Chapter Sixteen: The Fierce General Fan Kuai

  Fan Kuai was the first to arrive, and when the earthen wall of Junyi appeared before his eyes, he finally let out a sigh of relief. From Quye to Junyi, the continuous forced march had caused Fan Kuai's 600 elite soldiers to become increasingly distant from Cao Shen and Li Shang's main force. However, Fan Kuai did not mind this gap in distance.

  When the vanguard of Li Yuan's Qin army was only over a thousand men, and the actual number of combat troops was estimated to be less than six hundred. With a one-to-one ratio of forces and enemy engagement, Fan Kuai had considerable confidence in winning.

  "Peng Yue, this fool, has the upper hand in strength, what's the point of playing a solo challenge? If it were me, old Fan, that would be more like it." Fan Kuai was anxious in his heart, constantly urging the soldiers to follow closely. Since following his brother-in-law Liu Bang to start the army, Fan Kuai has been playing the role of cutting down generals and capturing flags. On his merit sheet, charging into battle and killing enemies, beheading how many levels, had become a common occurrence. If there was one time when Fan Kuai didn't achieve merit, it would have been a rare thing.

  Fan Kuai was most worried that Li Yuan's branch of the Qin army would collapse without a fight, or directly flee to the strong city of Huanyang and hide inside. In that case, who knows whose head the merit of being the first to achieve victory would fall on? After all, Wu Guang's tens of thousands of troops had been besieging Huanyang for several months without taking it down, Fan Kuai was not arrogant enough to think that his few hundred men could gain any advantage in Huanyang.

  It's not easy to persuade Cao Can and Lü Shang, the two who are supporting from behind. If this first achievement is gone, I don't know what those unscrupulous guys will say at that time.

  "Faster, hurry up!"

  "General, look! There are enemy soldiers on the city wall!" A keen-eyed soldier looked up and shouted out in surprise.

  "Before sunset, help me rush up onto the city wall."

  Fan Kuai loudly shouted and urged on the soldiers under his command to hasten their pace. Launching an attack after a long, forced march was a serious taboo in military affairs, but Fan Kuai could no longer care about that now.

  Fan Jun marched from east to west, and after a brief reorganization, he launched an attack. The low earth wall was like a bamboo horse for the elite soldiers of Fan Kuai's unit who had seen many tall city walls made of bluestone, which could be easily trampled underfoot with just one step.

  "Kill the Qin dog!"

  Fan Jun's troops were exhausted, having run with all their might and drained every last bit of energy to charge forward bravely. To their surprise, the Qin army in front of them had not retreated yet. This was a heaven-sent opportunity for victory, and if they didn't seize it, it would be a waste of the hardships they had endured on their long march.

  ——。

  Li Yuan stood on the city wall, coldly watching the approaching enemy soldiers. A kind of unbridled and free heroic spirit was born from the bottom of his heart. What if heaven didn't help? With his own efforts, he could still achieve remarkable achievements that would make the world take notice. Without a golden finger, what did it matter? With a diligent mind and a pair of creative hands, Li Yuan had confidence in making his life better.

  "Order, crossbowmen fire three volleys, retreat!"

  "Shields up front, logs at the ready!"

  "Cast stones!"

  On the city wall, the Qin army officers kept giving orders. According to Li Yuan's instructions, the 500 soldiers defending Xinye City must hold out until sunset before retreating. This was a significant test for the Qin army generals and soldiers who were at a disadvantage in terms of military strength. Fortunately, Fan Kuai's army had come from afar and their military formation was not neat, so they only had half an hour to launch an attack.

  "Kill!"

  Fan Kuai let out a low growl, like a fierce tiger bursting out of its cage. He trampled over the bodies piled up in front and climbed up towards the earthen wall. The walls of Xuchang were not high to begin with, and had been shortened by several layers of corpses, allowing Fan Kuai's upper body to easily appear at the same level as the top of the wall.

  One slash, a Qin soldier's legs were cut off, and he cried out in agony. Fan Kuai was ferocious, and the several Qin soldiers who surrounded him could not force him down from the city wall, despite their encirclement. For a while, the situation was at a stalemate, which was not a good sign for the defending Qin army.

  "It's still a bit too weak, lacking the momentum of a desperate struggle to win." Li Yuan sighed softly and said to his trusted general Ruo Jia.

  "Deploy the vanguard, advance!" Kuo Jia's face darkened as he gave the order in a low voice. Young people have the capital of youth pride, and under Li Yuan's influence, Kuo Jia has been extremely interested in how to bring out the combat effectiveness of soldiers in small-scale contact battles these days. Li Yuan's previous sigh had sparked Kuo Jia's competitive spirit.

  In charge of guarding Li Yuan, the number of cavalrymen was not many, only one squadron, thirty-two people, but each and every one of them was a crack troop. In peacetime, under Li Yuan's guidance, this squadron of cavalrymen had been well-coordinated in small-scale battles. Today, it just so happened that they had such an opportunity to test their skills.

  "Clang!" Fan Kuai sheathed his battle sword, and the tiger's mouth felt a rare numbness. He had just withstood a wave of attacks from five Qin soldiers in a row. Even if Fan Kuai were a god, he would have been exhausted by now.

  Just now, Fan Kuai, who was attacking smoothly, was blocked by the Qin army's elite soldiers at the narrow pass after they had occupied it. He alone could no longer move forward, and his power collided with that of the Qin army team, which already had the upper hand. This made Fan Kuai extremely regretful, and the aftermath of the long march began to show on the faces of Fan's soldiers.

  One and again, again and exhaust.

  After overcoming the initial panic, the Qin army defending the city gradually calmed down from their unease and anxiety. These newly recruited soldiers were not considered to be particularly excellent in Li Yuan's army, but they also had their own glory.

  Fan Qian's morale was low, the enemy was at ease while we were exhausted. Night had already fallen, as long as Li Yuan's army didn't flee, this battle would still have to be fought. But making soldiers with heavy legs fight on would not be achieving merit, it would be sending them to their deaths.

  ——。

  At midnight, on the top of the small city of Wei's territory, Jiyuan City, flames flickered and danced, suddenly brightening and then extinguishing, like a lone boat struggling to survive in a stormy sea.

  The people in the city had long closed their doors and windows, hoping to wake up early in the morning, everything was still as it was. Over the past few months, that young Qin army officer named Li Yuan gradually made the people recognize and accept him. The slightly furrowed eyebrows, the faint smile on his ordinary face, and the troops under his command who were innocent and strange, performing some strange movements from day to night, from mysterious to familiar, this process quietly made the people of Xuanji feel at ease and peaceful.

  Isn't this how we spend our days?

  In this chaotic world, wealth is nothing but an external thing. As for power and status, these things are too far away from ordinary civilians who count the remaining money in their pockets every day, and still have a few liters of millet and miscellaneous grains left. They just want to live a stable life, give birth to children, wait for the day when they can't move anymore, still have grandchildren around them, and see the family legacy continue in their own hands.

  If only taxes and labor services could be lighter.

  It would be better if the rioting rebels didn't come here.

  If only the troops stationed in the city were Lieutenant Li's troops...

  At night, the shouts of soldiers and the rhythmic sound of wheels rolling on stone roads came from time to time. It was said that a rebel army had arrived outside the city from the east, extremely ferocious, and Li's troops could not withstand it, they were going to retreat!

  Huddled in the warm quilt on an autumn and winter day, the rich Zhang Fu who fled from Yangwu to escape the war, Ah Fu, a craftsman selling wooden furniture in the city, Han Si, a commoner farming two acres of dry land, and many other Xinye people like them welcomed a new day with anxiety!

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