Chapter 291: Two Blades

Seeing that the various camps had basically all made it onto the city walls, Liu Zongmin also relaxed, gripping the blade in his hand tightly as he commanded Zhang Nai beside him:

"You take the remaining men and follow right away, leave me three hundred of the Old Camp. I'll take them to finish off Gao Manzi for good. Anyway, our numbers at the barbican are considerable!" As he spoke, a hint of wariness flickered in Liu Zongmin's eyes, and he said: "Pass the word down — even if we don't compete for battle merits, the Xuanfu garrison troops under Gao Manzi must be completely annihilated!"

"This Gao Manzi has been crushed by me countless times, yet he always manages to stand back up again. Now he's actually become the main force of these government troops. This time I want none of the mules, horses, men, or merits — you, Zhang Nai, take the men and grab them. After all, they all belong to our Central Army anyway. With me here, who would dare try to steal the top merit!"

Liu Zongmin spurred his horse toward the barbican, shouting without looking back:

"Zhang Nai, I'll take just these three hundred men to finish off Gao Manzi and those few old rivals under his command. As long as this Gao Manzi is still alive, I'll never feel at ease in my heart."

Hearing these words from Liu Zongmin, Zhang Nai was somewhat surprised inwardly. Perhaps neither he nor Liu Zongmin himself had noticed that Gao Jie had already transformed in their eyes from the useless waste who collapsed at the first blow into the most fierce and valiant presence in this government army.

By this time Liu Zongmin had already ridden far off. Zhang Nai didn't have a chance to reply — he just nodded, selected three hundred Old Camp cavalry and one leader, ordered them to protect Liu Zongmin well, then personally grabbed his weapon and urged his horse forward, taking the rest of the men along to grab merits.

By now, the situation on the battlefield was becoming increasingly clear.

The government troops on the North Gate had been completely routed, beaten by the Dashun army until they had no strength to fight back. The various government troops fled, surrendered, or died in battle — there was no possibility of forming unified resistance any longer. The North Gate was now firmly in the hands of the Dashun army.

The South Gate was also teetering on the brink, several times seized by the Dashun army. The only places still being defended were the main gate city held by the Shandong army and the new troops of the Northwest Grand Camp, plus the barbican where the Xuanfu army was stationed.

The Dashun army couldn't be said to have any formation at all — it was entirely the old trick of human wave tactics piled on. The government troops couldn't kill them fast enough; often you'd just kill one man and several more would leap up from the sides and behind. On top of that, the government troops were utterly exhausted and simply couldn't cope.

The main gate city was still all right — government troops retreating from the North Gate and other tower crenellations, as long as they still had the will to resist, would spontaneously gather whatever soldiers they could summon and head for the main gate city.

Chen Qiyu also knew that the infantry had no more room to retreat. The final moment had arrived.

Thinking of this, Chen Qiyu glanced at the barbican. It was truly strange — his own main gate city was already in this state, yet the barbican still hadn't fallen.

At this moment, the barbican was like a small boat in the midst of raging waves. The tide of the Dashun army kept crashing against it. Though the Xuanfu troops seemed stretched thin, the gate had remained as firm as a rock, never once falling.

By now Gao Jie's Xuanfu army had nearly fought itself to the bone, with fewer than a thousand men left. Yet it was precisely these few men who stubbornly held off a roving bandit army several times their size, ensuring the barbican never fell.

Liu Zongmin, arriving at the foot of the barbican, watched this scene and his pupils contracted slightly. Was this still the Gao Jie he knew? Was this army under his command still the same flashy facade that scattered at the first strike from Dashun?

Without exaggeration, the combat effectiveness the Xuanfu army was displaying right now was something even his own Old Camp might not possess. How on earth had Gao Jie trained them to this level?

"Out of the way!!!"

Suddenly, Liu Zongmin, furious beyond measure, slapped a minor leader who was about to scale the wall off to one side, bit down on his steel blade, and with his three hundred Old Camp men bristling with murderous intent, began climbing toward the gate city.

"What the— Liu Zongmin!??" Hu Maozhen, in charge of defending this section of the wall, saw the man below looking so familiar. He wiped the blood from the corner of his eyes for a closer look and was immediately startled.

"Quick quick quick! Those with bows, those with firearms — all of you, throw everything down at them, damn it!" Spurred on by fear, Hu Maozhen moved with unprecedented speed, waving his blade and shouting with spittle flying:

"These men below — whatever you do, don't let them up! Throw everything you've got down at them, don't hold anything back!"

The soldiers immediately ran over and shot arrows down. The firearm troops nervously loaded their powder and shot, and quite a few soldiers were hauling rolling logs and stones over, but the battlefield was utter chaos — bandits were everywhere, and supplies were nearly exhausted, so it was hard to gather enough materials in time.

Seeing the officers and soldiers above about to loose arrows, Liu Zongmin showed no panic at all. His right hand gripped the ladder tightly, he twisted his body around to the other side of the ladder, dodging that volley of arrows directly.

Immediately after, the Old Camp men below passed up a shield. Liu Zongmin took the shield and began climbing even faster.

Seeing this sight, Hu Maozhen couldn't help but panic. Thinking that just watching from behind wasn't the right approach, he shoved aside a foot archer, picked up a stone block, and hurled it down.

Who would have thought — Liu Zongmin sidestepped and dodged that one too.

Watching this killing god draw closer and closer, Hu Maozhen, who had stubbornly held out for so long, suddenly felt the urge to flee. He turned his head and saw Gao Jie still holding the line, fighting desperately — and felt he shouldn't do such a thing. He stood there at a loss.

Hu Maozhen didn't know whether to stay or flee, but Liu Zongmin was single-mindedly set on climbing up to kill him. In that brief moment of hesitation, Liu Zongmin had already pressed one hand onto the city wall and vaulted over.

"You dog of a traitor, I'll fight you to the death!"

At this point, even fleeing was too late. Hu Maozhen felt despair in his heart. Though he knew he could absolutely never defeat Liu Zongmin, he still let out a great shout and kicked out first.

Hu Maozhen knew well that on this section of the wall, he was the highest-ranking officer. If he simply ran, it would inevitably cause morale to waver and drag many others into fleeing with him.

Then the gate city they'd held for so long, with so many brothers dead, would fall because of him, Hu Maozhen — leaving all the officers unable to recover. Would that be the repayment for Gao Jie's promotion of him?

No, repayment wasn't done that way!

Seeing Hu Maozhen summon his courage and charge at him, Liu Zongmin — who had expected him to flee with his head tucked — was clearly somewhat surprised. But that surprise went no further. Facing Hu Maozhen's kick, Liu Zongmin gave a cold snort, dodged with a slight shift of his body.

Despite Liu Zongmin's large frame, he was extraordinarily agile. In the flash of an instant before Hu Maozhen could even retract that kick, Liu Zongmin turned and swung his blade, directly severing his right leg.

"Ahhh!!!"

Hu Maozhen let out a miserable scream. The immense pain made him unable to even grip his blade, which fell to the ground. He sat down directly, clutching his severed leg and wailing, glaring at Liu Zongmin with eyes full of extreme venom.

"Liu Zongmin, you—"

Before he could finish speaking, Liu Zongmin stepped forward in one stride, swung his blade once, and a head hit the ground. Looking at Hu Maozhen's head, Liu Zongmin's face was utterly cold. He didn't even deign to pick it up, simply kicking it aside.

To Liu Zongmin, Hu Maozhen wasn't even an appetizer. In this entire battlefield, the only one Liu Zongmin deemed worthy of his attention was that fellow known as Gao Manzi, skilled in wielding an iron staff.