Sowing Discord
Dozens of catapults caused rocks to rain down onto Ruyin. The ground continued to quake. Sun Qian felt really bad and his back was drenched in cold sweat.
“Milord. This Sun Qian seems to be a talented person. He could stay calm even from this attack!” Liu Ye felt inferior as he looked up the walls. Sun Qian was still sitting on the chair. The two subordinates by his side held their heads and cowered to the ground like two ostriches. However, Sun Qian remained sitting, his expression calm.
“Calm?” If Sun Qian had heard that, he would have went straight to Liu Ye and get violent. He wasn’t calm and also wanted to run. However, his legs wouldn’t move. He was scared frozen. His face was also scared stiff. Sun Qian was also someone that have experienced war before. Liu Bei was called Runaway Liu because he was always defeated. Sun Qian had been following Liu Bei for a long time and had experienced a lot. However, he had never experienced this before. The rocks were larger than people and could even break down the limestone walls. If it were to hit someone they would perish immediately.
In fact, Sun Qian’s fear was superfluous. Liu Mang had given the order for the catapults to avoid firing at Sun Qian. Although the catapults could not fire precisely, it was still able to avoid firing at a certain spot. After all, the walls were big.
“Ah, I really underestimated Sun Qian!” Liu Mang could not help but nod. ‘Although Sun Qian was not great at making strategies, he was certainly brave to not escape while being attacked by the catapults.’
“Han Sheng. It is your turn now!” Liu Mang initially used the catapults to investigate the situation. If Sun Qian had ulterior motives, he would certainly go down the walls. Who would have known that Sun Qian remained indifferent. Now, he could only use the best marksman in the Three Kingdoms, Huang Zhong.
Huang Zhong shot three arrows towards Sun Qian. The three arrows formed a triangle.
“I am doomed.” Sun Qian’s looked as though he was dead. The three arrows seemingly sealed his fate. Even if he wanted to escape, he was unable to escape. There was nowhere to escape. Sun Qian felt regret. If he knew this would happen, he would not have implemented this empty city strategy. He had simply courted death.
The three arrows struck the wall behind Sun Qian. One was above his head while the other two was below both his armpits. The arrows securely held Sun Qian in place.
“Hansheng. Nice shot!” Liu Mang looked at the three arrows from a distance.
A target could be shot directly. It would be easier as a person was large. However, Huang Zhong managed to hit his target without harming them. This was Huang Zhong’s skill.
“Your Highness overpraised me!” This kind of skill was Huang Zhong’s special ability.
“Teacher!” The two soldiers stood up in fear and approached Sun Qian. “You truly are a deity. The enemy is attacking with rocks and you are still calm and composed!” One of them looked at Sun Qian and sighed with admiration. Sun Qian was so knowledgeable. He wondered when he himself could reach that level.
‘Bullshit!’ Sun Qian cursed in his heart. With great efforts, he moved his rigid face. “Q-q-quickly s-s-send me d-down.” Sun Qian stuttered.
“Teacher! What’s wrong?” The two of them rushed forward and asked.
“My leg cramped!” Sun Qian could only tell the truth. “Quickly take me down. We cannot stay here. We cannot stay in Ruyin. We must leave!” Sun Qian was already frightened of Liu Mang. He did not know what would happen next. Arrows and rocks were already flying over, ready to take his life. Sun Qian only just now realized the beauty of life.
“Black fatty. This one and you are irreconcilable!” Sun Qian had also thought that he was abandoned. He could have left the city at night as he had already completed his task. He even removed half the troops from the city. He never expected Pang Tong to really place an ambush at Yingshang. Sun Qian was unhappy that he was not told about the ambush. If he was told, he would be able to make preparations for it. Now the ambush was a success and Pang Tong gains merit but the enemy came to take revenge on Sun Qian. This made Sun Qian feel hateful.
“Hm? Is there really an ambush in the city?” Liu Mang calmly looked at Sun Qian. ‘He did not even dodge Huang Zhong’s arrows. Did he know we would not kill him? Liu Mang began to suspect that it was not an the Empty City Strategem and that they really wanted to take the fight to the streets. If they had over ten thousand soldiers inside the city, the results would not be good. Just as Liu Mang hesitated, two Urban Army soldiers ran towards him.
“Report! The city. The city is empty! Ruyin is empty! There are no soldiers and no people!” These two soldiers were amongst the twenty soldiers given to Wei Yan to enter the city and look for information.
“The city is empty?” Liu Mang froze. If that was true, why was Sun Qian so indifferent?
“Milord! Look at this!” Xu Sheng suddenly had a weird expression and shouted towards Liu Mang. In his hands was a telescope. When Sun Qian left, he had knocked over a table. It was moist under it.
“Sigh.” Liu Mang shook his head. Liu Mang lamented the fact that he was almost tricked just like Liu Ye. “All soldiers. Enter the city!” Liu Mang commanded with a wave of his hand. The Urban Army and the Black Flag Army began to enter the city. The catapults were also being dismantled.
After the army entered the city, the defences had been given to Xu Sheng. Meanwhile, Liu Mang and the Urban Army went to the storehouse. After all, they were here for provisions. Liu Mang was very excited to find out how much they would get this time. However, when the door to the storehouse was open, he found out that it was completely empty.
“Where are the provisions!” Liu Mang was irritated. He attacked these Ruyin and YIngshang for provisions. Now, he had found nothing. “Go and arrest whoever that is in charge and ask them where are the provisions!”
Two bodyguards accepted the order and left. A short while later, they brought back an old soldier.
“General. Spare my life!” The detained soldier begged in front of Liu Mang.
