Jirgal looked at the white-haired old man on the city wall.
This was the very man who had suppressed the Northern Frontier for decades.
Even though he had reached his twilight years, his lingering prestige remained.
As long as he was killed, the morale and confidence of Great Zhou's border soldiers would immediately plummet by sixty percent. Taking down Great Zhou would then be more than easy.
That was why they had plotted for so long, tying down the defending forces on the east and west flanks, and cutting off the spread of information. Their sole purpose was to kill Xu Jin.
Jirgal said in a deep voice, "Attack the city with all your might!!"
"Kill!"
Xu Jin picked up his spear and said in a low voice to Lang Qing, "Have the soldiers in the city charge toward the Second City with everything they have. As long as we break through the rear defense line and wait for reinforcements from the Second City behind us, we still have a chance."
"I will delay them at the front. If necessary, abandon the First City and hold the Second City."
The defending forces on the west and east flanks were too far away. Let alone the fact that they hadn't received the news yet, even if they did and rushed here, it would probably be too late.
Lang Qing's heart sank heavily.
In his memory, there were only a handful of times he had heard the Marquis say something akin to abandoning a city.
Xu Jin: "Engage the enemy!!"
Prince Ming was in the Second City.
Not long after the flames of war ignited in the First City, he saw the faint beacon fires from over there.
After ascertaining the situation, he immediately dispatched the soldiers of the Second City to support Xu Jin. However, they were blocked by the Northern Frontier soldiers and could not find a breakthrough point for a long time.
Prince Ming said in a deep voice, "For the First City to be besieged like this, the Northern Frontier must not have acted on a whim. They came prepared."
"Your Highness, we still don't know when the Eastern Garrison will receive the call for help. If the First City falls, our Second City won't be able to hold out for long either. Should we retreat and defend the Main City?"
With the Western Garrison having two of its cities occupied by the Northern Frontier, there was a high probability that the news could not be sent out. However, the Eastern Garrison had no cities occupied by the Northern Frontier.
The First City was besieged, but the call for help could be sent out from the Second City. It was just that... there was a time difference, and perhaps it would be too late.
Going back and forth, and then waiting for Xia Fuyang to assemble his army and come over, if they were delayed by the Northern Frontier army facing the Eastern Garrison, the time would probably be even later.
Prince Ming's heart sank deeper and deeper, and his fingertips even felt faintly cold.
If something really happened to Xu Jin, half of the border would fall into chaos.
The borders of Great Zhou could not afford to lose Xu Jin right now.
"We cannot retreat. Even if the Second City withdraws all its defenses to go support him, we must ensure Marquis Xu's safety!" Prince Ming said, emphasizing every word. "Even if thousands or tens of thousands of people die, he cannot die."
Whipping his fast horse, the soldier rushing to deliver the message to the Eastern Garrison lay flat on his horse's back, already on the verge of losing consciousness.
He had been struck by several arrows in the back.
The Northern Frontier men responsible for intercepting messengers bit tightly onto his trail, refusing to let go.
The soldier's vision went black in waves. With trembling hands, he stuffed the urgent letter into the horse's saddlebag and whispered, "Good horse, go find Little General Xia. Deliver the message. He must come quickly to save the Marquis..."
After saying this, he rolled over and dismounted directly. Drawing the saber from his waist, he glared with wide, angry eyes at the Northern Frontier pursuers behind him and roared hoarsely, "Grandsons! Come kill your grandfather!"
The horse neighed and galloped away madly.
The soldier was encircled by the Northern Frontier cavalry, who rode in circles around him.
Seeing him survive despite being hit by several arrows, the leading Northern Frontier man felt a bit of admiration for him. "What is your name?"
The soldier spat out a mouthful of bloody water and said, "As if you are worthy to hear it! Your grandfather's name is loud and clear. It's Great Zhou Soldier!"
The leading Northern Frontier man felt both admiration and pity. "Kill him."
A moment later, they rode away. The soldier lay on the ground, becoming a speck of red in this blood-stained land.
Xia Fuyang, leading fifty thousand troops, was rushing toward the Central First City.
The vanguard unit scouting ahead turned back. "Reporting to the General! There is a warhorse of our army ahead! We found an urgent letter in its saddlebag!"
"Give it to me."
Xia Fuyang took it, quickly scanned it, and his expression suddenly turned freezing cold.
"Two hundred thousand Northern Frontier troops have surrounded the Central First City. Requesting support from the Eastern Garrison. Marquis Xu is besieged and struggling to hold on in a bitter battle..."
It was even more than he had imagined.
I'm afraid all the elite troops of the Northern Frontier are there. Jirgal is absolutely determined to trap and kill Marquis Xu.
