Chapter 20 Section VII

Ai Lan, the gatekeeper of Ming Chongmen in Nanguo, the capital, has been thinking: I have taken a job that I don't want most. After joining the army, he has been flattering and bribing Eunuch Lun for many years, and his official career has been promoted step by step. He never imagined that one day he would fight such a tough battle. What's more unexpected is that because of the long-term trust of Eunuch Lun, the most important position of defending Zhengnan City Gate was assigned to him. Ai Lan knew that he had no choice. He was more nervous about the defense of the capital than any general of the Forbidden Army.Everyone knows that Ai Lan is the number one figure of the "Lun Family" in the Forbidden Army. If the rebel army captures the capital, he will inevitably die even if he does not fight. Victory is his only way to survive.

Ai Lan led her personal guards to stand on the top of the Mingchong gate, overlooking the enemy formation with light shining beyond the darkness. ——It's best if they don't come over tonight, it's better to delay for another day... He knew very well that it was impossible for the imperial guards and the "civilian brigade" defending the city to defeat Lu Yingfeng's "splitting army" head-on.But with this towering city wall, it is not impossible to defend it for a few days, as long as King Qin's border guards arrive... But Ailan's wish came true. "It's moving!" A leader beside him pointed forward and shouted.

It is indeed moving, the "Splitter Army" brigade is approaching here. "Prepare for battle!" Ai Lan pulled out her saber and pointed towards the sky.The entire city tower suddenly changed from a tense tranquility to an even more tense noise.The fortification soldiers were busy all around, either adding fuel to the fire that burned the boiling oil, or pushing the falling stones close to the edge of the city wall.The longbowmen lit the oiled rockets, and the rest of the defending infantry put on their helmets and held the handles of their weapons tightly in their hands. Ai Lan also instructed the messengers to inform the defenders in other areas of the news.However, he didn't expect them to send much support: everyone knew that Lu Yingfeng's use of troops was unpredictable, and he dared not divide his own troops lightly.

The "Split Army" is like a black wave rolling in from a distance, especially when it is far away, it still does not feel its power, but the closer it is, the faster it is advancing. ——Is it really coming to attack the city head-on? ... The enemy striker is about to come within range.It is said that at the height of the city wall, the bow and arrow are a great advantage that the defenders have. Rows of archers, each arm ready to draw the string, trembled with tension. The "Split Army" suddenly stopped, just outside the range of the defenders' arrows. Alan stamped his feet.Lu Yingfeng obviously knew all kinds of boundaries of the capital's defense forces.

The enemy suddenly stopped moving.The tense situation made the 8,000 soldiers on the tower even more tense. ——Could this be Lu Yingfeng's strategy? ... "General, is there a mistake in the military situation?" A staff officer asked Ai Lan. "Looking closer now, the number of rebellious troops is not as high as expected..." Ailan took a closer look.Although he hadn't fought many battles, he had many opportunities to lead troops to patrol various ceremonies. The "Split Army" really doesn't look like there are as many as 30,000 people. "No... It's not that the news is wrong..." Ai Lan thought of the joints, and cold sweat oozes from under the armor. "It's the other party who has divided up their troops, and one of them has gone somewhere..."

Suddenly there was a thunderous commotion.Allan looked over. The main soldiers of the "Splitting Army" raised their weapons to the sky and shouted one after another. All the soldiers on the tower could not help watching. "General, we have to shout a few more times," said the staff officer. "Otherwise the morale will be lowered!" "Okay!" Ai Lan instructed the drummer to play the rhythm.The whole army responded immediately and also issued a neat shout. Most of the defenders are focusing on the psychological warfare in this space.Only some militiamen responsible for transporting behind the city wall found that there was something wrong with the nearby streets in the city behind the wall.

"I just saw someone..." "Is the forbidden army from elsewhere coming to help? Don't be scary, the enemy is still outside." There are already nearly 2,000 soldiers of the "Split Army" who have sneaked into the capital, and they have successfully entered a few streets behind Ming Chongmen.From Wuchangfang to here, there were only a few sporadic discoverers encountered on the way, and they were all wiped out silently, including defenders and civilians. The militiamen discussed for a while, and decided that it would be better to go and have a look, so they walked along Zhende Avenue.

Suddenly they heard the sound of horseshoes trampling on the stone road ahead. Only one ride. The militiamen looked ahead curiously. A majestic general in black armor, riding an equally black horse from the Western Regions, galloped along the largest street in the world alone. The general held the reins in one hand, and held up a frighteningly huge long sword in the other.The blade of the sword reflected the moonlight, emitting a frightening coldness. Frightened by this strange scene, several militiamen stood there dumbfounded.The black-armored general seemed to come from another world, not like a human at all, but like a wave of energy.

