Chapter 78: Wave After Wave

If a whole city of valiant Rongsmen could be dispatched to guard it, they could perhaps persevere until the arrival of the assisting army. But to use Rongsmen to guard the city? Meng Fuyao would have to hang herself on the door hook to prevent someone from opening the gate in the middle of the night to “let a brother in.”

The moment Tie Cheng received the news, he came to look for Meng Fuyao, beating his chest confidently. “Give me weapons, and I’ll find the men to guard your city.”

Meng Fuyao happened to be in a foul mood, and she conveniently kicked him out the door.

She then proceeded to wash her face and put on make-up, before heading to work with a face full of energy. Yaocheng citizens were waiting anxiously, but upon her arrival, the panic in their face disappeared. In fact, they stood more imposingly than before, and the atmosphere calmed down significantly.

Yaocheng’s Han and Rong occupied half the city each, and the Hansmen were naturally unwilling to destroy the city. The Rongsmen, on the other hand, had fewer concerns, and no one could guarantee that their bloodthirsty “brothers” wouldn’t take lives upon entering the city. These ferocious men weren’t going to distinguish between the Hans and Rongs, and it was something Meng Fuyao had explained to the Rongsmen who were eager to have the other Rong brothers occupy the city.

While her reasoning had managed to contain the Rongsmen’s excitement, the war had also inevitably started.

On the first day, upon pitching camp, the Rong army started attacking the city.

Wu Ha, an incomparably strong soldier in the Rong army, led 3,000 men at the frontline. He was an aggressive man who had exclaimed that he would successfully take Rongcheng down and that he would take his own head down if he did not manage to take the mayor’s.

The Rong army of 3,000, dressed in colorful armor, holding onto their weapons and resembling a sheet of greenish, purplish blue cloud with lightning in between, surged forward. The bald leader was using a scepter-like weapon, and with a light wave of it smoke rose from the ground and lifted a layer of land with it.

The first battle had the most significant impact on the troops’ morale. The defense guards on the city gate tower overlooked the intruders in all seriousness, but Meng Fuyao was all smiles and feeling energetic from having had ample sleep. She had arrived at the scene with a bunch of craftsmen, ordering them to fashion a high platform on the tower. No one knew what she was up to, and no one had ever seen anyone building a high platform as a way to resist the enemy.

Following convention, Wu Ha yelled out a challenge before the gate. It was a necessary procedure for the warlike Rongsmen to call for a battle before attacking the city. However, Meng Fuyao ignored it, and upon the completion of the platform she climbed up in public view and waved an arm.

Two cleanly-dressed soccer teams went on stage and started kicking.

No way… soccer to guard the city?

The Han citizens, who had stepped forward to guard the city, looked up in shock.

Whistles could be heard, and men were fighting for the ball. Wu Ha was stunned. What formation was that? What was that round, flying thing? Witchcraft?

The soccer ball rose and fell as the members shouted loudly. All 3,000 soldiers were left speechless, and Wu Ha had almost forgotten where he was. Initially, he was guarded, guessing that the ball was a newly invented weapon, but upon further observation, it was only flying about. Wu Ha stood, dumbstruck and neglected by the enemy. Nevertheless, he couldn’t retreat as it would negatively affect his men’s morale. As such, all he could do was stand and stare.

Suddenly, the ball was snatched by Tie Cheng, who then attempted to kick it into the goal with a fake move. Yet, a few opponents gathered and intercepted the ball, accidentally kicking it out the city wall in the process.

“Foul! Foul!” Tie Cheng bawled.

Wu Ha vaguely understood the gameplay, laughing out loud and shouting, “Silly kid doesn’t know how to guard!” Seeing the ball spinning downward he felt his leg jerking in natural response. “Let me show you!”

He jumped up and did a clean flip before lifting his leg to receive the falling ball. The Rong army went wild.

“Good!”

Boom!

A leg flew out.

The ball had exploded.

Wu Ha’s leg was gone, and fresh blood poured out, instantly staining the ground with a pool. Without uttering a sound, he passed out.

His men, who had witnessed it all, were at a loss as it was their first time experiencing the loss of their leader even before a battle. They called for a retreat immediately, cursing and dragging Wu Ha away.

The soccer teams erupted in laughter from above. “Replacing the original with a fake. How’s that move?” Tie Cheng yelled. Meng Fuyao, dressed in a black robe and male disguise, stepped forward. With her brows sharp and prominent she rolled in laughter while banging on the brick wall and making a jeering gesture at the Rong army.

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The wind blew through her hair, momentarily unveiling a lady’s pearly eyes, from which timidness was absent.

She matched the gaze of a high ranking Rong military officer, the fierceness and coldness in her eyes expressed without the slightest fear and concede.

