The massive hot air balloon flew high across the twilight sky. As the Black Flag Army slowly advanced into the line of engagement, a rain of arrows, like locusts, streaked across the sky, a dark mass launched into the air.

The Black Flag side returned fire in kind.

Tens of thousands of troops, tens of thousands of arrows, stretching across miles. Within this sea of people, Zhuo Yongqing raised his shield, covering his companions who had just released their arrows. Then came the crackling sounds as arrows struck his shield and bounced off. Around him was a buzzing commotion, shouts and cries of pain. Zhuo Yongqing could clearly hear someone yelling, "I'm fine! Fine! Damn unlucky..." A moment later, a shout rang out: "Charge—"

His companions' bodies tensed. Then, Zhuo Yongqing shouted loudly: "Charge!"

At that moment, thousands of people were shouting, shouting as they held their shields, mustered their strength, and suddenly surged forward, the sound of their footsteps roaring like a tide across the ground on the extended line.

"Kill—"

The shouts were overwhelming. Facing them was an enemy formation of twenty thousand, divided into several ranks, the earlier arrows having only caused slight ripples in this sea of people. The commanding generals were shouting: "Hold the line—" The front of the army formed a shield wall and a forest of spears. The commanding general on this side, Fan Yu, constantly ordered his men to fire arrows—compared to the charging five thousand, his army outnumbered them nearly five to one, and arrows could still be fired in succession after the initial volley. However, the sparse second volley didn't have much of an impact. He stared wide-eyed at the scene, his teeth unconsciously clenched, his gums aching.

This wasn't orthodox warfare, and didn't resemble the armies of the Wu Dynasty at all. A mere force of ten thousand, leaping from the mountains, had charged straight into the main battlefield, then, with five thousand detached, launched a frontal assault on his own twenty thousand troops, as well as the seventy thousand in reserve. This suicidal momentum was more akin to the Jin army. Yet, the Jin were invincible for a reason. This army, though having a good record, couldn't possibly match the Jin, could they?

That's what he had thought before, but at least at this moment, the astonishing actions of the enemy made him question his assumptions. "Hold them back—" he roared, while ordering his men to try to shoot down the "magic" in the sky with powerful bows. The distance of an arrow's flight was reduced to zero!

The rumbling sound, the continuous roar like a sea tide, came from the collision of shields. All kinds of shouts merged into one. At the moment of impact, the front line members of the Black Flag Army tried their best to dodge, avoiding the thrusting spear tips. The enemies in front were shouting frantically, their spears stabbing. The second row slammed into them. Then the third row. Zhuo Yongqing used all his strength to push into his companions!

"Yaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh—"

Solid footsteps constantly pushed back, pushing forward! The shield wall stalemated for a moment. In the second row, Luo Ye could almost clearly feel the friction as the enemy formation retreated. The enemies defending in place couldn't withstand the instant force. He took a deep breath: "Everyone—one!"

People around him were squeezing, but the responses sounded scattered: "Two—"

When the third shout rang out, the voices around that group became aligned. They shouted at the same time: "Three—"

Everyone exerted their strength at that moment!

In front, the shields and the enemies behind them were pushed away. Luo Ye and his comrades swung their steel sabers. With a swoosh, they slashed down, and the white wax pole spear was cut off, flying in the air. Luo Ye already saw the eyes of the soldiers in front, looking just as fierce and savage, their eyes bloodshot, but with a hint of panic—that was enough.

His second saber swung out. Around him, countless people were advancing, killing into the crowd. The long saber struck a shield with a bang, sending wood chips flying. Luo Ye pressed forward, bringing his saber down on the enemy's head and face, which were enlarging before him. Under the full force of that blade, he barely felt the resistance of human bones. The enemy's body only shook, and blood splattered everywhere!

The saber is really useful...

That thought flashed through his mind. The sticky red had already spread. Someone let out a roar from the most savage part of their heart.

"Killllllllllllllll—"

The killing front line spread forward like an angry tide.

A hot air balloon dropped a package of explosives, causing a deafening explosion near Fan Yu's banner. Some soldiers glanced towards the rear. Fan Yu was unharmed. He screamed loudly, ordering the soldiers around him to push forward, ordering the soldiers in the front row not to retreat, ordering the military law enforcement team to step forward. However, on the fighting front, a blood and flesh ripple stretching for miles was spreading wildly.

Zhuo Yongqing was constantly moving forward. There seemed to be many people in front of him, some resisting, some running away. With people squeezing together, it was extremely difficult to increase speed. Some people were knocked to the ground, and the Black Flag soldiers with their long spears stabbed them one by one. Before long, Zhuo Yongqing swung his first saber. This saber swung into empty space—it was an enemy desperately trying to retreat, clenching his teeth and slashing in his direction. Zhuo Yongqing, as in every training session, swung his saber with all his strength. The man collapsed backward, desperately retreating. A companion rushed past Zhuo Yongqing and thrust a long spear into the man's stomach. Another companion slashed the enemy down with a saber.

The tide continued to push forward, expanding its area on this twilight plain. Some people knelt directly on the ground, shouting: "I surrender! I surrender!" Luo Ye led his team to crush them, shouting as he advanced: "Turn around and fight, and you may live!" Some were still hesitating and were cut down by his saber.

The military law enforcement team behind the army cut down several fleeing men, holding the edge of the battlefield. But soon after, more and more people were fleeing. Some soldiers were originally in the center of the formation and it was too late to flee to the sides. Their eyes red, they swung their sabers and charged. Less than half a quarter of an hour after the start of the battle, the collapse of the twenty thousand was like a sea tide rolling back. The military law enforcement team held the line for a while, and then those who couldn't escape were swallowed by the tide.

