The First Jasmine - Chapter 300

Chapter 300 - The Fall of Bian City

Outside Bian City, the Mo Army and the Xiling garrison stationed within engaged in battles that felt increasingly like a daily routine. The leaders of the Mo Army were a group of youths under thirty, and no matter how hard they tried, it proved difficult to make any significant impact on Longyang's defenses. Yet amidst these relentless, unceasing daily attacks, Longyang gradually sensed the subtle undertones of a deeper conspiracy, though he could not quite fathom what the Mo Army was actually trying to achieve.

"Old General, the Mo Army is shouting challenges outside the city once again," Lei Tengfeng reported, striding into the room and speaking in a deep voice as he looked at Longyang, who sat deep in thought behind the desk. Although the past few days had yielded no decisive outcome against the Mo Army, Lei Tengfeng remained quite satisfied with the current state of affairs. He was not an aggressive man, nor did he harbor any ambitions of defeating Prince Ding's estate and the Mo Army outright; as long as he could drag things out until his father and reinforcements from various regions arrived, he would have already won.

Frowning slightly, Longyang replied, "Ignore them for now!"

With a frown, Lei Tengfeng countered, "I'm afraid that won't work. Today seems a bit different from before."

Standing up, Longyang said, "I'll go take a look."

Ascending the city wall to look down, he saw that things indeed differed from the previous days. Although the primary commanders like Mo Xiuyao were still absent, the momentum and formation of the Mo Army were unprecedentedly formidable compared to before. Yun霆 was once again standing at the forefront shouting challenges. Over these past few days, this group of young commanders had been thoroughly battered; no matter how painstakingly they devised formations, frontal assaults, or covert ambushes, Longyang could effortlessly neutralize them with a casual wave of his hand. Had they not been in the middle of a grave, formal military campaign, they might have genuinely suspected Longyang was merely playing with them.

Having taken such harsh beatings, these youths gradually shed their previous arrogant swagger. Each engagement grew increasingly cautious, aiming not to capture Bian City outright, but merely to occupy Longyang's attention and occasionally manufacture minor headaches for him. Having calmed down, the young commanders also realized that the Prince and Princess would never actually let the veteran generals sit idly by while dumping the entire Mo Army onto inexperienced youths like themselves. Such a deployment meant the Prince and Princess undoubtedly harbored further plans behind the scenes. Since the Prince never expected them to actually conquer Bian City, all they needed to do was cooperate smoothly with the Prince and Princess's overarching strategy.

Sure enough, on this day a few days later, they received the Prince's orders once again while finally understanding what those formidable veterans capable of standing alone had been up to.

"Longyang! What kind of trick is it to hide inside the city like a coward? If you have the guts, come out and fight me!" Yun霆 roared.

Looking down from his elevated vantage point at the youth below, Longyang smiled. "Young man, if you have the guts, come up here and talk to me. I'll be waiting for you."

Yun霆 gave a cold laugh. "I'll come up. Do you take this general for a coward? Haha... Grand General Long, do you want to know how your Grand General Zhu is doing?"

A cold shiver ran through Longyang; narrowing his eyes at the figure below, he demanded, "What are you trying to say?"

Yun霆 smiled. "Zhu Yan is already dead, and those hundred-odd thousand Pacifying Heaven troops hiding in the mountains have been completely annihilated. Did you really think that by shrinking inside the city and refusing to come out, our Prince would be out of options? Or did you genuinely believe the Mo Army had no one left, and that the few of us were just here playing games with you? Once the Prince finishes dealing with Zhu Yan and the Pacifying Heaven Army, he will naturally return to personally cross swords with you, the Grand General of Consecrating Heaven."

Zhu Yan was dead?!

Upon hearing this, the shock reverberated far beyond Longyang and Lei Tengfeng beside him, rippling through the Xiling garrison commanders on the ramparts as well. Although the prestige of Xiling's three great generals had been suppressed by Prince Zhennan over the past two decades, military officers naturally remained well aware of their reputations. Bian City had been under siege for mere days, yet over a hundred thousand Pacifying Heaven troops had been totally wiped out and even the Grand General of Pacifying Heaven himself had fallen in battle—how could the Xiling soldiers fail to be shaken?

As a veteran campaigner tempered by decades of warfare, Longyang suppressed the shock surging in his heart, offered a cold laugh, and retorted, "Your words paint a grand picture, but why don't you come up here and show me?"

