Chapter 64: Night Assault on the City
The two defeated cavalrymen who were humiliated by having their heads shaved and five wounded soldiers returned to Duyang City on foot.

No matter how crazy Lu Chang was, he didn't dare to shoot and kill the seven people directly.

After all, they are the backbone of the Han family, a big family in Duyang, and they are very brave to go out of the city to fight.

If he dares to kill these seven people, he can forget about defending Duyang City safely.

The city gate opened and seven people were welcomed in.

It was not until the city gates were closed again that the seven people completely collapsed.

They were already frightened by Lu Bu holding a strange double-edged halberd. This man rushed towards them, and there was no one alive within a radius of ten feet on either side!

The brave Han Guang didn't even have time to say a word before the opponent's halberd broke half of his neck.

At nightfall, there was crying in the Han family manor in the city.

Lu Chang did not think there would be any danger in the first half of the night, so he arranged the night watch and went to the Han's manor to comfort the Han family members.

This manor occupies about one-fiftieth of the city's area. The courtyard wall is strong and high, with watchtowers built at the four corners. It is a typical basic fortress.

Han Guang's wives and concubines were choked with sobs and unable to speak, and the entire manor was filled with an atmosphere of resentment.

Why are you helping the court for no reason?

Isn’t it because Lu Chang was famous for his bravery in the state when he was young and was highly respected by his younger brothers?

Over the years, Lu Chang has been fighting against Liu Biao.

Even though Liu Biao sent 10,000 people to sweep the northern part of Nanyang last year, he still couldn't do anything about Lu Chang.

It was for this reason that the imperial court appointed Lu Chang as Wumeng Duwei.

Now that Cao Gong is stationed in Chenliu, if Liu Biao dares to send troops, isn't he afraid of attracting Cao Gong's army?
Therefore, it was not only Lu Chang who had the confidence to defend Duyang, but the surrounding soldiers also had the confidence to counterattack Wancheng.

No matter how dilapidated Wancheng was, it was just a broken city in Liu Biao's hands; but in the hands of the imperial court, it was the capital of Nanyang County!
"Tomorrow I will send an envoy out of the city to redeem the body of my brother Ziyuan from the enemy army."

Only after Lu Chang made a promise did Han Guang's old mother feel a little relieved.

After leaving Han's manor, Lu Chang walked on the street with a heavy heart, but he was thinking about the extremely brave white-robed cavalryman.

Now all the defenders in the city suspected that the elite troops of Liu Xuande were outside the city, and the white-robed cavalry general was most likely Zhao Zilong. If not Zhao Zilong, it could be Guan Yu or Zhang Fei.

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"

Suddenly, screams were heard from the nearest South City. Lu Chang turned around and led his personal soldiers to rush straight to the south city wall.

After running a dozen steps, I heard the sound of drums from the city wall, and the houses on both sides of the street closed their doors tightly.

The guards who were staying in the houses near the city gate went out one after another, holding torches to reinforce the city wall.

On the city wall, the divine general Lu Bu held the Fang Tian Ji in both arms and swung and chopped vigorously. No one could stop him!

The Fang Tian Ji was like an elongated and heavier double-edged axe. Not to mention people wearing armor, even a large shield covered with cowhide and reinforced with iron sheets could be split in half by Lu Bu's halberd!
The wall of Duyang city is not wide, only about seven or eight feet.

Without any help, Lu Bu grasped the end of the handle of the Fang Tian Ji and turned the halberd like a wheel, making a whistling sound as it broke through the wind.

They moved forward, trampling on blood and corpses all the way. The defenders along the way dared not to block them and retreated one after another. However, there were defenders behind them who were unaware of the truth and were in a dilemma. Behind them were defenders who were pushing and shouting hard to cheer them on.

Then the defenders in front of Lu Bu jumped off the city wall one after another to avoid being killed.

The city wall is not very high, barely two meters.

Lu Bu advanced towards the city wall, while at the other end Gao Shun and four other Taoist soldiers held spears and fought against the defenders.

The archers below the city shot indiscriminately at the city walls, shooting wherever there was fire or human shadows.

Gan Ning's troops were good at throwing short spears and flying forks, and they would throw them close to the city wall towards places on the city wall where there were fires and loud shouts of killing.

There were also guards on the city walls shooting arrows and throwing stones down, but the counterattack was weak and was quickly suppressed.

Black Bear turned his head to look at Xu Lin: "Beat the drum!"

Immediately, two waist drums were struck. Gan Ning shouted to his men carrying bamboo ladders on his left and right: "Tonight is the night to achieve our goal. Follow me!"

