Shouzhou and Chuzhou directions and whether Min-Yue or Southern Han showed unusual movements, garrison troops within Jinling City could not fall below one hundred thousand. They needed to newly conscript one hundred thousand to one hundred fifty thousand elite soldiers from the various Guards’ military farms and arsenals, arm them, then campaign westward—this was no simple matter.

To assemble the first batch of eighty thousand reinforcements and three hundred thousand-stone sailing vessels by early third month, directly commanded by Emperor Tianyou advancing westward—this could already be called a manifestation of the empire’s formidable strength.

Feng Yi and Kong Xirong both changed into armor. In Jinling City this time, nearly two thousand official and ministerial sons were conscripted along with them, all serving among the Imperial Bodyguards, accompanying the imperial expedition to campaign in Jing-Xiang.

Though these official and ministerial sons mainly served as bodyguards beside Emperor Tianyou—to some degree even hostages restraining officials remaining behind—and would only enter combat if all other troops were exhausted first, when Feng Yi and Kong Xirong boarded the warship, they still felt panicked and tragically stirred.

Many did not believe the Third Imperial Prince could hold Xichuan City, nor that Du Chongtao could hold Xiangzhou. Then when these hundred-plus thousand troops advancing westward entered Jing-Xiang, they would very likely face a devastating counterattack from the Liang army’s main forces fresh from major victory.

Moreover, at Feng Yi and Kong Xirong’s level, they also knew the court harbored extremely deep concerns about Tanzhou. They did not believe that His Majesty’s emergency appointment of Tanzhou Military Commissioner Ma Yin with the additional title of Minister of War, plus emergency reinforcement of ten thousand troops to Ezhou, could truly stabilize Tanzhou.

This western expedition could truly be called a journey into the unknown.

Seeing Marquis Xinchang Li Pu—one of the vice commanders of this punitive army—board their warship, Feng Yi pulled Kong Xirong over and asked quietly: “Marquis Li, is there recent news from the Third Imperial Prince and them? Xichuan City is still in our hands, right?”

“Why wouldn’t it be? What are you asking about randomly?” Li Pu glared at Feng Yi irritably and ordered them to return to formation.

After the Dragon Sparrow Army’s main force followed the Third Imperial Prince Yang Yuanpu into Jing-Xiang, only one battalion of elite troops originally remained in Jinling. But this time, they additionally conscripted over three thousand trained able-bodied men, expanding one battalion to over five thousand to participate in this western expedition.

Marquis Xinchang Li Pu previously could not directly interfere with the Dragon Sparrow Army’s command authority. But this time, under extraordinary circumstances, as one of the vice commanders personally appointed by Emperor Tianyou, he was primarily responsible for commanding this portion of Dragon Sparrow Army forces. Zhou Yuan, Zhang Qian, and others also accompanied the expedition.

Though yesterday in the palace Marquis Xinchang Li Pu had still seen messengers dispatched back from Xichuan—Xiangzhou City was completely besieged by the Liang army’s main forces personally led by Zhu Yu, and Du Chongtao had no way to send people breaking through the siege to deliver messages—the messengers had departed from Xichuan City over ten days ago, on the very night Palace Attendants Bureau Junior Supervisor Shen He and Right Arsenal Materials Officer Yang En arrived at Xichuan City.

At that time, Xichuan City was still in the Dragon Sparrow Army’s grasp. The memorials written separately by Shen He and Yang En both contained quite optimistic assessments of Xichuan City’s situation. However, the Jing-Xiang battlefield changed by the moment. Now eleven or twelve days had passed—who knew whether Xichuan City remained in the Dragon Sparrow Army’s hands?

From memorials sent back from Jingzhou by Niu Gengru and Zhao Mingting, after the Liang army’s main force captured Fancheng and opened the passage to attack Xiangzhou City from north and south, they besieged but did not attack Xiangzhou City. On one hand, they strengthened defenses in the Yingzhou direction, obviously preparing to organize troops in Yingzhou to resist Jinling reinforcements advancing north along the Han River’s eastern bank. On the other hand, they dispatched reinforcements to the western flank, clearly wanting to prioritize ensuring they broke through the Dan River passage.

The Liang army’s operational focus at this stage had all shifted to the western side. They should launch a strong assault on Xichuan City in the next day or two. Before reinforcements could arrive at the earliest in one month, how much certainty remained that Xichuan could hold?

Nearly twenty years of operations by Wanhong Tower and Marquis Xinchang’s household, including hundreds of elite disciples secretly cultivated, were all within the Dragon Sparrow Army’s main force that followed the Third Imperial Prince into Xiangzhou. Once Xichuan City was breached, most of their painstaking efforts would turn to nothing. How could Li Pu’s mood not be anxious?