Vol 8 Chapter 23 (1/2)
VOLUME 8 CHAPTER 23: DON’T TELL ME THIS IS THE SIEGE BATTLE AT JIANGXIA CITY (3)
Liu Bei POV
“Chen Dao, if you can go quicker, go… Haa… Don’t bother about me.”
My stamina wasn’t much to begin with, and now that I had to run with my heavy swords, I was practically drained not long after I’d begun running. This is also the first time I’m running around the city walls, where the bricks are hard and uneven.
“No, my lord just needs to work harder for a little bit longer.” Chen Dao pointed ahead as she continued running.
I looked ahead and saw a crowd of people, and heard yells for blood and slaughter.
d.a.m.n it! They really did set up the cloud ladders already.
“Look, my lord!” Just as I was feeling dismayed at the current situation, Chen Dao pointed below the city. I looked down and involuntarily gasped.
Outside the west gate, troops were crowding all around and gathered near the cloud ladders set up against the towers.
“How many… Is this…” I squeezed these words out between pants.
“Based on a rough count, I would say at least 6-7,000.”
Kuh, 6-7,000.
“Look over there, my lord. Zhu Zhi and her troops are there as well.”
As expected, Zhu Zhi was there below the city, and had begun setting up their own cloud ladders.
“There will be at least 8,000 like this!”
Eh! We’re doomed now! We should have bolstered the defences on both sides at the start. Our side has been led around from the start!
“My lord, stand at the back, I’ll open a path for you.”
“Be careful!”
Chen Dao nodded and shot forward like an arrow, tearing into the chaotic battle up ahead,
“Alright everyone, defending the city takes top priority! Don’t look below! Just kill all the enemies in the city and we’ll win!” I did my best to invigorate the troops around, and also to bolster my own guts.
“Oh!!!!”
But who knew that everyone around seemed really motivated and energised by my words.
And when we charged full force into the fray, I didn’t detect a shred of cowardice from them, or from myself. On the battlefield, I was just another soldier, and just a nail in the defence of the city. And so, I raised my twin swords and danced with everything I had.
To defend myself, and the city.
Ya!
I swung my twin swords about and did my best to make my attacks less lethal. If I can knock them out without injuring them, I will do so. If I can injure them without kill them, I will do so. I don’t feel that this is a weakness of mine, nor is this a show of benevolence. This is just my nature as someone from the future.
“Uncle!” While I was fighting hard in the crowd, a voice that called out to me from some distance away drew my attentions. There’s only 1 person who will call me this way after all.
(TL: Guan Ping doesn’t count. She calls him 舅舅 which is maternal uncle, while Liu Qi calls him 叔叔 which is paternal uncle.)
“Liu Qi! Are you alright?!” I practically roared out at her and began to force my way over to where she was.
“I’m still okay!” Liu Qi yelled back as she wielded her longsword and blew away several troops that charged at her with elegant movements.
This surprised me as the Liu Qi in my impression had the weak scholarly sort of image yet now that she was embroiled in battle, she showed no weakness at all nor did she seem like a scholar.
After some trouble, I finally made my way to Liu Qi and put my back to hers, “How is it?! Can we hold this gate?”
“The gates would have fallen after the first wave, but now it looks like we can hold on for another 3-4 waves.”
So we’re still going to fall!
Looks like our reinforcement wasn’t of much help.
“My lord, please move to the back a little.” Wen Ping said as she leapt down and landed in front of Liu Qi, slas.h.i.+ng across at the same time, killing a row of enemy soldiers.
“A ruler ought to join the battlefield in person, and it’s not like I never learned how to wield a sword. Wen Ping, you don’t need to bother about me. Go and help Lord Gan Ning, overturning the cloud ladders takes greatest precedence at this time.” Liu Qi pointed in the distance as she said so. Over there, a white scarf was swaying about.
Gan Ning was amongst the enemy troops, and slas.h.i.+ng away at the enemies with her blunt edge as usual, sending them flying with no external wound at all.
When she came to a cloud ladder, she slashed apart the cloud ladder in 1 swift and steady blow.
Gan Ning’s martial prowess is truly impressive, I thought as I looked at her movements.
“Ya!” A soldier charged at me just as I was appreciating Gan Ning’s movements. I too did as Gan Ning did and dodged the attack before knocking him away. I couldn’t send him flying though, and could only knock him to the side and to the ground.
“Uncle is learning from Lord Gan Ning and being benevolent too?”
“I guess.” I smiled bitterly as I replied Liu Qi. I knew my limits yet why was I doing this? To what end?
Who knows?
“Yaaaaaa!”
Un? I heard an enraged roar from the chaos which sent a chill down my spine. I looked into the distance but I couldn’t see the one who roared out.
“Uaa!”
While I was still searching for the source, a figure flew out from the crowd as she cried out. Lucky for her that she managed to regain her balance mid-air and land on her feet, though somewhat shakily.