Battle of Anping – Decisive Battle Part 2

Chapter 59 – Battle of Anping – Decisive Battle Part 2

Tong hold his ground in front breached wall with Zhou Cang and other infantries, enduring all arrows, stones, fire attacks and spear and sword strikes from the enemy invaders.

The trench squads that ran out of arrows grabbed their melee weapons, and stabbed their pikes and their spears up toward the incoming invaders, stopping their advance toward the walls.

Meanwhile, Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang troops moved up in secret toward the last line.

The arrow barrage from the trench and the wall had been stopped before Tong had retreated. Most of the troops ran out of arrows. Only the last squad of Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang still saved up for the last part of the plan.

On the other side, Guo Dian noticed that the arrow barrages from the fortress had been ceased. He ordered his men to charge forward to the destroyed wall in a hurry. Guo Dian wanted to seize this chance to loot the fortress before Zou Jing troops got in. Thus, he ignored the trench lines of defenses and approached directly from the main road toward the gap of the wall.

Zou Jing was surprised by Guo Dian's action. Although the arrow barrage from the fortress had been stopped, they could assume that they were out of arrows or there would be no more ambush.

Because Guo Dian troops went all out, there were only less than a thousand archers and trebuchet crews of Zou Jing which remained in the backline. Zou Jing's frontline troops had long been decimated by the arrows and Tong's bullets.

Just five minutes after Guo Dian and his troops rushed toward the breached wall, the sounds of galloping horses came from the west.

With dust and dirt flew behind them, Bo Cai and his 200 horsemen were charging at Zou Jing's backline troops.

Because Bo Cai and his men caught Zou Jing off guard, the reserved soldiers had not received an order to reform rank to counter the incoming cavalry. The entire backlines were in a panic.

Bo Cai also would not let this chance passing by. He and his men charged and ran over the unprepared archers, trebuchet crews and the panic infantries.

The horses stomped on the undefended troops, crushing their bones and their internal organs with the horses and the riders weights. Some tried to dodge to the side, but they still got stabbed by the spears of the horsemen.

Like an ocean wave, the triangle formation of 200 horsemen swept away the men in front of them and left a trail of dead bodies behind as they galloped forward.

Two hundred horsemen made quick work on the undefended archers and trebuchet crews.

However, Zou Jing Army were professional soldiers. Five hundred men of Zou Jing formed the phalanx formation with spears and shields. They stood firm and waited for the incoming cavalry to crash with them.

Zou Jing also joined his troops and fended off the incoming cavalries.

As Bo Cai was still inexperienced in the tactic and warfare, he forgot to maneuver his men to avoid the spear formation in front of his troops. As a result, they crashed into the prepared defenders head-on, and the cavalry momentum was stopped.

With the impact, Bo Cai came back to his sense. After he realized that he lost his initiative, Bo Cai immediately led his men to retreat. They would risk being routed if they persisted to stay and continue to fight.

Bo Cai unit suffered heavy damage from the counter-attack of Zou Jing. Only fifty horsemen managed to escape while the rest left their lives on the battle.

However, he completed his objectives by stopping the barrage of the trebuchets. More than half of the trebuchets were destroyed, and half of the remaining troops of Zou Jing was also killed in the battle.

Seeing the ambush unit of Tong Army retreated, Zou Jing's face turned ugly. Only four hundred men survived from Bo Cai's charge. The other troops he had left was the cavalry unit that he sent to intercept Wen Chou.

His inner instinct told him that he had to retreat now or he might never be able to. Zou Jing trusted his instinct more than anything else when he faced a crisis or a setback. He immediately ordered his remaining men to retreat back to Ji Province and ignored Guo Dian illogical activities.

…

On the front of the north gate, Guo Dian and his remaining 1,500 troops recklessly charged at the bleached wall, thinking that there would be no more arrow coming from the fort.

The moment they bypassed the trenches and reached the defensive troops within the fort, Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang two hundred soldiers popped up from the trench and fired arrows at the back of the charging troops.

Hundreds of arrows pierced the back of the unaware Guo Dian troops and caused confusion and panic.

After Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang ambush units unloaded all of their clips, killed or injured 500 men of Guo Dian. Then they drew their swords and charged at the injured Guo Dian troops.

Guo Dian looked back and saw only two hundred men charging at them. He thought that these soldiers should be the last remaining healthy men of Tong Army. Therefore, he took four hundred men from his remaining thousand men to intercept the pincer attack.

Guo Dian soldiers and the last elites of Tong's two uncles clashed. Within just a minute of slashing and hacking from both sides, Guo Dian found out that his soldiers were inferior and they were killed faster than the other way around.

Seeing that he was in disadvantage if this went on, Guo Dian called another 300 of his 600 men who were attacking the walls back to assist him.

After the 300 men came to assist Guo Dian, Zhang Liang and Zhang Bao were pushed back. Both of them and his men retreated back into the trench. Suddenly, Tong, who had been at the breached wall, broke through the incoming soldiers and showed up in front of Guo Dian.

"ZHANG TONG!!" Guo Dian shouted as he swung his halberd at Tong.

"GG, SUCKER!!"

Tong repelled Guo Dian's halberd with his sword by striking it with his full strength, utilizing his passive attribute buff to the fullest!

*******************************

[Sword Mastery] Cannot be leveled up

- Master all kinds of swords. Increase all attributes by 10 times if the host is using a sword.

