Chapter 69: Lamentation and Joy

  Thank you for your reward, just like a friend from Tianji Book Club!

  The sky is getting hotter and more oppressive, without a single thread of wind, the trees on the mountain are also motionless, as if the entire Mount Hua is in a state of stagnation.

  The mountain god may also be shocked by this large-scale massacre unfolding before his eyes.

  Tongguan City has two-thirds of its surroundings surrounded by mountains, and when there is no wind, it feels very hot. The cloud layer is also thick, and many soldiers are heat-stroked due to the high temperature, coupled with high mental tension, causing them to collapse. Both sides have cases of losing combat effectiveness due to heatstroke, with roughly equal proportions.

  In the intense defense battle on the city wall, Li Fude and Pang Zhong's troops, who were originally scheduled to rest and replenish their energy from yesterday, also appeared on the city wall. According to Yang Hui's arrangement, they joined the defensive battle in the direction of the south gate.

  The defensive strength of the south gate city head was strengthened to a certain extent, and the troops also increased to around 8,000.

  The troops were replenished, and the number of soldiers firing at the enemy each time also increased to two thousand, and the arrows shot out in each round became more dense.

  Pang Zhong and Li Fude's troops were supplemented in the direction of the south gate, which changed Wang Silie's feeling about Yang Hui again.

  Yang Kai did not place this cavalry beside himself, nor in the direction of the east gate, but instead placed it at the south gate. He also declared that if the pressure on the south gate became too great, he would personally lead a cavalry to come and reinforce it. This consideration was made based on the overall situation, requiring a certain breadth of vision to make such a decision. After all, with a great enemy in front of them, everyone was fearful for their own safety, and having more troops by one's side increased one's sense of security.

  Yang Kai did not consider his personal affairs and put more troops around him, but instead put them in the most needed places, which is very admirable.

  "We will stop the rebels at all costs, no matter what price we have to pay," Wang Silie brandished his battle knife and gave a stern order to the soldiers beside him. "If anyone shows cowardice or flees in the face of the enemy, they will be beheaded without mercy!"

  Wang Silie's voice was loud enough, and the soldiers on the side were shocked.

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  The wind finally came, and it was very strong. When it blew over the mountain pass, it brought a whistling sound. The soldiers on the city wall were shaken, their arrows were blown off target, and some of their strength was also dissipated.

  Most of the arrows still fell on the rebel army that continued to charge forward, but the lethality was greatly reduced.

  The rebel soldiers climbing the western wall of the gorge and ascending the cloud ladder, some were blown up by the strong wind, fell from the cliff or the cloud ladder, and pressed onto their companions below, causing a string of panicked screams.

  However, the strong winds that came up made all the Tang army generals on the city wall cry out in distress. Their most effective weapon for killing the enemy was arrows, and shooting from a height gave the rebels a heavy price to pay, but the continuous strong winds weakened the power of the arrows.

  If the rebel army cannot be given enough killing power with arrows, more and more rebels will rush to the west bank of the Forbidden Ditch, and more cloud ladders will be set up. The situation will soon develop in favor of the rebels.

  Yang Qi also called Ku Bu Die, he didn't think that heaven would also come out and oppose him!

  "Crack..." A thunderous clap of thunder suddenly rang out, catching everyone off guard and startling Yang Hui, who was muttering to himself. He immediately looked up at the sky. Only then did he realize that although there was still sunlight shining in the distance, half of the sky above him had been shrouded by dark clouds.

  Most of the attention was drawn to the situation on the battlefield, and no one noticed the changes in the sky. Now it's discovered that the sky above Mount Hua has changed, a summer thunderstorm is approaching.

  "It's going to rain heavily! But the reinforcements haven't arrived yet, what should we do?" Yang Hui muttered to herself, looking up at the sky.

  "It's going to rain heavily," said Choi Geon-yo, who was on the east side of Jin Gou, although he was blown by strong winds, but he couldn't help but exclaim with joy, after saying a sentence similar to Yang Hui's, and shouted to his guards and deputy generals beside him: "It's really heaven helping me!"

