"Once when Yan Kingdom was at its strongest... it opened the gates of Yecheng Pass." Ye Shouguan said coldly, "But, even at that time, the ever-victorious Yan general Tang Yi, known as the God of War, opened the gates of Yecheng Pass in the hands of my grandfather and father, yet ultimately did not dare enter. Why?" "Tang Yi feared that if he entered Yecheng Pass, he would be trapped by the well-fortified Xiliang soldiers on the high peaks at the sides..." Ye Shouguan looked towards the city walls on both mountain peaks, illuminated like a long dragon by lights, "And if they directly passed through Yecheng Pass to advance on Yunjing, Yecheng Pass would be reoccupied by the Xiliang army. How then could Yan’s forces manage without supplies? Should they rely on the northwest winds to conquer Yunjing?" This... is the real reason behind the impregnability of Yecheng Pass! To break through Yecheng Pass is not merely to open its gates; true conquest lies in taking the fortified high grounds on both mountain peaks! Perhaps because no one had ever successfully attacked up the city walls to those high peaks, Bai Qingyan underestimated the defenses of these peaks. Even if in the end, Xiliang soldiers were reduced to a mere hundred men, it would still be as difficult as scaling the heavens for the Zhou people to ascend. On the walls, there are huge stones polished for decades left unused, ready to roll down and crush anyone who attempts a direct assault along the walls! Hence, Ye Shouguan dared to send the soldiers from both mountains around to flank the Zhou army... Ye Shouguan clenched his teeth: "Bai Qingyan is too confident. She thinks... by committing her entire main force to open the gates of Yecheng Pass, she can, first... scale our built walls to take the peaks, and second... pass through Yecheng Pass to capture Deyang, Lean, Luquan, and Jingrong, pushing straight to Yunjing! Just dreaming!" "But what if the Zhou army, realizing they were being attacked from both sides, decided to break out through the southern gate of Yecheng Pass instead?! What if they took our Emperor of Xiliang and passed through Yecheng Pass to attack Deyang!" The commander loyal to Ye Shouguan feared Yecheng Pass would fall under Ye Shouguan’s command, "If they imitate the old Rong, taking where they conquer, then... the whole of Xiliang would know that the commanders of Yecheng Pass failed to rescue our majesty! There would probably be speculation across the nation... that you, General, had surrendered to Zhou!" Ye Shouguan considered that Bai Qingyan might press forward regardless, ignoring the army’s supplies, imitating the old Rong, looting the people’s grain wherever they go. However... Xiliang is suffering a grain shortage now, with famine widespread... It’s only a matter of time before starvation spreads even among the corpses. Even if they did plunder the people, they would still find nothing to take. "Bai Qingyan isn’t foolish enough for that!" Ye Shouguan clenched his fists tightly, "It was because of the jade brocades and furs, caused by merchants from Zhou, that made Xiliang’s people stop farming... Why wouldn’t Bai Qingyan know of Xiliang’s grain shortage? To provide grain for the Tianfen Kingdom’s troops, Xiliang’s people have been reduced to eating bark. What else could they let Zhou take?!" Fresh chapters posted on 𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹·𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑒·𝗇𝗲𝘁 "Therefore, for Bai Qingyan, it is undesirable to waste soldiers’ strength and energy to climb the high mountains, to disperse forces and attack the ultimately unassailable mountain wall fortresses. Better to concentrate forces on attacking Yecheng Pass!" Ye Shouguan’s gaze fell on Li Tianfu and Ye Yingnan, who were hung on the siege ladders, "She hung our Emperor of Xiliang on the ladders to force the soldiers on the mountain peaks to descend along the walls to rescues!" Ye Shouguan pointed to the trebuchets in the distance, speaking with affirmation: "Zhou wants to use our Emperor of Xiliang to lure the reinforcements from the high peaks down to save their emperor, look at those trebuchets, Zhou has endured without using them until now, why is that?!" Ye Shouguan, believing he had seen through Bai Qingyan’s tactics, sneered: "They are waiting for the moment when the soldiers on the high peaks rush down the city walls to attack our reinforcing soldiers. Zhou intends to put the battlefield in and outside Yecheng Pass, to expend our forces significantly! Zhou will certainly scale the city walls after that, making it much easier to conquer the fortress walls on the high peaks! I bet she’s planning just that!" Though Bai Qingyan fights bravely, she is nonetheless young. Moreover, having ascended to the position of the Emperor of Zhou, she holds the title of God of Slaughter, elevated by others, lacking experience. She’s probably relying on having their Emperor of Xiliang Li Tianfu as a hostage, thinking that, as long as she focuses on capturing Yecheng Pass, drawing their forces to aid their emperor... she can use the inside and outside of Yecheng Pass as a battleground to deplete their Xiliang forces, then assault their connected city walls! If in this battle, Ye Shouguan cannot capture Bai Qingyan... and the so-called young generals from the Bai family who survived by chance, then he would not be doing justice to the audacity of this young girl. Ye Shouguan had not forgotten the humiliation brought to Xiliang during the battle of Wengshan... This time, if this Emperor of Zhou, the so-called God of Slaughter Bai Qingyan leads the army and is slain here, then Zhou would be leaderless, not to mention, Xiliang would surely have its morale boosted, and could even wash away the disgrace from before! "Quick! Shoot! Fire oil! Fire oil! Shoot!" Ye Shouguan shouted loudly. However, their arrows had turned the heavy shields into porcupines and did the same to the siege ladders. The flames danced over the heavy shields and ladders but did nothing to halt the progress of Zhou. Xiliang soldiers are unafraid of death, for they defend Yecheng Pass! The Bai family army of Zhou fears not death; they come for vengeance! To stabilize the world... stabilize Xiliang, and create that peace the world’s people anticipate. But to stabilize the world, they first have to stabilize Xiliang, and to stabilize Xiliang... they must capture Yecheng Pass! Bai Qingqi already led small units to battle beneath the city gates, clashing with Xiliang forces several times their size. Wei Zhaonian’s warhorse was struck by a crossbow arrow, throwing him off. He hit the ground, rolled up, and cut down an enemy horse’s leg with his sword, slicing its rider off with one clean stroke. With one blood-red eye left, he grabbed a wild horse galloping past, leaped onto its back, held its reins, and redirected its head, shouting loudly: "The gate is within sight! Avenge our slain Bai family brothers! Swear to destroy Xiliang! Kill!" The soldiers followed Wei Zhaonian, roaring as they charged forward. Bai Qingyan led the main force behind, roughly calculating they were close enough, and seeing the Xiliang soldiers’ arrow assault on the walls weakening, evidently Bai Qingqi and Bai Jinzhao had infiltrated as planned into the city, slowing the Xiliang soldiers’ transport of arrow supplies to the walls. The Xiliang soldiers who had charged into the Zhou forces to obstruct their advance had all been cleared away, and Bai Qingyan had pushed the frontline extremely forward.