Kaifeng Falls

ests too—I just want Aili alone… Everyone else can go die!" Ye Li felt a shiver run through her, slightly pushing back Mo Xiuyao with trembling hands and lifting his face from her hair. She looked int...The Prime Consort of Prosperous Era 300: The Fall of Bian City

Chapter 300 - The Fall of Bian City

Bian City

The army of the Black Ink Society outside of Bian City and the Western Capital forces stationed within the city were engaged in daily battles that seemed routine. The leaders of the Black Ink Society's army, a group of young men under thirty years old, put in great effort but struggled to make any impact on Dragon Yang's defenses. However, amidst these relentless attacks every day, Dragon Yang gradually sensed a sinister plot at work. Yet, he could not figure out what exactly the Black Ink Society intended.

"General, the army of the Black Ink Society is challenging us outside the city walls again," Lei Tengfeng strode in and said to Dragon Yang, who was deep in thought behind his desk. In recent days though they hadn't won any decisive battles against the Black Ink Society's army, Lei Tengfeng was still relatively satisfied with their current situation. He wasn't an extremist; he didn't expect himself to defeat Prince Dinh王府 and the Black Ink Society. All he needed to do was stall until his father and reinforcements arrived from other regions, and then they would win.

Dragon Yang furrowed his brow and said, "For now, we don't need to pay attention to them!"

Lei Tengfeng frowned and replied, "That might not be feasible. This time it seems different."

Dragon Yang stood up and said, "I'll go take a look."

Upon climbing onto the city wall and looking down, things indeed seemed unlike previous days. Although he didn't see the main commanders like Mo Xiuyao, the morale and formation of the Black Ink Society's army were unprecedentedly formidable compared to before. Yun霆 was still leading the charge on the front lines as usual. In recent days, Yun霆 and his group of young generals had been severely demoralized by Dragon Yang's countermeasures. Regardless of how they strategized or launched attacks openly and secretly, Dragon Yang could easily dispel their efforts with ease. If not for the serious nature of a standoff between two armies, they might have believed that Dragon Yang was merely playing with them.

After being harshly demoralized, these young men gradually toned down their arrogance. Each confrontation became more cautious; they no longer aimed to break through Bian City but sought to keep Dragon Yang preoccupied and occasionally cause some trouble for him. The cooler-headed young generals realized that the Prince and the Princess Consort would never actually sideline all senior officers and entrust the entire Black Ink Society army solely to these inexperienced youths. This arrangement must be part of a secret plan by the Prince and Princess Consort. Since the Prince did not expect them to conquer Bian City, they should align with his and her plans.

Indeed, several days later today, they received orders from the Prince once again, understanding what their senior officers capable of independent command had been doing.

"Dragon Yang! Hiding inside the city isn't a skill at all. If you're skilled, come out and fight me!" Yun霆 loudly challenged.

Dragon Yang looked down on the young man from his vantage point atop the wall and smiled, "Young man, if you have the skills, climb up here to talk with this old man. I'll wait for you."

Yun霆 sneered, "I will come up. Do you think this general fears you Ha ha... Dragon General, do you want to know what happened to your great General Zhu"

A chill ran through Dragon Yang's heart; narrowing his eyes at the bottom below, he asked, "What do you mean by that"

Yun霆 grinned and said, "Zhu Yan is dead. And those over ten thousand soldiers of Jing Kingdom hidden in the mountains have been annihilated as well. Do you think our prince has no way to deal with you just because he's besieging Bian City Or do you really believe that we are here merely for entertainment while Prince and Princess Consort dispose of Zhu Yan and his army, then return to challenge you this great general"

Zhu Yan is dead!

Hearing this shocked not only Dragon Yang and Lei Tengfeng beside him but also the Western Capital forces defending Bian City. Although the reputation of the three famous generals of the West had been suppressed by Prince Dinh王府 over these past two decades, soldiers naturally knew who they were. Just a few days after being besieged, more than ten thousand Jing Kingdom troops were wiped out completely, even their grand general died in battle; this left Western Capital's soldiers shocked beyond belief.

As an experienced old general, Dragon Yang suppressed his shock and sneered coldly, "Talk is cheap. Come up here so I can see for myself."

The cloud of thunder didn't become enraged like he had a few days ago after being provoked by Long Yang. Instead, he smiled and waved his battle flag. The war drums behind the Mohist army began to beat loudly, and as the flags fluttered, the soldiers rearranged their positions in preparation for an attack on the city. With just one glance, Long Yang understood why Thunderous Wind had said that today was different from the previous days. Such a grand spectacle could not be orchestrated by these young officers; it indicated that the Mohist army no longer wanted to engage them in a standoff. Similarly, Long Yang realized that what the young Mohist officer had said might have been true: their hidden tens of thousands of elite troops and Zhu Yan were gone.

