Chapter 102: Chapter 94: The Battle for Yan Province

After Qi Jinshan swung his sword to kill the envoy from the plains, the vast Yanzhou City finally started to truly move.

The first to be opened were the various weapon depots, where bundles of weapons were carried out of wine barrels by clerks. After a simple wipe, these weapons were handed over to the soldiers who had already donned their armor. Upon receiving these weapons, the eyes of the soldiers, who were poised for action, began to gradually turn red.

It was at this moment that the clerks brought out wine from the barrels to distribute to these soldiers.

"The monsters aren’t that scary, the monsters aren’t that scary..."

Muttering a variety of phrases to bolster their courage, the soldiers closed their eyes and gulped down the bowl of fine wine in front of them.

Immediately afterward, they opened their eyes.

Once the bowl of wine was in their stomachs, the redness that was about to spread to their eyes receded and instead reflected on their faces, suddenly making their complexion rosy.

Their blood began to warm up, and even their bodies seemed to gain some strength from nowhere. Upon tightly gripping the weapons in their hands, even the timidest soldier felt a surge of bravery in their heart.

"First squad! Guard the Governor’s Mansion and the government offices! Prevent any assassinations during the chaos!"

"Second squad! Third squad! From south to north! Fourth squad! Fifth squad! From west to east! Make sure to clear all the chaos and bandits! If there is resistance! Kill without mercy!"

"Hah!!!"

Under military order, one squad after another marched out of the arsenal. Armored and ready for battle, they took to the streets, directly replacing the Capturers who had long since been unable to hold on.

Red-eyed people charged over, wielding deadly short blades of all kinds. These frenzied individuals feared not even death, and the Evil Qi in their bodies made them far more skillful than ordinary people—however, this time they faced not the iron rulers and swords of the Capturers, but the soldiers’ heavy shield wall set up along the street.

"It can be torn open, it can be torn open! It must be torn open!"

Leading the charge was a burly, crazed man whose machete blade already shimmered with a blinding blood glow!

"It’s just a mere shield! How can I not break it! For me to..."

Swish—

Before the machete being swung down, the long spear thrusting out from the gaps in the shield impaled his body first.

The crazed burly man still wanted to charge forward, but the cross-branch of the spear caught his body, and the immense force of the spear even pushed the man face-first back—the second and third followed this burly man...those once unstoppable madmen were now all pinned in place by the spears, unable to advance even an inch.

The momentum of the frenzied madmen was halted, but the soldiers would not stop their advance.

The heavy shield wall began to move.

"Thrust! Attack! Thrust! Attack!"

With the command of the leader, the entire squad turned into a well-trained killing machine. The front row was responsible for raising shields for defense, the second row for thrusting with spears, and as the formation continued to advance, the third and fourth rows drew swords from their waists to follow up and prevent any lingering threats from emerging.

Agile madmen leaped onto rooftops, attempting an aerial assault from the flanks, but it was all in vain; those in mid-air were skewered by the spears extending from the shield’s formation before they even touched the ground.

The Evil Qi increased the frenzy’s dexterity and agility to far beyond human limits. But the soldiers they faced were no ordinary men either.

These soldiers wielding deadly weapons were at this moment in no way inferior to the crazed madmen!

Yet unlike those madmen, they retained their rationality.

So compared to those irrational frenzied madmen who only knew to charge to their deaths, these soldiers at least understood the dangers they couldn’t handle.

"Scatter! Quickly scatter!"

Seeing a shadow looming over their heads, the leader urgently shouted out.

Yet, even with the soldiers scattering as fast as they could, the descending giant man-faced eagle still managed to crush three men to death. Wherever its giant wings stretched, the soldiers’ bones broke and muscles tore—even though some soldiers had raised their shields to protect themselves as quickly as possible, the massive impact still injured their insides, causing them to vomit blood on the spot, unable to rise again.

And following the giant eagle were hunting dogs the size of horses; these enormous dogs, kept hidden within the city at some point, were tearing apart everything before them. Even the sturdy iron armor could not withstand their massive bite force. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

If the previous combat still lay within the human domain, then the current battle was something beyond human capability.

The soldiers gave their all to thrust their long spears, but they were effortlessly swatted aside by the giant man-faced eagles. The soldiers reestablished their shield wall, only for it to be scattered by the charging giant hounds. Under the relentless assault of these monsters, the previously orderly soldiers were instantly thrown into disorder and forced to fight separately.

Even their leader, having drawn attention from the loud orders, was directly seized by the giant man-faced eagles and torn into pieces mid-air.

After feasting upon the leader, the bodies of these giant man-faced eagles visibly grew larger.

These were not adversaries they could hope to confront.

"We’re doomed..."

In this moment, even with their blood fired up by the illicitly brewed wine, the soldiers were utterly hopeless.

If there was anyone who could stand against these monsters, perhaps it would only be the commander of Yanzhou’s forces, Qi Jinshan. After all, martial commanders appointed by the court mostly have the ability to wield deadly weapons—yet the commander himself was far away at the Governor’s Mansion, could he truly come to their rescue?

"So why aren’t you worried?"

With this in mind, many soldiers looked towards the Capturers who had been replaced from the ranks.

Compared to the soldiers, these Capturers, responsible for maintaining order, seemed quite calm, with no trace of despair on their faces; they looked as if they were waiting for something.

The soldiers knew they were waiting for the commander who couldn’t come, but the Capturers? What were they waiting for?

"Waiting for a flag."

Saying this, one of the Capturers raised his hand to point to the distant street corner.

"They’re here! He’s coming!"

"Who?"

Some soldiers instinctively looked up, only to see an old battle flag planted on a saddle.

And that blinding flame of five zhangs in length.

"Get down!"

Hearing the roar coming from afar, the Capturers skillfully dropped to the ground, dragging down the soldiers beside them as well.

Immediately, the blinding flame carved scorching paths in mid-air.

A foul-smelling blood rain poured down from the sky, along with the shattered bodies of the monsters.

After the scorching presence gradually dissipated, the soldiers and Capturers supported themselves to stand up.

"There are more over there!"

A Capturer proficiently pointed southward.

"I saw it earlier! The dogs came from that direction!"

"I came from there too."

The burly man shouldering the large blade dismounted from his horse.

"They’ve all been killed, all of them."

"Killed, killed all of them?"

At this moment, not just the soldiers, even the Capturers suspected they were simply drunk.

This city-wide disaster... was it really just ended like that?

Could such a nightmare of a day truly be over?

"...Not over."

Hearing the soldiers’ doubts, Du Chengfeng, shouldering the large blade, merely shook his head.

Even though all the monsters in the city had been slain, this still counted as no end.

For the impending battle of defending Yanzhou, this was only the beginning.

"It should be soon..."

Thinking this, Du Chengfeng couldn’t help but look towards the direction of the city gates.

But to his surprise, from the other side of the city wall, no cries of battle reached his ears.