Da Tang Shuang Long Zhuan Volume 11 Chapter 4 part2

Two men responded by flying away to evade the blade. Kou Zhong's Moon in the Well hacked down left and right, two other enemies, who had just had their feet landed on the wall, immediately had their blood splashed and they were thrown down the city wall.

But there were still seven enemies who succeeded in landing on the city wall, who attacked left and right on the ordinary soldiers defending the city that they suffered a crushing defeat.

Like a swimming fish Kou Zhong flashed toward an enemy, who was fighting hand to hand with Feng Qing. Lightning fast his Moon in the Well swept across the enemy's waist, a short and stout man who was striking down on Feng Qing with his pair of axes.

A vortex of energy rose up.

‘Dang!'

The Moon in the Well entered the space between the two axes, and suddenly retracted.

The short man's double-axe fell down. By the time a trace of blood appeared on his forehead, Kou Zhong's Moon in the Well has already slashed another enemy.

‘Ding!'

The man's broadsword was cut off by the Moon in the Well as if it was just a dried twig. In his horror he stepped back, only to be kicked by Kou Zhong and was thrown outside the city.

Kou Zhong immediately pounced onto the other three enemies. Meanwhile the short man's dead body has just fallen to the ground. It is thus clear that his movement was very fast.

The spirit of the officers and soldiers defending the city was greatly aroused; swords and spears moved out immediately, pushing the remaining five enemies into a corner.

Kou Zhong's murderous intention arose, every saber strike of his seemed to be the death penalty of the enemy; as soon as he saw an enemy, he would immediately kill. In the mid of splashing blood, the remaining two men saw how greatly disadvantageous their situation was, they simply jumped off the wall, and ran away for their lives.

Kou Zhong leaped to the top of the wall; lifting the saber high above his head, he cried out wildly, "Jingling Army will prevail! Jianghuai Army will fail!”

All the soldiers responded in unison; momentarily the heaven and the earth shook.

"Open the gate!” Kou Zhong thundered.

※ ※ ※

The suspension bridge was lowered. Leading three thousand soldiers, Xu Ziling rode out, killing the enemy left and right as he rushed out of the city.

The besieging enemy troops have never expected Jingling would dare to open their gate; immediately they were thrown into confusion and scrambled away in all directions.

The other two thousand soldiers came out carrying earthen jars filled with kerosene, which they poured over the enemy's besieging carts. And then they immediately set the vehicles on fire, and thus increasing their momentum.

Kou Zhong saw flames rose up everywhere under the city wall, but his heart was as cold as ice and frost; his face did not betray his emotion as he looked at the enemy situation.

The battle drums were beaten again.

The two cavalries, which were Jianghuai Army's wings, came out from left and right to attack and provide reinforcement. Momentarily the sound of hoof beats shook the sky.

Kou Zhong stood on top of the city wall; he looked like a deity as he raised his saber and called out, "Withdraw the troops!”

Feng Qing hurriedly beat the gongs and blew the bugle horn.

Xu Ziling dashed out through the scattering enemy of nearly a thousand men wielding shields marching behind the carts, while escorting his own troops retreating back into the city.

From the top of the wall tens of thousands arrows were shot toward the enemy's cavalry that row after row fell down to the ground and thus it was difficult for them to advance even for a cun.

‘Bang!'

The drawbridge closed.

Without waiting for Kou Zhong's order, the soldiers and civilians on the city wall broke into loud shout, "Jingling Army will prevail! Jianghuai Army will fail!”

Cries of joy thundered on.

Kou Zhong saw that at least half the enemy's besieging towers, armored vehicles and trebuchets were trapped in the sea of fire. Breathing a sigh of relief, he issued an order, "We will take turn to rest; no matter what we will hold on for three days.”

By this time Feng Qing and the others have already been convinced and were ready to submit to him; they chorused their compliance.

※ ※ ※

‘Boom!'

Like a furious dragon the wooden ram struck against the city gate, emitting an ear-splitting rumble.

The enemy suddenly launched another wave of offensive.

In a corner of the city wall, the very tired and sleep-deprived Xu Ziling woke up. He saw that the city wall, which was intact when he went to sleep, started to show a crack, while outside the city blazing torches were covering the mountains and the plains. His ears were inundated with the sound of battle cry, the sound of catapults sending out rocks, the sharp squeaky noise of the wheels, and the explosive noise of the rocks crashing against the wall or falling on the ground.

‘Crash!'

Without even looking Xu Ziling knew that that was the sound of hot oil being dumped down the city wall.

Rising to his full height, Xu Ziling waved his left hand to catch an arrow, which came from God knows where, as he walked along the wall toward the city's main gate.

Soldiers and civilians alike were busy running up and down the city wall to resist the enemy. Everybody's eyes were bloodshot. There seemed to be just one simple goal in everybody's mind, i.e. to do whatever they can to block and kill the invading enemies.

Dead bodies were everywhere along the city wall, dark red blood was turning into burnt, blackened bloodstain, but nobody had time to pay attention. Heavy clouds were hanging low in the sky, the moon and the stars lost their luster. Blazing torches flickering in the night sky, dying everything blood red. As far as the eyes could see, it was like hell on earth.

If he was not mistaken, today was the eighth day since the Jianghuai Army launched their large-scale attack to besiege the city. The enemy continuously increased their forces, as well as feigning attack to the other gates, and thus dispersing their strength.

Without stopping to sleep or take a rest, he and Kou Zhong have been conducting this bitter battle to defend the city, until he really could not take it anymore. He was just thinking of lying down for half a moment, but fell asleep at once.

Battle drums suddenly sounded; he was a bit disoriented as to where it came from.

