Chapter 126 – The Urban Army vs The Black Flag
Translated by Bloodfalcon, Edited by Krayto
“General, spare me. General, have mercy!” Said a private soldier cowering in fear while urinating himself.
The Urban army only numbered 3,000 troops. Liu Mang separated those 3,000 troops into two squadrons. 1,500 led by Liu Mang himself, 1,500 was led by Huang Zhong. Another 1,500 was from the Liu clan’s private soldiers and was led by Liu Kai.
Together, Huang Zhong and Liu Kai simultaneously attacked the South Gate and North Gate. The 1,500 troops led by Liu Mang, attacked the West Gate.
How can these private soldiers be a match for the Urban Army? They were defeated at the first encounter. What they were expert in doing were killing commoners, burning, plundering and raping. Even if they had strength, they only had strength for orgies, not battle.
Liu Mang's Urban Army is truly invincible right now. Everywhere they went private soldiers died and were swept aside. That resulted, many troops are screaming “We surrender!!!” But unfortunately, Liu Mang's order was to kill them all.
The private soldiers who beg to surrender had truly bad luck. The Urban Army would initiate the battle with “If you surrender, we will not kill you!” Yet, once they threw down their weapons, the Urban Army proceeded to kill them.
Those who were beheaded can be considered lucky. A Majority of them were cut in the middle section or their stomachs were slit open. Those who were sliced like that, did not die immediately, but was tormented for at least 10 minutes before they died. Inside half of Wancheng city, screams of pain and endless torment were present.
The Urban Army became an extension of Liu Mang’s will. Having been influenced by Liu Mang's anger and they just acted quickly without mercy.
Because of their concentration and speed, they had reached the front of the West Gate. Liu Mang's speed is the quickest out of Huang Zhong and Liu Kai and because North Gate and South Gate had a lot of soldiers, both of them were delayed in their advance.
“NEIGGGHHHH!” Suddenly Liu Mang's warhorse is neighing. On the ground there is an intermittent vibration. The Urban Army currently instantly stopped moving under Liu Mang's order, but after they felt this vibration, they quickly gather again around Liu Mang.
This kind of vibration can only be made by elite troops in large-scale movement.
Liu Mang then took up the telescope in his hand and sure enough, there was a battalion of elite soldiers, moving toward West Gate toward the Urban Army's direction.
They were all wearing black heavy armor and heavy weaponry. They could be compared to the Formation Breakers of Lu Bu’s army.
“What are these guys?!” Liu Mang's brow wrinkled. This heavy infantry soldiers is an elite unit. Nobles' private soldiers are all garbage, so those nobles are unable to have these kind of elites. Hell, even Sun Ce's army will not have these kind of heavy infantry, they are focusing their power on naval battles, and they definitely will not have heavy infantry.
Liu Mang's deduction is right. Sun Ce’s army did not have this kind of heavy infantry. These heavy infantry came from the Zhou clan, from Shucheng County.
Presently they had 3,000 troops of the Black Flag! They are the Zhou clan's private property. Each Black Flag soldiers was trained from their childhood. Originally there were 5,000 orphans who were trained but in the end, they only 3,000 troops were left. The others died during training.
The Black Flag's body armor and weaponry was also built by the Zhou clan. Shucheng County's foremost natural resource is iron ore. The Zhou clan had been mining and refining lots of iron ore for a lot of years in order to make these 3,000 armors and weaponry.
These Black Flag originally was reserved by the Zhou clan to be used by Sun Ce to fight for hegemony and also in order to raise the Zhou clan's importance in Jiangdong. What a pity, right now they had not merged with Sun Ce’s army and must be deployed in order to retake this Wancheng city.
“Damn, those are heavy infantries!!!” Liu Mang had seen a heavy infantry squad before. But that is only the Formation Breaker. The Formation Breaker originally, before they even met Liu Mang only numbered 800 troops but their strength equaled to 8000 troops.
During their trip to Kaiyang, remnants of Lu Bu’s army met with Chen Deng. At that time, Liu Mang truly knew the horror of Formation Breaker bring. With only 700 troops they dared to challenge 15,000 of Chen Deng's troops in order to lure the enemy. Perhaps if Formation Breaker were still freshly equipped, they would have gobbled up those 8,000 troops completely.
Although Liu Mang does not know their strength, looking at their discipline and organized march, he knew that this heavy infantry would be terrifying if directly confronted.
“REPORT!!! In front, we have discovered Lu Bu’s army!” Zhou Cheng did not have telescope like Liu Mang. He can only rely on his scouts’ notification.
“Oh, finally we meet them?!” Zhou Cheng's eyes are flashing dangerously. “How many of them?!” If we meet that Prince of Shu and his urban army, then it is very good. One blow and everything is done.
“They only have less than 1,500 troops!!!” the scout replied.
“1,500 troops?! Heh, did they divided their forces?!” Zhou Cheng really did not expect for Lu Bu's son-in-law to dare divide their forces. According to information that Zhou Cheng obtained about these enemy forces is, they only had at most 8,000 troops and that is including with Liu clan's private soldiers. Now the enemy in front only had 1,500 troops. They certainly divided their forces to attack North Gate and South Gate.
“Young master Zhou. We have to take the initiative now, we propose to split our forces to defend the other gates!” Hearing that the enemy in front only had 1,500 troops, the three clan heads did not want to think anymore, because all that they thought of now was to split their forces to defend the gates.
The South Gate and North Gate was already in the hands of He clan and Yu clan. If they were overtaken again by the Urban Army, then it is over. Their private soldiers were already at their limits. If they lost these private soldiers, even if Wancheng city was retaken again by Jiangdong, they will lose a big portion of power and influence.
