Chapter 92: Blood Battle at Changping Pass 5

“Kill…”

Wei soldiers raised their long swords and roared as they charged up the city walls. The Qin troops were no less eager to strike back. After roaring to steel their courage, they slammed into the opposing Wei infantry with equal fury.

In an instant, blades flashed and swords clashed, the air thick with the ringing clash of steel. In the brief, brutal exchanges that followed, both sides suffered terrible losses—hundreds of lives lost in the space of a single moment.

Despite the Qin army’s fierce resistance, the Wei troops’ defensive line held only by the barest margin. Their ability to remain anchored at the city gate, even outnumbered, was itself proof of their valor. They could only wait for the next wave, and that wave was not far off.

In just a few minutes, another thousand or more Wei soldiers would swarm onto the battlements. It was clear that unless the tide turned, the Qin army’s disadvantage would grow still more dire.

Gu Jian saw the truth at once, yet he felt utterly powerless to stop it. The Wei assault was overwhelming in sheer strength; no amount of cunning or deceit could change that, not unless the Qin army could match or exceed it with force of arms they did not possess.

He shook his head bitterly. Down below, Yinghui’s entire division stood idle, offering not the slightest reinforcement.

If Changping Pass fell, the disaster would touch not only him but his entire clan. Gu Jian gathered the last of his personal guards and pushed through the chaos to the rear of the fighting line.

His bright armor gleamed as he emerged behind the melee. His voice cracked with raw emotion as he roared at the top of his lungs, “Soldiers! The Wei are wolves and jackals! If they break through Changping Pass, the next families to be slaughtered will be your own!”

The words struck like a whip across the ranks. For the first time, the Qin defense stiffened and even began to push the Wei assault backward.

“For our parents! For our wives and children! Kill!”

Gu Jian’s cry tore from his throat. The army’s morale ignited. In the fire of protecting what they loved, the Qin soldiers surged forward with fresh strength, driving the Wei troops back from the walls.

The Wei line began to give, not because they were faltering, but because the enemy had become fearless of death itself.

Just as the Wei were being hurled from the city walls, the second wave arrived.

The tide of the battle reversed. Their great victory had given them the heart of men who feared nothing. They fought not merely for fame or wealth, but for honor and the ancient dream of their ancestors.

Their forefathers had once been broken and buried in the sands here, humiliated and driven back to Wei. Now their king led them in revenge. This time they would conquer with unmatched might.

“Kill!”

A thunderous roar shook the walls. The shame of their ancestors would be washed away in the blood of the enemy.

Fresh troops swelled their numbers. The Qin line was forced back several meters. Though still more than twice as numerous, the Qin advantage had vanished. Stepping over the broken corpses of their foes, the Wei soldiers fought with renewed savagery. Nothing was sweeter than grinding the enemy beneath their boots.

Gu Jian’s army had never been fully organized, and the earlier battles had already stripped them of strength, will, and courage. Facing such savage close combat, they fought with exhaustion and frustration.

They were Qin regulars who had clashed with the fierce powers of Chu and Wu, yet this was a different, far more terrible war. Such intensity could not be compared to the small skirmishes of Tielin City.

On the walls of Changping Pass, every man was a reaper. They harvested life itself, and not every soul could endure the role. After the third and fourth waves landed, some Qin soldiers broke and fled. The supervisory team moved among them without mercy, their blades ending the flight at once.

Only this brutal enforcement checked the further collapse.

Gu Jian understood that unless the tide turned, the Qin army would shatter in an instant. His only task was to keep their courage burning. He must make them forget fear, forget caution, and fight without thought of life or death.

“Soldiers! The supervisory team is right behind us. To retreat is to die. To stay and fight for the state, for our children and grandchildren—that is the only honorable way!”

Desperate, he offered his final appeal. Since family could not move them, he would use their own lives.

As long as hope was gone, they would cast off everything and fight to the last.

This was the same strategy Wei Wuji had used at the Spirit River.

The words proved their power. The Qin army’s roars grew fiercer, their voices rising in wild exultation. The crazed soldiers fought with a savagery three times greater than before, and they were already at the edge of exhaustion.

Nearly ten thousand men from both sides were locked together on the walls, yet the two forces were now almost equal in number. The Qin had lost nearly two thousand dead and more than a thousand wounded, all on the brink. The Wei had suffered around three thousand casualties.

The Wei army’s ferocity was terrifying. Their speed in taking the city was inhuman.

Fresh Wei infantry continued to pour onto the walls. The once-empty Changping Pass began to crowd again.

“Warriors! Kill! The Qin are spent! Break them!”

The first time the Wei had roused their men’s hearts with words.

“Kill…”

The single word summed up their rage. In their eyes and hearts there was only one thing: kill.

Gu Jian’s advantage was slipping away. Even he no longer knew how long his men could hold.

He turned to the soldier beside him. “Go and urge Yinghui. Tell him that if he does not come at once, after Changping Pass falls, he will be the betrayer of the entire Ying clan.”

His eyes were bloodshot. He was nearly mad.

After the messenger left, Gu Jian lifted his sword and whispered, bitter and broken, “Yinghui… Yinghui… are our grudges truly more important than the safety of Qin?”

He stepped forward into the fray, resolved to die with honor. Changping Pass could not fall into his hands. How could he face his ancestors of the Gu clan?

“Brothers, today we fight the enemy together!”

Gu Jian leaped forward and brought his blade down on a Wei soldier. Seeing their general enter the slaughter, the Qin troops—already on the edge of ruin—once more withstood the savage charge.

Gu Jian breathed a sigh of relief. He only needed to hold until Yinghui sent reinforcements. His mission would then be complete.

The Wei officer was furious. He launched a more ferocious assault toward Gu Jian’s position.

“Break them!” he bellowed. Victory was within reach; they could not wait.

At that moment, below the walls, Yinghui judged the moment right and led his troops forward toward the city gate.