activa-t Chapter 389 The war begins!
Chapter 389 The war begins!
"Long live! Long live! Long live!"
"We must win! We must win!"
Immediately afterwards, hundreds of thousands of soldiers raised their arms and shouted, their voices passionate and stirring, shaking heaven and earth. Their morale was high, and from a distance, they looked like a pack of ferocious beasts. An indescribable aura quickly filled the air, and the swords that the soldiers were wielding shone with a brilliant, cold light, making it almost impossible for people to open their eyes.
Tuoba Yu and Xifeng Lie on the city wall immediately tensed up and became serious upon seeing this scene.
"Isn't their preparation too hasty? I don't see any of their siege ladders. Are they planning to attack the city like this?" Looking at the troops below, someone couldn't help but ask in confusion.
However, as soon as he finished speaking, he saw the soldiers of the Great Zhou Dynasty pushing siege equipment forward from the rear.
"Pass down the order to have the troops prepare for battle!"
Tuoba Yu's expression darkened slightly, and he uttered these words with a flick of his sleeve.
"Yes! Your Highness!"
At the same time, Emperor Beizun raised his hand slightly, and the soldiers behind him stopped making noise.
"Your Majesty, we have investigated and found that there are a total of 600,000 troops in Yingzhou City, including 200,000 of Xifeng Lie's Eagle Division and 400,000 of Tuoba Yu's army. These are all considered to be Tuoba Yu's elite troops, which he previously transferred back from the northeast of Tiansheng, so their combat strength is not weak."
Su Yu spoke softly to Di Beizun.
A cold glint flashed in Di Beizun's unfathomable eyes. He glanced at Tuoba Yu and the others on the city wall ahead, then lowered his eyes indifferently and said calmly, "Set up the formation."
"Yes! Your Majesty!"
As soon as Emperor Beizun finished speaking, Su Yu beside him responded and began issuing orders to the generals around him—
"General Zhang Yihu, you lead the crossbow formation to hold the enemy's base. General Liao Ping, you lead the Thunderclap Formation to advance. The flanks remain as originally planned..."
In just a short while, the Great Zhou army had set up its formation, and Tuoba Yu and others on the city wall were also ready to defend.
"Your Majesty, their city walls have been raised considerably. A direct assault like this would likely be quite difficult. If Tuoba Yu and his men simply remain hidden within the city, it seems we cannot..."
"Just because he wants to be a trapped beast doesn't mean Xifenglie is willing. They will come out of the city to fight. Let's present the challenge."
Emperor Beizun said calmly, showing no sign of worry.
"Your Majesty, may I have the opportunity to meet Xi Fenglie later?"
Sikong Mo stared intently at the black figure on the city wall, unable to resist gripping the sword at his waist, and turned to ask Di Beizun.
"You are no match for him, but if you wish to meet him, I will naturally protect you."
Emperor Beizun casually uttered these words, took the telescope handed to him by the soldier beside him, and briefly surveyed the situation around the city.
"Okay, I also want to prove that I won't hold my brother back!"
Sikong Mo was full of confidence.
"Your Majesty, this humble general is willing to step forward and challenge you to a duel, and presents this challenge!"
A tall and imposing general stepped forward and clasped his hands in greeting to Emperor Beizun.
Di Beizun glanced at him, then gave Su Yu a look. Su Yu quickly took out a challenge letter from his sleeve and handed it to the general.
"Be careful, don't get bogged down in battle. Tuoba Yu's several fierce generals are no less capable than you."
Emperor Beizun reminded him.
"Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty. This humble general will certainly not let Your Majesty down! Victory is assured!"
After uttering these words, the general swiftly mounted his horse and galloped towards the city ahead...
"We must win! We must win!"
Immediately behind him came the sound of soldiers' drums!
On the city wall, watching the approaching riders, Tuoba Yu and Xifeng Lie exchanged another glance, nodded, and looked in the direction of Di Beizun. They also saw him sitting high on his horse, seemingly talking to his advisors.
The army of the Great Zhou has already formed its battle formation, and a great battle is imminent!
"Your Highness, let this humble general go and meet the so-called fierce generals of the Great Zhou!"
Seeing the Great Zhou soldiers below challenging him, someone immediately asked for instructions.
Tuoba Yu turned around and saw the imposing general beside him. After thinking for a moment, he nodded, "Yes, go ahead, be careful!"
"Yes, Your Highness! Await my good news!"
After uttering those words, the mighty general turned and walked down the city wall. A moment later, the city gate below was opened, and a rider charged out from inside.
The two fierce warriors clashed, and the battle was extremely dangerous.
However, Emperor Beizun had no interest in watching the battle. He turned his head and said to Su Yu indifferently, "Pass down the order to have the soldiers attack the city according to the pre-arranged plan."
Su Yu nodded. "Yes, Your Majesty!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Su Yu said something to a fierce general beside him. Immediately afterward, the siege formation began to slowly advance, and the generals who were fighting in front of them also retreated.
"Oh no! Your Highness, are they planning to attack the city directly?"
Black Mountain stared at the siege equipment slowly advancing below, his face darkening slightly. "Your Highness, what is this? Our arrows probably won't be able to penetrate it!"
The siege weapons were incredibly diverse, quite different from traditional siege warfare. They had never seen any of these weapons before, which showed that Emperor Beizun had made thorough preparations for this westward advance.
"Your Highness, what is that?"
Before Tuoba Yu and the others could respond, Heishan's eyes widened as he pointed to a row of high-standing equipment below. Several large ladles appeared to be hanging from the wooden frames, and a dozen strong soldiers were controlling long ropes attached to the ends of the ladles. Then, soldiers carried baskets of small black balls to the ladles, took one out, placed it in the ladle, lit it, and immediately pulled the ropes down, sending the black balls flying.
"Thunderbolt Chariot!"
Xi Fenglie was the first to react, because he suddenly remembered that back in the northwest of Dayong, Sikong Jin seemed to have used the same strange thing to blast open the city gate and enter the city! He just didn't expect that this Emperor Beizun would be able to use this thing on siege equipment.
Tuoba Yu frowned slightly, his expression unusually solemn. "I knew that Di Beizun had put a lot of effort into the new weapon, but I didn't expect him to come up with something like this!"
'Bang! Bang!'
A gust of wind swept past, followed by a series of booming explosions. A strong smell of gunpowder filled the air, as if the air had suddenly burst into flames. Tuoba Yu was forced to instinctively raise his hand to cover his nose and mouth and take two steps back.