Chapter 912: Determination to die!
Completely different from Yuan Song who was full of confidence and yearning, Ma Chongyang and Tang Peng in Weiguan City at this time both had serious expressions and frowned brows as they watched the Fengwu Army bombarding Weiguan·······················

The bombardment lasted for about an incense stick of time. Although it did not cause any major damage to the main body of the city wall, some battlements on Wei Pass were blown up. When the Fengwu Army's bombardment stopped, the defenders immediately sent craftsmen up the wall to repair the battlements.

Looking at the soldiers and craftsmen busy on the city wall, Ma Chongyang sighed. He knew that even if the battlements were repaired, they would still be blown up when the Fengwu Army bombarded tomorrow!
But even if the outcome would be like this, they still had to repair these battlements. After all, they didn't know when the Fengwu Army would attack. If they didn't repair them, the Fengwu Army would attack tomorrow, and the defenders would suffer more casualties without the cover of the battlements.

As the commander-in-chief defending the city, Ma Chongyang was both angry and helpless about the daily bombardment by the Fengwu Army!

More than a month ago, when he received the news that the imperial court was defeated in the Battle of Pingyang and the imperial army retreated to Wei Pass, and that Yang Chongqing, the commander-in-chief of the army, committed suicide out of fear of punishment, Ma Chongyang was surprised but also secretly happy.

The reason why Ma Chongyang was secretly happy was not because the Fengwu Army won, but because of the failure of Yang Chongqing and Fang Peng.

Because of his humble origins, Ma Chongyang had always been frustrated in the Luo'an court dominated by aristocratic families. He was still a commander of the Xuanwu Army in his fifties.

However, God also opened his eyes and gave Ma Chongyang an opportunity. After the Luoan Incident, many aristocratic and powerful families betrayed Shangguan Hongyuan, and they took away many generals and soldiers.

Therefore, in order to consolidate his power, Shangguan Hongyuan promoted a group of generals from humble backgrounds, including Wang Muzhi and Ma Chongyang.

With the promotion of Shangguan Hongyuan, Ma Chongyang took over the post of assistant commander of the Xuanwu Army. Later, he made many military achievements during the southern expedition to Sichuan and Shu.

Therefore, Shangguan Hongyuan promoted him to the commander of the Xuanwu Army, making Ma Chongyang a senior general in the Luoan court and also a powerful figure in the imperial guards.

Although he finally got the chance to take the position when he was over fifty, Ma Chongyang, who came from a poor family, was still not welcomed in the Luoan court, which was very biased against family background. Ma Chongyang was very resentful that his status in the Luoan court was far lower than that of Yang Chongqing and Tang Peng, who were more than ten years younger than him.

Ma Chongyang, who was in a depressed mood, had been drinking and said to his subordinates that the court was full of incompetent idiots who had been influenced by their ancestors.

Originally, the matter was not a big deal, just drinking and complaining, but unfortunately, this matter reached the ears of the nobles, and they already disliked Ma Chongyang, a guy from a humble family.

Now that they had evidence, they immediately found an official to impeach Ma Chongyang and wanted to remove him from his post. Fortunately, Shangguan Hongyuan wanted to march east to attack Fengwu Army at that time. As an experienced veteran, Ma Chongyang was of great help to the Fengwu Army in the eastern expedition...
So Shangguan Hongyuan protected Ma Chongyang and just gave him a beating with a military stick to end the matter. However, the feud between Ma Chongyang and the noble family became deeper and deeper.

A few months later, when the Fengwu Army attacked Yunbing, the situation in Yunbing was critical. Ma Chongyang thought his chance had come. After all, in his eyes, Tang Peng, the commander of the Hujie Army, was just a second-generation rich man who was good-looking but useless. The court would definitely send him, the veteran, to fight.

But just when Tang Peng was preparing to lead his troops to attack Yunbing, he didn't expect that Yang Chongqing, who had been recuperating from illness, would suddenly show up and become some kind of commander-in-chief of the army.

Not only that, the court also appointed Yang Chongqing as the chief commander and Tang Peng as the deputy general to lead troops to support Yunbing, while he, the experienced veteran, could only stay in Luoan!

Upon hearing the news, Ma Chongyang was very sad and angry. He felt that his talent was not appreciated and he had no way to serve his country, and his patriotic enthusiasm had no place to be displayed.

Because of this, Ma Chongyang was very negative for a while. If his hometown Ji Yu had not fallen into the hands of the Fengwu Army, he even wanted to retire and return home.

