met free Chapter 282 Wanyan Ping Orders Massacre of the City
Chapter 282 Wanyan Ping Orders Massacre of the City
The leader of the rebel army acted decisively. With a single command, his warriors sprang into action, dumping sandbags and heavy stones into the deep cave entrance, determined to firmly seal off the bronze-cast and iron-clad Jin soldiers who were attempting to sneak in from the ground in the dark underground.
Meanwhile, when Wanyan Ping learned that his meticulously planned tunnel raid had been exposed to the rebel army, his expression changed drastically. He then decisively waved his hand, directing his Jin soldiers to silently transport boxes of incredibly powerful explosives deep into the hidden tunnel like a gust of wind.
Initially, his plan was to use this secret passage to quietly send elite troops into the city, catching the enemy off guard. However, the plan changed unexpectedly, and he had to temporarily change his strategy, deciding instead to use the tunnel to implement a more direct and daring plan to breach the city walls, determined to break through in one fell swoop.
As night fell, Li Gang, who lived in the city, suddenly learned of the Jin people's conspiracy to dig tunnels. He had no time to care about his fatigue from the past few days and immediately mobilized his troops, which surged towards the area around the east city wall like a tide, determined to find the hidden enemy.
The night was as dark as ink, a critical moment when the enemy might take advantage of the situation to invade. Li Gang knew that only by nipping this potential threat in the bud could he ensure the peace of the region.
The flickering firelight illuminated the tense yet determined figures of the rebel soldiers, who, holding torches, meticulously searched every inch of the eastern city wall, attempting to find the hidden passage leading into the city.
Li Gang's sharp eyes swept over the busy crowd, and he then whispered to a spirited leader beside him, "Go and inspect the west city immediately. I am worried that the Jurchens will use a 'feint attack' tactic, so we must be on guard."
Just as the city was filled with clamor and bustling noise, Jin soldiers quietly filed out of the underground cave outside the city. The fuses they held tightly in their hands were like sleeping fire dragons, carefully placed until they were close to the edge of the cave entrance. Only then did their tense and cautious fingers slowly loosen and stop fiddling with them.
Wanyan Ping's gaze swept over the fully equipped troops, his deep and powerful voice echoing in the night: "Gentlemen, proceed according to plan. Once the city walls collapse amidst the roar, that will be the time for us to strike with overwhelming force and strike straight at the heart of the enemy."
The order was given like a landslide. Almost simultaneously, six or seven fire dragons were brought to life, winding and dancing in the darkness, slowly crawling towards the abyss below. The leaping flames were particularly dazzling in the silent night, foreshadowing the coming storm.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!..."
Accompanied by several deafening, muffled, and powerful explosions, the eastern city wall of Dongping Prefecture seemed to bear the weight of the collapsing sky and splitting the earth. Several sections of the sturdy city wall collapsed under the violent impact of the explosions. Amidst the flying dust, countless righteous soldiers who were eagerly searching for refuge were mercilessly buried, their fates hanging by a thread.
Li Gang, being somewhat further away, escaped the attack, but his gaze froze in horror after witnessing the breathtaking scene. He quickly regained his composure, his voice slightly hoarse from tension, yet he commanded with unwavering resolve: "Quickly! Immediately gather all troops within the city here. Once the Jin invaders breach the city walls, their offensive will be relentless; there is no time to lose!"
Having said that, Li Gang abruptly drew the gleaming sword from his waist, its tip pointing straight to the sky, as if to encapsulate the resolve and courage of this critical moment. He turned to face the righteous soldiers beside him, whose faces were equally solemn and whose blood was boiling, his voice filled with encouragement and unyielding spirit: "Brothers, at this moment, we are all each other's support! For this land, for the innocent people behind us, let us fight side by side and swear to defend every inch of our territory!"
These words ignited the fighting spirit in everyone's hearts like a raging fire. They responded one after another, preparing to face the upcoming brutal battle and vowing to defend this land ravaged by war to the death.
These rebels, disregarding the soldiers still buried under the collapsed city wall, followed Li Gang and charged towards the oncoming Jin soldiers.
Wanyan Ping, stationed outside the city, had prepared a full 30,000 elite infantrymen, hoping to seize this opportunity to take Dongping Prefecture in one fell swoop. With Li Gang leading the resistance, the soldiers of both sides clashed on the ruins of the city walls. Due to the darkness and the uneven ground, the Jin army was unable to break into the city smoothly for the time being.
Upon seeing this, Wanyan Ping, who was overseeing the battle outside the city, immediately ordered: "Bring the firearms battalion up to the front. Today, I will definitely take Dongping Prefecture."
Soon, Jin soldiers, dressed somewhat differently and wielding muskets, charged forward, followed by several catapults that slowly entered the battlefield. After adjusting their firing angles, these catapults dropped burning, round bombs into the ranks of the rebel soldiers within the city.
With a deafening explosion, followed by a continuous barrage of gunfire that sang a deathly symphony, the brave and fearless rebel soldiers who held the front lines fell like autumn leaves. Li Gang, the general who stood tall at the front, fearlessly leading his soldiers against the onslaught of the Jin army, was not spared either. A bomb that suddenly fell from the sky mercilessly extinguished the flame of his life, and his blood, like a tragic painting, soaked through his battle robe and armor.
Despite the desperate efforts of the surrounding rebel soldiers to carry him back to the city from the smoke-filled battlefield, and the medics' tireless attempts to save the hero's life, the wheel of fate had already turned mercilessly, and the efforts of any mortal seemed pale and powerless. Li Gang's light of life eventually extinguished slowly in the endless darkness.
Without this key figure, the morale of the rebel army quickly crumbled, like a rudderless boat tossing and turning in the storm. As the eastern sky began to lighten, heralding the approach of a new day, the iron hooves of the Jin army had already breached the gates of Dongping Prefecture. Like a raging flood, they began their merciless slaughter once inside the city. Every blade gleamed coldly, every scream trembled in the hearts of the people, and the entire Dongping Prefecture was instantly shrouded in a bloodbath.
In that critical moment of life and death, a portion of the rebel army, seeing the situation rapidly deteriorating, secretly plotted to seize the fleeting opening while the main Jin army surged towards the eastern city. They quietly withdrew through the other city gates, like shadows in the night, silently escaping into the embrace of freedom. Their retreat, seemingly a simple step, inadvertently created a vast rear area for their comrades still fighting the Jin army amidst the raging battlefield within the city.
This sudden turn of events forced the rebels still fighting desperately on the front lines to confront a harsh reality—the area behind them, once considered a safe haven, was now completely exposed to the Jin army's iron hooves. Seeing this, the Jin army, seizing the opportunity, immediately adjusted their formation, like hungry wolves discovering helpless lambs, launching a relentless and merciless encirclement and slaughter.
As dawn broke, Wanyan Ping rode his warhorse slowly through the streets of Dongping Prefecture. The roadsides were littered with the corpses of soldiers from both sides, but the majority of them were those of the rebel army.
Wanyan Ping said coldly, "Tell your men that they will not sheath their swords for three days."
Upon hearing the order, the Jin general beamed and went to issue it. From that moment on, the entire Dongping Prefecture became a "dead city".