More than ten bamboo ladders were placed on the city wall. Gan Ning wrapped a chain around his left hand, held a knife in his right hand, and quickly stepped on the bamboo ladders to climb up the city wall. He jumped up, but there was no enemy on either side. He was a little confused for a moment.

More and more soldiers climbed onto the city wall. Gan Ning wanted to kill the enemy from Lu Bu's direction, but when he saw the cold Fang Tian Ji spinning in the dark, he immediately turned to the other side and said, "Follow me to kill the enemy!"

Inside the city, Lu Chang and his personal soldiers were crowded at the steps inside the city gate and could not go up. The guards above were unable to break through Lu Bu's windmill, so Lu Bu stood in place and rotated his halberd.

If Lu Bu took a few more steps forward, the rapidly spinning Fang Tian Ji would surely chop down the pillars of the gatehouse.

While the two sides were in a stalemate, Black Bear climbed up the ladder to the city wall and saw that on the left side, Gan Ning had led his men past Gao Shun and four other Taoist soldiers, and relied on their large numbers to form a spear formation and push across.

It was a horizontal push, with spears and halberds from both sides entangled in a forest.

Thirty or forty people on Gan Ning's side pushed hard together, and the opponents were unable to stand steadily and kept retreating, and could not stop at all.

Soon Gan Ning pushed the enemy into the corner tower at the bend of the city wall, which had only one floor.

There were a few people shooting arrows with bows on the top of the corner tower, but they were shot to death by spears thrown by the soldiers following Gan Ning.

Black Bear called back Gao Shun's four Taoist soldiers and immediately threw them towards the city wall. The four of them appeared on the top of the city wall together, jumped down together, and fell into the crowd with ring-handled swords, chopping them.

Lu Bu also gave up the windmill and rushed into the city wall area with a halberd in both hands to fight.

A steady stream of fresh troops climbed up the bamboo ladders and, along with a team of a hundred archers, they officially began to suppress the defenders in the city.

From time to time, stones and arrows flew past the black bear. In front of him, five armored soldiers stood on the parapet with shields in their hands to protect him from attacks from inside the city.

He continued to observe the battle situation and studied various precautions in night battles to capture the city, including the various reactions of the defenders.

I originally wanted to wait until the second half of the night, but after the people below had their meal, I couldn't help it.

Just do it.

The defenders on the city are already tired. What if they sleep until the middle of the night waiting for you? As of now, we have successfully climbed the city and completed the early combat objectives.

"General Qu! The enemy troops on the tower are scattered!"

After watching, Xu Lin reminded loudly. Black Bear took a quick glance and focused on commanding the soldiers. After observing for a while, he gave up the subtle operations.

It is already difficult to advance unless more troops are deployed.

But it is difficult for ordinary people to cooperate with the Taoist soldiers. If they really send reinforcements, the space is narrow and people are crowded together, and there is a high possibility of being accidentally injured by Lu Bu.

Black Bear continued to observe and saw that the torches on the northern city wall were becoming more and more dense.

It was too far to observe carefully, so he turned to Xu Lin and said, "Mobilize Xingba's troops to help!"

"Yes!"

Xu Lin immediately turned around and gave orders to a nearby commander of a hundred men under Gan Ning's command. This man led the troops that had recently gathered on the city wall to reinforce Gan Ning.

At the east gate, the gate had just been opened and County Magistrate Yin Cai was about to break out when he saw a round of arrows and spears coming towards him from thirty or forty steps outside the city and landing near the gate.

In an instant, there were heavy casualties. Yin Cai was hit by four or five arrows and was seriously injured along with his mount.

Before his subordinates could rescue him, a second round of spears fell and stabbed him to death on the spot.

Outside the north city were seven or eight teams of knights, each team of a dozen people patrolling with torches, clearly telling the officials and people in the city that this road was blocked.

Outside the west gate is the direction of Wancheng, but no one opens the west gate.

But some defenders, seeing that the situation was not good, jumped over the city wall and escaped into the darkness.

Night battles are too disadvantageous for the defenders!
Gan Ning's old and new soldiers survived by eating fish, crabs, shrimps and turtles. Their eyes were so bright that they glowed at night!

As the South Gate slowly opened, the guards, servants of the wealthy families, and powerful troops who had gathered near the South Gate completely dispersed.

In the chaos, military officers and leaders of all ranks fled into the city, and the city was in chaos.

"General Qu has given orders! Guard the four gates carefully! Do not go down the wall to fight!"

