Defending the City (1)

  On September 27, the sudden drop in temperature over the past few days finally erupted, and snowflakes floated down from the overcast sky, fluttering down in the cold morning. Gaofei and all the Han troops put on winter uniforms brought by Fu Xie and Gai Xun from Jingzhao Yin, with iron armor outside, making everyone look very bulky.

  It's snowing, and in Gao Fei's view, this is a good thing. Once the snow comes down, perhaps the rebels in Liangzhou will temporarily stop their actions. At noon, there were only a few soldiers on the city wall of Chen Cang, while the rest were huddled in the various military camps behind the earthen walls, eating warm meals.

  In the county government office, Gao Fei was gnawing on a steaming hot bun, with a bowl of steaming hot rice porridge in front of him, and a pair of chopsticks holding some salty vegetables. Just as he was about to take a bite, the calm surface of the porridge suddenly rippled, and his feet felt a slight tremor.

  "Is it an earthquake?" Gaofei secretly speculated in his heart.

  Before long, the swaying became more and more violent, as if the entire Chen Cang was being slightly shaken by someone. Gao Fei and everyone else felt a sense of foreboding. As a sudden drumbeat came from the west gate of Chen Cang, everyone immediately became alert, it was an enemy raid, the rebels had launched a surprise attack.

  Gao Fei hastily put down the food in his hand, took down his own sword from the weapon rack, slung his own dragon spear over his shoulder, and quickly ran towards the west gate of Chen Cang. As he ran, he shouted loudly: "Zi Long, Pang De, Xia Hou Lan, Li Wenhou follow me! Zhou Cang, Guan Yu, Liao Hua, Lu Xiang, quickly lead the bowmen to the city wall! Pei Yuanshao, Bian Xi be ready for rescue at any time. Fu Jia, Gai Xun hurry up and pass on the order to gather the main force in the east of the city. The rebels have launched a surprise attack!"

  When the voice fell, Gao Fei had already run out of the county government office and didn't care who followed behind. He ran towards the west gate at his fastest speed and climbed up to the city wall.

  The three hundred bowmen on the city wall had all strung their bows and were waiting to shoot, their eyes filled with a mixture of fear. On the straight mountain path, a sea of people surged forward like rolling waves, burying the accumulated snowflakes in their wake. Wherever they passed, the piled-up snow was submerged by the dark mass of rebel cavalry.

  "Terrible! The markers are buried in the snow." Gaofei took a look at the ground outside the city, it was all white and vast, and couldn't find any of the various weapons' range marks that were set up yesterday.

  A robust cavalry regiment galloped along the mountain path, with no end in sight. Only from a few miles away at the turning point, rebel cavalry poured out continuously, and the vanguard of the rebels was getting closer and closer to Chen Cang. Listening to the majestic sound of horseshoes and feeling the earth shaking, Gao Fei could easily infer the large number of enemies.

  Soon, the vanguard of the rebels rushed to a position 500 meters outside Chen Cang City, where they reined in their horses. Under the gaze of the crowd, Beigong Boyu and two other middle-aged men wearing helmets and armor walked to the front row of the troops.

  "General Hou, it's Bian Zhang and Han Chui!" Li Wenhou and Zhao Yun, Pang De, and Xiahou Lan arrived at the city gate one after another, looking at the rebel army rushing forward, no one spoke until Beigong Boyu appeared, then Li Wenhou pointed to the two men beside Beigong Boyu and said to Gao Fei.

  Gao Fei took a closer look at the two people beside Bei Gong Bo Yu. The person in the middle had deep eye sockets, a high nose bridge, and a pair of piercing eyes staring straight at him. A yellowish goat beard hung from his chin, giving off an air of elegance. The person on the far left was a burly man with thick eyebrows and big eyes, his body extremely robust. Although he was riding a horse, his long legs were dangling in mid-air, almost touching the ground, making people feel uncomfortable, as if the horse under him couldn't support his weight.

  "Which one is Han Chui?" Gao Fei asked Li Wenhou after sizing up the two men.

  Li Wenhao pointed at the person in the middle and said: "He is Han Xui, and on the left is Bian Zhang."

  Before anyone on the city wall had made a move, Beigong Boyu took down a blood-soaked sack from the back of his horse's saddle and threw it forward with great force. It landed heavily on the ground, and three human heads rolled out of the sack, with some still inside.

  Bei Gong Bo Yu urged his horse forward a few steps, pointing at the high-flying figure on the city tower and shouting loudly: "Gao Fei! Take a good look, these are the eighteen scouts you sent out, now I'm returning them to you, haha!"

  Gao Fei was also perplexed by the rebel army's sudden arrival at the city gate. Seeing these heads now explained why there had been no news from Liangzhou for days - they had all died at the hands of the rebels. Before he could respond, Beigong Boyu continued to shout towards the city tower: "Li Wenhao, you traitor! I treated you like a brother, but you actually surrendered to the Han army! You faithless and treacherous scoundrel, come down quickly and fight me to the death!"

  Li Wenhou furrowed his brow, tightly grasping the hilt of the sword hanging at his waist, and bowed to Gao Fei with a fist: "Lord Hou, I am acquainted with Beigong Boyu after all. We once made an oath together, sharing joys and hardships. Now that I have betrayed my promise first, I must give an explanation between Beigong Boyu and me. Please allow me to go out of the city to fight."

  Gao Fei saw that Li Wenhou had already made up his mind, so he didn't stop him anymore. He just said lightly: "Since your mind is made up, I won't stop you either. Please be more careful!"

