Joyful Motherhood in a Rural Family-Chapter 889 - The Melee Begins, Cooperation from Within and Without

Chapter 889 -889 The Melee Begins, Cooperation from Within and Without

“What a nonsensical command!”

“How could they possibly know someone else’s password? It couldn’t really be something like ‘Azure Dragon Soaring Over White Tiger,’ right?”

“Let’s go! We’re going down!”

Liu Sisi gritted her teeth, not caring whether the slope was high or low, and sat down, sliding along it.

Seeing that no one responded, the enemy below immediately fell into chaos. They took out an object resembling a horn and were about to blow it.

The divine archer on this side had been prepared, with the strong crossbow not hesitating to aim at the person with the horn and firing two arrows—not that he didn’t want to load more, but because the situation was so urgent.

The swift arrows whooshed past, striking the man directly and stopping his action. However, the horn’s sound had already briefly resounded, instantly alarming the enemy. Chaos began to emerge from the tents below.

“Strong crossbows at the ready, aim at the tents below, fire!” Zhang Peng, too, became anxious and bellowed loudly.

The strong crossbowmen, not caring about anything else, quickly loaded their Fire Arrows and fired at the tents below.

The enemy’s horsemen also began charging towards the base of the slope.

Actually, it’s no wonder they didn’t have troops guarding this slope; the steepness of the slope and the distance from the bottom of the slope made it seem unnecessary to keep watch.

But they had overlooked this newly improved strong crossbow.

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Ten Fire Arrows with loud “whooshes!” that split the air struck the tents below directly. The fire quickly began to spread wildly.

The enemy forces, originally charging towards the base of the slope, instantly erupted into chaos. Some began to run back, attempting to put out the fire.

Meanwhile, the strong crossbowmen on the slope showed no signs of stopping as they drew their bows once again. Ten more Fire Arrows were fired, targeting the adjacent unburnt tents. Soon, several dozen tents caught fire, and the scene turned chaotic in an instant.

On the other side, Qi Yuanzheng, leading another group of horsemen, began attacking the enemy’s grain storage. Quickly, the entire enemy camp became disordered.

Even so, a dozen or so people who had descended the slope before them found themselves surrounded by enemy troops.

Liu Sisi, seeing things turning bad, bit her lip without hesitation and slid down the slope following the others.

Zhang Peng sighed in relief. With Liu Sisi going down, naturally, no one else had any more reason to stay up there; they all followed suit and slid down.

The horn’s sound had already been blown in the snowy night. The dull sound of the horn added many figures on top of the city wall, and Dong Yuan was naturally amongst them.

“Your Honor, it seems that reinforcements have arrived. Could it be people sent by the imperial court?”

A trusted soldier beside him hastily spoke.

Dong Yuan stood on the city wall, squinting, and watched for a long while. As he observed the flames soaring into the sky outside the city, he felt increasingly that something was amiss.

“I’m afraid not. Look at the chaos; while it has alerted the enemy, the fires are concentrated in only a few places. Even if these are reinforcements, I fear their numbers are quite limited. Let’s wait and see a bit longer,” he said.

However, a Deputy General standing next to him disagreed with his opinion and stepped forward quickly, giving a fist greeting.

“Prefecture Governor, we’ve been besieged in the city for several days now, with little food and firewood remaining inside. If those outside really are the reinforcements, setting aside whether they can eliminate these audacious bandits, it would still be beneficial if we could sally out and seize some grain to bring back.”

The officials beside fervently nodded in agreement, expressing their approval one after another.

After all, they, as civil officials, would not be needed in the battle. If those brutes truly managed to rush out of the city and loot more food to bring back, wouldn’t it be beneficial for everyone?

Dong Yuan glanced at everyone’s expressions, understanding their hidden motives all too well. Yet, despite his clarity, he was also forced to face reality.

“Very well! If that’s the case, Deputy General, you lead five hundred horsemen, exit the city to meet them. Beat the drums to signal departure, sound the gong to recall troops and close the city gates. If you miss the time limit and the gates close again, you’ll have to fend for yourselves!”

At that moment, the main entrance was naturally closed tight. The beat of the drums was the signal for opening the city gate to let people out, then along the lowered drawbridge they would exit. The sound of the gong was the signal to call back the soldiers; the drawbridge would be lifted and the city gates shut once more, leaving those outside mostly to face a hopeless demise at the hands of the encircling enemy troops!

That was why Dong Yuan had said what he did before.

Only five hundred soldiers?

The Deputy General’s face clouded over with displeasure, but then it seemed he thought of something and restrained from objecting.

“Thank you, Prefecture Governor. I will immediately go and assemble the horsemen to prepare for exiting the city.”

He dared not delay, swiftly descending the city wall to gather his troops.

Since he couldn’t control the number of soldiers allowed to exit, who to take with him was something he could decide.

–

Even though she knew in advance that descending the slope would be difficult and had secured ropes on it beforehand, Liu Sisi truly understood why the people ahead were in such a sorry state only when she actually started sliding down!

The icy slope was covered in ice crystals, not only slippery but also studded with small protrusions that jabbed painfully. Her body’s weight hung on a pair of hands, and, even though she had wrapped her hands in thick gloves, Liu Sisi couldn’t get a firm hold on the rope, helplessly letting her body slide down the slope that had turned into a ski run.

Inside, a myriad of curses flew through her mind as she faced complete mental collapse.

Fortunately, the slope was naturally formed, with plenty of obstacles in the middle to slow the momentum. Moreover, an arrow, shot from who knows where, narrowly flew over her head, lifting a few strands of her hair in its wake, almost drilling a bloody hole on her scalp.

This wasn’t Liu Sisi’s first taste of the battlefield’s cruelty, but it was genuinely the closest she had ever been to death, leaving her drenched in cold sweat.

By the time she reached the bottom of the slope, her head felt giddy, and she could hardly distinguish between north, south, east, and west.

Fortunately, Zhang Peng, who followed her down, swiftly caught her in the act, pulling her up from the ground and hiding in a nearby shadowy place.

A few arrows whizzed by, embedding themselves in the position she had just vacated, chilling Liu Sisi to the bone.

Her face was ashen with tightly pursed lips, but her eyes, bright and radiant, stared unblinkingly at the approaching figures nearby.

Being unable to aid in the combat, all she could do was to keep up with Zhang Peng’s pace and not become a burden to others.

Countless sounds resonated by her ears: horn blasts, charges, clashes, cries, the crackling of flames… Various noises intertwined ceaselessly around her.

Zhang Peng beside her had lost all traces of his usual naïve self, his big blade trembling in his hand as he charged toward the swarming enemy troops.

Limbs flew, blood splattered incessantly, and amid the piercing cold wind, a sweet, nauseating smell of blood wafted through the air.

Liu Sisi’s eyes widened, and without uttering a sound, she followed closely behind Zhang Peng; when she encountered anyone half-dead, she would step forward without hesitation to strike with her knife, showing none of the reserve expected of a woman.