“What should we do?” Wei Yuan asked Red Beard.
Red Beard was in no mood for this. If Wei Yuan asked him, who was he supposed to ask? He had originally planned to enter the city for some fun, but that was impossible now.
“First, light fires and cook, then rest for a while,” he said.
That was all they could do.
As they settled down, the people on the city walls felt they had won, and their morale soared even higher.
A night passed, and after interrogating the captured men, Red Beard finally learned the situation inside the city. The bad news was that the man on the wall claimed to be the Swift Cavalry General of the Yongsheng Dynasty, sent here to defend the city. The good news was that he had brought only about twenty men. Aside from some garrison soldiers and constables, most of the people on the walls were peasants from the city with little combat ability.
The question then arose: should they attack the city or not?
“If we don’t attack the city and just leave like this, it won’t sit well with the men,” Wei Yuan said. He knew his subordinates all too well—they had followed him here hoping to loot money and women. If he told them now that there were no women or money to be had, morale would instantly collapse.
Red Beard faced the same situation.
“They only have twenty-some men, while we have ten thousand troops. What is there to fear? I’ve heard of that Swift Cavalry General, Xie Zhiyuan—a great general of the Yongsheng Dynasty, said to be treated like a son by the Yongsheng Emperor. If we capture him, whether we negotiate with the Yongsheng Dynasty or defect to the Li Dynasty, we could set our own terms.
I think this is actually a great opportunity,” Wei Yuan said, his eyes growing brighter as he spoke.
Red Beard hadn’t considered this before, but hearing it now, he immediately saw the logic.
Licking his lips, he said, “Right, capture that Xie fellow and make him lick my feet!”
The crowd roared in agreement, eager to storm the city.
Of course, there was one thing Wei Yuan and Red Beard tacitly understood: if they couldn’t win, they could always flee. After all, they would only lose a few subordinates, and dead men could always be replaced. In these times, as long as you had money, there was no shortage of people willing to risk their lives.
At the hour of Chen, Red Beard and his men lined up and began to taunt, demanding the city’s surrender. They promised to spare the defenders if they surrendered; otherwise, once they breached the city, not even a chicken or dog would be left alive, and so on.
After the events of the previous day, the people on the walls knew that their only chance of survival was to hold the city. They paid no heed to the taunts.
“Attack the city!” Red Beard ordered. They lacked large siege engines but still had scaling ladders and the like.
Thus, thousands surged toward the city gates.
Red Beard attacked from the east, while Wei Yuan led his men from the west, determined to take Lingcheng in one fell swoop.
Xie Zhiyuan remained calm and composed. Only when the attackers were within range did he give the order: “Loose arrows!” Instantly, countless arrows rained down.
The archers were unskilled, but the attackers below were undisciplined, packed tightly together and lacking shields. A wave of them fell dead in an instant.
“Don’t be afraid—the city doesn’t have many arrows!” Red Beard roared from the rear.
This was true, and the men began advancing again.
Sure enough, the arrows grew fewer and fewer, reigniting hope among the attackers. They rushed directly to the base of the walls, ready to set up their scaling ladders.
“Fire oil jars,” Xie Zhiyuan commanded.
Immediately, men began hurling down wine jars.
The attackers below watched as the jars fell like rain, some even seeming to flicker with flames. What was this? They wondered in confusion.
Soon they discovered what they were. The jars exploded among the crowd, instantly knocking down a group of people. But that wasn’t all—the shards of the jars splattered onto people, immediately causing wounds, and the flaming oil inside ignited upon contact, setting them ablaze.
The area below instantly turned into a sea of fire. The bandits cried out in terror, desperately fleeing backward.
“Excellent, excellent! These fire oil jars are incredibly powerful!” Lu Yunchuan was witnessing the destructive force of these incendiary devices for the first time and couldn’t help but applaud in admiration.
Beside him, Xie Heng looked at him in surprise. Weren’t these things created by Lu Yunxi? How could he not know?
Red Beard and his men were also terrified by the fire oil jars. They were nothing more than a ragtag mob and had never encountered such a scene before. By the time they regained their senses and tried to rally their forces for another assault, the bandits were already too frightened to advance.
Enraged, Red Beard killed two men, forcing the remaining bandits to regroup and charge toward the city walls once more.
This time, they had learned their lesson. Instead of rushing forward in a chaotic mass, they advanced in an orderly line.
Xie Zhiyuan ordered his men not to waste the fire oil jars recklessly, as their supply was limited and needed to be conserved.
Seeing that no more of the deadly devices were being hurled down, the bandits seemed to regain their courage and immediately began setting up scaling ladders.
Just then, more fire oil jars rained down from above, exploding beside the ladders and instantly killing those nearby.
The bandits were once again thrown into panic.
Red Beard cursed furiously from the rear, promising generous rewards, which finally spurred some to lift the ladders again.
With several loud explosions, those holding the ladders were killed once more.
This cycle repeated several times, leaving the bandits fearful and demoralized, with Xie Zhiyuan firmly controlling the pace of the battle.
However, due to their sheer numbers, after half an hour, some bandits managed to climb onto the city walls.
“Kill them!” Xie Zhiyuan roared, beheading one bandit with a single stroke. The head rolled on the ground, its eyes wide open, filled with terror.
“Kill!” Xie Heng also cut down another bandit.
Seeing this, the civilians seemed less afraid and joined the fight against the bandits.
Another half hour passed, and more bandits climbed onto the walls. Seeing that they were outnumbered, Xie Zhiyuan ordered another volley of fire oil jars to be thrown below.
Instantly, casualties mounted below. Seizing the opportunity, they eliminated the enemies on the walls, and the situation seemed to return to its initial state—no bandit could set foot on the walls.