However, before Ma Chongyang could continue to sink into negativity, the news of Pingyang’s defeat came back. Most of the officials in the court were surprised and heartbroken about this defeat that shook the foundation of the Luoan court, but Ma Chongyang was shocked and secretly delighted...
The reason why Ma Chongyang was happy was because he had said long ago that Yang Chongqing and Tang Peng were all incompetent fools who had been influenced by their ancestors. And now this disastrous defeat undoubtedly proved that his idea was correct. The court did not listen to the old men and suffered the consequences!
Secondly, there were only a few high-ranking generals in the Luoan court. Although Yang Chongqing took most of the responsibility for the defeat by committing suicide, Tang Peng, as his deputy general, was also responsible for the rest of the defeat!

Therefore, the next task of guarding Wei Pass cannot be carried out by Fang Peng, the defeated general. If this is the case, then who will take on the responsibility of guarding Wei Pass?

In Ma Chongyang's opinion, who else but him could handle this matter?

Therefore, Ma Chongyang originally wanted to write a letter directly to Shangguan Changgong to volunteer to serve as the governor of Weiguan to guard Luoan for the Luoan court and resist the Fengwu Army.

But when he thought about his previous experience of being unsuccessful, he felt that he could not be so humble as to volunteer. He had to wait for Shangguan Changgong to invite him out.

Just as Ma Chongyang thought, in this situation, Shangguan Changgong had only one choice left, so he could only order Ma Chongyang to serve as the governor of Weiguan.

After receiving the order from Shangguan Changgong, Ma Chongyang originally wanted to use illness as an excuse to try to get Shangguan Changgong to come to his house in person to invite him out of retirement. However, he was a little worried that Shangguan Changgong would appoint Tang Peng as the governor of Weiguan, so Ma Chongyang finally accepted the appointment with pleasure...
When he first accepted the order, although Ma Chongyang knew that the Imperial Guards might not be able to defeat the Fengwu Army, he was still very confident that he could complete the task of guarding Wei Pass and prevent the Fengwu Army from overstepping the line, thus becoming a hero of the Luoan court.

The reason supporting Ma Chongyang's confidence lies in the Wei Pass, a magnificent pass that has been around for thousands of years. Ma Chongyang feels that as long as he has tens of thousands of elite soldiers and sufficient supply of food and grass, guarding Wei Pass will not be a big problem.

But when he arrived at Wei Pass, Ma Chongyang realized that things were not what he thought at all, and the situation was even worse than he had expected.

First, after the great defeat at Pingyang, the morale of the imperial guards was very low, and pessimism was prevalent within the army, including among many generals.

Secondly, in Ma Chongyang's impression, Wei Pass was impregnable, but many of its defense facilities had fallen into disrepair and were no longer able to play their due role.

Although Ma Chongyang found this situation difficult, as a veteran in the army he quickly took steps to change the situation.

He first joined forces with Tang Peng to write a letter to Shangguan Changgong to exempt the soldiers from responsibility for the defeat, and also obtained a sum of silver to reward the soldiers who fought bravely in the Battle of Pingyang. Then he tried every possible way to boost morale.

Thanks to Ma Chongyang's operation, the morale of the imperial guards was restored and their emotions were no longer so negative.

At the same time, Ma Chongyang was repairing the various defensive measures of Wei Pass as quickly as possible, accumulating rolling stones, logs, firearms and arrows, preparing to fight a bloody battle with the Fengwu Army at Wei Pass... Just when everything was developing in the direction planned, the Fengwu Army appeared outside Wei Pass. To be honest, Ma Chongyang was very surprised by this. He thought that the Fengwu Army would rest for a while and then attack Wei Pass. He did not expect that the Fengwu Army would prepare to attack Wei Pass so soon.

However, just when Ma Chongyang was preparing to deal with the Fengwu Army's large-scale offensive, he discovered that the Fengwu Army had no intention of attacking Wei Pass at all.

These Fengwu troops that appeared outside Wei Guan City simply set up artillery outside the city and began to bombard Wei Guan, firing at irregular times throughout the twelve hours of the day, sometimes in the morning, sometimes in the afternoon, and even at night when there was no vision, they had to force firing.

At first, Ma Chongyang thought that this was a prelude to a large-scale attack by the Fengwu Army, so he was very cautious and kept his mind on edge. However, after half a month, there was still no sign of a large-scale attack by the Fengwu Army.

However, the bombardment never stopped. Only then did Ma Chongyang realize that the Fengwu Army was as tired as he had imagined and was not prepared for a large-scale attack. The bombardment was just for fun!

