In the Ming Dynasty, I became invincible simply by extracting memories!

Shen Lian knew that Yu Dayou was right.

Although the Japanese pirates launched a fierce attack today, that was just the appetizer. The real killing blow is yet to come. Xu Chaoguang and Wang Boxuan, those two opportunists, have emerged from their hideout, also wanting a piece of the pie.

Night deepened. Torches were lit on the city walls, and the defenders used their light to quickly repair fortifications, count ammunition, and bury the dead. Shen Lian leaned against the battlements, gazing at the scattered lights on the sea—the lights from Wu Ping, Lin Guoxian, Xu Chaoguang, and their fleet, densely packed like a swarm of fireflies dormant on the surface. A sea breeze blew, carrying the salty vapor and the faint sounds of Japanese songs from afar; the Japanese pirates were also resting and sharpening their weapons.

The next morning, Shen Lian was awakened by the sound of cannon fire.

The cannon fire came from the sea, its deep, muffled sound carrying a long, resonant echo, even making the city bricks beneath our feet tremble slightly.

Wu Ping and Lin Guoxian's artillery.

Shen Lian suddenly sprang to his feet and lunged towards the battlements. In the morning light, the two largest ships in Wu Ping's fleet had already sailed to within a mile of the shore, their gun ports, drilled into their sides, were all opened, revealing the dark muzzles of the cannons. The six cannons fired in turn, the flashes of light from their muzzles flickering in the morning mist, as cannonballs whistled towards the city.

The first volley of shells landed on the city wall, scattering rubble and kicking up dust. One shell struck the southeast corner of the crenellation, blasting a hole the size of a washbasin into the gap that had just been filled with adobe bricks the day before. Shards of stone flew like knives, and several soldiers who couldn't dodge in time were hit, falling with screams. The second volley followed immediately. The Japanese gunners had clearly adjusted their angles, and four out of six shells landed on the city wall. One shell exploded less than five zhang to Shen Lian's left, the blast knocking him to the ground, and rubble and dust rained down on him. Yi Dong rushed over and shielded him with her body.

"Young Master Shen!"

"Young Master Shen!" Yi Xia cried out in alarm.

"I'm fine!" Shen Lian pushed Yi Dong away, wiped the dirt off his face, and staggered to his feet in front of Yi Xia. His ears were ringing, and he couldn't hear anything, but in the southeast corner, the retaining wall that had been barely propped up the night before with wooden stakes and earth and stones was hit directly by a shell. The wooden stakes broke like matchsticks, the earth and stones collapsed with a roar, and a three-foot square gap was exposed at the base of the city wall.

"Block it! Block it now!" Deng Cheng's roar came from afar.

Soldiers, carrying sandbags and wooden stakes, rushed towards the breach, attempting to plug it before the Japanese pirates could land. But the pirates' artillery continued its bombardment, shells constantly landing around the breach, the exploding debris knocking down the soldiers carrying sandbags one by one. Blood flowed on the city wall, seeping into the cracks, staining the gray-blue wall a dark red. One soldier, his face grazed by shrapnel, still crawled forward, clutching a sandbag, before collapsing after less than three steps. The sandbag rolled aside, picked up by his comrades who rushed up after him, and they continued filling the breach.

Under the cover of artillery fire, the second wave of Japanese invasion began.

This time, Wu Ping used real siege equipment. Eight siege ladders were lowered from the large ship and carried by hundreds of Japanese pirates, advancing inch by inch towards the city wall under the cover of artillery fire. Iron hooks were tied to the top of the ladders, their tips gleaming coldly in the morning light. Once they hooked a crenellation, they would be virtually impossible to overturn unless the entire crenellation was blown down. Two battering rams followed behind the ladders. The iron heads of the battering rams gleamed darkly in the morning light, and their bodies were covered with layers of wet cowhide. Arrows shot from the city walls were embedded in them, densely packed like the quills of a hedgehog, yet they could not harm the Japanese pirates inside the rams in the slightest.