The energy of death, like the plague. Riding on the momentum of the horse, the iron sword swung horizontally, and two heads with bloody tails flew out. When General Heijia approached Ming Chongmen, crowds appeared on both sides of the road he passed, also wearing black armor.In the eyes of the few remaining militiamen, these enemies are like ghosts appearing out of thin air. They were quickly swallowed by waves of black-armored warriors. After the horse's scythe first charged towards Ming Chongmen, the imperial soldiers guarding the city gate and below the city tower were all shocked.

"'Invincible Tiger General' is here!" The sickle reined in the reins, and the horse's front hooves were raised high. "The east gate is broken!" Thousands of "splitting army" came running from behind him.At first they were very dissatisfied when they learned that this man who didn't even have a military certificate was going to lead them in the armor of a marshal; but after seeing the scythe all over his body for the first time, they were speechless. ——They felt that they were following the real Lu Yingfeng. Sickle jumped off the saddle and led all the soldiers to charge towards the city gate.

The overwhelming number, coupled with the momentum of the sudden attack from an unexpected direction, the more than 300 imperial troops guarding behind Ming Chongmen did not even have a chance to consider surrendering, let alone resist. Hot blood and minced meat were splashed on the ancient wood inside Ming Chongmen, the land in front of the gate became a sea of ​​blood, and the blood seeped out of the gate. The black armored soldiers have started to dismantle the fortifications behind the city gate, and another team occupies the huge winch on the side of the gate, ready to open the gate at any time. The defenders on the tower were still intoxicated in shouting, only then did they realize the incident at the gate below.Ai Lan was shocked, and immediately assigned the infantry team closest to the stairs to counterattack. — Never let them open the door! Lian Shou sensed the reaction of the defenders above, and rushed up the stairs to meet him.The spearman running in the front didn't expect the enemy general to be so fast, and before he had time to raise his shield, his neck was split diagonally by the iron sword! On the narrow steps of the tower, the iron sword with the sickle head rolled up blood-red whirlwinds one after another.There was no room to dodge, and no one or anything could stop the blade. Scythe kept swinging his sword forward, killing more than 30 people in the blink of an eye, this speed broke his previous killing record. Two people stumbled and fell out of the class trying to avoid the sharp edge of the sword. One was devastated on the spot, and the other broke his leg and was immediately stabbed to death by a bunch of "Splitter Army" spears.The ranks formed a small river of blood gurgling down, and some of the black armored soldiers who followed behind the scythe almost slipped and fell. At the same time, the "Splitter Army" outside the city began to advance again.Ai Lan was distracted from dealing with the enemy below, and didn't notice for a moment that the enemy army charged a long distance before giving the order to release arrows. The "Split Army" had already prepared, stopped and raised their shields to the sky, blocking the first rain of arrows, and only a few soldiers fell down from the arrows.The army immediately continued to charge. Because of Ai Lan's delay, he could only shoot this round of arrows, and the "Splitting Army" reached the city. The defenders were not prepared to fight against the enemy at the same time. The situation on the tower was extremely chaotic, and Ai Lan lacked the ability to deal with such a chaotic situation.Each unit didn't know how to distribute the enemies before and after the resistance, and some even collided with each other because of random reactions. Lian Shou boarded the tower.His iron sword has been cut in many places, and it is stained with the blood of sixty or seventy people. "Those who surrender will not be killed!" Scythe shouted, holding up his iron sword, and the black armored soldiers who followed behind him also shouted in unison. "The descendant will not be killed! The descendant will not be killed!" However, they had already rushed in, and the weapons in their hands did not stop for a moment. The morale of the defenders on the tower was almost completely broken, and they were unable to make any organized resistance.The main force of the "Split Army" below the city put up the siege ladder one after another, but no soldiers climbed up yet. — because they were waiting for a more direct passage. The last reinforcement behind Ming Chongmen was also dismantled, and twenty black-armored soldiers worked together to lift the horizontal bolt weighing a hundred catties on the gate. The capstan began to turn, and the cable was drawn into the wheel inch by inch. Hearing the sound of the winches and iron cables, Ailan felt that she couldn't breathe. At the same time that Ming Chongmen opened the front line, the sickle beheaded the hundredth person today. The first vanguard of the "Split Army" outside the city stepped into the capital through the gap of Ming Chongmen. Strictly speaking, this war has been declared over at this moment.