Chapter 23

At the straight gate of the western city wall, over a thousand defector troops, under the leadership of an officer, stood in strict readiness; just outside the gate was the encampment of Guo Si's forces. Twelve city gates were firmly defended by Liu Bei's defector troops, and at present the troops of Guo Si and Li Jue outside the city have received no news at all.

Guo Si's subordinates knew the quickest way into Chang'an was to charge through the straight gate, so Guo Si sent nearly twenty thousand of his men to encircle the entire western wall. Guo Si knew Liu Bei would deploy heavy forces to the west, so he decided to do the opposite, ordering Guo Aduo to take the remaining over ten thousand men to secretly attack the eastern wall.

Little did they know, Liu Bei had long seen through Guo Si's intentions; following Jia Xu's advice, he divided the over ten thousand defector troops in the city into four contingents. For safety, he stationed about two thousand each on the north and south walls, while on the east and west walls he deployed over four thousand each.

When Liu Bei and Guo Si were fighting fiercely in Chang'an, the troops Guo Si had sent also arrived at the straight gate beneath the western wall. When over four thousand defector soldiers saw an enemy force many times their own not far off, the deputy commander leading the defector troops drew his sword and shouted:

"Brothers, we have received great kindness from our lord; now not only can our families eat their fill, but in the future we will have our own land in Xuzhou. Today we must hold this gate—don't let Guo Si's rebel troops think of getting out!"

"That's right, we will repay our lord's great kindness; we will kill as many as come."

A group of squad leaders spoke up in a clamor, their eyes fixed on the Guo Si troops charging from within the city. These defector troops had previously lived a life of licking blood from the blade's edge, and their families could barely get enough to eat. Now that they could achieve the standard of a family not going hungry, those who had received Liu Bei's great kindness demanded of themselves that they must repay him.

"All right, brothers, form up! Spearmen in front, archers in the center, sword-and-shield troops guarding the flanks."

Several squad leaders quickly directed their troops to form up; after days of command and training by Xu Huang, these leaders originating from the White Wave Army were basically able to execute some formation orders smoothly.

"Nock your arrows, form three ranks and fire in rotation at the enemy; when they are about a hundred paces away, give them a volley and shoot them down."

A junior officer in charge of the archers stepped forward in response.

Nearly a thousand archers and crossbowmen were divided into three rows; the front row had already nocked their bolts. Seeing the thousands of defector troops at the gate, a ferocious general under Guo Si smirked and said to his personal troops:

"Liu Bei's troops are just a rabble with no real fighting strength; now we outnumber them several times over. Brothers, follow me and charge—once we take the gate we'll seize the initiative, and the Grand General will richly reward us!"

The general waved his whip, and several thousand Western Liang cavalry under him bellowed as they charged toward the gate.

When they drew near, the defector troops' deputy commander shouted:

"Loose arrows, shoot down this band of rebels!"

Hundreds of defector troops drew their bows to the full and shot their sharp arrows at the oncoming Western Liang troops; in a moment, arrows rained down like locusts, killing many of the charging Western Liang cavalry.

"Second rank, keep advancing and shoot them; first rank, fall back and draw your blades; third rank, prepare to loose another volley."

In the blink of an eye the Western Liang cavalry had advanced over fifty paces; the second row of archers, being closer, shot down three or four hundred, but the cavalry's speed was extreme, and they were about to crash into the defenders.

Guo Si's Western Liang archers also began to return fire from behind the cavalry; in a moment, those archers who had not withdrawn were also shot down, over a hundred of them.

"Shield bearers, move forward to cover; spearmen, raise your spear points for me!"

Over a hundred soldiers carrying long iron shields stepped forward, planting their shields firmly into the ground, then bracing the large shields with their shoulders, locking the shields together to form an arc-shaped semicircle. The spearmen slipped their spears, nearly 3.3 meters long, through the gaps, and then several hundred spearmen raised their spears at about a forty-five degree angle.

In the firelight, the forest of spear tips glinted with cold flashes even from afar; the oncoming Western Liang cavalry had already been shot down by nearly a thousand, and especially the last volley of arrows, being so close, could pierce two men with a single shaft.

Although they lacked confidence, the Western Liang cavalry still gritted their teeth and charged forward, bellowing. After all, our Western Liang iron cavalry could sweep the world!

"Archers, take the walls for cover; remaining sword-and-shield troops, place all the anti-cavalry obstacles before the gate—hold the gate for me!"

The defector troops' deputy commander bellowed ferociously:

"Brothers, let this band of Western Liang brigands see what our defector troops are made of! Kill!"

As the Western Liang iron cavalry charged into the spear formation, many were unhorsed by spears and killed outright; even one Western Liang soldier was lifted onto his spear midair, still brandishing his long blade as he died.

Spears kept thrusting outward, cries of the Western Liang cavalry rang out continually, and more and more were being unhorsed.

"A bunch of useless things! Take your men and pierce them! If you can't take them down, I want your head!"

The Western Liang army's general shouted in exasperated fury, ordering a stalwart deputy commander to personally lead men to charge the formation.

That valiant deputy commander, leading his personal troops at the forefront, soon saw the Western Liang lose two or three hundred cavalry before their warhorses slammed heavily into the large iron shield.

Meanwhile, the defector troops' spearmen, from incessantly thrusting their spears over a long period, now had sore, weak arms, and their formation began to waver.

Soldiers holding shields in the front line were knocked flying one after another by the Western Liang iron cavalry, many struck down dead by the warhorses.

Once the Western Liang troops broke through the line, things became much easier for them, and that valiant deputy commander even thought that once the Western Liang cavalry entered the enemy's spear formation, it would be a matter of moments to slaughter those people.

However, this group of spearmen who had lost their protection did not simply wait for death; under the leadership of their officers, they instead ferociously launched a countercharge. Although these over-a-thousand spearmen suffered heavy losses, but for a moment the Western Liang Army cavalry was again blocked, and the momentum of the cavalry's charge came to a halt.