"Artillery! Aim at the battering ram and fire!" Tang Ke-kuan shouted the order.

The three breech-loading cannons on the city wall turned their muzzles, aiming at the two slowly approaching battering rams. The gunners lit the fuses, and three cannonballs roared out. One missed, landing in the mud beside the battering ram, kicking up a cloud of dirt and knocking several Japanese pirates to the ground with the blast wave. One grazed the roof of the battering ram without causing any damage. Only one hit its target squarely, blasting a hole in the roof of one of the battering rams. Several screams came from inside, and the ram swayed slightly, but was quickly righted by the Japanese pirates.

But another battering ram continued its advance. It crushed the barbed wire on the mudflats—the iron spikes snapped like toothpicks under its iron-clad wheels; it ran over the corpses lying in disarray, the cracking of bones clearly audible; it slowly and relentlessly approached the city gate.

"Gunpowder! Prepare the gunpowder!" Deng Cheng personally rushed up the city wall carrying a gunpowder pack. He tied the pack to a spear, lit the fuse, which hissed and sparked, and aimed at the battering ram, throwing it with all his might. The gunpowder pack arced through the air, landing beside the battering ram and exploding with a bang. The flames and blast wave knocked over many of the Japanese pirates around the ram. But the battering ram itself only had a corner of its iron frame blown off, and its speed was not reduced at all.

"Again!" Deng Cheng picked up another bag of gunpowder.

Just then, a deafening crash came from below the city walls as the battering ram slammed into the gate. The entire gate tower shook violently, dust and splinters of wood rained down from the lintel, and the hinges creaked painfully. The guards braced themselves against the gate, their shoulders and backs pressed tightly against the wood, but the second impact of the battering ram followed immediately. Bang! Iron nails on the gate splintered, wood chips flew everywhere, and a soldier was struck in the shoulder by a flying nail, collapsing to the ground with a scream.

"The city gates are about to fall!" someone cried out in despair.

Just as Shen Lian was about to rush towards the city gate, a bloodstained hand tightly gripped his wrist.

"Young Master Shen," Yi Xia stood in front of him, took the gunpowder pack, and said casually, "I'm going to blow up the battering ram."

Upon hearing this, Yi Dong trembled and rushed forward to grab her sister's arm: "Sister—"

"Shut up." Yi Xia shook off her sister's hand and looked directly at Shen Lian. "Young Master, you are a man of great ability. My sisters and I have followed you for so long and have seen it all clearly. The knowledge in your mind is not that of an ordinary person. While you are alive, you can do things that are even greater than blowing up a battering ram."

"Sister is right." Yi Dong wiped the blood and tears from her face and stood beside Yi Xia. "I'll go with you, sister. The two of us, together."

Looking at the two sisters covered in blood before him, Shen Lian had always believed himself to be an outsider, a soul from the modern world residing in an ancient body, coldly observing the joys and sorrows of this era. His so-called resistance against the Japanese pirates and service to the country was initially merely a means for him to survive in this era, the optimal solution based on rational consideration. Life or death, victory or defeat, all carried an inherent detachment and indifference.

But at this moment, two living, breathing people stood before him, willing to exchange their lives for his. They were not numbers in history books, nor cannon fodder in the course of history; they were people who could laugh, cry, feel pain, and be afraid.

He came into this era perhaps not just to survive.

"Stop arguing." Shen Lian snatched the gunpowder pack from Yi Dong's arms and said decisively, "I have to personally test the reliability of what Fang Xuejian developed."

"Young Master!" Yi Dong and Yi Xia's expressions changed simultaneously.

Shen Lian grinned at them, a smile that, against the backdrop of their blood-stained faces, gave them a somewhat fearless and arrogant air, reminiscent of the brash thugs in the Northern Garrison of the Imperial Guard in the capital: "You two sisters haven't finished your mission yet, and you want to die? No way. Stay here obediently and wait for me to come back."

"Get out of the way!" Shen Lian said, then turned and rushed toward the city gate, drawing two short guns from his waist and pulling the trigger.

