Ba Shou really was capable.

He had the archer battalion seal off every road leading to the palace, with infantry and cavalry drawn up and ready.

The Great Xuan's soldiers and the Nanyue troops met in the city.

The Great Xuan's soldiers charged forward howling, which gave Ba Shou a real scare.

Were all the Great Xuan's soldiers this fierce?

Facing a sky full of arrows, they just hoisted their shields and charged.

"Get back here! All of you, get back here for your father..."

The Great Xuan's officers shouted themselves hoarse.

On a battlefield, the usual shout is... Charge! Any man who shrinks from the fight will be beheaded!

This was the first time anyone had seen officers yelling at the top of their lungs for their men to come back.

Their officers were at their wits' end.

They'd never seen their men this brave before, so fearless of death that they'd charge into a rain of arrows behind their shields.

Even if they wanted their names in the history books and a page of their own in the family tree, they didn't have to throw their lives away, did they?

Nanyue had bows, and so did they. There was no need to take the enemy's arrows with their bare bodies.

Besides, they had muskets and cannon.

Qin Qiao roared, "Pass on my order! Archer battalion, ready... Loose!"

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!!!

A sky full of arrows came whistling down.

The two sides traded volley for volley, and both took casualties.

But not heavy ones.

The streets of the Nanyue imperial city looked wide, but for armies this size they were narrow.

The terrain left no room for a large-scale charge.

The two sides settled into a tug-of-war.

Ning Chen stood on the gate tower in his black robe embroidered with silver pythons, leaning on his sword, cutting a heroic figure.

He narrowed his eyes at the vast Nanyue imperial city, his face alight with excitement.

This was the Nanyue imperial city.

Kang Luo's home base.

That blockhead Kang Luo had thought he was so clever, slipping off with his…