Chapter 182 Movement (2)
Translated by Gamer
(TN: Liu Mang and Ancient China used different words to say ‘oil’. Google gave me petroleum and kerosene)
“Are you prepared to face your nightmare!” Sun Ce’s face raised a smile. Three thousand arrows were covered in kerosene. Also, when the Danyang soldiers retreated they also left a lot of jars. Those jars were already smashed to pieces and from inside the jars, black liquid covered the walls.
“Petroleum?” Liu Mang stared at the black liquid covering the walls of Wan Cheng. Sticky, black, and smelly as if fire was burning. Aren’t those petroleum!
“This is fierce kerosene!” Huang Zhong said with a calm voice. He does not know what Liu Mang means by petroleum but he knows what the liquid flowing on the ground is. This Sun Ce is planning to burn the city with fire!
They must not allow the siege towers to shoot another arrow. Huang Zhong took out his iron arrows. Huang Xu aimed the ballista and the Black Flag Army helped to pull the bowstring.
“This Chu division has problems!” Lu Su once again focused on the Danyang soldiers. In 3 days, 7,000 Danyang soldiers were killed leaving only 3,000. Every campsite had half the number dead. Some are even missing. This Chu campsite still had more than half of the 800 soldiers. Once or twice is understandable. It could be the result of good fighting strategy and strong warriors. However, 3 to 4 times is ridiculous. Especially when the other divisions are fighting to the death.
The Chu division have problems! Lu Su’s eyes flashed. The Chu division definitely have problems. Danyang troops! Chu division! Did they defect to the enemy? No. If they had defected then they would have switched sides by now and caused heavier damage to the Danyang troops. The amount of troops Sun Ce have left is not much. Another extra thousand soldiers and Lu Bu’s army may be defeated.
Maybe the soldiers were recruited by the Danyang camp themselves? Are they not afraid of Sun Ce by raising a rebellion? Even for the Danyang soldiers, that prince would be too strong an opponent for them to defy.
In the end what is the reason! Lu Su thought back to the rumors he has heard before. This Chu division has kneeled to the Lu Bu’s Army! Who in Lu Bu’s Army was capable of making these ruffians kneel? Lu Su would not believe if you were to say it was a senior official. This is because even in Sun Ce’s Army, these stubborn ruffians only half-kneeled while clasping their hands when meeting with Sun Ce.
In that case they can only be forced to kneel towards loved ones! That would mean their senior relatives! The Danyang soldiers has always relied on kinship to tie their bonds together. They consider relatives higher than military officials!
An elderly is still not an official. Even then, they would be brave enough and willing to go against military officials for their elderly. But then how could Lu Bu’s Army have an elderly of the Danyang soldiers? Did Lu Bu conscript soldiers from the prefecture?
“Lu Bu’s Army! Lu Bu’s Army!” Lu Su thought to himself and soon realize that the Lu Bu’s Army came from Xuzhou. Xuzhou! Lu Su’s eyes lit up. “Tao Qian, Old Man Tao!” Lu Su remembered. Tao Qian’s home is at the Danyang prefecture. He has recruited a lot of Danyang people to help guard Xuzhou. When he died, Liu Bei and Lu Bu split up the Danyang soldiers. Now he can say without a doubt that the Chu camp is an anomaly!
If it was a few days ago, Lu Su would have immediately told Sun Ce. After that, they would dispatch some troops to arrest those in Chu division but now Lu Su is hesitating. This is because he knows Sun Ce’s approach to this kind of incidents. He would behead all of the prisoners. After that he would go to their villages in the Danyang prefecture and slaughter their entire family. It would be another massacre.
This happened because there is one of their elderly in Lu Bu’s Army. They would not be able to directly strike against Lu Bu’s Army. When Wan Cheng City is captured, their elders would die at the hands of others. At that time, won’t the Chu division return to its original condition?
Thinking this way, Lu Su stood up indifferently. Wan Cheng City will soon be captured and at that time, Lu Su will leave.
At that time in the Chu division camp, Chu Zhongtian ignorantly went about his business. He did not know that he and his entire village in Danyang just escaped a huge catastrophe.
“Lin Danda, Wan Cheng is almost finished. What about Third Master?” Er Gou Zi is anxious. Although they are afraid and that their Third Master refuses to see them, at the end of the day, he would still be their elder. If they were still so indifferent, they would not be able to face their ancestors.
“I also do not know! What should we do! I have no idea!” Chu Zhongtian is also anxious. He had climbed over the walls and back down. He had also faced with Lu Bu’s troops. But they had white cloths around their arm and so the Lu Bu’s Army did not attack them. The other Danyang soldiers did not have such luck.
