Liu Bei POV

“And what about Liu Qi and her people?”

“Lord Liu Qi has gone to guard the west gate.” Gan Ning said.

If she went to guard the west gate, then that means Liu Qi believes what Yi Ji said. If the vanguard has met with the main body, then the west and east gates must be heavily guarded.

“Chen Gong, go guard the east gate with Zhou Cang.”

“Guard the east gate?” Chen Gong was baffled at first but she soon understood what I meant after a few seconds, “Will it really?”

“Just in case. If this side is the only one that gets. .h.i.t, come back then. I’ll be counting on you both.”

“My lord, I’m up here!”

“You both are way too fast, Imperial Uncle.”

Just then, Chen Dao and Zhou Cang came up.

“Let’s go, Zhou Cang.”

“Where to?”

“To the east gate.”

“Eh~~ But I just came up~~~”

“Then go back down again.”

Zhou Cang was the worst off, but I can only trouble her at this time.

“My lord, how is it?” Chen Dao asked anxiously as she came over to where I was.

“Yaa!!!” I was about to reply her when a loud cry came from below the city.

I hurriedly walked towards Gan Ning and peered out towards the city. About 100 paces out, Huang Zu was galloping with her spear pointed in front of her while Zhu Ran was galloping towards her from the opposite side as well.

The 2 spears clashed with a light *Dang*, and after a few more attacks, they separated and rode off for about several dozen meters and turned back around.

“Will Administrator Huang Zu be alright?” I asked.

“The Administrator has been defending the city for a very long time so she’ll definitely be alright.” Gan Ning answered, which brought to mind another question in me.

Why didn’t she send Gan Ning up? Why did she have to go herself? Does she hate former pirates that much?

*Ding*! Another light sound rang out when their spears met.

*Ding*! *Ding*! Both of them turned around and fought again after just a few steps.

Huang Zu was tall and her movements were quick. She was adept with attacking from both right and left with a single-handed grip and her effective reach was wide. Zhu Ran was like before, her movements were quick and her feints were very misleading. Even though I’d fought her once, I still couldn’t identify her feints.

From how things look, I felt that both sides were roughly equal and it doesn’t seem like the duel will conclude anytime soon.

“The Administrator can’t make it.”

Eh? Just as I’d come to my conclusion, Chen Dao delivered hers with a frown beside me.

“Why? I don’t feel like anyone has an upperhand yet.”

“No, look closely, my lord. The Administrator’s attacks are getting less and less accurate, probably because she is getting more and more drained.”

“Eh?! That fast?!” I don’t recall Yun Chang and the rest getting tired so quickly even though they use roughly the same weapons… Ah, right. I can’t use them as a standard for comparison.

“The Administrator’s spear is very heavy. And she specialises in heavy blows that are meant to neutralise the enemy with a single move. It’s been 30-40 bouts already so her stamina is at an end.” Gan Ning similarly looked troubled as she said so.

“Lord Gan Ning, shouldn’t you be leaving the city and supporting the Administrator?” Chen Dao couldn’t watch any longer and was tightly gripping the walls.

But Gan Ning only shook her head as she flung her scarf to her back, “The Administrator never lets anyone interrupt her duels. It’s not just me, no one else is permitted to.”

“But she’s clearly going to lose!”

I looked back at Huang Zu when Chen Dao exclaimed back at Gan Ning, and saw that her movements were clearly slower than before. There were even several attacks whrre she wasn’t quick enough to block and could only turn to the side and take the attack with her plate armour. It was clear that Huang Zu couldn’t last much longer.

“Give me your life!” Zhu Ran roared as she leapt up from her horse and slashed down at Huang Zu.

“Kuh!” It was a good thing that Zhu Ran’s position was under the sun and she was blinded so Huang Zu was able to retreat and avoid the attack.

“Open the gates! Retreat!” Huang Zu yelled up at the city, probably because she realised that she couldn’t defeat her enemy, as she brought her troops that she’d brought out of the city through the gates. Her voice was very liud and I could hear her loud and clear from where I was.

And hot on Huang Zu’s heels were the victorious Zhu Ranand her troops who surged towards the city like a rising tide.

“Open the gates and tell the archers to get ready.” Gan Ning gave out the orders after she received the orders from Huang Zu. Her voice wasn’t particularly loud but it had power behind it.

Thereafter, the city walls lightly trembled as the gates below our feet opened, swirling up a great deal of sand.

“Everyone, wait for our troops to reach the safety zone before firing at maximum range on my mark.” Gan Ning raised her hand and got ready to give the signal as she said so.

“Watch and learn, my lord. When we have our own cities, we’ll have to do the same.” Chen Dao said to me.

“I know.” I said without taking my eyes off Gan Ning.

Compared to Zi Long, Chen Dao was nicer about it and I found it easier to accept.

“We should get ready to do battle as well.”

“Un.” I said as I drew the twing swords at my back while Chen Dao pulled out her spear with her left hand.