The Eastern Garrison troops he had brought were still too few.
Xia Fuyang quickly calmed down and ordered, "Go back and mobilize another twenty thousand troops. Just leave enough men to defend the city! The rest of you, follow this general and advance at full speed!"
Fortunately.
Fortunately, he had vaguely noticed something amiss this evening and took the time to risk taking a look at the Northern Frontier garrison opposite the Eastern Garrison.
The outer perimeter was heavily guarded, but the inner area was empty.
He immediately mobilized fifty thousand troops, marched secretly around the rear, and rushed to the Central First City.
There was still a trace of hesitation on the way here, as he wasn't entirely certain after all, but at this moment, he was incredibly glad that he had followed his intuition.
The army advanced at full speed. After marching for a distance, they found the body of the soldier who had delivered the message.
After Xia Fuyang led his troops past, a newly erected burial mound appeared by the side of the road.
Qu Dubian galloped for three hours.
A third of the soldiers failed to keep up with his speed.
The night was pitch black.
Ye Lianyang said, "Boss, I'm fine, but the brothers behind can't keep up."
Qu Dubian glanced at the panting soldiers behind him. The distance between the two cities was too far. They had followed him at full speed for three hours, which was already considered quite good among soldiers.
He said decisively, "You lead the brothers and keep moving. Liuliu won't be more than an hour behind us. If you can regroup, come together with the Western Garrison!"
Ye Lianyang: "Boss, aren't you coming with us?"
Qu Dubian: "I'll go ahead first."
Ye Lianyang: "But..."
He had just wanted to say that since the boss was only one person, going there wouldn't be of much use, but remembering the day he was pinned down and beaten up, he silently swallowed those words back down.
"Alright, that's it. While ensuring the brothers still have combat strength, you must be fast."
After giving his instructions, Qu Dubian continued to speed away toward the Central First City.
At this time, almost all the Great Zhou soldiers were gathered ten miles outside the city.
Lang Qing, covered in blood, forcefully hacked open a gap in the encirclement. He no longer had the time to care about how many soldiers around him were dead or injured, or how many were left.
The gap he had barely torn open allowed him to converge with the supporting officers and soldiers from the Second City.
"Hold the gap! Don't let the encirclement form again! The rest of you, return with me! The Marquis is still holding them off in the rear!"
Originally, he wanted the Marquis to break out toward the rear, but the Marquis said he had to stay. At a time like this, if the main commander left, the morale of the city's defending soldiers would plummet, and they wouldn't be able to delay for time. If that happened, their entire army would truly be annihilated.
Lang Qing had risked his life just to break out.
The general from the Second City gritted his teeth and said, "We will definitely hold it with our lives! General Lang Qing, please hurry! You must bring the Marquis back safely!"
Lang Qing: "I definitely will."
He drew troops from the Second City and quickly headed back.
Central First City.
The west city gate fell.
The east city gate fell.
The city was half-ruined, with broken walls and debris everywhere, and corpses piled upon corpses.
The blood of the soldiers from the Northern Frontier and Great Zhou mixed together, soaking the ground into an ink-like black.
Iron cavalry trampled through the city gates, their horses' hooves stepping over the bodies.
The main army was arrayed outside, while the Left Worthy King and Right Worthy King led a small detachment of troops into the Central First City.
When Qu Dubian approached the Central First City, even from a great distance away, his nose, which only had a little sense of smell left, could still smell the foul, burnt stench of blood from the fires.
He saw the shattered city gates, the dense, dark mass of the Northern Frontier army massed outside, and the Left Worthy King and Right Worthy King riding into the city.
The city had fallen.
Where was his grandfather?
Qu Dubian's palms clenched unconsciously. His heart pounded violently, hammering against his ribs with every beat.
The western gate was the first to be breached and the first to be abandoned by its defenders. Qu Dubian slowly exhaled, stepped over the corpses outside, and slipped quietly into the city.
Ironically, the city walls—once the site of the fiercest fighting—were now the emptiest.
He vaulted up onto the battlements, keeping his head down and his body low as he trailed the Northern Frontier soldiers moving through the city below.
Inside the city.
The Left Worthy King and Right Worthy King had led their forces toward the rear gate.
The fall of the city was inevitable, though it had taken them an hour longer to breach it than anticipated.
Xu Jin truly lived up to his name. Charging out of the city alone, he had slaughtered hundreds of their men, leading the defenders to forcefully stall for time. Only when the city was largely overrun did he retreat step by step into the streets.
"Abandon one city to protect two," the Left Worthy King mused. "It feels rather good to snatch a city from Xu Jin's grasp."
The Right Worthy King reminded him, "Yet to breach a city he defends, we had to deploy the very elite of the Northern Frontier. And despite all that, he is still not dead."
