Although the Ever-Victorious Army broke through the enemy's defense line, it did not defeat or annihilate the enemy. Today, there are still a large number of Yan Meng's troops left in the northern part of the border.
They did not go directly south to rescue Yan An, perhaps because they were afraid of being besieged and attacked for reinforcements, so they were waiting for more troops from Yan Meng to be sent to support Yan An.
Xi Heng guessed that there were 50,000 to 60,000 enemy troops stationed in Yan'an.
Generally speaking, this number, plus the thick and tall city walls, is enough to hold off the Zhao army for several months.
Yan Mengren should think so too, so he is not in a hurry to support Yan An, but to accumulate strength first to increase their chances of winning.
"If the enemy reinforcements gather another 30,000 or 40,000 people and attack our army together with the defenders in the city, we will be defeated... Moreover, it is almost winter now and the weather is getting cold."
Winter is approaching, but this is not a big problem for the Northern Frontier Army.
But now most of the troops that make up the siege army of Great Zhao are from domestic military units.
For example, the troops in Beijing and the officers and soldiers who came from all directions to support them had no experience in keeping warm and fighting in winter.
Yan Meng's army was born and raised in the north, and the cold winter has little impact on their combat effectiveness. If they fight on a natural basis, the opponent will have the advantage.
"From the current perspective, we can neither fight with the enemy for a long time nor launch an immediate attack." Xi Heng concluded.
"Then how can we defeat the enemy..." Zhao Wanli asked, "Should we set fire or poison them? But Yan'an is too vast, and there are still many of our people in the city, so we can't do that."
"How about peace talks?" asked Jiedushi He.
"Impossible." Xi Heng had never thought of the option of negotiation, so he refused directly.
He Jiedu did not say anything more about this, and said: "Yan Meng lacks experience in defending a city, and does not know the terrain of Yan'an very well. He may make some obvious mistakes... He may use the water to order elite troops to sneak into the city and cause civil unrest in the city during the siege."
"You can give it a try."
Then she looked at the map in silence for a long time.
After a few minutes, he said, "I have a secret method that may be able to destroy two or three hundred meters of the city wall and annihilate a large number of defenders. This way, we can turn the siege into a melee in the city and maybe defeat the enemy?"
"Secret method?"
"A sea of blood."
Xi Heng didn't know whether the sixty spirit stones could successfully stir up the sea of blood. If so, what would be the effect?
But facing such an important battle, we should always give it a try.
……
the next morning.
Xi Heng ordered the logistics troops to prepare a meal of meat and vegetables that would fill the soldiers' stomachs. The seasonings and meat were stuffed into the large iron pot without mercy. The beef and mutton soup was bubbling with a thick white color, emitting an endless aroma in all directions.
The soldiers swallowed the broth and meat with bread. It was the first time for most of them to eat beef and the taste was unforgettable.
After the meal, the morale of the army rose rapidly as if some special props were used, and they became vigorous and high-spirited.
General Yan Meng in the city saw the Zhao army cooking sheep and slaughtering cattle, and knowing the Zhao army's custom of not killing cattle without reason, he naturally became more cautious and sent a large number of defenders to the front city wall, forming a battle array to prepare for defending the city.
Xi Heng did not let their efforts go to waste. After the soldiers had their meal and rested for a while, they pushed the carts forward.
When the catapult fired the first stone bullet, she had already arrived in front of the battle.
She was wearing dark red general armor with gold threads on the edges. The reflective armor was not dazzling under the slightly gloomy sunlight, but rather looked dull.
The skin on his neck, chin, forehead and other parts that were not covered by the general's armor were now covered with strange scarlet blood lines. His overall appearance made him look like a demon or Asura, not a mortal.
The stone bullets hit the city wall, making a thunderous roar.
However, the walls of Yan'an's inner city were too wide, thick and tall, making it difficult for the catapults to hit the walls. The effect of the catapults when they hit the walls was also not good, and the sound was still obvious.
The enemy troops above remained motionless.
Dozens of catapults fired at the same time, with their arms raised high and throwing stones and bullets, but this only disturbed people's hearing and could not create any real practical effect.
The heralds kept waving their flags, and the stones were constantly loaded and thrown far away.
A quarter of an hour later, the Da Zhaojing Army standing in the front was replaced by the Northern Frontier Army's vanguard, and waves of stone-throwing sounds continued like bells.
