"Archers! Fire!" Seeing that the siege tower was about to reach the city wall, Jin Heng gave a decisive order for the archers to shoot.

  Hundreds of arrows scattered and shot towards the siege tower less than a hundred paces away, but the untrained archers were no match for regular crossbowmen in either strength or accuracy. The arrows that were shot out fell to the ground, with only a few crookedly inserted into the wooden ladder of the siege tower.

  "Add more strength! We're almost there!" Yang Kai-shan cheered, and when they reached the 60th step, he was the first to climb up the bamboo ladder to the suspension bridge.

  "Bring the bow!" Yang Kai took a step bow handed over by a soldier, drew an arrow from the gap above the ladder, and aimed at a bandit who was loading an octagonal crossbow.

  The "twang" of the bowstring releasing and the arrow slicing through the air merged together, giving Yang Kai an extra sense of joy. However, in the next second his mood was immediately ruined, as the arrow had still veered off course, missing the hand that was loading it, and instead hitting a bandit who was carrying arrows on his shoulder, causing him to let out a pained cry and fall to the ground, with the arrows on his back scattering all over the place.

  "Damn it!" Yang Kai-shan sighed in disappointment, seeing that he had missed the target. At this moment, dozens of feathered arrows flew towards his suspended ladder, and Yang Kai-shan shouted loudly as he lay down, hastily pressing his body against the platform. All he could hear was a series of "thuds" - the sound of the arrows hitting the wooden boards echoing in his ears.

  "Change to close combat formation, prepare for a surprise attack!" On the other side, Yang Youhua saw that the siege tower had entered within thirty steps and ordered his troops to form a tight formation. Three rows of soldiers switched to holding shields and short swords, preparing for hand-to-hand combat. The four soldiers in the front row held shields with one hand and grasped javelins with their right hands, waiting for the moment when the ladder would be lowered, at which point they would hurl their spears at the bandits...

  "Hurry! Shoot down the people below! Don't let them get close! Fire oil! Where's the fire oil? Launch the rockets!" Jin Heng saw that the siege tower was about to reach the city wall, and he shouted even more desperately. The countless bandits around him were terrified, scrambling in all directions to find various supplies to defend against the enemy...

  "Ah! Ghosts!" Several bandits saw the approaching siege tower, like a great mountain, and were suddenly frightened, dropping their weapons and turning to flee. They collided with a large pot of boiling water, which overturned, pouring scalding water over the fleeing bandits. Instantly, a large number of them were scalded, their skin bursting open, as cries of panic erupted along the entire city wall, causing even greater chaos on the battlements...

  "Hah!" With a loud shout from the laborers, three siege towers were pushed against one corner of the city wall. Several laborers, under the command of the soldiers behind them, inserted two large stones into the wooden frame at the back of the siege tower and then quickly ran towards the camp of the elite guards...

  "It's started! At that time, you few will follow me to kill a good fight!" Feng Chou Nian looked at the bandits on the city wall from the gap above the ladder, and couldn't help but lick his lips, with an excited face. His favorite way of fighting was still one person rushing into the enemy array and killing in all directions! "Go down to the next level! As soon as the ladder is put down, give me a good fight! Don't leave anyone!"

  "Everyone be quiet! Quiet! Stand in position! Prepare to meet the enemy!" Jin Heng swung his double whips and killed several shouting bandits, after which the chaotic city wall finally calmed down, waiting in formation. But the next moment felt unusually eerie.

  The three giant towers were silent, the bandits on the city wall held various weapons, panting heavily, waiting for the impending battle.

  In the distance, Liu Ce saw that the siege tower had already reached the city wall, and countless strong men had retreated to the rear. He waved his hand, and Xu Hui, who was on the side, immediately gave an order. A simple battering ram was quickly pushed by dozens of people towards the direction of Meihe Town's city gate. Following closely behind were Liu Ce's own troops and Sun Cheng's unit. "Since we're putting on a show, let's do it thoroughly." Attacking the city would inevitably result in casualties, even with the help of the siege tower. Facing the numerous and well-prepared bandits, there would still be unavoidable losses. Liu Ce couldn't afford to risk his soldiers' lives recklessly; he had to think of every possible way to minimize their casualties. Now, he was betting on the bandits' lack of understanding of unfamiliar things, using a diversionary tactic.

  "Gotcha!" Jin Heng, on the city wall, saw the battering ram approaching and suddenly felt he had been tricked. He immediately ordered 1,000 troops to wait in ambush behind the city gate, and also ordered the rolling logs and boulders to be moved to above the city gate. Hundreds of archers also took aim at the auxiliary soldiers beside the siege engine!

  A chaotic scene unfolded on the city wall, and the timing was ripe. Liu Ce, who was advancing, suddenly stopped and took a crossbow from Han Feng's hand, took an arrow, aimed at the sky, pulled it to its fullest extent, and with a piercing whistle, the arrow shot towards the sky.

  "Release the siege ladder!" Yang Kai-shan roared, and the auxiliary soldiers on both sides of the ladder loosened their grip on the thick ropes. The heavy ladder fell like a dark cloud, heavily pressing down on the chaotic bandits on the city wall. In an instant, two unlucky bandits were crushed to death as the ladder landed on the platform. Before anyone around could react, the fallen ladder kicked up a flurry of bricks and stones. At the front end of the ladder, there were two long iron spikes, one on each side, which were deeply embedded in the brick surface of the city wall.

