Chapter 129: Compassion Does Not Command Armies

Li Yi possessed extraordinary eyesight and keenly observed that there were only five scaling ladders within the rebel assault formation.

Clearly, after he had previously led his troops to raid the rebel camp and burn their siege engines, their supply of scaling ladders had become insufficient.

"Liu Zongmin, how many firearms do we have in our forces?" Li Yi asked.

"Earlier, Commander, you requested some firearms from Administration Vice Commissioner Hong. Currently, we have about forty matchlocks, two small cannon pieces, and one crouching tiger cannon."

Li Yi thought for a moment and said, "Gather all the firearms together, find men who know how to use them, and form two squads. I will have great use for them."

Liu Zongmin nodded and hurried off to execute the order.

Miao Mei sat upright in his saddle, gazing toward Longmen Town with a gloomy expression.

He had already suffered two defeats at the hands of the Longmen Town garrison, suffering a complete loss of face. However, those two engagements had also allowed him to test the true strength of Longmen Town.

Clearly, the small town held fewer than a thousand government soldiers, and the majority of them possessed weak combat capabilities.

During the previous round of assaults, had he not miscalculated the garrison's strength and sent only a small number of rebellious border deserters into the attack, it actually would have been possible to seize the ramparts and breach the town.

This time, by any means necessary, he would take this small town and wash away his past humiliation.

"Woooo..."

A low horn blast echoed across the field. The rebels gripped their weapons and advanced slowly in accordance with orders, their battle cries continuous.

Looking at the dense sea of murderous rebels beneath the walls, the complexions of the garrison soldiers on the ramparts changed drastically.

The enemy numbers were simply too overwhelming, surging forward like a tidal wave. The soldiers possessed zero confidence in their ability to hold them back.

Especially the newly pacified auxiliary troops; having just been incorporated into the regular forces, they had no desire to die defending the town.

Many of the auxiliaries felt anxious in their hearts, and some had already resolved to look for an immediate opportunity to flee at the first sign of trouble.

At worst, they would simply rejoin the rebels as bandits once more; that was far better than dying a meaningless death here for the sake of some damned imperial court.

With discordant hearts and an unreliable military morale, the atmosphere grew intensely oppressive.

Liu Zongmin said worriedly, "Commander, the morale of the brothers is low. If this continues, it will be very difficult to withstand the rebel assault."

Li Yi nodded, having perceived it as well.

The enemy's numbers were too vast, and the garrison soldiers believed that Longmen Town could not possibly hold out, causing them to already grow fearful of battle.

Yet he did not overly interfere. Outnumbered, isolated, and surrounded, this was inevitable.

He did not delude himself into thinking that a mere wave of his arms and a passionate speech could magically boost morale.

This was bloody warfare. For an army lacking both faith and confidence, victory alone remained the ultimate method to inspire morale.

In troubled times, heavy codes are required; an unstable military heart demands even harsher measures. The saying that a benevolent commander cannot maintain an army spoke precisely of this truth.

Li Yi said with an icy voice, "Pass down the order: anyone who dares to flee in the face of battle or hesitates to advance shall be executed without mercy."

These words caused a jolt in Liu Zongmin's heart; this was the first time the Commander had governed his troops with such severity.

The city walls of Longmen Town were merely a little over a zhang high, roughly equivalent to the height of a single-story building. Because the eastern and western gates remained closed, Miao Mei, much like the previous attack, dispatched a thousand roving bandits and local outlaws to the northern gate to tie down the garrison's forces, while committing his main force to assault the southern gate.

Yet Li Yi could not afford to lower his guard. He still assigned Gao Laoshi to defend the northern gate, while Gao Jie and Feishanhu guarded the southern gate together. Two other auxiliary squads were stationed along the eastern and western walls. As for Liu Zongmin's squad, they served as the reserve force, to be thrown into battle at the critical moment.

A siege battle was a contest of leverage between attacker and defender; one had to pace it with rhythm and could not commit all forces at once.

"Dong! Dong! Dong!"

The fierce sound of drums grew increasingly thunderous, and two thousand rebels surged toward the southern gate like a rushing tide.

Stationed at the southern gate watchtower to command the overall situation, Li Yi saw at a glance that the front rank of a thousand men consisted entirely of frail, terrified refugees.

Only the trailing thousand men formed the core assault force, composed of border desperadoes and local bandits.

His eyes remained fixed on the five scaling ladders carried among the rear thousand men. The moment those ladders hooked onto the ramparts and secured a hold, waves of rebels would endlessly pour upward.

