Frontier Army Warrior

Chapter 1231 Psychological Blow

Lin Feng waved his hand: "Let the army go up the city wall, show them a powerful defensive formation, and completely crush their confidence."

Pei Qiyin laughed and said, "Your Highness is truly a master of psychological warfare. When you're psychologically broken, how can you possibly have the strength to attack the city?"

Ye Liangcai also praised, "Boss is about to create another glorious victory. After this battle is reported, more than 10,000 pirates will be scared to death by us."

"They didn't die of fright, they starved to death."

"Sigh, I was scared and hungry."

They chatted and laughed, and the atmosphere was very relaxed.

Soldiers had already gone down from the city to deliver the order, and two thousand soldiers from the Zhenxi Army plus one thousand engineers were to assemble on the city wall.

Lin Feng's intention was to fill the city walls with soldiers, so that the pirates below would see such a powerful military force and psychologically collapse on their own.

With a clatter of footsteps, thousands of soldiers lined up on the city wall, their swords and spears gleaming sharply in the afterglow of the setting sun.

The archers held their bows, nocked their arrows, and coldly watched the pirate horde below the city, calmly awaiting the order to fire.

Tokugawa Iemochi spurred his horse forward, accompanied by a dozen guards, and loudly encouraged the soldiers' morale.

"Look up, everyone. These towering city walls are piled high with grain. There are hardly any guards left. If we just charge in and break through, we can..."

His seductive words abruptly ended as he pointed and his gaze shifted from the procession in front of the horses to the towering city walls.

Because he saw that the city walls, illuminated by the blood-red setting sun, were already filled with soldiers of the Zhenxi Army.

Flags fluttered, armor gleamed, and swords and spears stood in rows.

In his mind, the Zhenxi Army had concentrated its main force in the military camp under the city of Ganqing Prefecture, while Funing City was empty and unmanned, or had only a few hundred, at most a thousand, guards.

However, as far as the eye could see, the entire city wall, from south to north, covering nearly half of the city, was filled with rows upon rows of Zhenxi soldiers, each armed with bows and arrows.

Even an ordinary soldier could instantly tell how many soldiers of the Zhenxi Army were standing all over the city wall.

The number will definitely not be less than two thousand.

Despite his large number of exhausted and hungry troops, facing the high walls and thick defenses of Fuling City, and the thousands of guards on the walls, he was overwhelmed by a sense of powerlessness.

Tokugawa Iemochi's warhorse continued to run forward, but he didn't shout anymore; he himself didn't know what to say.

The pirate soldiers running at the forefront were numb, both physically and mentally.

They simply moved forward mechanically, their hunger rendering them incapable of thinking. They were fixated on the idea that once they entered the city, there would be hot food, and they would be able to eat their fill.

However, after only a moment, Tokugawa Iemochi reached out and reined in his warhorse.

At this moment, his warhorse was not far from the moat and could not go any further. He could see that the soldiers of the Zhenxi Army on the city wall had already drawn their bows to their full extent. If he went any further, his safety would not be guaranteed.

The pirate soldiers who had rushed to the moat also stopped and turned to look behind them, waiting for the wagons that would carry the siege equipment.

The troop still carried more than a dozen horse-drawn carriages, loaded with ladders, battering rams, and other equipment.

The wide moat cannot be crossed without a ladder.

But after they stopped, their bodies ceased mechanical movement, as if their brains were slowly turning again. As their gaze shifted from their own ranks to the city wall, their mouths slowly opened wide, and a sense of despair gradually rose in their somewhat dazed eyes.

On the city wall, thousands of soldiers stood ready with their bows drawn, quietly watching the scattered pirate ranks below.

A profound silence fell over both the city walls and the surrounding area.

Along the moat, more and more pirate soldiers gradually gathered. They could barely support their heavy heads as they looked up at the banners waving on the city walls, the well-armed troops poised to attack.

After a moment of quiet confrontation, someone in the pirate group suddenly felt dizzy and lightheaded, and then everything went black. With a thud, he collapsed to the ground.

Having lost his mental support, his body could no longer withstand the fatigue and hunger of the past few days, and he fainted on the spot.

It wasn't just one pirate soldier; more and more fell down, one after another, and the number of pirate soldiers falling down kept increasing.

I don't know if I was really dizzy or just pretending, but I lost all motivation. Hunger, exhaustion, and despair filled my mind. The earth felt warm and comforting.

Tokugawa Iemochi stared blankly at his troops, who fell to the ground one after another like dominoes being toppled.

With such high walls, even if there were no guards on the city, it would take a lot of physical strength to climb up. It was hoped that more than 10,000 soldiers would climb up the city from all directions, occupy the city, and eat the long-awaited food.

With their hopes dashed and their spirits broken, many pirates could no longer hold on. They might as well faint and let the cruel situation disappear; they simply couldn't withstand such a blow.

Tokugawa Iemochi loudly ordered his senior generals to quickly organize their troops for an attack, demanding that they scale the castle walls and capture the city in the shortest possible time.

Because the longer the battle drags on, the more disadvantageous the situation will become for them.

Hunger does not lessen with the passage of time; on the contrary, it gnaws at the stomachs of every soldier even more fiercely.

It makes everyone feel more powerless and more desperate.

A dozen or so high-ranking generals, cracking their whips and hurling insults, forced their soldiers to rise and attack the city.

A dozen or so horse-drawn carts, carrying siege equipment, were already lined up along the moat. Some valiant soldiers were also unloading ladders from the carts and setting them up on the moat.

As the situation has developed to this point, the soldiers of the Zhenxi Army on the city walls have still not received the order to counterattack; only the battle flags behind them are fluttering loudly in the wind.

The entire team watched silently as the pirates below the city slowly moved across the moat using the ladders they had set up.

Among the more than 10,000 pirates, there were still some with good physical fitness who, despite being hungry for several days, still maintained some strength.

Hundreds of pirates slowly hoisted a ladder onto the city wall, inching it up little by little until they finally managed to set it up with great effort.

Then, some pirate soldiers bravely climbed up the ladder.

Those on and below the city walls watched in silence as the pirate soldiers slowly approached the city walls, neither knowing what they were thinking at that moment.

A dozen or so Zhenxi soldiers gathered atop the ladder looked down at the approaching pirates, and both sides could even see each other's expressions.

One of the soldiers in the Zhenxi Army couldn't help but ask.

"Boss, shall we make a move?"

A soldier dressed in full armor turned his head to look in the direction of the city wall, then looked at the pirates who were about to climb the wall with a confused expression.

"If he comes up without orders, shove him down. Do not do anything else without permission."

On the contrary, the pirate soldiers who climbed up were more puzzled than the people on the city wall. They had eyes full of the Zhenxi Army, so why hadn't they made a move yet?

Are they all fake?

The city wall was almost within reach, and hope shone in the eyes of the pirate soldiers.

Seeing the pirate reach out to grab the city wall, a soldier from the Zhenxi Army reversed the butt of his spear, held it in his hand, aimed it at the pirate soldier's chest, and gritted his teeth as he was about to stab him forward.