The Child Emperor

Chapter 172: Leaving the City

The dilapidated Shattered Iron City had been patched up where flaws could be seen, but some hidden weaknesses remained undetectable. The north gate was one such case – while appearing normal on the surface, its interior had rotted and could not withstand an assault.

The Xiongnu cavalry fired several volleys of arrows at the city walls before sending over a hundred infantry with long shields to cover a battering ram. What was meant as a probing attack unexpectedly caused the gate to tilt after just over a dozen strikes.

A squad of Chu soldiers temporarily propped up the gate with logs, but this was only a stopgap measure. Upon discovering the north gate’s vulnerability, the Xiongnu immediately sent more infantry to support the attack. The cavalry below the walls also gradually advanced, their arrows now able to reach the battlements. The Chu forces were suppressed and struggled to counterattack the enemy outside the gate.

Compared to the great cities within the passes, Shattered Iron City was shorter, originally intended only for storing supplies. It was severely underprepared to face a large army’s siege.

War was more than just a hail of arrows and spears. The soldiers of the private army arrived just in time, but found no immediate use for their weapons. Under the direction of several officers, they immediately dismounted and began moving earth and stones to block the north gate.

The Chu army displayed excellent discipline. Thousands of men transported materials in an endless stream, orderly as ants. Over a dozen officers stood in the middle coordinating the effort. Soldiers carrying earth and stones ran in from the right side in an organized line, dumped their loads, and exited to the left without breaking stride.

However, the pace of setting up the blockage at the gate was still too slow. By the time Prince Donghai arrived leading the noble camp, a large hole had appeared in the gate, revealing the menacing shape of the battering ram.

A junior officer ran up, asking Prince Donghai and the young nobles to leave. The gate area was only so large, and they didn’t need more manpower at the moment. Their presence in the street would only hinder operations.

Prince Donghai and his group had no intention of staying. They immediately turned to head for the fiercest fighting at the west wall, but were politely stopped before getting far. Except for Prince Donghai himself, the others were not allowed to freely ascend the walls.

Shattered Iron City was not large, and its garrison of nearly 30,000 was not small. Only about 30% of the soldiers were defending on the walls, while most were busy below. The roads had to remain clear and unobstructed. A group of noble youths running back and forth would only add to the chaos.

Prince Donghai climbed the wall alone, constantly making way for soldiers going up and down. At a time like this, even if the Emperor himself were present, he could not expect much cremony.

Over a dozen bloodied soldiers were carried down, their screams unceasing. Prince Donghai dared not go up any further. Since no one was paying him any attention anyway, he hurriedly turned back, following behind the soldiers carrying the dead and wounded. He quickly descended, mounted his horse, and galloped back to the general’s headquarters.

Over a hundred young nobles were waiting outside the entrance. With no combat duties, they were even more nervous.

“Follow me,” Prince Donghai called out, spurring his horse toward the south gate without stopping. The young nobles all mounted up and followed behind.

The south gate was relatively quiet, but the soldiers guarding it dared not be careless. They remained vigilant both on and below the walls. Prince Donghai received the treatment befitting his rank here. When he led several noble youths up to the battlements, the soldiers made way for them.

Prince Donghai ran up to the tower and looked west. His heart sank. From here he could not see the height of the earthen ramp, but the Xiongnu had already approached the city wall and were exchanging fire with the Chu forces. The Chu army’s powerful crossbows no longer held much advantage.

Unable to find Chai Yue, Prince Donghai realized that even if he had, it would not have increased his confidence much. The drumbeats that had previously alternated between urgent and slow now sounded without pause.

Prince Donghai concluded that Shattered Iron City could not hold out until nightfall. Looking south, he saw only towering mountains, indifferent to the petty human conflicts below. There was no sign of reinforcements.

Prince Donghai grabbed one of the young nobles. “Take some men to Divine Hero Pass to request aid. Go now!”

“Yes…” the noble responded in panic, stumbling down with several companions.

“Open the city gate,” Prince Donghai ordered the south gate commander who had followed him.

“Open the gate? But General Chai…”

“I am Prince Donghai. Any general must obey my orders. Open the gate and let the messengers out. Without reinforcements, we’ll all die here!”

The commander hesitated for a moment before ordering the south gate opened.

A large group rather than just a few “messengers” rushed out of Shattered Iron City. Hearing there was a chance to escape, not one of the hundred-plus young nobles stayed behind. Without calling for attendants or bringing provisions, they simply rode off in a cloud of dust. Some even tossed aside their swords and helmets to lighten their load.

“Close the city gate,” Prince Donghai ordered. Standing atop the tower, he looked nowhere else but at the group of nobles riding further and further away. Many were people he knew, some he could even call friends. But the fleeing men did not look back, and the observer felt no attachment to them. Prince Donghai only wanted to know if the Xiongnu would intercept this group.

“I shouldn’t have trusted others,” Prince Donghai muttered to himself, regretting not escaping earlier.

There was a large group of Xiongnu in the wilderness to the southwest, though quite far away. After a while, Prince Donghai saw a squad of Xiongnu cavalry heading towards the main road. Their speed did not seem fast enough to intercept the escapees.

Prince Donghai’s heart was in his throat, at times worrying the young nobles would not escape, at times regretting not fleeing with them, wondering if he had wasted his only chance.

As it turned out, the Xiongnu were far better at judging distances than Prince Donghai and the noble youths. The group of over a hundred had ridden barely two miles when they encountered the Xiongnu.

