The Longest Day in Chang'an

Chapter 95. Zizheng (00:00-00:59) Part 2

Translator: DragonRider

Tang soldiers numbered merely a dozen, and it was impossible for them to defend the whole Fengsui Castle. Therefore, they had concentrated their defense on this barbican in the north-east corner of the castle. This corner barbican was the commanding point. Standing in it, Xiao Gui had the whole castle within the range of his arrow. Others were guarding his sides and the entrance of the barbican, preventing enemies from approaching.

As long as Xiao Gui could still shoot, the enemies were unable to enter the castle.

This was a tactic adopted when they had been deprived of all other alternatives, and it was also the sole effective way for vastly outnumbered soldiers to hold their position.

After losing more than half a dozen cavalrymen, the main force of this Turkish army finally made it to the perimeter of the castle. These Turkish cavalrymen leaped over broken walls charging towards the corner barbican. During the couple of previous fights, they had gained enough acquaintance with the tactics of this Tang army, knowing very well that they would sustain unnecessary casualties if they tried to take this high barbican with arrows. As a result, this time, wearing thick armor, they galloped towards the passage in front of the corner barbican with the intention to charge into it and finish the enemies once and for all.

Xiao Gui fired quickly and repeatedly. Soon, his arms began to show signs of cramp –the couple of previous intense fights had cost him too much strength. Blue veins stood out on his brow. He clenched his teeth and fired another arrow, which merely hit the foot of a Turkish soldier. This was a dangerous signal. Xiao Gui had no choice but to pause and rest his arms. Zhang Xiaojing and Wen Wuji, faces expressionless, stood on a platform, deflecting increasingly concentrated arrows for him.

Taking advantage of this small window of opportunity, a group of Turkish soldiers quickly flooded onto the slope beside the corner barbican. Suddenly, two blocks of stone taken from broken walls were dropped from the top of the barbican and hit half a dozen Turkish soldiers at the front, leaving them mangled and bloody. With that a dozen Tang soldiers in ragged uniforms silently came at Turkish soldiers from various corners. After hammering their left shoulders with their right fists, they engaged the enemies.

They were not as nimble as those Turkish soldiers, but they were fighting with a total disregard for their own lives. When their sabers were no longer in their hands, they used their teeth; when legs were taken from them, they grabbed the enemies with their hands to create opportunities for their comrades. While fighting, every one of them was shouting in a hoarse voice, "Go to Chang'an! Go to Chang'an! Go to Chang'an!" Soon, these shouts, adding to each other, turned into a chorus, which resounded through the whole Fengsui Castle.

Miraculously, to this chorus of yelling, the attack of this group of Turkish soldiers was repulsed.

However, the price was also extremely heavy. Another five Tang soldiers had been downed lying in pools of blood, and all other survivors could barely move.

"The Eighth Regiment! To a regretless death!"

Xiao Gui yelled, quickly fired the last arrow and with that a Turkish soldier on the opposite side fell off the battlements. Seeing another team of Turks, who numbered approximately thirty, flood into the castle, he came to realize that the final fight was about to come.

Wen Wuji and Zhang Xiaojing exchanged glances and inclined their heads at the same time. The two of them quickly moved aside a slab of stone, revealing a hole which led to another barbican. At the bottom of the hole was a large wooden barrel.

Xiao Gui snapped his bow in half and then jumped into the hole. Inside that wooden barrel was the last Fierceflame bomb, which they had been saving for the last moment. Xiao Gui was the only one of the Eighth Regiment who knew how to use this dangerous weapon in the correct way.

"Thirty Tanzhi (A unit of time used in ancient China; 7.4 seconds)!" said Xiao Gui calmly.

This was the minimum amount of time one needed to detonate a Fierceflame bomb. Wen Wuji and Zhang Xiaojing nodded, turned around and picked up their shields and sabers. They didn't calculate exactly how long they might be able to last. Fighting to the death was the only thought they had in mind.

Those Turkish soldiers, like ants, started climbing up the barbican. All injured Tang soldiers at the foot of the barbican summoned up what's left of their strength and picked themselves up, hoping to hold the enemies back for as long as they could, even if a Tanzhi's time might be all they could buy their comrades. Turkish soldiers showed them no mercy. They killed all of them, pushed their bodies aside and then resumed climbing up. Their sole goal was that dragon flag of Tang, which was a real eyesore for them.

Unfortunately, there were still two men between them and the dragon flag.

Zhang Xiaojing had barely any strength left. It was his will power that was keeping him from falling down. His mind began to wander uncontrollably and it showed on his face. His arms were also going rigid. A whizz was heard but Zhang Xiaojing, whose reflexes had been blunted, failed to immediately determine the direction that the arrow was coming from.

"Watch out!" Wen Wuji beside him yelled and kicked him aside. The arrow, which could have killed him, brushed by his head. Meanwhile, a Turkish soldier managed to climb onto the barbican and ferociously swung his keen wide-bladed saber at Wen Wuji. The blade went into his flesh, his bone and instantly, his right leg was hacked off.

Wen Wuji let out an anguished cry, gathered all what's left of his strength, held the Turkish soldier's waist to push him backward and the two of them fell off the barbican. Astounded, Zhang Xiaojing rushed over, craned his neck to look down, and saw that the two of them, holding each other tightly, were lying still on a pile of stones. He didn't know whose they were, but brains of one of them had been splashed and dyed a patch of stones yellowish.

