Chapter 913

First Volume, Chapter 913: Blood Soaked in a Foreign Land

Although Lü Li knew full well that Qin Feng's troops could never suffer a collapse in morale, he still hoped that killing the enemy commander would throw their forces into disarray and weaken their will to resist.

Unfortunately, Qin Feng's Zhonglang Jiangs had far too much battlefield experience; taking their heads was no easy feat.

At this moment, every entrance to the village had fallen one after another.

Swarms of Tuntian Soldiers, driven by the Supervisor of the Army, charged into the village and engaged in desperate combat with Qin Feng's troops holding the settlement.

In truth, the term "desperate combat" should be split: commanders like Zhang Zhenhai and the Tianji Camp Guards fought to the death, while the Tuntian Soldiers merely fought.

Facing Tianji Camp Guards with superior morale, weaponry, and combat experience, most Tuntian Soldiers—except for a few eager to earn merit—relied on luck, hoping their comrades would charge forward and kill the enemy while they simply drifted along, waiting for the battle to end.

Because so many held this mindset, the losses among the Tuntian Soldiers against the Tianji Camp Guards were horrific.

Zhang Zhenhai led a death squad, relentlessly fighting off wave after wave of enemy assaults, but some always slipped through—especially bold, cunning individuals who scaled rooftops, leapt from behind homes, and aimed to secretly infiltrate the village's interior or flank the Tianji Camp Guards from behind.

These were often killed by a single spear thrust.

Qin Feng, clad in battle armor and wielding a ji zhan spear, focused most of his attention on the rooftops on either side.

Whenever an enemy soldier jumped down, Qin Feng would charge forward, thrusting his spear with precision, piercing them clean through—his movements swift, clean, and without hesitation.

Zhang Zhenhai speared a reckless Tuntian Soldier dead before him, then turned and shouted: "Is the Marquis here?!"

This question carried two meanings: one, to confirm Qin Feng's location; two, to confirm whether Qin Feng was still alive.

Unfortunately, the roars and curses of battle were too loud—Zhang Zhenhai's cry vanished like a stone sinking into the sea, leaving not even a ripple, let alone a wave.

Zhang Zhenhai had no choice but to focus on the fight before him; under the protection of the Tianji Camp Guards, he continuously thrust and probed with his ji zhan spear, waiting for any opening—nine out of ten times, he struck true.

After felling three more, Zhang Zhenhai roared again: "Is the Marquis here?!"

This time, a response came from behind—familiar, unmistakable: it was Qin Feng himself.

"Stop yelling—I'm not dead yet!"

"Don't you dare die before me, or I'll dig up your ancestors' graves!"

At Qin Feng's curses, Zhang Zhenhai burst into laughter: "Hahaha, Marquis, with these Tuntian Soldiers…"

Before Zhang Zhenhai could finish, Qin Feng's voice cut in again.

"Stop wasting breath—focus on fighting! If you get killed by these Tuntian Soldiers, I'll never live down the shame for Beixi County!"

Qin Feng ignored Zhang Zhenhai; two more Tuntian Soldiers had just leapt from the rooftop.

Qin Feng reacted swiftly, spearing one—but he hadn't expected the man to be so fierce: the ji zhan spear had pierced his chest, yet he gritted his teeth, let out a beastly roar, shoved forward with all his strength, driving half the spear through his body. As the distance closed, the Tuntian Soldier swung his battle knife toward Qin Feng's head.

Fortunately, Qin Feng reacted fast—he dropped the ji zhan spear at once and dodged the dying man's final strike.

But when Qin Feng pulled his battle knife from the ground, another Tuntian Soldier charged at him screaming—he stepped back to evade the attack, then slashed backward, cutting the man's shoulder.

Crack!

With a chilling snap, the man's shoulder blade was severed—but he was blinded by bloodlust, ignoring his fatal wound, and swung his knife at Qin Feng's shoulder.

Clang!

A sharp clang rang out, sparks flew—the man's full-force strike had gouged a notch into Qin Feng's pauldron armor, but the pauldron was thick enough to absorb the blow.

Qin Feng stepped back two paces, gasped twice, didn't hesitate—he drew his battle knife, scanned left and right to confirm no Tuntian Soldiers were advancing, then plunged his knife into the ground, stepped on a corpse, and yanked out the ji zhan spear.

In this situation, the ji zhan spear was far more effective than the battle knife—length was strength.

But…

Qin Feng had now seen that even among the Tuntian Soldiers, there were brave men eager to earn merit—if three had charged him at once just now, he would already be headless.

"Liu Ming! How many are left?!"

Qin Feng gripped the ji zhan spear and screamed hysterically.

Only after spearing two more did Liu Ming appear behind Qin Feng, leading a unit of Anwu Guards who had exhausted their arrows and switched to ji zhan combat.

"Marquis, I don't know the exact number, but roughly eighty to ninety."

Qin Feng frowned deeply and said grimly: "How many Tianji Camp Guards remain?"

Liu Ming shook his head: "I haven't seen any Tianji Camp Guard corpses."

Qin Feng pressed on: "How many Anwu Guards are left?"

Liu Ming shook his head again: "So far, only one corpse found—roughly twenty-nine left."

Hearing this, Qin Feng's heart sank halfway—he realized that the Tianji Camp Guards, with their astonishing combat skill, had suffered no casualties, and the Anwu Guards had lost only one; thus, the scale of Beixi Soldiers' losses was clear.

In fact, the Beixi Soldiers bore the fiercest fighting, using their flesh and blood to block the most dangerous battlefront.

Of one hundred Beixi Soldiers, only twenty remained—this tore Qin Feng's heart apart.

But war is war—someone must die. Qin Feng had no time to dwell—he shouted orders: "Hold the village path! If we're forced into the open center, the enemy will flood in from all sides—we won't even have time to catch our breath!"

"Liu Ming, relieve Zhang Zhenhai—he's surely exhausted."

Though Liu Ming was not a Zhonglang Jiang, there was no other choice—he hesitated not at all, immediately led his unit forward to replace Zhang Zhenhai.

Zhang Zhenhai, who had been fighting with ever-growing ferocity, collapsed to the ground the moment he reached Qin Feng's side, nearly unconscious.

He gasped heavily, stammering: "Even if they don't kill me… I'll die of exhaustion…"

War is the most grueling test of physical endurance—even the strongest Laborers, who could work all day without flinching, would collapse within one incense stick time on the battlefield.