Battle of Shouchun
The first main reason Liu Bei killed Liu Pi was because Liu Pi had offended Zhang Xiu. Liu Pi was also too influential with the Yuzhou Yellow Turbans. Many of them want Yuzhou back. Even if Liu Pi did not want to, the others might force him to. It was just like with Cai Mao. Cao Cao saw that there was a low chance for Liu Biao to rebel but he still prepared safety precautions. He placed Liu Cong as a governer there before the man disappeared. Liu Bei was even more poisonous. He got Liu Biao’s son Liu Qi to get him popularity and Jingzhou’s support. Liu Qi then died two years later.
The second main reason was because of military power. If Liu Pi had handed over the Yuzhou Army to Liu Bei, there would not have been an issue. Liu Bei may even give Liu Pi a clerical job. However, Liu Pi refused. This was still fine if Liu Pi listened to orders. However, Liu Pi dispatched troops on his own and even ambushed the Xiliang Cavalry. This means that they could also ambush Liu Bei. When they ambushed Lu Bu, Liu Bei only had a few bodyguards by his side. If Liu Pi had wicked intentions, he could have gotten rid of Liu Bei.
How could Liu Bei keep such a disobedient man? Now, Liu Bei has the excuse to execute him. No one would object to this reasoning as people were most afraid of others that were willing to attack their own teammates just for merits.
Liu Bei had also considered those that would revolt. Instead of placing someone in charge, he promoted Liao Hua.
Liu Bei had also seen Liao Hua’s leadership. Liao Hua dared to ambush the Xiliang Cavalry with his five thousand men. Liao Hua also looked deeply grateful, letting Liu Bei know that he would never betray him.
After a long talk through the night, Liu Bei and Zhang Xiu once again became good friends. Pang Tong also decided on a stratagem. He decided to beat Xu Shu at his own game. Since Xu Shu’s stratagem was to have Liu Bei’s Army and Zhang Xiu’s Army fight each other or at the very least, go separate ways, he decided to have these two armies pretend to be at odds. Zhang Xiu pretend to withdraw the troops then launch a surprise attack, catching the defenders of Shouchun unprepared.
This strategy almost succeeded. Fortunately, Zhao Yun and his two hundred White Horses found out about this surprise attack and slowed them down. This allow Shouchun to close its gates and lower the drawbridge. However, the industrial zone had to be burned down.
“Military advisor. Should I bring my White Horses up the walls to defend the city?” Zhao Yun looked at Xu Shu fighting hard. After all, Xu Shu’s troops were all second-line soldiers while Liu Bei’s troops were all frontline soldiers. Besides that, Xu Shu only had ten thousand men while the other side had several tens of thousands. If it was not because of the advantage of the walls, they would have already been defeated.
“No. General Zilong. You and your White Horses are to return and have a rest. I will need you elsewhere where you would be more effective.” Xu Shu would not let cavalries defend walls. They have not yet reached that situation. Also, the heavily armored cavalry also opened other options for Xu Shu. “Oh right. General Zilong. When you go down, ask the common people to help me burn the gold water! There might be a need for it later.”
“I understand.” Zhao Yun nodded and left the walls. Gold water was not made from melted gold but from rice and arsenic trioxide. It was used on an arrowhead, making it a biological weapon. If the ones hit by this arrow, a person’s life would end without treatment. When it enters the body, it would form an infection. Xu Shu originally did not want to use this but had no choice1.
“Capture Shouchun and Lu Bu’s Army would be finished!” Liu Bei said to himself as he looked at the strategic city. Once he laid a foundation there, he would have two provinces. He would then destroy Lu Bu together with Sun Ce and Zhang Xiu. Once that happens, no one in the Central Plains would be able to stop him. He just needed to wait for Cao Cao and Yuan Shao to fight each other. The winner does not matter. He would be able to conquer the Central Plains and then advance to Xuzhou, Yanzhou and Qingzhou. At that time, he would become the king of everything.
“Soldiers. Raise your spirits. Pick up your weapons. Have you seen what lies before you? That is Shouchun. That is the place Yuan Shu once proclaimed himself Emperor. We will win once we capture that place! A lot of merits would be given by Milord. You will be promoted and gain wealth. You can also go and find a wife! There are millions of people in there. There would definitely be many young women there! It would not be a problem for a person to even have two or three wives!” These was Liao Hua’s first speech to the soldiers, boosting their morale. As they were originally Yellow Turbans, Liao Hua’s speech was already very refined. When the Yellow Turbans fought last time, they killed and plunder while all the women were defiled. There were not any that could be taken home to be wed. However, Liu Bei had a good reputation. He came for the people. His reputation would fall if such a thing were to happen.
