“When Yan was once powerful… they did manage to break open the gates of Yecheng Pass,” Ye Shouguan said coldly. “But even Tang Yi, the Great Yan general who was truly invincible in battle and earned the title of God of War, though he opened the gates of Yecheng Pass under my grandfather’s and father’s hands, ultimately did not dare to enter Yecheng Pass. Why?”

“Tang Yi feared that entering Yecheng Pass would mean being surrounded by the Western Liang soldiers in the fortified walls and battlements on the high peaks on both flanks—walls that are extremely difficult to breach, like dumplings in a pot!” Ye Shouguan looked toward the city walls on both mountain peaks, where lights burned bright like long dragons. “And if he directly passed through Yecheng Pass to head for Yun Jing… Yecheng Pass would be reoccupied by the Western Liang army, so how could the follow-up supplies and provisions for the Yan army get through? Could they expect the army to drink the northwest wind while attacking Yun Jing?”

This… was the true reason why Yecheng Pass was so difficult to breach! Breaking through Yecheng Pass did not mean that opening the gates of Yecheng Pass counted as occupation! Rather, one had to capture the fortified walls and battlements on the high ground of both flanking peaks to truly take Yecheng Pass!

It might be because no one had ever successfully attacked up the city walls to reach the peaks on both sides, so Bai Qingyan had misjudged the defenses of the flanking peaks. Even if their Western Liang soldiers were reduced to just a hundred men in the end, it would still be as difficult as ascending to heaven for the Zhou forces to fight their way up. On the city walls, there were massive stones that had been prepared and polished for decades without use—if anyone tried to force their way up along the city walls… these stones would roll down continuously, crushing the enemy forces to death!

Therefore, Ye Shouguan dared to let the soldiers on the flanking peaks move out and circle to the rear of the Great Zhou army…

Ye Shouguan gritted his teeth: “Bai Qingyan is too confident. She thinks… thinks that by committing all her main forces to break open the gates of Yecheng Pass, first… she can follow our constructed city walls upward to capture the flanking peaks, and second… she can also pass through Yecheng Pass to take Deyang, Le’an, Luquan, and Jingrong, then directly threaten Yun Jing! Simply dreaming!”

“But if the Great Zhou army discovers they’re being attacked from both sides by our forces, won’t they directly charge out through the south gate of Yecheng Pass?! What if they take our Western Liang Emperor with them and pass through Yecheng Pass to attack Deyang!” A general loyal to Ye Shouguan feared that Yecheng Pass would be lost under Ye Shouguan’s command. “Following the example of the Rong and Di tribes of old, looting wherever they fight—like this… all of Western Liang would know that we generals of Yecheng Pass failed to rescue His Majesty! The entire nation would probably suspect… that you, General, have surrendered to Great Zhou!”

Ye Shouguan had also considered that Bai Qingyan might charge through regardless, not caring about the army’s supplies and provisions, following the example of the ancient Rong and Di tribes by looting food from the common people wherever they fought. But… Western Liang was currently short of grain, with the people barely having enough to eat… It was only a matter of time before corpses would litter the land from starvation. Even if they charged through and robbed the people, there would be nothing to take.

“Bai Qingyan isn’t stupid to that degree!” Ye Shouguan clenched his fists tightly. “The jade and furs that made the Western Liang people stop farming… those were brought by Great Zhou merchants. How could Bai Qingyan not be clear about Western Liang’s current grain shortage? To get grain for the Tianfen nation’s army, the Western Liang people have already reached the point of gnawing tree bark—what is there left for Great Zhou to loot!”

“So Bai Qingyan doesn’t want to waste her soldiers’ strength and energy climbing high mountains, dividing her forces to first attack the mountain peak walls and fortresses that simply cannot be taken. She’d rather concentrate her forces to attack Yecheng Pass!” Ye Shouguan’s gaze fell on Li Tianfeng and Ye Yingwen hanging on the siege ladders. “She hung our Western Liang Emperor on the siege ladders to… force the soldiers on the flanking peaks of Yecheng Pass to have no choice but to descend along the city walls to provide aid!”