Black Bear gave orders in a hurry, fearing that he and Gan Ning's motley crowd would rush into the city and hunt them down.

By waiting until daybreak, it would not be difficult to force the defenders in the city to surrender using bows and crossbows. There was no need to risk a melee with them.

In the military camp inside the city, the defeated defenders gathered here.

Lu Chang was hit on the head by a stone, and he didn't know who hit him. His head was buzzing and he felt a little dizzy.

"Where is the Chief Secretary?"

He asked the officials who were still following him, and found out that Wu Meng Duwei was a colonel in name only, and under him were the chief secretary, the chief clerk, and the staff.

A man wearing sleeveless double crotch armor but shot in the arm raised his other hand and pointed to the side: "The chief historian is here."

Lu Chang looked in the direction of the sound, and in the light of the torch he saw that the iron armor on the chest of the chief officer who was guarding the south gate tower had been torn apart by the huge force, but the fatal wound was not on the chest, but on the strangely twisted neck and limbs.

He couldn't imagine how this happened.

It couldn't be that the warrior holding the strange double-edged halberd slashed through Changshi's chest armor with one halberd, but Changshi was also pulled away by the huge force, then fell under the city and rolled over, breaking his neck and limbs?
Looking at the chief secretary's side, there was a young man who was still half alive when he was dragged here by the fleeing soldiers. He was shot by several arrows and now died with his eyes wide open.

As the city walls were completely lost, the shouts and cries of killing in the night battle gradually subsided.

The godly general Lu Bu dyed his white robe red, and walked around with a spear in his hand, starting to finish off the enemies.

The wounded soldiers who participated in the siege also opened the city gates and were transported out of the city.

Gan Ning was covered in blood. After arranging matters in the North City, he came to the South City and said, "General Qu, we can persuade them to surrender. There are many wounded soldiers in the city. We can persuade them to surrender and treat them as soon as possible."

"Then Xingba will take care of this matter. Our troops are not allowed to leave the city wall tonight. The defenders are allowed to treat the wounded. I will go outside the city to take care of the wounded, and later I will send Wang Wei to the city to deliver sour plum rice dumplings."

As Black Bear spoke, a blood peach appeared in his hand to replenish the panting Gan Ning's energy. He said to Xu Lin beside him, "Cooperate with Xingba to restrain the soldiers. No one is allowed to go down the wall and enter the city before dawn."

"Thank you, Commander Qu!"

"Yes!"

Gan Ning and Xu Lin spoke at the same time, and Black Bear immediately walked down the city quickly under the protection of the Taoist soldiers.

The bonfire at the city gate burned quickly, and the wounded soldiers transported here were in a stable mood, and seemed to be full of confidence in recovering from their injuries.

But Black Bear doesn't, he is a strict materialist.

If the wound is not treated properly and even a little rust remains in the flesh and blood, eating magic berries and blood peaches every day will be of no use!

At most, it can curb the worsening of inflammation, but symptoms such as fever and physical weakness cannot be relieved!
When he arrived, Li Feng had already started treating and bandaging the most common knife and spear wounds. The most seriously injured had slid down the bamboo ladder.

The seriously injured have eaten blood peaches to replenish their strength... In the eyes of the black bear, this is similar to an infusion, or even worse.

A jar of distilled liquor was opened, and the young Taoist apprentice used a fine linen cloth dipped in the liquor to repeatedly wipe the arm of a wounded man. Li Feng had already pried open the flesh for observation.

Seeing that there was no obvious foreign object remaining, he used his bloody hands to grab a blood peach and stuffed it into the wounded man's mouth, while at the same time applying hemostatic powder, which was made from lime powder, to the wound.

Li Fengqu then treated another wounded soldier whose wound had been wiped with wine, while other young Taoist priests were responsible for bandaging the previous wounded soldier.

The black bear looked at it for a few seconds and then added peaches to the empty bamboo basket next to him.

After filling the bamboo basket, a clerk from Huainan who stayed behind handed over two bamboo slips and said, "Captain Qu, these two people were seriously injured and died when they came here."

"I gonna go see."

Black Bear followed the clerk to the other side, where there were two corpses lying beside another campfire. One had an arrow piercing deep into his face, and the other had his neck pierced by a spear.

He reached out to take the bamboo slips handed to him by the clerk, and immediately cast his black magic power into them. The two corpses in front of him disappeared, and even the small pool of blood accumulated on the side disappeared.

The clerk looked with envy at the place where the corpse disappeared, leaving only clothes and armor. This was the orthodox military death!
(End of this chapter)