Meng Fuyao let out a smirk while overlooking the situation.

She had analyzed the characteristics of Rongsmen. They were ferocious and aggressive, rude and unreasonable, feared the strong and bullied the weak. She had gained the upper hand by seizing and humiliating their leader. While other armies might start attacking the city when something like this happened, the Rong army was different. They would weigh it in the hand and hesitate until they could get a clear gauge of their opponent’s strength.

Plus, she had heard that the commander in chief was the spy who had infiltrated the northern Rong army previously to assist the King’s younger brother to seize the throne. Having been a spy, one could be sure that he would be more cautious when executing matters.

Indeed, the Rong army chose not to attack.

Cheers exploded within Yaocheng. The citizens had actually played soccer as a means of overcoming the enemy’s first wave of attack. It was bizarre but also a fact that they had easily hindered the army. People broke out in happy dances, and those who had hidden at home returned to the inns and drank to their heart’s content while discussing and even modifying the story about “the ball that sent thousands of men packing.”

“Aye! Master Tie’s kick was beautiful! But wasn’t he kicking it all along? Why didn’t it explode?”

“Sigh, you’re stupider than stupid. Didn’t you see that fake move? The ball was replaced then. How else would the Rong leader let his guard down and play?”

“This is great. We’ll be alright as long as we resist this first wave. The White Pavilion Army is nearby, and King De’s army isn’t far as well. They’ll be able to get here within a day. Maybe we’ll get to see King De’s army flag by tomorrow, hahaha…”

The streets were filled with crowds and lamps were lit once more, adding sparkles to the city. People flowed in and out of venues, doing things of their own until nightfall. The lamps were then extinguished one after another as they carefully headed home.

In a corner inn that sold apricot tea, as Boss Wang put out the lights, he vaguely caught sight of a shadow. Startled, he held a lantern and walked over to check it out. It was Mayor Meng, standing at the wall corner and looking up at the sky with a blank expression on her face.

“Why have you come, Mayor Meng?” Boss Wang asked in doubt. Something seemed amiss…

“Oh, it’s nothing. Just taking a stroll,” Meng Fuyao answered dreamily and flashing a smile.

She had a military report in her hand. The coarse paper rubbed against her soft skin as she tightened her grip around it.

Ever since she had received this report, she had been walking aimlessly on the street.

The White Pavilion Army had been transferred by King De into Bright Tiger Camp, which was stationed outside Suishui, in Zhenzhou. It was done to surround the Rong army from all sides.

This was the piece of news that was passed back to Meng Fuyao, and as for King De… she sensed that there wasn’t going to be an assisting army.

How long more could she enjoy the beauty of this city? Still kept in the dark, how were these happy citizens going to face day after day of disappointment?”

On this moonless night, Meng Fuyao stood for a long time and only loosened her hand when her whole body was moistened by the night dew.

A crumpled piece of paper flew from between her fingers.

The assisting army hadn’t arrived indeed.

From that day onward, Yaocheng fell into a passive, defensive state.

It had to be said that Meng Fuyao was actually an extremely prudent mayor. With the presence of the big army at the side and a defensive army nearby, if it had been other individuals, they would’ve been fearless and would’ve loosened their guard. Meng Fuyao, on the other hand, remained vigilant and never once lowered their arms. In fact, within her short period as a mayor, she had even fortified the city walls and gate.

As a bridge between the Rong tribe and inland, Yaocheng had barbicans. Meng Fuyao thus had a training ground and had built six defense lines between the city walls and barbicans: caltrops, antlers’ horns, horse traps, barricades, deep pits and then the city walls.

Because the Rong army was limited by circumstances, the cavalry was extremely precious. During the second attack wave, Meng Fuyao directly let the Rong army into the gate before shutting both exits and leaving them with 6 defense lines to cross. 3,000 soldiers entered, but less than 2,000 made it out alive. Even then, they were heavily injured, which led them to lay low for a few days. During their third wave, the Rong army studied the direction of the wind and prepared a fire attack. In response, Meng Fuyao kicked countless soccer balls down, to which the soldiers who were lighting the flames retreated. It turned out that the balls were bags of swine urine, which wet the firewoods upon erupting and hence foiling the army’s plan. As for the fourth wave, a valiant military leader took the lead, forcing his way over the wall, only to be shot by Meng Fuyao’s arrow and nailed against it. The Rong army retreated in defeat once more.

With the Rong army’s consecutive failures, the citizens of Yaocheng, who were originally feeling distraught over the absence of the assisting army, regained confidence. Tie Cheng secretly asked Meng Fuyao if the Rong army would retreat for good.

Meng Fuyao raised her head to look at a faraway distance, replying after some time, “No, it’s far from over… the difficult part is finally about to come.”