Unlike previous days when a single provocation by Longyang would send him flying into a rage, Yun霆 merely smiled and waved the battle banner in his hand. Behind the Mo Army formation, battle drums suddenly thundered, and amidst fluttering banners, the Mo Army ranks shifted positions into a formation clearly signaling preparations for a direct assault. A single glance was enough for Longyang to understand why Lei Tengfeng had remarked that today differed from the previous days. A formation of such overwhelming scale could never have been mustered by the young commanders standing before him, indicating that the Mo Army had finally exhausted its patience for a prolonged standoff. Simultaneously, Longyang realized in his heart that the words spoken by the young Mo Army commander were likely far from empty boasts; the hidden elite troops and Zhu Yan were truly gone.

Sighing with a hint of helplessness, Longyang issued orders to tightly garrison the fortress and forbid anyone from sallying forth.

"Old General, could it be that Old General Zhu..." Lei Tengfeng asked anxiously.

Quietly, Longyang replied, "The odds are heavily against him."

"Then we..." Lei Tengfeng began.

Giving him a look, Longyang shook his head. "We can no longer sally forth to meet them in battle. Hold our ground and await reinforcements."

"Understood," Lei Tengfeng murmured submissively.

Beneath the ramparts, Yun霆 fumed in frustration as he watched the Xiling soldiers tightly seal the gates and refuse to sally out. Chen Yun pulled him back with an expression of resignation. "Just as the Prince anticipated, the enemy will not come out to engage us in close combat." Furious, Yun霆 snapped, "I refuse to believe he can turtle up inside that city for the rest of his life! Calling himself the Desert God of Death—he's nothing more than a coward in a shell!" Chen Yun chuckled. "He doesn't need to hide in the city forever; as long as he can hold out for a month or two until Xiling reinforcements arrive, the ones facing trouble will be us."

Impatiently, Yun霆 waved his hand. "I simply don't believe there's no way to force him out! Attack!"

A moat lay directly before Bian City. The waterway was quite broad, and crossing it required either the enemy lowering the drawbridge or finding an alternative method. Over the past few days, the young commanders had not entirely wasted their time trading insults with the enemy, having already commanded the skilled artisans within the Mo Army to construct a dozen long scaling ladders. Once laid across the water surface and covered with wooden planks, troops could cross the river.

Watching the soldiers brave the enemy's arrow storm to secure the bridging planks—many of whom fell dead amidst the flying missiles—Chen Yun clenched his jaw in secret. For a heavily fortified fortress like Bian City, capturing it without absorbing a certain level of casualties was entirely impossible. Fortunately, despite enduring the hail of arrows, the bridges were successfully laid. Moreover, the archery skills of the Mo Army soldiers were far from decorative; even shooting upward from below, they managed to pick off numerous Xiling soldiers stationed along the battlements.

The bulk of the Mo Army crossed the moat, with troops scaling the towering city walls via ladders while others fired volleys upward from below. Gradually, the waters of the moat in the rear took on a faint reddish tint.

Behind the Mo Army lines, Mo Xiuyao arrived on the battlefield accompanied by an entourage. Refraining from participating directly, they stood at a distance watching quietly. After a long pause, Mo Xiuyao was heard chuckling. "Yun霆 and the others are doing rather well." Sustaining morale and holding firm despite suffering more defeats than victories over successive days was already quite commendable for young commanders with virtually no prior genuine combat experience.

Beside him, Zhuo Jing smiled. "Weren't the Prince and Princess also quite confident in them?"

Nodding slightly, Mo Xiuyao raised his gaze toward the distant ramparts and commanded in a deep voice, "Prepare for the assault!"

"Understood!"

Across the cloudless sky, a somewhat husky voice rang out through the open air, soon blooming into a brilliant flare high above.

Among the defending Xiling soldiers, some watched in shock as suspended ropes materialized out of nowhere in several directions outside the city, followed by black-clad figures sliding rapidly across the ropes directly into the city. Naturally perceiving this development, Longyang's eyes narrowed slightly as he shouted harshly, "Open fire!" Countless feathered arrows rained down toward the figures sliding along the ropes. However, even faster, a contingent of black-clad figures suddenly emerged from within the city itself, showing no mercy as they loosed arrows from their own bows directly into the defending soldiers.

