“Reinforcements will arrive in eleven more days.” Guo Ping explained very seriously to his subordinates beside him. At this point he had already sustained three wounds. A few days ago he had coughed up blood—at the time it seemed nothing serious, but now the symptoms had manifested. Whenever he inhaled, his chest hurt terribly. His lung tissue was indeed injured.

The battlements on the earthen wall beside him had completely disappeared without a trace. Scattered clumps of earth were everywhere on the city wall, with not even a place to set foot. Since mounting the city wall, Guo Ping had never descended. His commandant Chen Shu had already gone down to rest and reorganize, yet had not called for him to do the same. Clearly this was another trick of the old man.

“Perhaps only when I’m dead will he feel somewhat comfortable.” Guo Ping thought sadly.

Below the city wall there were always explosive sounds—these were corpses whose bellies had burst open again from being baked by the sun. Flies rose up and landed on Guo Ping’s hand. Watching those newly arrived soldiers vomit, Guo Ping nonchalantly raised his water flask and took a sip.

“Reinforcements will arrive in eleven more days.” Guo Ping nagged to his subordinates beside him once again.

His left shoulder hurt terribly and was alarmingly hot—this was caused by damage to the tendons and bones inside. Taking advantage of the Turkic withdrawal, Guo Ping installed the last spare string for his crossbow onto his hand crossbow. He had been reluctant to use the five crossbow bolts Chen Shu had given him these past two days, but today he had no choice. The Turkic offensive this morning had been too fierce, and it appeared they did not plan to rest at midday. The cavalry in the city had finally been completely lost three days ago—they had strapped oil sacks to their backs and perished together with the Turkic siege engines.

Thinking of them filled Guo Ping’s heart with grief and indignation. Their attack had been so tragic and heroic. Five hundred elite cavalry facing five thousand enemy cavalry showed no fear, fighting in desperate close combat. At the final moment, over a hundred men still managed to break out and ignite those catapults. Guo Ping recognized that most valiant warrior. Standing at the top of the wall, he watched him charge left and right, unable to break out of the enemy formation. When the Turkic warrior behind him swung his flail, Guo Ping frantically shouted at that man, “Dodge!” Unfortunately, his voice could not reach the battlefield filled with the neighing of men and horses. The flail’s hammerhead struck that man’s neck. Watching his neck twist to one side, as four or five cavalry lances finally pierced through his body, Guo Ping—who was accustomed to seeing life and death—wept like a fountain, solely because that man was his elder brother Guo Wei.

Walking from left to right required exactly eighty steps—this was the area Guo Ping needed to defend. Eighty steps, sixteen men—that was his entire combat strength. This morning there had still been thirty men, but by noon half were gone. Some men’s corpses had fallen off the city wall, while others were luckier and had not fallen down, lying in piles of rubble with no one to help collect their remains, because all auxiliary soldiers had gone to the battlefield.

He wondered if his old man felt regret now. Marquis Yun had repeatedly and insistently demanded that he withdraw to Khotan and not advance to Kucha. This place was too far from Gaochang, and the route was extremely difficult to traverse. Now trapped in such circumstances, he wondered if his father regretted it.

Probably not. This man simply did not know what regret was. “A great man dies when he dies—what is there to fear?” This was a phrase he often said. Now about to die, he would not be afraid—probably only feel a bit vexed.

Thinking of this made Guo Ping’s heart feel extremely comfortable. His elder brother had died in battle, he himself was about to die in battle, leaving only that lonely old man to grow old and decrepit together with his convictions and that mansion in Chang’an.

He was always one step slower than others. If they had broken out immediately at the start, Guo Ping believed there was at least an eighty percent chance of breaking through the encirclement, and they could have preserved at least half their soldiers. By the time he realized something was wrong, it was already too late to attempt a breakout. Three thousand cavalry had been uselessly consumed in the Turks’ thick battle formation.

The Turkic arrow rain struck once again. That large shield that had protected him countless times was once more tilted upright by Guo Ping. The arrow rain overhead falling on the large shield no longer made that clanging chaotic sound—the topmost layer of iron sheet had already fallen off. Now when the arrow rain fell, arrows would stick into the shield’s wooden boards, making soft thudding sounds.

For the first time he discovered a small iron strip inside the large shield, inscribed with the characters “Manufactured in Yuezhou.” So this shield came from Yuezhou. Having finished examining this large shield’s origins, the arrow rain had already stopped. Guo Ping discarded the large shield, grabbed a long spear, and without thinking thrust it toward a gap in front of him. The long spearpoint viciously pierced into the eye of a Turkic warrior who had just appeared. A stream of black blood spurted out along the spear shaft. Blood spurting out was good—this way the fellow would not get stuck on his spearpoint. With a light pull back, that Turkic warrior fell into the pile of corpses.

Kucha City was now very easy to climb. Just by stepping on the sticky corpses, one’s hands could reach the city wall. Stronger ones could even jump up. The pig-snout mask on Guo Ping’s mouth had long since disappeared. He had become extremely familiar with and accustomed to the corpse stench here. Sitting here eating presented no problem at all. He knew he had thoroughly become a stinking person. In this state, it probably would not be proper to carouse at Yanlai House, would it?

