Gao Ge looks at Qin Yan, who is poker-faced with his eyes as profound as having contained everything.

“Mr. Gao, please take a look at how the world treats me!”

Right after that, Gao Ge sees great changes take place in front of him.

Qin Yan disappears.

The desk and chairs are also gone.

The surroundings are no longer the room of the tube-shaped apartment building.

Instead, the wind whistles along with the sand. Gao Ge takes two steps forward, leaving some footprints behind him and the sand is everywhere.

When the wind that stirs up the sand blows across his face, he feels like being cut by knives.

Gao Ge struggles to walk ahead and when he stops, he raises his head only to see a grand gate tower.

With grey wall and red iron gate, it looks so high and awe-inspiring.

Although Gao Ge doesn"t like traveling, he has been to some ancient cities and seen gate towers. However, none of the gate towers he has seen can impress him like this.

After, the current gate tower of the ancient cities has become a place of interest or a scenic spot, where a lot of tourists will gather every day. However, this gate tower in front of him just stands here with grey wall extending endlessly beyond the limits of his view. In the billowing yellow sand, the tower appears even chillier and bleaker.

As the gate is slowly opened, Gao Ge walks inside and sees no soldiers.

Is this an empty city?

Gao Ge has no idea what kind of environment he is in at the moment.

Qin Yan said he was going to tell him a story and then he arrives in this place out of no reason. He thinks everything is illusion but it just feels so real.

He walks up the wall along the stairs, watching the drums on both sides and feeling so encouraged.

When he looks afar, it is s.p.a.cious outside the wall.

Suddenly, there comes the sound of footsteps.

It is organized in order.

He turns around to look behind only to see a group of armored soldiers.

There are probably more than 3,000 of them.

Outside the wall, another group of soldiers are running towards the tower, with a row of them pushing forward the chariots ahead and another row of them carrying with ladders and iron shields.

“Are they trying to siege the tower?” Gao Ge feels a bit nervous.

He can recognize the soldiers above the wall, whose armor he just saw last night. Not for a while, Qin Yan, surrounded by a lot of people, also strides towards him. However, he and his soldiers regard Gao Ge as air. Obviously, as an outsider, Gao Ge cannot be seen by them.

“General Qin, we only have 3,000 soldiers left and yet we are facing 20,000 enemies. Moreover, we are running out of food supply. There are three more days before the reinforcements arrive.” A deputy general walks to Qin Yan"s front and says with one leg kneeling down.

A glimmer of undisguised despair pa.s.ses over Qin Yan"s face.

However, very soon he takes a breath and again, becomes spirited.

Actually, Gao Ge can understand Qin Yan"s thinking now.

Confronted with the enemies, even if they cannot win, they must go for it anyway. It is impossible for them to abandon the city and flee.

“Defense!” Qin Yan roars.

The drums are beaten again.

The soldiers start to put on arrows along the wall, waiting for the enemies to enter the fire range. At the same time, big rocks are also dragged over.

Every soldier looks firm and persistent.

It seems that they don"t know this has become a desperate fight.

Maybe they do know, but they don"t even care. So what if they die in this place?

During the vicissitudes of dynasties in Huaxia, Gao Ge admires the Ming Dynasty most.

The Ming Dynasty is not as heroic as the Han Dynasty.

Nor has it created an era of blossoming culture and prosperous economy like the Tang Dynasty.

It is also not a dynasty as abundant and peaceful as the Song Dynasty.

Nevertheless, the emperors of the Ming Dynasty always adhere to one code.

When the kingdom is built, the emperor must guard the country; when the kingdom perishes, he would rather die for the country than surrender.

