The Bodyguard King’s CEO Wife Chapter 1610: Letter of Petition to Join the Battle

"Hold your positions." Ye Shikai said coolly.

"General, I request per—"

"Enough, stand down. I’ll make the arrangements myself." Ye Shikai cut Man Cang off and ordered him to withdraw. Zheng Lang was personally standing at the South Gate; seeing his deployment there, Ye Shikai was certain Zheng Lang believed this was the main direction of attack, otherwise he wouldn’t have stationed so many troops to defend it. With Zheng Lang himself commanding at the South Gate, this was the perfect moment to throw everything at the East Gate.

"Send word to Shangguan Jian, have him lead the main force to assault the East Gate. If we can take it, the other three gates will collapse on their own." Ye Shikai ordered a guard to carry the message.

"Yes, sir."

"Keep the catapults firing, suppress the Qin Army archers." Ye Shikai shouted. Wan City’s walls were over four zhang high; the ladders had to be extended to reach the top. Many rebels had just climbed halfway up when they were shot down by volleys of Qin Army arrows, smashing into the ground below.

"Pour on the hot oil, light it." The soldiers poured hot oil over the stones, then lit them with torches. In an instant, a dozen Fireballs arced into the air and crashed onto the walls. Flames splashed, clinging to Qin Army clothing and burning; for a moment the Qin Army was thrown into chaos.

"Siege Hammer, get it up there and hit that gate for me."

Bang, bang.

Dozens of Soldiers pushed the Siege Hammer up to the base of the wall. The gate had been reinforced and plated over with copper coin; not only was its hardness greatly increased, it had become incredibly heavy. Even the heavy blows of the Siege Hammer could barely shake it, and on the inner side Qin Army troops were bracing the gate. After a long time there was still no progress. Ye Shikai was getting anxious: of the first wave of assault Soldiers, many were dead and many wounded, leaving only a handful. If they still couldn’t break through, he would have no choice but to throw in the second wave.

"Keep attacking the gate."

East Gate.

"Brothers, we’ve been through a hundred battles. The outcome of this campaign decides the whole war. All officers and men must be of one mind and throw everything into this assault." Shangguan Jian sat his warhorse, standing before the entire army, shouting at the top of his lungs.

"Brothers, can we win this battle or not?"

"We will win!"

"We will win!"

"Good. Brothers, we break Wan City today."

"Assault the walls!"

"Kill!"

Shangguan Jian commanded ten thousand troops and more than thirty catapults, suddenly launching a fierce assault on the East Gate, leaving no one behind; even the cooks grabbed blades and charged. A dense black mass surged forward. Very few defenders had been posted on the East Gate; faced with such a Big Formation, they were thrown into confusion. One flaming boulder after another smashed onto the wall, directly bringing down an arrow tower.

"Smash that gate open for me!"

Bang, bang.

On the wall.

"General Zheng, bad news! The rebel army has suddenly launched a full-scale attack on the East Gate, no fewer than ten thousand men. A third of the brothers at the East Gate are already down, they can hardly hold on."

"What? With me to the East Gate, quick!" Zheng Lang personally led his guard to reinforce the East Gate, only to find there were even more enemies here than at the South Gate.

"That bastard Ye actually put his main force at the East Gate. Truly cunning." Zheng Lang said coldly.

"General, the rebels are pounding our East Gate. The gate can barely hold."

"Quick, heat the oil and set it alight, pour it straight down."

"Yes, sir."

The Qin Army at the East Gate ignited scalding hot oil and dumped it straight down. The Soldiers manning the Siege Hammer were unprepared; the burning oil splashed over them, a pain worse than death itself, and that was before they were fully aflame. Many Soldiers were burned alive on the spot, and the Siege Hammer caught fire as well.

The two sides fought savagely for a full day, from daylight into darkness, but the rebels still failed to take the city. The walls changed hands again and again: Chu Army Soldiers had just scrambled onto the parapet when the Qin Army counterattacked; then more Chu Army troops rushed up to plug the gap. Back and forth it went until the gongs sounded the retreat. By then, the ground below and the wall above were carpeted with corpses.

"Over a thousand brothers lost at the North Gate."

"Roughly the same at the West Gate, about a thousand casualties."

"East Gate... more than two thousand dead, and over a thousand wounded brothers, most of them badly hurt and unlikely to recover any time soon." Shangguan Jian blamed himself bitterly. He had led the main force in the primary assault on the East Gate; they were the army’s hope. Yet... they had failed to break the gate, and lost more than three thousand men.

"The South Gate also lost two to three thousand." Ye Shikai let out a long sigh. In a single day, out of thirty thousand troops, seven to eight thousand had become casualties. Even if the lightly wounded could still fight, the seriously wounded and the dead together numbered six thousand. Who could bear such a heavy price without grief?

"Generals, this is not the time to lose heart." Ye Shikai clapped his hands. They were still at war; no matter how pained he was, he could not break down in front of so many officers.

"The Qin Army has also taken heavy losses, and the gates are badly damaged. That works to our advantage in tomorrow’s assault."

After a day of desperate fighting, the Qin Army’s morale had sunk to rock bottom. If night hadn’t fallen, they might well have taken Wan City this very evening.

"Shangguan, don’t blame yourself too much. Zheng Lang is indeed a capable General. To react so quickly and shift his main defensive force—this, I underestimated. That’s on me."

"General, please give me one more chance. Tomorrow I will take Wan City."

"I believe in you. The Qin Army’s morale is at rock bottom now. Tomorrow you will certainly break the city." Ye Shikai nodded.

"General Man, you cannot go in."

"Out of my way." At that moment, a commotion sounded outside the tent. Man Cang shoved aside the guards at the entrance and forced his way in.

"Man Cang."

"General Ye, General Shangguan, I have come to request to fight." Man Cang handed over a letter. Ye Shikai glanced at it; the paper was covered in names.

"This is the Iron Armor Army’s petition for battle. There wasn’t room for the names of all the thousands of brothers, so I had every Centurion sign as their representative." Man Cang explained.

"General, so many brothers fell in today’s assault, while we of the Iron Armor Army could only stand in the rear and watch. In my heart... it feels worse than death. Please, General, grant us permission to fight."

"Old Ye, tomorrow is the final battle. The Qin Army’s morale is low; we need to deliver a FATAL STRIKE. The Iron Armor Army is the spearhead of our campaigns. I say... grant Man Cang his request." Shangguan Jian urged as well.

Ye Shikai walked up to Man Cang and lightly patted his shoulder.

"Man Cang."

"At your command."

"Tomorrow you will lead the Iron Armor Army to assault the East Gate alongside General Shangguan. You must take the city. If you fail, don’t bother coming back."

"I am willing to sign a military warrant. If I fail, I’ll present my head to you." Man Cang said firmly.

"Enough, go back and prepare for tomorrow’s operation."

"Report!" Before Man Cang could leave the command tent, a Soldier rushed in.

"What’s happened?"

"We have just received intelligence: the various counties of the Central Plains have assembled a Qin Army of one hundred and twenty thousand. Their vanguard has already entered Nanyang County."