7.
Zhou Que ordered the men to place ladders against the castle wall. It was done immediately Zhou Que waited a couple of seconds, so his men could climb first. After that he climbed also upward. It was a long climb, men falling aside him. Zhou Que saw to his shocking astonishment that his men hadn't set a foot on the wall. They were kicked of immediately. He had to come up with something. He had an idea, but not a good one. But it was either that, or let his men fall from the wall. He started to climb with a stunning speed. He jumped on the wall, unsheathed his sword, and began to swung into nowhere. There were none of his men on the wall yet, so he wouldn't hit them. He would however, hit all the soldiers of the enemy. Who were stunned by this display. And because his sword was so long, he hit an great number of soldiers. He could get the men to climb up now. He looked back, seeing that the men were already on the wall. He was satisfied. No more suicide actions for now, he hoped.
It went far better than he'd imagined. They were already close in taking the eastern castle wall. Now Wei had to send reinforcements for real, not just for a feint attack. He looked over the castle, he saw Zhou Tai's men fighting at the south wall, and Sun Ce's man fighting at the west wall. Everything went according to plan, even better!
When the last of the eastern wall soldiers was cut down, Zhou Que looked for Wei reinforcements to come, but there weren't any. Then he noticed Zhou Tai coming to him. "We already cut of the Wei reinforcements to the eastern wall. And lord Sun Ce managed to clear the western wall. We should move to the north wall. And capture the keep." Zhou Que was overjoyed, this would be his first victory in the Wu army, but it was too soon to draw conclusions. He retained himself. "Yes, once we've captured the keep, this battle is as good as won." he said, and together they went to the keep.
As they entered the keep, they saw Sun Ce's men already fighting. When they joined the fight their selves, they drove the enemy back at lightning speed. Zhou Que noticed a man in heavy armor fleeing the castle with a couple of men. "Zhou Tai, look!" Zhou Tai turned around. "That's Cao Ren, one of Cao Cao's cousins. He was in charge of the castle. This means we've prevailed." Zhou Tai responded, still holding his straight face. When the last Wei soldier was cut down, the man yelled. They'd prevailed indeed. "I will go around the walls and check if there are truly no survivors." Zhou Tai said. Zhou Que nodded.
It took about fifteen minutes before he got back. His face was pale, and he looked shocked. Zhou Que's great mood fell apart. When Zhou Tai showed emotion, there was either something very wrong, or something very, very good. But that pale face could only mean something wrong. Zhou Que ran to his cousin. "Zhou Tai! What's wrong?" Zhou Tai didn't answer. "Come on Zhou Tai! Please answer!" Zhou Que yelled, and grabbed his cousin by both shoulders. "It's…i'ts… lord Sun Ce…" He responded. "He's dead…"