  Li Wenhou nodded and descended from the city tower, riding alone out of the city to arrive beneath the city wall. He bowed his hands towards Beigong Boyu saying: "Brother Beigong, I've come!"

  Bei Gong Bo Yu saw Li Wen Hou come out and quickly drew his curved knife. Without saying a word, he spurred his horse and charged straight at Li Wen Hou.

  Li Wenhou also drew his own saber, and charged forward on horseback to engage Beigong Boyu in a brief exchange before separating. As he turned back, he shouted: "Brother Beigong, let us pause for a moment...!"

  Just as he was halfway through his words, Beigong Boyu came galloping on horseback, shouting loudly "The thief will die".

  "Clang!" Another round flashed by in an instant, and Beigong Boyu was unable to gain the upper hand against Li Wenhao, while Li Wenhao seemed to be intentionally yielding.

  Immediately, Beigong Boyu didn't give Li Wenhao a chance to catch his breath, and he jumped down from the horseback, wielding the curved knife in his hand to chop at Li Wenhao one by one. Meanwhile, Li Wenhao also dismounted his horse and engaged in close combat with Beigong Boyu, raising his cavalry sword to parry each move.

  Li Wenhao shouted while fighting: "Bei Gong brother, you and I wanted to rebel for the sake of fame and fortune. Now that I have surrendered to the Han army, Gao Houye is young and promising, and will surely achieve great things in the court in the future. Why not..."

  "Hum! A few days ago, you killed more than 9,000 of my tribesmen. This vendetta must be avenged, otherwise I'll have no face to see my people again. If it weren't for you, Gao Fei wouldn't have been able to escape either. Since you've surrendered to the imperial court, from now on you're an official and I'm a bandit - officials and bandits can't coexist. Today, one of us must die!"

  On the battlefield, Beigong Boyu and Li Wenhao were evenly matched, but in their respective armies, the commanders had different thoughts.

  In the rebel camp, Han Sui didn't even glance at Bei Gong Bo Yu and Li Wen Hou's fight. He was looking at Chen Cang's city defense, seeing the dense archers on the city tower, and the city wall about 6 meters high. A faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth as he thought to himself: "Fortunately I made preparations early!"

  Bian Zhang, who was beside Han, was watching the fight between Beigong Boyu and Li Wenhao with great enthusiasm. He couldn't hold back his own nature and turned to Han and said: "General Han, Beigong Boyu can't beat Li Wenhao, I don't think it's necessary to compare anymore, why not let me go up instead?"

  Han Sui and Bian Zhang were both leaders promoted by the rebel army, and the two can be said to have started from an equal footing. However, there was still a slight difference between them - Han Sui preferred to use strategy, while Bian Zhang preferred bravery. When Han Sui heard Bian Zhang's words, he said: "General Bian, have you forgotten our agreement? The battle in Liangzhou is commanded by you, and I will listen to you. However, in the battle of attacking Sanfu, you must listen to me. The passes of Sanfu are blocked, and relying solely on military force cannot solve the problem."

  Bian Zhang said: "When will you let me take the field? They all say that Xiang Hou is so brave and fierce, I want to cut off his head, Lianzhou is not just him alone!"

  Han Shui smiled secretly and said: "What's the hurry? When it's your turn, I'll call you."

  Bian Zhang no longer made a sound, but continued to watch the fight in front of him, casting a sideways glance at Han Zhong and thinking to himself: "What kind of trick is this old fellow playing?"

  On the city wall, it can be seen that in terms of martial arts, Beigong Boyu has no tricks up his sleeve and is relying solely on brute force. Li Wenhao, on the other hand, is different. Although Beigong Boyu's offense is fierce, Li Wenhao defends with ease, clearly holding back.

  "General Hou, Li Wenhou is intentionally yielding. At this rate, when can we behead Bei Gong Boyu? I'm not talented, but I'd like to replace Li Wenhou and take down Bei Gong Boyu's head within ten moves!" Gao Fei said, clenching his fists behind him, while Pang De watched the battle scene below, unable to hold back any longer.

  Gao Fei saw that Pang De was around the same age as him, and knowing his past and future, he naturally knew that Pang De was also one of the Tiger Generals. However, Pang De couldn't help but be young and impulsive, a bit hot-headed. Although he was only eighteen years old, his soul was over thirty years old, which made him more mature and calm in his actions, not relying on brute force to solve problems. Moreover, he always felt that no matter how high one's martial arts skills were, they would still be insignificant in the face of thousands of soldiers. This was just like Gao Fei himself, who had died from exhaustion on the battlefield. He wouldn't let such a thing happen again, including to his subordinates.

  He smiled, his eyes sharply watching the direction of Li Wenhou's feet moving, and the accumulated snow on the ground was all driven away by Li Wenhou's force, revealing the surface of the ground. He patted Pang De's shoulder and pointed at Li Wenhou, saying slowly: "Lingming, look what's different about Li Wenhou's feet?"

  Pang De looked for half a day and didn't find anything unusual, so he asked: "What's different?"

  Gao Fei smiled and said, "Li Wenhao is not going to duel with Beigong Boyu, but rather delay time. Yesterday I set the range of all defensive weapons, and today's sudden snowfall submerged those marks. Take a closer look, aren't there some exposed surfaces where Li Wenhao passed by? Those are exactly where I set up my markers."

  Pang De suddenly realized and immediately stopped asking Gao Shun to go into battle. Instead, he watched the fight below with rapt attention, thinking to himself that he had been too rash.