The Three Kingdoms: The entire Cao Cao camp thought I was weak and frail.

The drawbridge at the east gate was not yet fully raised, and Xun's private soldiers had just retreated into the city gate tunnel, taking turns to cover their last comrades. If Bo Cai's several hundred elite troops were to rush in, it would inevitably be a bloody street battle.

"Brother Fengxiao!" Xun Hao's voice trembled.

Guo Jia's hand covered the back of his hand, warm and dry.

"Don't panic." He looked calmly at the several enormous machines in the corner of the city wall. These were the improved ballistae that Xun Hao had the craftsmen rush to make according to the blueprints in his memory.

"Balloons, prepare!"

However, when the order was given, the soldiers responsible for operating the ballista looked hesitant.

"Mr. Guo...it's too dark, I can't see anything at all!"

"Yes, what if we accidentally injure the righteous men of the Xun family?"

The night was deep, and although the firelight was bright, it also created more shadows. The figures of both sides were intertwined and mixed together near the city gate, making it impossible to distinguish them accurately.

Listening to their conversation, Xun Hao rushed to a ballista in a few steps.

"I'll do it!"

Without delay, ignoring the soldiers' astonished looks, he stepped onto the platform and, with all his might, turned the wheel with them.

He closed his eyes and willingly sank into that familiar darkness.

[Last Plan]

He saw his elder brother Xun Yu's location, on the left side of the city gate.

He also saw the route of Bo Cai's personal guards' charge.

"put!"

Xun Hao suddenly opened his eyes and slammed the trigger.

"Buzz—"

The crossbow bolt pierced through the first few Yellow Turban soldiers who were charging at the front.

The sound of an arrow piercing flesh sent shivers down Xun Hao's spine.

"Can't bear it anymore?" Guo Jia's voice rang out from the side.

Xun Hao did not answer, but turned his head back to face the purgatory beneath the city gate.

He forcefully suppressed the churning in his stomach, and the thick, bloody smell in his nostrils almost suffocated him.

He can't bear to? What right does he have to be unwilling to bear to?

Behind him stood the Xun family and hundreds of thousands of people in Yingchuan.

If he shows even the slightest weakness today, who will have the heart to treat him and his family when the city falls tomorrow?

The crossbow bolt that had pierced through several people was embedded in the stone pavement in front of the city gate, its fletching still trembling.

Bo Cai's personal guards were momentarily stunned by this unexpected attack, but what followed was an even more ferocious rage.

"Charge in! Avenge our brothers!"

A burly leader roared, brandishing his ring-pommel sword, and led the remaining men in another charge.

They spread out more and moved faster, attempting to rush through the still-open city gates before the next wave of attacks.

The soldiers operating the other ballistae on the city wall were at a loss. Looking at the chaotic crowd below, they couldn't find an opportunity to strike.

"Second plane! Veering three degrees to the left, nose down one point! Quickly!" Xun Hao shouted again.

The soldiers were taken aback and instinctively looked at Guo Jia.

Guo Jia's gaze never left Xun Hao. His usually lazy and playful peach blossom eyes were now crystal clear.

He couldn't understand how Xun Hao locked onto his target in the dark, but he could see the resolute aura emanating from Xun Hao.

"Do as he says!" Guo Jia chose to believe him.

"put!"

Another dull click of the mechanism.

This time, the crossbow bolt pinned a guard holding a shield to the ground, shield and all, and the force of the impact sent his two companions tumbling away as well.

Inside the city gate, Xun Yu had just led the last batch of private soldiers to withdraw.

"Close the door! Quickly!" he yelled at the soldiers beside him.

The heavy iron and wooden gate creaked painfully as it slowly began to descend. The taut string in Xun Hao's mind snapped.

"Quick, Brother Fengxiao, come and help me up."

Guo Jia stepped forward as instructed, only to feel a sudden weight in his arms as most of the boy's weight pressed down on him.

He casually put his arm around Xun Hao's waist, and when he touched him, he felt only bones, so thin that it made his heart clench.

"What's wrong? You can't even stand up now?" Guo Jia's tone was tinged with his usual mockery.

"I... my legs are weak."

Xun Hao replied sullenly, "That's the truth."

When he was directing the ballista just now, he was highly focused and forcibly activated the [Legacy Plan] to perform a simulation, which consumed 30% of the power he had accumulated over the past two years.

Now that the crisis was over, a wave of exhaustion washed over me.

"Tsk." Guo Jia clicked his tongue, leaned close to his ear, and lowered his voice.

"Do you want your brother Fengxiao to carry you down?"

Xun Hao's body stiffened for a moment.

"……don't want."

Xun Hao lifted his head from Guo Jia's shoulder, verbally refusing, but his hand holding Guo Jia's sleeve showed no sign of letting go.

That insincere yet stubborn demeanor made Guo Jia even happier.

Just then, a series of hurried footsteps came from the steps of the city gate.

"Ah-Hao!"

Upon seeing Xun Yu, Guo Jia half-carried Xun Hao, practically lifting him up, and turned to walk down the city wall.

Xun Hao felt like a phone hanging on a power bank, so happy he was practically bubbling over.

The energy bar in his body surged rapidly and was almost full in no time.

"Brother, you're amazing! We won!" Xun Hao, now at full strength, abandoned Guo Jia and went to examine Xun Yu. He was even happier to see that Xun Yu was unharmed.

Guo Jia felt inexplicably disappointed when his arms were suddenly empty.

"Win? Not at all. We only burned their grain. But Bo Cai still has nearly 50,000 troops. A starving wolf cornered is the most terrifying."

Xun Hao felt a chill run down his spine, and his excitement instantly cooled down.

Yes, even a cornered dog will jump over a wall, let alone 50,000 rebel troops driven to the brink of desperation.

Their only way to survive now is to capture Yingchuan City at all costs and seize the city's food supplies.

What follows is the real bloodbath.

"Then what should we do?" Xun Hao asked.

"Wait," Guo Jia said, uttering only one word.

"wait?"

"Yes, wait," Xun Yu continued, "wait until they fall into chaos on their own. Right now, the most anxious one isn't us, it's Bo Cai. He must find food before the soldiers mutini. He only has two choices: either launch an immediate attack on Yingchuan, or retreat and plunder other places."

Which one would he choose?

"He will launch a full-scale attack," Guo Jia said confidently. "Because he can't retreat. I've received news that Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun are leading the main force of the imperial army towards Yingchuan. He's now besieged on both sides. His only way out is to take Yingchuan, defend the city, and perhaps there'll be a glimmer of hope."

Xun Hao's heart sank again.

As expected, Guo Jia's prediction was correct.

The next morning, the Yellow Turban army launched a frenzied attack.

Bo Cai dispatched all his capable young men, who, like madmen, launched a tidal wave of attacks on Yingchuan City from all directions.

Ladders, battering rams, catapults... all sorts of rudimentary but effective siege weapons were pushed down to the city walls.

"Kill! Break into the city! There's food and women!"

"Charge! To survive!"

The eyes of the Yellow Turban soldiers gleamed with a wolf-like green light.

They had no way out. What sustained them in their fight was no longer empty slogans, but the most primal instinct for survival.