Bai Jinzhao and Bai Jinhua, both donned in armor, stood on either side, leading the crossbown, shooting arrows at the enemy climbing the city walls.
Shen Yanan and Shen Yanzhong also helped transport stones, leading their teams to hurl them in an orderly fashion at the enemy attempting to scale the walls.
Seeing that Li Mingrui had already ordered the catapult to be brought forward, and the archers had begun shooting...
Shen Yanan shouted loudly, "Everyone get down! Get down!"
Just as Shen Yanan finished his command, an arrow from afar pierced his arm, causing him to fall imdiately. He gritted his teeth to suppress a scream of pain, hiding beneath the wall to catch his breath.
After the first wave of arrows subsided, Shen Yanan stood up again, shouting, "Shoot! Shoot! Shoot those damn bastards!"
Below the city walls, a hail of arrows flew over, wounding the civilians in the city, with so even piercing the tents set up for officials to treat the injured soldiers.
The Shuoyang Army, still running to deliver supplies up the wall, shouted, "Hurry! Hurry! Hide!"
Children and young n agilely dodged under tables and into houses, and when the rain of arrows ceased montarily, they quickly resud carrying stones up to the wall.
The perforrs from the brothel craned their necks to look outside, their hearts stirred to see the unity of the Shuoyang soldiers and civilians fighting against the enemy.
Since eting Bai Qingyan and composing the "March of the Hundred Great Generals," Na Kang had remained in Shuoyang. She opened the window, watching the people below running to the city gates to help their enlisted children, tightening her fists.
The children who usually played with the fifth and sixth young ladies of the Bai family grouped together, shouting that they wanted to help: "Fifth Sister and Sixth Sister of the Bai family are up on the walls killing the invaders! We should hurry and help too!"
"Wait for ! I’m bringing a slingshot... to kill those thieves!" a child shouted loudly.
Na Kang looked at the unified hearts of the Shuoyang people, her emotions surging and filled with heroic spirit. She turned and ran towards the brothel, shouting for her sisters to put on their clothes and go help the people.
A fragile courtesan, leaning weakly against a red-painted pillar, spoke coquettishly, "We are too weak to carry anything. How can we help?"
"We can beat drums! We can cheer! We can boost the morale of the soldiers!" Na Kang said loudly. "Don’t we always perform the ’March of the Hundred Great Generals’ here in the brothel? Aren’t we envious of the Princess of Zhen, riding horses and wielding swords in battle? Isn’t today our chance?!"
The courtesans seed encouraged by Na Kang’s words, with so expressing willingness to follow her to help.
The courtesans changed into practical clothes, tied up their long hair, and did whatever they could, even if it was just helping officials bandage soldiers’ wounds or delivering a bowl of water to the soldiers.
Li Mingrui was completely unaware of the situation inside Shuoyang City. He had never truly been to the battlefield before; this was the first ti, and he found the pace of capturing the city much slower than he had imagined. His horse was restless, pacing back and forth.
He turned to ask the experienced general, "Why is it so difficult to capture this small Shuoyang with its ragtag forces?"
The commander of the imperial guard, looking at the desperate efforts of the soldiers on the wall, did not believe they were a ragtag force.
"Although the archers of Shuoyang are not very accurate, they are willing to fight to the death. This makes it more challenging," the general said.
Li Mingrui tightened his grip on the reins, "In your opinion, how long will it take?"
"My lord, it’s hard to say! In warfare... no one can say for sure how long it will take to capture a city!" the general replied.
Li Mingrui tugged at the reins, staring intently at the figures of Bai Jinzhao and Bai Jinhua leading the archers on the city walls. He turned his horse and told the general of the Jin Army, "Their forces must be concentrated at this North Gate. Take a thousand soldiers to the West or South Gates, disperse their forces to make it easier to break through the North Gate!"
The Jin Army general obeyed, turning his horse and leading his soldiers in a swift march.
Li Mingrui’s palms were sweaty. Although he had read many military texts since childhood, this was his first real battle. Even when facing these alleged ragtag forces of Shuoyang, he dared not be negligent.
However, just as the general left with a thousand soldiers to draw out Shuoyang’s forces, a thunderous shout erupted from behind their army.
Li Mingrui turned his head to see a massive army waving black sails and white python flags surging towards them like a flood.
Li Mingrui’s eyes widened, staring at the imposing black sails and white python flags, the iron-clad cavalry in the front lined up, their looming presence and deafening roar enough to shake the hearts of the imperial guard, who were accustod to the comfort of the Imperial City.
Utterly shocked and terrified, Li Mingrui clenched the reins tightly, seeing nothing but soldiers ahead, roughly estimating that there were ten thousand... His heart trembled; had Bai Qingyan returned? How could she have co so quickly?!
When King Liang had issued the order to conscript boys and girls from all over, Mingrui had persuaded King Liang to obtain an Imperial Edict from the Emperor to recognize King Liang, declaring the Crown Prince as a traitor and King Liang as ritorious. This prohibited anyone from opening the city gates or mobilizing troops without holding the Emperor’s gold dal or Imperial Edict...
Li Mingrui had carefully calculated that even if Bai Qingyan and her party forced their way back to Dadu City, they would be stopped along the way and could not possibly return so quickly!
But in the world, who can say anything is absolute! If the people inside Shuoyang City saw their reinforcents had arrived and ca out to fight, how could the imperial guard, who had little battlefield experience, be their match?!
"Retreat! Retreat! Quick, retreat!" Li Mingrui shouted.
The ssengers beside Li Mingrui scattered to spread the order, the sound of the retreating bugle resounding...
Bai Jinzhao, still fighting desperately atop Shuoyang’s walls, looked far into the distance as the enemy’s bugle sounded. She saw the black masses in the distance but couldn’t tell if they were enemies or reinforcents.
The imperial guard attacking the city heard the bugle and began to retreat.
The soldiers carrying the black sails and white python flags moved faster and closer. Bai Jinzhao’s eyes widened, shouting, "Black sails and white python! It’s the black sails and white python flag! It’s the flag of our Bai family army!"
"The Princess of Zhen has returned! The Princess of Zhen has returned!"
It wasn’t just Bai Jinzhao; the entire Shuoyang Army erupted with fervor as the black sails and white python flags ca into view!
Overwheld with excitent, Bai Jinzhao fired an arrow and shouted hoarsely, "Shen Yanan! Lead the troops with out of the city to pursue the enemy!"
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