Huju City

On the very first day Wang Hong and the others arrived, they were sent up onto the city walls. They had now officially been incorporated into the Huwei Army. Qingyang Academy's reinforcements had formed a separate battalion called the Qingyang Camp, still under Instructor Feng Li's command, though Feng Li was now also a captain.

Wang Hong's squad was the Qingyang Camp's Sixth Squad. Their hundred-man Sixth Squad was responsible for defending a short section of the wall. Since the Qin Army not only attacked the city during the day but also sent men to harass them at night, leaving the defenders no peace, the defenders took turns guarding the city in shifts. Each shift only needed to defend for four hours before rotating out.

Standing atop the city wall, Wang Hong saw that Huju City truly lived up to its name—crouching tiger, coiled dragon. Treacherous peaks stood on both sides, mountain after mountain stretching for more than two hundred li. Even monkeys would have struggled to cross them. Huju City occupied the only passage through those two hundred-odd li.

With sheer mountain peaks on either side, Huju City only needed to defend its front.

Thus, despite holding an overwhelming advantage in troop numbers, the Qin Army had been unable to conquer the city after repeated attacks.

The city stood high above the land below. Beneath its walls lay a slope more than a li long. To reach the walls, the Qin Army first had to climb that slope.

The Chu Army had set countless traps along the slope, while even more rolling logs and falling boulders had been placed beneath the walls at its crest.

The rolling logs in particular were covered in iron spikes. Even Wang Hong felt a chill run through him at the sight.

The Qin Army had to pay a terrible price merely to climb that slope. Thus, after attacking for more than a month, they had rarely managed to truly reach the city walls.

Ever since Wang Hong had climbed onto the wall, he had seen the Qin Army continuously send out small units to launch harassing attacks.

Whenever the rolling logs and boulders were released, they ran. Some failed to escape in time and were crushed to death. Those who survived would turn back to damage the rolling logs and boulders, cutting the ropes attached to them.

The rolling logs and boulders here were all tied with ropes. After being released, they could be hauled back up with winches and used again. Otherwise, if they threw them down like this every day, even tearing down every house in the city would not provide enough.

The Qin Army's harassment was mainly intended to wear down the defenders' supply of rolling logs and boulders, while also probing for traps.

Only at dusk did groups of laborers arrive at the various positions carrying food on shoulder poles, distributing meals to the soldiers.

Wang Hong received a bowl of meat porridge and two large meat buns.

He had barely taken a bite when a burst of horn calls came from the Qin Army camp below the slope, followed by the pounding of drums. A black mass of Qin soldiers marched toward Huju City in neat steps to the beat of the drums.

The Qin Army's discipline was strict and its ranks solemn. They did not move quickly, stopping every ten paces to straighten their formation. Yet whenever their uniform steps landed, the earth seemed to tremble. Every two steps, they shouted "Kill!" in unison, their voices like rolling thunder, making everyone's ears buzz.

Many new recruits fighting for the first time that day were intimidated by their momentum. Their faces went pale and their hands and feet trembled. The high spirits they had possessed before battle had long since been tossed beyond the nine skies.

The instant Wang Hong saw that formation, he stuffed the bun into his mouth in two or three bites and gripped his spear tightly. He exerted so much force that his knuckles turned slightly white.

At that moment, at the rolling-log and boulder position below the wall, the signal soldier shouted, "Release!" and swung his small flag downward. Countless rolling logs and boulders roared down the slope.

Then the Qin Army's front ranks brought out objects resembling cheval de frise, though far thicker and sturdier.

This was the first time they had seen the Qin Army use such things. They must have been newly made. Each was formed by joining three huge logs at one end into a simple cone. The three logs beneath were like three legs, creating a stable triangular support.

They erected these objects before their ranks. The ferocious rolling logs could not advance another half-step once they struck the wooden posts, all of them blocked. Only a few boulders rushed through the gaps and crashed into the formation, but the casualties they caused were limited. Several more waves of rolling logs and boulders were released, yet they achieved little.

At that moment, the signal soldier delivered the general's order, requiring them to leave the city and meet the enemy. Wang Hong had studied plenty of military strategy and tactics over the years. Naturally, he understood that defending a city did not mean merely stubbornly clinging to the walls in passive defense. They also needed the ability to fight beyond the city, or prolonged defense would inevitably lead to defeat.

Wang Hong and the others quickly hurried outside the city to form up. Wang Hong saw that the soldiers who had originally been resting had also assembled outside the city.

Every hundred men formed a small square formation led by a centurion. The outermost row consisted of saber-and-shield soldiers, while the second, third, and fourth rows were spearmen. Wang Hong stood in the second row.

Several dozen such small formations made up one large square formation. A passage one zhang wide was left between every two small formations, making it easier to deploy troops and issue commands.

