Spring thunder rumbled continuously, and rain poured down like water from a basin.

Unable to bring siege ladders or siege towers for this surprise attack, the Pingzhou army’s only climbing tool was the eagle claw hooks.

The rain curtain obscured vision. In the blink of an eye, the Tao Commandery guards at the corner of the city tower had their necks pierced by sharp arrows.

The sound of armor colliding as they fell drew the attention of guards at nearby battlements. Seeing their arrow-struck comrades, they hurriedly shouted in alarm: “Enemy attack!”

In the next instant, the shouting guard also fell with an arrow, the smell of blood spreading through the rain-laden air.

Eagle claw hooks gleaming with cold light firmly grasped the city wall. In the cold rain, ox tendon ropes pulled taut as those below climbed up the wall using the ropes.

The warning bronze gong hanging high at the tower corner was struck, and the entire South City Gate erupted like cold water splashed into boiling oil—completely exploding into chaos.

Guards on the tower rushed forward with drawn swords to cut the ropes, but before their blades could fall, they were already pierced through the throat by arrows shot through the rain curtain.

Xiao Li led the army’s elite as the vanguard. He grabbed the battlements with one hand and was about to flip over when a gleaming long blade slashed toward his head.

Gripping the rope tightly with one arm, he kicked off the wall to lean backward, avoiding the blade. At the same time, his Miao sword left its sheath with a “clang,” blocking the opponent’s blade from withdrawing. With a forceful counter-strike, the opponent’s weapon fell to the ground, and he cleaved down with one slash, blood spattering.

Xiao Li leapt down from the battlements, shaking blood and water from his blade. Behind him, countless elite soldiers also climbed the ropes through this breach they had opened. He roared: “Kill!”

Raising his Miao sword, he once again clashed with guards swarming like ants from arrow towers on both sides.

Tan Yi waited below with the main army, using arrows to provide cover for Xiao Li and his men.

The dark night provided them the best shield. The guards on the tower couldn’t see them, but they could use the tower’s lamplight to force back wave after wave of guards attempting to sever the eagle claw hook ropes.

Seeing Xiao Li successfully climb the tower, Tan Yi’s anxiously suspended heart finally settled somewhat.

A personal guard beside him also shouted with wild joy: “Captain Xiao has torn open a gap at the tower’s corner!”

Tan Yi quickly waved to signal the second echelon to follow: “Quickly! Hang up the rope ladders!”

Xiao Li led the first batch of elite troops to clear a large gap on the tower. The elite soldiers who climbed up afterward carried rope ladders on their backs. After ascending the tower, they hung the ladders at the battlements, allowing ordinary soldiers below to also climb up the tower along the rope ladders.

The two forces thoroughly mixed together in chaotic battle on the tower.

Xiao Li led over twenty elite soldiers fighting their way down the tower. Naturally, rope ladders alone couldn’t allow all of Pingzhou’s forces to enter the city—they had to break open the city gate.

The torrential rain completely washed the stone steps on both wings of the inner tower into a sheet of blood red.

Xiao Li kicked down the corpse of the last guard blocking his path. Rain streamed over his fierce brows and eyes as he coldly locked gazes with the young general mounted on horseback below at the inner city gate.

All four city gates of Tao Commandery had barbicans. If attacking head-on through the gate, archers from the four arrow towers could shoot any enemy army just entering the barbican into a hornet’s nest. But Xiao Li’s group had attacked down from the tower and cleared a round of archers from the arrow towers.

The guards rushing to support the tower were entangled with Pingzhou troops climbing up the rope ladders and couldn’t spare attention for the barbican.

In this confrontation within the barbican, they currently couldn’t count on any external reinforcements.

They had only fifteen minutes.

The South City Gate had already been stripped of considerable forces, which was why they could attack the tower so easily. After fifteen minutes, when South Gate reinforcements arrived, breaking open the South City Gate would be much harder.

However, the disparity in enemy and allied numbers was truly not an advantage for Xiao Li’s group.

Someone roared first—who knows who—and by the time they reacted, cold blades were already clashing in the cold rain.

Black boots splashed muddy water everywhere. Blood dripped along with rainwater, blooming like flowers in the muddy yellow water.

Xiao Li severed the horse’s legs. The young general rolled from horseback. Before he could rise, successive blades were already chopping down toward his head.

The young general rolled awkwardly several times in the muddy water, finally seizing a gap to fling mud and water at Xiao Li’s face. Only then could he leap up bracing his spear and kick toward Xiao Li’s chest.

Blinded by the mud, Xiao Li hastily turned his head aside. When the young general’s foot struck his chest, he immediately raised his arm to block.

His arm took two vicious kicks. He grabbed the young general’s foot and flung him sideways.

The young general’s head struck the city wall. He must have hit quite hard, as he remained dizzy and disoriented, unable to rise again for some time.

Xiao Li raised his blade and continued killing toward the city gate.