— No good! There are enemies at the west!

“What?”

A military courier suddenly rushed in and knelt before Gan Ning before delivering this message anxiously, which Gan Ning reacted to with disbelief.

“It’s not just the west side, there are enemies on the east as well. We are under a 3-p.r.o.nged attack!”

“Wu.” Gan Ning was speechless, and closed her eyes probably because she wasn’t able to process all this under such short notice.

I too was surprised as I didn’t expect my guess to be on the mark.

Good thing I was already prepared for it.

“My lord, the east and west are–”

“Yes.” I nodded, “Lord Gan Ning need not worry. Both sides are defended by Chen Gong and Liu Qi so all you need to do are to deploy additional help when there is need for it and we can hold out against the enemy.”

“… Un, I understand.” Gan Ning recovered when she heard what I said and nodded.

“Lord Gan Ning! The Administrator is approaching the city!”

When she heard this, Gan Ning put down her right hand with no hesitation, “Alright, fire.”

With a single orderly wave of humming bowstrings, more than a hundred arrows pierced the sky and flew out towards the distance.

I looked out, and saw that Zhu Ran’s troops were hit by the arrows as expected, with the bulk of the damage inflicted on the leading cavalry troops. The troops behind however, were unperturbed and continued to charge at the city.

“The Administrator and all the troops that left the city are back in!”

“Good. Close the city gates and fire again.”

*Sou* *Sou* *Sou* Another wave of arrows rained down, and another cohort of casualties resulted.

“Lord Gan Ning, can this gate hold?”

“We can hold. There are 3,000 men here.” She nodded.

So 3,000 against 3,000, looks like we hold the upper hand at this gate.

“Half of you, keep your bows.” Gan Ning lowered her head and gave more orders as Zhu Ran’s troops got closer and closer.

“Everyone! Get the siege defence tools ready and be ready to engage the enemy in close quarters.” Gan Ning drew her chopper when she finished.

“My lord, if you get in danger later, you must call for me. Protecting my lord is my top priority.”

“Alright, but please protect yourself first before protecting me.”

“Haha, my lord is so kind.”

Wu… Don’t you feel that saying these words at this time is a little mushy?

“Imperial Uncle, get ready.” Gan Ning reminded me, to which I wordlessly nodded and got into a stance as I waited for Zhu Ran’s troops to attack.

But in the next moment, Zhu Ran yelled out, “Change!”

What does that mean?

Gan Ning and I raised our heads and looked down.

“…”

“What!”

This!

All of us were shocked.

About 100 paces away from the city, Zhu Ran and Zhu Zhi split their troops into 2 and ran off in opposite directions from each other.

This means that–

“It’s over,” Gan Ning closed her eyes and softly said, “They’re not here to attack the main gate. They’re here to reinforce the troops attacking the east and west gates.”

“Then, that means that–” I was in disbelief, while Gan Ning nodded and tidied her scarf.

“Yes, the troops here at the main gate were the bait, and the real targets were the side gates.” Gan Ning said as she flung her scarf back and tied a knot with it so that it wouldn’t fly about.

But this is really bad. There are only a thousand odd troops defending each side gate so it will be difficult for them to hold out against the attacking troops now that the enemies at the main gate have gone to bolster them.

“Lord Gan Ning, let’s split. 1 of us will reinforce Liu Qi while the other will reinforce Chen Gong.”

“Un–”

“Gan Ning! Are you up there!”

While Gan Ning was still considering who to go where, a loud holler came from the ground. We hurriedly went to the other side of the walls and saw Huang Zu with her thousand odd troops.

“I’m here, Administrator.”

“Good! Bring 2,000 men and go reinforce the Young Mistress with Liu Bei. I’ll go reinforce Liu Bei’s strategist.”

“Understood.” Gan Ning nodded, and Huang Zu roared out as she rushed to the east with her cavalry troops.

“Imperial Uncle will be following me then.”

“Alright.”

“I’ll follow my lord.”

When she finished, Gan Ning began running across the coty walls while we closely followed. Because our troops were all infantry, we will not be able to make it there in a short time, and will take at least 10 minutes or so.

Though I’m still quite worried about Chen Gong and Zhou Cang, these were Huang Zu’s orders and I had to obery them. She was the Administrator after all and I believe in Chen Gong and Zhou Cang?

On top of the city tower, all of the troops defending the city were moving along with us. Some moved along the city tower and the city walls while the others moved in the city.

“I wonder if the other side has set up their cloud ladders.” Gan Ning muttered as she ran

(TL: Cloud ladders are a kind of scaling ladders. Imagine something like a fire engine but manually powered by humans.)

“I doubt it given that not much time has pa.s.sed.”

“No, this depends on how many there are in the force attacking the west side. If there are many, they can very quickly stack up the cloud ladders and charge into the city. If that happens, then it’s over.” Gan Ning said as she continued to accelerate, leaving us behind in no time at all.