Chapter 163 – Emergence the of Black Flag Leader, Xu Sheng of Langye
Translated by Bloodfalcon, Edited by Krayto
“Kata-kata, kata-kata!!!” That is the sound of five people running toward the prison in Wancheng city. Though 3,000 troops are not much to be counted for but Liu Mang must either subjugate them or destroy them completely. However, he did not bring his Urban Army with him because they are wounded and exhausted. So, in order for those 3,000 troops not to suspect anything at all, Liu Mang just bring himself, Huang Zhong, Huang Xu, Liu Kai and Liu Neng.
Finally, they arrived at the prison. Liu Mang is in awe when looking at this prison. In Wancheng city, this prison is not only used as a prison but also as a warehouse and it served as the main point of offensive and defensive operations. A few years ago, when Sun Ce managed to break down Wancheng city’s main gate, the entire Lu clan was besieged here. Lu Kang himself did not admit defeat even after his provisions and food already run out and almost decimated Lu clan because of his stubbornness.
Looking again this prison. The construction is truly reliable. It uses blue stone as the base. Its pillar also was built with 1,000 years old solid and strong teak wood. Actually, this prison in Wancheng city is used for armory and definitely not the place to detain a criminal. And because he obtained 3,000 POW, therefore, Liu Neng quickly moved out all of weapons and armors and put all those Black Flags inside the prison.
Liu Mang is actually a little scared entering this prison, because this is prison is very dark and have no lights at all, in addition to that, no guards at all. That is because all of the prison guards were all deployed in order to defend Wancheng city and now all of them are extinguished.
“Hey, there are people come here!!!” Liu Mang and co did not yet reach the internal prison but the entire prison already seething with excitement, but how disappointed they are for the one who comes is the one who defeated them.
“So, all of you are Black Flag!!!” Liu Mang opened with his words with curious tone. Although Liu Mang had fought Black Flag before, but their armor, helmet and face mask is covering large part of face same like ninjas. Therefore Liu Mang does not recognize them, but looking at those soldiers body made Liu Mang a bit surprised. Their bodies is showing signs of healthy toned body and color. They definitely do not have the yellowish pale face that Liu Mang saw on Cheng Yu’s and Chu Jie’s bodies during Xiapi siege. One must know that being a soldier in this time and age is to eat until full and seeing these Black Flag troops stay healthy and robust, showing that Zhou clan really cherished them as their elites.
“You know who I am, right?!” Liu Mang asked.
“We know, you are the one who defeated us and killed our lord!!!” Answered 8 Black Flag troops to Liu Mang’s inquiry. This golden-armored general was able to kill their lord and was able to defeat the Black Flag with very minimal casualties; though Zhou Cheng is the one to blame for their defeat. Regarding loyalties, these Black Flags have never thought to rebel against Jiangdong's army, so right now it is up to Liu Mang’s scheme to subjugate them.
“Oh, since you know who I am, then you must know why I am here?!” Liu Mang continued his inquiry, but this time without letting any Black Flag answer, he said: “I am here to kill all of you!!!”
“Huh?!” Those Black Flag troops were suddenly confused. They thought Liu Mang wanted to subjugate them, who ever thought that Liu Mang came to their prison to kill them.
“Little lord, what are you?!” Huang Zhong, Huang Xu, and Liu Kai are all confused looking at Liu Mang’s performance because Liu Mang is not asking them to fight for them, but to kill them. Liu Neng was the only one who kept smiling, looking at Liu Mang’s performance.
Liu Mang waved his hands to stop Huang Zhong and co’s inquiries.
“Che, kill us?! HAHAHAHA!!!! You already are unable to defend this castle by yourself, why bother to killing us now?! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!” Suddenly there came a mocking sound coming from the Black Flag. The one who made that voice was the leader of Black Flag and was now staring down at Liu Mang with a fiery rage in his eyes.
“Oh, so you know the situation too?!” Liu Mang returned his glare to this leader while sneering. Liu Mang knew that the one who responded back to him was the de facto leader and his grades are much higher than Cheng Quan or Gu Jun who managed to kill Han and Old Man Wu. So, as long as he can break this leader and make him surrender, all of the Black Flag will certainly obey him.
“Oh, I know the exact situation!!! I also know that you are defenseless now and want to ask for our hand to help!!!” The leader sneered and continued his speech “Jiangdong's army’s attack has already reached the outer city. Tomorrow, when Jiangdong Army does their last assault, it is the end of all of you!!!”
“Soooo, where do you know the news from?!” Liu Mang looked at the leader and said with teasing tone.
The leader then said “Hmph, it is should be very obvious. There are no more guards to guard us, from 400 troops down to none today. So even an idiot person should know that the situation is very bad outside!!!”
