The archery divisions came to a halt and inspected their bows.
“Ready arrow!”
The leader shouted and the first 1000 men on either side of him obeyed.
“Fire!”
“Fire!”
The 2,000 arrows whistled through the air and rained down on the unwitting guards on the walls.
They just watched in awe as the deadly arrows came to a squelching stop deep in their bodies; soon followed by cries of agony and horror.
Awakened to the cruel truth, the rest went to hide behind anything. Three seconds later, another volley came.
It caught the poor saps unaware still of the danger, resulting in the death of 500 people, the rest dumbfounded at the carnage around them.
Only the sharp few ducked in time, grateful they weren’t among those turned into pincushions.
The third volley came and the guards knew what to expect, but losses still mounted.
The two divisions were divided into five lines, each shooting three rounds in a row, resulting in peppering the city walls with 30,000 arrows. It struck people, animals, houses, people…
There were even sights of guards nailed to the ramparts by a dozen arrows, wailing and trying in futility to get away before the next rain came. All they could do was stare as the precious lifeblood seeped out of them.
After 15 rounds, the walls were covered in 3,000 corpses. The rest shivered behind their covers, hugging it for their dear lives.
With the enemy archers suppressed, Zhong Yu ordered the cannon fodders to resume the charge, even though he knew he’d be winning just by shooting arrows.
While his cannon fodder was just recruits unaware of the cruelty of war.
He had to make the most of this siege, of countless lives to build up an elite army. The 25,000 cannon fodder he had was just an appetizer.
The 8,000 men he took from Wudu Region would also be joining.
The war drums echoed as the first division of cannon fodder charged. Their leaders wouldn’t be telling them anything now.
They got orders from the top to not let them return unless 3,000 of them were dead.
“Charge!”
With an angry shout, the cannon fodder ran for the walls, trying to motivate their attack.
Seeing everywhere around them, people not much different than themselves who rushed alongside them, they all felt much more thrilled and excited.
Gripping their blade harder, they knew this meant a higher chance at survival.
Braving the enemy arrows and other thrown weapons, the cannon fodder reached the walls, lifting up 20 meter high ladders.
While ten were holding the ladder from being pushed, the rest climbed up.
Boiling oil was carried on the walls and wooden barrels got poured inside the mixture before dumping it on the enemy.
“Agh!”
The climbers screamed as they trashed about on the ladders, pulling down those below them.
And that was how the siege progressed, both sides pushing the other back in turns, making so there were a hundred ladders now.
The joy never came from having so many climb at once as the guards waited for them with spears.
The cannon fodder was thrown off the walls like a meat patty. From a distance, they looked like raindrops, falling into the moat or at the foot of the walls.
The division soon made its quota of losses in the next hour, piling their dead beneath the walls.
The sound of drums echoed, breaking through the fog of the cannon fodder consumed by war.
But this time it was that of retreat. Many thought of retreated every second of this bloodshed, but the thousand leaders behind made it impossible to survive it.
Any that retreated would be shot dead.
While for the entire division to pull back, that was even less of an option, not with the archery divisions ready to pepper them down. Meaning 20,000 other soldiers like them were waiting and hoping they would finish first before they entered the meat grinder.
The only choice was forward, leaving their fate to chance, to come out alive and rise through the ranks.
The sound of the second drums had them retreating, the ladders were taken away despite the hundreds on the walls still fighting.
They were too tangled up with the enemy to run back. They were left behind to die.
Were the men below the walls saints to give up their lives for another? There wouldn’t be wars and suffering if everyone was like that.
The officers had told these men to come back with the ladders intact when they retreated or the ones responsible for the ladders would be beheaded if they came back with a broken one.
One couldn’t just throw away their weapons even in retreat or it would make the second attack leave them with empty hands. They’d die even faster.
Thus these people rushed like ants taking their gear and ladders back, forgetting about the rest.