"Liu Zongmin, is the firearm squad ready?" Li Yi asked, turning his head.

Liu Zongmin replied hurriedly, "They are ready. Divided into two squads of twenty men each, with several gunners operating the small cannons."

Li Yi nodded. This was his greatest trump card for stopping the armored border desperadoes.

The thousand refugees in the front rank had already entered shooting range. Gazing at the ragged, terror-stricken young men, elderly, and weak, Li Yi's gaze turned complex.

Yet the cruelty of warfare left no room for him to harbor pity.

"Release arrows!"

At Li Yi's command, two hundred archers drew their bows and let fly, aiming at the densely packed mass of surging refugees.

Arrows fell like a shroud of rain over the refugees, triggering a continuous chorus of shrieks. Struck by arrows while running, numerous refugees clutched their wounds and crashed headlong to the ground.

The already chaotic refugees instantly erupted like a boiling pot, scattering in all directions.

Hidden among them, junior officers brandished sabers, butchering several men and roaring threats to compel the refugees to press the attack.

The refugees cursed and wept, scrambling over one another in flight as countless numbers were trampled underfoot. The scene descended into utter chaos.

Some who were intercepted dropped to their knees, begging the junior officers bitterly, only to have their heads severed the next instant.

After quite some time, the junior officers managed to barely restore order, forcing the refugees to resume their advance.

Under the threat of the督战 (supervising) junior officers, the refugees turned pale, shaking violently as they gripped their weapons and pushed forward toward the city walls through the rain of arrows.

Within a mere three hundred paces, hundreds of refugees had already been shot down onto the earth.

A few lucky refugees managed to rush near the city walls, only to have their path blocked by moats and sharpened wooden stakes.

Junior officers brandished sabers, urging them onward to pull out the sharpened stakes.

The refugees crowded together, shoving one another forward. The ones at the very front were impaled by the wooden stakes, wailing in agonizing pain.

Atop the ramparts, the garrison archers took aim and loosed a volley. A single round of arrows sent over a dozen refugees screaming as they tumbled into the moat.

Under the torrential bowfire from the walls, rows of refugees were cut down like harvested rice.

The entire spectacle was nothing short of a bloody massacre.

Before long, the vanguard of a thousand refugees suffered heavy casualties, and the main force of border desperadoes and local bandits slowly stepped forward.

The rebels at the forefront dispersed, raising heavy wooden doors and shields as they inched closer.

Archers on the ramparts drew their bows again and again, but most of their arrows merely struck the shields and wooden doors, producing dull thudding sounds.

Rebels closing in on the wall began tossing refugee corpses into the moat, intending to fill it up and pave a path for the assault.

Some wounded refugees who had not yet died were thrown onto the sharpened stakes, emitting piercing screeches before staring wide-eyed into deathly silence.

Soon, the path was leveled, and the trailing border desperadoes shouldered their scaling ladders, breaking into a run toward the wall.

They trampled over the piled corpses, completely ignoring the lingering refugees who were still twitching and pleading amidst the dead.

The scaling ladders were raised, iron hooks biting fiercely into the parapets.

Iron-armored border desperadoes swarmed forward, scrambling over one another in a frantic race to climb the walls.

Garrison squads atop the walls lifted heavy rolling logs and stone blocks, hurling them downward. The sheer weight of dozens of catties was enough to shatter even shields. Several border desperadoes took direct hits to the head; their iron helmets instantly caved inward, blood gushing across their faces as they screamed and tumbled backward.

The following border desperadoes ignored them entirely, raising their shields to continue climbing.

Arrows fell like rain, embedding themselves firmly into their iron armor without being able to pierce them.

A hulking border desperado, with six arrows protruding from his body, roared as he vaulted onto the top of the rampart.

"The rebels have breached the wall!" shouted a garrison soldier.

Li Yi was utterly shocked. The rebels had just erected their ladders; how could their assault speed be this fast?

The Suijin troops, standing ready nearby, immediately swarmed forward. Their broadswords slashed against the iron armor, sending sparks flying.

The hulking border desperado shoved aside a nearby blade-and-shield soldier, swung his great saber to deflect incoming short spears, kicked away a heavy shield bearer, and lunged forward in a killing frenzy.

His ferocious aura forced the Suijin troops back step by step, failing to take his life in the initial clash.

And this brief window of time allowed three or five more border desperadoes to follow him up, beginning to seize a foothold on the ramparts.

Li Yi understood that if they failed to eliminate these men in time, the entire stretch of the wall risked being lost and captured by the rebels.