Liu Mang then teased back “Hoooo, then it is very strange indeed!!! Even without guards. 3,000 POW should have been able to breakthrough this prison by themselves. Why, the mighty tigers of Zhou clan reduced to a mere cats in this cage?! Hmmm…?” Actually when the leader came out, Liu Mang wanted to tell his side of the story from when Sun Ce attacked Wancheng city naval base to the siege of Wancheng city and asked then ask them to fortify the defense, but seeing that haughty attitude, Liu Mang just teased him more.
The leader then said “Yes, it is a shame though!!! This prison is very sturdy and very powerful and unbreakable even with our strength. Assigning 100 people to guard us is more than adequate. But you assigned 400 people to guard us, in order to create an illusion that you had a lot of soldier’s right?! But right now, all of them are missing. And now you are asking for these 3,000 tigers in this cage for help, isn't it to help reinforce you?!” The leader said while staring angrily at Liu Mang.
He continued again “So, in my analysis, your defending army is almost exhausted, by now because you are outnumbered by a big margin!!! Let’s get to the facts shall we? You only have 3,000 Urban Army troops and the Liu clan of Wancheng city has about 5,000 troops and that makes 8,000 troops. With 8,000 troops in this Wancheng city and adding all of the strategic positioning and advantages, you can repel 30,000 troops with ease and you can at least persevere the battle up to 6 months, waiting for Lu Bu’s main army to reinforce you. But right now, all of prison guards who were supposed to guard us are dwindling one by one and now, there is no one to guard us. So, in conclusion, may I ask you, how many enemies you are facing, hmm? Is it 40,000 or 50,000? No, the number should be at least 100,000 troops that can make all of them dwindling like this!!!” Said the leader while shaking his head and returning his glare toward Liu Mang.
“HAHAHAHAHA!!!! Nice, you are correct!!!” Liu Mang replied heartily while laughing lightly. This person in front of him is really good, he can analyze the condition and was able to deduce a number of enemy units numbered 100,000 troops.
The leader then said again while shaking his head “Our little lord, Zhou Cheng was unable to compete with Sun Ce, let alone with Zhou Yu!!! That Sun Ce is truly a wise lord!!!” When the leader said that, his eyes sparkled as if worshipping an idol.
Then the leader sneered toward Liu Mang “With only 8,000 defenders, are you hoping to defend against 100,000 troops?! The result is very apparent today with all of the prison guards missing, and the lord who led the defense also came here. So, in conclusion, Sun Ce's army has dealt a sharp blow to you and you already cannot persevere right? I calculate, tomorrow at the fastest, noon and at the latest evening, this Wancheng city will changed ownership!!! You are already unable to defend yourself!!! I would like to know, with what will you kill us with?!”
Liu Mang then took a deep breath, he asked the leader “You, what is your name?!”
“This grandpa name is Xu Sheng, Xu Wenxiang of Langye!!!” The leader sneered while holding his head proudly toward Liu Mang.
“Xu Sheng?!” Liu Mang’s brow is rising while hiding his surprise and said: “Are you Xu Sheng of Langye, and hailed from a village in Ju County?!”
Xu Sheng quickly surprised and said, “How did you know that detail?!” Xu Sheng only said that he is a person from Langye and he did not go into the detail, but the person was able to say his origin with such detail. Who is this guy? Xu Sheng thought
“I will answer your question later!!!” Liu Mang answered back while getting truly surprised. Liu Mang had found a 1000-li horse in this prison. Here is a little trivia about Xu Sheng. Xu Sheng is a native from a small village in Ju County and historically is one of Wu country's great generals. He took refuge in Jiangdong due to chaos of war broke during Yellow Turban Rebellion. Later when Sun Quan created “Inn of Talent” in order to recruit able and talented men to serve him, Xu Sheng came to be the most outstanding of them all and was recruited to serve Sun Quan. Xu Sheng had been in so many campaigns and contributed many merits for Wu. During the battle with Huang Zu in Chaisang, Xu Sheng with less than 200 men faced with Huang She with a few thousand troops. Xu Sheng with deft strategies, managed to utilize arrow volley and terrain advantage to destroy Huang She’s troops, killing more than 1,000 troops while he himself loss only 20 men. After that battle, he was promoted to General of Household by Sun Quan. During Battle of Xiaoting, where Liu Bei attacked Wu in order to avenge Zhang Fei and Guan Yu, Xu Sheng participated with Lu Xun and managed to occupy many of Sichuan Army camps and finally successfully repelled Liu Bei with the help of fire attacks by Lu Xun.
Also when Cao Xiu attacked Wu during the Battle of Dongkou, although Xu Sheng was in a disadvantageous situation, as there was a storm at that time and many of his ships and men were lost, but Xu Sheng still managed to form a defense line and kept fighting to a stalemate. During Cao Pi’s assault, Xu Sheng's quick-thinking managed to save the day again. He proposed to Sun Quan, to create an illusion of a wall and boats, which worked as Cao Pi was forced to retreat while lamenting "Wei has thousands of armed cavalry units but they cannot be deployed here" And finally during Sun Quan’s later reign, Xu Sheng died of illness.
