Translator: ryangohsff Editor: Nora
Chapter 996 – Fall of Fanyang
The rebel army’s first day of attacks ended in failure, and the price was 30 thousand innocent civilians and 40 thousand elite troops.
Chang An City was a lot more stubborn than Di Chen and the others had predicted.
As night fell, the moonlight shone on the bloodstained walls, the old and broken city walls, the corpses stacked up like mountains, and the earth stained red by blood.
After the system update, corpses would not despawn. As such, to prevent illnesses from spreading, Ouyang Shuo ordered them to bury the bodies at night or burn them.
The rumbling black smoke spread out in the air, sending a chill down one’s spine. In the cold air, sobbing sounds could be heard; these sobs were of someone who lost their loved ones.
During this seismic battle, 20 thousand of the young men recruited had died, mostly from the arrow turrets and trebuchets. The 60 thousand newbies were even worse, as one-third of them were lost.
As expected from the men of Great Tang.
During the night, there were rumors that the rebels only wanted to wipe out the ruler and not rebel. After the army entered Chang An, they would not harm the civilians, so they hoped that the people would not make any needless sacrifices.
The spies that An Lushan had planted in Chang An had started to do their work.
The moment the rumors spread out, there were really people that believed it. Especially those people who saw their neighbors fighting to the death; these people were traumatized and were afraid that such a catastrophe would befall them as well.
The world had been peaceful for long, and the people hated wars. Naturally, it was for the best if they were able to stop the war.
Hence, the people started to feel unsettled.
Ouyang Shuo immediately sent people to send word, “The rebel army says they are rebelling because of Yang Guozhong, but he’s dead, yet they have not stopped. In the day, they used innocent civilians to siege the city, sacrificing innocent lives.”
“With the above two points, one can see that the rebel army is sprouting lies.”
The moment the notice was released, the civilians were woken up, “That’s right, the rebels would not let us off even if they enter.”
As a result, the rebel army making use of civilians during the day was them digging their own graves.
While solving the rumors, Ouyang Shuo once again used the Divine Martial Guards to capture all these mice that jumped out.
…
In the following two days, the rebel army launched relentless assault after relentless assault on Chang An City. Each time, it was useless, and they left with cold corpses.
Chang An City was like a greedy beast, swallowing up fresh life.
On the third day of the siege, the rebel army’s morale fell.
“This cannot go on. We are going to fall under those city walls.” Di Chen was still really calm, and he gritted his teeth and said, “We need to change our strategy and come up with a plan.”
The few of them gathered together to discuss strategy. The atmosphere was not as relaxed as before. All of them were really solemn, and their brows were locked tight.
Only when the dead of night arrived did they go their separate ways.
…
15th day of the Battle Map, Chang An City.
The morning attacks of the rebel army were no different from the first two days. The only difference was that it was much more vicious, and they did not bother about the sacrifices. Each of them was fearless, and there were signs that they were going all out.
“The enemy is giving it their all. Focus guys!”
On the city wall, the experienced generals all noticed what was up with the enemies, so they reminded their men to focus. The battlefield had no eyes, and any small moment of carelessness would be fatal, much less at such a crucial moment.
The consecutive three days of attacks of the rebel army was a huge test for the defending troops. It was eating away at the mental strength of the soldiers, putting them on the verge of collapsing.
If this goes on, the defending troops might not be able to hold on. After all, there was a difference in numbers. However, the rebel army had suffered heavy casualties, and their morale had reached a freezing point. They might not be able to hold on till they managed to break through.
This was a battle of mental strength, and it was a psychological battle of commanders between the two sides.
It was a battle to see who could not hold on.
Undoubtedly, Di Chen and the others were restless first, as they changed their strategy.
At noon, just as everyone was the most relaxed, the rebel army suddenly acted. The 70 thousand troops that Di Chen used as reserve forces were moving.
“Not good!” Shihu felt his heart sink.
The rebel army throwing in their reserve forces at this moment meant they were going for the win.
“Fight to the death!”
The mountain barbarians showed their courage and killing intent at this moment.
To protect the honor and the glory of the dynasty, the 30 thousand of them did not mind dying on the battlefield.
Just as Shihu and the others were ready to fight to the death, the 70 thousand army suddenly turned and moved toward the east gate. Their target was actually the east city gate that they had not touched.
“Misdirection!”
The 70 thousand army was like a pack of wolves charging at the east.
Di Chen’s goal was simple. He wanted to use the chance that the army was attracted to the west and south sides to breach the east city wall and turn the tides of the battle.
Then, what troops were guarding the east city wall of the Tang Dynasty camp?
It was the three thousand guards that Chang An City originally had.
Although the battle had just started, Li Longji had brought his concubines out of Xingqing Palace and hid in Taiji palace. The three thousand guards still guarded at the east city wall.
Facing the sudden attack of the 70 thousand rebels, even with a city protection river, the three thousand of them would definitely fail to defend the city wall.
When Ouyang Shuo received the news, he immediately called Ma Xiu, “It’s time for all of you!”
“Yes, my king!”
Ma Xiu cleanly bowed; then he turned around and left.
The 20 thousand Tiger Leopard Cavalry rode to the east city region. They dismounted from their war horses and climbed onto the city walls. Instantly, they became a group of elite infantry.
Ouyang Shuo had been through hundreds of battles. As such, he would obviously keep some reserve troops too.
He did this to defend against the rebel army’s tricks.
The war ignited. The rebel army’s sneak attack did not work, and it instantly became a tough battle.
However, the sneak attack had caught the defending troops off guard, and the east side was not equipped with archers. Moreover, they could not make use of the arcuballistas. They also lacked support troops to transport defense resources.
Very quickly, the 70 thousand rebels managed to climb up the city wall and engage with the Tiger Leopard Cavalry.
The scene was really brutal, and it looked like the Tiger Leopard Cavalry were about to lose it. Luckily, they were the elites of the elite, the cream of the crop. Under the leadership of Ma Xiu, they pushed back the army time after time and stubbornly defended.
The strength of the Great Xia Army was unparalleled.
Just as both sides were locked in a close battle, an army appeared on the outskirts of Chang An. They looked at the battlefield, but they did not come over.
If one looked carefully, they would notice that troops supporting the king had arrived.
The Battle of Chang An had welcomed its turning point.
When Di Chen received the news, before he learned their bottom line, he did not dare to take the risk. As such, he ordered the troops to retreat. Their entire day of sieging was ineffective, and the situation was becoming riskier and riskier for the An Lushan camp.
Today’s forces were just the start. In the next few days, more and more troops would gather in Chang An, which would cause the rebel army to not lose the courage to siege and flee toward their camp near the Ba River.
Di Chen felt depressed, while An Qingxu was in a total frenzy. After the few days, of the 150 thousand troops that An Qingxu had brought, 50 thousand of them had fallen.
However, Chang An City still stood.
Along with more troops arriving, their hopes of attacking Chang An City became slimmer and slimmer. Whether they would be able to flee themselves or not would become a problem.
An Qingxu was feeling more and more unhappy about Di Chen and the others, and he even had thoughts of backing off to Luoyang.
‘At most, we will return to Fanyang!’ An Qingxu was having such thoughts.
However, he did not know that his way out had disappeared.
Two days ago, 150 thousand Tang troops led by Guo Ziyi, along with the 100 thousand elite cavalry, had wiped out Shi Siming’s troops and directly attacked Fanyang.
This army was currently chasing the victory and chasing right for Luoyang.