Ye Shouguan pointed toward the distant catapults, his voice certain: “Great Zhou is using our Western Liang Emperor to lure the reinforcements from the flanking peaks down to rescue and provide aid. Look at those catapults—Great Zhou has held back from using them until now. Why?!”

Ye Shouguan thought he had seen through Bai Qingyan’s battle tactics and sneered coldly: “It’s to use them against our relief forces when the soldiers from the high peaks charge down along the city walls. The Great Zhou wants to place the decisive battle outside and inside the Yecheng Pass. After wearing down our forces considerably! The Great Zhou will follow the city walls to attack upward, making it easy to capture the fortified walls and battlements on the flanking peaks! I bet this is exactly what she’s calculating!”

Though Bai Qingyan was valiant in battle, she was ultimately young. Having ascended to the throne of the Great Zhou Emperor and been praised too highly with the title of Killing God, she lacked experience. She was probably relying on having their Western Liang Emperor Li Tianfeng in her hands, thinking that as long as she concentrated her efforts on taking the city of Yecheng Pass, using the Western Liang Emperor to attract their forces to provide relief… using the inside and outside of Yecheng Pass as a battlefield to exhaust their Western Liang forces, then proceed to kill her way up their Western Liang-constructed interconnected city walls!

Young! Arrogant!

If this battle couldn’t capture alive Bai Qingyan… and those so-called young generals of the Bai Family who had managed to survive, he would be unworthy of this little girl’s arrogant attitude.

Ye Shouguan had not forgotten the shame that the Battle of Weng Mountain had brought to Western Liang…

This time, the Great Zhou Emperor, the so-called Killing God Bai Qingyan, had led troops into battle. If he could kill her here, not only would Great Zhou be left leaderless, but Western Liang’s morale would greatly surge, and they could wash away Western Liang’s past shame!

“Quick! Shoot! Fire oil! Fire oil! Shoot!” Ye Shouguan shouted.

However, their arrows had turned the heavy shields into porcupines, and the siege ladders into porcupines as well. Flames danced on the heavy shields and siege ladders, but they couldn’t stop Great Zhou’s advance in the slightest.

The Western Liang soldiers were unafraid of death—they fought to defend Yecheng Pass!

The Great Zhou Bai Family Army was also unafraid of death—they fought for revenge! To pacify the realm… to pacify Western Liang, to establish the peaceful and prosperous age that all the people under heaven were expecting.

To pacify the realm, they must first pacify Western Liang. To pacify Western Liang… they must capture Yecheng Pass!

Bai Qingqi had already led a small force to kill their way to beneath the city gates, engaging in fierce combat with Western Liang forces several times their number.

Wei Zhaonian’s warhorse was struck by crossbow bolts, and he tumbled from his saddle. Rolling to his feet, he struck down an enemy horse’s legs with one sword stroke, brought the enemy cavalry down from his mount, and with another sword stroke decapitated the man. With his remaining eye blood-red, he grabbed the reins of a riderless warhorse galloping by, leaped onto its back, pulled the reins tight, and turned the horse’s head, shouting: “The city gates are right before us! Avenge our fallen Bai Family Army brothers! Vow to destroy Western Liang! Kill!”

The soldiers followed Wei Zhaonian’s roar and charged forward.

Bai Qingyan led the main army from behind, roughly calculating that the distance was about right. The arrow barrage from the Western Liang forces on the city walls had weakened—it seemed Bai Qingqi and Bai Jinzhao had already killed their way into the city according to plan, slowing down the Western Liang soldiers’ speed of transporting arrows up to the city walls.

The Western Liang soldiers who had earlier charged into the Great Zhou army ranks to block their advance had all been eliminated. Bai Qingyan had already pushed the battle line extremely far forward.