Chapter 209 Attacking the City (4)
Chapter 209 Attacking the City (4)
“Shoot arrows!”
“Shoot arrows!”
The generals on top of the city wall shouted, shaking uncontrollably.
Against waves of arrows, the tide of armor finally reached beneath the city wall. With ladders leaning against the city wall, the soldiers climbed up holding round shields while the generals shouted and conducted everywhere.
“Go!”
“Rush with me!”
“Kill!”
“Don’t f*cking stand motionless. Hurry up!”
“If you don’t want to be shot to death beneath the city wall, then climb up!”
“We can fight to the death, but we must die on top of the city wall!”
After a few days’ consumption, there were no rolling stones or wood and molten iron on top of the city wall. The iron nail planks were almost all damaged and even the arrows were almost running out. The threat to the official troops was no longer so severe that some soldiers soon climbed up to the top of the city wall.
Groups of cultivators flew out from the nest carts and directly landed on top of the city wall. And some cultivators flew onto the ladders and jumped several times to the top of the city wall. Fighting with both hands, they wantonly killed the enemies. The following soldiers in armor kept catching up, opening their own battlefield on the city wall.
The Dengzhou Army roared and rushed over, while the cultivators took the lead in fighting the enemies separately. Their attack was simple, direct, and quick. They decided life and death in an instant.
Behind the victorious cultivators, their own soldiers in armor strode out. Led by the cultivators, they rushed into the enemy groups. The shielded soldiers cleared the way in front and coordinated with the spear soldiers, who kept wielding their spears, to mess up the enemy’s formation. Then the soldiers, who held knives, moved forward and wantonly killed the enemies.
The city wall became like a pot of boiling water. There were sprays of blood everywhere. Shouts mixed with screams. Weapons hit each other. From time to time, arms and heads flew into the sky and someone fell to the ground holding his opponent.
A knife swept through the other party’s throat and thrust into his chest, carrying out with it a large amount of flesh and blood. The blood stained the armor, sparkling in the sun.
All their expressions were ferocious and extremely fierce. Very few people still were able to reason. Their instinct to kill enemies conquered all.
In front of a ladder, several Pinglu soldiers fought a bloody battle on the city wall for a long time, but they were drowned by the tide of the Dengzhou soldiers in the end. When the last soldier in armor was stabbed in the stomach by a spear and was pushed down from the top of the city wall, some Dengzhou soldiers were going to overturn the ladder with spears.
Wearing armor, Li Ye leaped to the top of the city wall. He wielded his Luke Sword and green light swept over the Dengzhou soldiers, causing their blood to burst in a mist in front of their chests at the same time. They immediately flew backward.
Wearing armor, the Senior and Junior Priestesses followed closely. The three of them formed a military formation. Li Ye was responsible for clearing the way and the Senior and Junior Priestesses were responsible for protecting him on both sides.
“Kill!” The Dengzhou Army on both sides rushed over. The leading cultivators strode out, lifted their knives, and chopped them down. The Spiritual Qi lingered around the knives and the Knife Qi was about to go out. Li Ye wielded his sword. His Sword Qi attacked them first, so the leaping cultivators burst in the air, their blood spurting out and their dismembered bodies flying in all directions.
Li Ye looked calm. Stepping forward, he wielded his sword vertically and horizontally. The Sword Qi flew out in the shape of a cross and cut a number of soldiers at their waists in the front row. Going forward, it continued to cut more soldiers at their waists. Finally, 10 steps before Li Ye, there was nothing but the fallen remains and a pool of blood.
On the ladder outside the parapet wall, several Pinglu soldiers in armor climbed over the wall suddenly. Led by a general, they soon formed a military formation and stabilized their positions.
Li Ye rushed to the next battlefield without looking back. While he was moving, the Sword Qi kept flying out. The Dengzhou soldiers before him were either dead or injured, and none of them could stand up. The following soldiers in armor, who rushed over there, all retreated in fear as they caught sight of this scene. They didn’t want to die, so they no longer dared to rush forward.
A while later, an elite formation composed of a group of Taoists of Zhongnan Mountain rushed over. They were cultivators at the Qi-refining Stage and were led by a cultivator at the middle-level of Qi-refining.
In the battle on top of the city wall, their fighting was specifically aimed at the valiant generals of the official troops. Many valiant generals had been killed by them over the last few days. But now as they met Li Ye, the city wall became their grave. Under Li Ye’s Sword Qi, they all died before they could use their deadly attack.
Li Ye walked leisurely, and more and more Pinglu soldiers were following him. The military formations of the Pinglu Army were rescued all the way and converged together. The city wall was being controlled by him bit by bit.
The Pinglu soldiers burst out earth-shattering roars and had higher morale as they saw Li Ye. Even the soldiers in armor, who had not much strength, suddenly had a lot of strength.
The battle continued. Led by their generals and commanders, many Pinglu soldiers had rushed to the paved path and entered the city.
In this process, the high-level Qi-refining cultivators of Zhongnan Mountain laid siege to Li Ye several times, but they were killed either by Li Ye or the Senior and Junior Priestesses.
After Wujizi’s death, there were no masters in the Spiritual Master Realm in Dengzhou. Li Ye led the military formation to rush forward and kill enemies, as though there were nobody there.
When groups of Pinglu soldiers won an overwhelming advantage in all directions of the city wall and the Dengzhou soldiers were either killed or driven into the city, Li Ye was finally sure that no hidden masters would threaten him in the city.
The battle lasted for less than four hours. The official troops climbed up the city wall and rushed in the city from the city wall. The first thing they did was open the city gate and let their own troops enter the city.
