Chapter 24

These good-for-nothings, come on! We must take the gate today! Otherwise, when their reinforcements arrive, we'll all die!

This lieutenant under Guo Si still had some insight; he knew that if he failed to take the gate before dawn, his side would lose all initiative.

Naturally, the Return Righteous Army side also refused to yield the gate, and soon the Western Liang Army slaughtered the over a thousand Return Righteous troops outside, leaving them utterly wiped out.

The deputy commander of the Return Righteous Army sighed.

"Brothers, fall back to the antlers and hold the gate to the death! Even if we die, we'll die right here at the gate."

Immediately, the remaining troops retreated to a pile of antlers, placing their blades and spears on the points. As the Western Liang Army pursued, the sharp-eyed junior officer on the wall loosed an arrow.

"Whoosh!"

The Western Liang Army's burly, fierce deputy commander was shot off his horse by an arrow; as he fell, spitting blood, the arrow's fletching in his chest continued to tremble.

"Damn it, this divine-strength crossbow really works!"

The junior officer, seeing this power, couldn't help but blurt out a curse.

"Come on, chop through the antlers and kill!"

Seeing his trusted aide slain, this lieutenant under Guo Si flared with rage, already planning to chop open the antlers and then slaughter every one of these men to the last.

The archers on both sides exchanged fire; the Return Righteous Army on the wall held the positional advantage, temporarily suppressing the Western Liang Army. Although the Western Liang Army had greater numbers, its casualties already exceeded three times those of the Return Righteous Army, and this Return Righteous Army, under its deputy commander's leadership, continued to resist stubbornly.

During the struggle for the antlers, whenever a Western Liang swordsman stepped forward, bared his arms to strike, a twelve-foot spear would thrust from the opposite side, knocking him to the ground; the thrust was aimed at a tricky spot, and nearly every axe-man who fell was stabbed in the abdomen.

As the seesaw fighting continued, casualties mounted on both sides; corpses of the Western Liang Army piled up beside the antlers, almost reaching their height, while the archers on the wall had nearly exhausted their arrows.

Seeing that prolonged assaults failed, the Western Liang Army simply paused to regroup, intending to take the gate in one decisive push.

The archers on the wall took up blades and spears, descending to gather beside the deputy commander; this Return Righteous Army deputy commander, making up his mind, tossed his slightly curved blade to the ground and seized a long spear.

"Brothers, we've had a splendid slaughter today! In the next life, let's be brothers again!"

The remaining over a thousand shouted together, their cries shaking the heavens, as if they wanted to break through the black night sky. Just as they prepared to fight to the death, using their own bodies to block the gate, the sound of horse hooves and clamor came from outside the gate; a soldier on the wall peered out and shouted loudly.

"General! Our forces outside have arrived! It's General Xu leading them to our aid!"

The Return Righteous Army deputy commander rejoiced, hurriedly ordering his men to open the gate.

Meanwhile, the lieutenant under Guo Si, thinking the Return Righteous Army remnants were trying to flee, urgently ordered his men to charge again, intending to wipe out these stragglers in one sweep.

After killing so many of my Western Liang troops, do you think you can just run away so easily?

Having offended the abbot, you still want to leave?

This lieutenant under Guo Si spurred his horse forward, leading over ten thousand men in the charge; "These damned peasants! They've actually killed seven or eight thousand of my men! I can't stand it!"

But he noticed something was off: after the gate was opened, flames shot up to the sky, and these remnants did not flee.

As he pondered what had happened, a commander clad in a red cape, with a stern and righteous visage, burst forth from the flames on horseback.

He saw the newcomer wielding an ornate great axe, who swung it straight at him upon meeting.

The lieutenant under Guo Si snorted inwardly, raising his spear to block the axe.

"Clang!"

The lieutenant under Guo Si was shaken by the blow, staggering back, his heart shocked, and he shouted.

"Who are you, incoming commander?"

Xu Huang roared loudly and said.

"It's your grandfather, Lord Gongyin!"

He then flourished the axe with a flourish and, following through, chopped down at the opponent's shoulder.

The lieutenant under Guo Si could not withstand it, failed to dodge in time, and let out a horrible scream as Xu Huang's axe cleaved him and his armor in two.

Xu Huang snorted coldly, then said.

"Guo Si's men are nothing but wine sacks and rice bags! Men! Leave two thousand brothers to guard the gate; the rest follow me into the city to reinforce our lord!"

Thus Xu Huang led twenty thousand troops into Chang'an, marching mightily toward Guo Si's camp to cut them down.

Meanwhile, at the same time on the eastern wall, the Return Righteous Army suffered hardly any losses; just as Guo Si's forces launched their assault, Zhao Yun led the Snow Dragon Cavalry into the fray.

Thanks to two months of training, aided by stirrups and saddles, these Snow Dragon Cavalry have greatly improved their horsemanship; moreover, with the advantage of divine-strength crossbows and curved blades, Guo Si's cavalry can hardly contend with them.

Guo Si's troops discovered that Liu Bei's cavalry could endure two successive sword cuts with hardly any injury, leaving them astonished; what's more, these men could even rise from their horses while fighting, making the force of their spears and swords seem two levels higher!

Each Snow Dragon Cavalryman wore two layers of armor—inner mail and outer standard Liu Bei army armor; under this equipment superiority, the Western Liang troops could hardly offer any resistance!

The Western Liang armored infantry found that their armor could be pierced by a single enemy spear—how could they fight?

Seeing this scene, Liu Bei would probably say.

"Before an armor-piercing spear, all beings are equal!!"

Thus the Western Liang troops on the eastern wall were nearly cut down all the way by Zhao Yun and the Snow Dragon Cavalry; from then on, Guo Si utterly lost the chance to bring his forces stationed outside into the city.

At this moment, Guo Si still hoped to link up with the forces outside, even though he was surrounded by Liu Bei's and Li Jue's troops; but Guo Duo believed that Liu Bei would surely be unable to deal with him for the time being.