General Chen entered the city and was arranged to go to the prefectural office to treat his wounds. He was stabbed by the enemy with many spears, and his whole body was covered in blood that kept flowing, so he needed to stop the bleeding as soon as possible.
On top of Yu City, General Zhang began to command as soon as he arrived. He first said to Qin Chuyuan, "Qin, the supervisor of the army, this place is no longer suitable for long stays. Hurry and leave with your escorts."
Qin Chuyuan did not respond. He just looked out of the city, worried in his heart. He also did not know if Xiaohua and the others had safely passed through that forest.
"Sir, it will be dangerous if you don't leave now," Zhang spoke louder to urge him.
Only then did Qin Chuyuan come back to his senses. Then he saluted the generals: "I will wait for the generals' safe return at the prefectural office."
"I appreciate your auspicious words," they replied.
After Qin Chuyuan left, General Zhang ordered, "Archers, prepare."
When the Liang Army rushed into shooting range, he commanded, "Shoot."
Arrows rained down like hornets passing through a mirror, shooting towards the outside of the city.
The Liang Army's trebuchets made deafening, tremendous sounds as huge boulders continually smashed onto the city walls of Yu City. Some soldiers on top of the towers were directly smashed to death, while others were smashed off the city walls and screamed as they fell below.
Tens of thousands of Liang troops charged forward wave after wave, climbing scaling ladders and battering rams thundered into action.
After fighting for who knows how long, the thick city walls already had dozens of meters of huge holes bashed into them, and the city gates were also smashed open.
The Liang troops surged into the city, and the soldiers of both countries engaged in close combat. As the front row fell, the back row took their place.
This was a battle of endless bodies. On the battlefield with over four hundred thousand people from both sides, they fought from day to night, and from night to daybreak. The ground was covered with blood, dyeing the earth red. Corpses were strewn everywhere, piled layer upon layer.
The Liang army's morale was high, while the Ye soldiers were constantly forced back in retreat. Seeing their fellow soldiers and commanders fall down before them one by one, General Zhang, with eyes red with killing intent, slashed open an enemy beside him and asked a subordinate: "Any movement from General Gong's side yet?"
"Not yet. We don't know if they made it through that forest. My hometown is over there. No one has ever dared to go into that forest," the subordinate replied.
When Gong Xiaohua and the others passed through this forest, they did encounter many difficulties.
The biggest difficulty was that there were many ferocious beasts in the forest. They had to be highly vigilant, both day and night. Also, they mostly did not dare to travel at night, which delayed them a lot of time.
Moreover, after entering the forest, they realized this forest was bigger than Xiaohua had imagined. Fortunately, during their previous training, they had survival training in the wild, so everyone was psychologically prepared to face various emergencies in the forest. This allowed them to keep marching forward.
After killing the last pack of wolves, the Xiyuan Army finally emerged from the forest. It was already the seventh morning since they left Yu City.
Although the forest was full of dangers and they lost some people inside, after seven days of tribulation, those who remained were truly elite soldiers and generals.
After a brief rest, they prepared to head towards the encampment where the general was stationed. When they arrived at their destination, they discovered there were only a few dozen patrolling soldiers left in the Liang army's camp.
"Not good, they've already attacked the city. Everyone mount your horses and burn down the Liang army's camp, especially their granaries."
"Yes, sir!"
After the Liang camp was engulfed in huge flames, the Xiyuan cavalry hurried towards Yu City.
At the time when the Liang troops were pressing in step by step, the Ye army's morale was collapsing, and General Zhang and the others were in despair,
A deafening sound of galloping hooves came from afar, making the ground tremble slightly. Looking in the direction of the road, they saw a cavalry appear at the end.
Bright banners fluttered majestically in the sky. Shiny armor glittered with dazzling brilliance. Jagged sabers pierced straight into the clouds, giving off an icy cold luster.
The horses' hooves beat heavily against the ground with an unstoppable rumble as they surged forth, whipping up swirls of dust like ocean waves, striking awe and making one's hair stand on end.
The Xiyuan Army's iron cavalry swept into the rear of the Liang army like a wild gale. In the enemy's unprepared state, they crushed and tore through several thousand in an instant.
"It's the Ye army, that Ye army troop! They attacked from behind us!" someone in the Liang army shouted loudly.
As soon as these words came out, most of the Liang troops attacking Yu City's rear turned around and densely streamed towards the Xiyuan Army.
General Zhang and the others, upon seeing that Gong Xiaohua and the others had charged into the enemy army, shook with their whole bodies. Then seeing the large number of Liang troops attack them, they issued orders: "All officers and soldiers, listen up, follow me to kill over and link up with the Xiyuan Army."
"Yes, sir!"
Every single one of the Xiyuan soldiers was extremely brave. Wielding large sabers, they slashed as if wielding solid iron, advancing unhindered wherever they went.
