Fortunately, the leather armor he was wearing greatly reduced the damage from the arrows.
Zhu Ci held his shoulder and stood up, saying, "They are preparing to storm the city walls; everyone, stay alert!"
Jiang Xueyan rushed over and said, "Young Master, go down and bandage your wound!"
Zhu Ci took a deep breath and said, "No need, bring the medicine box over."
At a time like this, he could not afford to go down. He was very aware of the weakness in his team: that besides him, there was no other pillar of support.
Once he falls, it will be easy for panic to spread, at that time, his strength will at most only be able to exert fifty percent of its potential.
The squad is too young, which leads to such flaws.
Moreover, even if Zhu Ci were to descend from the city walls now, he would be unable to rest and recover from his injuries in peace.
He sat down and leaned against the wall, taking off his bloodstained leather armor to treat his wounds before putting it back on.
He didn't make a sound throughout the entire process, while Jiang Xueyan, beside him, was already shedding tears in continuous streams.
Zhu Ci said helplessly, "Am I not alright? Stop crying for now, go check on the other wounded soldiers."
With Allicin, his chances of dying from wound infection and inflammation have decreased significantly, since the wound wasn't very deep, he should be fine.
That is assuming he has time to recover from his injuries.
In reality, however, the Qing Army's offensive had not slowed down for five consecutive days, while the firearms here in Huaian were completely exhausted, the provisions were only enough for five more days.
To say that they were completely exhausted of both ammunition and provisions would not be an exaggeration.
The Qing Army continuously attempted to scale the city walls, Zhu Ci had already given up his bow and arrows, relying solely on his long saber to attack the enemy.
During this process, his wounds split open several times; in addition, many small new wounds appeared on his body and face.
Everyone on the city walls was wounded, but no one retreated.
In the end, some even jumped from the city walls, clutching their enemies to ensure they both perished together.
Having witnessed all this, Zhu Ci felt nothing in his heart; at this moment, he was like a precision machine, having discarded human emotion, only issuing accurate commands while he was killing people.
The cycle of day and night no longer registered in his eyes; he could not even quite remember how many days had passed.
Jiang Xueyan cried and begged him to go back and rest, it wasn't just Jiang Xueyan, but others as well—men, women, young, old.
But how could he go down? What would happen to the people on the city walls if he did? He wouldn't make much of a difference, but as long as he was there, the Qing Army would target him even more.
Just as Zhu Ci felt as if he could no longer lift his arms, he heard a shout: "Reinforcements are here!"
He only looked up after he had swung his blade and cut down an enemy.
At the end of his line of sight, billowing yellow sands appeared, a sight that only occurred when cavalry was charging.
Zhu Ci turned his head and shouted, "Hold on just a little longer!"
With reinforcements coming from the rear, the Qing Army now has only two choices: either escalate their offensive to capture Lin'an City in one breath and switch from being the besiegers to the besieged, or retreat.
However, from the current situation, it seems the Qing Army has chosen the former.
Zhu Ci shook his arm and readjusted the cloth strips tied around his hand.
His right arm was also injured, making it impossible for him to hold a knife steadily, so he chose to use a cloth strip to bind the knife to his hand.
At this moment, the cloth strips had already lost their original color, being soaked in blood—some from the enemy and some from him.
Zhu Ci took a swig of wine to refresh himself, then turned his head and raised his blade again.
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Author's Note: Zhu Ci: Tartars.. Tartars are humans too! What is there to fear! Evil Kitty plays with a drunken blade. jpg
Next update at 6:00 PM~
Chapter 92
The Qing Army gritted their teeth and sought to take the city, but Huaian was far more resilient than they had expected.
Especially since they had no reinforcements and the Great Ming reinforcements were right behind them, no matter how fierce the Qing Army was, it was useless.
Not to mention that their own morale had suffered a massive blow; the appearance of the Ming Army here meant that the General of State Stabilization Dodo had failed to capture Yangzhou and might even have already retreated.
Alna rubbed the scar on his face, a mark left by Zhu Ci's arrow, looked at the walls of Huaian with a sense of resentment.
Because of the distance, he actually couldn't see the people on the city walls clearly, but he knew the other party was definitely on the walls.
That person was more troublesome than he had imagined; at first, he had wanted to capture Zhu Ci alive, but now he only wanted Zhu Ci to die.
Unfortunately, there would be no such opportunity this time; he could only turn his horse and leave.
The Qing Army retreated like flowing water.
Zhao Jia, who was beside Zhu Ci, asked in a daze, "We won?"
Someone nearby said in a hoarse but firm voice, "We won!"
Everyone was cheering.
Zhu Ci was also smiling, but as soon as he curled the corners of his mouth, he felt an unbearable pain in his lips.
His lips had long been cracked from dryness; they weren't noticeable during the heat of battle, but at this moment, he felt them throbbing with pain.
He took two steps back, his body sliding slowly down against the wall, until finally he propped up one leg to sit on the ground, slowly untying the cloth strip from his hand.