  The wind showed no signs of diminishing and instead grew stronger, the dark clouds in the sky began to churn rapidly, and soon the sky darkened.

  Tongguan City is located in a windy area, where the wind force is much stronger than on flat ground. In severe convective weather conditions, the wind force is even greater, at least 10 levels higher, or even more.

  The killing effect of arrows has decreased significantly.

  This made any commander on the city wall sigh, and the killing effect of the arrows was severely reduced. The arrows could not effectively kill the enemy, and any commander who commanded the battle felt pressure, everyone hoped that the wind would be smaller, the rain would not fall, and they would rather be exposed to the sun.

  "Prepare for battle!" Wang Silie drew his sword and at the same time loudly ordered the soldiers to get ready.

  The arrow cannot be effectively shot and must make other ways of response.

  Some soldiers abandoned their bows and drew their swords, rushing to the city gate to prepare for a sword fight against the rebels' attempt to climb over the wall.

  At the entrance, there were already groups of rebel soldiers climbing up the west bank of the Forbidden City in various ways, and more soldiers were rushing over from behind.

  Yang Hui's heart was also raised to his throat, of course what he worried about was not the east gate being attacked by the rebels, but the south gate. The south gate had deployed the most troops, with around 8,000, but facing the continuous siege of tens of thousands of rebel troops, the military strength was still at an absolute disadvantage. However, he no longer had many troops to reinforce, unless a large number of reinforcements arrived.

  Where is the reinforcement? When can we arrive at Tongguan City?

  Yang Hui let out a long sigh in her heart!

  According to the urgent report received earlier, Du Hua's 3,000 cavalry is still about 50 miles away from Tongguan City. Although they are exhausted and unable to rush to the rescue at top speed, if there are no unexpected situations, it will take them at least one or two hours, or even three hours to reach Tongguan City.

  It's windy again now, and it may rain heavily soon. The arrival time in Tongguan will definitely be delayed.

  "I hope the soldiers will unite and fight to the death, not allowing the rebel army to climb over the city wall!" Yang Hui muttered to himself, and immediately ordered his personal guard captain Yang Dong to gather all the guards, and when necessary, he would lead this private army, along with 500 reserve soldiers, to reinforce the southern gate.

  Chui Qianyou, standing on the west bank of the Jin Gou River, also saw that the arrows shot from the city head were blown off by the wind, greatly reducing their killing power. Overjoyed, he immediately gave orders to strengthen the offensive in all directions, whether it was the east gate or the north gate direction, not allowing any troops to be withdrawn to reinforce these two gate directions. The south gate direction was even more concentrated with all its forces, continuously attacking without giving the Tang army on the city head any chance to breathe.

  "Order all generals to speed up the attack, no matter what the cost is, we must rush to the top of Tongguan City! "Cui Qianyou, wielding his battle knife, roared at his deputy generals and soldiers: "Whoever is the first to climb to the top of the city wall will be promoted three ranks, rewarded with 10,000 taels of silver, and I will personally ask for credit from His Majesty!"

  "Kill... pull..." The deputy generals, soldiers and bodyguards beside Choi Gun-woo all followed suit, waving their war knives and roaring with anger.

  Originally, the heavens and earth were in the hands of the Tang army, but now they have turned against them. The weather has been seized by the enemy, this strong gust of wind, and the heavy rain that is about to fall, are tools for their success. The Tang army, having lost the advantage of arrows, cannot stop their continuous attacks no matter what.

  Nearly a thousand people have dodged the Tang army's arrows and climbed up the western bank of the Forbidden Channel, setting up cloud ladders against the city wall.

  The wind continued to blow fiercely, knocking down the ladders that had been set up, but more ladders were placed against the city walls.

  Lightning and thunder are getting more frequent, clouds are pressing lower and lower, and the sky is getting darker.

  At last, amidst a series of thunderclaps and flashes of lightning, a torrential downpour came pouring from the sky!