The division that hates the Chu division now left about a hundred people left. This credit goes to the Lu Bu’s Army. The Lu Bu’s Army is strong but they are not able to persevere for so long. Even a country folk like Chu Zhongtian can tell that Wan Cheng City is about to fall. Chu Zhongtian is not afraid that Wan Cheng would fall. He is afraid that his Third Master is fighting there. Sun Ce would definitely not spare a single one of Lu Bu’s soldiers. The Third Master included.
“No!” Er Gou Zi stamped his foot “Lin Dan Da, how about we defect! Let’s go and help Third Master!” Er Gou Zi suddenly said.
“Are you mad!” Chu Zhongtian grabbed Er Gou Zi at his clothes and covered his mouth.
“Rggh!” Er Gou Zi struggled until he broke out from Chu Zhongtian’s hands. “Lin Dan Da, are you trying to kill me!”
Er Gou Zi was so angry he almost suffocated.
“If I did not do that you would have been heard. At that time the one that dies is not just you but the whole of Chu division!” Chu Zhongtian was also angry “Do you think I do not want to go and save Third Master? Like you said, there is not a single one of us in Chu division that is not thinking of going to save him!” Chu Zhongtian also want to help the Lu Bu’s Army but is powerless to do so. Even if about a thousand people go and help it would only prolong the inevitable. Lu Bu’s Army being burned to death there is the only outcome possible in this war. Chu Zhongtian also wants to save the Third Master but he is not able to bring down the whole division just for that.
“What about the the fierce kerosene! Did you put water!” Er Guo Zi also know that they cannot just do nothing. They had no choice but to follow orders. When Sun Ce send the Danyang soldiers to the walls, he provided them with earthen jars filled with fierece kerosene. The kerosene would be poured onto the walls so that they could use a fire attack.
Er Gou Zi and Chu Zhongtian left with the same thought. Although they left the camp with a jar, inside the jar was not kerosene but black colored water. They can only do that much!
“Rest assured! We have already done all we can!” Chu Zhongtian said at last. The next time he goes up the wall he is definitely going to take his Third Master and carry him out of the city. He will carry the Third Master all the way back to Chu camp even if he had to tie him up. This is the only way to save the Third Master’s life.
*Dong Dong Dong* The drums once again beat loudly. Sun Ce Army’s flag began to wave again. Sun Ce and Liu Mang roared at the same time. “Release the arrows!”
Like rockets, the flame arrows flew towards the walls. The giant shields were useless. Although they manage to block a few arrows, when the fire hits the ground, the fierce kerosene started burning.
“Hahahahahaha!” Looking at the fire spreading at the city, Sun Ce smiled happily. Burn, burn! Let’s see how your heavy armor can withstand fire! The people of this era does not know what is melting point. They also do not understand the meaning of temperature. Even then, they know that fire beats metal.
“We cannot go down like this!” Liu Mang is also looking at the fire that is getting bigger and bigger. The piled up corpses was the first to burn. Their hairs and bones also became combustible and burn up together with their leather armor.
The archers at the siege towers are beginning to pull their bowstrings again. If it continues to go on like this, the walls of Wan Cheng will be caught in the sea of fire and even the heavy armor will not be able to help.
“Huang Xu!” Liu Mang roared a cry.
“Yes! Little Lord!” Huang Xu quickly responded.
“This is your chance!” Liu Mang seriously faced Huang Xu. They only have 1 bowstring and can only shoot 1 giant arrow. Huang Xu needs to hit the target or else Lu Bu’s Army will be waiting on the wall for the siege tower troops of the Sun Ce’s Army to burn them to death.
“Aim at the frame!” Liu Mang looked at the siege towers to find the one with the most accurate aiming. That siege tower is their greatest threat right now. The ballista that can only shoot one arrow must aim at the one with the biggest threat.
“Your Royal Highness Shu King! You must not die! I still need to personally cut off your head!” Sun Ce sneered. He did not believe that the fire attack caused by the archers on the siege tower would leave any survivors among the Wan Cheng defenders.
“Shoot!” Liu Mang ordered. Huang Shu released the ballista bowstring. The ballista shook and the giant arrow pierced through the space in front of it and gave out a huge sound.
*Boom! Boom!* Sun Ce closed his eyes and enjoyed this feeling. From his position he can smell the cooked flesh from the walls of Wan Cheng City. The screams that is heard makes the feeling even better.
“Hehe! Liu Mang! Lu Bu! I must show you how powerful I, Sun Ce, the man you offend, really is!” Sun Ce smiled as he opened his eyes. At that moment, his face stiffened and his smile turned grim.
“Huh! What!” Sun Ce was going crazy because in front of him, his magical siege weapon, the tall siege tower, came crashing down from top to bottom. The soldiers on the siege tower fell from a hundred feet above ground and was crushed by debris. There were no survivors.
