Siege warfare is the most challenging problem in war, often requiring soldiers to pile up their lives to succeed.
Not only Zheng Fang, but even Zhang Liang and Qing Mulian looked up at Jin Feng, wondering if he had another solution.
Jin Feng did not answer immediately. He frowned, studying the surrounding terrain for a while before asking, “What’s the bandits’ greatest advantage right now?”
“Their greatest advantage is that they hold a sturdy wall. They can attack us, but we can’t attack them,” Qing Mulian replied.
“What if we stand higher than them?” Jin Feng asked.
“Then it’d be the other way around!” Qing Mulian’s eyes lit up. “But the wall is nearly two zhang high. How can we get higher?”
“Don’t just ask me. Use your brain and think.”
Qing Mulian knew Jin Feng was testing her. After pondering, she said, “The only thing taller than the wall would be a ladder.”
This was the mainstream siege method of the time.
Soldiers would carry ladders to the wall’s base and climb up.
“Using ladders would cause too many casualties. The bandits just need to wait up top with spears, stabbing anyone who climbs,” Jin Feng said, shaking his head. “With our numbers, even if we all died here, we might not break through.”
“Then I can’t think of a better way…” Qing Mulian scratched her head, embarrassed.
“Sigh…” Jin Feng sighed and ordered, “Old Zheng, have your men cut down a few trees. Not too thick, but over two and a half zhang tall.”
“Yes, sir!” Zheng Fang, unsure why Jin Feng wanted trees, chose to follow orders and went to arrange it.
“Liang, don’t stand idle. Find some branches as thick as an arm, cut them to one zhang long, and gather plenty.”
“Alright.” Zhang Liang got to work.
Soon, a pile of branches, large and small, was amassed.
Drawing on the Song Dynasty’s watchtower carts and modern construction scaffolding, Jin Feng directed the veterans to use wire to bind the branches, constructing a simple watchtower cart.
Typically, such carts had wheels, but with limited time, Jin Feng skipped them, building a platform at over two zhang high instead.
It resembled scaffolding but had protective boards made of arm-thick branches on the side facing the bandits and around the platform to block arrows.
He also coated that side with wet mud to prevent fire attacks.
The simple watchtower cart, one zhang long and wide, two and a half zhang tall, and made of freshly cut wet wood, weighed over two thousand jin. It took over thirty veterans to lift it, slowly approaching the bandits’ wall.
Seeing this massive structure nearing, the bandits grew alert, firing arrows and hurling stones at it.
But the side facing them had thick protective boards, and the veterans carrying the cart hid behind them, rendering the arrows and stones ineffective.
Some bandits tried using fire oil, but the main method was heating it in large pots and pouring it down on attackers, maximising damage.
The bandits’ oil was stored in huge jars, too heavy to throw.
Jin Feng’s fireproof measures proved unnecessary as the bandits could only watch the cart draw closer, stopping five zhang from the wall.
The veterans climbed the cart’s handles to the platform.
Before, the bandits stood on the wall, hiding behind battlements, shooting through gaps. The veterans couldn’t even see where they were, unable to approach and forced to take hits.
Now, the situation reversed. The platform was over two metres higher than the wall, easily spotting the bandits, while the bandits couldn’t see the veterans’ positions.
The veterans took their crossbows from their backs, firing a volley through the shooting holes in the protective boards.
Of the forty-some bandits guarding the wall, nearly half were killed in the first volley.
The remaining twenty-odd huddled in corners out of arrow range.
“Think hiding will save you?” Iron Bull snorted, leaving three veterans on the platform. The rest climbed down, moving the cart two zhang closer.
This exposed two of the corners.
The veterans below didn’t need to climb up. The three on the platform shot down the dozen bandits hiding there one by one!
Only one corner remained for hiding, but the bandits there dared not stay.
“Don’t shoot, we surrender!” The few remaining bandits trembled as they emerged.
They had lost not only their terrain advantage but also their will to fight.
Among them was the minor leader Shuanzi, previously beaten by Jin Feng.
Injured, he was left by the bandit leader to guard the base.
He thought it an easy task, but soon after the leader left, attackers came.
They had repelled the assault easily with the wall’s advantage.
But now, with the watchtower cart, they lost their edge and were cornered.
“Drop your weapons. Send one man to open the gate. The rest don’t move!” a veteran shouted coldly. “No tricks, or we’ll kill you and open it ourselves!”
“Yes!” Shuanzi obediently dropped his weapon, ordering a bandit to open the gate.
Moments later, the heavy wooden gate opened from within.
Zheng Fang led a group of veterans inside, first subduing the gate-opener, then climbing the wall. Some tied up the remaining bandits, while others took crossbows to secure key attack points.
Only then did Jin Feng enter with Zhang Liang and Qing Mulian.
As Shuanzi was escorted down the wall, his eyes widened upon seeing Jin Feng. “How is it you?”
Until moments ago, he wondered who was attacking them.
He considered county soldiers or other bandits but never thought it could be Jin Feng’s men.
In his mind, Jin Feng must have been killed by the bandit leader. How could he be here?
Was Jin Feng here to apologise and missed the leader?
“Well, look, an old friend!” Jin Feng chuckled, glancing at Shuanzi.
“Jin Feng, I’ll tell you straight, the boss went to Xihe Bay. Let me go, or when he returns, he won’t spare you!” Shuanzi clung to his last hope, shouting defiantly.
“Your boss isn’t coming back.” Jin Feng smiled, waving a wooden plaque before Shuanzi. “From now on, I’m the boss of Tieguan Mountain!”
Seeing the plaque, Shuanzi’s final hope shattered.
His eyes darted, and he dropped to his knees with a thud.
“I, Shuanzi, pay respects to the boss! I know where Liu Jiang’s treasures are hidden and will lead you there!”
