The heavy shield soldiers changed formations, twenty men per group, their heavy shields interlocked to protect the front and overhead, sheltering the siege troops beneath the shields. They let out “hu-he” sounds, following the thunderous “boom boom boom” of war drums, steadily advancing through the arrow rain with measured steps.

Behind the heavy shield formation, massive numbers of catapults followed densely packed, seemingly endless in the darkness. Zhao Sheng’s deputy general couldn’t help but feel a chill in his heart. It must truly be Princess Zhenguo who had arrived – Liu Hong’s fighting style had always been to keep reserves, but this time he committed such a large-scale deployment of catapults, it seemed he had brought out his entire arsenal!

Arrows pierced straight into shield surfaces or into the muddy water on the ground. When shield bearers were struck by arrows and fell, new soldiers would step forward to fill the gaps. Every step was bought with lives, advancing the catapults’ range to ensure Qingxi Mountain Pass fell within the catapults’ firing range.

On the city walls of Qingxi Mountain Pass, the winches of the triple-bow ballistas turned, high-tension bowstrings pulled taut, the bow wood creaking. Following the command, soldiers swung hammers to strike the triggers, and massive crossbow bolts like silver spears flew out, piercing straight into the Jin army’s heavy shield formation amid continuous screams. Yet the Jin soldiers showed no retreat whatsoever, still pushing forward.

New heavy shield soldiers braved the arrow rain to fill the gaps, protecting fallen wounded beneath their shields. Soon, the wounded were quickly dragged away by their Jin army comrades.

After an unknown amount of time, a catapult commander rode forward shouting: “General, Qingxi Mountain Pass city walls are within our army’s firing range!”

Wang Xiping quickly turned his horse around and rode swiftly to Liu Hong’s war chariot: “General, within firing range!”

Liu Hong stood on his war chariot, gripping tightly the sword at his waist, and shouted: “Fire!”

Wang Xiping responded and turned his horse around, calling out through the rain: “Fire!”

At Wang Xiping’s command, whistling sounds louder than wind and rain rushed swiftly toward Qingxi Mountain Pass. Large and small stones fell like rain, triple-bow ballistas were smashed and tumbled from the city walls, and everywhere on Qingxi Mountain Pass walls was a bloody mess.

The first round of stone bombardment had just ceased when, before the Liang army could react, they saw massive stones pressing down again through the torrential rain.

“General, be careful!” A guard beside Zhao Sheng’s deputy pushed him away and was himself crushed against the corner tower wall by a falling boulder, instantly losing his breath.

Zhao Sheng’s deputy’s helmet fell to the ground. He propped himself up to look at his guard, then at the continuously falling boulders, greatly shaken in his heart. Liu Hong had indeed brought out his full arsenal. Helped to his feet, Zhao Sheng’s deputy’s blood was stirred, and he threw down his waist sword, personally standing before a triple-bow ballista, turning the winch and shouting: “Shoot! Absolutely cannot let the Jin army advance another step! Guard Qingxi Mountain Pass to the death!”

Today’s torrential rain made fire useless – they couldn’t burn the Jin catapults, so the Liang army defending the city walls could only passively take the beating.

Seeing the timing was about right, Liu Hong shouted: “Battering rams! Forward!”

The heavy shield formation immediately moved aside in order, and battering rams wrapped in heavy armor charged forward at high speed, with infantry pushing siege ladders lined up in formation closely following behind. The magnificent sight was like a giant beast just awakening, charging straight toward Qingxi Mountain Pass, appearing especially thrilling on this night.

Of Great Liang’s two great strategic passes, the strategic Yushan Pass had already fallen into Jin hands.

The defensible Qingxi Mountain Pass was known as the world’s foremost stronghold. How many famous generals had fought to this point yet could not pass through Qingxi Mountain Pass?

This was because Qingxi Mountain Pass occupied a strategic position, and its walls were built of stone and extremely high, difficult to climb…

This time, Liu Hong had expended so much of Jin’s manpower and resources, drawing criticism from Jin’s court, just to take this Qingxi Mountain Pass. If he couldn’t hold Qingxi Mountain Pass, losing his position would be a small matter, but more importantly, he would be letting down the soldiers who had died to take Qingxi Mountain Pass!