Should the enemy dare enter those passages, they would be attacked by the formations on both sides, ensuring that they came but never returned.

Several units of cavalry were positioned behind the main formation. The commanding general stood in its center, where a high platform had also been erected for observation and command.

As Wang Hong and his men formed their ranks, several units of archers had already moved ahead of them. Once the Qin Army entered their range, they began wave after wave of volleys.

Holding the high ground, the Chu Army possessed every advantage in the exchange of arrows. The Chu Army's rain of arrows fell into the Qin ranks. Although the Qin soldiers promptly raised their shields, the shields could not protect everyone, and countless men were still struck by arrows.

The Qin archers' return fire could not even reach the Chu Army's toes, drawing loud laughter from the Chu soldiers.

The Qin Army's formation remained orderly. They did not waste arrows, instead advancing beneath the Chu Army's arrows. A few casualties during the march could not shake their resolve to press forward, and their cries of "Kill!" still shook the heavens.

But by now, their intimidation of the Chu Army was far weaker than before. As the Qin Army advanced, the Chu archers fired while retreating in turns, always remaining beyond the Qin Army's range.

Thus, before the two sides had even clashed, the Qin Army had already suffered several hundred casualties. Though that was not much for an army of over ten thousand, it dealt no small blow to their morale.

On the Chu Army's side, apart from one archer who twisted his ankle while retreating, they had practically suffered no casualties.

The Chu archers retreated all the way into the main formation and continued firing in high arcs. At last, the Qin Army's rain of arrows descended upon the Chu formation.

Then Wang Hong heard his own side's war drums boom, "Dong! Dong! Dong!" Their pounding made everyone's blood boil, causing them to forget fear and forget death. Keeping pace with the drums, they marched forward into the rain of arrows.

People from both armies were struck by arrows and fell from time to time, but it did not affect either side's advance in the slightest. One arrow also struck Wang Hong. With Wang Hong's seventh level of the Henglian Liuhe Gong, it did no more than scratch an itch.

A green tide and a black tide finally crashed together, splashing blood in every direction. The clang of metal, the sound of blades and spears entering flesh, and screams of agony were all drowned beneath the battle cries and thunderous drums.

Under the influence of that momentum, everyone's eyes reddened and their spirits surged. They thought only of killing the enemy before them, with no regard for their own lives.

Wang Hong thrust his spear through the heart of an enemy spearman. The spear drew out a spray of blood, yet the spearman seemed utterly unaware and continued thrusting his own spear at Wang Hong. Unfortunately, his spear only made it halfway before drooping weakly. He could only fall slowly, unwillingly.

The moment that soldier fell, another swiftly stepped up from the rear to fill his place. He too was pierced through with a spear and died an untimely death.

By the time the fifth man stepped up, he had seen the first four killed in a single move each. He dodged and weaved, not daring to step forward and throw away his life.

Wang Hong ignored him and took the opportunity to stab down several nearby Qin soldiers with consecutive thrusts. Before a Xiantian Stage expert like Wang Hong, these common soldiers were no match for even a single exchange. Wang Hong even felt as though he were bullying children.

But Wang Hong would not show mercy. For every enemy he killed, his comrades' burden would lessen by a fraction, and their chances of surviving would rise by a fraction.

The opposing formation swiftly filled the gap before Wang Hong with several more soldiers. Those replacements were soon stabbed to death by Wang Hong's spear as well.

After the soldiers who had filled the gap for the fourth time were killed by Wang Hong, their centurion spotted an opportunity and ordered the square formation changed into a wedge formation.

Wang Hong served as the vanguard, while the centurion guarded his flank. The overall formation took the shape of an inverted "V." Wang Hong raised his spear and charged into the enemy formation, like a tiger entering a flock of sheep, unstoppable by anyone.

The others protected both flanks, like a hot knife slicing into butter.

After they had fought their way into the enemy formation and were about to cut through it, a burly man with a face full of flesh blocked their path. He held a massive mountain-cleaving battle-axe, wore a half-body suit of iron armor, and had a heart-protecting mirror over his chest.

Seeing Wang Hong charge toward him, the man said nothing and immediately brought his axe down in a Mount Hua Cleaving strike. Wang Hong raised his spear to block it, and the impact made his palms go slightly numb. Wang Hong inwardly exclaimed, What tremendous strength!

Ordinary Houtian Realm Martial Artists possessed six to nine hundred jin of strength, while Innate Martial Artists could break through one thousand jin. Yet some who were born with divine strength, or cultivated special Cultivation Techniques, could surpass one thousand jin while still in the Houtian Stage.

The Henglian Liuhe Gong Wang Hong cultivated was merely powerful in defense and did not excel in strength. Even now, he possessed only a little over one thousand jin of strength.