‘Boom!'

This time it was the sound of ram slamming against the city wall; he felt the ground under his feet seemed to be shaking a little.

‘Bang!'

A siege tower just in front of the wall was smashed so that it toppled and fell down, that even the Jianghuai soldiers on it were falling to the ground outside the city, and crushing nobody knew how many more troops on the ground.

Finally he saw Kou Zhong.

This good brother of his was standing proud and erect on top of the wall, overlooking the situation outside the city, far and near, while incessantly summoning soldiers to transmit all kinds of orders. The way he conducted the operation was precisely the bearing of a Commander-in-Chief.

Kou Zhong's entire body was stained with blood; perhaps even Kou Zhong himself did not know whether the blood was his own, or it came from the enemy.

Arrows filled the air like rain.

Xu Ziling came over to Kou Zhong's side. Kou Zhong looked at him. His eyes were bloodshot. Pulling Xu Ziling aside, he said, "This time it is really bad. I am afraid we can't last the night.”

Pointing to a distant place, he said, "Over there the wall is struck that it cracked, we used sand and stones to block, sacrificing a lot of brothers' lives in the process. I'll say the Ol' Die is going to personally make his move soon.”

Frowning, Xu Ziling said, "Aren't the women and children out of the city? Why haven't we withdrawn?”

Kou Zhong replied with a bitter laugh, "There are still a lot of people inside the city. Do you think as soon as we wanted to leave we can just leave? Don't you see that right now everybody is dashing on bravely with no thought of personal safety? As soon as the order to retreat is issued, I guarantee that they will fall over each other in their eagerness to flee, and everything will be a mess. Moreover, we have already tied unsolvable blood feuds with Jianghuai Army. If they decide to pursue the retreating enemy, our share will only be complete wipeout. Right now we can only compete in strength, to see which side will not be able to endure anymore. Ay! It looks to me that most probably it would be us who cannot hold on!”

Xu Ziling swept his gaze around. Under the around-the-clock fierce offensive from the enemy, the soldiers and civilians of the city of Jingling have turned into injured and weary troops. Once the gap on the wall was breached and the enemy entered the city, due to the deep enmity between the two sides, the enemy would definitely kill everybody in sight. Under this kind of circumstances, based on his and Kou Zhong's character, how could they disregard and abandon these people and run away for their lives? In the end, they would fight on bravely and be buried with the city. This was what Kou Zhong was saying.

Leaning over, Kou Zhong whispered in Xu Ziling's ear, "Is this fate? The first time being a commander-in-chief, and end up being extremely unlucky. Ha … oh …” and then he coughed incessantly.

Helping him rubbing his back, Xu Ziling asked, "Did you suffer internal injury?”

Gnashing his teeth, Kou Zhong replied, "Just now a few martial art masters came, I was unexpectedly punched by one of them, but I managed to cut off his stinky head.”

This moment a soldier came and reported frantically: Du Fuwei's main force has started to move.

The two boys groaned inwardly. Bracing themselves, they climbed the watchtower. Feng Han, Feng Qing, and the others were there. Everybody's countenance was heavy, as if they have seen that the end was near.

The troops besieging the city retreated to give way to the new force launching a new wave of powerful offensive.

Outside the city wall dead bodies were everywhere, as a reminder of this eight-day and eight-night desperate battle in sieging the city.

The vast open space in the city was full of dots of fire as far as the eyes could see. The battle drums and bugle horns, the hoof beats and the squeaky wheels filled the heaven and the earth.

Realizing that everybody's eyes were fixed on him, inwardly Kou Zhong was smiling bitterly. Today he had learned that being a Commander-in-Chief was definitely not easy.

Xu Ziling accompanied him to an empty corner of the external wall. Feng Han said in a heavy voice, "Du Fuwei has concentrated all of his forces here, by rough estimation his force numbers eighty-thousand men. Presently our own forces added up together only numbers in the vicinity of ten thousand men. The enemy is attacking us with eight times our strength. Looking at immediate situation, it will be very difficult for us to survive the night.”

A gust of wind suddenly blew over the watchtower that everybody's clothes were fluttering.

Kou Zhong looked up to heaven and saw the scurrying black clouds; he spoke slowly, "If the Lord of Heaven shows mercy and pour down on us heavy rain, I wonder which side will reap the advantage.”

Everybody was greatly shaken; they all copied him looking up into the night sky.

"We would be saved!” Feng Han said.

Before he even finished speaking, a streak of lightning flashed across the sky, blinding everybody's eyes. And the rumble of thunder that followed immediately drowned all noises on the battlefield.

Bean-sized drops of rain started to hit their heads. Sparse at first, but quickly became thick, and soon became pouring rain. Millions of torches were extinguished one by one.

Throwing his head back, Kou Zhong let out a long laugh and said, "Thank you Laotianye, because you, Senior, have not destroyed me, Kou Zhong. As long as I can avoid Du Fuwei personally hunting me down, there will come a day Jingling will return to my, Kou Zhong's hands!”

And then he thundered, "This battle has been lost. Immediately withdraw in batches. Xu Ye and I will guard the rear; we will fight to the death to ensure that all of you will leave safely.”

Seeing the two boys' righteousness reached the clouds and the sky, none of the generals was not moved.

Xu Ziling shouted coldly, "Still have not left promptly? Anybody has confidence of taking Du Fuwei's Xiu Li Qiankun [universe in his sleeve]?”

All the generals dropped down on their knees; they kowtowed three times first before they accepted the order and left.

Under the thunderstorm, Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling's clothes were soaked wet, but they still looked at each other and let a long laugh. There was an indescribable passion and heroic air around them.

Chapter end