The Shanhai Pa.s.s was on outer fringes of civilization, which didn"t belong to the Central Plains. Outside the Pa.s.s were the ethnic groups led by the Manchus. Back in the Ming Dynasty, the northern region was often hara.s.sed and threatened by the nomadic tribes as well as attacked by the Mongolians. At that time, the current capital was set as the national capital in the Ming Dynasty in order to defend against the forces outside the Pa.s.s. This was how the emperor guarded the country.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Li Zicheng led his army into the capital and the army of Jin State was still blocked outside the Shanhai Pa.s.s. The last emperor of the Ming Dynasty chose to hang himself on the Coal Hill rather than surrender. This is the so-called emperor dying for the country.

This is a dynasty of integrity.

It is probably because that is what the dynasty is like. Therefore, the soldiers in this dynasty would rather die than give in when faced with formidable enemies.

“Release the arrows!”

As Qin Yan shouts, thousands of arrows are shot towards the enemies.

The enemies are continuously knocked down but they, just like ants, keep charging forward, one of whom stepping into the breach as another falls.

It looks like they are not afraid of death.

The ladders are placed against the wall. The soldiers try to push over the ladders as hard as they can. Or they will directly throw the big rocks down.

However, such a way of guarding the city cannot last for long. Both the arrows and big rocks are consumable. Very soon they are almost used up.

Qin Yan watches what"s happening in front of him and says slowly, “Song Yuan, Zhao Cheng, transmit my order—open the gate and attack!”

“Yes, sir!”

Gao Ge looks at Qin Yan, whose face is so determined. He suddenly begins to admire this man.

It is not merely because of his fearlessness for death but also due to his ability to stabilize the morale.

Even they are doomed to sacrifice, the 3,000 soldiers won"t even frown.

When the gate is opened, Qin Yan is riding a tall horse with a long sword in his hand.

He shouts loudly and takes the initiative to strike attack on his horse along with his cavalrymen.

Then, the infantry goes forward to strike attack together.

This is fighting with cold steel.

Qin Yan"s soldiers are miserably few but they are unusually fierce. Even in the disadvantaged circ.u.mstance, they can still try their best to charge forward.

It is mainly because Qin Yan is awfully capable, who can draw blood with every strike just like a knife through b.u.t.ter. His capability cannot be underestimated. As a saying goes, there are no weak troops under a strong general. Qin Yan is so strong that even some of his soldiers who are relatively weaker will be affected and go forward fearlessly.

However, time pa.s.ses by.

Qin Yan"s men start to become fewer and fewer.

Only a few hundred soldiers are left out of 3,000.

It looks rather miserable but actually it is not.

The 20,000 enemies may be reduced by a half now.

Looking at Qin Yan and the 1,000 soldiers behind him, the 10,000 enemies appear rather frightened.

This is an army of fierce fighters.

“All take my order—kill without mercy!”

Qin Yan raises his long sword and shouts.

“Yes, sir!”

Gao Ge doesn"t speak or tease. How come Qin Yan is so confident?

Although Qin Yan and his soldiers are capable, they gradually become exhausted after fighting for a long time.

They are human beings.

Hence, they must feel tired after such a long-lasting battle.

Many of the soldiers die of exhaustion here.

When hundreds of soldiers charge forward again, the 10,000 enemies also come over.

Qin Yan"s men are reducing.

From a few hundred to one hundred.

From one hundred to tens of.

Till the end, he has only a few people with him.

These people try their best to protect Qin Yan from any harm.

A big knife of the enemy cuts off one leg of Qin Yan"s horse. Qin Yan jumps up and lands upon the man with the long sword. He knocks down the opponent with his weight and inertia, and then raises his long sword to cut off the opponent"s head.

“The Ming Dynasty is impregnable!” Qin Yan stands up and shouts.

“The Ming Dynasty is impregnable!” The several men behind him also shout.

There are only a few of them but they sound like thousands of people.

A group of enemies crowd around.

In the end, only Qin Yan is left.

He is still waving his sword and he looks like tireless.

Qin Yan doesn"t stop completely until it gets dark.

His body is full of wounds.

His armor has been broken.

He has blood all over his body and his flesh is exposed.

His hair is messy and his helmet is gone.