Frost for a Thousand Years

Chapter 100 Martial Might Breaks, North Wind in Danger

"Your Majesty, Wulei on the south bank of the river has been burned down by the false Yu, and all the militia and laborers have been taken to the north wind."

Upon entering the military tent, Chen Xing reported to Ji Yuan, his expression somewhat uneasy.

"As expected." Ji Yuan was not surprised. He walked to the sand table and observed it while saying, "I guessed that the traitors on the other side would cut off all their correspondence at almost the same time."

"It seems that it was that top scholar named Song Shi'an who did it. He killed Wang Shen, occupied the city, and the rest of the people didn't dare to resist. Later, he even made a promise by pointing to the Chishui River to lure everyone to Shuofeng." At this point, Chen Xing reasonably deduced, "The power grab, the burning of the city, all of this should be the work of that Song Shi'an."

"Could it be that the imperial examination can actually select talented people?" Ji Yuan looked at him and asked jokingly.

"Your Majesty, I don't think it's a matter of talent. It's that this person is simply lawless."

"But they did most of it right."

Ji Yuan cleared out the black fortresses one by one.

Chen Xing quickly helped by removing the fortresses on the sand table.

"And this whole county was burned down; everyone had been evacuated," Chen Xing said.

There are four counties on the other side of the river. One was burned down, and the other two are too far south, far from Shuofeng, so there is no way to go around to fight them, and they are not of great strategic significance.

So that's how things are now.

Within a radius of hundreds of miles, there is only this one isolated city.

And, the boundless wilderness.

"I have ordered the Prime Minister to allocate another 30,000 troops and prepare 100,000 Qi people. Once Wuwei is captured and Tongmen Pass is passed, they will be stationed in various counties and villages, making this place completely the territory of my Great Qi."

"Your Majesty, should we still fight the north wind?" Chen Xing asked.

"of course."

Staring at the isolated city, Ji Yuan said indifferently, "If the reinforcements from the pseudo-Yu arrive quickly, I will eliminate them first and then calmly take over Shuofeng. If they prefer to remain still and monitor, I will destroy Shuofeng as soon as possible."

In short: to achieve victory in one battle.

Returning his gaze to the city beneath his feet, Ji Yuan speculated, "As for Wuwei, it seems they're about to run out of food as well."

.........

After holding out for four and a half months, although Ji Yuan spent the first two months waiting for Zhao Xiang and defeating Zhao Xiang, the actual time to attack the city was only two months. However, regardless of whether they were attacked or not, they were consuming a lot of resources every day, and Wuwei City's grain reserves were finally running out.

Standing at the entrance of the granary, Han Yuan, whose battle robe was covered in filth and whose face was stained with blood, looked utterly distressed.

At this moment, the grain officer said, "General, even if we restrain ourselves to the bare minimum, this grain will only last for twenty days."

They ran out of ammunition and food half a month earlier than expected.

There's no way around it; that's just how it is in a city defense battle.

The soldiers defending the city cannot go hungry. Everyone can go hungry, but those on the city walls must be well-supplied.

Otherwise, if their fighting strength is weakened and a breach is created, they will lose even faster.

Just then, a military advisor came over and whispered, "General, Ji Yuan's men have come again to persuade you to surrender, saying they will grant your request..."

"kill him!"

Han Yuan immediately spoke up in anger, but after speaking, he changed his mind and said, "No, let him go back and tell Ji Yuan that the Han family of Qinzhou has been nobles and marquises for generations. How could we do such a thing as selling out our country for personal gain?"

"Yes." The adjutant nodded and saluted, but before leaving, he looked at the granary and said, "General, I'm afraid this grain won't last until reinforcements arrive."

Actually, Han Yuan was lying.

He knew perfectly well that once Zhao Xiang, that good-for-nothing, lost, there would be no more reinforcements.

But he couldn't say that.

"From today onwards, food supplies will be provided only to the soldiers," Han Yuan ordered.

Wuwei still has about 24,000 civilians, which is about five times the number of the remaining 5,000 soldiers.

However, the daily rations required by a soldier are three times that of the average civilian.

If all the food were distributed to the soldiers, completely ignoring the common people, they could even hold out for nearly fifty more days...

"General." Upon hearing this, the adjutant's face darkened, and he lowered his voice, saying, "If that's the case, then we'll have to gather all the civilians together and either kill them... or forcibly imprison them in the military camp..."

Let them starve to death.

Otherwise, these starving people might cause internal strife.

“When they’re so hungry they have no strength, they can’t move,” Han Yuan said heavily. “Let them find their own way to survive. Maybe they can catch rats in the city, or maybe some people have hidden away grain, or maybe people… sigh.”

"General, we really must kill him."

A very serious reminder about joining the army.

"They're all from my Dayu people, so let's just forget about it."

Han Yuan shook his head sadly, forcing himself to make up his mind: "Go, give the order to stop distributing grain to the people."

.........

“Even those who have served as dukes and marquises for generations will not submit to me. Among the nobles of this false Yu dynasty, there are still some true men.”

Sitting in the main seat in the military camp, Ji Yuan smiled.

The dozen or so generals and advisors standing under the emperor's command also burst into laughter after the emperor laughed.

"Wei Ye is also out of options. He hasn't encountered any opponents along the way, hahaha."

