Unbroken mountains, a great river of surging waves, a pass joining mountains to the sky-this was the mighty pass that cut across the route between Zhou State's eastern and western capitals.
Beneath Hangu Pass, countless Qin people had gathered.
Although Hangu Pass was no longer as formidable as it had been for the past several centuries, and several chariots could now deploy abreast, it was still no easy place to breach.
This remained a mighty pass that had to be broken through with blood and lives.
The only difference was that Hangu Pass had once demanded ten lives for one, while now it demanded five for one.
To the sound of war drums, the Qin people charged in wave after wave, like a rising tide.
Corpses fell from the walls like dumplings dropped into a pot. Countless heaps of mangled flesh piled up below, vividly colored, the mixture of blood and brains, red interspersed with white, looking somewhat like a shamaness's ceremonial robes.
Among the corpses, those with only their faces mangled were already the fortunate ones. Most had their skulls smashed inward; anyone who did not know better might have mistaken them for the ancient war god Xingtian.
Only a few scattered catapults were present. The terrain was too precipitous to deploy them, so they could only expend manpower slowly reassembling them on mountains level with Hangu Pass.
They relied mainly on the powerful crossbows invented in recent years. Their power and range far surpassed those of bows, not only inflicting tremendous casualties but even causing some damage to the walls.
Faced with casualties that remained stubbornly high, the Count of Qin's expression did not change at all. Since he had decided to attack Hangu Pass, this outcome was inevitable.
"How heavy are the Wei Clan's casualties?" That was