During this period, Xi Heng was constantly adjusting the military formation in preparation for the subsequent charge to break into the city.
Small dents were smashed into the tall city wall, and stone bullets and rubble from the city wall fell to the ground and mixed into a pile.
These thousands of stone bullets should be able to slightly weaken the city wall's ability to withstand...
After the city wall was breached, these large catapults, which were difficult to move, were of little use when fighting in the streets.
Xi Heng took it out and used it first, without caring about what its function was.
After all the stone bombs were thrown around, she raised her hand slightly and ordered the army to retreat.
The herald on the side immediately waved the flag and led the other heralds in the corridor to shout:
"Take a hundred steps back together!"
The gray command flags waved left and right, and first the soldiers in the rear retreated, and then slowly led the soldiers in the front to retreat as well.
Gradually, a large open area appeared in front of the Yan'an city gate.
All the generals retreated, but Xi Heng remained standing.
When the order was completed, the shouting from the rear gradually stopped, and a slightly lowered accent of Yan Mengguo was heard from the front wall, mockingly saying:
"In the past, it was usually our army that attacked the city, and it was difficult to come up with a countermeasure when faced with such a thick wall. But now the situation is reversed."
Xi Heng felt the voice was familiar and squinted his eyes to look over.
The smoke and dust from the stone bullet gradually dissipated from the sword tip, revealing the figure of the enemy general. He was the first swordsman Xi Heng met in the northern border, named Yan Yinmu.
Seeing that he was just a defeated opponent, she had no interest in talking to him and only asked:
"I heard that your Yan Meng country's Great Khan Yan Qingshi is also in the city. Why doesn't he lead the troops to defend the city himself?"
"No matter who defends the city, you powerless people will never be able to break it. Your Majesty, why bother coming here in person?" the other party just said.
"It is said that he is looking for something? Do you want me to tell you where it is?" Xi Heng asked casually.
"As a member of the Great Zhao royal family, you may indeed know where that thing is... But since it is not in Yan'an, it must be in your capital." Yan Yinmu did not explain directly:
"Once your army is defeated, we will go and take it."
"Oh?"
Xi Heng couldn't guess what the other party was looking for. Was it the legacy of the previous dynasty, or the national treasure of the Great Zhao?
But it doesn’t matter. We can just find Yan Qingshi and ask him after we break into the city.
If you don’t want to say it, just kill yourself until you are on the verge of death and ask again.
Xi Heng stopped talking to the defenders on the city wall, took a few steps back, and immediately began to recite in a low voice:
"My blood is the ocean and I am the fire, sweeping the world and washing away all things as reality. Love and body are both tainted, life and soul are both stained—"
Finger technique is light pinching and steady changes.
This was her third time using the Blood Sea. She had become quite proficient at it and her speed in casting spells had also increased.
The vague and strange murmur was quickly recited. The sound seemed small, but it clearly penetrated into the hearts of both the enemy defenders and the Zhao army besieging the city within a radius of hundreds of meters.
Even though Xi Heng had already reminded them yesterday, the friendly soldiers still couldn't help feeling a strong chill.
The soldiers guarding the city in the front were frowning, not knowing what caused this evil coldness.
Moreover, listening to this strange sound, if you close your eyes you will be able to hallucinate and see a pool of thick blood in front of your eyes, roaring and surging like a huge tide.
A strong sense of uneasiness lingered in his heart. Although Yan Meng's elite soldiers were not afraid of death, this invisible and intangible sense of panic seemed to be more terrifying than death itself.
It seems like a devil is about to be born and will drag everyone into hell, with no chance of reincarnation.
After reciting the spell easily, the blood patterns on Xi Heng's body turned into fireflies that floated around and gradually expanded, floating towards the city wall.
When Yan Mengjun saw the light spots on the wall, he felt it was strange. Upon seeing this, the general immediately raised his hand and ordered his men to shoot arrows.
The defenders' arrows passed through the light spots but failed to cause any effect. Instead, the red light became larger and turned their bodies red.
A feeling of fear emanated from the bottom of their hearts. Everyone raised their heads, feeling that something would suddenly appear above their heads and smash them into meat paste, so they all retreated in panic.
At this moment, sixty complete blood spirit stones were floating neatly in front of Xi Heng, emitting strong light.
The surrounding area of hundreds of meters was illuminated with blood color.
