The Empress’ Livestream
chapter-522

Chapter 522: Three-way Battle (VI)

“Is the commander out of his mind for letting a weak bunch of little girls guard the city gates?” the soldier complained lazily while guarding the south gate. He yawned and two drops of tears were discharged from his eyes.

The comrade who patrolled with him muttered, “Don’t talk nonsense. You can’t afford to offend those women.”

“What’s wrong?” The soldier lifted his right eyelid lazily and said with disdain, “I used to be a bandit. Although I’ve started a new life now, I still know how women taste. They only know how to shriek at everything they see and they’re weak like little cats…”

The soldier was previously a bandit who raided and plundered houses before he started over. It was not that his natural disposition was evil, but life had pressured him too harshly. Like the youths in the village, he had no choice but to become an outlaw. Otherwise, he would not have been able to survive. There were many bandits like him who started a new life when they were offered amnesty and enlistment.

He was now a good person who no longer stirred up trouble, but it did not mean that everything in the past could be written off and treated as if it had never happened.

His comrade lowered his head and thought about it. Then, he said, “Other women are maybe like that, but these… you better not say that…”

Seeing that his comrade looked reticent, the soldier was flabbergasted. He questioned him closely with curiosity, “What’s so special about these women?”

His comrade pondered for a moment and replied, “In short, they’re different from those who only know how to cry and be a drag. The spears that they’re holding in their hands are not for show and they’re all used to kill people. These women have some skills too. Unfortunately, I heard that there’s a law that says these female troops can only retire from the military, get married and have children after they turn 24 years old. Otherwise, I really want my mother to propose a marriage and marry one of them…”

The soldier almost could not stifle his laugh. “You’re really weird. You want tigresses but not gentle women? As expected, you’re still young and you don’t understand how women taste. When you’re older and have a broader horizon, you’ll know what a real woman is.”

The ridicule made his comrade flush with embarrassment. How could he not understand the connotation of the soldier’s words?

However, he still shook his head frankly. He suppressed his voice which sounded a little uneasy.

“I think tigresses are pretty good. So what if they’re fierce?” His comrade spoke somewhat embarrassingly, “Isn’t the world different now? I heard a few guys say that the bastard cannibals in the north Borderline are coveting Dongqing. If you marry a woman who only knows how to cry and scream when she runs into those bastards, she’ll end up being raped. If they’re raped, at least they’re still alive. But what if they’re eaten?”

The soldier was startled. He seemed to have not thought about that.

As they were talking, a team of two female soldiers was patrolling opposite them.

“Has anything happened?” the female soldier asked from opposite.

The troop answered, “All is normal.”

The two parties reported on their tasks and continued to patrol.

As the female soldiers left, the male soldier mumbled, “They’re pretty up to the mark.”

At that time, the battles at the west and north gates were reaching their climax.

The stones were used up. The baked bricks flew towards the Tsing Yi Army, knocking them down the walls.

When the extra bricks had also been depleted, a mountain of dead bodies covered with blood had piled up at the bottom of the walls.

The two sides were in a killing frenzy. More and more members of the Tsing Yi Army climbed up the walls, but more and more members of the Tsing Yi Army died at the bottom.

The troops on the city walls defended the city walls with flesh and blood and fought for every inch of land. The sound of slaughtering resounded through the skies.

That night was destined to be a bloody one. No one could sleep peacefully.

Fortunately, the offensive and defensive battles had depleted most of the main forces of the Tsing Yi Army. In the end, there were only 600 or 700 members of the Tsing Yi Army who could climb up the city walls. Under Feng Jin’s orderly command, the troops used some of the defensive weapons that were left and defended persistently.

They advanced and retreated, utilizing the geographical advantage of the city walls to slowly wear out the strength of the Tsing Yi Army…

Xiangyang District did not lack any defensive weapons at all, but it was a two-front battle. Half of the defensive weapons had to be allocated to the other gate.

Feng Jin had been mentally stressed. Even if he was commanding at the back, there were still members of the Tsing Yi Army who dashed towards him. Their blood stained his wide sleeves and cloak red. Occasionally, stumps and broken limbs or the heads of strangers would roll towards his feet. Almost nowhere in the city walls was clean.

At the crack of dawn, there were a few scattered stars in the dark cyan sky. The yellowish orange sun shone on the earth, piercing through the night.

The killing screams at the west and north gates had gradually subsided.

General Pingtian did not even go down the stairs leaning against the city walls. He was randomly stabbed to death by a spear. The ladder was covered with dead bodies.

Most of them belonged to the enemy and there were a few that belonged to their comrades.

At that moment, the battle at the south gate had just started.

The members of the Tsing Yi Army in Maolin District were menacing. However, they did not make a surprise attack late at night. They chose to launch an attack by force when the night began to dawn. There were 2000 more members of the Tsing Yi Army there than that at the west gate.

As the troops at the city gates were already prepared, the first storm of sneak attacks did not cause any casualties with the protection of the wooden shields.

As the leader of the imperial guards, Luo Yue was perfectly competent. Commanding a defensive battle would not throw him into a panic.

Luo Yue’s command was sterner, which was different from Feng Jin’s comprehensive instructions.

If Feng Jin was said to be a seemingly soft but fine, gapless mesh, Luo Yue would be a thick and strong shield.

The former was more meticulous and the latter was more mature.

Jiang Pengji took away most of the elites and only took 500 to 600 female troops with her. The number of female soldiers who stayed behind was almost one-fourth of the garrison in Xiangyang District. Luo Yue heard that the female troops were quite capable, but he had not witnessed it with his own eyes, so he was somewhat worried.

However, the reality was far better than what Luo Yue had imagined.

He initially thought that they might lose their heads or scream in the face of such a huge battle because they had not seen blood. However, they did not.

He secretly praised Jiang Nongqin and his lord for knowing how to train people. The female soldiers who only knew how to cry in his imagination actually had the courage that was no less than that of men. They used the improved crossbows correctly and their shooting was accurate as well.

Well, who would care about genders at the crucial moment of life and death?

The male and female troops cooperated to tighten the string of the mounted crossbow and shot the incoming enemy. The troops who lifted the shields blocked the hails of arrows which were shot from the bottom of the city walls. However, there were always arrows which zoomed past the wooden shields and injured someone. The arrows penetrated into their flesh. Although it was not fatal, the injuries were quite serious.

In such a time, there was no one who could take the injured for treatment.

They could only pull the arrows out with brute force and bandage the wounds tightly with strips of cloth which were torn from their clothes in order to avoid excessive bleeding.

Compared with the west and north gates, the defensive weapons at the south gate were more sufficient. The mounted crossbow kept the enemy 500 steps away.

The Tsing Yi Army tried to get close to the city walls of the south gate by holding their shields, but the penetrating power of the mounted crossbow was far scarier than what they had imagined.

However, although the mounted crossbow was powerful, there were only more than 30 mounted crossbows on the city walls. It was impossible to block all of the members of the Tsing Yi Army.

At last, they abandoned hundreds of corpses and finally got close to the blind spot of the mounted crossbow.

“Damn it… I finally know why the animals don’t bite this iron tortoise. One’s teeth will break with just one bite!”