Yun Ye smiled and patted Wang Cai, calling for Liu Jinbao to bring him a stool. He lifted his eyepatch—looking with one eye was very inconvenient, and the focus was always wrong. In just the time it took to eat a meal, those cavalrymen had disappeared before Yun Ye’s eyes. It was said that crossbow bolts were the best weapon against cavalry—this was indeed true.

The ground was filled with warhorses’ wails and the Goguryeo people’s dying screams. The only ones able to wander intact on the battlefield were a sparse few warhorses, wailing as they searched for their riders.

The auxiliary soldiers behind the military formation quickly ran into the battlefield. Each person held a long spear. Anyone lying on the ground, whether alive or dead, received a vicious spear thrust. Sure enough, there were quite a few on the battlefield playing dead. Seeing the auxiliary soldiers clearing the field, they climbed up and tried to run back to Cangyan City. However, after running just a few steps, they were shot down one by one by crossbows. On the battlefield, there was no room for sentiment.

Wang Cai couldn’t bear hearing his own kind’s wails and rested his head on Yun Ye’s back seeking comfort. Yun Ye gently stroked Wang Cai’s ears and asked Liu Fang, who had completely calmed down: “Sir, what do you think we should do now?”

“The opposing commander is already preparing to retreat. You see him slowly withdrawing, so it’s time for us to advance.” After Liu Fang finished speaking, he waved the command flag in his hand. Immediately a military adjutant shouted hoarsely: “Advance!” The retreating Goguryeo people went from orderly to somewhat chaotic, then to scattered, and finally to swarming into the city gate in a mass, as if only with a city wall between them could they feel a trace of safety.

A distance of two hundred zhang was hardly a distance for a large army. If the Goguryeo people had entered the gate in an orderly fashion, they probably all would have had a chance to return. But with the chaotic scrambling and fighting, it severely hindered the efficiency of entering the city. When Lai Chuanfeng shouted the order to fire again, at least a thousand men had not yet entered the city.

The scene after the crossbow bolts was almost unbearable to witness. Siege chisels could cut people in half at the waist. At close range, crossbow arrows could easily shoot right through people. Those Goguryeo people wearing leather armor were even more pitiful—their entire bodies bristling with arrows, they pounded heavily on the city gate, hoping their companions who had just lowered the thousand-catty gate would open the door and let them in.

A few small fish didn’t arouse Lai Chuanfeng’s interest. Looking up at this city wall—the rammed earth enclosure was only about a zhang high—perhaps they didn’t need to use the city gate?

The eight-ox crossbows launched once more, quickly nailing siege chisels all over the wall. Lai Chuanfeng and Gou Feng bit their horizontal blades in their mouths, laughed heartily, and began climbing up the city wall by stepping on the siege chisels. Behind them, countless soldiers also slung crossbows on their backs, bit their horizontal blades, and followed their generals climbing upward.

As soon as Goguryeo people showed their heads, they fell from above like little birds struck by arrows. However, those damned Goguryeo people hid behind the battlements throwing stones down. Yun Ye watched as dozens of soldiers were knocked down.

Just as he was about to order the soldiers to use incendiary bombs, Liu Fang stopped him: “Marquis Yun, excessively cherishing soldiers’ lives is not a good thing. Such soldiers can’t endure hard fighting. When you most need victory, they might break and flee. There’s no harm in soldiers witnessing death. We’ve definitely won this battle. Not seeing Gao Huizhen come out, I knew the Goguryeo people had no chance. Consider this training your troops. If you want to establish yourself in Great Tang, having an elite force in your hands is your greatest support. Use incendiary bombs only if you must. With eight-ox crossbows, strong crossbows, plus armor, you’ve armed them to the teeth. Now is the time for them to deliver results.”

While speaking, Lai Chuanfeng and Gou Feng had already reached the city wall. They were indeed valiant generals. Facing Goguryeo people swarming up, they fought to the death without retreating, and even firmly controlled an area on the city wall. Gou Feng’s back was full of Goguryeo arrows. Wielding his horizontal blade, he still had energy to loudly urge his subordinates to quickly scale the city.

Lai Chuanfeng somehow picked up a flail. With one hammer blow, he sent the Goguryeo soldier opposite holding a shield tumbling off the city wall, shield and all, securing a small section of wall. Soon more soldiers climbed the wall. When the light crossbow bolts densely rang out once again, Yun Ye saw the Goguryeo people continuously retreating. Taking the outer walls was no longer a problem—at most it just needed a bit of time to complete the mopping up.

The city gate was opened. Yun Ye fastened his face armor and followed Liu Fang into the city. Only after getting inside did he discover that Cangyan City truly lived up to its reputation. Countless shops densely lined the streets. The shops here were all transit centers. Every day caravans purchased goods in bulk here, either entering Great Tang or entering Goguryeo. There were also savages from Heishui and Mohe who came here to trade furs. Now the main street was silent. Every household’s doors were tightly closed. Even if children cried, they were quickly covered by adults, afraid that the slightest sound would attract pirates.

Severed limbs and arms were everywhere on the ground. Blood pooled into small ponds on the stone slabs. Liu Fang took a deep breath. Yun Ye discovered the old fellow seemed to have become ten years younger all at once. Passing by a door panel, he thrust his sword through it with one strike. When he withdrew his precious sword, it was covered with bloodstains.

