bloody battle

The Western Kang army clearly didn't place much importance on this pass; the only siege measures to be seen were ladders and archers.

Gao Yuan stood atop the city walls with his men, watching with confidence as the Western Kang army's phalanx slowly approached.

"Three hundred paces!"

"Two hundred paces!"

Lookouts shouted out the distance between the two sides. As the shouts grew more frequent, it indicated that the Western Kang were advancing faster and faster.

"Fifty paces!"

"Forty paces!"

When the distance between the two sides reached forty paces, Gao Yuan turned and shouted to those behind him.

"Fire!"

"Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!"

Accompanied by the sharp sound of whistling air, the archers behind the walls began their long-range bombardment.

Gao Yuan had divided the soldiers in the city into two main groups: two hundred men were stationed on the northern slope to prevent any sneak attacks from that direction.

The remaining six hundred men were divided into six squads; two squads served as archers, while the other four took turns defending the walls.

After the fifty soldiers in the first row finished firing their arrows, they quickly retreated, and the second row stepped forward to fire.

Most of the Western Kang soldiers had no armor, and only a few held shields. The rain of arrows was incredibly effective, taking out over a dozen men in a single volley.

Over this short distance of thirty or forty paces, the Western Kang paid a price of over two hundred lives.

Ignoring the casualties, the Western Kang army roared, trampling over the bodies of their comrades as they rushed to the foot of the walls.

"rolling logs and stones! Deploy the wooden shields!"

As the Western Kang reached the walls and set up their ladders, their archers also began firing volleys to suppress the defenders.

The defending Nanzhou Army soldiers began to coordinate their efforts; some held large wooden boards over their heads to block the enemy's arrows, while others lifted stones and logs to hurl them down.

The arrows stuck in the wooden boards were quickly collected, sent down from the wall, and then fired back at the Western Kang in high-arcing volleys.

The battle reached a fever pitch right from the start. In just half an hour, the Western Kang lost over three hundred men. The Nanzhou Army fared better; only a dozen or so were hit by arrows and sustained minor injuries, returning to the fight after simple bandaging.

Gao Yuan wasn't idling either. He hoisted stones, utilizing his B-rank strength to hurl them down fiercely. Watching the kill count rise on his system interface, he couldn't stop grinning.

He even specifically targeted those below who were shouting gibberish while commanding. He actually managed to hit one, and a system prompt informed him he had killed a C-rank general.

This gave him even more motivation.

Soon, two hours passed, and the second squad came up to take over the defense; everything was orderly.

The Western Kang seemed to have gone mad, never pausing for a moment as they continuously climbed and roared.

The brutality of the battle exceeded Gao Yuan's imagination. The first day's fighting consumed a third of the defensive supplies, and half of the arrows were already spent.

Defending a city in the era of cold weapons relied not only on high walls and deep moats but, most importantly, on various defensive supplies.

With supplies now running low, it was foreseeable that casualties would gradually increase.

The only thing left to use was boiling water. As for golden juice, how much could a mere thousand people produce?

Just as Gao Yuan had anticipated, by the third day, the defensive pressure surged as the arrows were completely exhausted.

The Western Kang could rush to the foot of the wall without any hindrance, and the consumption of rolling logs and stones increased significantly.

Gao Yuan stopped throwing stones and gathered the dozen or so officers he had previously selected.

In the afternoon, the logs and stones were exhausted, and some Western Kang soldiers managed to climb onto the city walls.

However, just as one Western Kang soldier flashed an evil smile, he was struck in the neck by a blade.

With a scream, the Western Kang soldier fell from the ladder, crashing into two of his comrades.

Having no time for celebration, Gao Yuan raised his broadsword and charged toward the next Western Kang soldier.

That afternoon, Gao Yuan personally slew eighteen men, and the squad he led killed nearly a hundred in total.

But the defenders also suffered heavily: over fifty were killed in action, and more than forty were seriously wounded.

This forced Gao Yuan to reorganize the six squads into five.