“Capture Shouchun! Gain wealth!” Liao Hua shouted and his subordinates started to attack.
“Soldiers! We only have Shouchun left. If Shouchun is captured, we would have nothing! Think of your family. What do you think would happen to them if we were to lose? They would become destitute and homeless! Do not allow the delusions of the soldiers below the walls to come into reality. Let me tell you that they all come from Yuzhou. I am sure that you all know that they are Yellow Turbans! They are simply wearing a new face! I am sure you all also know about their cruelty!” Xu Shu made a fuss about the Yellow Turbans to highlight the importance of protecting the territory and to raise morale.
“Even if I die alone, I will protect my family!” Xu Shu shouted. The soldiers also cheered and prepared themselves in their respective positions.
“Shoot them with arrows!” Xu Shu ordered. The arrows shot by the defenders rained down onto their enemies below them. There was a moat outside of Shouchun. It was not like the small ditch at Guangzhou. This moat had a width of longer than ten meters and was about eight meters deep. Tgere was also a suspension bridge. Before the moat is dealt with, Shouchun was impossible to capture. That was why the first wave of Yuzhou soldiers were given soil to fill up the moat. To make their work progress faster, they had put aside their weapons and helped with transportation. People were naturally slow at running. They became even slower when transporting the heavy materials. If they were slow, they would be covered in arrows. Several thousand of Liao Hua’s Yuzhou soldiers had perished before they even filled up a tenth of the moat. If this were to continue, the Yuzhou Yellow Turbans would vanish the moment the moat was filled up. This was not something Liao Hua wanted. He cannot lose his soldiers after he just obtained the position of the commanding officer.
As a result, Liao Hua stood in front of Liu Bei pitifully. Liu Bei also know that the damage to the Yuzhou Army was severte. He waved his hand and had Zhang Fei’s Qingzhou Army to replace the Yellow Turbans. It does not matter where they are from. Their objective as the same.
The walls built by the daydreaming Yuan Shu was strong. It curved out, allowing archers to have shoot further. Liu Mang had also added a few things such as an archery platform, giving them better coverage. As a result, the Qingzhou Army was also pushed back.
Zhang Fei stood at the edge of the moat feeling very angry. This was because they could not attack Shouchun without crossing the moat. He could only watch his men get shot by archers without being able to fight back. Liu Bei had also thought about shooting back at the enemy archers but it would be less effective when the enemy has the high ground.
Casualties would be severely heavy if they were to continue fighting like this.
“Xuan Degong. Let me do it.” Zhang Xiu saw that Liu Bei was struggling and requested to be given this responsibility.
“General Zhang Xiu? How would your men fill up the moat?” Zhang Xiu’s men were all heavy cavalry. They could not run after they dismount as they wore heavy armor. It may also become unbearable for them when the weight of the sand was included. This made it less suitable for them to fill up the moat.
“Do not worry! I have a plan!” Zhang Xiu laughed. He had already ate off Liu Bei for so long and decided that he must also contribute. If Liu Bei could not capture Shouchun, Zhang Xiu would also be in trouble. Giving Lu Bu leeway might be even more costly. Besides that, it is said that most of the provisions from Lujiang had been moved to Shouchun. This meant that Shouchun had a lot of supplies. It would be better to help Liu Bei set up a foundation at Shouchun.
“Hu Che Er. Come here and show Xuan Degong your performance!” Zhang Xiu shouted at Hu Che Er.
“Yes Milord. Brothers. It is time for you all to appear. Come and show our allies that we aren’t freeloaders!” Hu Che Er’s words did not take the feelings of others into consideration. Before this, Liu Bei’s Army had complains that Zhang Xiu’s Army were freeloaders. The Liu Bei’s Army were unhappy as all the Zhang Xiu’s Army had been doing was plunder.
“Qiang barbarians!” Zhang Fei roared out. Fortunately, Hu Che Er did not hear him, otherwise they would fight.
Zhang Xiu’s Xiliang Cavalry began to move. Hu Che Er led ten thousand men out of the camp.
“General Zhang Xiu. What are you…?” Liu Bei was confused because the Xiliang Cavalry did not dismount but picked up a sandbag each.
“It is exactly as Xuan Degong sees it. There is no need for me to trick you!” Zhang Xiu was a little bit proud of himself. This was the Xiliang Cavalry’s special ability. They would siege even if they were heavy cavalries. The reason why it is not done by most was because it was too costly. Another reason was because they had fought beyond the Great Wall. They were mostly cavalries that needed to siege. That means that they were more experienced in attacking with cavalry and have their own way of dealing with the moat.
The Xiliang Cavalry rode forward once everybody had a sandbag. The trampling of the cavalry was such that even Xu Shu could feel it from the walls.
