Chapter 220 - Not peaceful Jiangxia (1/2)

Chapter 220 Not peaceful Jiangxia

Translated by Gamer @ endlessfantasytranslations.com

“This is the ballista!” Sun Ce could now investigate. After being defeated at Wan Cheng, he did not know how to face Zhou Yu. That is why he is now investigating the reason for his defeat at a place with one of his biggest navy.

“Yes, Brother!” Standing beside him was another heroic youth. He looks similar to Sun Ce but was less muscular and had a gentler feeling. If Sun Ce was the blade of a sword, this man was the scabbard. His cutting edge was concealed.

This person is Sun Quan! Sun Zhongmou was only 18 years old. This was a schooling age and in the modern world, he would be taking his college examination. However, Sun Zhongmou was already a magistrate for 2 years. The Qiantang County under his governance was flouris.h.i.+ng. Just the taxes alone were double the amount of taxes compared to the neighboring areas. Sun Ce even commented that he was good at conquering but when it comes to recruiting people to protect Jiangdong, he is inferior.

When he was at the Qiantang, Sun Quan has already appreciated talented people and find ways to further develop their talent. He set up a small Jiangdong group that was filled with talented people. In this group was Lu Su, Bu Zhi, Zhuge Jin, Yan Jun, Lu Meng, Ling Cao, and Ding Feng. This group of talented people was the key to Sun Quan’s power in Jiangdong.

Sun Quan looked at his brother with a complicated expresiion. His brother is too remarkable. At 20 years old he already became a ruler and have controlled the whole of Jiangdong. Sun Ce was also similar to Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang that started from scratch. All of the accomplishments since the death of his father was done by his elder brother. It could be said that since the death of their father Sun Jiang, It was his brother who carried the burden of the whole family and was the one that provided him with their good living environment.

If Sun Quan was incompetent, then there would be no problem as there was Sun Ce. Sun Quan entire life would be filled with glory and wealth. The problem was that Sun Quan was actually good and was not inferior to his brother. There are some elderly people in Jiangdong who thinks that Sun Quan was the one that should rule Jiangdong as his brother would only go out to fight. The system of reward and punishment was also not clear enough. If it wasn’t because of Zhou Yu, there would have been a lot of complaints. However, Sun Quan was different. He was gentle and courteous to others, fair and not impulsive. The most important thing was the difference in how Sun Quan and Sun Ce treated the n.o.bles. Sun Ce was a military commander and was similar to Lu Bu. If he had the chance, he would most likely strangle the n.o.bles as well.

For example, in Wan Cheng, the n.o.ble’s children were sent to the walls to fight so that they would get killed by the Lu Bu’s Army. He could then take control of the remaining troops. Unfortunately, his plan failed and there were survivors among the n.o.bles. They may not be suspicious of anything right now but the would soon realize it. This is because Sun Ce has also killed the remaining cronies in the camp. This was just murder! As Sun Quan treated the n.o.bles kinder, he is probably more suited for politics. In the eyes of the n.o.bility, Sun Quan was like a good friend to the n.o.ble families. They realized this in Qiantang. Sun Quan has never removed anyone’s power and even return some power to some of the n.o.bles. The n.o.bles would definitely feel closer to Sun Quan.

“Brother, why do you need me to be here?” Sun Quan sighed in his heart. No matter what he does, as long as his brother is here, Sun Quan would forever stand behind his brother. Sun Quan shook his head helplessly.

“What power! How does it fire rapidly?” Sun Ce kept asking questions. He could not be blamed as the Jiangdong Army suffered heavy losses because of this weapon. He almost died as well. Now this weapon was in his hands. Sun Ce could barely believe it.

Sun Quan was truly Sun Quan. The ballista that was constructed by Sun Quan was different from the blueprints given by Liu Mang. He added wheels to the ballista. Now the immobile ballista could be dragged around. The ballista would not only be used on s.h.i.+ps but also equipped on the cities with gates. Sun Quan immediately commanded his soldiers to showcase the power of the ballista. They brought out arrow targets for Sun Ce to see.

