Chapter 22 - Long Distance Surprise Attack
Original by Bro Got a Gun, Translated by James
“Fucking hell! Why can’t I go back?!” Liu Mang watched as the button to return darkened. Boss Lu had been trapped in Kaiyang! Outside, Boss Cao’s people had surrounded the whole Kaiyang!
Back in Xiapi, they were able to break through because it was a whole chaotic mess and the sky was dark! With such a mighty general like Boss Lu, of course they’ll be able to escape!
However, it’s different now! The people outside was the Ferocious Cavalry! Boss Lu and them had fought against the Ferocious Cavalry before and thus knew of their might!
Liu Mang, on the other hand, knew of their strength from the history books. This Ferocious Cavalry was a trump card!
Not mentioning the battles the Ferocious Cavalry had against other warlords, their most famous accomplishment was the battle against the Wuhuan - five thousand against a hundred thousand! That battle crippled the Wuhuan people! The Wuhuan were nomadic people! They knew of the horse much better than the Han! Even so, they were defeated by the Ferocious Cavalry!
Seeing that Boss Lu no longer had a future, Liu Mang was ready to escape! However, the CD was still dark even though it had been over a day since he came here!
“What the fuck?!” Liu mang didn’t want to break through with Boss Lu under the threat of the Ferocious Cavalry! Not only could two legged people not run faster than four legged beasts but these heavy cavalries, once on the field, how could they possibly stop them?!
Had the Formation Breaker been okay, then perhaps it would’ve been a different story. However, the Formation Breaker was already crippled! You can’t possibly had the few hundred remnant soldiers of the Formation Breaker go out and try to stop thousands of heavy cavalries!
“Big brother! When are you going to help me find my mother?!” A clever looking jade like child pulled on Liu Mang’s trousers.
“Lil Stone be good. In a couple day, just a couple days, big brother will take you to find your mother!” Liu Mang picked up Lil Stone. This was the lost child he encountered earlier outside of Kaiyang. Lil Stone was taken away by Miss Lu to have a clean up, his original dirty appearance disappeared and came back looking like he had on powdered makeups!
As Liu Mag held Lil Stone, his will to leave began to waver. True that he could leave but what about the child?! Like what Liu Mang had said, should he abandon the child, he would be forever disturbed!
As he thought of that, he began to put on the Aries Gold Cloth. “Lil Stone be good. Big brother will be right back! You must be good! Stay here and sleep. If you’re afraid then go find big sister Lu!” Having left Lil Stone, Liu Mang started walking toward the front of the city. Lu Bu and the others were currently there thinking about when to break through.
“Sire!” The first person that saw Liu Mang was Cheng Yu. He was currently leading some soldiers patrolling.
“Where is Boss Lu and them?” As Liu Mang had called Lu Bu by Boss Lu the whole time, the Lu Bu soldiers had already gotten used to it.
“General and them are all on the city tower. Sire, do you want me to bring you there?!” Asked Cheng Yu.
“No need. You can continue your patrol!” Liu Mang shook his head. The tension is currently very high in Kaiyang. Who knows when a mutiny might occur amongst these soldiers defending the city. Thus, patrolling the city was something that must be done!
“Okay! Then sire, I shall take my leave!” Cheng Yu nodded and left with his soldiers.
Liu Mang arrived on the city tower. Chen Gong and Lu Bu was there. Zhang Liao had also left to do patrolling. Gao Shun had returned back to rest. The battle earlier in the day had crippled his Formation Breaker and left him both physically and mentally exhausted.
“So my worthy son in law had came!” Lu Bu was also very tired. However, he cannot rest for he is the soul of the whole Lu Bu army. With him standing, the whole Lu Bu army could burst forward a greater strength!
Chen Gong looked at Liu Mang and nodded.
“Worthy son in law?!” Liu Mang’s forehead twitched. He really didn’t enjoy being called that. “Boss Lu, please call me by my courtesy name Hanyang instead!”
“Boss Lu? Still calling me Boss Lu?!” Lu Bu’s face dropped cold.
The fuck! I’ve heard of those who force others into prostitution and drug trafficking but never have I ever heard of those who forces others to marry their daughter!
Liu Mang helplessly yelled. “Father in law!”
“Hanyang?!” Chen Gong took another look at Liu Mang.
“That’s better! Now that’s like family! Better treat my precious Ling-er well!” Lu Bu stood up and patted Liu Mang’s shoulder almost patting him all the way to the ground!
What intense strength!
“Father in law, about the situation outside…?!”Liu Mang asked out what he was most concern for.
“Outside?!” Lu Bu frowned. To be trapped by the Ferocious Cavalry was a great shame for Lu Bu! What is the origin of Lu Bu?! He started from a the heavy cavalry! Starting from the Bing Province, he had driven back the foreigners! Then he went to Luoyang to intimate Dong Zhou. Although Dong Zhou had the Xiliang Heavy Cavalry, he dared not to do anything to Lu Bu!
