475 Before The Fort Falls (1/2)
The tables had been turned.
Dongxuan's morale was escalating to its peak. Adrenaline surged through both generals and soldiers as they charged forward, howling madly. As for Yutang, they could only watch this with gritted teeth, their eyes rimmed red.
They could only watch as their enemy completed their goals stage by stage, eventually falling upon their prided fort. It crushed all the Yutang soldiers, the desperation a bitter pill to swallow. It was worse than having a blunt knife slice into their flesh, slash after slash!
Qiu Jianhan, who already knew that they would lose the Fortress of Resilience, had not entirely submitted to fate; he had withdrawn all the injured militants and people who were in the fort.
The injured militants' wails were thunderous before they left. A lot of them were sobbing and begging their comrades to let them stay.
”I don't have an arm, but give me a saber, I can still kill an enemy and die with him!”
”Let me stay!”
”I'm not leaving! Even if you kill me now and move my body to the fort walls, stacking rocks to encase it inside, your father can contribute half a feet of height to Yutang!”
The injured fighters pleaded and begged but Qiu Jianhan and Fu Baoguo were stoic, uncompromising and firm on their stand.
”There's only meaning if you all live. You are Yutang's seeds, you can cultivate new seeds! Dying will bring an end to all of that.”
”This is an order - stay alive! Do not let yourself fall, no matter what happens! Whoever has the temerity to die, we won't acknowledged him as our comrade when we meet in the underworld!”
”Staying alive means that Yutang's Fortress of Resilience still exists! All of you are the Fortress of Resilience!”
”The invulnerability of the fort was never due to the Fortress of Resilience itself, but because of the eastern army of Yutang who guards it. It never fell because of you, the eastern soldiers!”
Old Marshal Qiu was close to tears. ”All of you, keep on living! Brothers, you must survive. Live and watch Yutang rally itself. Live and train new soldiers for us! Live… and help us watch over this beautiful land!”
Witnessing the old marshal's tears, all the injured militants went quiet, no longer protesting or whining. They began leaving in batches, their speed swift and footsteps sure.
They moved quickly to leave a wide path for the troops who were about to take the back so that the handicapped ones would not block the road and hinder the army's movement.
”Even if we can't complete our duty to the country with our brothers here, we will not be their burden!”
”We still have a mission. Even when the Fortress of Resilience falls, we're here to make another human Fortress of Resilience!”
”Dongxuan, invaders to be damned, be prepared to pass through another Fortress of Resilience!”
…
Time trickled. When it came to the ninth day, Dongxuan was basically done with their set stratagem.
The slope under them was no more than thirty feet from the top of the fortress now. At such a height, practitioners with basics could hop off it, so Dongxuan began to assemble their experts. Martial world experts, military experts, and school experts from Dongxuan were gathered together under the shadow of the looming hill.
Yutang was doing the same in gathering their proficient cultivators.
The similar activities by both sides were mainly due to the fact that skilled cultivators could only be handled by other apt cultivators. With the situation being as dire as it was, practitioners and cultivators who had never been favorites on the battlefield were warmly welcomed as they were the key to this battle!
It was on the same night that Qiu Jianhan ordered the kerosene; he had collected more than five hundred thousand buckets throughout the period and had them delivered before he set off, to be divided into five batches. The first batch was ready to be used.
On the slope, a thick layer of kerosene flowed; plenty of it had coursed down the slope, flowing smoothly despite being terribly viscous. The dozens of miles of slope was entirely covered in kerosene.
It was only a short while before the pungent smell spread everywhere as the kerosene continued to flow down from the top of the fort.
Han Sanhe watched the sea of kerosene with an unreadable expression; he had yet to order the start of their attack. He knew full well that this was Qiu Jianhan's last resort – the very last resort!
Just as he had said, he could think of what Qiu Jianhan could think of, and vice-versa; it was the same for both men, so this situation was well within their expectations.