Around noon, only very few Dengzhou soldiers were still resisting desperately on the city wall. They gathered in the streets and fought against the official troops there.
In the chessboard-like streets in Dengzhou, the soldiers of both armies were fighting each other in teams everywhere.
The official troops advanced in high spirits, pushing against the Dengzhou Army in every street like a flood.
The armor shone dazzling in the sun from time to time. Many of the blood-stained swords were turned, so the valiant soldiers in armor changed their swords several times. Only the cultivators with magic treasures could use their weapons at all times.
Li Ye arrive at the main street. Behind him, there were endless elite soldiers in armor. Before him, the Dengzhou soldiers looked afraid, bending their bodies. Even though they hid behind their shields, but they didn’t feel safe.
As Li Ye’s troops killed one soldier after another, the soldiers stepped back in horror, step by step. Soon after, they couldn’t carry on any longer, so they turned and ran.
Blood was running in the streets. In the alleys where there were fierce battles, bodies were everywhere. There was hardly an empty place.
“Kill! Kill all those who refuse to surrender!” As Li Ye put his sword forward, the soldiers in armor behind him rushed out with roars. By this time, even his robe was stained with blood and you couldn’t tell its original color.
Zhu Wen retreated to the Inspector General’s office. In Dengzhou, the Inspector General’s office was the biggest office and mansion.
His armor was covered with blood, showing that he tried his best to fight before his retreat. Soon after he entered the door, Zhu Zhen, Pang Shigu, Huo Cun, and other generals, who were covered with blood in broken armor, retreated one after another. They approached Zhu Wen and said urgently and uneasily, “General, we can’t hold the city anymore. Let’s go! If we don’t go now, it’ll be too late!”
Zhu Wen’s face darkened and he stood still. Outside the mansion, the battle cries reached into the sky coming from all directions, as if the whole city had been drowned in the fighting. The official troops were pouring into the city and the troops who had entered the city were attacking the Inspector General’s office from all directions. In this circumstance, the Inspector General’s office was teetering like duckweed.
“You fought a bloody fight to capture Dengzhou and you also fought a bloody fight to lose Dengzhou today, so even if His Majesty knows it, he won’t blame you! General, we have few soldiers, while the troops of the Tang Empire have many people, so it’s acceptable that we can’t hold Dengzhou. No one expected that Li Ye would suddenly lead the troops to come and that his troops would be so powerful. This defeat isn’t your fault! General, don’t hesitate. Hurry up!” Huo Cun hurriedly persuaded Zhu Wen when he saw Zhu Wen motionless.
Zhu Wen looked beyond the mansion but saw nothing. Even so, he could imagine what the city was like now.
His troops were all experienced elites. At this moment, they tried their best to fight in the streets in all directions, but in fact, they were slaughtered by the official troops. It wouldn’t be long before they fell apart. It was still early, but they couldn’t carry on until night. The official troops wouldn’t retreat.
“General! Li Ye has powerful cultivation. If you don’t go now, he will come and then there will be no retreat for you! General, the Qi Empire needs talents at present, so His Majesty won’t blame you. When you go back with soldiers, you will have an opportunity to fight on the battlefield and make achievements again in the future. If you wait until all the soldiers are killed, you will be in a bad situation in the future!” Zhu Zhen continued to try and persuade him.
Zhu Wen heaved a long sigh. He seemed to age a lot in an instant, but he forced himself to cheer up. “You’re right. It makes no sense to carry on here. Since I can’t hold the city, it is good to conserve more soldiers. Give out my order to retreat!”
Zhu Zhen was greatly pleased and hurriedly said, “Quick, get the horse!”
Under the guard of his generals, leading over two thousand elite cavalrymen, Zhu Wen was the first to leave the Inspector General’s mansion. He broke through from the city gate where there were fewer soldiers of the Tang Empire.
After a bloody battle, Zhu Wen finally came out of the city gate, but he lost half of the over two thousand elite cavalrymen following him.
While riding his horse fast, Zhu Wen finally glanced back at Dengzhou. There were countless soldiers of the Tang Empire at the end of the street. And the soldiers of the Tang Empire were also rushing fast on top of the city wall. Now the entire Dengzhou was under Li Ye’s control.
Zhu Wen knew that when he lost Dengzhou, the troops of the Qi Empire would no longer have the strategic pass in Guandong. Li Ye was bound to fight straight to Tongguan, so the situation of the Qi Empire would become more difficult at that time.
By that time, he hoped that the generals who guarded Tongguan would block Li Ye outside relying on the natural defense. Otherwise, once Li Ye’s troops entered Tongguan, the Qi Empire would be in great danger even though there were few hundred thousand soldiers in Tongguan because Li Ye’s troops were good at fighting on the battlefield.
Zhu Wen saw Li Ye as he finally took back his gaze. Li Ye suddenly appeared on top of the city wall, standing against the wind and looking at him. Zhu Wen shuddered. With Li Ye’s cultivation, if he intended to take people to chase Zhu Wen, maybe Zhu Wen couldn’t flee.
“Prince An, I was defeated this time. If we have a chance in the future, we’ll start over!” thought Zhu Wen, gnashing his teeth. And then he rode his horse fast without looking back.
Fortunately, without going far, they met the Taoists of Zhongnan Mountain who came to help. And the leader was one of the two remaining Taoists in the Spiritual Master Realm in Zhongnan Mountain.
Seeing them, Zhu Wen was relieved. At this moment, Zhu Wen had more respect for Zhongnan Mountain in his heart. Anyway, they showed extreme patience and magnanimity toward him.