Xu Shu furrowed his brows when he saw the ten thousand cavalry rushing to the walls. ‘What are they doing? Are they throwing their lives away? Are they trying to ram the walls with their cavalry or are they trying to cross the moat with their cavalry? There is a dozen meters between both sides. There are no horses that could jump over!’ Xu Shu felt uneasy.
Naturally, Zhang Xiu’s Xiliang Cavalry were not thinking of commiting suicide but about how to open Shouchun’s gates.
The Xiliang Cavalry rode quickly. They continued to speed up until there were about 30 steps left before they would fall into the moat. At that time, Hu Che Er shouted. “Turn!” Under Hu Che Er’s leadership, the Xiliang Cavalry turned and rode along the bank of the moat. Their sandbags were thrown into the moat one by one. The cavalry of ten thousand carried ten thousand sandbags.
“Shoot! Shoot them!” Xu Shu felt anxious. If this were to continue, the moat would not last long. Xu Shu wanted to drive the Xiliang Cavalry away with arrows but it would not be so easy.
“Haha” Hu Che Er looked at Xu Shu with a disdainful smile. The Xiliang Cavalry was a heavy cavalry. The thing they feared the least were arrows. With their heavy armors protecting them, the arrows would not have much effect. Only a few unlucky victims fell from their horses when it was killed by the arrows before being trampled to death.2
“Xuande Gong. How is my Xiliang Cavalry?” Zhang Xiu looked at Liu Bei and his men proudly. If they fill up this moat, they wouldn’t be able to call him a freeloader.
“Haha. General Zhang Xiu. This is truly a good method!” Liu Bei was truly surprised. With this method, the moat would no longer be a problem. It was even a greater contribution compared to both the QIngzhou and Yuzhou armies.
If Liu Bei were to send either of those out, it would be wasting human lives.
“After ten more rounds, the moat would be completely filled!” Zhang Xiu was very confident. His uncle, Li Jue, and Guo Si, had used this method to attack Chang’an. The Chang’an moat was said to be tens of meters deep but was filled up within half a day. It was also one of the reason Liu Biao made Zhang Xiu an ally. There were a lot of waterways at Jingzhou and the walls were not tall. If the moat was filled up, the fortress would no longer be strategic.
“This cannot go on!” Xu Shu looked at the moat in front of him. Shouchun would become very difficult to defend as the moat was part of its natural stronghold. Even Cao Cao destroyed the dam to flood Shouchun when he attacked Yuan Shu. That dam had not been repaired, making the moat Shouchun’s strongest defense.
Once the moat is filled, Xu Shu would need to face Liu Bei’s elite army. If would be impossible to defend with only ten thousand defenders.
“Take those things out!” Xu Shu gritted his teeth and shouted loudly.
“Military advisor? Is it necessary to use that now? Now is…” Deng Yi who was standing at the side was confused. After all, this was only the first day. They had thought that this weapon would only be used once they could no longer defend.
“When would it be used then? Are you going to wait for the moat to be filled and for Shouchun to fall before using it?” Xu Shu did not want to use it as it was limited and would cause destruction. However, there was no choice.
“Alright. I understand!” Deng Yi then went down the walls and helped bring the wooden objects up the walls.
Twelve of them were arranged along the walls of Shouchun.
“What is that?” Liu Bei’s Army would definitely notice the huge movements on the wall and looked at it strangely.
“Ballista?” Zhang Xiu from Xiliang would naturally know of it.
“Ballista?” Liu Bei was stunned. “Is that the Godlike weapon of Liu Mang’s Army, the ballista?”
“That’s right. It is the ballista!” Pang Tong’s eyes opened up. This was because he was the first person in Liu Bei’s Army to experience its wrath. His experience at Huainan was still vivid in his mind.
“So what if it is the ballista? Did you think I would be afraid of this?” Zhang Xiu that came from Xiliang definitely knew that the shocking power of the ballista was stronger than its actual killing power. It’s capable of scaring opponents away but it was useless against Zhang Xiu.
“Charge! Fill up the moat!” Hu Che Er also had the same idea.
As the Xiliang Cavalry rode closer, Xu Shu was watching them with a telescope in his hand.
“Ready!” Xu Shu raised his hand.
1. Real confusing way to say ‘poison arrows’. Maybe it is because it is less ‘poison’ as opposed to ‘infectious disease’. (They didn’t use it yet anyway so don’t worry about it.)
2. Before anyone asks, I do not know why they bothered with horses if their heavy armors were so almighty. Honestly, I think hitting a horse would be significantly easier than hitting someone in the face. Better yet, build carts to carry sandbags or just dig a deeper hole elsewhere and drain the water in the moat. Using inertia? The people beside you would simply get sandbagged instead.