Bang!
With a thunderous crash, the corpse hit the ground.
“Great General!” Yu Cheng cried out in anguish, his eyes nearly splitting with fury.
Jiang Jin’s lips curved slightly as she looked at Yao Ji. “Begin.”
Yao Ji nodded. He stepped forward, chopped off Qu Shilang’s head, and carried it outside. Mounting a horse, he galloped down the main street with a squad of Jinyang soldiers behind him, their voices unified and deafening.
“The hundred-thousand-strong Jinyang Army has entered the city! Great General of Qu Zhao, Qu Shilang, is dead! His head is here! Soldiers of Qu Zhao, surrender at once! Those who surrender will be spared; those who refuse will die!”
“The hundred-thousand-strong Jinyang Army has entered the city! Great General of Qu Zhao, Qu Shilang, is dead! His head is here! Soldiers of Qu Zhao, surrender at once! Those who surrender will be spared; those who refuse will die!”
There were three simple reasons for this strategy.
First, it would throw the Qu Zhao army into confusion.
Second, it would draw out the more hot-blooded Qu Zhao soldiers so they could be shot and killed, reducing the number of civilians caught in the fighting.
Third, it would make the panicked Qu Zhao soldiers flee, once again minimizing civilian casualties.
Near the main street, a squad of Qu Zhao soldiers was pursuing Han civilians. When they faintly heard the cries, they stopped in their tracks.
“Did you hear that?” one of the soldiers asked.
The others exchanged glances. “They said our Great General is dead?!”
“Hah, how could that be? It must be a rumor spread by those Han dogs!”
But as the shouts drew closer and became clearer, they exchanged another look before turning and running toward the sound.
When they reached the main street, they saw a Han commander riding a horse in the distance, a blood-soaked head dangling from his hand.
The moment they recognized the head, their pupils contracted.
Though it was covered in blood, they still recognized it. It was the head of their Great General of Qu Zhao!
“Han dogs, prepare to die!” The Qu Zhao soldiers charged at Yao Ji with murderous rage.
Almost simultaneously, the Jinyang soldiers behind Yao Ji raised the repeating crossbows in their hands and fired.
Like that squad of Qu Zhao soldiers, more and more soldiers stopped their slaughter after hearing the cries and hurried toward the main street.
When they saw Qu Shilang’s head, some roared and charged, some stood frozen and helpless, while others retreated in panic…
In an alley, Shuangjiang stood at a corner, listening to the approaching footsteps.
She gestured to the Jinyang soldiers behind her.
Their formation shifted silently. With the help of their comrades, three soldiers easily climbed onto the nearly three-meter-high courtyard wall.
Slash!
The moment the Qu Zhao soldiers came around the corner, Shuangjiang split the first one in two.
Before the soldiers behind him could recover from seeing their comrade suddenly cleaved apart, Jinyang soldiers dropped from above and severed their heads.
Blood sprayed across the dilapidated wall, filling the sunlight with a strange, metallic stench.
Several dozen Qu Zhao soldiers were quickly wiped out.
Shuangjiang flicked the blood from her blade. She was just about to speak when screams and cries rang out nearby.
“Move.”
She led the charge toward the noise.
Inside a courtyard, several soldiers were lunging at two women.
The women shrieked in terror and ran wildly around the courtyard.
“Heh, let’s see where you can run!” A tall Qu Zhao soldier reached for one of the thin, frail women.
She fled toward the house, but had barely reached the eaves when the tall soldier caught her. As she struggled, she hit the ground with a thud.
The tall soldier laughed loudly and pounced, pinning her beneath him. He was just about to make his move when—
Creak.
The door suddenly opened.
A tall woman stood inside, gripping a wooden club. She swung it down at him.
Everything happened too quickly. With a bang, the club struck the tall soldier.
“You’re asking for death!” Enraged, the tall soldier reached for his saber, intending to kill the woman for daring to strike him.