“Heh, do not worry, just go and save your gate!” Head of Lin clan, Lin Feng, retorted coldly. Lin clan is responsible for West Gate. Now the West Gate is on Lin clan's hand, because there are these 3,000 heavy infantries.
Looking at those heavy infantries, Lin Feng just swallowed his saliva. With them as West Gate gates guardian, it can be said, it is truly impregnable.
Now Lin Feng was truly looking forward for He Shuo and Yu Zheng to lose. With the Liu clan rebelling and the Yu clan and He clan losing, his Lin clan will rise to become Wancheng city’s oldest nobles and of course he will have the most territory and a lot of influence after that.
“HUMPH!!!” He Shuo and Yu Zheng just snorted coldly. Zhou Cheng could also only wave his hand, so those three people can go away from his sight ASAP.
“Very well, good luck to all of you!” After Zhou Cheng said that, those three clan heads sped away on their horses toward their respective city gates.
“Heh, you deploy heavy infantry to attack me, eh?! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!” Liu Mang sneered.
“Seriously, you really think highly of this Liu Mang!” Liu Mang then thought “If these heavy infantry appeared on a big battlefield, naturally the Formation Breakers and the Bing Province Heavy Cavalry will be deployed to take care of them. Now all of you suddenly appeared in Wancheng city, then let me, Liu Mang, send you all to hell now”
“Formation now!” Cheng Yu has been with Liu Mang a long time, naturally he knows what Liu Mang meant and quickly arranged 1,000 Urban Army to form the Macedonian Phalanx.
“Very good, they are truly discipline!” Zhou Cheng looking at those Urban Army, quickly replied
“We should also show that we are also elites, we cannot let them to be disappointed! Formation now!”
“OH, OH, OH, OH!!!!” Screamed the Black Flag while forming its formation. Their motion really made Liu Mang startled. Their speed is really good.
The Urban Army can form the phalanx formation so quickly because of their practice and their armor and weaponry are not as heavy like those in front of him. Those Black Flag, each of them is carrying heavy armor and weapon.
The armor and weaponry were about 50 kg, with upper body having 25 kg, and lower body also having 25 kg also. Their defensive power is very strong but they placed so much burden on the soldier. But their speed is really fast when forming its formation. They are in another class of their own.
But as formidable as they are, if the Urban Army now feared them then it is over! So Liu Mang hit his horse to get in front of phalanx formation. “My brothers, comrades. I tell you now, our opponent now are heavy infantries. Their numbers are threefold that of what we have. We cannot even penetrate their helmet and armor, now tell me, are you afraid?!”
“WE ARE NOT AFRAID!!!” The Urban Army shouted loudly with one voice.
“HEH, Not afraid?!” Liu Mang sneered. “How can you not afraid?! Look at your palms, it is already wet with cold sweat. Wipe your foreheads, it is also covered with cold sweat! And you still say you are not afraid?! Even I am afraid of facing them, how can all of you say you are not afraid?!”
When Liu Mang said that, several soldiers revealed embarrassed faces. From those 3,000 people, the ones that can be considered veterans are only about several hundreds of people, but right now Liu Mang only half of those 3,000 troops further lowering the number of veterans.
“We are afraid, of course we are afraid! However, do we have a choice?!” Liu Mang shouted
“All of you still remember Battle of Mt. Bagong?! First, we had the Yu Province Cavalry as our opponent and then Chen Lan and Lei Bo. At that time, we had no other place to go. We know during that battle, most of you were protected by the other brothers who have passed away.
At that time you were the cowards, fear got into your hearts and in the end, your bothers were slaughtered one by one. The enemy pursued you and even many of you died by my, Liu Mang's hand.”
(Read chapter 56 – 62 for Urban Army first battle).
The more Liu Mang talked about the Battle of Mt Bagong, the more these soldiers' faces looked down. The Urban Army now, was no longer those 1,000 troops battle hardened, healthy and vigorous troops. Currently they are comprised of those who survived from Mt. Bagong's battle, the supply troops and the remnants of the Urban Army’s original members.
Supply troops basically form the second line in the army. If you have skill, you will be chosen to become one of the Bing Province Heavy Cavalry and Formation Breaker. So, the remaining supply troop members are usually those who are old, weak, sick and disabled.
The real reason for Liu Mang to incorporate those supply troops into Urban Army is because those who are sick, elderly and weak have already been injured and exhausted or killed. From 8,000 supply troops only 3,000 managed to survive and Liu Mang himself killed 1,000 of them.
The rest of them they were slaughtered by the Yu Province Cavalry or ran away. Those who survived that battle, are those who helped to defend the road with the Urban Army or those who ganged up to beat down Chen Lan. This explained that they had battle experience and will to survive in battle.
And this is what Liu Mang needs in his Urban Army. The will to live and fight even against insurmountable odds.
“All of you who survived that battle, I congratulate you! However, do not forget that today all of you are alive because 432 brothers died in your stead. Today, a similar situation is happening. Your opponent are 3,000 heavy infantry. If you are afraid, then leave this place now. I will not blame you for desertion. Because if you are here, you are only an easy prey and will only become the enemies’ merit!
If you are not afraid just like you said, even though I, Liu Mang, cannot guarantee all of you victory, I can guarantee that I will not stand behind and abandon you. Together, we live or die; together, we share riches and honor!!!!”
“Together, we live or die; together, we share riches and honor!!!”
The Urban Army suddenly emitted strong killing intent. This kind of killing intent can only be seen from the Formation Breaker and Bing Province Heavy Cavalry.
"Inspiring morale? I will tell you in the face of absolute strength, all are futile!" Zhou Cheng coldly humphed and lifted his hand.
“All UNITS ATTACK!!!” Two voices, two forces, two beliefs clashing with each other.