As night deepened, the bustling city of Wenxia gradually fell silent and returned to peace.
Only the soldiers guarding the city walls remained, idly chatting to keep themselves awake.
“I don’t know what’s been going on lately. So many soldiers on patrol outside have been killed.”
“I heard it was bandits.”
“Hard to say. The mountain bandits haven’t been this powerful in years. Maybe it’s some outside force.”
“Really? Where would so many forces come from?”
“Who knows? Sigh. Chongzhou is full of mountains, so catching those bandits isn’t easy. And now so many of them have appeared all at once.”
“Exactly. Didn’t more than a hundred patrol soldiers get killed near Longyan Mountain last time? The higher-ups were furious and sent over ten thousand men into the mountains, but they didn’t find a thing.”
“That’s right. I heard those bandits strike and run. How could they possibly wait around for you to search the mountains?”
“They seem to have quieted down these past few days. I wonder what happened?”
“Who knows? Forget about them. As long as we guard the city properly, we don’t have to go outside.”
As they spoke, a patrol of several dozen soldiers climbed onto the city wall.
The guards looked over curiously. “Why have you come up here?”
As the patrol drew closer, the firelight finally revealed that the man leading them was Ye Shang, a Han Chinese.
The soldiers immediately grew wary. “Ye Shang? Weren’t you never assigned night duty? What are you doing here?”
Although there were Han soldiers who had surrendered and joined them, the Han were still outsiders. Han soldiers were generally not assigned to night watch.
After all, this was Wenxia City, where the Great Chanyu of the Ji and all his civil and military officials resided. Nothing could be taken lightly.
A grin spread across Ye Shang’s face. “I came up to take a look.”
The soldier frowned. “Look at what? This isn’t a place a Han like you can—”
Before he could finish, he noticed the soldiers behind Ye Shang spreading out in all directions. Beneath the dim firelight, he saw that each of them was holding something strange.
The soldier’s pupils contracted. “You…”
The Dragonbane Crossbow in Ye Shang’s hand fired, striking the soldier directly in the throat. Blood sprayed across the brazier on the battlement, and the flames tumbled downward. A moment later, the fire flared up again.
Almost simultaneously, screams rang out across the night sky.
The battle for Wenxia City had officially begun!
The nearby patrol soldiers heard the commotion and rushed toward the tower. But before they could run more than a few steps, a flash of light appeared before their eyes.
The captain’s eyes widened abruptly. It was the glint of arrowheads!
An arrow pierced flesh, and blood sprayed through the night, appearing an eerie black beneath the darkness.
Within the space of a few breaths, the entire patrol of a hundred men lay dead beneath the rain of arrows. They had been utterly powerless to resist, and none of them knew who had killed them before they died.
Xia Chanyi lowered her Dragonfeather Crossbow. With a unit of roughly fifty Dragon Shadow Guards, she stepped over the corpses soaked in blood and went in search of the next target.
With repeating crossbows in their hands, the Dragon Shadow Guards could easily defeat five opponents for every one of their own, let alone enemies caught completely off guard.
Lin Yang climbed onto the wall, his body spattered with blood. “The men guarding the gates have all been replaced by ours.”
Ye Shang nodded. “The patrol soldiers outside will soon realize something is wrong. Everyone, prepare for battle.”
“Yes!”
The soldiers of the Jinyang Army were already pushing ten treadle-triggered arrow launchers onto the wall.
More soldiers carried box after box of Dragonfeather Crossbow and Dragonbane Crossbow bolts and quarrels up the stairs, along with ammunition for the treadle-triggered arrow launchers.
Thud, thud, thud…
The ammunition boxes were placed in orderly rows behind the battlements. Beneath the dim yellow firelight, they gleamed with a cold metallic sheen.
Ye Shang felt his chest surge with excitement. He had never fought such a lavishly equipped battle. Eight out of every ten soldiers had repeating crossbows, and, most importantly, they had more than enough ammunition!
He was responsible for the eastern gate, and five hundred soldiers had been assigned to him.
The other three gates of Wenxia City were commanded by Yun Yu, Nan Wen, and Lu Ping, with five hundred soldiers assigned to each.
That meant they had two thousand soldiers guarding the city walls alone.
With a sweep of his hand, Ye Shang immediately sent two groups of soldiers charging toward opposite ends of the wall.
There were bound to be patrol soldiers stationed along a wall like this. He had to wipe them out completely to ensure that the entire wall was under the Jinyang Army’s control.
Sure enough, the two groups had barely gone far when the sounds of fighting broke out. The patrol soldiers on the wall had clearly noticed something was wrong and were rushing toward them, only to collide head-on with the Jinyang Army.
Ye Shang paid no attention to the fighting on either side. He trusted his men to end it quickly.
He issued his orders calmly. “Extinguish all the braziers. Prepare the treadle-triggered arrow launchers. Fire the flaming arrows!”
The moment his voice fell, the braziers were extinguished. The eastern gate tower and the surrounding wall plunged into darkness, blending into the night.
At nearly the same time, the treadle-triggered arrow launchers began firing one after another.
The flaming arrows landed outside the moat, some near and some far.
The launchers continued firing until the flames illuminated nearly everything outside the city.
Yao Ji led more than a thousand soldiers in an assault on the barracks. The guards at the entrance had no time to raise the alarm before arrows pierced straight through them.
Shuangjiang led her men through the residential quarters of the Ji officials and generals, cutting down squad after squad of guards and capturing one civil official and military commander after another.
Her lord had given clear orders: keep these people alive if possible. They might prove useful.
Of course, if anyone resisted too fiercely, killing them was also acceptable. She could decide for herself.
Ji Bo was having his armor fastened by his steward while listening to the sounds of fighting throughout the city. A violent glint flashed in his eyes.
“What exactly is happening?”
The steward shook his head. “I don’t know. It started all of a sudden.”
Ji Bo frowned. “Didn’t you send anyone to investigate?”
The steward’s face had gone pale. “I did. Not a single one of them returned.”
Ji Bo’s expression darkened. It seemed the situation was more troublesome than he had thought.
Then, recalling the unrest that had plagued Chongzhou recently, he formed a rough guess. Someone must have set their sights on the Ji Army’s territory.
Who was it?
The Jiao Army? Or the Jinyang Army?
As for Qu Zhao, he had not considered them. Given their current predicament, they could barely look after themselves. Even if they wanted to seize a share of Chongzhou, they would never choose Wenxia City, the most heavily guarded city in the region.
Just then, the sounds of fighting erupted outside the courtyard.
Anger surged in Ji Bo’s heart. Did these attackers truly think he was easy to bully? They had actually dared to fight their way into his general’s residence!
He quickly finished putting on his armor. A servant beside him respectfully presented his long saber.
Ji Bo took the weapon and strode out of the room. By the time he reached the courtyard, the fighting outside had already stopped.
He was about to leave the rear courtyard and head toward the front when a loud bang rang out. The courtyard gate had been kicked open.
Beneath the dim yellow lamplight, a group of soldiers entered the rear courtyard. Before Ji Bo could react, the guards stationed there were shot down one after another.
Ji Bo’s pupils contracted.
Such speed. Repeating crossbows!
The Jinyang Army!
At nearly the same moment, more than a dozen soldiers moved toward the inner rooms of the rear courtyard.
Ji Bo roared, “Stop! You’re with the Jinyang Army?”
No one paid any attention to him.
A savage look filled Ji Bo’s eyes. He was about to swing his saber when a familiar voice rang out.
“Your opponent is me!”