“Sir, aren’t you afraid there might be helpless women and children behind the door panel? Striking so fatally doesn’t match your teachings about honorable forces.” Yun Ye had no interest in checking whether behind the door panel was a Goguryeo soldier or Goguryeo civilian. To him there was no difference between the two.

Liu Fang’s eyes scanned everywhere as he said to Yun Ye word by word: “Honorable forces—that’s a term only after victory. Before then, preserving one’s life is the first priority. Regardless of whether behind the door panel is soldier or civilian, they all have the suspicion of harboring ill intent. What we must do is eliminate all potential dangers.”

Yun Ye nodded and instructed Liu Jinbao and the household guards to surround him more tightly. Only then did he follow the main force toward the inner city. Surrounding three sides while leaving one open was originally a plan made beforehand—leaving people a way to survive to avoid them fighting desperately to mutual destruction.

Gao Yulong stood on the city wall protecting himself with dense shields. A civil official wearing Goguryeo official robes shouted hoarsely down at the naval soldiers below the city.

“What are they shouting?” Yun Ye asked Liu Fang.

After listening for a while, Liu Fang said: “The Gao family is telling you that you won this robbery. The merchant wealth in the outer walls is yours to take, but you must guarantee not to attack the inner city. Otherwise everyone will fight to mutual destruction.”

“The wealth in the outer walls was originally ours. I never planned to let it go. Lai Chuanfeng, what do you say?”

“Grand Marshal, don’t listen to his nonsense. We want the outer walls, and we want the inner city too. The valuable things are all in the inner city. Coming all this way for nothing won’t do. Moreover, we have very few warhorses. It’s still three hundred li to the royal capital. This subordinate saw that this fellow has put all the horses in the inner city. If we don’t take the inner city, how will we transport things?”

“You dog bandits—Grandpa isn’t afraid of you! If you’ve got the guts, come attack the city gate Grandpa is guarding!” In the noisy battlefield, perfectly articulated Tang speech suddenly rang out. Everyone looked like they were seeing a dead man at Gou Zi gesticulating on the city gate.

“How did he get up on the city gate?” Yun Ye asked Liu Fang curiously.

“What’s so strange about that? The Gao family has insufficient forces defending the city, so they must have mobilized the city’s merchants. Everyone together defending the inner city—this is a common tactic. What’s so strange about it? By the way, who are all those people holding weapons?” Liu Fang only recognized Gou Zi, Dan Ying, and Ren Xiong. He didn’t recognize any of the two hundred plus people beside them.

“Those are my family’s managers and clerks. My family also has a small shop front in Cangyan City—nothing worth mentioning.” Yun Ye said casually to Liu Fang. Lai Chuanfeng and the Yang brothers on the side were dumbfounded.

“How many businesses does your family have?” Liu Fang finally asked what everyone was thinking. In such a remote place there were over a hundred clerks—they didn’t dare imagine how many there might be in other prosperous places.

“I generally don’t manage family affairs. My wife handles everything. If I wanted to know, I’d have to ask her. Why discuss this? Let’s attack the city now. Take it down early, we’ll rest one night, and tomorrow we must continue advancing. Let’s start the attack from the city gate.” Liu Fang didn’t adopt Yun Ye’s suggestion. With a wave of his hand, arrows like flying locusts shot toward the section of wall where Gao Yulong was located. That chattering civil official was immediately shot into a pincushion, closed his mouth, and fell from the city wall. From the two-zhang high stone wall, sparse arrows also shot downward. Both sides exchanged volleys with great enjoyment.

The Goguryeo captain guarding the city gate shoved a bow and arrow into Dan Ying’s hands, sternly ordering him to shoot at the pirates below the city wall. Dan Ying took the bow, nocked an arrow, and casually pulled. That bow was drawn into a full moon. Before the Goguryeo captain could utter a word of praise, he discovered Dan Ying had shot that arrow at his head.

Just before the sharp arrowhead penetrated his brain, he vaguely felt something was wrong. After Dan Ying killed three captains in succession, Gao Yulong finally understood what was wrong. Just as he was about to shout loudly that these people below the city were Great Tang’s army, he felt a sharp pain in his ribs. That Tang person who had just been shouting loudly on the gate tower was standing beside him. The dagger in his hand had already plunged deep into his ribs. He himself had called this person to his side, thinking he was a brave warrior…

Ren Xiong’s long mo-sword cleaved through the Goguryeo crowd with three sweeps and three strikes, facing no opponents. He alone killed his way from the main street into the city gate passage. His three brothers, seeing their eldest had already killed his way in, howled like wolves, wielding horizontal blades and slashing desperately, not wanting their eldest brother to face danger alone.

Old Fang trembled as he hid himself. Getting old, he couldn’t swing a blade anymore. In a while when the Marquis entered the city, he would follow and serve—that was the work he should do. As for swinging blades and killing people, let the young people do more. Hiding in a room, he discovered several old acquaintances were also inside trembling.

Seeing Old Fang come in, Yu Dexuan’s old manager asked with trembling whiskers: “Old Fang, has your Marquis entered the city yet? If he can’t break in, all of us will die without burial places.”

“Rest assured, sir. I just saw Gao Yulong already killed by Gou Zi. Ren Xiong has also killed his way into the gate passage. It won’t take much time before the inner city falls. Don’t worry—our families’ losses, the Marquis will definitely compensate us doubly. Just thinking that we can finally go home—Old Zhao, don’t you want to?”