Chapter 637
Chapter 637
Mulan effortlessly drew the most powerful of longbows and fired as if she hadn't aimed at all.
*Swish.*
An arrow shot forth, as fast as a meteor, nearly the speed of a bullet. She easily shot and broke a tree branch two hundred and sixty meters away.
*Was that a lucky shot? A coincidence?*
Then, Mulan fired a second, third, and fourth time. Every arrow she loosed struck the same branch.
*She's... she's too strong. This is true marksmanship, isn't it? Hitting a target from this distance is comparable to a sniper. And didn't it look like Mulan wasn't even aiming properly? Does transforming one's bloodline make you this powerful?*
In truth, what Mulan had awakened was a heightened perception of nature. In battle, this perception would first allow her to sense dangerous auras, and second, grant her exceptional archery skills. She truly didn't need to aim. Her peerless marksmanship was an innate talent gained after her bloodline transformation. She was now, in every sense, a master archer.
Shen Lang looked at Mulan and said.
"My love, the Second Nirvana Army is yours from this day forward!"
The next day, the Second Nirvana Army, led by Shen Lang, boarded dozens of ships and departed Nirvana Island in grand fashion, returning to Xuanwu City.
***
Seven days had already passed since the war with the Southern Ou Kingdom began. The State of Yue once again found itself in a state of anxiety.
*What's the state of the war? Are we winning or losing?*
For seven long days, no news had arrived, and instead, rumors ran rampant.
"Did you hear? They say we lost the war with the Southern Ou Kingdom. General Zhu Lin was killed in action, General Nangong Ao surrendered, and Princess Ning Luo was taken captive."
"The rumors say Princess Ning Luo wasn't just captured, but thrown into a pit of vipers and bitten to death. They say our State of Yue's grand army was slaughtered, their bodies piled up like mountains, and their blood flowed like rivers. The ground is covered in corpses."
Of course, this was only one of the rumors. There were also whispers that the State of Yue had won a great victory. Some said King Ou had surrendered, others that he had been killed, and still others that he was captured and being transported to the capital. But the rumor of Yue's great defeat was the most widespread and seemed the most credible. This was, naturally, the work of Chu spies, but at its root, these rumors exposed the fear and resentment in the hearts of the Yue people.
The State of Yue imposed a nationwide curfew, and any gathering of more than thirty people without official permission was deemed illegal. The more people gathered, the more fertile the ground for rumors became. Yet, even with such strict suppression, the spread of rumors could not be stopped; in fact, it only grew worse. The people of Yue were all trembling with anxiety, especially those in Tiannan Province, which was close to the Southern Ou Kingdom. Some citizens even packed their belongings, ready to flee at a moment's notice. And the nobles, who had long tyrannized the common people, shut their gates, armed all their servants, and ordered them to guard their homes day and night.
***
At this moment, the most anxious person was undoubtedly Zhu Rong, the Governor of Tiannan Province. It had been nine days since the war began, and in that time, he had received a hundred telegrams, but their content was almost always the same. They described the Ou Army as if they had gone mad, unafraid of death. Though an unorganized force, they were incredibly brave and fierce, like wild beasts, attacking the city like moths drawn to a flame. Every time he received a telegram, Governor Zhu Rong's heart would pound. Although the contents of the telegrams were similar, he could read between the lines that the situation was growing more precarious and tense. With a new telegram arriving from the Southern Ou battlefield every two hours, Governor Zhu Rong barely slept, considering even dozing off a luxury.
"My lord, please go and rest. If something truly urgent happens, I will wake you."
Yan Wuqi said, unable to hold back any longer. Governor Zhu Rong replied.
"No. I cannot sleep. If I miss the critical moment in this battle, I will become a sinner for the ages."
Yan Wuqi spoke again.
"Your Excellency, you are too tense. That is detrimental to the entire war effort. Can you not feel that the atmosphere in the entire governor's mansion is so suffocating one can barely breathe? What about the people of Tiannan, who are all trembling in fear? Every telegram passes through your hands first, so the servants judge the state of the war by your expression. Your expression is so grave now that they assume the situation is dire and tell their families. As the story is passed along, it becomes more and more exaggerated, turning into a rumor that the State of Yue has suffered a crushing defeat before any real news even reaches the capital."
"As a commander, you must maintain a calm demeanor, relax, and show confidence. Only then will the morale of the troops under you rise. Are you truly unaware that many people in Tiannan Province are selling their assets and preparing to flee?"
Governor Zhu Rong was greatly startled by these words and bowed deeply to Yan Wuqi.
"Thank you for your enlightenment, Master Yan. I was wrong. I was so worried that I lost my composure."
"Your Excellency, please go and rest. Tomorrow, you must appear on the city walls full of vigor, stand before the army, and dispel all these rumors of Yue's defeat."
Governor Zhu Rong nodded.
"I understand. I will do as you say, Master Yan!"
He then took a deep breath and returned to his room to sleep. But how could he possibly sleep when he was so wrought with anxiety? In the end, Yan Wuqi, unable to watch any longer, lit some incense, and a short while later, Governor Zhu Rong finally fell asleep.
***
Had he been asleep for more than two hours? Someone woke Governor Zhu Rong. He shot up and asked in a startled voice.
"What is it? What's happened?"
Yan Wuqi told him.