Sighing helplessly, Long Yang ordered his men to hold the city and not venture out.

"Old General, does this mean that Senior General Zhu..." Thunderous Wind asked with concern. Long Yang said indifferently, "It's likely for the worse."

"What should we do then" Thunderous Wind inquired.

Long Yang shook his head and replied, "We can't go out to fight them anymore. We need to hold our ground and wait for reinforcements."

"Yes," Thunderous Wind responded silently.

Beneath the city gate, Cloud of Thunder couldn’t help but jump up and down in frustration as he watched the Xiling troops stubbornly guard their gates without coming out to fight. Chen Yun pulled him back with a sigh, saying, "Just as His Royal Highness predicted, they won't engage us head-on." Cloud of Thunder retorted angrily, "I don't believe it! How can he hide in the city for his whole life A Western barbarian war god indeed—he’s more like a turtle hiding its head!" Chen Yun chuckled and replied, "He doesn’t need to hide forever. If he can hold out for just one or two months until Xiling's reinforcements arrive, then we’ll be the ones in trouble."

"I don't believe it either," Cloud of Thunder impatiently said. "There’s no way I won’t make him come out! Attack!"

Before Biancheng lay a moat. The river was quite broad, and crossing it would require the enemy to drop their drawbridge or for them to find another method. Over the past few days, these young officers hadn't wasted time in taunting each other; instead, they had ordered ingenious Mohist craftsmen to build several long ladders. Once placed over the moat, planks could be laid across, allowing them to cross.

Chen Yun watched as soldiers braved enemy arrows to lay down planks. Many died under a hail of arrows. For such a well-defended city like Biancheng, it was impossible to breach without casualties. Nevertheless, despite the arrow rain, they finally managed to set up their bridge.

Mohist soldiers were also skilled archers, and many Xiling soldiers fell from the ramparts as the enemy fired arrows upward. The majority of the Mohist army crossed the moat, some scaling the high city walls via ladders while others shot at the defenders below. The water in the moat gradually turned red.

Behind the main body of the Mohist forces, Mo Xiuyao and his entourage appeared on the battlefield. They did not engage but watched from a distance. After some time, Mo Xiuyao smiled and said, "Cloud of Thunder seems to be doing well." Despite suffering more defeats than victories recently, they continued to hold their ground, even bolstering morale among the Mohist troops. For these young officers who hadn’t truly experienced battle before, this was quite commendable.

Next to him, Zhu Jing smiled and said, "His Royal Highness and his lady are also confident in them."

Moiuyao nodded and looked toward the distant city walls, saying sternly, "Prepare for an assault!"

"Yes!"

Amid clear skies, dark clouds gathered and a hoarse voice rang out; soon after, magnificent fireworks blossomed in the air.

Among the Xiling defenders, someone was shocked to find ropes hanging from several directions outside the city. Dark figures slid down these ropes toward the city walls. Long Yang naturally noticed this as well, his eyes narrowing slightly. He ordered harshly, "Shoot them!" Countless arrows flew at those sliding on the ropes. However, even faster, dark-clothed figures appeared within the city and mercilessly shot their bows at the defenders.

"What's going on! How did these people appear" Dark-clad figures in Mohist armor continuously emerged. Unlike ordinary troops, they were clearly more formidable and agile, causing heavy losses to Xiling’s defending forces wherever they appeared. Simultaneously dealing with both the assault from outside and this sudden threat within the city left the defenders flustered.

On top of the walls, Long Yang and Thunderous Wind's faces turned ashen.

"Old General..."

Long Yang gritted his teeth and said, "Bring all the people from Dachu and Northwest to the city walls!"

"Old General!" When Lei Tengfeng heard this, his face changed. He naturally knew what Long Yang wanted to do. In fact, such tactics were not uncommon during war between countries. But Lei Tengfeng doubted how effective it would be. After gritting his teeth, he still turned and left. Although many unknown figures of the Mohist army had appeared in Bian City, there were still hundreds of thousands of Xiling soldiers guarding the city. These few people from the Mohist army could hardly affect the overall situation. Within half an hour, all the Dachu residents on the streets of Bian City had been brought to the city walls.

Bian City was the second largest city in Xiling and its prosperity was not inferior to the imperial capital. There were many people from various countries living here, with most being from Dachu, among whom were also a large number of Northwest citizens under the Mohist army's jurisdiction. These people were forced to stand on the battlements of Bian City’s city walls, blocking the way for the Mohist soldiers below who had to shoot over them and through them in order to reach the walls. Most of these people were ordinary civilians, and suddenly experiencing war was enough to scare them half to death; now they were being used as shields against arrows from the Mohist army, causing many to start crying.

"Long Yang! You shameless old man!" Seeing this situation, Yun霆finally couldn’t hold back and started cursing again. Chen Yun and others beside him also looked very unhappy. It didn't matter whether these people were from Dachu or the Northwest; even if they had all been citizens of Xiling, using ordinary civilians as shields was something that a commander would not do.

