A special thank you to all my patrons:
—Cain, Jacob Mooe, HADES, Varun Madhu, Gonzalo Sumalavia, kevin Williams, KD2001, merp., Jose Carrillo, Derek M, DancingMonkey65, Joseph, Jose Sierra, AR3S, Nuro.
You can read 50 chapters ahead of everyone on p@treon.
P@TREON - [email protected]/lessaservantofcosmos
(just replace the "@" with "a")
ps: Please support me on P@treon. I can really use your help!
—————————————————————
The plan was simple, but it carried risks.
Zhang Liao weighed the matter for a moment before agreeing to give it a try. After all, there weren't many better options at this point. The soldiers by his side were all handpicked by him, some even distantly related kin like Zhang Zhao, who had fought alongside him. To have endured to this point was already no small feat. If these were ordinary troops, they would have collapsed long ago…
Similarly, Fei Qian's remaining soldiers were in the same predicament. The private soldiers of noble families often shared the fate of their masters—when the master fell, they fell; when the master prospered, they prospered. This was why, in the Han dynasty, generals who suffered defeat in battle could often still escape.
These private soldiers were not just individuals; their entire families were tied to their lord. Abandoning their master meant their families would face punishment or ruin. Thus, the private soldiers serving their lord were often far more resilient than regular troops…
But the battles to come might grow even more brutal. If their numbers continued to dwindle, even with Zhang Liao and Fei Qian as the backbone, it would be difficult to maintain the army's cohesion. In the end, excessive losses could lead to a collapse of morale…
Since the day it was built, Hangu Pass had been designed primarily to defend against threats from the east, not the west. As a result, the western walls were neither as grand nor as wide as those in the east, nor were they situated on particularly defensible terrain. They were also lower, making them less suited for defense.
Moreover, while the eastern walls featured a long inner wall after the gate—essentially an extended urn city—the western side lacked even this. The roads on either side of the western gate were lined only with civilian homes, meaning that once the gate was breached, the enemy would have direct access to the city's interior!
If the eastern walls could be called the most formidable pass under heaven, the western walls were, at best, a slightly fortified version of an ordinary county town's defenses…
As the sky had not yet fully darkened, Zheng Jian's soldiers launched another wave of attack. Zhang Liao and Fei Qian's troops were exhausted, but so were Zheng Jian's. At this critical juncture, it often came down to who could hold their breath the longest and who would falter first.
Several of Zheng Jian's soldiers pushed a battering ram straight toward the city gate. In previous assaults, the ram had been a prime target. Whenever it approached the walls, defenders would rain down a barrage of large and small stones, smashing the ram to pieces.
The lack of ranged attack capabilities was Zhang Liao and Fei Qian's greatest frustration. If they had just two hundred—or even one hundred—more archers, they could have inflicted significant damage on Zheng Jian's forces from the safety of the walls…
Unfortunately, their current ranged capabilities were limited to the thirty-odd soldiers under Fei Qian who could still draw a bow, plus a small number of Zhang Liao's cavalry…
However, the bows used by cavalry were entirely different from those of infantry. The so-called "mounted archery" was not as invincible as later popular accounts might claim. In the Han dynasty, many Han cavalry were not capable of shooting from horseback like the nomadic Xiongnu. Yet, when facing the Xiongnu, Han cavalry could often fight at a ratio of one to five without much trouble, even without mounted archery. They still beat the Xiongnu soundly.
The key factor was the overwhelming superiority of Han iron technology in weapons and armor. It was normal for Han cavalry to lack archery skills, as most engagements relied on close-quarters combat with blades…
Only the cavalry from Xiliang, Bingzhou, and Youzhou had some units capable of mounted archery. Most cavalry from other regions lacked this skill…
At this moment, Fei Qian truly understood why Cai Mao had spoken with a hint of pride when mentioning his hundred archers. Indeed, in the Han dynasty, archers were considered an elite unit. They required good physical strength—beyond the standard infantry gear of swords and armor, they had to carry a bow and thirty arrows. They needed agility—clumsy soldiers were better suited to wielding spears, where thrusting was enough. They had to understand commands—volley fire was essential for maximum effect, and they often had to maneuver through infantry formations. Most crucially, they needed good eyesight—those with poor vision were better off as sword-and-shield soldiers, where at least they could see the enemy clearly…
Thus, despite being the defenders, Zhang Liao and Fei Qian were at a clear disadvantage. This was a key reason why the battle was so grueling…
Fortunately, just as Zhang Liao and Fei Qian had their weaknesses, so did Zheng Jian.
