Li Dian POV

I carefully looked at Lu Xiang and saw that she was staring fixedly at her elder brother’s corpse and wondered what she was thinking about.

Could she be thinking about her memories with her elder brother? Or about their promise to sleep together tonight? I do not know. All I can see if tears continuously streaming down her cheeks as she mumbled “big brother” over and over again.

At the same time, Zhao Yun on the other side continued her scolding incessantly, though she did not seem like a crude person at all despite all that, as she looked at us. She then made her way to Lu Kuang’s horse–

“Zhao Yun! What are you–” I yelled, fearing what she might do but things did not go as I thought they would.

*Tatatata*

She merely slapped the horse’s rump and sent it back along with Lu Kuang’s corpse back to our side. She then raised her hand and stopped the yelling from her side.

“You lot should be grateful to me for leaving an intact corpse.” Zhao Yun spat out at us.

Though her words were poisonous, she did not seem arrogant or outrageous and seemed to be merely showing respect for the dead. This was probably just her showing her dignity and pride. If it were not for the circ.u.mstances we were under, I would have given her full marks.

*Tatata*

“Big brother.”

I do not know if it was the horse’s will but it stopped right beside Lu Xiang. Lu Xiang lightly called out to her elder brother’s corpse but she did not leap over like she had been doing the past few days and merely reached out with trembling hands to touch her elder brother’s stiff and stubbly face.

I would like to say that death is ever-present but it’s clearly better for me to stay silent under these circ.u.mstances. Besides, I cannot say that I was not responsible for what happened at all.

All I can do now is to stare ferociously at Zhao Yun and her lieutenant, and wait for an opportune moment to order my troops to charge. I do not know if Lu Xiang can still fight but even if she is unable to, I still must command the troops to do so.

Battles are not about individuals after all. The death of a commander in a pre-battle duel can impact troop morale but it’s still possible to win with a numerical advantage.

Though I cannot do anything for Lu Kuang, I have to fight this battle. And so, Zhao Yun and I stared at each other, waiting for a single moment. Once again, I am forced to admit that I am her lesser.

She could have called her side to charge at her just now and ride on the morale boost from her win, trampling us down, but yet she did not do so. Instead, she gave us time to grieve for our lost general.

In the skies, there were only dark clouds. No birds could be heard and only a light breeze could be felt.

Just then, a strong wind kicked up sand into the air.

— Now!

“Charge!” I yelled as I pointed my spear to the heavens. In the next instant, the thunderous yells of 10,000 men filled my ears and our side charged for Xinye city like ferocious beasts.

“Kill!” Zhao Yun’s lieutenant yelled as she pointed her spear at our side and charged forth.

As I looked at where the 2 sides would meet and saw that my own personal troops had already made it halfway, I felt that it was time for me to join the charge as well. I turned and looked at Lu Xiang who also looked back at me, and saw that she was still looking lost as she held her elder brother.

“Are you alright?!” I yelled at her to which she nodded.

“Hundred-man general.” Lu Xiang called out in a tearful voice to

an officer in her personal troop.

“Here!”

She frowned and replaced her elder brother’s corpse on the horse before looking seriously at him as she said, “Take the reins and lead the horse back to Fan city with some of your men. Protect big brother, don’t let him get wet or dirty. *s.h.i.+ku*”

Lu Xiang inevitably teared when she said this but she tightened the grip on her spear and looked at me. Looks like she’s ready now.

I nodded at her and yelled, “Troops! Continue charging! Charge!”

I raised my spear and sung my reins sending my horse galloping into the fray with Lu Xiang close behind. At this time, both sides have already met in battle.

“Hei!” I yelled as I swept my spear out at incoming enemies.

“Yaa!” I looked at the side and saw that Lu Xiang was already engaging multiple enemies fiercely with her spear, sending men flying in every direction.

Though she said she would not pay attention to what had happened to her elder brother for now, it’s understandable for her to vent a little at this time. It will be impossible to fully suppress her rage after all. At the same time, this sort of zeal can perhaps be beneficial, seeing that our personal troops have penetrated enemy lines in just 1 charge.