- If the host kills an enemy, increase the host lifespan by the remaining lifespan of the dead enemy.

*******************************

Guo Dian staggered back from the unexpected force from the sword parry. Both of his hands were numb and they were repelled upward, leaving his stomach wide open.

Then Tong's sword stabbed through the gap of Guo Dian's armor into his chest.

*SSUK*

Guo Dian came to a pause as he looked down.

Feeling something cold entered his stomach, Guo Dian shuddered in pain. Tong twisted his sword and shoved it further sideway to damage Guo Dian internal organs, and then pulled it out along with the entangled intestines.

Nauseous feeling enveloped Guo Dian's mind, and iron tasted puke was pushed out from his mouth. Then he dropped down on his knees and stared at Tong in disbelief before Tong gave him a finishing blow.

*SHUA*

Guo Dian's head rolled up in midair, then it dropped on the ground.

Tong grabbed Guo Dian's head and lift it up. He shouted.

"Guo Dian is dead!! Surrender now! Or you all will follow him to hell!"

The remaining 500 men of Guo Dian were in shock when they heard the shout. Once they looked back and saw the headless body and Guo Dian head in the hand of Tong, they became desperate. All of them dropped their weapons and surrendered.

The surviving garrison soldiers roared out a warcry cheer. Today was the toughest fight that they had ever had in their life. They even believed that they might not make it out of here alive, yet they won.

One of them fell on his butt and laughed. The group of handicapped soldiers hugged each other in tears. A critically injured soldier who was being treated inside the fort gritted his teeth and looked at the cheering soldiers. He was so tired that he was on the verge of falling into deep sleep forever. But seeing the atmosphere around him, he became wide awake as he clenched his fists. A few soldiers on the wall hugged their dead friends and cried, whispering them that they had won.

Tong also swallowed his emotion. Today battle might be short, but it was difficult because Guo Dian and Zou Jing suddenly went all-out.

It was fortunate that Wen Chou and his men were nearby, so Tong tricked them into coming here to draw some of them away. Or else, the one thousand cavalries on the back would crush the men in his fort and Tong's defeat would be ensured.

'That was too close. My lifespan is almost empty!' Tong thought.

*******************************

**Status**

Name: Zhang Tong

Lifespan: 45 Years

*******************************

The battle today was taxing to Tong. He had stood in front of his men to save as many lives of his subordinates as he could. As a result, he spent his lifespans to regenerate his wounds.

Although he got lifespans back from killing an enemy, the injuries he got in return caused him to make a deficit and ended up with the current remaining lifespans after he killed Guo Dian.

Furthermore, the more he used the regeneration skill, the more expensive it got. At first, it cost only one lifespan to regenerate all shallow wounds at once. Now, it cost him ten lifespans for healing one small scratch.

During the fight, the system warned him that this skill would increase the lifespan consumption rate if the user continued to spam healing on himself. However, the cost of the skill would return to normal after he stopped using it for a month.

Tong could not use this skill for a while until the cooldown was over.

[Ding! Ding! Holy Shet! I didn't know you have it in you! You actually completed that mission! Well, since the battle is over, your favorite skill has been enabled. As promised, here is your rewards! Check it out!]

[You killed Sima Xin. You have received 200,000 lifespans!]

[You killed Guo Dian. You have received 20,000 lifespans!]

[You killed 1,729 soldiers. You have ...]

...

...

Tong looked at his status and his lifespans in shock. The soulmate quest was way too dangerous, but at the same time, the rewards were worth the risk.

*******************************

**Status**

Name: Zhang Tong

Age: 16

Lifespan: 294,625 Years

Shopping Pass: 2

*Skill List*

[Time Stop] LV.2 EXP( 156/200 )

- Stop time and space flow in your current universe for 10 seconds.

Skill Cost: 10 years of the host lifespan.

Skill Restriction: Can only be used once per day. Skill resets at midnight.

[Firearms Creation] LV.1 EXP( 8,442/10,000 )

- Create any firearm or bullet of your choice.

- Handguns and handgun bullets can be created

Skill Cost:

- 1 year of the host lifespan per a handgun bullet

- 50 years of the host lifespan per a new handgun of your choice

Skill Restriction: Can only create one gun a day or one bullet a day. Skill resets at midnight.

[Plot Armor] Cannot be leveled up

- Immune to all diseases, poisoning, and physical attacks.

- After the host become 20 years of age. The host shall be forced summoned back the Netherworld.

[Inventory] – Cannot be leveled up.

- Host can store items in a private space.

- Host cannot store any living person or any creature.

- Storage limit: 10 Slots. Each slot can only contain the same items. Stackable.

- Unlimited Volume.

- Time will be frozen in the inventory.

- Host can adjust the temperature of the Inventory.

- Upkeep lifespans required: 100 per year.

[Immortal Yang Vein] – Cannot be leveled up.

- Host has infinite yang seeds.

- Host can dual-cultivate with opposite gender partners to increase active skill EXP in random.

- Host's stamina multiplies by 20.

- Host can regenerate wounds and lost body parts instantly.

- Regeneration costs lifespans depending on the degrees of the injury.

- This skill can only be used by male otherworlders.

- Upkeep lifespans required: 1,000 per year.

[Sword Mastery] Cannot be leveled up

- Master all kinds of swords. Increase all attributes by 10 times if the host is using a sword.

- If the host kills an enemy, increase the host lifespan by the remaining lifespan of the dead enemy.

*******************************