“I saw that the soldiers on the city wall were gradually losing their morale, and their food supplies must have run out.”

"Since he won't surrender, then let's march into the city and cook this young master of a family that has been nobles for generations!"

"Your Majesty, let's launch a full-scale attack today!"

Han Yuan's arrogant sarcasm ignited the entire pack of wolves.

Ji Yuan slowly rose to his feet and calmly said, "Everyone, mobilize! Attack all four city gates simultaneously."

"As ordered!"

Thus, all the generals received their orders at the same time, turned around, and walked out of the tent one by one, their momentum overwhelming.

"Let's go and have a look."

Ji Yuan called to Chen Xing beside him, and the two of them were the last to leave the tent.

They mounted their horses and followed the army out of the camp.

Except at night, Wuwei City was besieged by an army of 100,000 men in turn.

Ji Yuan and Chen Xing's horses, escorted by cavalry, naturally parted to form a path within the army. The two drew closer and closer until they were only three hundred paces apart. Chen Xing raised his hand to block their path: "Your Majesty, you must not proceed any further. Beware of the crossbow bolts."

"Balloons are too slow; Wuwei City won't have time to use them."

Although he said that, Ji Yuan did not take any further steps.

He stopped his horse there, raised his head, and looked at the city wall that was being fiercely attacked.

As he looked, his brow suddenly furrowed, and he said, "Something's not right."

Upon hearing this, Chen Xing immediately looked at Ji Yuan, his heart leaping with anxiety, "Your Majesty, what has happened?"

"The arrow was too slow."

His expression was very serious as he stared at the arrows raining down like a storm.

Chen Xing also looked over, but did not notice any difference.

Because it's still raining heavily, continuously.

It is said that there may be more than 1.2 million arrows in Wuwei City alone.

Moreover, there were quite a few arrows shot in from outside the city.

Even with significant losses, there shouldn't be a shortage of arrows.

But the emperor's words are never wrong.

"It's not that we're short of arrows, it's that the arrows we're releasing are too slow."

Ji Yuan kept his eyes fixed on the city wall, his gaze unwavering.

Chen Xing was still puzzled.

"The support from auxiliary soldiers and laborers can't keep up."

Ji Yuan vaguely guessed the reason.

"What does Your Majesty mean?!" Chen Xing asked in astonishment.

"Ah, that's right."

Ji Yuan continued to observe the frequency of the arrows and confirmed, "The granaries are empty, so they cut off the grain supply to the people."

"If it has come to this point, it means that the city's food supplies may not even last a month."

"Lord Chen, can you smell the blood in the wind?" Ji Yuan said expressionlessly.

"Your Majesty, the air is thick with the stench of blood. There's blood from the false Yu army, and blood from ours. But mainly, it's ours." After saying this, Chen Xing asked curiously, "If the people are starved, will Han Yuan massacre them?"

“Even nobles and dukes of past generations would not do such a thing.”

"..." Chen Xing revealed a look of joy, "Han Yuan's indecisiveness is a blessing from heaven for our Great Qi!"

A slow smile curved his lips as Ji Yuan raised his hand and gently pressed it down: "Catapult."

.........

In the city, the vast majority of the people were too hungry to walk and lay on the ground like dying dogs.

When food supplies ran out, the officers said that food should be conserved and that people should only eat one meal a day.

But after waiting a whole day, no food was distributed, not even rice porridge with plain water.

Only then did everyone realize that they had all been abandoned by the general.

And everyone was too exhausted to struggle or protest.

There will never be any more food distributed.

Rats are indeed a staple food, but they are also part of the city. They hide in the shadows and come out to gnaw on the corpses after people die.

Just then, a black shadow suddenly swept across overhead and then crashed heavily to the ground with a loud thud.

It hit one person and immediately turned him into a bloody mess.

But nobody cared; no one had the strength to dodge the catapults.

Suddenly, someone rubbed their eyes and realized that it wasn't a boulder at all.

Instead, it was a yellow burlap sack.

He climbed over, untied the rope binding the bag, and froze when he opened it.

There is a large rock inside.

Apart from that, it was all filled with biscuits.

He reached in and took out a pancake.

The people around him looked at him.

With difficulty, he got up, staggering and slowly running towards that direction like a soulless zombie.

They surrounded the sack and started fighting over the bread.

The next moment, dozens of large sacks flew in from outside the city.

Inside, there were only big stones and cakes.

Behind this road, countless 'zombies' surged like a tide, but due to extreme hunger, they moved with a comical, sluggish pace...

"There's paper inside." After taking several big bites of a pancake, one person looked at the words on the paper and read, "The Great Qi army is attacking the North Gate with all its might. After the city falls, there will be plenty of pancakes."

The people have changed.

More than 10,000 people blocked the north gate.

Facing the swords and spears of the Yu army, they blocked the city gate and rushed into the barbican, while the rest climbed onto the city wall.

Outside the city, Qi army's siege ladders continuously transported soldiers up the city walls.

Wuwei City has fallen.

In the very center of the prefectural governor's mansion.

Han Yuan wiped the sword that the emperor had personally gifted him over and over again.

The sword's edge gleamed.

He raised the sword hilt to his neck and pulled hard...

In the summer of the forty-ninth year of Jia Rui, Ji Yuan conquered Wuwei, spared the people, and massacred the entire army.

(End of this chapter)