After the great fire burned for a while, Yun Ye saw about a hundred men gritting their teeth and jumping down from the city walls. Yang Yueming led a thousand soldiers to surround them. Those Goguryeo people were limping but still wanted to charge forward to fight. The troops Yun Ye brought were like him—if something could be handled simply, they would never complicate it. After their crossbows fired one volley, those Goguryeo people clutched their thighs and rolled in the mud. Some of the more resolute ones thrust their blades into themselves and ended their own lives.

The remaining ones were brought before Liu Fang. Some were still cursing in Goguryeo language. Liu Fang waved his hand, and the heads of those roaring, cursing Goguryeo people fell. The scene immediately became quiet.

Only a nauseating bloody stench permeated the air. Several Goguryeo men’s crotches were soaking wet. After Liu Fang interrogated those Goguryeo people in very fluent Goguryeo language, he very dishonorably had those people killed as well. He didn’t even bury the corpses—they were all piled below Mudi City, and who knew if they could be burned to ash by the great fire.

Mudi City was on fire, so naturally they couldn’t live there. Yun Ye had learned his lesson now and obediently ordered the fortification of the camp established these past two days. After Liu Fang examined the water conditions of the Liao River, he still had people establish the camp on a hillock. The enemy was upstream—if they dammed the water flow and then released a flood, that would be disastrous. They had to guard against it.

Yun Ye looked at the turbulent Liao River and couldn’t believe the Goguryeo people could dam a three-hundred-meter-wide river in such a short time. Even with engineering machinery it would probably take great effort. For the current Goguryeo people to accomplish this, dreaming would be easier.

“Attack when unprepared, emerge where unexpected. Just because you can’t think of it doesn’t mean others can’t. You’re not the only clever person.” During this period, Liu Fang was constantly striking at Yun Ye’s self-confidence. This was his greatest pleasure during the intervals of war.

At night, the moon hung flat in the sky. The moonlight wasn’t that white either—it had a kind of eerie yellow color. Old Fang had just attended to Yun Ye sleeping in the furs when they heard drums beating loudly outside the camp. Faintly there were shouting sounds, as if thousands upon thousands of troops were already attacking. Yun Ye startled and sat up with a flip. Old Fang quickly draped clothing over the Marquis, helped him put on his shoes, and seeing the Marquis go out, he also gritted his teeth, grabbed a saber, and followed out.

The camp was very quiet. Yang Yueming sat in the watchtower holding his saber, continuously tearing at a sheep leg with his mouth, completely ignoring the clamor outside. Lai Chuanfeng led a team of soldiers patrolling back and forth in the camp. Wu She was accompanying Liu Fang drinking wine and playing chess. Yun Ye discovered that except for himself and Old Fang, all the other people seemed to pay no attention to the clamor.

Sure enough, after continuing for a while, the clamor stopped. Yun Ye sheepishly returned to his tent to continue sleeping. Who knew that just after lying down, the war drums sounded again. This time there were also horse hooves pounding on the earth with thunderous sounds.

Was this another Goguryeo tactic to exhaust the enemy? Yun Ye didn’t want to run out and embarrass himself—that would make him appear very lacking in quality. But the sounds seemed to be getting louder and louder. How could this do? What if the Goguryeo people were really coming to raid the camp?

Gritting his teeth, he lifted the tent flap and walked out again. This time he only saw Yang Yueming sitting in the watchtower. Lai Chuanfeng, Wu She, and Liu Fang all seemed to have gone back to sleep. Yun Ye lifted a tent flap and saw those soldiers sleeping with thunderous snores. This wasn’t good, was it? Yun Ye felt uneasy. Supported by Liu Jinbao, stumbling with deep and shallow steps, he walked down the hillock. Not until he saw the densely packed ox-crossbows and strong crossbows behind the camp wall did he relax. The officer on duty saw the commander arrive and cupped his fists saying, “Reporting to Commander, the Goguryeo people are still continuously harassing us. Only a few dozen light cavalry—when they passed by our wall just now, they were all shot dead.”

After speaking, he nocked a fire arrow and shot it outside. Sure enough, in the place at the bottom of the hillock where the moonlight didn’t reach, there lay some dead people and dead horses. That area was filled with crossbow bolts—the arrow shafts stood like crops, neat and orderly.

Patting the officer’s shoulder with some encouraging words, Yun Ye returned to his tent in good spirits. This time he vowed that no matter what happened outside, he would get a good sleep.

Lying in the pile of furs counting sheep, he counted over a thousand before drowsily falling asleep. Vaguely he heard the fourth watch clappers sounding. Suddenly, a sky-collapsing sound came over. Yun Ye jumped from the fur pile as if electrocuted, repeatedly asking Liu Jinbao outside the door, “Jinbao, Jinbao, what happened?”

“Marquis, it’s nothing major. The Goguryeo people raided the camp. Mr. Liu said you should continue sleeping and not worry. It’s just a probing raid—Yang Yueming will handle it well.”

They were already being raided, who could sleep? In moments he dressed in his armor, and under the tight protection of Liu Jinbao and a group of personal guards, he came to the camp wall once more.