One squad was responsible for the night watch, while the remaining four took turns defending the city during the day.

The Western Kang were also gritting their teeth and persevering. Over several days of siege, they were essentially using lives to fill the gap and deplete the defensive supplies.

In four days of siege, over 1,500 were killed, over 1,000 were seriously injured, and more than 2,000 sustained minor injuries.

Casualties exceeded ten percent, something the Western Kang Commander-in-chief, Commander, had not expected.

Ever since they had captured Luoxie City and destroyed Tubo to become the overlords of the plateau, they had never suffered such heavy losses in a single battle.

What made Commander even more anxious was his realization that the defenders in the city definitely numbered more than the three hundred mentioned in the intelligence reports.

Because even on the mountain peak they had originally seized, Han Chinese troops had appeared.

To make matters worse, he was unable to contact the spies within the pass at this time, which made him rather irritable.

On the fifth day, there wasn't even any boiling water left, as the firewood had completely run out.

The defenders could only rely on the advantage of their long spears to attack the besiegers on the ladders.

Gao Yuan tried, but his strength was still insufficient to push over the ladders, so he simply gave up and picked up his weapon to kill the enemy.

The battle reached a fever pitch once more. While the two sides were in the heat of combat, a volley of arrows suddenly flew out from within the city.

One volley, two volleys, three... dozens of volleys of arrows blocked the continuous stream of Western Kang soldiers behind.

This caused the defensive pressure on the walls to plummet, followed by the sound of battle cries.

Soldiers clad in iron lamellar armor rushed over, quickly killing several Western Kang soldiers who had climbed onto the wall.

Gao Yuan didn't notice at all that reinforcements had arrived; he continued to swing his weapon, harvesting the lives of the enemy.

Not until a group of iron-clad guards rushed over and surrounded him did a sharp, feminine rebuke ring out.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed? If Zhao Xiyaos informal address saw this, she'd be worried to death!"

The speaker was none other than Mu Qing. Through a combination of threats and bribes, she had managed to sneak into the group of thirty on the expedition.

Gao Yuan also noticed the figure in front of him, leaning back into his arms.

"Mu... Mu Qing, what are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here? It's because Zhao Xiyaos informal address was worried about her husband and sent the Personal Guards to protect you! Look out..."

Suddenly, a head popped up over the wall, thrusting a spear toward them.

Mu Qing was startled and barely dodged by tilting her head. This instantly infuriated Little Chili Pepper, who swung her broadsword and slashed forward.

Perhaps due to her rage, the strike was powerful, slicing off half of the attacker's head in one go.

"What a fine blade!"

"I..."

While Gao Yuan was still marveling at the fine blade, Mu Qing had frozen in place.

Although she had good martial skills, this was the first time Little Chili Pepper had personally killed someone.

The impact and shock of it left Mu Qing's mind blank, and she stood there dazed.

Gao Yuan knew the girl was terrified and shook his head.

"Two of you, take your commander down. The rest of you, follow me."

With that, he nudged Mu Qing aside, took the precious blade from her hand, and charged toward a gap in the defenses.

Attacking from both sides, and with the aid of the precious blade, Gao Yuan's killing efficiency increased even further.

He continued killing until dusk, when the Western Kang retreated like an ebbing tide.

In just one day of siege, casualties exceeded 1,500, making Commander grit his teeth in hatred.

But he couldn't retreat now; the cost of several thousand casualties had already been paid. This was the so-called sunk cost.

Inside the pass, Huo Jun officially took over the defensive duties after Gao Yuan's introduction.

Gao Yuan withdrew with the original defenders to rest for two days and reorganize the troops.

With the wounded and the dead, only three hundred or so of the original six hundred soldiers remained.

Gao Yuan reorganized them into three squads, ready to reinforce Huo Jun's side at any moment.

As for himself, he had completely become the spearhead leading the elite squad.

With reinforcements and plenty of arrows, the Western Kang casualties began to mount once again.