“100 steps!” Sun Quan shouted to the soldiers. The soldiers nodded and quickly began the preparations. They placed the target 100 steps away. The target had a s.h.i.+eld and was also wearing armors made for scarecrows.

After everything was prepared, one of the soldiers raised the flag to say that they are ready to shoot.

“Shoot!” Sun Quan ordered. The ballista fired. A gigantic arrow flew like a meteor towards the target. Sun Quan also knew that if he wanted the shot to be accurate, it is better to get a person who was a professional marksman.

*Whoosh* The sound of the air was torn from the speed of the giant arrow. The speed of the arrow was faster than normal arrows. As the arrow was also larger it also gives the impression that it is heavier.

*Boom* The arrow striked the giant s.h.i.+eld. The giant s.h.i.+eld was a standard weapon. Although it was not as strong as the s.h.i.+elds used by Liu Mang and the Urban Army, it was still able to survive arrows. A normal giant s.h.i.+eld was meant to defend the soldiers from rocks. Only a catapult had the power to harm soldiers hiding behind the s.h.i.+elds. That shows the strength of the s.h.i.+elds.

That s.h.i.+eld now had a large hole in the middle of the s.h.i.+eld. The metal of the s.h.i.+eld was mercilessly torn open by the arrow as it continued to its next target with slightly less speed. The second target was a general’s suit of armor. It was the kind of armor only worn by high ranking officers and were made of iron. Even then, it still could not stop the arrow. Although the arrow was slightly bent after penetration. It has still completed its job. Besides that, behind the armor was a thick plank that was about as thick as the floors of wars.h.i.+ps. To show the power of the ballistae properly, it was slightly thicker by coating the wooden plank with metal. This was the final result!

The thick plank that was coated with iron was also torn open and an unfortunate soldier who was behind the target was pierced by the arrow and lost his life.

The casualty did not even make Sun Ce and his brother blink. In fact, Sun Ce’s eyes lit up. “This is it! This is that power! No! This is even more fearsome!” Sun Ce was shot at by the ballista controlled by Huang Xu. Huang Xu has innate talent and Sun Ce could feel that Huang Xu’s shot was more accurate. However, this ballista was more powerful and could shoot through s.h.i.+elds, armors and thick planks. If it was this ballista on the day of the battle, Sun Ce might not be able to ward off the attack. Oolong is dead and even his Overlord Spear was cracked.

“200 steps! 300 steps!” Sun Quan did not reply his brother but continued to command his men to set up the next target. From the experiments, that the ballista could shoot through everything if it was 300 steps away or less. At 350 steps, it only managed to pierce up to half of the thick plank. At 400 steps, it could break open the metal coating of the plank and so on. The experiment continued until 600 to 700 steps where only the s.h.i.+eld could be destroyed. This made it useful for battles on the s.h.i.+ps at 700 steps away. It would be a nightmare to their enemies.

“Forge all of these quickly!” Sun Ce only had such an idea now and commanded the Jiangdong craftsmen to go all out building the ballistae. At first, he did not know what this was. But now Sun Ce finally understood why Jiang Qin and Lu Su lost. With this weapon, even he would not make a difference by commanding the navy on the Yangtze River. However, this weapon was now in his hands!

4,000 craftsmen and 20,000 gold! Sun Ce was distressed at first but now that he has seen the power of this weapon, the 4,000 craftsmen and 20,000 gold was merely lent to Lu Bu. Wait for it! Lu Bu Lu Fengxian! I will use the ballista given to me to make you spit out everything that you have swallowed!

“Oh right! Didn’t Liu Biao also dispatch a messenger to Wan Cheng?” Sun Ce suddenly thought of it. This is because the Jiangdong Army and the Lu Bu’s Army has fought until this scenario and even sent messengers to obtain the blueprint for the ballista, Sun Ce did not believe that Liu Biao would not do anything.

“It is true, Brother.” Sun Quan nodded his head. Sun Quan was inferior to Sun Ce in military matters. Even when Sun Quan took control of Jiangdong, he was still inferior to his brother in military matters.