lcionline Chapter 355 Manipulating People's Hearts
Chapter 355 Manipulating People's Hearts
Sima Zongcheng stood on the city wall, coldly looking at the strangely shaped people below, without the slightest pity in her eyes. Although she hated Wu Mingkong, the blood of the Wu Dynasty still flowed in her veins!
Those people downstairs seemed to have been prepared, all of them picked up shields, and secretly inserted rockets into the shields, so very few soldiers were wounded.
Meanwhile, their men below had already built ladders and were climbing up the city wall one after another. No matter how many rolling logs and stones were prepared for them, they could not withstand this relentless attack.
"Who is the commander upstairs? Do you dare to open the city gates and meet us in battle?"
"I think they're just cowards, trying to hide inside, but who's going to come to their rescue?"
"Hahaha, the people of the Wu Dynasty are all cowards, all shrinking turtles!"
"Sisters, charge! These Wu Dynasty people are all cowards!"
The city gates were about to be breached when they heard the sound of horses' hooves from behind. They initially thought reinforcements had arrived, but upon closer inspection, they realized it was Yelü Hanxuan's troop.
"General Hanxuan has arrived. It seems their garrison commander has been captured."
When Sima Zongcheng heard these words from the city tower, he knew that Wu Chengye had been captured. If the soldiers in the city found out, their morale would be thrown into chaos. And they were already at the foot of the city tower.
"Soldiers in the city, listen up! Your general Wu Chengye has been captured. Open the city gates and surrender immediately, and we will spare your lives!"
Sima Zongcheng looked at the soldiers; some seemed to be wavering, but most remained quite resolute.
Until they saw the people below raise the heads of their compatriots, people I had fought alongside, slept on the same kang (heated brick bed), and ate at the same table.
They were furious. It seemed that they couldn't persuade them to surrender, so they planned to use provocation. Sima Zongcheng looked at the dozen or so heads of soldiers raised above. In terms of war, it wasn't that cruel. It was just a matter of the victor taking all.
"Do not waver! You are the hope for this city. Only by protecting this city can you avenge the sisters below!"
"She has a two-year-old son. I should have gone in her place!"
"She was telling us all this yesterday!"
He threw stones down while tears streamed down his face. The people below kicked the head like a ball, eventually laughing and joking.
"These people from the Wu Dynasty are really good at enduring things. To call them cowards is an insult to shrimps!"
"If you don't open the city gates now, once we breach the city, you'll all suffer the same fate as them!"
However, they underestimated the soldiers' spirit. Having held out in this harsh and cold land for so many years, how could a few words of provocation shake their morale?
Sima Zongcheng never imagined that one day she would die defending the city. Given the current situation, she probably can't escape.
She struck the war drum twice with the drumstick in her hand: "We will live with the city, and we will die with the city. The soldiers of my Wu Dynasty will never be those who abandon their families and betray their country!"
However, from her vantage point, she immediately spotted Wu Chengye, who was being "held hostage" by Hanxuan. She did not appear to be being mistreated.
A bad thought flashed through her mind: Could it be that Wu Chengye had already surrendered and defected to Bei Rong?
Sure enough, the next second they heard Wu Chengye shout from below: "Stop guarding this cold northern land! Don't you want to go back to the capital and reunite with your husbands, children and parents? Are you willing to stay here forever?"
Upon hearing Wu Chengye's voice, they stopped what they were doing, their eyes filled with disbelief. That was their garrison commander, their Second Prince, the man who had once led them with such arrogance, boasting that he would make Beirong suffer repeated defeats!
What did he mean by what he just said? It sounded like he was trying to persuade them to surrender! This ignited a fierce fire of anger within them!
They risked their lives to defend this city, not for the land of the Wu Dynasty, but for the millions of families behind it. She, a member of the royal family, betrayed the Wu Dynasty and millions of people, and deserves to be executed!
"Fire arrows!"
Someone shouted from the city wall, and a flurry of arrows flew down from the city walls, most of them aimed at Wu Chengye!
Although the sky was gloomy, Wu Chengye could still see the resentment in the eyes of the soldiers in the distance. She didn't care anymore. Since they had already betrayed the country, she might as well sentence them to the end!
"kill!"
This single word seemed to pierce the heavens, and no one knew who shouted it or who made the first move.
At that moment, a large hole was smashed through the city gate, and the soldiers at the gate fought each other in a chaotic melee. They watched their deaths with cold eyes, as if those people were no threat to them!
Then came the cries of agony and the flames. Yelü Hanxuan, on horseback, watched coldly from afar. Wu Chengye raised his sword and killed the first Wu Dynasty soldier, a testament to his loyalty.
This was where things got out of control; Sima Zongcheng seized a fast horse and fled towards Qiyang, sustaining several arrow wounds, none of which were fatal. He endured the pain, determined to hold on!
Chu Feng rode at breakneck speed, until his horse was exhausted and out of breath, when he encountered Sima Zongcheng on the road!
Chu Feng was not familiar with Sima Zongcheng. He only saw that she had been shot with an arrow, came from the direction of Beiyang, and was covered in blood and tattered clothes, looking like she was about to die.
She stopped, allowing the army to continue forward. Only after seeing his face clearly did she realize it was Sima Zongcheng. Not knowing how to address him, she simply called him by his name: "Sima Zongcheng!"
"Situ...Quickly, Beiyang...Wu Chengye...traitor!"
Her speech was always intermittent, and she couldn't hear it clearly, but she heard the words "Wu Chengye betrayed the country" very clearly.
The news came too suddenly. After saying this, Sima Zongcheng fainted, perhaps because the breath he had been holding in was finally released.
"The entire army must advance with all its might! We absolutely cannot allow the Beirong forces to take advantage of any weakness!"
"Yes! Yes! Yes!" The army's unified reply resounded throughout the mountains and rivers. They had been stationed here for many years, and all they had encountered were minor skirmishes; they had never fought a battle on such a large scale before.
"Send someone back to Qiyang to heal their wounds, and we're advancing at full speed!"
Sima Zongcheng only felt pain in her body, but she couldn't open her eyes. It turned out that the army doctor was removing the arrowhead from her. At this moment, she only hoped that Chu Feng could go and save those soldiers from their predicament.
Wu Chengye seemed to be controlled by something, her eyes were bloodshot, and she killed every single soldier who came near her, whether they were soldiers of the Wu Dynasty or soldiers of the Northern Rong.
Yelü Hanxuan enjoyed the feeling of manipulating people's hearts. Smelling the gunpowder smoke, he laughed loudly and then rode his horse into the dilapidated city.
The houses along the roadside had been burned to ruins, and the surviving civilians, their faces burned beyond recognition, lay panting by the roadside. Meanwhile, the surviving soldiers were fighting them outside the city, but it was the New Year, and many had already been rotated out of the city, so there were actually very few troops here.