Let Me Explain, Fairy
Chapter 360 - 253 The Fall of the Northern Border_2

Chapter 360: Chapter 253 The Fall of the Northern Border_2

"Remember the words you said under Northern Border City."

Xu Yuan lowered his eyes slightly and nodded, uttering three words:

"Won’t forget."

Erect a monument...

For those who have died in battle.

No matter what happens in the future, at least in this moment, they died for Dayan.

With that, neither of them spoke again.

The arrival of Li Qingyan quickly stirred up waves among the soldiers.

Not just the Feathered Forest Army, even many soldiers from the Sects’ Border Army showed a trace of excitement in their eyes.

The army is a place that can be very complicated, but also very simple, especially in this extraordinary feudal dynasty.

Soldiers always have a special admiration for valorous commanders, to say nothing of Li Qingyan, the Imperial Princess from such an illustrious background.

Moreover,

At such a dark and uncertain moment in the future, they needed a "god" as a spiritual anchor.

As the person who personally cut off the flag of the Barbarian Tribes and one of the arms of the Barbarian King, Li Qingyan quite naturally became the "god" they needed in their hearts.

As the snow from the sky grew heavier and the soldiers’ visibility diminished,

Time ticked away by the minute and second,

With the Formation unable to maintain its power, most of the high-ranking Sect members took the opportunity to escape, taking with them a portion of Northern Border City’s higher combat power.

However, Li Zhaoyuan fulfilled Li Qingyan’s orders perfectly.

The nearly paralyzed Northern Border City, after enduring a fierce battle, started to function again under his orderly command.

Not just the martial practitioners, but even many ordinary people were mobilized under the organization of this Prince.

Channeling Source Crystals to power the Protective City Formation, carts of city defense equipment were pulled out from the storage and sent to the city walls, and armor stripped from fallen soldiers was distributed to the Xia Group and Escort Agencies’ martial practitioners conscripted at short notice.

The entire Northern Border City’s preparation for battle was orderly under Li Zhaoyuan’s governance.

Unfortunately, time was still not on their side.

The time left by the Barbarian Tribes for Northern Border City was not enough for Li Zhaoyuan to fully mobilize all the city’s military and civilians.

In the blizzard plunged into darkness as black as ink, alarm bells suddenly rang out over Northern Border.

The Barbarian Tribes, once again, began their siege.

...

...

...

The first night,

The Barbarian Army began a large-scale assault on the South City Wall without the protection of the Formation, with about seventy thousand Xia Group and Escort Agencies’ martial practitioners inserted into the battlefield in batches, turning the South City Wall into a bloody grinding disc.

The second day,

After a night of desperate fighting, these conscripted martial practitioners were rotated out of the city walls due to heavy losses.

Li Qingyan personally led a mixed unit of the Feathered Forest Army and Black Scale Army, repelling several assaults by the Barbarian Tribes.

But due to the lack of troops, even Li Qingyan’s organization of the military formations was unable to maintain the long line of defense in Northern Border’s South City.

At two quarters past the hour of Shen, Li Zhaoyuan sent out the last of the reserves to be deployed to the battlefield south of the city.

By nightfall of the second day,

Li Qingyan ordered the burning of soldiers’ remains to prevent them from becoming sustenance for the Barbarian Tribes.

Half an hour later,

The South City Wall of Northern Border completely fell, the Barbarian Tribes occupied the city ramparts, and started to spread outwards.

It was at this moment that the battle in Northern Border City fully entered into street fighting.

Large Xia Groups and Escort Agencies, using Formation Patterns crossbows issued to them, relied on the Formations of various military camps and struggled to block the advance of the Barbarian Tribes in the blizzard.

But all these resistances seemed so futile against the overwhelming military strength,

Before midnight had even arrived, the entire South City had completely fallen, and countless tall Barbarian soldiers poured into the city from the beast trails like a tidal wave.

Two hours later,

The spearheads of the Barbarian Tribes reached the heart of Northern Border City, the Government Office.

By dawn of the third day, the Northern Border Government Office was breached.

The remaining city defenders were forced to abandon all other districts and retreat to the last stand at North City, defending themselves relying on the Formations at Black Scale Guards and Spiritual Water Palace, two massive military camps.

The attack of the Barbarian Army hit a wall and, unable to take the city for a long time, tried to directly break into North City over the east and west sides of the walls, to encircle all the defenders within the city.

At this moment, the Protective City Formation that had been dormant for two days was finally ordered activated by Li Qingyan, blocking the Barbarian Army’s attempt to envelop them.

Up to this point, the battle temporarily fell into a stalemate.

...

...

...

The wind and snow were erratic, and strong winds arose from all sides.

Standing atop the North City Wall, Li Qingyan looked down at the vast Northern Border with a piercing gaze.

In three days, the once orderly buildings within the city now lay in ruins everywhere, and the smoke of gunpowder rising in various places made it seem like the end of days had arrived.

After watching for a long time, Li Qingyan’s eyes gradually became more complex, but all that complexity ultimately turned into a breath of hot air, dissipating into the atmosphere.

The distant shouts and booming made this city gate tower exceptionally quiet.

Xu Yuan stood by silently, watching the desolation on her face.

Over the past three days, he had not been by her side, but had stayed inside the North City Wall instead.

However, the Black Scale Guards reported everything she had done during these three days to him.

From the South City Wall to South City, then to the Government Office, and finally retreating to this North City Wall.

Fighting the enemy, giving orders, retreating unwillingly step by step, until... there was nowhere left to retreat.

"Qingyan..." his voice was very light, so light it was almost drowned out by the distant shouts, "You... you grew up in Northern Border, didn’t you?"

Li Qingyan did not look back, staring at the chaos of Northern Border, her voice very low:

"Of course, from my childhood, His Majesty the Emperor sent me here, it can be considered half my homeland."

"Homeland, eh?"

Xu Yuan sighed softly, slowly persuading her:

"Qingyan... continuing to defend Northern Border is meaningless."

Saying this,

Xu Yuan glanced sideways at the wind and snow outside North City.