At this moment, his mind was a complete blank, as if all sensation had left him. He sat there, gazing into the distance with a somewhat dazed look, until another person appeared by his side.
“Xinghuo? Zhu Xinghuo?”
Xinghuo!
Zhu Xinghuo!
Zhu Ci's consciousness returned for a brief moment, he turned his head to look beside him.
A man in silver armor was crouching beside him, wearing a plain silver mask that had a piece of gauze covering the eye slits.
Zhu Ci was somewhat puzzled. Who was this? However, the voice was quite pleasant and felt somewhat familiar.
Perhaps the confusion in his eyes was too obvious, as the other person explained, "It's me, Fu Huaizhang."
Fu Huaizhang.. Who is Fu Huaizhang?
After a long while, his mind finally cleared, he remembered this person, unable to help but ask, "You.. why are you here?"
Fu Huaizhang saw that he had finally come to his senses and felt relieved. He reached out and said, "Let's talk about that later. You need to rest, your wounds need to be treated. I'll take you down."
Zhu Ci looked at his movements and said, "If you dare carry me down like this, I will take you down with me."
He was the dignified Crown Prince of Great Ming, invincible in battle; if he were carried out horizontally like this, where would his dignity be?
"Where is the stretcher?" Zhu Ci glanced at it.
Fu withdrew his hand and said to him with his back turned, "Carrying him on your back should be fine now, right? Stretcher supplies are limited, so I had them go carry the more severely injured people."
Zhu Ci nodded in satisfaction. "Fine."
The attendant beside Fu Huaizhang said in a low voice, "Marquis, why not let me do it?"
Fu did not agree, but simply ordered, "Go prepare the carriage, have the manor prepare medical kits and water. Additionally, notify Physician Yan and tell him to be ready as well."
Zhu Ci lay on him, muttering, "This is way too hard."
Fu Huaizhang explained patiently, "I arrived in such a hurry that I didn't have time to change out of my combat armor."
Zhu Ci asked with his eyes half-closed, "Why have you come?"
To repay you for saving my life.
Hmm?
When had he ever saved Fu? Why didn't he know?
Zhu Ci closed his eyes, this question still lingering in his mind.
Fu carried him onto the carriage, along the way, he held Zhu Ci's wrist to assess his physical condition.
Although he was not a physician, he did possess some basic medical knowledge; judging by his pulse, Zhu Ci's overall condition was fine.
Of course, "this" also meant that his life was not in danger.
“Your Highness's injuries don't look that serious, but because they weren't treated in time, there has been too much blood loss and some necrosis has occurred. I'm afraid it will take one or two months to recover.”
Fu asked, "When will he wake up?"
“At most one or two days, at most three to five days,” Physician Yan said. “His Highness has not had proper rest for too long; it is good that he can sleep for a while longer now.”
Fu Lue nodded and arranged for people to take good care of Zhu Ci, while he himself went to handle the aftermath.
Huaian had won, but it was a pyrrhic victory. After the battle, the supplies needed to be inventoried, the number of casualties needed to be tallied.
Now that Zhu Ci is unconscious, there is no one to make decisions on many matters, so he can only step in and take charge, first letting his own people take control of Huaian.
Fortunately, because he was a reinforcement, the Crown Prince's subordinates did not hold excessive guard against him; otherwise, he would have had to find ways to appease those people.
When Zhu Ci regained consciousness again, he felt as if his entire body had fallen apart. He remained awake for only a short while, taking his medicine and eating a bit of food, before closing his eyes and falling asleep once more, failing to even greet Fu, who had come to visit him after receiving the news.
Fu Chunsheng saw that he had fallen asleep again and felt truly helpless; he was even thinking of finding a way to persuade Zhu Ci to return to Suzhou once he woke up.
Huaian is currently on the front lines; although the Tartars have temporarily retreated, there is no telling when they might make a comeback.
The Tartars' resolve for a Southward Advance is resolute; Huaian is a place that must be fought for.
Forget it, since he's awake, it won't be long before he is fully conscious; I'll just wait a bit longer.
By the time Zhu Ci was fully awake, it was already midnight. He moved his body and felt uncomfortable all over; it wasn't that it was particularly painful, just uncomfortable, he felt completely weak, his entire body as limp as noodles.
He lay on the bed for a while before recovering, slowly sitting up and watching the hazy moonlight spill in through the window. In his daze, he had only one thought: the Huaian Prefect was also quite extravagant, even using seashell windows for his prefectural office.
While he was dazing, he suddenly heard the sound of a zither.
It was a melody he had never heard before, possessing a quiet and melodious temperament.
Zhu Ci could hardly stay lying down; he got up with a grimace, took a look at his body, which was bound like a mummy, casually grabbed a robe to throw over himself before slowly walking out.
To be honest, moving his body actually made him feel a bit better.
Especially since it had been incredibly stuffy inside the room; once outside, a cool breeze blew past, carrying a faint floral fragrance, he felt much more alert.