The Left Worthy King narrowed his eyes. "He will be soon. When he charged our lines earlier, he took more wounds than I could count."
They reined in their horses. About a hundred meters ahead of them...
...at the rear gate.
Xu Jin's armor was covered in deep gashes from swords and spears, his white hair dyed a dark, crusty red with blood.
He still commanded over a thousand surviving soldiers. Aside from a single path cleared out behind them by Lang Qing, Northern Frontier soldiers were slowly closing in from the front, left, and right.
The long blade in his hand was already fractured.
Blood ran down his armor to his feet, pooling in a shallow puddle on the ground.
Yet, not a trace of weakness could be seen on Xu Jin's face.
The Left Worthy King rode forward. "The King has decreed that whoever takes Xu Jin's head shall be named the greatest warrior of the Northern Frontier! Who dares to step up and kill him?"
A restless murmur rippled through the surrounding soldiers, but no one immediately stepped forward.
The Left Worthy King's face darkened.
Xu Jin had dominated the Northern Frontier for too long. He had been a terror for so many years that even now, trapped in a fatal situation, the insurmountable brand of the God of War remained seared into the minds of the Northern Frontier soldiers.
"Cowards," Xu Jin spat. He rested the tip of his blade on the ground, gripping the hilt with one hand and pressing down on it with the other. "You bark orders at your subordinates, yet you don't dare step forward yourself!"
"I hear your martial prowess is second only to Jirgal, yet you are too afraid to fight this old man," he mocked. "Two generations ago, the King of your Royal Court actually dared to cross swords with me. But now... your current King hasn't even shown his face, and even the Left Worthy King is too scared to strike."
"Each generation is worse than the last."
Qu Dubian had excellent hearing and caught every word clearly, but he also noticed his grandfather's posture—
His grandfather was using the blade to support his weight. He was on the verge of total exhaustion.
To continue taunting even when utterly spent, to goad the Left Worthy King into attacking... he was likely planning to take both of them down with him, or at the very least, drag one Northern Frontier prince into the grave.
Staying low, Qu Dubian quickly gathered all the unused explosive packs scattered along the battlements. He stacked them together and bound them tightly with a rope, forcefully creating immense external pressure.
He packed the loose explosives into three massive bundles. Poking half his head over the edge, he held his breath and watched the scene below with rapt attention.
The Left Worthy King knew Xu Jin was provoking him, but even so, he had no choice but to urge his horse forward.
"Xu Jin, you are a worthy opponent."
Xu Jin dug at his ear. "Given enough time, it seems even dogs can learn to speak like men."
The Left Worthy King's expression turned ice-cold. He drew his scimitar. "I will grant your wish."
Xu Jin gave his blade a flick. "Let's see if you have what it takes!"
The two instantly clashed!
The Left Worthy King could feel the waning strength behind Xu Jin's blows. The longer they fought, the more convinced he became that Xu Jin was merely bluffing, and his own attacks grew increasingly ferocious.
"Xu Jin! Your reflexes are too slow!" he roared, slashing his scimitar toward the old general.
The latter didn't even try to dodge. Instead, Xu Jin leaped into the air and brought his blade cleaving down viciously toward the Left Worthy King, entirely intent on mutual destruction!
Meeting Xu Jin's ferocious, bloodthirsty gaze, a sudden chill ran down the Left Worthy King's spine.
No!
He wasn't aiming for mutual destruction; he wanted to trade an injury for a kill! Even at a critical juncture like this, Xu Jin had not given up his will to live!
Instantly abandoning any pretense of a warrior's honorable duel, the Left Worthy King shouted in a slight panic, "Attack together! Kill him!"
Clang!
The Right Worthy King spurred his horse and vaulted into the air, blocking the devastating strike on behalf of the Left Worthy King.
The explosive force behind Xu Jin's blow knocked him back more than ten meters, while Xu Jin was also forced back several steps.
Wiping a trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth, the Right Worthy King commanded coldly, "Kill him!"
Xu Jin swallowed a mouthful of blood. Dark spots danced in his vision; his body had reached its absolute limit.
The thousand or so soldiers around him formed a tight defensive ring, shielding him in the center as they fought desperately against the encroaching Northern Frontier army. Many were shouting his name, begging him to flee while he still could.
They probably had no idea that the invincible Marquis of their hearts didn't have a single ounce of strength left.
To think that the end of the road would come tonight.
Besieged by two hundred thousand Northern Frontier troops... perhaps this battle would leave a brief mark in the annals of history.
Xu Jin sighed inwardly and tilted his head up slightly, gazing toward the moon hanging in the night sky...?
Instead, he saw the perfectly round little head of his grandson peeking over the battlements.