"What is going on?! Where did these people come from?" Black-clad figures clad in Mo Army uniforms continued to pour forth within the city, distinct from ordinary Mo Army troops. Markedly fiercer and more agile, operating in small groups of ten or twenty, wherever they went the Xiling garrison suffered devastating losses. At the same time, the defenders had to contend with the Mo Army mounting a full-scale assault outside the walls; caught distracted on multiple fronts, the Xiling defenders were instantly thrown into total disarray.

Atop the battlements, Longyang and Lei Tengfeng turned pale. "Old General..."

Gritting his teeth, Longyang ordered, "Round up every single person of Great Chu and Northwest origin in the city and drag them up to the ramparts!"

"Old General!" Lei Tengfeng's expression shifted drastically upon hearing this. Naturally, he knew what Longyang intended to do; employing such tactics during warfare between nations was far from uncommon. Yet Lei Tengfeng deeply doubted how effective such a measure would prove. Gritting his teeth nonetheless, he turned and departed. Despite the influx of uninvited Mo Army personnel inside the city, Bian City still housed several hundred thousand Xiling garrison troops, making it difficult for these small pockets of Mo Army infiltrators to sway the broader strategic situation. Within half an hour, Xiling soldiers rounded up all the Great Chu residents within Bian City and dragged them onto the city walls.

Bian City ranked as Xiling's second-largest metropolis, boasting a level of prosperity second only to the Xiling imperial capital. Residents from various nations lived here in considerable numbers, with Great Chu natives forming the largest segment, alongside a significant population of northwesterners who were subjects under the Mo Army's banner. Dragged onto the ramparts, these individuals were shoved directly in front of the battlements as human shields. Any Mo Army soldier attempting to scale the walls from below would first have to cross their bodies, and any archer wishing to fire would first have to pierce them through. Most of these captives were ordinary civilians, whose sudden exposure to warfare had already left them terrified to their cores. Now, hauled onto the city walls to block the Mo Army's arrows, many broke down in loud, hysterical wails.

"Longyang, you shameless old dog!" Witnessing the scene, Yun霆 finally lost his self-control and burst into another furious tirade. Chen Yun and the others beside him wore equally grim expressions. Setting aside the fact that these civilians hailed from Great Chu and the Northwest, even if they were Xiling citizens, using innocent civilians as human shields remained an act beneath contempt for any military commander.

"What do we do now?"

"How should I know? Report this to the Prince!" Chen Yun said. After all, they retained a shred of human conscience; two armies clashing on a battlefield in a struggle for life and death was their duty, but ordering volleys into helpless, unresisting commoners was a decision none of them could easily bring themselves to make.

In truth, reporting was unnecessary; stationed in the rear of the Mo Army, Mo Xiuyao had naturally witnessed the scene. Standing beside him, Zhuo Jing furrowed his brow. "Prince, what should we do?" They genuinely had not anticipated Longyang pulling such a card. However, in his youth, Longyang had earned the moniker of the Desert God of Death, slaughtering countless ordinary civilians across the western regions. Such behavior fell outside their expectations, yet aligned entirely with reason.

Stepping forward, Mo Xiuyao gazed coldly at the distant ramparts and stated, "He wants to buy time to purge the Qilin agents within the city." Bian City's defensive works were exceptionally robust; despite days of effort, fewer than a thousand Mo Army personnel had managed to infiltrate the city, offering zero chance of victory if pitted directly against hundreds of thousands of Xiling troops. To avoid fighting on two fronts, Longyang had to first clear out these enemy infiltrators and figure out how they breached the perimeter—both of which required time.

"Let's go take a look."

Because of the civilians clustered along the battlements, the Mo Army's assault temporarily ground to a halt, though neither side relaxed its vigilance. The black ranks of the Mo Army parted to clear a path as a white-robed, white-haired man strolled out from the formation, flanked by a few guards and commanders. Raising a hand to survey the civilians pushed out to serve as human shields along the ramparts, Mo Xiuyao called out in a deep voice, "Grand General of Consecrating Heaven of Xiling, I've heard much of your esteemed reputation."

Longyang appeared on the battlements, looking down at the refined, white-robed, white-haired man in the distance. He nodded and replied, "Prince Ding, Mo Xiuyao? A pleasure."

Upon hearing these words, the weeping civilians huddled on the city walls froze, turning their gazes toward the white-robed man below. Some grew wildly excited, crying out for rescue. "Prince Ding is here! Prince Ding has come... Your Highness, save us..." As one person shouted, more joined in the weeping and pleading, instantly plunging the ramparts into a chorus of frantic cries.

