“Boy, ever since coming to Liaodong, you seem to have become a different person. Where did that happy, kind, steady Yun Ye go? How did you become this sinister, narrow-minded, selfish, unrelenting person?” Wu She glanced at Heichi Chang being carried away and asked somewhat emotionally.
“I don’t want to change either, but I’m carrying the lives of over ten thousand men on my back. If I don’t change, what will happen to these soldiers? Generally speaking, this world is one where good people suffer losses and evil people run rampant. I don’t want my subordinates to fall into crisis, so I can only transfer the crisis to others. Old sir, I’m not a kind person—I never have been. If you can’t stand to watch me, there’s nothing I can do. I’m the one who did these things—let others judge as they will.”
Wu She laughed heartily and said, “I have no intention of condemning you. On the contrary, I’m very gratified by this change in you. This is what a commanding general should look like. We may be benevolent during peaceful times, but definitely not now. Speaking of the things this old man did in the past, heh heh, boy, you couldn’t imagine in your dreams. I jumped out of that circle, so what you see is all this old man’s humane side. As for those evil deeds I did before, this old man has never regretted them. Boy, when a great man makes a decision, he shouldn’t regret it—whether righteous or evil, it was your most correct choice at that time.”
Watching Wu She remove his lock of white hair from that long arrow, carefully tie it in a knot, and place it in a small box, Yun Ye had never longed to return to Chang’an as much as now.
Yun Ye was anxious, but Liu Fang was not. The entire army, like a precision machine, maintained its original pace. Gou Zi, Dan Ying, and the man-bear were all sent out as scouts. The main force coordinated with the rafts struggling upriver on the Liao River, advancing against the current. Liu Renyuan exhausted all his lifelong learning, utilizing every available wind, and could barely keep up with the great army. The navy could not afford any mistakes—once they lost the navy, the main force’s material supply would become a problem.
Strong crossbows and ox-crossbows were indeed excellent weapons for defeating enemies, but their consumption was also alarming. Before even engaging with the strongest enemy, materials had already been depleted by thirty percent. Although they had recovered all the crossbow bolts that were shot out, there wasn’t much time for rest and reorganization.
Marching thirty li daily—this was the policy Liu Fang established. He would rather face large numbers of Goguryeo elite in the wilderness than engage in siege warfare. He knew Yun Ye’s plan, but he seemed to completely disregard it, still stubbornly advancing according to the usual set of marching and combat tactics.
Since command had been handed to Liu Fang, Yun Ye knew he could no longer overstep his authority. There cannot be two sets of orders in the army, otherwise the soldiers would be completely sent into hell.
When the great army advanced to Anyang Ridge, after Liu Fang repelled a large group of harassing Goguryeo people, he established a fortified camp and ordered all weapons to be fully assembled.
Anyang Ridge was Yun Ye’s army’s attack base. At the foot of the mountain was the vast Liao River. The navy’s camp was also built in the mountain bay. Liu Fang established a total of seven small camps that could be defended. If the Goguryeo people wanted to break through the main camp, they would need to first remove those seven plum-blossom-pattern small camps. The baggage that the navy was responsible for was also all transferred to the main camp.
The first light rain of early spring still descended upon this land. One couldn’t feel much beautiful ambiance—the misty light rain wrapped around one with cold, sticking to the body and chilling to the bone marrow. The light rain only fell for a while before turning into goose-feather snow. The sun-warmed earth quickly transformed it into snowmelt. This added several degrees of difficulty to Yun Ye’s plan.
The royal capital was within visible range. It backed against mountains and faced water, controlling the north-south passage. It was Liaodong’s first stronghold. Eight thousand Goguryeo elite guarded this city. The surrounding villages were as silent as death. They had long prepared for scorched earth tactics. All the Goguryeo people in the entire area had been withdrawn to the rear of the royal capital. The villages were like ghost domains—forget about cattle and sheep, finding even a chicken was impossible.
“The royal capital’s situation is also not optimistic. To control the royal capital, the Goguryeo King specially ordered that the royal capital not store grain during non-wartime. Their grain and fodder all depend on Cangyan City’s supply. Now Cangyan City has fallen into our hands, so their grain and fodder supply has been cut off. To receive supplies from Anshi City, they need to cross the entire Longgang Mountain—the route is difficult. Now it’s just a matter of who can’t endure it and makes the first move.”
Standing on Anyang Ridge, white snow blocked the line of sight. One could only vaguely see that great city. Yun Ye suddenly noticed that beside the royal capital, there was actually a pyramid-like structure. The tower’s peak was almost higher than the city walls, positioned between the Liao River and the royal capital.
“What is that? The Goguryeo people also have an interest in building this kind of structure? This type of building is generally used as a tomb. How is it here…”
Yun Ye had only said half when he suddenly stopped. Liu Fang drew the sword at his waist and heavily carved a line across his own face, shouting loudly, “Heaven bear witness—I, Liu Fang, will definitely make the Goguryeo dogs repay blood debt with blood. Otherwise, I will die without returning home.”
