Starting with helping Zhao Kai ascend the throne in the snow

"Useless, a bunch of useless trash, they can't even climb a ladder..."

"Exactly! What use are you guys if you can't even climb a ladder?"

The group of leaders gathered around Li Ze began to curse angrily after seeing that the barbarian soldiers attacking the city were making no progress.

"Quiet down and listen to me." Under Li Ze's loud reprimand, the surrounding noise immediately quieted down, and the leaders of each department shut their mouths and looked at Li Ze.

Li Ze's sharp gaze swept over the twenty-odd tribal leaders present, and he said in an icy tone, "Leaders, we are now at the gates of the city, only one step away from taking Kuaiji City. As long as we can defeat the garrison on the city walls, Kuaiji City will be ours. Therefore, I do not want anyone to play tricks on me."

As Li Ze spoke, the eyes of all the tribal leaders present flickered. The reason why the siege just now was so bad was not only because the barbarian soldiers had no experience in siege warfare, but also because the tribal leaders did not send their elite troops.

After scanning everyone, Li Ze spoke again, "I will pretend I didn't see the siege just now. Afterwards, the four tribes will form a group, with each tribe sending 500 people to fight, in teams of 100 people each, each occupying five siege ladders. Furthermore, each tribe must send no less than 20 warriors to participate in the siege. Anyone who dares to cheat or shirk their duties will be an enemy of my Li Yue tribe."

Upon hearing Li Ze's order, the leaders present secretly groaned, but dared not openly object. They knew that of the 60,000 troops in this expedition, Li Ze's tribe accounted for 6,000 men and was also responsible for supplying the army with provisions. No one dared to offend him easily, otherwise, without the Li Ze tribe's supply of provisions, they would be unable to move an inch.

"Chief Li, I also suggest that we send archers to provide ranged support during the siege. From my observation, the defenders on the city walls are probably just a group of newly recruited local militia. As long as we can get onto the walls and engage in close combat, they will probably scatter in all directions," Chaya added after Li Ze finished speaking.

Soon after Li Ze and Cha Ya reached an agreement, the barbarian soldiers below the city retreated, and new barbarian soldiers took over their duties of attacking the city.

Shen Qing clearly noticed that the newly arrived barbarian soldiers were more organized than before. It seemed that war truly was the best teacher, enabling people to grow rapidly.

"Make sure everyone looks down to see if there are people before throwing stones. Don't just throw them randomly with your eyes closed..."

"Liu Ermazi is talking to you. You don't even dare to open your eyes. Aren't you afraid of dropping your own foot?"

Just as Pan Yang was inspecting the city walls, the barbarian soldiers below climbed up the ladders again, and the local militia on the city walls immediately started throwing logs and stones at the ladders again.

However, this time the barbarian soldiers included many barbarian warriors. These people were agile and quick. When faced with the falling logs and stones, they either nimbly flipped over to hide behind the ladders or used their weapons to block the falling logs and stones. They charged towards the city wall without fear of death.

In addition, the barbarian soldiers below the city kept harassing it with arrows. Although the local militia on the city wall continued to throw down huge logs and stones, in less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, some barbarian warriors were the first to climb up the ladder and engage in close combat.

"Someone has made it to the top! Wealth and glory are right before our eyes! Charge, everyone..." Seeing that some brave warriors had made it to the top of the city wall, the barbarian soldiers below were immediately invigorated and quickened their pace, climbing much faster.

Faced with the barbarian warriors charging up the city wall, the local militia instinctively lost their courage and retreated with their weapons, giving the barbarians more room to maneuver. In the blink of an eye, more barbarian soldiers climbed up the ladders and continued to expand their advantage.

"The barbarians have breached the city! I don't want to die, I want to go home..."

"Run! Everyone, the barbarians are attacking..."

Soon, some local militiamen were so frightened by the barbarian soldiers' attack that they turned and ran away, and some cowardly people also echoed their response.

"Stop right there! Anyone who dares to retreat will be killed without mercy!" Shen Qing's face was extremely ugly as he watched the retreating villagers. He picked up his broadsword and slashed down a villager who screamed and retreated. The yamen runners following Shen Qing also drew their swords and aimed them at the retreating villagers.

Righteousness does not preservate wealth, and compassion does not lead an army. Faced with the continuous retreat of the local militia, if Shen Qing cannot immediately curb this trend, everyone will likely be dragged down. After all, if no one stops the escape, everyone will instinctively choose to protect themselves.

With Shen Qing overseeing the battle, and especially after witnessing those who retreated being killed, everyone was terrified and dared not take another step back.

Pan Yang, mingling in the crowd, saw this and shouted, "Listen to me, everyone! Rather than retreating and being killed, we should fight the barbarian soldiers to the death! As long as we drive them away, we can ensure that the city is not lost. Otherwise, if we really lose Kuaiji City, no one will survive. Everyone in the city will be slaughtered by the barbarian soldiers."

Most people are blindly obedient, which is why accomplices can thrive. Sure enough, with Pan Yang's shout, the local militia turned their attention to the barbarian soldiers who had rushed up the city wall and launched an attack on them with their weapons.

However, Shen Qing also knew the strength of these local militiamen. He knew that their current high morale was not enough to withstand the barbarian soldiers' offensive. Once their enthusiasm subsided, they would be brought back to reality.

Shen Qing wanted to train his troops, hone their skills, and transform them from a group of local militia into qualified soldiers, rather than sending them to their deaths as cannon fodder.

Shen Qing immediately signaled the martial artists he had been intentionally suppressing to come forward and assist in the battle. Compared to the meager fighting strength of the local militia, the martial artists were much more reliable.

However, the biggest problem with martial artists is that they are disorganized and undisciplined, disobey orders, and act arbitrarily.

If the two armies were to fight outside the city, Shen Qing would definitely not send martial artists to help. After all, martial artists would only disrupt one's own formation, which would be detrimental to one's own side. Battles in the wild are a contest of the battle formations formed by the two sides. Whoever has the more solid battle formation will have the last laugh.

Siege warfare is different. The space on the city walls is narrow, so it is all about strength and bravery. The role of formations on the city walls is greatly reduced, which makes it easier for warriors to fight.

With the help of the warriors, the barbarian soldiers who had climbed the city wall were forced to retreat continuously, and the space they occupied was constantly compressed, eventually leading to a stalemate near the entrance to the cloud ladder.

After all, there were many skilled warriors among the barbarian warriors, and the number of barbarian warriors in the 60,000-strong army was greater than the number of warriors in Kuaiji City. If it weren't for the narrow space on the city wall, which prevented them from climbing up at the same time, the defending army would probably not have been a match for the barbarian soldiers.