“Spare your life? If you answer my questions properly, I will not kill you!” Liu Mang was not interested in killing the old soldier. Liu Mang would laugh if such a person was part of the regular troops. The man was not a threat at all. If he were to return to Liu Bei’s Army, all he would do is hinder Liu Bei as there would be an additional person to feed.
“Speak. Where did the provision go?” Liu Mang asked the old soldier.
“The provision had already been taken away by the generals.” The frightened old man replied.
“Taken away?” Liu Mang asked. “When was it transported? Where was it transported to?”
“The transportation began ten days ago. The last transportation of provision and people was five days ago. The generals did not only transported the military grains but also the residents of this city!” The soldier did not dare to hide anything. When Liu Bei received news of Liu Mang entering Yuzhou, he received a suggestion from Pang Tong. This is to reinforce and help Guan Yu overcome the might of the catapults. So, the provision and soldiers at Ruyin had all been sent back to Runan. On the other hand, Yingshang was too far away. It was better to leave it and delay the soldiers for Ruyin.
“Shit!” Liu Mang slammed the door of the storehouse. While Liu Mang was feeling distressed, Wei Yan requested an audience from outside.
“Wei Yan?” Liu Mang remembered ordering Wei Yan to enter the city. Wei Yan’s men had also given the report that the city was empty. Wei Yan should be merited for this. Liu Mang should have rewarded him. However, when he saw that there were no provision in the city, he did not want to deal with Wei Yan as he had too many things to think about. “Send him back first. I will naturally reward him for this later!” Liu Mang waved his hand and sent Wei Yan off.
“Milord. Wei Yan said that there is an important information for you!” The bodyguard replied to Liu Mang.
“An important message?” Liu Mang was puzzled and annoyed. He believed this was Wei Yan’s excuse to get his merits. “What information could he possibly have? Tell him to scram!”
“Yes!” The bodyguard wanted to leave when Liu Ye stopped him. “Wait.” Liu Ye then cupped his fist at Liu Mang and said, “Milord. Wei Yan was dispatched by you to enter Ruyin. He may actually have important information for you! It is harmless even if he doesn’t.”
“Alright.” Liu Mang was a little impatient. He had to give face to Liu Ye. “Let him in.”
Moments later, Wei Yan was brought in. He paid his respects and said, “Report! This subordinate did not disgrace you and captured the governor of Ruyin, Sun Qian!”
“What?” Liu Mang was stunned. “What did you say?”
“This subordinate said that he has captured the governor, Sun Qian.” Wei Yan repeated himself.
“Where did you catch him?” When Liu Mang asked for the person in charge to be arrested, he actually wanted Sun Qian. After all, Sun Qian was the one governing the city. Everything could be understood once he is found. However, the soldiers gave the message that Sun Qian had escaped. Nobody expected Wei Yan to be the one that caught him. When Wei Yan entered the city, there were nobody around. He sent two men to report. Wei Yan then went to the storehouse and other places to take a look. He ran into Sun Qian along the way. This caused the other Urban Army soldiers to be unable to find Sun Qian.
“Milord. It looks like we have provision now.” Liu Ye stepped forward and said.
“We have provision now?” Liu Mang was confused. Capturing Sun Qian meant he have the ability to make Liu Bei pay a ransom. The other option would be to kill Sun Qian and appease hatreds. How was he supposed to get provision?
“Milord! This is Ruyin! Although it is not as big as Yingshang, it has a characteristic that Milord does not know about! It is one of Yuzhou’s granary!” Liu Ye explained that Ruyin was superior in the fact that they had plains. They did not rely on the Ying River but has irrigation from the river. On top of that, it was not as close to the river as Yingshang, Ruyin was also seldom flooded.
That was why there is a lot of provision at Ruyin. The harvesting of the summer crops are also coming soon. Ruyin has so much food. Although Liu Bei wanted to take everything and leave nothing, he would need carriages to transport them. Even if he had carriages, they would be used on the frontlines. This means that most of the provision would still be in Ruyin.
If they were to go and look for it, it would waste a lot of time. What Liu Mang’s Army lacks now is time. However, this may be solved after capturing Sun Qian. As the governor of Ruyin, hiding the provision would be an easy task.
“But what if Sun Qian does not speak?” Liu Mang was a little bit worried. This is because scholars now and thousands of years ago were different. They were not so easily afraid. Some were even stronger than military commanders. Su Fei could be considered half a scholar and did not surrender to help Liu Mang. Chen Gong was another example in the original timeline.
“Milord. Rest assured. Do you remember saying that you were ambushed at Yingshang?” Liu Ye asked with a smile.
“Huh? Is that related?” Liu Mang simply wanted to test for Sun Qian’s reaction.
Liu Mang did not know he had accidentally sowed discord. Sun Qian was one of Liu Bei’s advisors and trusted subordinate. However, when Liu Mang said that he was ambushed at Yingshang, Liu Ye saw Sun Qian’s expression turned to one of shock. He even seemed like he wanted to stand and explain himself when Liu Mang wanted to take revenge.
By right, Sun Qian should not have shown that expression or reacted that way. At the very least, Sun Qian should have known about the ambush. The fact that he did not know about it meant that he was excluded. On top of that, if it was really as Liu Mang claimed, the act of vengeance would be carried out on him. That means Sun Qian had already been abandoned and was trapped in the city.
Anyone in Sun Qian’s position would complain about being abandoned. On top of that, Liu Ye had received intelligence that Sun Qian and Pang Tong’s relationship was not good. They had already sowed discord. All that is left is to see how poisoned Sun Qian was.
“We only need to do it like this!” Liu Ye, Liu Mang and Wei Yan started to plan to obtain provision.