Liu Fang wasn’t the only one with this action. Yang Yueming, Yang Yueli, Lai Chuanfeng, and those officers also took blades and cut their own faces. Yun Ye couldn’t avoid cutting even if he wanted to. Damn it—before even killing the enemy, they first gave themselves a cut. Such a loss! Holding the blade in his hand, hesitating and unable to cut down, but seeing others all bloody-faced making oaths—if he couldn’t blend into the crowd, how could he be commander? They all said they’d die without returning home—was he the only one going back?
His face felt cool. Wu She’s sleeve concealed a cold flash—he had just cut himself. Seeing Yun Ye hesitate, he conveniently helped Yun Ye make up his mind.
This cut was very precise—cut neither too deep nor too shallow, yet blood flowed profusely. Soon Yun Ye’s entire face was covered in blood, with excess dripping down his chin…
Finally understanding why Liu Fang would lead all the officers to stand in the snow looking at the royal capital—he wanted that jingguan to stir up all the soldiers’ hot blood. He achieved his purpose. In the military camp, everyone’s face streamed with blood, howling like madmen, “Kill, kill, kill!” If they attacked the city now, certainly everyone would be unafraid of death. Of course, except for Yun Ye.
The pre-battle education’s purpose achieved, everyone should return to camp to treat wounds. Damn it—this time it truly became a camp full of wounded. The instigator was that old thief Liu Fang. For Liu Fang who made him disfigured, Yun Ye harbored deep resentment.
After Gou Zi and Dan Ying returned, regarding how everyone had cut their faces and made oaths but only they hadn’t, feeling very unmanly, they quickly gave themselves a cut. Covering their bleeding cheeks, they asked Yun Ye what oath they had made?
This snow fell for a full day and night. After the heavy snow cleared, looking at the royal capital again, Yun Ye was so happy he couldn’t close his mouth, because what was white was the ground and what was black was water. Sure enough, as described in the rumors, the royal capital had densely distributed waterways. The moat’s black water surged, circling half around the city before pouring into the city. Inside the city, waterways were densely distributed. Houses were as orderly as vegetable plots. Countless bridges were built over the water, all that kind of arched small bridge. Small boats shuttled busily in the river water, seemingly transporting materials to the city walls. Who would have thought this river still had this use?
“If only we could dam the great Liao River—the river water flowing backward could submerge this city.” Yun Ye spoke enthusiastically but discovered his subordinates all seemed busy with other things, so he was just talking to the air.
“Look clearly—the river leading into the city isn’t the Liao River. It’s a small river flowing down from Longgang Mountain. Haven’t you noticed the royal capital’s terrain is much higher than outside? How high a dam do you plan to build to submerge the royal capital?” The speaker was Liu Fang. Others knew their commander didn’t understand military formations, so they all gave the commander face. Only he was unrelenting.
“That river’s water flows too rapidly—it’s very unsuitable for setting fires. If we could slow the water flow, that would be good.” Yun Ye wasn’t embarrassed. They were all his own people—there was no question of losing face.
“I originally planned to dam that river. When attacking the city, we need to fill the moat anyway. I’ll handle this matter.” After Liu Fang finished speaking, he left the tent and began arranging for soldiers to cut trees and build scaling ladders. Besides simple scaling ladders, there were also catapults, siege towers, battering rams, and large shields.
This was complex work. Fortunately, the Yun family was famous for ingenuity—the family never lacked such talent. As long as blueprints were distributed, soldiers from Yun family’s estate would lead others to fell timber and manufacture.
Great Tang’s siege warfare was like this—once city walls were damaged or siege towers were in position, volunteer soldiers would launch an assault. These troops were known for their ‘desolate expectations’ because they had all prepared for casualties. However, those who could successfully survive in such troops would receive the highest rewards in promotions, titles, and spoils of war.
Giant catapults, also called counterweight catapults, were large trebuchets whose power was enhanced by heavy counterweights (usually large bags of stones). One end of the catapult’s long throwing arm would be loaded with large stones and pulled down by large amounts of counterweight. When the throwing arm was released, the throwing arm would spring upward due to sudden loss of gravity, hurling the large stone with great force in a very high arc trajectory.
Projectiles thrown by such weapons would drop rapidly. The ideal situation was using them to smash the densely distributed arrow towers of the royal capital. They also had strong crossbows. Although fewer in number and less powerful than those modified goods in Yun Ye’s army, they occupied the advantage of high ground. If Yun Ye didn’t guard against this, the one suffering misfortune would certainly be himself.
Catapults weren’t omnipotent either. Unless the projectile could hit precisely at the top of the city wall, it was difficult to damage vertical walls relying solely on giant catapults. If giant catapults were assembled without arrow cover, they might be discovered after defending soldiers broke out and be destroyed. Giant catapults were most suitable for smashing wooden roofs and could hurl burning oil containers.
Ever since this thing was created by Ma Jun during the Three Kingdoms period, it had always been liked by all siege commanders for its convenient materials and simple manufacture. How could Yun Ye be an exception?