Chapter 9

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Kwan

Gate

Normal POV

"Ciringite Fronte! (Hold your positions!)" commanded Ma Cong.

By now all Zhao soldiers knew that the only way for them to survive was to break through the gate and hide within the city walls. Those who tried to flee into the surrounding trees but were quickly killed by either javelin or arrow. All Zhao soldiers surged to the gate, but what awaited them there was a slaughter.

A hundred Kwan soldiers formed phalanx at the gates of Kwan, with its flanks covered by the walls the soldiers in the formation had nothing to fear from their enemies. Defenders were all calm and collected, knowing that as long as they worked as one no enemy will pass them. Zhao soldiers on the other hand were in panic, they knew that the only way for them to live was through that gate. And so they tried to get to the gates as fast as they could, only death was behind. Thing is, they were already dead, they just didn't know it yet.

A wave of Zhao soldiers slammed into the Kwan phalanx, the lucky ones died from impact with shields, others were killed by spears, the unlucky few were stomped to death by their fellow soldiers. Wave after wave Zhao soldiers tried to take the gate and each time they failed. But Kwan soldiers while still holding the gate still suffered casualties, most of them from a lucky hit or an enemy spear. Ma Cong knew that this plan was a huge gamble and everything relied on him holding the gate, he will do his duty or die trying.

Walls

"Concentrate fire near the gate, thin their ranks!" commanded Zhu Fa.

While the enemy was swarming the gate Zhu Fa made sure that he and his men killed all the senior officers. This way they would ensure that the whole Zhao army was in chaos and did not have a chance to regroup and actually start attacking the gate in proper formation.

While the enemy was concentrated on the main gate and its wall they neglected the gate on the other side of the city. And through that gate went out Yang Jin and a hundred Kwan soldiers, all on horses. Their mission was simple, take the head of the enemy general.

Zhao

Li Chang POV

"What is going? Lieutenant, get that lot back into formation." demanded Li Chang

"I'm sorry general, but all the officers near the gate are dead and with all the forces scrambling for the gate the chain of command is broken sir." reported lieutenant.

"Damn it, I will kill that punk and burn this city to the ground even if it's the last thing I'll do." raged Li Chang.

The next moment he heard a loud impact sound from his far left and when he turned to look he saw a cavalry unit cutting their way to him. The cavalry didn't make a single sound, they were simply charging into his army's left flank and were killing everyone in their way. And as they cut their way to him, each and every one of them was silent and deadly, there was no command for charge, no war cries, only death cries of their fellow soldiers and that scared the Zhao soldiers more than anything.

What attracted the attention of Li Chang more than anything was the person leading the charge, he looked like a kid, but he definitely did not fight like one. The halberd in that person's hand was killing his soldiers in droves, with each swing more and more of his soldiers died. But what disturbed him most of all was the look in that person's eyes, he looked down upon his soldiers like they were insects and he simply swatted them away. Then that person's eyes locked on to him and he did not regard him as a worthy enemy whom he looked to slay to prove his worth. Those eyes looked at him with an eyes that a predator looks at a prey, and that pissed him off more than anything. He took his hammer from his back and charged at the insolent brat who dared to look down upon him.

Yang Jin POV

Some fool charged at me alone and on foot with unwieldy hammer in his hands. In my eyes he had a death wish, who am I to refuse him? As soon as he was within my reach I simply held the end of my halberd and brought it down upon his head. He raised his hammer and tried to deflect my halberd, he certainly did not expect it to cut through his weapon and bisect him. Well what can you expect, he had a simple weapon made out of iron, while my halberd was made out of high quality steel. Now, I need to go and find that general, I wonder where he is.

Flashback

When I commissioned my blacksmiths to create the weapons and armor for my soldiers, I did not want it to be made from pig iron or brittle steel. No, I demanded the best from my soldiers, its only fair that I gave them the best. Under my supervision, the craftsmen created the oxygen converter. When I explained to blacksmiths what it was going to do, I swear I saw some of them shed tears of joy.

The materials were inexpensive, Kwan being one of the trade hubs within Qin really helped. I made all the arrangements for the materials with Lu Su, and blacksmiths can take care of the processes needed. Kwan will have a good stock of high quality steel, there were no plans on selling this steel. During times like this, having the best quality of weapons and armor is crucial, I will not risk any of my enemies getting their hands on them.

After the first batch was completed, I made a commission for a halberd and armor for me. As long as no other enemy state gets their hands on the secret of oxygen converter, me and my army will always have an advantage.

Flashback End

Several hours later

Normal POV

After the last of the stragglers was killed by Ma Cong and his men, we started to gather the bodies of Zhao soldiers and pile them up outside the walls of Kwan into several huge piles. Ma Cong had a laugh at Jin's expense when Zhu Fa told him that Jin killed Li Chang at the beginning of his charge and didn't even notice. But at the same time he could understand how that happened, with all the chaos that was going on trying to find one man that you never even saw before with your own eyes is kind of hard. Lord Jin was sitting on top of the highest pile of bodies and looking towards Bai. Yang Jin was thinking about all the soldiers that died under his command, at the beginning there were a thousand and now there is barely above five hundred. His train of thought was interrupted when one of the scouts reported that reinforcements from Bai were nearing Kwan. Several minutes later a general Ou Ki and the reinforcements exited the surrounding forest and were obviously surprised that the battle was already over. Most of the senior officers were staring right at Yang Jin and he was staring right back. Several moments later Jin stood up and spread his hands and said:

"Welcome To Kwan!"

AN:

Sorry about not updating for so long, but I had to take care of several things on my end and did not have time to write. But I did not idle around, I made sure to do research when I could and got inspiration from several fics that I read. Now the Siege of Kwan arc is over and we're getting to Home of the Brave arc. This arc will see a lot more character development and will include canon characters. So I hope you liked the story so far, leave a comment and let me know what you think.