"What does the Consecrating Heaven General desire?" Mo Xiuyao asked calmly. His voice carried no excessive volume, nor even a hint of anger, yet it magically traversed the sea of wailing to echo across the entire battlefield. Giving him a deep look, Longyang answered, "As a military commander, employing such methods fills this old man with shame. However... I must ask the Prince to issue an order temporarily pulling your forces back thirty miles."

Mo Xiuyao inquired, "And if this Prince refuses?"

With a serene smile, Longyang flicked his wrist. The head of the nearest captive beside him was instantly severed, tumbling down the ramparts as arterial blood gushed forth, touching off another wave of shrill screams from the surrounding civilians.

Remaining silent for a brief moment, Mo Xiuyao finally lifted his head and spoke quietly, "The moment Bian City falls... I will have your corpse hacked into ten thousand pieces." With an unconcerned smile, Longyang retorted, "If Bian City falls, this old man's days are at an end anyway. Since death is certain, what difference does it make how one dies? Now, what is the Prince's answer?" Raising an eyebrow in amusement, Mo Xiuyao declared in a ringing voice, "My answer is..."

Swish! Whirling around, Mo Xiuyao snatched a bow and arrow from a nearby soldier. Drawing the bow, notching the arrow, and loosing it, he completed the entire sequence of motions in a single fluid instant. Everyone watched in stunned silence as the arrow trailed a silver streak of light across the sky, embedding itself straight into the chest of a young male captive atop the city wall. Tossing the bow back, Mo Xiuyao commanded coldly, "Attack!"

With the command given, battle cries erupted anew. The primary victims of the renewed violence were the innocent civilians lining the battlements. Amidst the mingling sounds of slaughter and weeping, Mo Xiuyao turned and walked away with icy indifference, leaving behind only an austere, snow-like silhouette and a low, chilling verdict: "Longyang, I will have every soul in this city buried with you!"

The fierce siege continued without pause. This time, both sides understood that no minor skirmishes remained; unless one side achieved total victory and the other suffered total defeat, the fighting would not stop. Perhaps spurred by the sight of the hundreds of slaughtered, innocent Great Chu civilians moments prior, the Mo Army soldiers fought with savage, fearless ferocity. Within hours, Bian City's defenses finally began to show signs of collapse.

Inside the city, Longyang sat in desolate isolation within an empty room, lost in thought. He knew Zhu Yan was dead, and before long, Bian City would fall as well. Returning to the battlefield in his old age might have been a stroke of fortune, yet such an inexplicable, miserable defeat left him utterly unable to face himself. He had made one fundamental mistake, and he had heard Mo Xiuyao's parting words with absolute clarity—burying the entire city... Mo Xiuyao intended to massacre the city! Longyang harbored no doubts regarding Mo Xiuyao's threat; in his own youth, he had orchestrated massacres of cities himself, earning the moniker of the Desert God of Death. Had it been decades ago, he might not have cared whether Mo Xiuyao slaughtered a city. But now... he had grown old. Hundreds of thousands of civilians still resided within Bian City, and if Mo Xiuyao truly carried out a slaughter...

"General!" A soldier outside the door called out anxiously.

Opening his eyes, Longyang asked calmly, "What has happened?"

The soldier reported, "The eastern gate is about to fall; please have the General evacuate as soon as possible."

"Evacuate?" Frowning, Longyang countered, "Who said anything about evacuating?" Perhaps detecting excessive sternness in Longyang's tone, the soldier stammered apologetically, "It's the Prince Zhennan's Heir; the Heir says Bian City cannot be held and intends to retreat to Rong City in the rear to stall the Mo Army's advance."

Shaking his head with a bitter smile, Longyang muttered, "If even Bian City cannot halt the Mo Army, how could a fragile wall like Rong City's possibly stop them? Utterly foolish! Let the entire army remain, engage the Mo Army in urban street combat within the city—we might still take down half of the Mo Army's forces with us." Urban warfare relied heavily on grinding down enemy lives with sheer numbers, bearing little relation to tactical brilliance. Furthermore, holding the home turf gave them the initiative, and since the combat capabilities of the Mo Army and Xiling forces were roughly comparable, Longyang was confident that at least two Xiling soldiers could take down one Mo Army soldier. In doing so, they could eliminate half the Mo Army's personnel within Bian City, leaving any subsequent defending forces a better chance at dragging down the enemy's momentum.