On the heavy city gate, two round door bars as thick as large bowls were inserted crosswise. Even ramming them with a battering ram would take considerable time to break through.

Normally, closing the gate required several soldiers to carry and place the door bars into the gate’s grooves.

Xiao Li cut down the guards at the gate and raised his arm to remove one bar, but it was too heavy to lift. Just as he prepared to exert his strength, he suddenly dodged his head. The blade that had viciously slashed at him from behind sank deeply into the city gate.

He kicked away the young general whose nose and mouth were bleeding, swinging his blade diagonally down across his chest.

The soaked armor clung tightly to Xiao Li’s muscular frame. He panted like a wolf, grabbing the bloodied young general and shouting to the guards continuing to surge toward the gate: “Your general is dead! Those who don’t want to die, scram!”

Pine resin torches inserted on both sides of the tower gateway illuminated the long passageway brightly.

The young general’s death clearly shattered the South Gate guards’ morale. Many guards were already abandoning their weapons and fleeing.

The elite soldiers who had fought down with Xiao Li were also more than half dead. He gathered the survivors: “Three per team! Clear the area around the gate! Remove the door bars!”

Working together, they quickly removed the first door bar.

But in the torrential rain, the sound of approaching hoofbeats from the inner city’s main road was also exceptionally clear.

The fleeing Tao Commandery guards seemed to see hope again, shouting with extreme joy: “Reinforcements! Our reinforcements have arrived!”

The Pingzhou soldiers still removing the door bar were made anxious by the urgent hoofbeats. Having just lifted the heavy door bar somewhat, their strength slackened and the bar fell back into the gate groove.

Xiao Li shouted coldly: “Continue removing the door bar! Our main army is outside the city. If you want to survive, this is the only way!”

The Pingzhou soldiers forcibly suppressed their inner panic and rallied to lift that door bar again, even shouting work chants through gritted teeth.

Xiao Li led the remaining Pingzhou soldiers to block the gateway passage, holding back all the Tao Commandery guards charging back as if heedless of their lives, buying time for the soldiers opening the gate behind them.

But the numerical disparity was truly too great. With reinforcements as this calming pill, the Tao Commandery guards fought with异常 ferocity, no longer retreating.

The Pingzhou soldiers fighting alongside Xiao Li fell one by one, yet the city gate still hadn’t opened. Seeing the reinforcements about to charge into the barbican, he beat back several soldiers and turned to shout: “Is the gate not open yet?”

The soldiers removing the door bar at the gate were covered in cold sweat on their backs, saying somewhat desperately: “The wooden bar fell earlier and got stuck in the gate groove!”

Xiao Li pulled his Miao sword from a fallen soldier’s chest, cursed, and strode toward the gate.

The mounted reinforcement commander had already galloped into the barbican, his bell-like voice echoing within the four walls,震人耳膜: “Thieves, cease your arrogance!”

Those soldiers lifting the door bar—whether from fear or sheer exhaustion—all had deathly pale faces, their hands and feet trembling ceaselessly.

Xiao Li pushed them aside and viciously kicked twice at where the door bar was stuck. The heavy city gate made a dull sound. The wooden bar, whose slightly thicker section had gotten stuck in the gate groove from the force of falling back, was finally kicked loose.

He alone lifted one end, commanding gravely: “Lift it down!”

The Pingzhou soldiers at the other end finally saw a glimmer of hope again, working together to lift the other end of the bar.

The mounted reinforcement commander had already charged to the gateway entrance, raising his crescent blade to strike: “Thief, die!”

Xiao Li simply used the section of door bar he’d removed as a weapon, swinging it horizontally at the opponent.

Alarm flashed in the reinforcement commander’s eyes—this was the first time he’d seen someone with such godly strength.

His warhorse charged with fierce momentum, impossible to avoid. He could only roll off the horse’s back to dodge this strike.

The wooden bar struck the warhorse, landing with a dull thud. The warhorse also whinnied and fell.

Xiao Li picked up his Miao sword and charged at that commander. The Miao sword’s blade clashed with the crescent blade in the reinforcement commander’s hand. He pressed his other hand against the blade’s back, forcing the commander to retreat continuously. Without turning his head, he ordered the Pingzhou soldiers behind him: “Open the city gate!”

The soldiers were all shocked by Xiao Li’s valor. Finding some morale again amid their panic, they quickly worked together to pull open the gate and shouted hoarsely outward: “Attack the city—”

Outside, Tan Yi heard the hoofbeats of reinforcements from inside. His heart immediately sank.

The speed at which soldiers climbed up rope ladders from the tower battlements was truly slow, completely unable to match the speed at which the city’s guards filled the walls with men. Additionally, several rope ladders had already been cut or burned through, making it extremely difficult for them to send people in to help Xiao Li and his men.

Now that South Gate reinforcements had arrived, the battle situation undoubtedly tilted completely toward Tao Commandery.

Just thinking about how to explain to Chen Wei and the Wengzhu if Xiao Li died in this battle made his face frighteningly ashen.