The reinforcements Zheng Jian had summoned were originally expected to arrive in two or three days. However, upon learning that Hangu Pass had fallen, they had been urgently mobilized. Many of these reinforcements were hastily recruited, consisting of idle, belligerent men paid to fight. They had little training and certainly no archers among them.
As for the crossbowmen who had previously faced Guo Pu, their supplies had been burned during Zhang Liao's night raid on their camp. Most of their crossbows, especially the bolts stored in the supply wagons, had been reduced to ashes…
Crossbow bolts weren't something you could just carve from a piece of wood. Without bolts, a crossbowman was as good as useless, their heavy crossbows little more than cumbersome clubs.
Thus, Zheng Jian's forces were on roughly the same footing as Zhang Liao and Fei Qian's—both sides lacked significant ranged suppression capabilities…
Moreover, due to the rush, Zheng Jian hadn't had time to construct proper battering rams. What they had was a crude wooden frame fitted with a large log, topped with a few branches as a makeshift cover. The soldiers pushing it were mostly exposed, making them easy targets for the defenders.
But this time, perhaps because the defenders had run out of rolling stones or because the dimming light obscured their aim, Zheng Jian's battering ram lost only a few men before reaching the base of the gate intact…
Several of Zheng Jian's soldiers hurriedly pulled the log back, then charged forward to give it momentum. With a thunderous boom, the gate of Hangu Pass shuddered, and dust cascaded down.
Though Zheng Jian could no longer clearly see the situation at the gate, the resounding crash told him the ram had begun its work. Overjoyed, he shouted, "The city will fall now! The first to enter will be rewarded with a hundred gold! The one who slays their general will get a thousand!"
Zheng Jian's soldiers, hearing the massive impact and spurred by the promise of riches, roared with fervor. They scrambled up the walls using crude scaling ladders…
Fei Qian, clad in ill-fitting armor and a helmet, stood atop the walls. The armor crafted by Huang Yueying had been left in Luoyang, so he had to make do with this one.
Huang Cheng, though he had fought all day, remained steadfastly by Fei Qian's side, guarding his safety.
In later depictions in plays and stories, pushing down a scaling ladder would send soldiers tumbling like dumplings, some bruised and battered, others with broken limbs…
But in reality, it wasn't so simple. Scaling ladders were made of thick, freshly cut logs, heavy and wet. To grip the walls, they often had curved iron hooks at the top. Once latched onto the wall, soldiers would swarm up in moments…
With the weight of the soldiers and the ladder itself, pushing it away was no easy task. Someone had to first dislodge the iron hooks, then several men would use long wooden forks to brace against the ladder's top and push with all their might. If they could tilt it past ninety degrees, the rest would take care of itself—the soldiers on the ladder would either fall or be crushed or injured by the heavy ladder.
Fei Qian, merely lending a hand at the back of a long fork, had pushed only three or four ladders before he was gasping for breath, his armor askew, looking every bit like a bandit soldier.
Boom!
"Lord Zheng, it looks like we'll be resting inside the city tonight!" one of Zheng Jian's generals finally cracked a smile, speaking in a low voice.
"Naturally!" Zheng Jian replied with pride. A minor, insignificant scion of the Yang clan from Hongnong—had it not been for his own prior defeat, he wouldn't have bothered with such a nobody.
Though the Zheng clan of Xingyang wasn't as prestigious as the Yang clan of Hongnong, a distant branch member with no official court position had no right to strut before him.