  "Hmm... Hmm... Hmm..."

  Four throwing spears don't need to aim, each one can bring up a blood column in the dense crowd on the opposite side, and two throwing spears can even continuously string together three robbers in a row!

  "Kill!" The four soldiers threw their javelins and charged forward with their shields, heavily slamming them into the chaotic bandits. Instantly, a large group of people fell down, and the swordsmen behind quickly climbed up the ladders and jumped onto the city wall to fight the bandits together...

  "Go to hell!" On another siege tower, Feng Qianyuan was in the forefront of the soldiers rushing towards the bandits. With a flying body, he stepped on the ladder and borrowed momentum to jump up. The long axe in his hand was raised high above his head, and with a heavy blow, it chopped down like Mount Tai pressing down. In an instant, a large area around Feng Qianyuan was knocked down, and even a bandit soldier was split in two from head to crotch, splashing blood all over the ground...

  "Come on!" Feng Qinnian was not satisfied with this, and with a long axe in his hand, he swung it in a whirlwind, cutting down seven or eight bandits, their blood and flesh flying everywhere, like the Avici hell. The soldiers behind him on the suspension bridge looked tense, and although this general was violent, he was still a decent person, but he killed easily without distinguishing between friend and foe... If they rashly charged in, nine out of ten would be mistaken for bandits and slaughtered...

  A sharp soldier wanted to launch a surprise attack on Feng Qiu Nian, but as soon as he approached, he found himself flying up, and it seemed like he was flying a bit too high, and also much lighter than usual. When he fell heavily back down, he saw a pair of legs standing in front of him. Why did they seem so familiar? The legs, the pants, and the shoes... Suddenly, he felt something, and with a terrified gaze, he looked down at his lower body, only to see that half of it was gone, with blood flowing everywhere, and intestines hanging out like red vines - he had been cut in two at the waist!

  "Ah!" The sharp soldier let out a heart-wrenching howl, "No!" He desperately grabbed his severed legs and fell to the ground, trying to reattach them. After the initial shock, the intense pain drove him completely mad, and he would slowly die in agony.

  "The little rabbits aren't coming down yet! What are you looking at? I'll beat you to death if you don't go back! Quickly roll down!" Feng Chouyan was covered in blood, the surrounding area was littered with broken limbs and severed arms, there were only a few intact corpses, he alone had cleared out a large area for the attacking soldiers.

  The soldiers looked at each other and shook their heads in dismay: "You're so crazy, aren't we going to die if we go down?" Everyone had the same thought...

  "Fang Jing, don't let those sharp soldiers come over!" The third siege tower was already on the edge of the wall, and Yang Youhuai's troops had charged into the position guarded by the bandits. In the close combat, Fang Jing's performance was very impressive. Although he couldn't compare to Feng Qiu's cruel and bloody slaughter, his short spear combined with his shield made him a formidable opponent, and five or six bandits had already fallen at his hands, providing enough safety and convenience for the soldiers behind him to climb over the wall.

  "He can't come over!" Fang Jing heard Yang Youhuai's shout and immediately charged towards the two sharp soldiers, spear in hand. He saw that his shield blocked a sharp soldier's short knife attack, then pretended to stab the sharp soldier in the abdomen with his spear. The sharp soldier saw the spearhead coming towards his abdomen and hastily retreated. In an instant, Fang Jing's shield smashed into his chest, and he spat out a mouthful of blood. Before he could fall to the ground, Fang Jing threw away his shield, bent down, and hugged the sharp soldier's waist, slamming him backwards. He knocked down five or six bandits in a row before pushing them away, heavily throwing both the sharp soldier and the one behind him tumbling down the stairs...

  "Hmph..." Just as Fang Jing was gasping for breath, a sound of blades piercing flesh came from behind him. He turned around to see a bandit with both hands holding knives, his eyes filled with bloodshot staring at himself, and a knife tip protruding from his chest, dripping with fresh blood.

  Yang Youhuai killed that bandit with one knife and pulled up Fang Jing, saying: "What are you showing off for! Can't you be more careful! Get back in line!"

  Fang Jing's nose turned sour as he said, "Commander Qí, I'm not a coward! I'll prove it to you all!"

  "What's wrong with you, crying like a coward? Hurry up and get back in line!" Yang Youhuai scolded irritably.

  ……

  "Kill!" The five men in a row finally stepped onto the city wall, their spears piercing into the bodies of several bandits like venomous snakes, then kicked them away and pulled out the spearheads, continuing to search for the next target.

  Just as the five halberdiers had killed four bandits, a bandit soldier suddenly appeared on the left side and thrust his long spear at one of the halberdiers.

  "Ugh!" The soldier's left rib was pierced by a long spear, his face twisted in pain.

  The "Yi Jie Feng Huo Lu" you are reading now is only half of Chapter 41: Blood Courage. To read the full version, please search on Baidu for () and then search again for "Yi Jie Feng Huo Lu".