"Bang! Bang!"

Two gunshots rang out, followed by screams from outside the gap. The impact of the battering ram paused for a moment, and in that instant, Shen Lian seized the opportunity to pull out a gunpowder pack from his pocket, silently praying, "Fang Xuejian, you little bastard, don't mess me up at this crucial moment." He lit the fuse and slipped it through the gap.

The shouts of Yi Dong and Yi Xia were instantly drowned out by the artillery fire behind them.

"Everyone, lie down!"

"Get down!"

A deafening explosion rang out almost simultaneously. The Japanese pirates outside the city gate were blasted to pieces, their limbs tumbling and falling through the air. The front wheel of the battering ram was blown off, causing the vehicle to veer and crash into the city gate arch. The gate itself was also blasted apart, sending shards of wood flying everywhere. Shen Lian's cheek was cut open, and blood dripped down his chin, but he was completely unaware.

"Block the gate! Block it with sandbags!" Deng Cheng led his men, carrying sandbags, and rushed over. Bags of sand were piled up in front of the gate, barely managing to seal the breach. The sandbags were piled crookedly, and sand was still leaking out from the gaps, but at least it would stop the attack for a while. Everyone knew that this was only a temporary measure. If the battering ram wasn't blown up, and the Japanese pirates launched another ramming attack, this gate, this city, would be completely finished.

The bombardment continued. More and more breaches appeared in the city walls, and the defenders' casualties increased dramatically. Tang Kekuan ran around the city wall directing the attack when a shell exploded near him, the blast sending him flying and crashing to the ground. His personal guards scrambled to his feet; his left shoulder had been struck by rubble, blood soaking half his battle robe, and white bone fragments protruding from the wound.

At noon, the Japanese pirates' offensive reached its peak.

Eight siege ladders were simultaneously erected on the city wall, their iron hooks gripping the crenellations tightly, impossible to budge. Japanese pirates, like ants, climbed the ladders in dense, unstoppable waves. The defenders on the wall hurled logs and stones down, each log sending a pirate screaming and crashing down, crushing those below. But new pirates would immediately rise to fill the gaps, scrambling upwards on all fours. Some used spears to stab down, the tip piercing a pirate's chest, impossible to pull out; some simply kicked the man and spear together off the wall. When swords chipped, they used stones; when stones ran out, they used their teeth. One old soldier, his neck gripped by a pirate, bit down hard on the pirate's wrist, his mouth gushing blood, managing to sever two of the pirate's fingers.

Shen Lian returned to the section of the city wall he was guarding, where three siege ladders were simultaneously erected. He had already switched to his fourth sword; the first was dulled, the second had a broken tip, and the third got stuck in the shoulder of a Japanese pirate and couldn't be pulled out. He simply abandoned the sword and used a spear, picking up a long spear from the ground and stabbing the Japanese pirates climbing up the wall one by one.

Yi Dong and Yi Xia stood guard by his side. Yi Dong's left hand was already unable to lift, blood dripping from her fingertips and pooling at her feet. But her right hand wielded the knife with lightning speed, slicing across the throat of a Japanese pirate, blood splattering all over her face. Yi Xia's face was deathly pale; the old wound on her shoulder had reopened, and a new one had appeared. The gauze was nowhere to be seen, and blood had soaked half of her clothes. Her short knife flashed in her hand, each strike aimed to kill the Japanese pirate.

"Yi Dong, Yi Xia! Get out of here!" Shen Lian roared.

"No retreat!" Yi Dong and Yi Xia answered firmly at the same time.

Shen Lian knew that further words were pointless; at this point, retreat meant death. Everyone on the city wall was risking their lives to hold on.

A loud bang came from the northern section of the city wall. A section of the crenellations collapsed completely under the shelling, and rubble tumbled down like a waterfall, knocking down a group of Japanese pirates who were attacking the city. But the collapse also revealed a gap more than three zhang wide, and the Japanese pirates swarmed up, rushing up the pile of rubble.

