Chapter 278 – Pang Tong’s Advice (1/2)

Pang Tong’s Advice

“Rus.h.!.+ Rush forward!” Liu Pi roared loudly. All they needed to do was reach the walls and put up the siege ladders. Then, there would be nothing to be worried about.

The idea is good but ruthless. With five thousand soldiers rus.h.i.+ng to Guangzhou, the defenders would be tired out. It would become difficult to defend and fall.

That being said, Hao Shao did not create the moat for fun. As there is a flat pathway, no one would be stupid enough to go to the moat where it is difficult to climb out of if they fell. That was why everyone chose to use the middle road.

Five thousand people were neither a lot nor were they little. However, there was enough people to crowd the middle road. Even if the Yuzhou Army initially maintained its formation, it would be in chaos after being shot by waves of arrows. n.o.body would want to be shot to death by arrows. The ones at the front wanted to retreat to the back while the ones at the back heard Liu Pi’s orders to rush forward. Both sides went against each other and fell into chaos. As they pushed each other, they could barely take a few steps forward much less rush to the front.

The crowd became like stationary targets for Hao Shao’s archers. If they could miss multiple times in a row with that kind of crowd, the archer would either have to be blind or missed on purpose. For a period of time, screams continued endlessly.

“Milord. Allow General Liu Pi to withdraw!” Pang Tong could no longer watch. The five thousand soldiers were just made an easy prey. It was so crowded that they could not advance or escape. They could only stand there and be shot at. Yet, they still hoped to rush forward. When they do rush ahead, not many of the five thousand would be left.

“Beat the gong! Recall the troops!” Liu Bei also did not have a good expression. His five thousand soldiers could not even touch the opponent’s hair as they were blocked up at the flat ground.

“Ai!” Liu Pi roared fiercely. “Beat the gong! Recall the troops!”

The order to retreat was much better than the order to rush. After all, the front row was already moving back as they did not want to stay at the front. On the other hand, the ones at the back no longer wanted to move to the front when they heard the order to withdraw. The troops withdrew quickly with a rarely found unity.

“Stop!” Hao Shao waved his hand to stop the archers from shooting. The enemy had retreated quickly. If Liu Pi was allowed to continue his command of charging forward, Hao Shao would have pulled out his remaining one thousand soldiers as archers. The stationary targets could easily be hit and the five thousand troops would be swallowed up by Hao Shao. However, Liu Pi had withdrawn. Hao Shao also had a limited number of arrows, so he had his soldiers stop shooting.

“How is that? Are you still afraid now?” There were corpses below the walls but not a single injury on the walls. Hao Shao would not let go of this opportunity to boost his soldier’s morale.

“We are not afraid!” Naturally, the soldiers would not be afraid. At the beginning, they had some fear as there were too many enemies. However, their path of escape had been blocked after Hao Shao’s intimidation. If they do not kill their enemies, their enemies would kill them regardless of whether they surrendered or tried to escape. Rather then die in vain, they might as well struggle. Now, Hao Shao had led them to victory for the first wave of attacks. Their confidence and morale rose. Thousands of corpses were below the walls. The enemy only had twenty thousand soldiers and there was nothing to be afraid of.

The actual total was more than two thousand three hundred corpses. Cold water would be dripping from Liu Bei’s face again. Originally, he would not have been so angry as he had been on the battlefield for a very long time. Yet, he was also unable to see Hao Shao’s intentions. Digging an incomplete moat, leaving a nice open road in the middle was to lure the enemies in. Normally, Liu Bei would not blame Liu Pi and may even appease him. However, right now, not only Liu Bei’s army was present. There was still Zhang Xiu’s Army. Five thousand soldiers had attacked a city with two thousand defenders. The casualties were two thousand and three hundred soldiers. This number was not including the many that were injured. If those were included, the total losses would be more than three thousand. On top of that, not a single ladder was placed on the walls. This was not only a blow to morale but also made themselves a joke to Zhang Xiu.

This was all how Liu Bei looked at it. However, Zhang Xiu did not think of Liu Bei as a joke. In fact, he was already very amazed as Liu Bei effortlessly captured Gus.h.i.+ and Anfeng. No matter what was said, those were still two cities. Ordinarily, ten days to half a month would be needed to capture a city. Even if you outnumber the enemy, three to four days would still be needed. However, under Liu Bei’s command, two cities were captured in the time taken to drink wine. It could be said that Zhang Xiu was endlessly shocked at Hao Shao’s defensive tactics. This was because Wancheng was also difficult to defend. As a result of the terrain, Wancheng also has no moat. Hao Shao’s tactics made Zhang Xiu realize he could do the same at Wancheng. However, instead of using the bow like Hao Shao, he could send out his cavalry. At that time, all five thousand soldiers could become casualties.

“Milord! I…!” Liu Pi was depressed. Everything had been going well. He was only attacking a small city. Who would have expected him to be sent back without even getting to touch the city wall. He even mocked them for placing the archers at the wrong position. Now the one being mocked was himself.

“Continue the attack!” Liu Bei waved so that Liu Pi does not waste time talking. Hao Shao’s earlier words had put Liu Bei in a bad mood. Now, even a lot of his soldiers were injured. How could Liu Bei stand for this?

“I..!” Liu Pi still wanted to say something before he was pulled away by Pang Tong.

“General Liu Pi. It is best to listen to Milord and continue the attack!” Sometimes, Liu Bei is very friendly. It could be an act but even when a general is defeated, he would console the general. Although Liu Bei would not be happy, he could still use his face skill. However, right now he could not use his face skill in front of Liu Pi anymore. This showed that Liu Bei was extremely furious. If Liu Pi were to keep speaking, Liu Bei would only become even more angry and impatient. This was why Pang Tong stopped him.

“Yes!” Liu Pi could only nod his head and leave the camp. He then sighed after leaving. He wanted to speak earlier because he wanted to get advice from Liu Bei or the others present. This was because he had already suffered losses to Hao Shao and should probably not dispatch more troops to go straight to Guangzhou. Should he go through the moat or the middle road? Either way, even if he captured Guangzhou, at least half of his Yuzhou Army would be gone.

However, Liu Bei was now angry and he could only find his own way forward. If he honestly cannot think of a way, then he will just take it by storm. Liu Pi gritted his teeth.

“General Liu Pi. Please stay!” Just as Liu Pi was about to return to his subordinates when Pang Tong shouted.