“What is that, what is that!” Sun Ce is anxious at how the siege tower collapse. He closed his eyes for a moment to enjoy himself and a siege tower disappeared. That is too unscientific. Did Liu Mang’s troops attack from outside the city? Impossible! The gates were blocked and there was no time to clear the passageway. Liu Mang also would not dare to leave. The amount of soldiers left at Wan Cheng City is already too little. To leave would be to court death. How then did the siege tower get destroyed?
“Ballista crossbow!” Lu Su came over and also saw. In fact he saw more things than Sun Ce. He saw from the beginning when the giant arrow flew from the walls. It was the same giant arrow that almost got Sun Ce killed. That giant arrow shot through the wood of the siege tower that is support its structure. As the siege tower already have many people on it, it was unable to bear the heavy load and naturally collapsed.
“Ballista crossbow!” Sun Ce’s face became incomparably ugly. It’s that! It’s that! Oolong! Oolong! Sun Ce once thought again about his horse Oolong. The more he thought about it, the more distorted his face became. “Siege tower! Siege tower!” If the siege tower problem is not solved, how is he supposed to capture Wan Cheng to kill Liu Mang!
“Ai!” Lu Su sighed. He found that when his lord started trading blows with Liu Mang, he became odd. He started to get angry really easily. If Sun Ce was able to calm down, this Prince of Shu would not even have been an opponent. For example, on the first day of the siege, instead of personally going to Wan Cheng, he should have sent Taishi Ci to delay Huang Zhong. At that time, Chen Wu and Dong Xi can kill Liu Mang and open the gates.
However, Sun Ce went up the walls and was dictated by his emotions. Lu Su did not know about the realm of generals and he did not know Sun Ce made a breakthrough to a superclass general. He only knew that a battle that could have been won in a day was extended to three days. To make things worse, Sun Ce’s life was threatened and had to retreat.
On the second day, if they had sent out the Danyang troops early, the result would have been different! Lu Su admitted that he himself has made his own mistakes but it was Sun Ce’s idea to make use of Liu Mang to slaughter the nobles. As a result, Lu Bu’s Army eliminated the nobles.
Today, they took out the siege tower. Sun Ce thought it was he has already won and crazy enough to close his eyes.
Ballista crossbow! Can’t he see it by himself! Sun Ce’s vision is definitely better than Lu Su. This crossbow can only be used once. If it could be used more than once they would have used it earlier to shoot at the siege tower.
“This ballista crossbow can only shoot once! Our army still has another 3 more siege towers so Milord need not worry!” The 3 more siege towers can hold at least another 2,000 soldiers. It would be more than enough to cause numerous casualties to Liu Mang and Lu Bu. Lu Su spoke confidently but his words backfired. Another loud piercing sound accompanied his words followed by a mysterious black thing. He suddenly felt fear.
*Boom* Another siege tower was pierced. The soldiers on the siege tower started to panic and soon fell to their deaths. They hit the ground and caused blood to splatter. The mysterious black thing was also stuck onto the ground.
Below, the soldiers looked at the two collapsed siege towers and are afraid to stand beneath it. This is because all the soldiers on the siege towers and those below it died!
The remaining soldiers on the remaining two siege towers were all very worried. One by one, their hands were letting go of their bows and arrows.
Death by sword was not scary. After all, once you are slashed you are dead leaving behind a corpse. On the other hand, falling to their deaths is much more horrible. You can’t even find the corpse.
“Impossible!” Lu Su shook his head. The ballista can only be fired once and it is absolutely impossible to shoot two times in a row. If you could shoot twice then on that day Sun Ce would not have been able to escape.
“Not the ballista crossbow!” Sun Ce’s vision twinkled. He took a deep breath. He has been confused this whole time. This whole time his emotions were on top and he let Liu Mang escape. Anger, madness, these are taboo for people going to war. Sun Ce has shown these qualities the past few days.
“These arrows, were shot by people!” Sun Ce’s eyes flew across the battlefield and to the walls of Wan Cheng. A veteran was breathing heavily as he pulled his longbow. The moment he let go of the bowstring, the arrow has already disappeared.
“Zi Jing, pardon me for my earlier faults! I was impatient! You may ridicule me!” Sun Ce suddenly became indifferent. He was refining the pinnacle of a warrior. If he was unable to control his emotions, then it would be terrible. This past few days Sun Ce was truly irritated. This is because he has lost too much to Liu Mang.
“Huh!?” Lu Su was really surprised. Sun Ce apologized to him? How can this be!
The past two days, Lu Su saw Sun Ce as someone addicted to slaughter in terms of military treatment, rebellious and self-willed. This Sun Ce is suddenly apologizing on his own!
Could this be Sun Ce’s charm that became his talent into uniting the whole of Jiangdong?