“Haa!” I swept aside the surrounding enemies and looked into the distance and found that Zhao Yun’s troops were having difficulty holding their ground.

This was certain to happen. Their numbers are fewer for one and they are lightly geared in comparison to us as well. All of our troops are equipped with heavy plate and there is no way that light infantry can possibly prevail against heavy infantry. What could they be thinking?

Un?

“Yaa!”

I felt killing intent from behind me, followed by a yell, and instinctively turned as I raised my spear to block the incoming attack. The spears met with a heavy *Dang* and deflected as both of us took several steps back. When I took a closer look, I saw that it was not Zhao Yun, but her lieutenant.

“Chen Dao Chen Shu Zhi, here to do battle with you!” That person saluted and declared her name. I felt irritated but I still blew my fringe up as I saluted her.

“”Yaa!!””

In the next instant after we saluted each other, we both charged at each other as we yelled.

*Ding*! *Ding*!

2 clear sounds rang out at spearhead met with spearhead and we pa.s.sed each other by. I hurriedly stopped my horse and did a u-turn, only to see that Chen Dao had begun charging at me again, and hurriedly ordered my horse to charge as well.

“Yaa!” “Haa!”

*Ding* *Ding*! *Ding*!

Another 3 blows were exchanged with no clear winner.

“Haa!” This time, I was able to halt my horse first and turned around before stabbing out with 1 hand at Chen Dao!

Chen Dao frantically raised her spear to block my attack as she veered to the side. I saw this and turned my wrist so that my attack would aim for where she was leaning to.

*Chiiiira* *Dang*!! After my spear slid past hers, it went straight for her chest and made a dull clunk. When I looked over, I saw that my spear had landed right smack on her chest protector.

Kuh! I missed it!

“Yaaaa!” Just as I was thinking of pulling back my spear and attacking again, Chen Dao was quicker nd deflected my spear away, forcing me to pull back and abandon my attack.

Wu… I did not think that her lieutenant would be this strong. Yue Jin once told me that having good martial prowess is beneficial but the secret to longevity was having good luck. I only gave her 60 points back then but it seems like that a.s.sessment was mistaken.

“Hmph! You’ve lost!” Just then, Chen Dao declared this with an unnatural smile. She probably only has a serious expression on all the time and is only smiling to provoke me.

Lost? Why?

Naturally I will not be frightened by these baseless words. Though taking the city is probably impossible, our numerical and type advantage means our victory is all but certain.

Kill…

“Listen,” I said as I raised my spear and pointed in the direction where our troops came from, “Our troops are still poring in and there is not even a squeak coming from your city.”

As expected, Chen Dao’s smile disappeared when I said this. But just as I thought that I had rendered her speechless, she gave a natural, bright smile.

“Is that really the case?” She asked softly as she raised her spear and pointed it in the same direction as me, “Look.”

Un?

Kill!!!!!

What?! When I turned back, I saw another wave of troops charging towards us. For an instant, I naively thought that they were reinforcements for our side until I saw the words “關” and “飛” emblazoned on their flags.

— But it has been perfectly calm the entire time. There was no ambush or any resistance whatsoever.

— I would have expected to be ambushed several times now.

Wu! So there was an ambush but they did not expose themselves until now?! d.a.m.n it! We fell for it!

“Kuh!” I groaned as I felt despair from what I realised but did my best to hide it and looked about. What I have to do now is to get Lu Xiang and retreat as soon as possible…

“Where are you looking at? Your opponent is right here!”

*Ding*!

“Kuh…”

Chen Dao came attacking once more. Blocking her attacks was fine but now was not the time to be getting bogged down in a duel here with her.

“Trying to escape? Not so fast!” She yelled as she swung her spear at me once more.

I dodged to the side and held my reins with one hand as I stabbed at Chen Dao with my free hand. Chen Dao frantically dodged and I used the opportunity to swing the reins and gallop away.