Chapter 187 – Battle of Liyang - Part 17
'I can't waste time with the sword fight. I have to be efficient.'
Tong pulled out his pistol and pointed at the incoming Imperial soldiers.
*BANG* *BANG*
Two chargers were shot and collapsed, but the incoming soldiers did not stop. There were thousands of soldiers lined up below the siege ladders. As long as the ladders connected to the top of the wall, Zhu Jun's soldiers below could continue flooding the wall with numbers.
His free left hand dipped into his [Inventory] and took out a wine jar. He threw the wine jar at the wooden tower in front of him.
"Light the fire at the soaked location! Hurry!" Shouted by Tong.
One of the archers reacted first and shot a fire arrow at the wet wood. The fire ignited and burnt the outer wall of the ladder tower.
Like ants running away from the broken ant nest, the soldiers inside the siege ladder jumped off the tower to escape from the sudden fire.
'One down, four remains.'
'I'm too slow. I have to be faster!'
He observed the surrounding situation. Zhu Jun's force did not only rely on the siege ladders, but they also brought ordinary bamboo ladders for this siege. Some of the latched the bamboo ladders on the wall and started climbing.
The garrison soldiers on the wall also knew their duties. They poured hot oil and boulders onto the climbing imperial soldiers.
Tong rushed to the other two siege towers. After a minute of the lighted-feet-dashing-on-top-of-his-men, Tong already reached the chaotic scene near the second tower.
Five burly Imperial soldiers swung their maces, sending the garrison soldiers flying off the wall. These men were paving the ways for the invading troops.
"I spot the general! He's over there!" One of the burly men shouted.
*BANG*
Tong did not bother being intimidated or wasting his times introducing himself. He put a bullet into the burly man's head without hesitation.
*BANG* *BANG*
*BANG* *BANG*
Four more shots dropped the two-meter-tall men down.
The imperial soldiers who followed behind these men looked at Tong in shock. Before they got back to his sense, Tong splattered liquid substance from his [Inventory] at them with his left hand.
They were the boiling oil.
"ARGH!"
"AAHH!"
The attackers lost their momentum with a single oil splashing. The defenders stabbed their spears, killing the Imperial men on the wall using this chance.
Tong took a spared glaive from his inventory with his left hand and swung it horizontally, sending more Imperial soldiers flying off the wall. The blade part slashed those who were unlucky, cutting them in half.
One hand was shooting his pistol at a potential threat, while the other hand swept away the trashes. Tong took the role of a spearhead and led the garrison troops to gain ground.
After a few sweeps, Tong cleared the attacking troops on this sector and reached the tower. He let go of his glaive and opened his left palm at the soldiers who were still queued on the tower. Another boiling oil slammed at these men.
"Throw the wine and a torch! Burn them!"
Tong ordered and moved toward the other tower, leaving the clean up to his men as they had stolen back their momentum. In three seconds after Tong left them, the fire ignited and burnt the troops inside.
'Three to go!'
Tong decided to not running on top of his men's helmets. He leaped onto the tooth battlements on the outer edge of the wall and started running.
Because Tong stood out when the Imperial troops looked up from the lower ground, the archers below attempted to shoot Tong. Arrows flew at the locations he was previously. Two of them managed to touch his shoulder armor plate and ricochet off to the other direction.
In another minute, Tong reached another chaotic frontline on the wall. The Imperial troops had the upper hand and stabilizing a foothold for the following soldiers.
One of Zhu Jun's soldiers saw Tong coming toward them on the battlements. He swung his spear to the side, planning to make Tong lose his balance and fell off the wall.
Tong's overclocked mode was still active. He kicked the edge of the wall and leaped forward. The spear strike hit the air.
The soldier turned around to look at Tong if he fell down the wall. However, Tong did not fall. He leaped over to the air at the direction of the tower, but the angle was off to the outer side of the wall.
From the imperial spearman perspective, the guy just now jumped to his death.
However, from Tong's point of view, he managed to leap over the unnecessary obstacles. In a second, Tong's flying body reached the side of the siege ladder, but his altitude was about to decrease. His leap power reached its ending momentum, and Tong was about to fall to earth from the physic laws.
'Eep, I fOOked up.'
'Screw it. I can climb it back up.'
Tong tossed his pistol back in his inventory and took out a knife from his waist. He stabbed it into the tower side wooden protection, which the knife embedded into the tower. Tong exerted his strength to clench onto the knife handle. He managed to stabilize himself by hanging onto the handle of the knife, and tried to lift his body and climbed the siege engine upward.
"There's a guy on the side of the tower! Kill him!"
The Imperial soldiers on the ground shouted as they spotted Tong. The soldiers inside the siege ladder also heard the voice. They took a peek through the crack and saw a climbing man.
"There's a rebel over here! Give me a spear!"
Men in the siege ladder thrust their spears at Tong's direction. The spears penetrated the protection planks to the outside.