"Take a drop of blood from this sea, drop it into the world, and live a life of slaughtering all the people in the world!"
Xi Heng's voice resounded in the ears of all the soldiers present, and he slammed his hands together suddenly, making a crisp sound.
The next moment, a strong threat erupted, and a strange muffled vibration and the whistling sound of water suddenly appeared.
Balls of black and red were sprayed out by the red light, blocking out the sunlight in the sky.
Then, a black tide hundreds of meters wide formed a tsunami, which smashed into the city wall like a tiger pouncing on its prey.
The black whistle was like a meteorite falling, crushing the towering city wall.
The stones on the wall shattered one after another with a continuous cracking sound, and collapsed towards the city behind.
Large pieces of rubble fell like rain, smashing houses and shattering streets.
A sea of blood then splashed down, attacking every body that fell in fear.
Probably no one except Xi Heng could have imagined that the wide and tall wall would collapse in an instant.
In the area covered by the sea of blood, the several-meter-wide city wall was like paper and was torn to pieces by the huge force.
The city built by mortals is simply vulnerable to magical spells.
"Sixty thousand units of spiritual energy and sixty thousand lives can indeed cause a sea of blood to fall." Xi Heng looked at the sea of blood falling in the distance and continuing to rush forward into the city, thinking silently in his heart.
"It's just that the range is smaller than that of 100,000 spiritual energies, and it's more difficult to control..."
She tried to move the sea of blood, but found it difficult.
Not to mention gathering the sea of blood into the shape of several dragon heads like he did last time, even if he wanted to slightly deviate the direction of the sea of blood, he would have to try his best.
"The control ability is almost gone, and most of the enemies caught in the sea of blood are crushed to death. Only a few will be wrapped in it and their flesh and blood will be sucked away..."
However, being able to destroy the city wall would have achieved her goal.
The sea of blood will continue to rush forward for a long time, and should be able to crush many enemy troops in the city.
Since it was difficult to control, she gave up trying to control it. She just waved her hand and put the dried spirit stone back into the inventory, then drew the sword at her waist, stepped on the light Kung Fu, and rushed towards the huge gap in the city wall.
"The entire army will charge into Yan'an!" the general in the rear shouted after a moment of silence.
The herald changed the gray pennant to a red one and waved the flag while repeating aloud.
The war drums are beating, and the sound is heart-shaking.
The square formations that had been deployed long ago rushed forward together. Although the formations were slightly disordered due to the speeds of the soldiers, they no longer had to worry about the formations after they entered the city with narrow roads.
In street fighting, there will no longer be large formations being broken up or military headquarters fleeing.
There is only endless chaos and fighting.
Xi Heng was the first to rush into the inner city of Yan'an, and he saw that on the side of the collapsed city wall, there was a part of the enemy cavalry that had not been swept away by the black tide and falling rocks. Most of them were stunned by this horrifying scene.
He grabbed two long swords and killed them directly—
A bloody shadow flashed by and a head flew up.
The cavalry didn't even dare to fight back. After being stunned, they could only run away separately, while Xi Heng followed closely behind the survivors and kept attacking and killing them.
The city was full of enemy troops who had not figured out the situation, and there were people who could be killed everywhere.
Xi Heng's mouth curled up slightly, and the blade attached to his body rotated, drawing a streak of blood.
Outside the city, the endless Zhao army was rushing into the city.
The vanguard in the front was the elite of the Ever-Victorious Army, and on both sides were accompanied by many Great Zhao warriors who were not in formation and were moving quickly with light skills.
The warriors would either fly to the city walls and surprise attack the remaining defenders, or run directly into the city and kill the enemies ahead of the vanguard.
Amid the countless collapsed and shattered stones, a figure gradually emerged from the ruins. He raised his head and looked around, only to be at a loss.
This man was none other than one of Yan Mengguo's Hua Jin generals. Just now he was standing on the city wall, ready to respond to the enemy's attack.
The next moment, a mass of overwhelming black rushed over and smashed him straight to the ground, crushing him with countless pieces of gravel.
He was protected by his Hua Jin and was not in any danger, but when he came to his senses, he saw that the entire city wall had collapsed, the defenders who had been with him had been buried under the pile of stones, and countless enemy soldiers were rushing towards him in front.
The man stayed there for a long time, and his face gradually became ferocious.
He coughed up a mouthful of blood, drew a long sword from his waist, and was about to fight the enemy.