Who could have expected that at this very moment, the city gate that had stood as immovable as the tower itself in the storm would suddenly open with a crash, with soldiers inside hoarsely shouting to attack the city!

Tan Yi felt as if something had struck his head. Being dead and brought back to life was probably the most profound sensation he felt at this moment.

He had already spurred his horse forward before he remembered to shout hoarsely: “Attack the city!”

Without the two round wooden door bars, they could ram open the gate from outside, let alone when the soldiers inside had risked their lives to pull the gate open a crack.

The Pingzhou army surged into the city gate like a tide, finally colliding with Tao Commandery’s South Gate reinforcements in the barbican.

The reinforcements able to return so quickly had originally been diverted when the West Gate came under attack. Before reaching West Gate, they received news of South Gate being attacked, so these reinforcements hastily rushed back.

Compared to their exhaustion from running back and forth, the Pingzhou army that had been waiting for an opportunity outside South Gate could be said to be well-rested and conserving energy. They also held absolute numerical advantage and quickly gained complete control of South Gate.

When Tan Yi found Xiao Li, he was standing in a pool of blood leaning on his blade and panting. An old general at his feet seemed to have no strength left to rise, blood seeping from his mouth: “Kill this old man! Give this old man a quick death!”

Tan Yi looked carefully and recognized the elder. Patting Xiao Li’s shoulder, he laughed: “Brother Xiao will probably claim the greatest merit tonight—not only breaking open South Gate but also capturing alive a重将 of Tao Commandery!”

He waved to have his subordinates bind the elder. The elder said with resentment: “You’ve already killed my son. This old man swears not to suffer this humiliation!”

He reached for a fallen blade at his side to cut his throat, but Xiao Li kicked it away.

Xiao Li glanced at the elder, his lazy tone carrying a subtle cold weariness: “If your son was guarding this South Gate, he should not yet be dead. Though you all have been disrespectful to your former lord, the Wengzhu is benevolent and magnanimous, specially ordering us that after taking Tao Commandery, we must not harm the common people in the slightest, and to spare the lives of you traitorous ministers as much as possible.”

Hearing this, the old general was stunned and allowed himself to be bound and led away.

Tan Yi timely offered some flattery: “The Wengzhu is truly compassionate and wise, with the world in her heart.”

Xiao Li smiled as acknowledgment of his words.

Having spent much time with Li Xun and the others, naturally he had not only improved in military strategy, but also learned to think one layer deeper about everything, to ponder the three parts of meaning hidden in their words.

Wen Yu’s decision to attack Tao Commandery at this time—firstly, Xinzhou had already exposed the fact that his backer was Wei Qishan in order to win over Yizhou and Tao Commandery.

The method he had previously proposed to her could now be implemented—Yizhou discovered that “Xinzhou” had hijacked Pei Song’s cargo ships to frame them, with firsthand testimony from the Xu family merchant convoy. Meanwhile, Pingzhou was attacking Tao Commandery, clearly having no time to spare for such matters, so the blame could only point steadily toward Xinzhou.

When they attacked Tao Commandery, Xinzhou was also being held accountable by Yizhou and could only be willing but powerless in face of Tao Commandery’s call for aid.

After all, once Xinzhou sent troops to help Tao Commandery, whether from seeking justice or private interest, Yizhou would absolutely not miss this good opportunity to stab Xinzhou in the back.

Secondly, in this rainy night surprise attack, they had indeed seized天时 advantage. Regardless of whether tonight would succeed, this was already their best opportunity to attack Tao Commandery.

Wen Yu’s decision to spare those traitorous generals’ lives was not womanly kindness either. Rather, with Tao Commandery serving as Pingzhou’s northern defensive line in the future, compared to relying on tyrannical suppression, if they wanted them to be loyally devoted after surrendering, naturally combining kindness with威 was more stable.

The hardest enmity to resolve in this world was blood feuds. Killing too many of Tao Commandery’s ministers and generals would bring no benefit to Pingzhou.

Wen Yu needed to restore Great Liang and also needed to build a reputation for benevolence and magnanimity even more than Pei Song.

Mounting his horse, after tonight’s fierce battle, Xiao Li finally had a bit of emotion that made him happy—he was beginning to understand what Wen Yu was thinking.

—

The thunder didn’t stop all that night. Bright candles burned through the night in Wen Yu’s room. She sat propped at the low table, listening to the rustling急雨 sound outside the window, her snow-white clothing thin, her mass of black hair without any ornaments hanging obediently behind her. She raised her hand to trim the wick of the candle that had nearly burned out.

The rain’s momentum hadn’t slackened, but dawn was approaching.

Zhao Bai hurried in from the outer room, holding a battle report. Her usually cold face showed excitement that was difficult to conceal: “Wengzhu, the battle at Tao Commandery is a great victory!”

The trimmed wick fell on the table. Wen Yu calmly looked at that section of burnt wick and said: “The envoy from Southern Chen should also be arriving at Pingzhou soon, yes?”