Yuheng City’s newly replaced winch was neither rusted nor jammed, and pushing it took little effort.

As soon as the gate came down and the main force poured into the city, victory would be theirs.

So far, everything had gone extremely smoothly.

One of the burly men had just begun to grin when an arrow flew in from nowhere, cutting through the bone-piercing wind. With a sharp hiss, it shot straight into his mouth.

Even the powerful north wind had failed to sway it off course.

A mist of blood burst from the back of his head. He did not even have time to scream before he dropped dead on the spot.

Three or four more arrows followed at once. Then, from the civilian houses at the street corner, a group of soldiers suddenly rushed out with blades, spears, and axes gleaming in their hands. In just a few strides, they had killed their way to the city gate.

Outside the city, just as the bandit army closed to within a little over 260 meters of the gate,...