TL: a 1000-li horse is an idiom to call a very talented person. The idiom actually comes from Red Hare’s title
So, one can see this Xu Sheng is a very talented person and is comparable to historical Lu Meng, Taishi Ci, Zhou Tai and Gan Ning as one of Jiangdong stars.
Liu Mang then points his finger toward Xu Sheng and said “You sir, you said that because I am unable to defend myself, right? That I am here to ask for your help!!! Then you are completely wrong!!!”
“Oh, wrong?! Point my mistake now!!! Did not you come to ask us to join your Lu Bu army to defend this hopeless city?!” Xu Sheng said with a disdainful tone and continued “I know Lu Bu and the Bing Province Cavalry already departed from Shucheng County as of now. But according to my analysis, their distance to here should be at least 100 li and the fastest they can arrive is the day after tomorrow, but when they arrive, they will only find your corpses!!! So, I ask again. What else is a reason for a person with a sane mind, the Lord of the castle to boot, to come visit the prisoners of war camp but to recruit them?! "
“Hahaha!!! You really never thought that I will not kill you, sir?!” Liu Mang said it while narrowing his eyes.
“STILL WANT TO KILL US, HUH?! COME ON THEN!!! I WELCOME DEATH FROM YOU!!!! I ALSO WANT TO SEE, HOW MUCH TIME YOU Will SPEND TO KILL US ALL!!! WE HAVE 3,000 COMRADES. EVEN IF WE ALL OFFER OUR NECK, IT WILL BE DAWN WHEN YOU ARE FINISHED WITH US AND AFTER THAT, YOU ARE FINISHED!!!” Xu Sheng said proudly. Xu Sheng is a very perceptive person and he can tell the emotion and state of a person, just by looking at them.
Xu Sheng can see this golden-armored general is badly injured, because every time he spoke, he faintly showed a wince with a painful expression on his face. Although it cannot be seen by the rest of them, Xu Sheng can see it and deduce that this golden-armored general is their commander-in-chief. Even a commander-in-chief has been injured like this, one can see how bad the situation is.
Regarding the veteran general, Xu Sheng judged that he is a little anxious but that anxiousness was not directed toward the Black Flag but toward Liu Mang. He already dismissed them all as if they were insects. That kind of gesture made Xu Sheng understand that this veteran’s skill is very high.
Xu Sheng then deducted, the one who is emitting killing aura similar to the veteran is his son and the other two bloodied scholars are Liu Kai and Liu Neng.
“Yes, you are right!!! Indeed, if all of you are offered your head, even at dawn, I will perish!!! “ Liu Mang said that while nodded approving Xu Shengs words but the last sentence, made everyone startled “BUT THAT IS IF, I USE A SWORD TO KILL YOU!!!”
“What do you mean?!” Xu Sheng's brow wrinkled. He felt threatened from Liu Mang’s last sentence.
“You see this prison? You should know that this prison is constructed by the Prefect Lu Kang!!!” Lu Kang is the one who made the entire layout of Wancheng city and all of the moat projects. He is a truly big character person and a peace lover. Under his leadership, Lujiang can evade the chaos that was caused by the Yellow Turban Rebellion, also Lujiang’s people enjoyed a good and prosperous life. Even when Lujiang was attacked by Sun Ce on behalf of Yuan Shu, Lu Kang managed to put up a strong defense and managed to persevere Sun Ce’s attack by storing grain and provisions up to full two years. That feat can be accomplished by Lu Kang because Lu Kang is very good in civil and military matters.
During that time, the commoners of Wancheng city also followed to fight for Prefect Lu Kang, because in their eyes Lu Kang is one of the benevolent lords.
“Yes, I know who was the one who made this prison, but what is the point?!” Although Xu Sheng knew the one who made this prison, but he kept inquiring Liu Mang to know his true intention.
Liu Mang then said coldly “Then you should know, what is the final fate of the Prefect Lu and most of his clansmen!!!”
“The entire Lu clan perished. One-third of them died in battle, the rest of them died from starvation!!!” Xu Sheng said with a low and deep voice.
“CORRECT!!! Two-third of them starved to death!!! And they died in this very prison!!!” Liu Mang finally said the matter that Xu Sheng most feared and said coldly “Finally!!! I am able to see how Prefect Lu died in this prison, but this time, it is the Black Flag who will die!!!” Liu Mang then said this in a very threatening tone “Tell me something will you, have you eaten in these past two days?!”
Xu Sheng then saw Liu Mang again and said these words “Are you going to bury us alive with you?!”