“What should we do now”

"How should I know Report to His Highness!" Chen Yun said. They were still not heartless enough to kill helpless commoners on the battlefield, even though it was their duty as soldiers to fight for survival against the enemy.

In fact, there was no need for them to report, as Mo Xiuyao, who had been observing from behind the Mohist army, also saw what was happening. ZHUO Jing next to him frowned and said, "Your Highness, how should we handle this" They truly hadn't expected Long Yang to use such a tactic. However, when he was young, Long Yang had earned the title of 'Killing God in Western Regions' for killing many ordinary people there, so his actions were unexpected but understandable.

Mosixiao stood up and looked coldly at the distant city walls, saying, "He wants to first tie us down and clear out the Qilin inside Bian City." The defensive works of Bian City were extremely good; it took them more than a week of effort, but fewer than a thousand Mohist soldiers managed to enter the city. Facing hundreds of thousands of Xiling soldiers, there was no chance of winning. Long Yang didn't want to be attacked from both front and back, so he had to first clear out these enemy troops in the city and figure out how they got inside. However, this took time.

"Let's go see."

Because of the civilians on the city walls, the Mohist army temporarily halted their attack. But neither side relaxed their vigilance; a path opened up in the black ranks of the Mohists and a man in white walked out, followed by several guards and officers. Mo Xiuyao raised his hand to look at the civilians who had been pushed outside on the city walls and said solemnly, "Fengtian General Long Yang, I have long heard your name."

Long Yang appeared on the city wall, looking down at the white-haired man and nodded. "Prince Ding Mo Xiuyao It's a pleasure to meet you."

The people sobbing on the walls froze when they heard this. They looked down at the man in white, some of them even shouting for help: "Prince Ding is here! Prince Ding is here… Your Highness save us…" With one person screaming, others quickly joined in. The city wall was filled with weeping.

"What does Fengtian General want" Mo Xiuyao asked coolly. His voice wasn't loud and didn’t contain any anger, yet it strangely spread across the entire battlefield amidst all the wailing sounds of sobbing. Long Yang looked at him deeply and said, "As a commander, I feel ashamed to use such methods, but… please order your troops to retreat thirty miles."

Mo Xiuyao asked, “What if this prince does not agree”

Long Yang calmly smiled. With a swipe of his hand, the head of one of the men closest to him rolled off and fell from the city wall. Blood spurted out immediately, making the nearby civilians scream again.

Mosixiao was silent for a moment before finally looking up and saying coldly, "Once Bian City falls, I will have you executed in pieces." Long Yang smiled indifferently and said, "If Bian City falls, then this old man will also be at the end of his life. Since we are both going to die anyway, what difference does it make how What’s your answer" Mo Xiuyao raised an eyebrow with a smile and said solemnly, "My answer is…"

"Swoosh!" Turning around, Mosixiao took a bow and arrow from the soldier next to him. He drew back his bowstring, nocked an arrow, and released it in almost one motion. Everyone stared as the arrow pierced through the sky with silver light and embedded itself in the chest of a young man on top of the city walls. Mo Xiuyao threw away the bow and arrow and said coldly, "Attack!"

With this order issued, the sounds of battle rose again. The innocent civilians on the city wall were hit first. Amidst the cries of battle and wailing, Mo Xiuyao turned around calmly, leaving behind a cool figure and low, icy voice: "Long Yang, I will have all the citizens of Bian City bury you!"

The intense siege continued without pause; both sides knew that it was no longer small-scale skirmishing but rather a full-on battle. Perhaps because of the hundreds of innocent Dachu civilians on top of the city wall earlier, the Mohist soldiers were even more ferocious in their attack, and after several hours, Bian City’s defenses finally started to crumble.

The city, Longyang sat gloomily in an empty room, lost in thought. He knew that Zhu Yan was already dead and it wouldn’t be long before Bian City fell as well. Perhaps it was fortunate for him to fight on the battlefield once again when he was old. However, such a baffling defeat left him feeling helpless. The biggest mistake he made was clearly hearing what Mo Xiuyao said when he left. He wanted all the city’s inhabitants to be buried alive… Mo Xiuyao intended to massacre the entire city! Longyang did not doubt those words of Mo Xiuyao's. In his younger days, he had not shied away from such a massacre and that was how he gained the title of the Demon God of the West in the first place. In fact, if it were back then, he might not have thought it was so grave an issue for Mo Xiuyao to slaughter the city’s inhabitants. But now… He had grown old. There were still hundreds of thousands of civilians inside Bian City. If Mo Xiuyao carried out his threat and massacred the entire city...

"General!" A soldier rushed in with a report.