He saw Yang Yueming and the others tending to the wounded. Many stones of various sizes were scattered on the ground. Even four or five ox-crossbows had been damaged. His heart thumped, and he asked, “Old Yang, the Goguryeo people used catapults?”

“Yes, Marquis. These damn dogs really invested heavily—being able to transport the cumbersome catapults here is quite an accomplishment. However, after firing one volley, they were burned to charcoal by the fire arrows tied to the siege crossbows. Look, they’re still burning now.” Yang Yueming paid no attention to the dead and wounded being carried past him. He spat and explained the course of events to Yun Ye.

Yun Ye had just stuck his head out to look when Liu Jinbao yanked him back. Another household guard blocked himself in front of Yun Ye. They only heard that household guard cry out miserably, then he softly leaned against Yun Ye.

Yang Yueming flew into a rage and ordered shooting at the already-marked position. This time all fire arrows were shot out. That area was illuminated brightly—a Goguryeo military general in armor, his entire body bristling with fire arrows, fell to the ground burning like a torch. The smell of singed pig hair wafted on the wind.

A thumb-thick long arrow was stuck in the household guard’s body. This arrow was much longer than other arrows. The household guard’s body had been pierced through. Fortunately, the wound was at the shoulder blade position—it wouldn’t take his life immediately.

Yun Ye took the arrow extracted from the household guard’s body and sat under an oil lamp examining it carefully. Yang Yueming said that the bow capable of shooting such an arrow was definitely a five-stone hard bow. Who would have thought Goguryeo still had such an archer? When attacking the royal capital later, they would need to be careful. Such a person was definitely a terrifying enemy.

The arrow shaft was carved with the two characters “Heichi.” The damned Goguryeo people spoke the Buyeo language but used Great Tang characters. This silkworm-head swallow-tail clerical script calligraphy had already been mastered by them. The two characters on the arrow shaft were carved with upright grandeur—they were probably from a famous master’s hand. In his fury, Yun Ye wanted to break the arrow shaft but failed after two attempts. He could only toss it aside.

Wu She, walking into the tent, picked up that arrow and weighed it in his hand. With an “Eh” sound, he said to Liu Fang beside him, “Who would have thought the legendary eagle-shooting archer would also appear here? Iron-wood shaft, silver arrowhead, eagle-feather fletching—only high-ranking persons are killed. Boy, how did you escape from under this arrow? Your life is truly large enough.”

“It’s not that this boy’s life is large—it’s that my household guard traded his life for mine. This person called Heichi—after capturing him, I want to flay his skin as a memento.”

“Flaying human skin is nothing major—the man-bear is quite skilled at it. This kind of person is very difficult to catch. He just hides in the dark all day scheming against people. This old man just looked—that military general who was lit up like a candle definitely isn’t that eagle-shooting archer, just his substitute. Boy, don’t appear at the front of the battlefield in the future. As long as they shoot you dead, everything we’re doing will have no meaning. Liu Jinbao, take good care of your Marquis. When necessary, use your life to substitute.”

Liu Jinbao acknowledged and sat beside Yun Ye, looking like he wasn’t planning to leave. Liu Fang came out of the tent with Wu She, pointing at the long arrow in his hand, not knowing what he was saying.

“Brother-in-law, I heard you were almost done in by someone?” Dan Ying rushed in from outside in a flurry. Seeing Yun Ye completely unharmed, he exhaled in relief, poured himself a cup of tea, and after gulping down three cups continuously, said to Yun Ye, “Big brother, I went to the royal capital. Now it’s completely under martial law. Anyone in the city who isn’t a soldier has been driven out. Now all four gates are tightly closed—even flies can’t get in. The city walls are very high, extremely high. Little brother has never seen such high city walls. I think those city walls are even higher than Chang’an’s city walls. Our ten thousand men have no way to deal with it.”

“There’s an opportunity. The royal capital’s greatest weakness now is insufficient manpower. Old Fang and the others told me that the royal capital’s material supplies have always been provided by Cangyan City. The materials escorted to the royal capital each month are fixed in number. But starting two months ago, the materials escorted to the royal capital were only half of normal. This means half the troops were transferred to the Liao River source to deal with Zhang Jian and Qibi Heli. He gathered Mudi City’s troops, which indicates he always wanted to preserve himself, preparing to rely on the city walls to make us bleed our last drop. Hmph, after we sweep away the surrounding enemies, it won’t be too late to consider the royal capital.”

Dan Ying shrugged his shoulders, indicating it had nothing to do with him. This was originally Yun Ye’s signature move, but ever since Dan Ying learned it, Yun Ye stopped doing it. One person doing it had charm—two people doing it was just stupid.

The enemy had been silent for two days already. Continuing like this was disadvantageous to Yun Ye, so Liu Fang prepared to actively seek out the enemy for decisive battle. This time there were no boats to ride. Everyone carried their own weapons and crossbow bolts. Bundles of crossbow bolts were distributed to each soldier. Yun Ye required them to carry as much as they could. Long crossbow spears were loaded onto carts, dragged forward by warhorses. Except for the few dozen ox-crossbows used for alert, all the others were disassembled into components and loaded onto carts to be assembled on the battlefield. Doing this was truly helpless because there weren’t enough carts to transport them.