Looking hesitant, the soldier replied, "But... the Prince Zhennan's Heir has already led his troops out to prepare for a retreat."

"What?!" Longyang sprang to his feet. The soldier hastily added, "The Heir said if the Mo Army breaches the city it will be too late, so he has already led the remaining one hundred-odd thousand troops out through the western gate."

Rushing toward the door, Longyang snapped, "Fool! There are still tens of thousands of Mo Army troops guarding the small town ahead—where does he think he's retreating to?"

By the time Longyang rushed to the west gate, however, he caught sight of nothing more than the receding hoofprints and rising dust clouds left by the departing Xiling army. Lei Tengfeng had taken the elite core—the most intact hundred-odd thousand troops of the Xiling army—with him. Once this massive force pulled out, massive gaps opened in defenses that had previously held firm, allowing the Mo Army to pour into the city like a tidal wave. Standing beneath the western gate, Longyang wearily closed his eyes and whispered a low sigh: "Zhu Yan... we are both finished..."

Though Lei Tengfeng had stripped away the bulk of the forces, the Xiling soldiers were far from decorative pushovers. It was midday on the following day before the Mo Army finally secured complete control over Bian City. Following a continuous day and night of slaughter, even the famously formidable Mo Army soldiers were thoroughly exhausted, their eyes bloodshot and bodies weighed down with fatigue. Once the last pockets of resistance were cleared from the city streets, cheers erupted among the soldiers, many collapsing right where they stood along the curbs and eaves to fall fast asleep.

Bathed in the bright midday sun, Mo Xiuyao and his entourage stepped into Bian City. Gazing at the corpses of soldiers from both sides strewn across the main streets awaiting collection, alongside the exhausted soldiers sleeping directly on the pavement, Mo Xiuyao raised a hand to silence anyone attempting to report loudly. Walking past the lifeless bodies while advancing forward, he asked in a low voice, "Where is Longyang?"

Zhuo Jing answered softly, "Longyang is in an empty building in the western district. Guards are stationed there. Additionally... Longyang let a great number of city residents go." Perhaps influenced by Mo Xiuyao's declaration about making the entire city pay with their lives, Longyang had opened the western gates the previous night to let numerous civilians flee the city. While the Mo Army maintained strict discipline, and despite Mo Xiuyao's harsh words, no official order to massacre the city had ever been issued, meaning soldiers locked in combat refrained from harming ordinary civilians unless actively attacked or obstructed. Nearly half the population had successfully escaped the night prior.

Shaking his head with indifference, Mo Xiuyao said, "Go take a look at Longyang. How is the Princess?"

Zhuo Jing reported, "When Lei Tengfeng retreated last night, he engaged General Zhang on the western front, breaking through with roughly twenty or thirty thousand remnant troops. The Princess has issued orders to temporarily suspend pursuit and let the entire army rest and reorganize in Bian City for two days. The Princess should be returning shortly." Hearing this, a trace of warmth melted the chill in Mo Xiuyao's dark eyes as he remarked, "Order the troops to clean the battlefield and let the men get proper rest. Go bring Longyang over."

"Yes, Prince."

Taking his leave, Zhuo Jing departed, while Mo Xiuyao turned toward the Bian City prefectural manor. The estate had already been secured by advance troops, and the wartime chaos had left the manor largely unscathed. Civil officials who had failed to flee Bian City before the siege had been detained and confined within the courtyard by the Mo Army. Upon seeing Mo Xiuyao enter, these Xiling officials displayed mixed reactions—some pleading, some unyielding, others terrified or glaring with bitter hatred. Uninterested in dealing with them at the moment, Mo Xiuyao waved a hand to have them taken away. Resting inside for only a short while before a guard entered to report, "Prince, Longyang has been brought."

Opening his eyes with frost lingering in their depths, Mo Xiuyao commanded, "Bring him in."

A short time later, Longyang strolled into the room. Zhuo Jing trailed behind him without placing him in restraints. Longyang still wore humble white coarse-cloth garments, looking far older and more fatigued than he had days prior. At a glance, he resembled an ordinary, unassuming mountain elder, retaining none of the ruthless demeanor of the tactician who had used human shields on the ramparts.

Tranquil and composed, Mo Xiuyao gazed at him and said, "Grand General of Consecrating Heaven, a pleasure."