Chapter 127: The Peril of a Fallen City, A Bizarre Reversal

"Hahaha, Pang Ji, it seems you've hit a wall. A true siege must rely on my Yak Heavy Cavalry!" The Twelfth Prince of Bilu, riding atop a massive yak three zhang tall, laughed toward the heavens.

"Hmph, Chang Zan, do not be so smug. The Beiting Feng Army has long been prepared; you will soon learn the price of your arrogance. If our two armies do not join forces, let alone breaching Beiting City, we might even find ourselves counter-attacked and losing Anxi Prefecture." The latter, seated on the head of a tiger-eagle with a wingspan of five zhang hovering in the air, sneered.

"Heh, very well. Then let this Prince test whether the Feng Army is as terrifying as you claim!"

Charging to within fifty miles of the Beiting Prefecture city walls, before he could even issue the order to ram the gates, the thunderous roar of artillery fire rained down upon them, instantly drowning the vanguard in poisonous smoke.

"Damn it! To think the Feng Army possesses such vicious weaponry! Charge! Smash the gates and break into the city! I shall slaughter everyone today!" Chang Zan roared. Covering his nose and mouth, he drove his massive beast straight toward the city gates. It was said that not only wooden gates, but even iron ones would be reduced to splinters under such an impact.

Above, the Tiger-Eagle aerial cavalry provided full support, raining down crossbow bolts and engaging the Shence musket infantry, preventing them from focusing their fire on the charging Yak Heavy Cavalry below.

"Your Highness, if these Yak Heavy Cavalry breach the gates, our forces will be unable to hold them back. What shall we do?" the general of the Red Artillery Battalion asked anxiously.

"What is there to panic about? Withdraw half the artillery battalion to the interior of the gates. Once the beast-riders break through, fire with everything we have!" The First Prince spoke dismissively, though he was deeply anxious inside. With the beast-riders of two nations attacking from above and below, the Shence Army felt overwhelmed, as if two fists could not fight four hands; otherwise, they would never have allowed the Yak Heavy Cavalry to reach the walls.

The original city garrison had long been pushed behind the gates by the Shence Army, and in the heat of such a massive battle, they found themselves unable to intervene at all.

Han Chong, along with Xun Kang, Lei Wanshan, and other officers, watched with growing concern. Although the Shence Army possessed powerful firepower and could inflict significant damage on the enemy, they could hardly withstand a reckless, all-out assault.

"General Han, what should we do? The Shence Army cannot hold much longer. We cannot simply sit here and wait for death," Xun Kang asked instinctively, sensing that in this moment of crisis, Han Chong might have a brilliant strategy.

The latter frowned, feeling the weight of the situation. Without the ability to use sorcery, it was no easy feat to stop such a brutal, heavy-cavalry charge.

"I have it!" A plan struck Han Chong, and his eyes lit up!

"What is it? What is your brilliant plan?" The others looked at Han Chong with surprise, and even the First Prince could not help but glance back, a glimmer of hope flashing in his eyes.

Han Chong did not answer. Instead, he dashed toward several red banners of the Shence Army, pulled them out, and leaped down from the city wall. He began to sprint alongside the charging Yak Heavy Cavalry, leaving everyone bewildered.

However, from the moment Han Chong jumped down, the hundred yaks charging toward the gate began to show reddened eyes. Ignoring the control of the Bilu riders, they began to breathe heavily and turned to charge toward Han Chong.

It worked! Han Chong felt a surge of joy. In his haste, this was the only strategy he could think of—the yaks might be called elephants, but they were bovine in nature and would fly into a rage at the sight of red banners.

The troops on the wall were stunned, watching Han Chong dash in circles below while brandishing the red flags. The Yak Heavy Cavalrymen shouted and whipped their mounts, but to no avail. As time passed, thousands of yaks began to buck, throwing their riders to the ground, where they were trampled into pulp by the panicked herd!

"Retreat! Retreat quickly!" Chang Zan struggled to control his mount, roaring in shock and rage. If this continued, not only would they fail to take Beiting City, but his entire Yak Heavy Cavalry would be wiped out!

Seeing the majority of the heavy cavalry retreat, the Tiger-Eagle aerial cavalry in the sky also turned and fled. A crisis of a breached city was completely averted by a few red flags—a situation both laughable and bizarre.

"Hahaha! Good, good lad! You did well this time. Although this Prince has plenty of ways to crush the beast-riders of both nations, your ability to dismantle them first saved me much trouble. I shall grant you merit for this!" Seeing Han Chong climb back onto the wall, the First Prince laughed and praised him, yet his tone remained condescending, his desire to claim the glory evident.

Han Chong bowed and smiled without a word, which drew cold snorts from the two red-clad generals behind the Prince. They had not expected that their prestigious Shence Army, despite showing off its power, would have its thunder stolen by a nobody from the Demon-Slaying Division. They were secretly annoyed.

After Han Chong and his men retreated, one of the red-clad generals said with a dubious smile, "Your Highness, this subordinate finds that Han boy to be quite strange. Such a person of unusual talent should be recruited early; otherwise, he will surely be used by the other Princes, which would be extremely unfavorable for you."

"Hm?" The Prince paused, feeling the truth in those words. He had inspected countless people and seen all sorts of strange talents. But although this officer of the Han surname did not hold a high rank, his methods and schemes were endless. Such a freakish talent must either be used by him or eliminated early to prevent future trouble!

That evening, Han Chong drank and chatted with Xun, Lei, and Leng, yet Han Chong still appeared troubled.

"What is it, Brother Han? Your victory through an unorthodox strategy is a miracle in the military history of the Great Feng. Now that the enemy has fled in defeat, why are you still so worried?" Lei Wanshan, the Grand Protector of the Anxi Protectorate and a second-rank official, addressed Han Chong as a brother, which shocked Leng Feichen.

"Cough, Protector Lei, although I disrupted the Yak Heavy Cavalry with the bull-fighting trick, it was purely a stroke of luck. If the enemy commander uses even a little bit of brainpower, they can easily counter it. If they attack again, it will be hard to defend against."

"Hm? How so? The fact that yaks fly into a rage at red is something I have never heard of before. How could it be countered?" the former asked, stunned.

"Oh! I understand now," Xun Kang said, slapping his forehead in realization. "If they cover the eyes of the yaks with cloth, the method is broken. What are we to do?"

Lei Wanshan looked embarrassed; he hadn't thought of that.

"In that case, Brother Han, why didn't you explain this to the First Prince so that he could prepare?"

"The First Prince is brave, but he is also somewhat domineering and insists on having his own way. I thought it best to wait until we had a solution before reporting it, so I remained silent," Han Chong said with a faint smile.

"Reasonable, reasonable. Then Brother Han must come up with another brilliant plan quickly, or if the gates are smashed, the consequences will be unimaginable."

"How about this: we can dig trenches behind the gates and set up spiked traps. If the Yak Heavy Cavalry breaks through the gate, they will fall into them and be unable to pull themselves out. It will buy us some time to defend."

"A brilliant plan! I shall lead the troops to start construction immediately. We should be able to finish before tomorrow morning."

"General Han, the First Prince requests your presence. Please follow me immediately," a red-armored captain announced as he arrived in the courtyard of the Demon-Slaying Camp.

"Hm? The First Prince is summoning Brother Han?" The three men were surprised. Typically, high-ranking officials would not summon subordinates across several ranks directly; they would usually pass orders through their superiors. Furthermore, it was late at night; such an individual summons across ranks was truly baffling.