The Xiongnu cavalry did not block the road, but rode parallel to the fleeing group, keeping a distance of thirty to fifty paces. Then they calmly turned in their saddles to loose arrows. The noble youths were completely defenseless, only able to desperately urge their horses to greater speed. But they could never outrun arrows.

The fugitives and their pursuers rode down a slope, out of view from the city tower.

Prince Donghai was stunned. The south gate commander standing beside him also stared in shock. Those hundred-plus young nobles all came from prominent families. Even the death of their attendants would cause no small trouble. Yet now they were mowed down by the Xiongnu like wild grass. Prince Donghai had proven far more ruthless than the Northern Protection General.

The young nobles did not reappear. Instead, the Xiongnu cavalry returned to the top of the slope and rode towards Shattered Iron City along the main road.

This was also a Xiongnu custom, coming to gloat and intimidate after killing their enemies.

Prince Donghai’s face turned deathly pale. He no longer even tried to feign composure. Hurrying down from the tower, he mounted his horse and rode aimlessly through the city. He didn’t know where to go, only feeling that anywhere was safer than the city walls. Yet there was no place that truly felt secure.

“I will be Emperor. I will not die here,” Prince Donghai repeated over and over, as if negotiating with an unseen deity.

After riding for who knows how long, a squad of cavalry came galloping towards him. At their head was Chao Hua, covered in dust but once again gripping his long spear.

“Has the north gate fallen?” Prince Donghai was shocked.

“It’s blocked up,” Chao Hua shouted. Though exhausted, his voice was still strong. “We’re going to reinforce the south gate.”

“The south gate…” Only then did Prince Donghai remember that a squad of Xiongnu cavalry had been riding towards the south gate and should have arrived by now. It seemed Chai Yue or some other officer had learned of this and was redeploying troops.

“You don’t have bows or crossbows…”

A private army soldier rode up beside Prince Donghai, forcing his mount to change direction and gallop towards the south gate as well. “Don’t just watch. Come with us!”

Prince Donghai recognized this man as the brute called Ma Da. While others might only be joking, this man would truly force Prince Donghai onto the battlefield.

“I’m not going…” Prince Donghai cried out, trying to turn his horse around. But more cavalry followed, and no matter how hard he pulled on the reins, his horse could only follow along with the main body of troops.

The private army soldiers’ training was indeed lacking. Before they even left the city, their formation had already become disorganized.

“Those big iron chunks really pack a punch when thrown down,” Ma Da said excitedly, as if he had caught a big fish barehanded in the river. He cursed, “Why didn’t we use them earlier? We wasted all that time carrying them.”

“Idiot, of course we had to wait for the Xiongnu to gather together before using them,” someone replied. Ma Da didn’t get angry, just chuckled.

So the north gate had preparations as well.

“How’s the west wall? Have they started pouring water yet?” Prince Donghai shouted. No one answered. The private army soldiers had just left the north gate and didn’t know the situation elsewhere.

“Make way, I need to go to the west wall…” Prince Donghai yelled. But no one obeyed his orders. These soldiers who had just put down their loads of earth and stones were eager to rush to another battlefield, as if there was something good waiting for them to grab.

Against his will, Prince Donghai was carried out of the city gate. Every time he pulled tight on the reins, someone would “helpfully” slap his horse from behind. He even began to suspect this was a plot arranged in advance by Han Ruzi to have him killed by proxy.

The battle outside the city had already begun. A squad of Chu troops had sortied, using powerful crossbows to drive back the Xiongnu cavalry who had come to intimidate them. Another squad of Chu spear and shield bearers had established a temporary barricade west of the road to prevent the Xiongnu from the west taking advantage of the situation.

The private army joined with the Chu cavalry that had previously left the city, galloping south along the main road.

Prince Donghai’s heart leapt with joy, thinking they were going to escort him away from Shattered Iron City. He no longer pulled on the reins, but accelerated along with the private soldiers.

He looked back. The city gate had closed again. Looking west, the sun was half set and he could not clearly see where the main Xiongnu army was. But he knew that surely a force of Xiongnu cavalry was rapidly approaching the main road to intercept them.

“Faster!” Prince Donghai shouted. But the Chu forces maintained their predetermined speed—not slow, but not particularly fast either.

In the distance came the sound of horns and wolf-like howls. The Xiongnu really had come, in vast numbers. They seemed to occupy the entire wilderness to the west of the road.

The private army soldiers were not skilled at mounted archery. It was the accompanying Chu troops who protected the flanks. Unable to use their powerful crossbows on horseback, they exchanged arrow fire with the Xiongnu.

Prince Donghai lay flat on his horse’s back, blindly following those in front as they galloped. Death felt so close, hanging just above his head, only a few feet away. No matter how fast he rode, he could not shake it off.

Suddenly the private army soldiers in front and behind began to shout, clearly increasing their speed.

Prince Donghai raised his head in surprise. He saw that the Chu forces on the flanks had entered the wilderness and were now in a chaotic melee with the Xiongnu. The retainer soldiers were charging.

On a small hill ahead, a large group of Xiongnu sword and shield infantry were hastily constructing a temporary defensive line. They had only just arrived, their horses still nearby. They had only managed to raise their long shields.

The retainer soldiers charged past both sides of the shield wall, raising their long spears high to thrust downwards. Whether they hit or missed, they immediately let go of their weapons.

Prince Donghai had no weapon. He could only follow the others as they rode up the hill and down the other side.

At the top of the hill, he finally understood the purpose of this sortie.

From a mountain pass to the south, a Chu army was emerging in a continuous stream. This small hill by the main road had suddenly become a crucial position. Whoever held it would conveniently control the entire road.

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