Chapter 103 – Liu Mang, A Hostage???
Translated by Bloodfalcon, Edited by Krayto
Inside Huangzhou city, the administration office was transformed into Lu Bu’s temporary HQ.
”You said, Huang Zhong and co, have not come to Huangzhou city?!” Lu Bu’s brow wrinkled. This battles most important spoils are Huang Zhong and Huang She. Although occupying Huangzhou city meant Jiangxia's army is defeated, that is not Lu Bu’s goal.
If only just to win Huangzhou city, Lu Bu would have done a siege from the get go.
”Um!” Gao Shun nodded. This person does not like to speak. His gesture meant, that when Gao Shun blocked the route to Huangzhou city, he did not meet with Huang Zhong and Huang She. Only army deserters were arrested by Gao Shun.
No Huang She, Lu Bu’s army leverage is gone. Moreover, with this battle, they have offended Jiangxia thoroughly. No, we should say that they have offended the entire Jing Province. With Jiangxia attacked, Jing Province will definitely send out troops and it will be very difficult to reach Xinye unharmed.
“Gao Shun, you go. Choose one division to be stationed in Huangzhou city!” Lu Bu waved his hand to send Gao Shun away. Now, he must think on how to knot relations with Liu Biao of Jing Province as well as Sun Ce.
Just as he prepared to remove his armor, suddenly the sound of a battle drum thundered.
“Who beats the drum? What is going on?!” Lu Bu’s vision turned fierce again. This is the battle drum thundering and their signal meant to attack.
“REPORT!!! Milord, report. Outside Huangzhou city, Jiangxia naval units are attacking!!!” A messenger hurriedly run in into tent and said it toward Lu Bu while panting.
“Jiangxia's naval units?!” Lu Bu was really confused. He had decimated Jiangxia's army. Although Jiangxia's naval units are strong, without coordination with the army; they cannot do anything to Lu Bu’s army. However at the same time, Lu Bu’s army cannot do anything to naval units as well.
“Come with me, toward the city wall!!!” Lu Bu directly went toward the city wall. A few days ago, the one who was standing there is Jiangxia’s army’s expelled master, master Huang She. Now, it turned into Lu Bu’s HQ.
Gao Shun, Zhang Liao, Zang Ba and co also followed. Chen Gong also followed.
“Is it really Jiangxia's naval units?!” Asked Lu Bu.
“Yes, Milord!!!” Chen Gong responded. In Huangzhou city’s canal, there is only Jiangxia's navy. All of Lu Bu’s army are landlubbers; they cannot swim, so this navy unit is not theirs. These large ships definitely belonged to Jiangxia's navy. Their ship can be considered the “Red-Hare” of waters due to their speed and strength.
“No more infantry!? They want to attack a city with their naval units? Keep dreaming!!!” Zang Ba said it with disdainful tone.
Although Huangzhou city is situated near the river, the river is quite far from the giant crossbow and arrow shooting range. Also Huangzhou city is not like Xiapi which is surrounded by two rivers. It is not feasible for naval units to attack Huangzhou city, let alone now that the city has been occupied by Lu Bu’s army; it is simply unbreakable.
As if responding to Zang Ba, Jiangxia's naval units unexpectedly anchored near Huangzhou city. The landing board has been deployed from the large ship and Jiangxia’s naval soldiers are flushing out one by one from the large ships and the “Red-Hare” ship.
“Are they insane?!” Chen Deng once governed Guangling commandery with his father Chen Gui, so Chen Deng knew a little about naval units. He even clashed with Jiangdong and Jing Province once. The reason why Jiangxia naval units are invincible on water, it is because they are experts in naval warfare. However once they are ashore, their fighting skills might be lower than infantry.
Moreover, naval soldiers all wear light armor. So they can stay afloat after they fall into the water. On water battles, they use long-range weapons so this is not too much of a bother. When they are ashore and act as an infantry; they are useless.
The drum beat, signaling that Jiangxia's navy is going to attack the city.
5000 naval units attacking a city that is guarded by more than 20,000 troops? Are they joking? Isn't this asking for death?
“HUMPH, since they dare to attack, DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT RETREATING!!!!” Lu Bu’s original plan is to capture Huang She for leverage against Huang Zu of Jiangxia. After all Huang She is Huang Zu’s son. He can tell Huang Zu that Lu Bu's army did not have any malicious intent when they wanted to pass Jiangxia. They can give Intel asking for him to be in full alert. Stating that Sun Ce of Jiangdong had made his move, so Huang Zu can prepare himself. But Huang She himself now is missing, no one knows whether he had escaped back to Jiangxia or is dead. With Huang She is missing, the friction between Jiangxia and Lu Bu’s army is irreconcilable.
Since they have offended Jiangxia, what is wrong with offending completely?
“Milord, Zhang Liao requests to join the battle!!!” Zhang Liao quickly held his fist. Although, he just ate Jiangxia's army, the first rank in merit was also shared with Zang Ba. Although Zhang Liao is not an envious of the person, his life principle is to surpass the others. So Jiangxia's naval units are God-sent merit to him.
“Milord, Zang Ba also request to join the battle!!!” If those 5000 naval units stay in the water, Zang Ba would leave them alone. These ducklings actually came ashore now. This is a slaughter fest, who wouldn't want this easy merit?
“Xuangao, your newly formed Mt. Tai Army division is currently comprised of recently surrendered soldier, they are tired and have morale. How can you want to battle with them?!” Zhang Liao said to remind Zang Ba.
“Wenyuan, your Bing Province Heavy Cavalry is not suitable to do battle here either!”
“Xuangao, you also had your first rank in merit, give me this one!!!”
“Wenyuan, I want to train my boys!!!” Nobody wants to give up this easy merit.
Two of Lu Bu’s eight generals disputed over who is going to fight. Gao Shun on the other hand just stayed quiet because he has completed his own duty.
“Ahem, ahem!!!” Nearby Chen Deng walked out to interrupt their bickering “Please, generals, both of you, please cease your fighting. This time, please let Deng to join the battle!”
”YOU? HOW CAN YOU FIGHT?!” Both Zhang Liao and Zang Ba shouted in one voice “You are not a general, how can you want to join the fray?!”
“Yeah!!! With your physique, I doubt you can even kill a chicken!!!”
Being insulted as not a general and being considered as very weak that he cannot kill a chicken, made Chen Deng’s complexion very bad. How can he, Chen Deng, who is not a general, be called so weak that he cannot kill chicken with his bare hand?
Right now, he is no longer that weak scholar like before, he also undergone a rigid training regime that Lu Bu has taught him.
But Chen Deng can be said that he is not only a military commander, but he is also a Confucian scholar.
“Okay then, how about this? Each of us dispatches 1000 troops, whoever can clean out those 5000 troops first, is the winner!!!” Heh, 5000 naval soldiers on the land fighting us? There will be nothing left of them, and our merit will definitely go up in Lu Bu’s army.
“Go, go, go!!!!”
One general dispatches 1000 troops. So the total is 3000 troops versus 5000 troops. On the surface, it is Lu Bu army’s loss. In reality however, they only needed 1000 infantry to crush 5000 naval soldiers.
Those three people rushed down from city wall to build up their divisions. They are afraid they will be too late to obtain that merits.
“Report, General. Bing Province Heavy Cavalry all ready!!!”
“General, Mt. Tai Army all present and ready to dispatch!!!”
“Eldest son Deng, our Guangling Army is also ready to be dispatched any time!!!”
“Excellent!!!” Under Huangzhou city wall, three generals ordered in one voice “All divisions, prepare to march out of town. Meet the enemy head-on!!!”
“Kakakakakaka!!!” Huangzhou’s drawbridge slowly lowered and 3000 troops slowly flushed out from city wall.
Banners with letters Zhang, Zang and Chen are fluttering with the wind in an imposing manner.
“Xuangao, this time, the merit is mine!!!!” Said Zhang Liao who quickly brandished his dao halberd.
“Humph, Wenyuan, do not be so sure!!! Regarding cavalry, I must study under you, but regarding infantry, you are the one who must study under me!!!” Zang Ba also taunted back to Zhang Liao.
“I said do not fight anymore. This is Deng’s first merit in this Lu Bu army!!!” Chen Deng also refused to admit being inferior to them. Who would have thought that Zang Ba and Zhang Liao simultaneously turned their head and shouted “SILENCE, YOU MALE BITCH!!!!” This is Liu Mang’s nickname for Chen Deng.