Finally when eighteen warlords fought against Dong Zhou, Lu Bu was still able to come and go as he pleases with his Bing Province Cavalry!
Never had Lu Bu ever been trapped by cavalries!
And now his retribution came! Back then, the Bing Province Cavalry had almost took Old Cao’s life. Thus Cao Cao decided firmly to create a cavalry unit himself - the Ferocious Cavalry. And now, this Ferocious Cavalry have trapped Boss Lu.
Lu Bu did not speak, however, just from Lu Bu’s demeanor, Liu Mang knew that the situation was bad.
Chen Gong spoke. “Let me call you Hanyang too!” Chen Gong is already middle aged now. For him to call Liu Mang by his courtesy name was something that is acceptable. “The commander of the cavalries outside should be Cao Chun. This Cao Chun is familiar with the art of war, he knew both the strength and weakness of cavalries. His cavalry unit numbered fifteen hundred. They surrounded Kaiyang with two hundred cavalries per gate!”
“Two hundred cavalries per gate?!” Liu Mang was completely ignorant of the arts of war, thus he stupidly asked “two hundred people, we have thousands! Can’t we just send a thousand troops to destroy those two hundred cavalries?!”
“Hehe!” Chen Gong did not blame Liu Mang for being ignorant. Instead he had a wry smile and said. “If it was that easy then we would’ve already done it instead of debating about what to do! Although two hundred heavy cavalries cannot possibly break through the gates we also cannot go out! Cao Chun still have with him seven hundred Ferocious Cavalry soldiers! Upon trying to destroy their two hundred cavalries outside the gate, he will immediately send his seven hundred cavalries over as reinforcement!”
“Even if we are to fight them with more people, we cannot win. And if we are to fight them with less people, then we might be the one being destroyed!” Chen Gong explained to Liu Mang.
“Is there really nothing we can do?!” unable to accept it, Liu Mang asked.
“Yes, there’s a way! We can attack with our whole army and break through with all our force!” said Chen Gong. “However, in that case, our causality will certainly be very high! But there’s nothing we can do about that!”
“Break through with all our force? When?!” Liu Mang knew that there’s no way for him to escape. It would appear that this will be another battle.
“Tonight when the moon is high up in the sky!” said Chen Gong. The Xu Province have no shortage of forests. As long as they can break through and enter the forest, they will be able to escape! Not to mention there’s also Zang Ba, a local of Langye. Once they enter Mount Tai, they’ll be able to escape!
“Okay!” Liu Mang nodded his head. He decided to go rest himself up before the break through.
“Reporting! Reporting to the lord! The situation has turned bad!” Cheng Yu who had just left suddenly rushed in. “Reporting to the lord, outside, outside the city there’s suddenly a couple thousands more troops! They have surrounded Kaiyang!”
“Couple thousands more troops?!” Lu Bu was shocked. The original fifteen hundred Ferocious Cavalry had already left Lu Bu with a headache. And now, there’s an addition of a couple thousands more troops?! Had it been before then perhaps Lu Bu wouldn’t care much of it. However, he had only now decided that they are going to break through when the moon is high up in the sky and such a thing happened.
“Xiahou Yuan’s troops!” said Liu Mang and Chen Gong at the same time.
Chen Gong knew that this was Xiahou Yuan’s troops because he had already looked into all of Cao Cao’s advisors and generals when he was setting up plans for Lu Bu. Liu Mang knew that this was Xiahou Yuan’s troops thanks to the help of the Baidu Encyclopedia of the modern times.
Xiahou Yuan’s troops. not as elite as the Formation Breaker, not as strong as the Dangyang soldiers and not as strong against cavalries compared to the Vanguard Battalion. However, his troops one distinguishing features that others don’t have - they specialize in long distance surprise attacks!
[TL: translating 先登营 as a Vanguard Battalion.]
From the Xiapi to Kaiyang was distance worth four days and he arrived in just two days!
Time is of essence in the battlefield!
This time, Xiahou Yuan’s arrival in a timely manner was like a strike to Boss Lu’s balls!
“The commander shouldn’t be Xiahou Miaocai. Cao Cao really have an unending supply of great generals!” Chen Gong sighed with lament. Xiahou Miaocai was already deeply injured by Lu Bu, something that he couldn’t recover in short period of time.
For the Xiahou Yuan’s troops to obey, this commander must also be another great Cao general.
“What to do now?!” asked Liu Mang. Lu Bu too looked toward Chen Gong.
What to do now? How would I possibly know what to do? Chen Gong with a helpless expression said “let’s observe the situation!”