With the Xiyuan Army's participation, the situation of the Ye army was slowly beginning to change.
But Gong Xiaohua's brows were furrowed. In a battle of endless bodies, if both sides kept fighting like this to the bitter end, the victor would only win at great cost.
The enemy's commander-in-chief thought the same way. Since this female Ye general came, these Ye soldiers seemed injected with chicken blood, desperately throwing themselves upwards. If this continued, who knew how many would die in the end?
As always, capturing the king was capturing the thieves.
Like having a psychic connection, the two found each other amidst the tide of people.
Their gazes were sharp, shimmering with faint light. Almost at the same time, they each pulled back their bows and released arrows towards the front. The arrow shafts met and collided in mid-air, the arrowheads splitting open and falling.
King Runan did not expect that his full-strength arrow was actually blocked in mid-air by the opponent's arrow. It showed that the opponent's strength was not inferior to his own.
One arrow having failed, they spurred their horses and simultaneously galloped to the left. They turned sideways, drew arrows, and rapidly shot one, two, three... arrows towards each other.
When they reached the far left side of the battlefield, with nothing obstructing them anymore, they looked at each other. By now both had some minor abrasions on their faces but nothing serious.
At this moment, their gazes contained mutual admiration for each other.
"Exhilarating! If not for our differing camps, I would have been honored to call you friend," said King Runan.
"You flatter me, Your Majesty," Xiaohua replied.
"Hahaha, no false modesty at all. But I like that. Now show me the might of Ye Country's rumored foremost warrior."
"I dare not claim the title of first, please go ahead, Your Majesty."
King Runan went first with spear in hand. Gong Xiaohua spurred her horse to meet him, saber raised.
Spear and saber collided, sparks flew in all directions. Both their saber-gripping tiger mouths tingled numbly.
The two clashed again, evenly matched. From fighting on horseback they went to fighting on foot. The two battled delightfully and smoothly.
"I haven't encountered such a formidable opponent in a long while. Exhilarating, come again!"
After exchanging over a hundred moves, at a critical moment, Gong Xiaohua took advantage of an obscure angle where King Runan could not see and stabbed at his throat.
"Your Majesty!" The Liang generals monitoring the situation here saw the king was in danger and hurriedly shouted a warning.
But it was too late for Gong Xiaohua to stop. She turned her wrist, redirecting the saber's edge to rest against his neck.
The battle was over.
"As expected, I'm getting old," King Runan laughed.
"Your Majesty has exhausted too much strength beforehand. I was barely able to win by a fluke," Xiaohua said modestly.
"You're too modest. As the commander of an army, I'm surrounded by many protectors, yet I completely admit defeat in this battle. Also, why did you not kill me directly?"
"The Queen of Runan once saved my life. Capturing you has the same effect as killing you."
"Jingjing? It's been ten years!" Speaking of the queen made grief spread through King Runan's body.
Then he said self-deprecatingly, "Heh, if you don't kill me, someone else will not let me off. I might as well trade my one life to end this battle."
After speaking, he jerked his neck forward, and blood sprayed everywhere.
"Your Majesty!" The surrounding Liang soldiers saw their King die before their eyes in an instant and wept sorrowfully.
The Liang generals and soldiers unanimously laid down their weapons and retreated, bearing King Runan's corpse.
The Ye army wanted to pursue and press their advantage, but Gong Xiaohua stopped them.
The generals did not understand and looked towards Gong Xiaohua: "General Gong?"
"The commander has died, the dragons are without a leader, and their camps have all been burned down by us, they no longer have the strength to fight again. Next we need to take back the three cities we lost."
"Yes."
In the county governor's office, Qin Chuyuan, Yu City and other important civil officials waited.
"How is the battle going?" Qin Chuyuan asked the scout who had come to report the situation.
"Report to your excellency, General Gong has led the Xiyuan Army to the battlefield, instantly killing over a thousand enemy troops, greatly raising the morale of our army."
"Very good." Finally hearing some good news, everyone's anxious hearts could finally relax a little.
Qin Chuyuan worriedly asked again: "Is General Gong injured?"
"It was too far away, I don't know." The scout shook his head in response.
"Go investigate again, report back immediately if there is any news."
"Yes."
"General Gong killed the Liang Country commander, the enemy retreated, our army won a great victory!" Three hours later, when the scout came to report again, he had not yet arrived, but his loud cry of joy could be heard from far away.
"General Gong killed the Liang Country commander, the enemy retreated, our army won a great victory!" While riding back to the county governor's office, the scout repeated the good news to people along the street.
Hearing of the victory, the common people still in the city opened their doors wide and ran into the streets, cheering and shouting loudly: "Our army won a great victory, General Gong is formidable!"
When Qin Chuyuan heard the news of the victory, he quickly ran out of the county governor's office, mounted a horse, and galloped towards the battlefield.