“Kill, kill them all!” Red Beard continued to shout, but the bandits hesitated, refusing to advance. Even after he killed two more men, it made no difference.
“Brother, let’s rest and fight again later,” Wei Yuan advised.
Reluctantly, Red Beard ordered a retreat.
In this battle, they had lost over a thousand men.
For those on the city walls, this was undoubtedly a great victory, yet they felt no joy. All they wanted was to lie down and rest.
Their bodies were exhausted, and so were their spirits.
“Rest while you can,” Xie Zhiyuan ordered, allowing everyone to recuperate while he kept a vigilant eye on the movements below.
Everyone quickly settled down to rest. The surroundings fell silent, as they were too tired to even speak.
Just then, a voice cried out, “Second Brother, Second Brother, are you all right? Someone, help my second brother!”
Everyone turned to look and saw a man lying against the city wall, his clothes soaked in blood.
Xie Zhiyuan recognized the man—he was a brave one who had killed several bandits. He immediately walked over and lifted the man’s clothing to examine the wound. On his back was a gash a foot long, with flesh torn open, almost revealing the bone beneath.
Blood was continuously gushing out, dripping onto the ground.
“General Xie, please save my second brother,” a young man nearby pleaded with Xie Zhiyuan.
Xie Zhiyuan withdrew his hand, clenching it into a fist on his knee. The man was beyond saving. Though he had long grown accustomed to life and death, the sight of a vibrant life slipping away still saddened him.
The young man seemed to realize his brother was beyond help and burst into loud sobs.
Those around them couldn’t bear to watch, their hearts heavy with shared sorrow. Today it was him—who knew when it would be their turn?
Just then, a young girl led a group of people up the city wall. Spotting the wounded man at once, she immediately said, “Quick, give him emergency treatment.”
“Yes,” someone replied, and they surrounded the man.
The group carried medical kits, and many recognized them as the city’s physicians, though no one knew why they had all appeared together.
The physicians sprang into action. One examined the man’s injury, then took out needles and began acupuncture.
Another brought over a bowl, first forcing a bowl of medicine down the man’s throat, then took a wad of cotton gauze, wiped the wound, and produced a sewing needle and thread…
The sight of the sewing needle and thread left everyone bewildered—what was this for?
The physician worked deftly, stitching the man’s wound as if mending clothes, then sprinkled medicinal powder over it. Wiping the sweat from his brow, he carefully observed the wound. Blood still seeped out, but slower and slower…
“It really works!” the physician exclaimed first, his voice filled with astonishment and joy.
Two hours earlier, these physicians had been “invited” by the young girl to the base of the city wall for emergency training, and they had been extremely reluctant. After hearing her methods for treating patients, they were skeptical. Yet now, the method had proven effective!
They no longer resented the girl for “inviting” them here. Knowledge was not to be lightly shared—she had taught them such a valuable lifesaving technique, giving them another means to secure their livelihood. This was a great boon.
Seeing the method’s effectiveness, the other physicians hurried to treat the wounded around them, eager to try it out.
“Hey, the wound’s too minor—it won’t do! Old Liu, don’t you dare snatch my patient!” For a moment, the physicians nearly came to blows over patients.
The onlookers found it amusing, and for some reason, their hearts settled. If they were injured, physicians would treat them—they might not die.
The young man anxiously asked the physician, “Doctor, how is my second brother?”
The physician checked the man’s pulse and said, “His pulse has stabilized. I’ll prescribe some medicine for him later—his life is no longer in danger.”
Overjoyed, the young man knelt down to kowtow.
But the physician pointed to the young girl beside him and said, “If you want to thank someone, don’t thank me—thank her.” With that, he went to treat the next injured person.
The young man, realizing the girl had saved his brother, immediately prepared to kowtow to her.
The young woman was, of course, Lu Yunxi. After finishing the incendiary bottles, she thought about the upcoming battles and the inevitable casualties. So she “invited” all the doctors in Lingcheng to give them some training. Of course, there were a few minor complications during this “invitation” process, but they were all resolved.
Lu Yunxi helped the young man up. “No need to thank me. Take good care of your brother—he’s a hero.”
“Thank you, thank you!” the young man kept repeating.
Lu Yunxi went to check on the doctors treating other wounded. In truth, she could only teach so much medical knowledge. For those with severe internal injuries, it was up to fate.
“If the military had this kind of treatment method earlier, many fewer would have died.” Xie Zhiyuan’s gaze had been fixed on Lu Yunxi. When she passed by him again, he suddenly spoke.
Lu Yunxi paused. “Medicine is always advancing, but it can cure illness, not save lives.” If only there were no wars in the world.
“You don’t like war? But endless compromise only brings more suffering.” Xie Zhiyuan frowned.
“I know. I don’t like war, but I don’t reject it either. If necessary, I could even go to the battlefield myself,” Lu Yunxi said.
Wasn’t she already on the battlefield now? Xie Zhiyuan suddenly understood her meaning. War could be a means, but not everyone liked it as a means.
Xie Zhiyuan smiled and asked Lu Yunxi, “What was that bowl the doctor gave that man earlier? It smelled sweet.”
Lu Yunxi replied, “Your nose is sharp. That bowl had sugar and saltwater.” It was a simplified version of saline solution.
“What’s it for?” Xie Zhiyuan asked.
Was he talking a bit too much today? Lu Yunxi gave him a suspicious glance. “To replenish energy.”
That made sense to Xie Zhiyuan. Eating sugar when you’re weak gives you strength. And if someone lacks salt, they also feel weak. But no one had ever given the wounded something like this before.
It seemed quite useful.
Author’s Note: