The General Who Only Knows How to Spoil His Beloved and Write Stories 51

Chapter 51: Evenly Matched

Fu Yunzhi and the others had all predicted that Junce would attack as soon as possible. However, to their surprise, the past three days had been calm and quiet. If it weren’t for the fact that they could still vaguely see the Junce army and their tents from the lookout tower, they would have thought they had retreated.

Even so, Qi Xiao didn’t know what they were up to, so he never let his troops relax their guard, and the training with the living dead continued. These living dead were the best practice partners. If they were cut to pieces, they just had to get a few strands of flesh thread from Mu Linglong, casually stitch them up, let the worms crawl back in, and they could practice again.

For the past few days, Mu Linglong had been diligently studying the steps of the blood exchange, afraid of making any mistakes. He said he wanted to prepare for a while longer before treating Gu Sanqiu’s wolf. After all, the risk was too great, and it was a procedure that had never been done before.

On the fourth night, at midnight, just as Qi Xiao had stripped off Fu Yunzhi’s outer robe and was about to lower his head for a taste, the war drums sounded. One after another, the beacon fires were lit, illuminating the entire military camp from the outermost to the innermost.

“It’s probably Junce,” Qi Xiao frowned, getting up from on top of him.

“It’s fine,” Fu Yunzhi said, poking his forehead. “We’re well-prepared. Like you said, they’re just corpses, after all.”

Qi Xiao kissed the back of his hand and smiled. “Lucky. Got it.”

The two of them quickly changed their clothes and rode to the city wall. The lieutenants also arranged their respective teams in an orderly formation, rushing to the vicinity of the city wall to await Qi Xiao’s orders.

Wang Zhou, Gu Sanqiu, and the Shen-Mu couple were also there. Wang Zhou, who was in charge of the outer perimeter, reported to Qi Xiao, “A message from the lookout tower outside the city. Roughly two hundred thousand Junce soldiers and one hundred thousand living dead are heading towards the city gate. The Junce army is well-equipped with bows and arrows and is carrying a battering ram to attack the city.”

Qi Xiao nodded. His own army was nearly four hundred thousand strong. There was nothing to be afraid of. Junce had put everything on the line, and so had Langxuan. He held almost all of Langxuan’s military power in his hands. The capital’s forces were mainly composed of the imperial guards and the garrisons of the various vassal states, so this time, Langxuan had an advantage due to its many vassal states.

A soldier from the lookout tower reported, “The Junce army has already reached the last lookout tower!”

“Is the vanguard the living dead?” Qi Xiao asked.

The soldier shook his head. “The living dead and ordinary people are mixed together, scattered everywhere.”

If that’s the case… Qi Xiao had his lieutenants put away the gunpowder. The gunpowder was meant for the living dead. If the targets also included living people, it would be too wasteful. With the living dead scattered everywhere, no amount of gunpowder could blow them all up. Junce must have considered this when they made their formation.

Qi Xiao waved his hand and had Jiang Luori lead one-fifth of the men out of the city wall.

When defending a city, he never let his army stay passively within the walls. This time, since the vanguard was not the living dead, he would divide his men into three groups. One, led by the strongest lieutenant, would do their best to stop the enemy from attacking the gate outside the city. Another would be dedicated to covering the friendly forces outside the city wall. And the last group, the largest, would be on the city wall, firing arrows and operating the cannons.

Of course, these arrangements were all on the premise that the enemy had not yet successfully breached the city gate. If the city was breached, it would be a different story.

The sound of horse hooves grew louder, and the dense mass of the Junce army gradually came into view.

Jiang Luori’s men were outside the city wall, all with their swords drawn.

“Charge—!”

The two armies clashed, and the sound of killing shook the heavens.

On the city wall, Fu Yunzhi asked in a low voice, “The Six-Star Formation?”

“Yes.” The Six-Star Formation, where the army was arranged in a six-pointed star, with the center weak and the sides strong. The position of the commanding general in the center was weakly defended, but the army’s assault power was very strong.

This formation would never be used unless the general’s martial arts were superb. Qi Xiao looked and saw that in the center was a tall man, his features as deep and sharp as if carved by a knife. But his eyes were lifeless, and his complexion was a grayish-white.

“According to the scouts’ intelligence,” Wang Zhou said, “that is General Zhuo Fang of Junce, a half-living dead, who possesses both the agility of a human and the immortality of the living dead.”

“I can see that,” Qi Xiao frowned. “That’s what makes him so difficult to deal with…”

With that, he turned and shouted to the soldiers inside the city wall, “Open the city gate! We’ll charge out and disrupt the enemy’s formation!”

The Six-Star Formation’s breakthrough power was very strong. They couldn’t just rely on Jiang Luori’s team. And although this formation was formidable for attacking a city, it also had a weakness. A six-pointed star was actually quite difficult to maintain and was easier to disrupt than other formations. The fact that Junce dared to use this formation meant that they were not afraid of it being broken!

Qi Xiao looked at the key parts of the formation. They were all groups of living dead.

No matter how difficult, we have to break it. The city gate slowly opened a crack, and he led his army out.

“Left wing, southwest! Right wing, outflank the east!” His voice was loud, cutting through the sound of battle and reaching the ears of every one of his men.

The Southern Conquest Army was already familiar with his voice and subconsciously obeyed his orders. Their bodies and minds were already accustomed to it, requiring no thought at all.

Under his command, the troops methodically attacked one of the points of the star. Zhuo Fang seemed to have noticed him and spurred his horse to charge at him.

Qi Xiao felt a gust of wind at his back, turned, and swung his sword, blocking Zhuo Fang’s attack.

The two generals fought on horseback, their swords clashing. Although they were engaged with each other, their eyes still kept watch on their own armies, and their commands never ceased. Therefore, a duel between generals on the battlefield was not just about martial arts skill. A general was not a knight-errant; he bore the responsibility for an entire army, for tens of thousands of lives.

Like Qi Xiao, Zhuo Fang’s swordsmanship was both offensive and defensive, watertight. The two of them, intending to take the other’s head to disrupt the army’s morale, fought without mercy, aiming for vital points with every move.

On the city wall, Fu Yunzhi watched Qi Xiao intently. Although he knew his abilities well, he was still on edge, afraid he would get hurt.

“Master Fu, General Qi is highly skilled. He will be fine,” Wang Zhou, who was standing beside him, and Zhang Fan, the lieutenant Qi Xiao had left to protect him, said. In fact, only the three of them and the archers were on the city wall. The Shen-Mu couple and Gu Sanqiu had long since leaped down to show off their skills.

Although most of the soldiers had either gone with Jiang Luori to guard the gate or with Qi Xiao to break the formation, there were still many soldiers on standby inside the city wall. Now that the Six-Star Formation had been disrupted by Qi Xiao’s team, even if some Junce soldiers managed to break through to the front lines, they were killed by Jiang Luori’s team. Therefore, the Junce army had not yet been able to get close to the city gate and the wall. But just in case, if they managed to break through and set up siege ladders and battering rams, these standby soldiers would go up the wall to defend against the attack.

Everything seemed to be proceeding in an orderly manner, without any mistakes. The same was true for the Junce army. It was now a matter of the average combat strength of both sides.

Although Langxuan has more troops than Junce, Fu Yunzhi thought, Junce has the living dead.

Just as he was lost in thought, he noticed a figure at the city gate below. The figure’s left sleeve was empty; he was missing an arm.

Xiao Zijun!

He looked closely and saw that Xiao Zijun had gotten a horse from somewhere and was charging through the crack in the city gate onto the battlefield. But the area outside the city wall was a Shura’s field. If a weak scholar who knew no martial arts charged out, would he even survive?

“Stop him! Go and bring him back!” he said to Zhang Fan, who was guarding him.

“The general told me to protect you…” Zhang Fan hesitated.

If anything happens to the general’s wife, I’ll really have to present my head to the general.

“What can happen to me? The enemy hasn’t even gotten close to the city gate! But if you don’t go down, Xiao Zijun will be dead! Go and save him. That’s my order.”

“…Yes, sir.”

Zhang Fan mounted his horse and, bow in hand, pursued Xiao Zijun. Whenever a living dead or an enemy soldier got close to him, he would shoot them off their horse or use a rain of arrows to pin them down, buying time for him to escape.

Wang Zhou was amazed. This lieutenant’s martial arts were not weak! But on second thought, it was only natural. Qi Xiao would, of course, dispatch a formidable lieutenant to protect his beloved.

“Young Master Xiao! Come back! It’s dangerous ahead!” Seeing him charging straight for the center of the Six-Star Formation, oblivious to everyone else, Zhang Fan was also annoyed.

“Xiao Zijun!!!”

Not far away, Zhuo Fang, who was entangled with Qi Xiao, heard the name, and a strange feeling washed over him.

He saw a young man in a white robe riding towards him, his eyes fixed on him, completely ignoring everything else around him.

He looks exactly like the person in my dream…

Just like the person in my dream, his eyes only have me…

Unlike the person in my dream, he’s missing an arm…

…Why?

An opening!

Seeing Zhuo Fang’s movements suddenly slow down, leaving his vital points completely exposed, Qi Xiao immediately swung his sword and cut off the arm holding the sword!

Xiao Zijun’s eyes widened, and he felt a sharp pain in his chest.

Zhuo Fang came to his senses, but his sword had fallen to the ground with his arm, and for a moment, he couldn’t fight back. He made a decisive move and raised his hand, ordering the Junce army behind him to fire their arrows.

A wave of arrows flew towards him and Qi Xiao with unstoppable force. Qi Xiao looked up and saw a dense mass of black arrows in the sky.

Tsk!

He had no choice but to abandon his attack on Zhuo Fang and swing his sword to sweep away the arrows. But Zhuo Fang was different. He was not afraid of these deadly weapons at all. Even with his body shot like a hedgehog, he remained expressionless and bent down to pick up his sword with his regenerated arm.

The arrows were swept away by Qi Xiao’s sword energy and stuck into the ground with a swoosh. The last few arrows came whistling through the air. Just as he was about to raise his hand, a sharp pain suddenly shot through his chest.

This pain was not the pain of an ordinary wound, but as if something was drilling into his chest. He was not afraid of pain, but his limbs suddenly went weak, and he felt he couldn’t use his internal energy.

This is… the side effect of the master Gu! He remembered what Mu Linglong had said before. After taking the master Gu, he would have these symptoms from time to time. When it acted up, his chest would ache dully, and his limbs would be weak. And after it passed, he would be able to clearly feel the decrease in his internal energy.

He gritted his teeth. Why did it have to act up at a time like this!

Fu Yunzhi froze, his heart seeming to stop for a moment. He saw Qi Xiao’s hands unable to move at all, and an arrow ruthlessly pierced his chest!

Swoosh—

Another one pierced his left arm.

“Qi Xiao!!”