The Siege Begins

Xiao Zhen paused, then said, "Think about it, what kind of place is Azure Cloud Stronghold? It's just a desolate mountain, without even Spiritual Qi. What kind of great cultivators could there be there?"

"He's probably some Rogue Cultivator who's just taken over a mountain to intimidate people. I doubt he's even reached the Middle Stage of Qi Refining."

As they talked, they both laughed, completely disregarding the so-called immortal master.

Xiao Zhen then turned to Xiao Chenglie, cupped his hands, and said, "Duke, I think it's not appropriate for the two of us to make a move yet. Let's let him go for now."

"As long as he doesn't participate in the battle or cause trouble, we don't need to worry about him. We'll deal with him after the main army returns."

Xiao Chenglie pondered for a moment, then nodded.

"Very well, so be it, Your Excellencies."

He immediately sent a messenger to Qin Biao, the vanguard, saying that Azure Cloud Stronghold was no longer a concern and that he should continue doing his job as a vanguard: to scout ahead, find a suitable place for the army to set up camp, and then set up camp.

The messenger rode off on horseback, and the army no longer paid any attention to Azure Cloud Stronghold, continuing its grand march towards Yuxi Prefecture.

After nearly three months of preparation, Shen Jingchuan delivered a large amount of food and weapons to the Rebel Army.

The current number of soldiers in Yuxi Prefecture is 350,000.

These 350,000 people were all dressed in stab-proof vests lined with steel plates and wore safety helmets, making them difficult to harm with ordinary knives and arrows.

The spring steel plates and nylon ropes sent by Shen Jingchuan were made into a large number of powerful crossbows by craftsmen, along with millions of crossbow bolts, enough to arm 100,000 crossbowmen.

Those steel pipes were cut into sections and sharpened to become long spears, arming 200,000 soldiers, each also equipped with a waist knife.

There were also tens of thousands of shield soldiers, carrying newly made large shields and short swords at their waists.

There were also three thousand cavalrymen, all dressed in stab-proof vests, carrying long spears and powerful crossbows, with swords at their waists; they were considered the elite of the army.

All the weapons, armor, and provisions were continuously transported by Shen Jingchuan from the modern world.

On the Government Army side, Duke of Jing Jingguo, Xiao Chenglie, led 210,000 soldiers to the Yuxi Prefecture in a grand procession.

He was a veteran general. In order to prevent the Rebel Army from escaping, he didn't use any tactic of surrounding three sides and leaving one open. Instead, he directly surrounded the city from all four sides, intending to annihilate all the Rebel Army in the city.

The south gate was the main attack direction, and 120,000 elite troops were stationed there, personally commanded by Xiao Chenglie.

Qin Biao, the vanguard, led 30,000 men to attack the east gate, while a general was also dispatched to each of the west and north gates, each leading 30,000 men. The three sides launched a feint attack to contain the enemy, while the main attack was concentrated on the south gate.

That night, the Government Army set up camps on all sides, completely surrounding Yuxi Prefecture.

The next day, each battalion began to rush to build siege equipment, such as ladders, battering rams, and catapults.

At this time, the world did not yet have gunpowder, let alone firearms.

Shen Jingchuan never intended to introduce gunpowder.

In his eyes, this thing was a demon; once it was created in this world, its destructive power would be too great, a terrible sin.

He only brought a few modern firearms with him, leaving them for his personal protection. The army only had three machine guns and one autocannon, and no large-scale modern firearms.

He felt that if he could avoid releasing this murderous monster, he shouldn't release it.

For three consecutive days, the Government Army did not rush to attack the city.

The soldiers lined up below the city walls, shouting insults and hurling all sorts of vile remarks, trying to provoke the peasant army inside the city into coming out and fighting.

We should avoid attacking cities if possible; too many people die in sieges, and everyone knows it's a bloodbath.

Hu Tieniu, however, was not fooled at all.

He stood atop the city wall, listening to the curses below, his face showing no sign of anxiety. He figured he might as well take advantage of the situation; the city had plenty of food and water, and he could hold out for a year or two without any problem.

His plan was to rely on the city walls' strength to gradually wear down the main force of the Government Army beneath the city walls.

The city wall was reinforced and heightened using cement that Shen Jingchuan brought from modern times, reaching a height of twelve meters.

This is a meat grinder; once the Government Army have suffered heavy casualties and their morale has collapsed, he will open the gates and launch an attack.

So he kept all four doors tightly shut, hung the truce sign high, and no matter how much you cursed him, he wouldn't come out.

The Government Army's commander-in-chief, Xiao Chenglie, was not surprised to see this.

Throughout their journey, the peasant army had neither laid ambushes nor resorted to any tricks; he had long since realized that the enemy was determined to hold their ground to the death.

He didn't have enough provisions, so he couldn't afford a prolonged siege and couldn't afford to drag it out. He could only try to launch a direct attack.

On the morning of the fourth day, Xiao Chenglie, fully armed, held a pre-battle meeting in his tent, assigning tasks to each battalion. At ten o'clock in the morning, he ordered the attack on the city.

Two cultivators, Xiao Xuan and Xiao Zhen, followed him, changed into ordinary armor, rode horses, and watched the battle from the central army.

At the foot of the city, shield-bearing soldiers were first arrayed in formation.

It must be said that the Government Army of the Great Qian were indeed well-trained. Having fought battles for many years, their marching steps were orderly and never chaotic.

Leading the charge were shield bearers clad in armor, wielding large shields, their shields forming a wall as they pressed forward step by step toward the city wall.

On the city wall, Hu Tieniu gave the order, and crossbow bolts rained down like raindrops.

However, most of the arrows were deflected when they hit shields and armor, and few people were killed.

Behind the shield bearers, ladder trucks were pushed up one after another.

This siege ladder was no ordinary ladder; it was equipped with wheels at the bottom and enclosed by wooden planks to protect the people inside. It was erected high and pushed all the way down to the city walls.

The iron hook extended from the front of the cart, hooked onto the battlements, and locked in place with a click, impossible to push open. Once the ladder was secured, the soldiers hidden inside the cart began to climb up the ladder, howling as they went.

There is another type of well curb, which looks like a tall, slender house that can move, and it also has wheels underneath.

The top of the well balustrade was higher than the city wall, and it was filled with archers. As they pushed it along, they exchanged fire with the defenders on the city wall from a great distance, making it impossible for them to lift their heads.

Behind the formation, hundreds of catapults were also lined up in a row.

These were all light catapults, tightened with ropes, and released suddenly, sending stones and flaming oil bombs hurtling towards the city walls.

Behind the formation were fifteen heavy catapults.

This is a counterweight catapult, and it uses a different launching method than the lighter type.

A huge counterweight box, filled with stones and weighing a full two tons, was mounted on the frame. A long arm, carved from a single piece of wood and over ten meters long, was placed on the axle, with stone projectiles or oil tanks resting on top.

At launch, hundreds of soldiers would use winches to hoist the heavy counterweight box high, and then place the stone projectile, weighing thirty to forty pounds, on top.

At a command, the winch was cut, the counterweight box crashed down, raising the other end of the long arm high, and the stone projectile flew three hundred paces, four or five hundred meters away, crashing towards the city wall with a whoosh.

Wherever this thing lands, blood and flesh fly everywhere, but fortunately it's not very accurate.