Climbing to the Top: A Reborn Queen's Journey-Chapter 739: Madness (Part 3)
"Mr. Zheng, we’re barely holding on!"
Zhao Wu endured for half a day, his face dark and eyes dull, his voice weak: "Of thirty thousand, over six thousand are dead or wounded, and some soldiers have fled. The remaining soldiers have lost their morale."
Lu Cheng was even more anxious, with reddened eyes he asked Zheng Chen: "If the attack is this fierce again tomorrow, I’m afraid we won’t be able to hold out. What should we do next? Should we simply raise the white flag and surrender?"
Zheng Chen’s expression abruptly changed, his voice sharp and stern: "The great cause has not succeeded, we absolutely cannot surrender!"
In his urgency, Lu Cheng spoke without thinking: "We’re almost losing our lives, what great cause is there to hold on to? If we continue like this, when the city is breached, you and I will both be executed brutally. If we surrender now, perhaps we can still plead for a path to life."
Zhao Wu glared angrily: "Absolutely not! You have no idea of Left General’s methods!"
"Left General wants to kill you, not me!" Lu Cheng made a slip of the tongue with his inner thoughts: "It was you who betrayed the border army that day, not me!"
Zhao Wu: "..."
Do not hit a person’s face, do not expose their shortcomings in public!
Zhao Wu received a slap across the face, his cheeks burning, both angry and embarrassed.
Zheng Chen looked coldly at Lu Cheng: "Is General Lu regretting raising the army?"
How could Lu Cheng not regret?
He could have, like other stationed military generals, accepted the military funds sent by the court, politely deferred for some time, waited for the imperial envoy to leave, and continued being the main general of Yu State Army. In the land of Yu State, he could have lived freely and happily like a local ruler.
But he boarded a pirate ship several years ago, hiding Zhao Wu, this scourge, in the military camp. Then he was bewitched by Zheng Chen’s eloquent persuasion and actually rebelled.
The next part, "The victor becomes king" can only be followed by "The loser is a thief!" No, not even a thief, but facing execution and extermination of nine families!
How could he have lost his mind and walked down such a path of no return!
Lu Cheng gritted his teeth and said in a low voice: "I’m not regretting, but given the current situation, Yu State City really can’t be defended anymore. I want to hold on for one more day, tonight I’ll lead people to quietly leave through the northern city gate, either to Xiang City or escape even further away."
"We must try to fight for a path to life for the soldiers."
Zheng Chen said coldly: "If you want to leave, I won’t stop you. But the soldiers of Yu State Army must stay. Take your personal soldiers and leave!"
If Lu Cheng still had ambitions to seize land and become king, he would certainly not agree. But now, Lu Cheng has been terrified by the court’s army, only wishing to escape. At such a time, leading a large number of soldiers in flight, the target is too large, and will incite pursuit by the court’s army. It’s better to only take a few dozen personal soldiers and quietly escape the city. Those who are left continue defending Yu State, holding off the court’s army, so he can calmly escape farther away.
Lu Cheng exhaled heavily and nodded: "Alright, I’ll leave tonight."
Zheng Chen glanced at Zhao Wu.
Zhao Wu, with the same murderous intent in his heart, subtly nodded.
When dawn broke, the three of them boarded the city gate as usual.
Lu Cheng’s worries were not unfounded. The morale of Yu State Army was indeed exceptionally low and dispirited. Outside the city gate, killing intent was overwhelming, war drums were resounding non-stop, and the Cloud Ladder used for attacking was growing in number. Countless soldiers seemed to appear from nowhere, pouring relentlessly towards the city wall.
Yesterday at dusk, they breached the city gate, today before noon, warriors from Heroic Guard Camp were already on the city wall.
Lu Cheng shuddered internally, immediately leading his personal soldiers to fight. Soldiers of Yu State Army, seeing their own general fighting desperately, managed to muster up a surge of morale and charged forward. After a bloody battle lasting an hour, they barely managed to hold the city gate.
The attack beneath the city gate finally paused for a moment.
The soldiers hadn’t even had a chance to catch their breath when suddenly they heard a mournful cry: "Brother Cheng! Brother Cheng!"
All the soldiers were struck with terror, turned to look, and saw Zhao Wu supporting Lu Cheng, covered in blood, tears flowing down his face. Lu Cheng’s face was ghastly pale, devoid of color, his lips moved wanting to say something, but he lacked the strength to speak. He just stared in silence and passed away.
Zhao Wu wailed: "Brother Cheng, it was Heroic Guard Camp’s men who killed you, I will kill them all for revenge!"
Even the usually composed and calm Mr. Zheng Zheng Chen shed tears publicly and swore a fierce oath to defend the city to the death.
Now that their own main general had died, the soldiers’ hearts were filled with unbearable sorrow, scattering their previous dispirited morale. Instead, a surge of unimaginable ferocity and courage erupted.
When the next wave of the court’s army attacked the city again, they were repelled by the soldiers’ blood and flesh.
...
"Something’s wrong!"
Standing on the war chariot, Left General, who had been closely watching the movements on the city gate, suddenly frowned and said in a low voice: "Yu State Army’s morale was long gone, how did they suddenly become brave again?"
Song Yuan, who had been on the war chariot observing for nine days, was initially startled and apprehensive, but looking at the battlefield strewn with blood and corpses, had now become almost numb.
Even separated by hundreds of meters, through simple telescopes, it was difficult to see clearly. However, the roaring sounds from the city wall could be heard unmistakably. The prolonged stalemate at the city gate was also a fact. It imagined the fierce and brutal fighting on the city gate.
"Could it be the three inside the city have turned against each other?"
Song Yuan pondered for a moment, offering a guess: "Yu State Army belongs to Lu Cheng. Zhao Wu came to seek refuge with little personal soldiers of his own. Zheng Chen also only has a few personal soldiers. Seeing Yu State about to be broken, Lu Cheng might not willing be wiped out, so he surely wants to escape. Zheng Chen and Zhao Wu have no retreat and refuse to flee, maybe secretly took action against Lu Cheng. Then, they declared to the disorderly soldiers that Lu Cheng died at the hands of the court’s soldiers."
"Because of this, the disorderly soldiers are imbued with the spirit of sorrowful soldiers, strengthening their bravery."
Left General couldn’t help but glance at Song Yuan: "Commander Song speaks as if witnessing it personally."
Such keen and meticulous insight, not at all like a military general.
Naturally, Song Yuan was unaware of Left General’s inward criticisms and casually remarked: "This subordinate has been with the Emperor for years; the Emperor’s mind is meticulous and foresight is extraordinary, so this subordinate also learned a bit."
Left General pondered for a moment: "What you said earlier is quite a reasonable deduction. If it’s indeed as you described, then today’s city siege won’t be successful. Very well, sound retreat, we’ll attack the city again tomorrow!"
Before dark, the court sounded retreat, which was the rare victory for Yu State Army in recent days. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶
The soldiers beneath the city retreated like a tide.
The soldiers on the city gate finally discharged the breath they’d been holding. Turning to see Lu Cheng’s now cold and stiff corpse, the soldiers couldn’t help but wipe away tears and cry loudly.
Zhao Wu also accompanied the soldiers in lamentation.
Zheng Chen, with reddened eyes, said: "General Zhao, from now on Yu State Army is entrusted to you."
Zhao Wu, crying, cupped his hands: "Rest assured, Mr. Zheng, this subordinate will lead the soldiers to seek revenge for General Lu!"