"General Zhu Lin has sent the latest telegram. The western wall of the Southern Ou capital has been breached, and the Ou Army has scaled the walls!"
Zhu Rong's body trembled, and his head throbbed as if it would split apart.
*The nature of the battle has finally changed. The nightmare has finally arrived!*
***
Was the situation at the Southern Ou capital really just "somewhat precarious," as the telegrams described? No! In fact, it was far more dangerous. The Yue army was undergoing an unprecedented baptism—a baptism of blood and tears. Even the utterly brutal battle where Zhang Chong defended White Night Commandery City with five thousand men, holding out for over a fortnight against Su Nan's army of more than thirty thousand, seemed trivial in comparison to the defense of the Southern Ou capital.
The battle for the Southern Ou capital had been horrifying from the very beginning. Everyone knew the warriors of the Four Barbarian Tribes were exceedingly brave, but no one had expected them to be this crazed. They not only did not fear death but seemed to be scrambling to die. The defending army under Zhu Lin numbered nearly one hundred thousand, and the Ou Army's siege force was also one hundred thousand strong.
Typically, an attacking force needed at least two to three times the number of defenders to capture a city; a siege was considered impossible with equal numbers. Moreover, the Ou Army lacked large siege equipment like catapults. Yet, from the very first day of battle, the enemy had nearly reached the top of the walls.
The fifty-foot-high walls were not considered a difficult climb for the warriors of the Four Barbarian Tribes. They charged forward carrying crude siege ladders. Those with ladders climbed them, while those without wore iron claw-like contraptions on their hands and scrambled up the walls like lizards. The Yue army had never seen anyone fight with such madness. They were so taken aback at the start of the battle that they nearly lost the city in a moment of absurdity.
However, Zhu Lin's army was one of the State of Yue's elite forces. Though initially bewildered by the enemy's astonishing behavior, they quickly launched a fierce counterattack, suppressing the assault of the Four Barbarian Tribes' army. Soon, both sides were locked in a massive battle. For the first five days, the Yue army, being the defenders, held a relative advantage. They had countless logs, rocks, and jars of oil within the city to hurl at the enemy.
But the Ou Army's Four Barbarian Tribes also had a secret weapon: the bow. Every warrior of the Four Barbarian Tribes was a skilled archer, and their bows had an incredible range. No matter how many casualties they suffered climbing from the ground to the walls, the difference in archery between the two armies was stark. The warriors of the Four Barbarian Tribes constantly hunted in the jungle, making nearly every one of them an archer. In contrast, only the dedicated archery units in the Yue army were equipped with bows, and their skills were significantly inferior to those of the tribesmen. Thus, the archers of the Four Barbarian Tribes were able to inflict astonishing damage on the Yue army.
On the seventh day, the tide of battle shifted again, and the scales of victory tipped in favor of the Ou Army. It wasn't for any other reason than that the Yue army's grit and mental fortitude were weaker than that of the tribesmen. After seven days of intense fighting, the defending Yue forces were exhausted, and their morale was plummeting. The war was far more brutal than anticipated, causing supplies to be consumed at a much faster rate. The piles of logs, rocks, and jars of oil on the walls were dwindling.
In contrast, after several days of battle, the army of the Four Barbarian Tribes had gradually become accustomed to siege warfare. Most importantly, despite suffering so many casualties, their morale remained high. Even after seven consecutive days of fighting, the warriors of the Four Barbarian Tribes were still filled with fighting spirit, their killing intent piercing the heavens. This, too, stemmed from their unique living environment. Most of the Four Barbarian Tribes lived in savage villages, surviving by hunting. Once a warrior entered the forest to hunt, they often wouldn't return home for ten to fifteen days, and it was common for them to go without sleep for days and nights on end. Their harsh living conditions naturally endowed them with astonishing perseverance and willpower.
King Ou had united these tribes to establish the Great Southern Kingdom. This greatly boosted the pride of the tribesmen, and countless mercenary armies of the Four Barbarian Tribes returned to pledge their allegiance to him. These mercenaries had all been gladiators in the various nations of the Western Regions. From a young age, they had fought not only humans but also ferocious beasts. In terms of individual combat prowess alone, the warriors of the Four Barbarian Tribes far surpassed the soldiers of Yue.
Finally, the stalemate was broken, and the warriors of the Four Barbarian Tribes scaled the walls once again. This time, they were not pushed back by the Yue soldiers. More and more tribesmen made it onto the walls. The defensive line on the western wall was on the verge of collapse, about to be overrun. General Zhu Lin was furious but quickly ordered his adjutant to draft several telegrams and send them as quickly as possible to Princess Ning Luo, Nangong Ao, and Zhu Rong. Although he had judged the situation to be dire three days prior and had already requested reinforcements from Nangong Ao and Princess Ning Luo, he had yet to receive any reply. If reinforcements did not arrive immediately, the city would soon fall.
*It's over! It's all over!*
A chill ran down General Zhu Lin's spine. He then gathered all the elite warriors of the Zhu Clan. With Zhu Lin leading the charge, over a thousand warriors from the Zhu Clan mercilessly slaughtered the enemy. But even with such a desperate struggle, they could not halt the tribesmen's assault, and the number of warriors of the Four Barbarian Tribes on the walls only continued to grow.