Tong sensed danger coming at the direction of his belly. He used all his power with his hands and fingers to propel himself up in the air again.
He succeeded, and his entire body moved up a storey. The spears missed.
By the sudden leap, Tong extended his hands and grabbed onto the ledge of the tower. As long as he managed to pull himself upward again, he would return to the top of the wall.
'Ho Lee Shet Damn! I thought I'd die for a second.' Tong breathed a sigh of relief.
*FOOM*
Tong heard an explosion from the other side of the siege ladder, and a smell of burning crude oil caught his nose.
The soldiers on the wall managed to regain the wall spaces. A strong man in Tong's army tossed a jar of crude oil at the tower and followed up with a torch.
The fire ignited on the other side and spread to the other parts quickly, yet the garrison soldiers did not stop throwing wine jars or boiling oil barrels at the tower.
'Damn it! Choose the time to be efficient, my soldiers!'
Tong wanted to curse out loud, but no voice came out of his mouth. The fire spread to his location so fast that he did not have a chance to complain.
Not wanting to get himself cooked by the incoming fire, Tong kicked the wall of the siege ladder and leaped to the wall. He managed to grasp the edge of the city wall with his right hand, and the wooden siege engine was engulfed in flame.
'Please don't let me do a Hollywood stunt too often. I will have a heart attack.'
Tong prayed in his mind while he was watching the collapsing siege ladder.
'Two more, and the south side should be safe.'
He lifted himself to get back on top of the wall. When he lifted his body, and his head got onto the top wall level, Tong saw a fight scene.
His soldiers were fighting well. They killed Zhu Jun's men one after another, which delighted the hanging onlooker.
As Tong was admiring the performance of his men, a burly soldier of Tong lifted an injured Imperial soldier and threw him down the wall.
Accidentally, he threw the soldier at the direction that Tong had just got himself up.
Unprepared, the torso of the thrown soldier slammed onto Tong's face, making his hand slipped off the edge of the wall.
'GODDAMMIT! I SHOULD HAVE LEFT THIS SIDE TO DEATH!' The frustration of Tong reached its peak.
There was no medicine for regret. Tong fell with the thrown Imperial soldier.
He had to do something before his body hit the ground, or he would die from the gravity impact.
'Let me borrow your body a bit.'
Tong grabbed a hold onto the imperial soldier in mid-air and put his body under him as a cushion.
Next second, both of them crashed onto the ground. The soldier's spine and bones were crushed by the sandwich impact, while Tong dislocated his shoulder and cracked his collar bones as he landed shoulder-first. The cushion Tong used still wore an iron armor after all.
Tong did not have the time to celebrate his successful landing. He dropped down into the enemy's territory. Thousands of Imperial soldiers were everywhere around him.
One of the Imperial soldiers rushed to the location of the fall as he was only a few meters away from the spot. Seeing that Tong was still alive, he thrust his spear forward.
'FOOk you!'
Tong rolled to the side and cast "Regen" on himself, healing the broken bones. He took out his gun and fired.
*BANG*
The bullet went through the right eye socket of the attacking soldier, killing him in an instant.
The sound of gunshot caught the attention of the surrounding soldiers. All eyes were on Tong. Soldiers who were queuing to climb bamboo ladders noticed Tong's uniform. It was an armor set of a general.
"ENEMY GENERAL!" He shouted and pointed at Tong.
'Crap! Screw it! FOOk it! NOPE! NOPE! NOPE!'
In a panic, Tong pointed his palm at the incoming thousand men of Zhu Jun. He released the boiling oil from his palm hose.
*ZAAA*
"AARRRGGH!"
The crowd was splashed with the boiling grease, deep-frying them alive.
Tong had to move his palm around to adjust to the direction of the closest soldiers to ward them away. For five minutes, it became a deadlock as Tong could not move away from this location and the Imperial soldiers could not get close to Tong.
The soldiers on the wall already noticed the odd situation. The archers shot down arrows from the wall to provide Tong supports. Some of them shouted to get a rope. Some of them tried to clear the soldiers on the bamboo ladders so that Tong could climb back up.
'I can't escape like this. I have to cut a path.'
Seeing the stalemate, Tong pointed his gun forward and started shooting at the direction nearby a bamboo ladder.
After a few shots, Tong emptied his clip. He reloaded the clip and pointed his gun at the direction of his nearest bamboo ladder again. He also changed from pointing his left palm forward into pointing his left index finger.
A long void gate appeared out of nowhere in the direction that Tong pointed at. More boiling oil came out from the gate. Another flash flood of hot grease engulfed the Imperial soldiers.
Meanwhile, the Imperial soldiers who did not affect by the flash flood started throwing spears and shooting arrows at Tong.
The overclock mode was still active, and Tong sensed the incoming attacks from his back and his side. He sidestepped, backstepped, and danced through the incoming projectiles while he kept shooting at the ladder direction.
"Annoying! Get lost!"