This made Ma Chongyang angry, but he also couldn't help but wonder how many artillery shells the Fengwu Army had that they could waste like this?

There were also some artillery shells stored in Weiguan City for the Zhengdong Cannon. When facing the bombardment of the Fengwu Army, Ma Chongyang sometimes wanted to use his temper and use the Zhengdong Cannon to bombard the Fengwu Army...

But every time he thought of this, Ma Chongyang restrained his impulse. Firstly, the range and accuracy of the Zhengdong Cannon could not compare to the red cannon of the Fengwu Army. Secondly, the gunners of the Imperial Guards were not as skilled as those of the Fengwu Army. Thirdly, the shells of the Zhengdong Cannon were very precious.

Therefore, it is not worth it to engage in a direct bombardment with the Fengwu Army's artillery. It would be better to save the shells and wait until the Fengwu Army officially attacks the city, and then open fire to kill a few more Fengwu Army bastards.

Although this is true, it is too frustrating to be bombarded every day without being able to fight back, and it also has a huge impact on military morale.

While Ma Chongyang was thinking, Lieutenant General Chen Bing came up to him and asked for battle:

"I will fight tonight and destroy the Fengwu Army's artillery positions!"

Hearing Chen Bing's request to fight, Ma Chongyang and Tang Peng beside him looked at each other with bitter smiles on their faces.

If the Fengwu Army's artillery positions were so easy to destroy, they would not have continued to endure the seemingly endless bombing of the Fengwu Army.

In fact, everyone knows that this is the routine of the Fengwu Army. They will constantly harass you with artillery, making you annoyed and unbearable. Then when you send troops out of the city to try to blow up the Fengwu Army's artillery positions, you will be ambushed by the Fengwu Army.

Although I know the tactics of the Fengwu Army, this move of the Fengwu Army is an open conspiracy. If you don't leave the city, you will have to endure the bombardment. The morale of the army has been destroyed by the artillery fire. If you can't help but send troops, you will have to endure the losses...

Faced with the Fengwu Army's tactics, Ma Chongyang had already decided to be a coward. No matter how hard you attack me from all directions, I will not leave the city!
But when these rounds of artillery fire really hit him on the head, Ma Chongyang couldn't help it anymore!
After pondering for a while, Ma Chongyang asked Chen Bing:

"What's your plan?"

Facing Ma Chongyang's question, Chen Bing spoke with a firm look:

"I need five hundred brave warriors. I know the Fengwu Army will set up an ambush on their artillery positions and wait for our army to attack at night!"

"So this time I plan to divide the 500 people into two groups. The first group of 400 people will make a feint attack to lure out the Fengwu Army's ambushing troops in front of the artillery position. I will personally lead the remaining 100 death-defying warriors and take the opportunity to go around to the back and blow up the Fengwu Army's artillery position!"

When Ma Chongyang and Tang Peng heard Chen Bing's plan, their eyes lit up and they thought that Chen Bing's plan was very promising!

And the most important thing is that Chen Bing’s plan only requires 500 people. Therefore, even if the plan fails, they can bear the loss. If they can really destroy the artillery positions of the Fengwu Army outside the city, they will make a lot of money...

Tang Peng hesitated for a moment and then asked seriously:
"Chen Bing, do you know the danger of this?"

Facing Tang Peng's question, Chen Bing nodded heavily and said:
"I understand that this trip is a sure death! I am determined to die for the country! I hope you two adults will agree to my plan!"

Looking at Chen Bing's resolute expression, Ma Chongyang and Tang Peng looked at each other again, and then the Chief Commander Ma Chongyang made the decision:

"Chen Bing, you are a man! I agree with your plan!"

"You can choose any of the soldiers in the entire army, including my guards, but you must blow up the artillery positions of the damn Fengwu Army, and you must come back alive!"

"Complete this mission, and I will personally commend you to the court and the Prime Minister!"

After hearing this, Chen Bing's resolute expression also showed a hint of passion, and he immediately bowed to Ma Chongyang and said:

"Thank you, sir. I will definitely live up to your trust!"

After saying that, Chen Bing went to pick the death-defying warriors he wanted and prepared for the night attack tonight. Ma Chongyang and Tang Peng talked about the division of labor for a while, and then prepared to take care of their respective responsibilities. As soon as Tang Peng returned to his tent, his trusted guard came over and whispered:
"Sir, Lord Murong has sent you a letter..."

(End of this chapter)