Yu Dayou personally led his personal guards forward. This veteran general, nearing sixty, wielded a long sword, standing at the forefront of the breach, cutting down wave after wave of charging Japanese pirates. His battle robe was soaked in blood. He had wounds on his left arm, right leg, and forehead. The wound on his forehead was so deep that the flesh was torn open, and blood flowed down, covering half of his face. But his posture there was like a mountain, an unshakeable mountain.

"Yu Family Army! Fight to the death!" Yu Dayou's roar drowned out the artillery fire and battle cries, like a thunderclap, reaching the ears of every soldier.

"Fight to the death!" A thunderous response echoed from the city walls. The soldiers, their voices already hoarse, roared in unison, their shouts sending shivers down one's spine.

Shen Lian's consciousness began to blur, and the scene before his eyes became fragmented. The faces of the Japanese pirates, the splattered blood, the collapsed battlements, the fallen comrades—everything was mixed together, like an endless nightmare.

He saw Deng Cheng lying in a pool of blood. The burly man had been struck in the chest by shrapnel from a cannonball, blood gushing out. He struggled to stand, trying three times, but each time he collapsed just as he was about to stand upright. His guards carried him down from the city walls, and he continued to curse, cursing the Japanese pirates, cursing Wu Ping, cursing the court for not paying his wages. His voice grew softer and softer until it became a mumbled curse, but he kept cursing.

He saw Tang Kekuan leaning against the battlement, still clutching the chipped sword in his hand. The blood on the hilt had dried, forming a dark red film. His eyes were closed, and his face was ashen. When the guards carried him down from the city wall, they couldn't pry his fingers off the hilt; his five fingers seemed welded to the blade.

He watched as soldiers fell one after another on the city wall. Wang Dazhu, who had been carrying wooden stakes with him just two days ago, had his stomach pierced by a Japanese sword, his intestines spilling out onto the ground, yet he still clung desperately to the leg of a Japanese pirate until that pirate was stabbed to death by his comrades who arrived at the scene. The young woman who had been roasting gunpowder in the City God Temple last night had carried sandbags to the city wall today, when she was struck in the chest by a stray arrow. As she fell, she was still clutching a sack full of sand in her hand; the sack's opening had come undone, and sand had splattered all over her, mixing with the blood from her chest to form a muddy mess.

This is a battle of flesh and blood and willpower.

"Yu Family Army! Fight to the death, never retreat!"

"Fight to the death!" Shouts erupted as despair was almost extinguished.

Finally, at dusk, the Japanese pirates retreated, fleeing in a disheveled and unwilling manner.

On the sea, Wu Ping, Xu Chaoguang, and their fleet slowly retreated beyond the range of the cannon fire. Below the city, the mudflats were piled high with corpses, new bodies upon old, the blood staining the gray mudflats a deep purplish-brown. The setting sun, like blood, bathed the sea, the city walls, and the piles of corpses in a crimson light. The sea breeze had stopped, and the air was thick with the stench of blood and the acrid smell of gunpowder, a heavy weight pressing down on the chests of every living person.

Shen Lian leaned against the battlements and slowly slid down to the ground. The knife in his hand clattered to the ground at his feet. Yi Dong and Yi Xia slumped down beside him. None of the three spoke; they simply looked up at the sky, which was reddened by the artillery fire, and gasped for breath.

There were not many people left standing on the city wall, but their eyes were filled with murderous intent.

Yu Dayou stood before the dilapidated battlements, gazing at the fleet regrouping at sea. The torchlight illuminated his face, revealing deep wrinkles and the unyielding light in his eyes. He drew his sword from his waist and planted it in a crevice at his feet, the blade humming in the night wind.

The most brutal day was the same for both sides; both sides knew they needed a breather before making that final stand.

Shen Lian knew that if no reinforcements arrived in the next few days, he didn't know how many people in this city would still be alive. His journey through the Ming Dynasty would then come to an end. He wondered if tourists visiting Chaozhou City in the future would remember the blood shed and the people who fought here.

What will the city be like tomorrow and the day after?

Who knows!