Unfortunately for him, she was faster. She gave him no chance to get up, swinging the club again and again in a frenzy.
“Bitch, stop!” A square-faced Qu Zhao soldier roared and charged at the tall woman.
The frail woman, who had been knocked to the ground, flashed a ruthless look and grabbed the square-faced soldier’s leg.
He stumbled and nearly fell. Once he regained his balance, he flew into a rage and raised his saber to cut down at the frail woman.
Before the blade could fall, however, the tall woman’s club came crashing down on him.
Fortunately, he reacted quickly and twisted aside.
At the same time, the woman clinging to his leg seized the opportunity and slammed her head into his groin.
“Ah!” A shrill, agonized scream rang throughout the courtyard.
The square-faced soldier doubled over, legs clamped together, his entire body convulsing from the pain. Veins bulged across his face.
That move left the other Qu Zhao soldiers in the courtyard stunned. Even the soldier chasing another woman stopped in his tracks.
When they finally came to their senses, they exploded in fury.
“You filthy slaves! Die!”
“You’re the ones who should die!”
Another furious shout came from inside the house. A middle-aged woman rushed out with a wooden club and swung it at them.
The Qu Zhao soldiers laughed angrily. A few women actually dared to attack them. They must have grown tired of living.
But before they could act, there was a tremendous crash.
The courtyard gate had been kicked inward, flying through the air and slamming into the square-faced soldier, who was still bent over clutching his groin.
He was knocked flat and spat out a mouthful of blood before passing out as he had so richly deserved.
Shuangjiang withdrew her foot and led her men in a charge against the Qu Zhao soldiers inside the courtyard.
The courtyard turned crimson.
The tall woman and the others nearly vomited at the sight of people being brutally cleaved in two. It was immensely satisfying, but still horrifying.
They could not help shrinking into a corner.
They were simply too fierce.
Especially their leader. She looked small and delicate, but the strength behind every blow was astonishing. One slash, one kill—anything less than a perfectly even cut seemed to count as failure.
She was absolutely slaughtering them.
And yet, perhaps because they gradually became accustomed to the sight, the first time someone was split in two, it seemed horrifying. By the second, it was merely bearable. By the third, they were thinking, Hm, that cut is very neat.
The women grew more and more excited as they watched, wishing they were the ones wielding blades and slaughtering their way through the enemy.
The battle ended in almost no time.
Shuangjiang looked at the women hiding in the corner, their eyes shining with excitement. “Don’t be afraid. Just stay hidden for now.”
The frail woman gathered her courage and asked, “Are you… are you the Jinyang Army?”
She had once worked as a servant responsible for cleaning in the Sheng household and had heard people speak of the Jinyang Army.
Shuangjiang nodded and was about to answer when faint shouts from the Jinyang soldiers drifted over.
Her face lit up. “Come on. We’re heading to the east gate!”
With that, she hurried out of the courtyard.
The Jinyang soldiers followed her, all of them visibly excited.
The frail woman and the others could now hear the distant cries as well.
They exchanged bewildered looks.
“The Jinyang Army killed the Great General of Qu Zhao?” the tall woman asked, wide-eyed.
The middle-aged woman looked just as stunned. “That’s what I heard too. They said the Great General of Qu Zhao’s head is here!”
She was an ordinary citizen of the city. When Qu Zhao attacked, Feng’an County had nowhere left to retreat and could only fight to the death.
Not only had the soldiers from the noble families joined the battle, but most of their servants and the townspeople had taken up arms as well. Anyone with the courage and strength to fight had joined in, regardless of gender.
This small group of women had met during the battle. They had looked after one another and relied on each other for support.
The frail woman’s expression grew animated. “It must be true. We must be saved!”
The women looked at one another. In each other’s eyes, they saw the joy and excitement of having survived a catastrophe.
“So the Jinyang Army really does have female soldiers. If I survive this, I’m going to try enlisting too!” the tall woman said, her voice trembling.