“FUCH YOU ALL!!!” Chen Deng also tried to emulate Liu Mang’s favorite phrase.
TL: Chen Deng tried to emulate Liu Mang’s foul words. Liu Mang words is for “FUCK” is “我擦” pronounced as wo cao, while Chen Deng’s words is “我此奥” pronounced as wo ci ao, so I said it as FUCH
“Okay then, we have a contest now. The wager is one month salary, how is that?!!” Chen Deng already irritated by these two scumbags to the point that Chen Deng almost forgot whose generals they are and who the master that he is serving now is.
“Hohoho, I thought you dislike to spend money, eh? Is not that right, male bitch?!”
“How was that? Do generals dare to bet?!” Chen Deng kept provoking both Zang Ba and Zhang Liao.
“Dare!!! Why should we not dare? You are the one who will give money for us to drink!!! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!” Zang Ba and Zhang Liao have responded.
“Then let’s go!!!” Those three people’s spirit is really high. Zang Ba wanted to get the merit, in order to fill his shame caused by feigning defeat yesterday, Zhang Liao want to be the first rank in merit, and Chen Deng wanted to prove himself that he can be counted as a replacement for Lu Bu’s great eight generals. So they are competing fiercely.
On the tower city gate, Lu Bu did not know that these three people have made gamble. When those three people about to depart, Lu Bu suddenly asked “What about Hanyang?!”
“Eh, Hanyang?!” Chen Gong also stunned. Since entering Huangzhou city, Chen Gong has been very busy, so he did not pay any attention to Liu Mang’s whereabouts.
“Hanyang, is blocking the other road!!!” Gao Shun said it in a brief and straight manner.
“The other road?!” Lu Bu stunned also. His gaze are fixated on those three whose spirit is very high, but suddenly he thought that these three generals of his will suffer disappointment because of Liu Mang.
“HAAAAHHHHH!!!!” Chen Deng has raised his spirit. After he had broken through Xiapi to join with Lu Bu’s army, Chen Deng had not been in the battlefield. During battle of Mr. Bagong, his unit was on standby, protecting Lu Bu’s family.
Now, this feeling made Chen Deng really excited. He is a Confucian scholar, so he excels in scheming. But that cannot suppress his bloodthirst.
Chen Deng held his spear with high-spirits and exclaimed “Hey, old buddy. For all these times you've stayed sheathed I have not let you drink blood. Today, you will drink blood to your heart’s content!!!”
“Xuangao, that male bitch wants to snatch my Zhang Wenyuan’s first rank in merit. That male bitch can try as he can!!!” Zhang Liao is Lu Bu’s army elite Bing Province Heavy Cavalry vice commander-in-chief. Although that position is very enviable, the position as vice commander-in-chief actually did not have any power at all.
Zhang Liao cannot command Bing Province Heavy Cavalry at his will. Bing Province Heavy Cavalry are wolves, and what wolves follow is their alpha, which is Lu Bu. So unless Zhang Liao can defeat Lu Bu with his wushu skill. Command will never go away from Lu Bu.
Now, he got a very rare opportunity to obtain merit, to create his own division. How can Zhang Liao let go of this opportunity?
“Two days ago, I bumped into a fly, truly hateful. Today, your grandpa Xuangao will use your blood to wash my smeared record!!! Two months of salary, can buy me a nice wine to drink!!!” Zang Ba licked the corner of his mouth. His wushu skill is higher than Zhang Liao, naturally he had a lot confidence.
Looking those naval soldiers approaching closer and closer. Those three grasped their weapon and exclaimed “All soldiers listen up! Rush with me to…..”
They had not spoken the word “kill”, when suddenly those three people were stunned with that scenery.
Jiangxia's army naval soldiers suddenly opened their square formation. From inside the formation, appeared some people from it. Some of them with happy expression and the other with a hateful expression.
Liu Mang!!
Lu Bu’s command is to block Huang Zhong and Huang She, how can he appear in the middle of these naval soldiers?
Has Liu Mang been taken hostage by Jiangxia's navy soldiers? With Liu Mang’s life at threat, Lu Bu’s army did not dare to act rashly.