Bai Weiting had said that to gain Great Liang’s realm, one must first take Yushan Pass, then obtain the world’s foremost stronghold, Qingxi Mountain Pass!

Militarily… Liu Hong had complete faith in this Prince Zhenguo Bai Weiting, so losing other cities didn’t matter, but this Qingxi Mountain Pass absolutely could not be lost. He must take it back!

·

In the torrential rain, Bai Qingyan, leading troops in swift advance, suddenly reined in her horse and raised her hand…

“Stop!”

Including Anping’s great army, twenty-eight thousand soldiers obeyed orders instantly, standing in the icy rain that continuously washed over their armor, quietly awaiting commands.

Bai Qingyan gazed at the distant Qingxi Mountain valley, faintly hearing thunderous killing sounds from within the valley. Her mount snorted white mist, shaking its heavy mane soaked by rainwater. Bai Qingyan pulled hard on the reins, raised her hand to stroke the horse’s neck soothingly, and asked loudly: “Have the scouts returned?”

Shen Yancong immediately brought his horse forward and replied: “Reporting to Princess Zhenguo, not yet!”

Bai Qingyan guessed… at this moment at Qingxi Mountain Pass, either Liu Hong was battling the Great Liang reinforcements led by Zhao Sheng, defending Qingxi Mountain Pass to the death, or Liu Hong had withdrawn from Qingxi Mountain Pass to preserve his strength, making Zhao Sheng’s relieving forces relax their guard, then launching a night assault.

“Report…”

The scout Bai Qingyan had sent out returned on horseback, leaped down from his mount, knelt on one knee before Bai Qingyan with clasped fists and said: “Reporting to Princess Zhenguo, General Liu Hong is currently leading troops to retake Qingxi Mountain Pass. General Liu Hong had this subordinate bring word to Princess Zhenguo… saying Princess Gaoyi has already led troops along small paths into the Liang army’s rear, drawing away large numbers of troops, and the gates are about to be breached. Please set Princess Zhenguo’s mind at ease.”

Liu Hong didn’t want Bai Qingyan interfering in this battle. He already had victory in sight and was unwilling to end up with a reputation that he, Liu Hong, couldn’t win battles without Princess Zhenguo.

Bai Qingyan gripped her reins tightly and asked: “Princess Gaoyi entered the Liang army’s rear – how many people did she bring?”

“This subordinate doesn’t know!” the scout replied.

“Shen Yancong, Liu Pinggao, hear my orders!” Bai Qingyan called out loudly.

“This general is here!”

“This subordinate is here!”

Liu Pinggao and Shen Yancong stepped forward in response.

“Lead the Shuoyang Army and the Anping great army to await orders here. The rest are not permitted to carry banners… follow me!” After Bai Qingyan finished speaking loudly, she spurred her horse and galloped out first.

Cai Ziyuan was worried. Although he was physically weak as a scholar and had been struggling to keep up on this journey, he still gritted his teeth and rode swiftly out together with Bai Qingyan.

Bai Qingyan didn’t bring the Shuoyang Army or Anping great army, only bringing the new soldiers trained by Ji Tingyu, to… let them witness firsthand what war was, and also as a precaution against the unexpected.

If Liu Hong failed to breach Qingxi Mountain Pass gates, it would surely put Bai Jinzhi in a dangerous situation.

Liu Hong dared to put Bai Jinzhi in danger, but Bai Qingyan would not permit any harm to come to Bai Jinzhi’s life.

The three thousand elite soldiers Bai Qingyan brought were not on any roster to begin with. Unless absolutely necessary, Bai Qingyan didn’t want Liu Hong to know their capabilities, otherwise… given Liu Hong’s loyalty to the Emperor, he might well report this, which would inevitably make the Emperor and Crown Prince suspicious and try by all means to grasp Shuoyang in their hands. That… would prematurely lead them down an irreversible path.