Longyang opened his eyes and said calmly, "What happened"

The soldier replied, "The eastern city cannot hold on any longer. General, please evacuate as soon as possible."

"Evacuate" Longyang frowned and asked, “Who said we should retreat” Perhaps because of the severity in Longyang’s tone, the soldier reported carefully, "It was Prince Southern Border. Prince Southern Border said that Bian City cannot hold on any longer and suggested retreating to Song City at the rear."

Longyang shook his head and smiled bitterly, "If we can’t even defend against Mo Family Army in Bian City, how are we going to defend against them with the flimsy walls of Song City Foolish! Let’s stay here. If we fight street by street inside the city, perhaps we could take half of their troops down." Street fighting often relied on sheer manpower rather than tactics or strategy. Besides, they had the upper hand in the city, and there wasn’t a significant difference between their armies. At least Longyang was confident that two soldiers from Western Capital would be able to handle one soldier from Mo Family Army. Therefore, at least half of Mo Family Army’s troops could be eliminated in Bian City, and the rest might be held back.

The soldier hesitated before looking at Longyang, “But… Prince Southern Border has already led his troops out for retreat.”

"What!" Longyang suddenly stood up. The soldier quickly reported, "Prince Southern Border said that it would be too late to defend if Mo Family Army entered the city. He has already retreated westward with the remaining 100,000 soldiers."

Longyang hurriedly walked out of the room and said angrily, “Idiot! There are still tens of thousands of soldiers from Mo Family Army in small towns ahead. Where do you want to retreat”

However, by the time Longyang arrived at the western gate, all he could see was dust raised by horses as Western Capital’s troops retreated far away. Lei Tengfeng led the most elite and complete 100,000 soldiers of Western Capital Army, and their departure left several gaping holes in the city’s defenses. Mo Family Army surged into the city like a tidal wave. Outside the western gate, Longyang closed his eyes wearily and sighed softly, “Zhu Yan… We are doomed…”

Although Lei Tengfeng led away most of the troops, Western Capital soldiers were not merely props. It was only midday the next day when Mo Family Army completely occupied Bian City. A day and night of continuous fighting left even the renowned brave and skilled Mo Family Army exhausted. Soldiers’ eyes were bloodshot and they were tired to the bone. Once all resistance from Western Capital troops inside the city had been eliminated, soldiers erupted into cheers. Some lay down on streets or under eaves and slept directly.

At noon, in bright sunlight, Mo Xiuyao’s group entered Bian City. Seeing the corpses of both armies strewn across the streets that were not yet buried and soldiers sleeping on either side of them, he waved his hand to stop anyone from announcing their arrival loudly. As he walked past one corpse after another, he asked softly, “Where is Longyang”

Zhuo Jing answered quietly, "Longyang is in an empty room at the city’s west. He has already sent someone to guard it. Moreover… Longyang let many of the city’s inhabitants escape."

Perhaps due to Mo Xiuyao’s words about burying all the city’s inhabitants alive, from dusk on the previous day, Longyang had opened the western gate and released many civilians out of the city.

The military discipline in Mo Family Army was strict. Although Mo Xiuyao said such things, he hadn’t ordered a massacre officially, so soldiers fighting would not attack commoners unless they were obstructed or attacked first. About half of the city’s inhabitants had escaped during the night.

Mo Xiuyao shook his head and said indifferently, "Let’s go see Longyang. How is the princess

Zhuo Jing replied, “Last night, Lei Tengfeng led a group of people to retreat westward and fought with General Zhang on the way. He left with about 20,000 soldiers. The princess ordered a halt in pursuit and the army will remain here for two days to regroup. She should be back soon.” Hearing this, Mo Xiuyao’s cold eyes flashed a glint of warmth as he said calmly, “Order someone to clear up the battlefield and let the troops rest well. Go get Longyang here."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Zhuo Jing went out with his orders. Mo Xiuyao turned around and headed for Bian City’s Prefectural Governor's Mansion. The mansion had been tidied up long ago and the battles in the city hadn’t affected it much. All officials who remained in Bian City were confined here by Mo Family Army. When they saw Mo Xiuyao walk in, their expressions varied from pleading to defiant, fearful to hostile. At this moment, Mo Xiuyao was indifferent to them all and waved his hand for them to be led away. He didn’t rest long when a guard came to report, "Your Highness, Longyang has been brought here."

Mo Xiuyao opened his eyes and said coldly, “Let him in.”

A short while later, Longyang walked in calmly. Zhuo Jing followed but didn’t order anyone to escort him. Longyang was still wearing a simple white cotton shirt that looked much more worn out than before. He appeared like an ordinary old man from the countryside and had no hint of the merciless man who had used innocent civilians as human shields.nate to have such a good teacher as Lady. Lady Dongfang is beautiful like a flower, proficient in both military and literary arts, and comes from a noble family. If Lady wishes to seek a husband, how...