Zhao Chuanyi, seriously injured, could no longer lie still. He paced anxiously around the hospital bed.
A servant came galloping on a horse. He knelt in front of Zhao's tent and reported, "General! The Xiliang Iron Cavalry has reached the city. They've sounded the horn and launched an attack. They outnumber us, General Zhao! There are at least over a hundred thousand of them! What should we do?"
Zhao Chuanyi, furious, blew his beard and roared, "Send out all our archers and defend the city gate at all costs! Don't let them in!"
"Yes!"
Zhao Chuanyi was in a complete panic. He anxiously asked his deputy, "Has Prince Mingyang arrived?"
The deputy, sweating profusely, stammered, "General Zhao, our carrier pigeon just left. It'll probably be nightfall before Prince Mingyang gets the message!"
Zhao Chuanyi was so flustered that he paced around like a headless chicken. He murmured to himself, "What should we do?"
Before long, another servant rushed in and reported, "General Zhao! It's bad! The enemy has launched fireballs, and more than half of our archers on the city wall have been injured!"
"What?" Zhao Chuanyi was even more panicked. He shouted urgently, "Where are our cannons?"
The servant trembled and said, "Our cannons are powerful, but the Xibei Iron Cavalry is too numerous! We're running out of gunpowder, and they're charging forward even more aggressively!"
Zhao Chuanyi lost his wits. He shouted urgently, "Everyone, defend to the death! Never let them break in!"
"Yes!" The servant took the order and left.
General Cui watched helplessly as the cannons from Xiliang rained down on the city. The powerful cannons hit one after another, and the Iron Cavalry suffered heavy casualties.
With 130,000 Iron Cavalry being so passive, their forces were rapidly decreasing. How could this continue?
General Cui was extremely anxious. He rushed to ask General Fei for instructions, suggesting that they wait until the Tianchao soldiers reached the inner part of Jiang City from the ice surface before launching a siege.
But General Fei's maid replied with a worried look, "General Fei, in order to protect the lives of the Iron Cavalry soldiers, has dragged his sick body and gone alone to the Jiang City gate to destroy the cannons! General Cui, you need to send someone to attract the enemy's firepower and try your best to cover General Fei!"
Hearing this, General Cui's face turned pale. He could only retreat silently.
In fact, Wei Dongling didn't go to the city gate to destroy the cannons. Ruan Niang took her to a distant place to watch the whole situation unfold.
The more casualties the Iron Cavalry suffered, the better! By depleting their forces, they could gain the upper hand when the Tianchao soldiers fought them in the future!
Seeing that the two cannons were still causing great damage and the Iron Cavalry was suffering heavy casualties, General Cui rushed to find Cui Huan again. "Miss! Why is there no news from General Fei? If this continues, our Iron Cavalry will probably suffer heavy losses!"
Cui Huan forced two tears out of her eyes and choked, "I've sent someone to look for him! General Cui, do you think something has happened to our General Fei? If anything happens to him, what should we do? Wuwuwu..."
Hearing this, General Cui was struck like a thunderbolt, but he couldn't lose his temper. He could only growl, "Don't talk nonsense and curse our wise and valiant General Fei! How could something happen to him?"
Hearing this, Cui Huan nodded like a pounding garlic. "General Cui is absolutely right! General Fei will definitely be fine! Please trouble General Cui to hold on for a while longer. The Tianchao soldiers should be arriving inside Jiang City soon! By then, with internal and external cooperation, it's only a matter of time before we capture Jiang City!"
General Cui could only sigh helplessly and go back to command.
Finally, when nearly 30,000 of the Iron Cavalry had been lost, the Tianchao soldiers arrived at the city gate from the rear and started fighting with the defending soldiers.
Hearing the fighting getting closer, Zhao Chuanyi was completely panicked. A servant came in and reported, "General Zhao! The Tianchao soldiers have launched a surprise attack from the rear! The city gate has been breached! We have to retreat quickly!"
Zhao Chuanyi's face turned pale. He asked in shock, "Have the Xue family's soldiers from Tianchao also come?"
The servant said fearfully, "Yes! There are about 80,000 Tianchao soldiers! Our men have suffered heavy casualties! Now we've been attacked by the Xibei Iron Cavalry and there are less than 10,000 of us left! General Zhao, if we don't leave now, we'll all die here!"
Cold sweat trickled down Zhao Chuanyi's forehead. Without hesitation, he gritted his teeth and said to those around him, "Retreat quickly!"
Then, supported by his trusted followers, he quickly mounted his horse and fled along a remote path.
Tall trees lined both sides of the path. The trees covered with ice swayed in the wind, looking extremely beautiful. But Zhao Chuanyi had no mood to appreciate the scenery. He fled in a hurry with more than 30 trusted followers.
Suddenly, a very strong cold wind blew, making everyone take a few steps back and unable to open their eyes for a moment.
After the wind passed, a tall young man stood on their way, holding a big knife.
By now, Zhao Chuanyi didn't dare to be arrogant. Seeing that the young man looked familiar, he summoned up his courage and asked, "Who are you? Don't you know the saying that a good dog doesn't block the way?"
The young man raised his eyebrows and smiled. "My knife is specially for killing dogs!"
Everyone looked at each other, not knowing what to do. Suddenly, Zhao Chuanyi remembered that on the midsummer night when the Baoqing Tower in the capital was burned down by Li Lang, there was a tall young man beside Li Lang who was extremely powerful and had even crippled his leg!
The young man in front of him seemed to be that young thug who set fire to the Baoqing Tower!
Zhao Chuanyi's face turned deathly pale. Suddenly, he heard someone on the tree laugh loudly, "Brother Long! Why waste time talking to them? Kill that dog Zhao and you'll get a reward of 100,000 taels of silver! Isn't that enough for the betrothal gifts to marry Cui Huan?"
Luo Xunlong stroked his big knife and laughed. "Brother Cheng Hao is absolutely right! Everyone who sees this will get a share! We'll split the reward 50 - 50!" With that, Luo Xunlong leaped forward and started killing in all directions.
Cheng Hao saw that wherever Luo Xunlong's big knife passed, heads fell one after another. The bright red blood dyed the white snow on the ground. The combination of red and white was extremely eye - catching.
Seeing this scene, Zhao Chuanyi was so scared that he lost his wits. He fell to the snowy ground and kept retreating. He looked extremely embarrassed.
Cheng Hao sat on the tree, clapping his hands and laughing. "Brother Long is really born with great strength. This fight is really wonderful! How about I take 30% and you take 70% of the reward?" He couldn't just sit back and enjoy the fruits without doing anything, could he?
Luo Xunlong quickly beheaded all those more than 30 people. Then he leaped up and cut off Zhao Chuanyi's head with one last stroke. The blood splashed three feet away.
Luo Xunlong kicked up Zhao Chuanyi's head, which still had wide - open eyes, and picked it up with his knife, swinging it back and forth. He shouted to Cheng Hao on the tree, "Let's go! It's time for us to go and collect the reward!"
Cheng Hao laughed loudly, floated down from the tree, and walked away with Luo Xunlong.
When the Tianchao soldiers and the Xibei Iron Cavalry cooperated to breach the Jiang City gate, Wei Dongling was having a special meal. She was devouring the roasted lamb leg that Jing Zhe had just sliced. She didn't forget to praise, "Jing Zhe, this roasted lamb leg is really good. It tastes like the ones I had when I was a child!"
Jing Zhe handed a big piece to Ruan Niang. Then he picked up a slice of lamb leg, elegantly put it into his mouth, and swallowed it slowly. Then he replied, "As long as Miss Wei likes it, I'll roast it for you every now and then."