A javelin came whistling over. Guo Ping raised his hand and used the small round shield on his arm to deflect the javelin. Enemy cavalry were nearby. Watching three subordinates pierced through by javelins, Guo Ping pulled out a bamboo tube as thick as an arm, brought it to the flames to light the fuse, and casually tossed it outside the wall. After a tremendous boom, miserable howling came from outside. Indeed—iron sand from the bamboo tube striking eyes or faces was simply pain no human could endure.

Half an arm flew up onto the wall top. The fingers had already turned black, the arm swollen to fully the thickness of a person’s leg. On the wound, pale white maggots wriggled in the dark-colored flesh. Even Guo Ping himself nearly vomited. He hastily used his spearpoint to pick it up and throw it down from the wall.

The city wall to the left had been breached. Guo Ping paid no attention—naturally someone would fill in there. He cut down a Turkic warrior whose face streamed with blood. In the midst of his busyness, he glanced back at that spot. Damn it—no one had filled in there, and three Turks had already climbed up.

Cursing viciously, Guo Ping grabbed his hand crossbow and fired three bolts in rapid succession. Two crossbow bolts were effective; the third bolt was deflected by the bald Turk’s blade. Guo Ping roared and charged forward with his long spear. His opponent was extremely formidable—he blocked once with his horizontal blade, then raised his right foot and heavily kicked Guo Ping in the lower abdomen.

Of the three Guo brothers, Guo Ping’s martial skills were the poorest. He always believed mental agility could compensate for the gap in martial prowess, but this Turkic warrior’s kick thoroughly destroyed his combat capability. Curled up in the corner holding his stomach, he could not even catch his breath. Having just fallen into the rubble pile, he estimated one of his ribs was fractured.

For the first time he felt somewhat dissatisfied with his excessively inferior martial skills. The Turkic warrior’s long blade slashed down. Guo Ping barely rolled aside. The long blade actually struck the ground and broke. This burly bald warrior roared, then grabbed the silk cord of Guo Ping’s armor and lifted him up, using his body to deflect several long spears thrusting toward him. Just as he prepared to throw Guo Ping down from the wall, Guo Ping’s hand finally grabbed a section of iron wire which he rapidly wound around the strong man’s neck—this was barbed barrier netting.

The barbs above pierced into the strong man’s throat. His hand loosened, and Guo Ping once again fell onto the stones, spitting blood high into the air. The strong man frantically trying to remove the wire netting was like a crazed tiger. He did not understand—the more he did this, the more tightly the wire netting would entangle his body. When Guo Ping struggled out of the stone pile with difficulty, the strong man’s entire body had been tightly wrapped by the wire netting. Countless barbs had pierced into his body. As he continually twisted, fresh blood began gushing from his body, constantly dripping onto the ground along the wire netting.

“Kill him!” Guo Ping shouted this phrase from his throat. His remaining four subordinates together viciously thrust their long spears into this strong man’s body, gave a shout, and pushed him off the city wall.

“Guo Xiaoke! I did my best!” Guo Ping lay face-up on the city wall, opening his mouth wide and shouting toward the sky: “I will never be your son again in my next life!” The rage suppressed in his heart for many days could no longer be restrained. Guo Ping’s tears flowed in torrents. Four men could in no way defend a city wall two hundred steps wide. Since there were no reserve troops here, it meant manpower had been transferred to other places, which also meant other places were more critical. The city was about to be breached…

Guo Ping lay there for a long time but still did not see Turks swarming up. Turning his head to look left and right, he discovered his four subordinates jumping and cheering. His ears buzzed incessantly; he could not hear clearly what exactly had happened.

Climbing to the top of the wall to look down, he saw a large contingent of Great Tang cavalry charging left and right below the city. The leading black-armored general was extraordinarily brave and fierce. A horse lance danced in his hands like blooming pear blossoms. When the lance had skewered two enemies, he discarded it. His warhorse leaped high over the chevaux de frise stakes. While the warhorse was still airborne, the horizontal blade in his hand had already sent a Turk’s head flying.

“Who the hell is that? So fierce?” As Guo Ping muttered to himself, he discovered Chen Shu was also lying beside him looking down. This fellow was in no better shape—his helmet was gone, half his hair had disappeared, and his handsome face bore a hideous wound through which one could see his gums.

“Mo mo mo,” Chen Shu replied to Guo Ping with a fierce grin.

Unable to hear Chen Shu’s words clearly, Guo Ping continued lying at the wall top looking down. He discovered this cavalry unit was different from his own Anxi Army cavalry. They were all equipped with powerful crossbows, and the crossbow bolts on their bodies seemed inexhaustible. Looking more carefully, he could not help but feel extremely jealous. The damn Anxi Army was indeed born of a stepmother. These bastards each had three powerful crossbows on their horse’s back—two large, one small. In other words, they would only draw their blades for combat after shooting all nine crossbow bolts.

In fact, he had guessed wrong again. After shooting all their crossbow bolts, they still did not draw their blades. Instead, they removed iron lumps the size of fists from their waists, lit them on the tinder at their saddles, then tossed them out. After a tremendous boom, the chevaux de frise blocking their advance immediately shattered into pieces.

“The Anxi Army was born of a damn maid!”

Guo Ping lay flat and extended his middle finger toward the great sun in the sky.