The Drifting Flowers On The Hilltop
At the time when Li Yan was giving birth, In the outskirts of Jinan County, the weather was dry and the air was desolate as it carried the pungent scent of blood. The landscape was mostly plain with a chain of hills protruding in the distance at the West. But a lone hill stood out amid the lush flat ground, on which a fort lay strong, proudly fluttering the banners of Li.
The fort, however, was not the only thing that stood out like a sore thumb in this strategic location that bordered Eastern Wei. Surrounding it was an Army of two thousand camping below the hill, while the hill trail was covered in blood and dead bodies with arrows and spears sticking out of them.
Suddenly, a man below the hill wearing shining light armor gestured, pointing at the stronghold with his blade as he commanded, "Go! Once again! We must capture this fort today!"
As his voice resounded, four squads of hundred soldiers immediately sprung into action, their armor and weapons making a clicking metallic noise as they darted forward, rapidly ascending the Hill furiously wearing ferocious expressions on their faces.
Just as the soldiers made it halfway through from the Fort Walls, a deep and loud voice that could install trepidation in the hearts of foes just by the sound of it, echoed, "Fire! Skewer those Huang traitors!"
Following the man's command, the twang of the bowstring sounded as the archers emerged behind the walls, poking their upper bodies out as they fired hundreds of arrows down below.
As the hundreds of arrows rained down, the soldiers propped up their shields, while some were fortunate enough to not get pierced, some screamed in agony before dropping dead on the ground, their shields rolling off drenched by the blood of their bearers.
While there were some casualties, a large number of men were still making their way toward the hill. As the command, "Fire!" once again sounded from the fort, the man on the base of the hill also yelled out, "Second wave! Go!" And obeying his commands, another two sets of hundred soldiers strode onwards.
As the number of men approaching the fort walls increased and the supply of arrows decreased, the expression on the fortress commander's face sank. With a weighty voice, he bellowed, "Roll!"
Soon after, an indistinct roar sounded followed by the sound of rumbling as large circular rocks were thrown off over the walls by the soldiers. The rocks quickly gained momentum as they bounced and crashed along the way, eventually banging into the soldiers who had been climbing the hill from all sides, creating patches and trails of blood and flesh along the trail.
"Damn it! This damned fortress!" The man below, the third young master of the Huang family of warlords, barked between his gnashed teeth looking at the mighty fortress.
The fortress was quite sturdy, made on a rugged hill with the only way to reach the entry gate through a steep, spiral trail that was carved into the hill. This made the fortress indomitable as cavalry could never climb it and the only way was to climb by foot.
But at the same time, the fortress wasn't without flaws as it was a small one and couldn't hold an extensive amount of supplies. The plain landscape around the hill also made it isolated, allowing the enemy to completely surround it without leaving an inch of space open enough to even pass an ant.
Understanding this, Huang Dong smirked cruelly. He knew that it was only a matter of time. As far as he knew, there would be no reinforcement coming to save the fortress.
Huang Dong then decided to fight a battle of attrition. Even though he could wait it out, he didn't want to lose to his brothers and so he chose to send in little of the forces in waves to expand the enemy's weapons and tricks. After that, he could easily march up to the fortress and break the gates open.
As time passed, more and more bodies began piling up. Volleys of arrows started flying from both sides, creating more and more casualties. The only difference was that one side could afford to lose more men but the other could not.
At the fortress, a soldier approached the commander, Liao Heng. Clasping his fists together in a salute and bowing, he spoke in an anxious tone, his voice shaking, "Lord commander, we don't have more arrows left."
Liao Heng knitted his brows in frustration, narrowing his eyes he asked, "Boulders? Spears?"
Shaking his head, the soldier said, "No boulders either, we only have a few spears left."
Hearing this, Liao Heng clenched his fists as his body shook in annoyance. At this moment, another soldier came running.
"Lord Commander! They send a letter tugged on an arrow!" Gasping for breath, the soldier kneeled and presented the letter.
Raising his brows in suspicion, Liao Heng grabbed the letter and began reading, with each second, the grasp on the letter becoming tighter as he read the contents of the letter.
"No help shall come to you, surrender and we will let you live. Otherwise, each one of your men and you will be slaughtered!"
Not being able to hold himself back, Liao Heng tore the letter to shreds, blowing them in the wind as he sneered and yelled out, "I, Liao Heng, am a man of honor! Something that you Huang dogs have not even heard of! I shall gladly lay down my life for My Lord if need be! Who's with me?"
Seeing their commander standing tall in high spirits, the soldiers guarding the fortress felt their veins rejuvenate with raging youthful blood as they all screamed at the top of their lungs, "Me! Me! Me!"
As the skies above filled with the revered war cries of the soldiers, Huang Dong clicked his tongue. The response was loud and clear. He spat on the ground disdainfully and muttered, "ungrateful bastards, die then!"
Sure enough, the first group of soldiers soon reached in front of the fortress's sturdy gate as they held their position, staring off with the guards on the wall.
The report reached Huang Dong immediately and the path was clear. Reading the report, he broke out in a hearty bout of laughter looking at the fortress with a cruel smirk.
He was ready to march out himself, fantasizing about beheading the enemy commander with his own hands. Just as he was going to order all of his forces to launch an all-out assault, suddenly the sound of horns echoed from afar.
Hearing this sound, the earth from below his feet almost slipped off. While the eyes of Liao Heng brightened with hope.
"H- how? Reinforcements? Who could it be?" Huang Dong muttered as he involuntarily stepped back, hearing the faint sound of horse hooves as he turned around, looking into the horizon searching for the enemy.
In the distance, a dust cloud rose from the peaks on the horizon slowly becoming larger and larger as a thin black line became visible.
Li Junwei rode on his steed along with his speedy cavalry as he galloped, rapidly heading towards the fortress. From above, he could see the fortress in the middle of a plain landscape on top of the hill and some thousand soldiers besieging it.
Seeing this, his anger rose to the high heavens as he sharply jolted the horse reins, increasing the pace, galloping down like a tidal wave.
"Damnit! Infantry, defensive formation! Quickly!"
Huang Dong screamed at the top of his lungs, sensing a catastrophe as he saw the cavalry approaching rapidly in the distance. The only thought in his mind was to run away as there was simply no way to stop such momentum.
"Hahaha! Our Lord has come! We are safe! Open the gate and charge! Let's make mincemeat out of that Huang trash! Hahaha!" Liao Heng laughed with hysteria as he unsheathed his sword and left the wall battlement.
Li Junwei raised his sword with a murderous look on his face as he saw the ants-like forces below rush to get into a defensive formation in panic. He couldn't wait to bathe his blade in the blood of the traitors.
Suddenly, the cool autumn breeze blew drifting along with it a bunch of chrysanthemums, also known as the Golden Flower—The Flower signifying life and fertility.
Li Junwei skipped a beat as he saw the flowers drifting along with the wind. His murderous expression mellowed as he suddenly felt an inexplicable feeling stemming in his heart. As one of the flower petals landed on his arm, Li Junwei muttered unknowingly, "Y- Yan… Yan'er!"