Fan Yu stared blankly at all of this. He looked back. Yan Zhenguo and the others in the seventy thousand strong main camp must also be watching in stunned silence. In addition, there was Zhong Lie on the city wall, and Wanyan Loushi from the Jurchen must also be watching. He clenched his teeth, his eyes bloodshot, let out a shout of "Ah—", and then led his personal guards to flee south on horseback.

With Fan Yu's escape, a cavalry team also rushed out of Yan Zhenguo's camp, chasing after Fan Yu. This was the result of Yan Zhenguo stomping his feet and shouting in the army: "I want to kill him! I want to kill him! Immediately send someone to bring him back to me. After this battle, I will kill his whole family, I will kill his whole family!"

The bloodshot eyes and frantic shouts represented Yan Zhenguo's mood at this time. In the several days of siege, the losses of his army had not been too great. But in the battle before him, in the blink of an eye, he faced the collapse of twenty thousand men. Besides panic and disbelief, a faint chill crept into his heart.

The collapse of twenty thousand men, how could it be so fast? He couldn't understand it. The Jurchen excelled at cavalry. Although the Wu Dynasty army was weak, their infantry combat was not bad. Often the Jurchen cavalry, not wanting to pay too high a price, would harass them with archery and then run away. But right in front of him, infantry against infantry, in just this short amount of time, the army collapsed, and Fan Yu ran away like a madman. Even if it was right before his eyes, he could hardly admit that it was true.

But the collapse was not the worst thing.

At this time, half of the collapsing army was fleeing to both sides. Of course, it would be difficult for the army of that devil king to chase them down, but a large number of fleeing soldiers were still swept up in the middle, rushing towards him.

These collapsing soldiers certainly didn't want to turn around and fight as the vanguard against their own army. However, it was already too late to flee to both sides. The Black Flag Army, which had already charged over, not only did not stop to rest, but their momentum of pushing forward even seemed to become more violent. At most, the rear formation temporarily became the front formation, driving the collapsing army of Fan Yu in a crescent shape, all the way killing and pushing forward.

The two sides were now only two or three miles apart. The setting sun in the sky had begun to dim. Those three huge flying spheres were still approaching. For Yan Zhenguo, he felt that what he was facing was simply another brutal Jurchen army. These savages could not be measured by ordinary logic.

He had also known something about that Xiao Cang River and that devil king, but he thought that even if the opponent could defeat the Western Xia, compared to the Jurchen, there was still a distance. But until this moment, the pressure that the Western Xia had faced was firmly pressing down on his head.

The other side's dispatch of troops was clearly aimed at that Jurchen war god, Wanyan Loushi. In the north, that force of twelve thousand was still confronting the Jurchen Western Route Army with an aggressive posture. And his side, very obviously, was being treated as an obstacle to be cleared out first. To sweep away one hundred thousand with five thousand, at first it seemed very indignant and aggrieved, but the other side had not shown the slightest hesitation.

Moreover, if measured by the opponent's fighting power of openly confronting the Jurchen, the fact that twenty thousand men collapsed so quickly made him feel that he had no confidence in whether his tens of thousands of men could defeat the opponent.

It was like gods fighting, and the little devils were suffering.

Of course, no matter what his mood, he had to bite the bullet and do what he had to do. He sent troops to request assistance from the Jurchen, and at the same time mobilized his troops to defend the rear of the siege camp.

At this time, Luo Ye and others were driving nearly six or seven thousand fleeing soldiers and were charging towards Yan Zhenguo's main camp on a large scale. He and his companions ran and shouted: "The Chinese Army is here! Those who turn around and charge may live! The rest will be killed without mercy—"

On both sides of the human tide, Pang Liuan, the commander of the Second Regiment, sent out a small number of cavalry to chase and kill the fleeing soldiers who wanted to escape to the sides. In front, the defensive works of the siege camp, where 90,000 people had gathered, were surprisingly lax, and they were now about to be tested.

On the Jurchen side, Wanyan Loushi sent a thousand-man team south to supervise the battle. The Black Flag Army confronting him was not polite and advanced towards the area between the Jurchen camp and the siege camp. Wanyan Loushi then sent a two-thousand-man cavalry team to harass them with arrow fire. In Yanzhou City, the Zhong family army was gathering, and Zhong Lie, wearing armor and holding a spear, was making arrangements and preparations to open the city gates.

He had once tried to win over the Black Flag Army, hoping that the two sides could fight side by side, but he was not surprised by their rejection. He had never imagined that when the Black Flag Army leaped out of the mountains, their posture would be so violent and brutal—they were actually going to fight Wanyan Loushi head-on.

Just thinking about it made his blood boil.

The doctor from his family came to persuade him about his injuries, trying to persuade him to send someone else to lead the troops, but Zhong Lie just laughed.

"If we lose today, there will be no survivors in the entire city of Yanzhou. To help the endangered and stabilize the difficult, and to die on the battlefield is something a true man should experience." He raised his long spear, "Members of the Zhong family, who is willing to go with me!?"

There were shouts of response all around.

Night fell. In the north, the friction and probing of the two armies were ongoing, and a large-scale conflict could erupt at any time.

And under Yanzhou City, the sea of people rushed together, surging and tumbling, and the flying balloons dropped things. Yan Zhenguo left his banner and was still constantly giving orders: "Hold the line—Hold the line for me—"

The beginning of this battle, a clash of a hundred thousand men, had already become chaotic and difficult to describe...