Zhang Xiaojing felt a muffled thump in his head and with that a surge of something crimson and hot swept over him. He gave a growl and dropped his shield, leaving only a saber in his hand, his pupils utterly blood-red, as if he had suddenly turned into some kind of demon. Three soldiers who had just climbed up were frightened by this sudden change. Zhang Xiaojing gave three saber strike in a row, all of which hit the necks of the targets. Three fountains of blood spewed out of their headless trunks, splattering across the front of Zhang Xiaojing's uniform.

"Almost there! 15 Tanzhi to go!" Xiao Gui yelled in the hole while preparing the bombs.

However, the blade of Zhang Xiaojing's saber had been terribly turned. The brief outburst of frenzy just now was inflicting severe sequelae on him. Exhausted both physically and mentally, he could do nothing but sit against the flagpole of the dragon flag, breathing weakly, waiting for death to come. Another couple of Turkish soldiers climbed up, fanned out and quickly closed in on him.

Right at this moment, a small cascade of pitch-black mountain tallow flew out of the hole and splashed onto those Turkish soldiers. With that, Xiao Gui swiftly leaped out of the opening of the hole, landed onto the floor and threw some lighted moxa onto them. These men instantly screeched in anguish, turned into human-shaped torches and fell off the barbican.

Xiao Gui stumbled over to Zhang Xiaojing and sat down beside the flagpole as well. He tilted his head aside, glanced at the several dozen Turkish soldiers climbing upwards, and gave a smile.

"Seven Tanzhi to go. With so many to die with us, I think this is a pretty good deal."

He fished a decaying mint leaf out of his bosom and was just about to send it into his mouth when his fingers suddenly came to violent convulsion, leaving him barely able to hold the leaf. Zhang Xiaojing managed to raise his arm and help Xiao Gui put it into his mouth.

"Where did you find this?" asked Zhang Xiaojing.

"Beneath the barrel of Fierceflame bombs. Like I said, you wasn't looking carefully enough, asshole," Xiao Gui replied, chewed on the mint leaf and then suddenly spat it out. "It tastes like foul oil!"

Zhang Xiaojing closed his eyes. "It's a shame. The reunion of the Eighth Regiment in Chang'an is never going to happen."

"Maybe the Underworld is not so bad. At least all our brothers are there... Hey, give me a hand."

Having drawn the bow for too many times during this fight, Xiao Gui was unable to raise his arms due to the sharp pain. Zhang Xiaojing raised Xiao Gui's right arm and put it onto Xiao Gui's left shoulder. Xiao Gui clenched his fist, gave a tap on his shoulder and said with a grin, "To a regretless death."

"To a regretless death." Zhang Xiaojing also tapped himself on the left shoulder as a salute.

In the hole beside them, the fuse of the Fierceflame bomb was burning with a distinct hiss. Turkish soldiers were still climbing the barbican. The two of them sat back to back, waiting for the final moment to come.

All of a sudden, Xiao Gui's ears twitched. He frowned and abruptly sat bolt upright. Not having expected this, Zhang Xiaojing lost the support and fell to the ground. Xiao Gui rapidly craned his neck and looked in the direction of the area to the south of the Fengsui Castle.

In the distance, there seemed to be a sandstorm coming into being. Xiao Gui suddenly cried, "That's Inspector General Gai! That's Inspector General Gai!" With his extraordinarily good eyesight, he distinguished a big square banner which could be vaguely seen in the dusty air. Everybody in the whole Western Regions could recognize this banner.

The main force of the Anxi Duhu finally arrived!

Xiao Gui was so excited that he completely forgot what kind of situation he was in. Zhang Xiaojing yelled "Watch out!" and then sprung to Xiao Gui's protection. A Turkish soldier, who had just climbed up, ferociously swung his knife at them and hit Zhang Xiaojing's left eye squarely. Blood instantly splattered in all directions. His eyeball was almost halved.

Face covered in blood, Zhang Xiaojing looked like a ghost. However, instead of holding his wound, he tried his best to stall that Turkish soldier and yelled at Xiao Gui telling him to leave. Since Gai Jiayun had already arrived, there was still a glimmer of hope. At least one of the two of them would be able to survive.

Xiao Gui flicked a glance at the opening of the hole. There was less than four Tanzhi's time before the Fierceflame bomb's explosion. He snapped the flagpole of the dragon flag, held half of the pole and stabbed it into the body of the Turkish soldier as if it were a pike. With that, he gripped Zhang Xiaojing's belt, tore off the dragon flag, wrapped it around their bodies and then, taking Zhang Xiaojing with him, unhesitatingly leaped towards the boundless desert outside the corner barbican.

These two Tang soldiers arced through mid-air, a corner of the dragon flag fluttering against the wind. Almost at the same instant, the Fierceflame bomb inside the corner barbican finally detonated.

Xiao Gui had made this Fierceflame bomb himself, so he had never worried for a single moment that it would be a dud. Glaring light and scorching heat instantly burst out. Even the burning sun in the sky was overshadowed at this moment. The whole corner barbican collapsed in the mighty explosion. Amid thick smoke and dust, numerous pieces of stone and broken bricks mixed with roaring flames shot outwards in all directions and devoured all nearby Turkish soldiers in the blink of an eye.

The powerful blast pushed Xiao Gui and Zhang Xiaojing, who were in mid-air, a little further away from the center of the detonation before they heavily landed on the loose and soft desert. With that, the scruffy and shabby dragon flag landed with them...