Chapter 1612: Chapter 1612: Breaching the City

"Alright, you go personally. At this point, we can’t worry about too many formalities. For those irresponsible generals, formalities are useless anyway." Ye Shikai was also driven to desperation. From the start of the battle until now, apart from him leading the troops, no one else has made any moves, except for Huo Ziqing; however, he and his cavalry have other tasks, and Ye Shikai cannot demand he come to aid in the battle.

"As long as their lives are not harmed, other methods, whether soft or hard, don’t matter." Ye Shikai said decisively.

"Understood, I will go right away. If these bastards still refuse to mobilize the troops, I’ll make sure they pay for it." After receiving the orders, Shangguan Jian led the escort troops to depart.

"Brothers, attack the city with all your might."

The Qin Army’s cavalry was charging toward Wan City as reinforcements. Ye Shikai had difficulty focusing on the siege forces; he was equally concerned about the battle situation with Zhang Lan and Wang Lian. Each has ten thousand troops, stationed on the crucial route, awaiting the enemy, they should not be defeated easily and could at least hold the Qin Army off for some time.

Both sides fought fiercely until afternoon, all four city gates made progress; first was the eastern gate’s wall taken over, then the north gate was breached. Zheng Lang even personally led his escort to stop the breach at the north gate. Unfortunately, it was not the main attack direction; otherwise, if they could breach and stabilize the gate, the battle could end quickly.

"General Ye, look, General Man has already led the Iron Armor Army brothers to capture the city, those Qin soldiers are already unable to resist and retreating into the city."

"That’s right, General Li, you lead your subordinates and break through the city gate, charge into the city for me." Ye Shikai ordered.

"Understood, I’ve been waiting for a long time and can finally enter the battle."

Without the walls, the soldiers supporting the gate from the inside couldn’t hold for long, and soon, the bronze-covered gate was "smashed" into a large hole.

"Break."

With a loud rumble, both gates collapsed.

"Brothers, follow me." Already covered in blood, Man Cang shouted loudly, his sword was already bent and replaced with a long saber, leading the charge into the city, as the Qin soldiers holding the gate were defeated and began to flee.

"Great!" Ye Shikai shouted with excitement, once the gate was breached, the battle would soon be over.

"All forces, listen to orders, charge in, capture Zheng Lang alive." Ye Shikai drew his sword and shouted, with an order, the reserve forces behind yelled in unison, charging toward Wan City.

"Kill."

"Kill them."

With the battle at this stage, even if Zheng Lang had tremendous skills, it would be difficult to reverse the defeat; once the Chu Army entered the city, the Qin Army would not have the strength to resist, Ye Shikai planned to charge ahead and enjoy a good fight.

"General Ye, look, there’s a squad of our men there." A soldier pointed to the east and shouted, Ye Shikai followed the direction of the finger and surely saw a small group of troops heading their way.

"Stop, who are you." Ye Shikai shouted to halt them; upon closer inspection, the lead person was none other than General Zhang Lan, someone he was quite familiar with. "General Zhang Lan, how come it’s you? Weren’t you and General Wang Lian intercepting the Qin cavalry?"

"Qin cavalry... Qin cavalry’s numbers are too large, they rushed into our formation aggressively, causing heavy casualties for us... we’re barely holding on."

"Where is General Wang Lian?"

"He... is leading the remaining troops, still resisting; I came specifically to report the situation to you."

"How many are there in the Qin cavalry, exactly?" Ye Shikai asked urgently.

"About fifteen thousand or more; their speed is too fast. We had already laid an ambush, but still, it’s hard to resist. They seem uninterested in prolonged battle, only aiming to reinforce Wan City."

Intercepting fifteen thousand elite cavalry with twenty thousand soldiers indeed posed difficulties. If these cavalry were the best of the Qin Army, it was no surprise that Zhang Lan and Wang Lian couldn’t hold them off; however, Ye Shikai never expected them to hold out for this short a time. On careful reflection, these twenty thousand were not Ye Shikai’s "direct lineage," their combat strength naturally couldn’t rival Man Cang’s Iron Armor Army.

"Wan Qi Yuan."

"I am here."

"Take the cavalry unit to support General Wang Lian. Remember, you must hold the Qin Army for four hours." Ye Shikai commanded.

"Understood, I obey the order." Wan Qi Yuan took the order and immediately led his three thousand ironclad cavalry to rush in support of Wang Lian. They were a rapid marching force, showing Wan Qi Yuan did not dare show any slack. Now Man Cang was leading the Iron Armor Army in the city siege, it was impossible to pull him back; the only trump card in his hand was Wan Qi Yuan’s cavalry unit.

"Send orders to Man Cang, let him quickly handle the remaining enemies, we must hasten; the battle must end before nightfall." After saying this, Ye Shikai drew his sword and led the elite guards into the city personally.

"All soldiers, follow me straight to the governor’s mansion, all the ’big fish’ are inside." Man Cang led the charge down the streets, the Qin soldiers discarded armor, most were temporarily recruited laborers; after two days of bloody battle, they had been broken mentally; now with Chu’s forces breaching the city, they had no spirit to resist, throwing down weapons and helmets, hid into the market and houses, fearing pursuing Chu soldiers from behind.

In war, whether for victory or defeat, civilians are anxious. Now with the city fallen, they naturally worry about possible massacre by the uprising army. Hence, in these two days, nearly all civilians hid at home, not daring to go outside.

"Report to General, ahead is the governor’s mansion. The doors are tightly shut."

"Great, follow me." Man Cang slashed his way forward, the path strewn with Qin corpses, reaching the governor’s mansion, indeed, two bronze doors shut it tightly.

"Kick it open for me."

"Understood."

"Understood."

A few soldiers took a siege hammer, just one hit and the bronze doors were knocked down.

"Follow me in." Man Cang lifted his chopper and rushed in; expecting many Qin soldiers inside, yet upon entering, they found it empty.

"Spread out and search, I don’t believe they all fled." Man Cang had the soldiers scatter; he stayed with some trusted aides in the hall.

"General, what’s this?"

Everyone gazed at the ’treasures’ in the hall, jade artifacts, gold, silver, jewels, things they’ve never seen.

"These are treasures!" Man Cang stepped forward, gently picked up a jade artifact and began examining it, though unfamiliar with such things, displayed in the governor’s mansion hall ensures they are invaluable.

"Report, discovered a passageway." Soon, a soldier came to report.

"Damn it, they escaped through the passageway." Man Cang couldn’t help but curse.

"Pursue them for me."

"Understood."