Chapter Eighty: Not Giving Tang Jun Any Chance to Breathe

  Thanks for the rewards from book friends who are also wasting their youth!

  The sudden appearance of reinforcements shocked the rebel soldiers who were climbing up the city wall one after another, and also made the Tang army officers on the city head unable to hold back their excitement.

  "Brothers, General Yang has arrived with reinforcements!"

  Wang Silie waved his war knife and shouted loudly.

  When the rebels strengthened their forces and attacked the city, his men showed signs of wavering morale, some soldiers were frightened and turned to flee, allowing the rebels to rush up to the city gate. This made Wang Silie extremely angry and humiliated. He would not let those fleeing soldiers escape punishment, once the situation on the city gate was alleviated, he would definitely hold them accountable and severely discipline them as a warning to others.

  Yang Kai led the soldiers to reinforce and Wang Silie breathed a sigh of relief, but in his heart, there was also a feeling of shame surging.

  He was self-satisfied with his outstanding military achievements, always looking down on others. When Yang Jue, the youngest son of Yang Guozhong, arrived at Tong Pass, he had never really submitted to Yang Jue. In any case, he would not be willing to listen to the command of such an inexperienced young man, even if Yang Jue was not the son of Yang Guozhong. He thought he was better than anyone else, and this arrogance did not disappear even after his defeat at Lingbao.

  But now, the soldiers he commanded had deserters, and they appeared under his repeated intimidation, so that there were gaps in the defense of the city head, and Yang Hui, the commander-in-chief who was in charge of the Tongguan military affairs, personally led the army to reinforce. Several thousand soldiers were not well-led, failed to hold the city head, and had to be reinforced by Yang Hui's army, Wang Silie felt that his face was completely lost, and he couldn't even lift his head in front of Yang Hui.

  He had no choice but to lead his bodyguards in a desperate fight, killing all the defenders on the city wall, not allowing any rebel soldiers to climb up. This was the only way to save some face. In just a short while, several rebel soldiers were killed by him on the city wall and kicked down from the wall in anger.

  His bravery and Yang Hui's timely appearance boosted morale, with Wang Si-li and some soldiers shouting loudly to kill. Some hesitant soldiers who wanted to escape also immediately regained their courage and continued to fight. And some soldiers who were so frightened that they threw down their weapons and ran away stopped in their tracks when they saw reinforcements arriving, quietly returned, picked up the swords they had thrown on the ground, and rejoined the ranks of soldiers killing the enemy.

  "Follow me, kill!" Tian Liangqiu also shouted angrily while waving his battle knife on one side.

  He and Wang Silie's thoughts are somewhat similar, feeling too embarrassed.

  He could only take the lead like Wang Silie, regardless of his age and physical fatigue in these days, wielding a war knife to desperately kill the enemy.

  The section of the city wall guarded by Pang Zhong and Li Fude did not see any soldiers fleeing, nor were there any rebel troops rushing up to the city wall. However, Yang Hui's appearance also greatly encouraged them, and they fought even more fiercely.

  Yang Kai's appearance and the heroic performance of Wang Silie, Tian Liangqiu, Pang Zhong, and Li Fude immediately took effect. Hundreds of rebels who had climbed up to the city head were killed, and the cloud ladders they had set up were all pushed down. The crisis caused by this wave of rebel attacks was temporarily resolved. However, more than a hundred Tang soldiers died in battle against the rebels who rushed to the top of the city.

  As the rebel offensive collapsed, the subsequent siege troops did not have a gap to quickly climb the city. The soldiers who escaped first were all brought back. In front of all the generals and soldiers, more than a dozen deserters were beheaded, their blood and good heads were used to sacrifice the heroic dead soldiers, and also to intimidate the generals with timid hearts. Any general was threatened: if anyone runs away again, they will be beheaded without mercy.

  The rebel siege did not temporarily stop due to being pushed down, the soldiers swarming under the city continued to climb densely, the cloud ladder that was knocked down was set up again, and the soldiers who were not injured climbed the cloud ladder one after another under the command of their respective officers. More rebel soldiers rushed over through the ramparts on the corpses piled up in the moat.

  The number of corpses in the moat has been increasing, and the "corpse dam" has been rising further, already level with the eastern bank and only a body's height or half a body's height away from the western bank. Rebel soldiers rushing over from the east can easily cross the moat, jump onto the western bank, and quickly climb into the city. The corpses piled up on the west side of the moat are becoming more and more numerous, and many cloud ladders are directly placed on top of the corpse piles. Rebel soldiers trample on the bodies of their comrades or on bamboo or wooden boards covering the corpses to climb up the cloud ladders and enter the city.

  Although the killing power of the arrows was greatly affected by the heavy rain, the arrows shot down from the city head were still dense. The Tang army soldiers on the 12th city also continued to shoot, and a large number of rebel soldiers were killed or injured by the arrows. The wooden logs and rolling stones on the city head were also continuously thrown down, and countless rebel soldiers fell under the city wall and could not get up again.

  The battle has lasted for almost an hour, and at least 4,000 to 5,000 rebel soldiers have fallen outside the south gate. The wounded are even more numerous, but there is no sign of a pause in the rebel offensive, which is becoming increasingly fierce.

  Although Yang Jie's leading the army to rescue, as well as Wang Silie, Tian Liangqiu, Pang Zhong and Li Fude's heroic performances inspired the soldiers' morale, making them more brave in fighting the enemy, but facing the rebel soldiers who were rushing over like a tide, continuously climbing the city wall, everyone felt the pressure, each commander dared not to hesitate or slack off, all personally went into battle to kill the enemy.

  Yang Kai is not yet able to personally take the field and kill enemies, and his 300 personal guards have not yet participated in the battle. However, he brought with him 500 soldiers, of which 200 quickly filled the gaps that had just appeared on several sections of the city wall.

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  "Deputy General, the Tang army is almost exhausted!" Deputy General Li Zhenyuan stood beside Cui Qianyou, pointing with his whip in the direction of the city head, and said excitedly: "This time we will definitely be able to take the Tongguan City head, this rain is really timely!"

  "This rain is great, the Tang army will suffer a great loss!" Cui Qianyou was a bit dizzy from being rained on, but his enthusiasm was high. The unstoppable heroic spirit that had appeared in Lingbao a few days ago surged again. "The Tang army will soon collapse, our army can quickly rush to the top of the city and defeat the defenders! Pass down my order, attack with all your might, don't give the Tang army any chance to breathe! As long as we take down Tongguan City, everyone will be heavily rewarded!"

  It's time for him to make great contributions again. This is Cui Qianyou's heartfelt feeling after issuing a new order.

  With Choi Gun-woo's order, the rebel soldiers who had gone mad let out earth-shaking howls and charged towards the moat that was almost a thoroughfare, preparing to climb the city walls!