Chapter 308 (1/2)

Break Yuan

Thousands of horses galloped towards Shouchun. Xu Shu looked at the large army and then to the s.h.i.+vering defenders on the wall. He felt that he was fortunate for the walls to be present. If it were not for that, his subordinates would have already been routed.

Xu Shu took a deep breath. He needed to provide the men with morale or else the scared soldiers would not be able to protect Shouchun.

“The target is the Xiliang Cavalry!” Xu Shu saw the Xiliang Cavalry approach. They had entered the range of the ballista but prevented the soldiers from shooting at that moment so that the power of the ballista would be greater.

Xu Shu waited until he could see the faces of the riders before he swung his hand down. “Fire!”

The first volley was fired. Although the Xiliang Cavalry’s heavy armor was able to prevent injury from regular arrows, they were torn through like paper before the might of the ballista.

The attack made Hu Che Er very angry. The large arrows were too powerful. It pierced through up until the seventh row of men before it lost its power.

“Brothers! Charge forward and fill up that moat! I will charge forward with you to avenge our brothers!” Hu Che Er shouted loudly. Such severe damage would usually hurt morale but instead, it provoked their ferocity.

“Come on!” Xu Shu also became angry. The arrows from the ballista did not slow them down but instead, sped them up. “Fire! Keep firing!” Xu Shu ordered. The ballista continued to shoot instead of stopping for a while.

This time, the eyes of the Xiliang Cavalry turned clear. “What!” Zhang XIu’s was at the end of his tether. His eyes seemingly burned. This was because his Xiliang Cavalry was caught in a perilous situation. This was because each of the twelve ballista shot about ten of the large arrows within a short moment. This ma.s.sacred the Xiliang Cavalry.

No matter how good one’s horse riding skill or how good the horse was, they were still wearing heavy armor. On top of that, their lives were being reaped like rice being harvested. Before this, Zhang Xiu had believed that the threatening power of the ballista was greater than its offensive power. But now, not only was its offensive power even greater but its threatening power even made the men from the Xiliang Cavalry cry out for their parents. They could no longer fill up the moat freely.

The ones at front dropped their sandbags and escaped with their horses. All of them had thought of dying but none of them wanted to go out like that. Those pierced by the large arrows did not die immediately but had to watch themselves bleed out together with their organs. They would have to watch themselves die slowly.

The screams were tragic. Even the ferocious XIliang Cavalry could not take it even though most of them were of Qiang descend. They were people that have faced terrors like the ballista since they were children. This is from the stories told by their ancestors.

“Retreat! Spread out!” Even an idiot like Hu Che Er knew that charging in was no longer an option. The ballistae on the wall had shot over two hundred of the large arrows. The casualties was in the thousands. These were not the Qingzhou or Yuzhou troops where their deaths were not of importance. This was the Xiliang Cavalry. If was alright if only the soldiers were killed but both the armor and horses would also be lost. It could be said that each Xiliang Cavalry men were like a team of soldiers. Each horse was costly enough to equip fifty light infantries.

The losses made Zhang Xiu’s heart ache. When he loss two thousand of the Xiliang Cavalry from Liu Bei’s ambush, he was compensated with five thousand provision, two thousand horses and two thousand heavy armor. However, the ones lost here could not be compensated as he voluntary decided to help.

Zhang Xiu felt regretful but Liu Bei was calm. Although he was shocked by the b.a.l.l.sita, he had already prepared himself thanks to his first rate advisor, Pang Tong.

Right now, Pang Tong was no longer by Liu Bei’s side. He was at one side of the camp, watching the Xiliang Cavalry get slaughtered. The ballista on the walls had his undivided attention. He would not caught unprepared a second time and he could still remember the events on that day.

“Sir. Did you see it?” Pang Tong suddenly yelled to a young man standing at the side. Pang Tong was an intelligent but prideful man. He does not even show his teacher, Shui Jing, respect. However, he now bowed to a young man and even called him sir.

“M-Military Advisor. I… I did not see it clearly.” The youngster was shy but his eyes burned with radiance when he looked at the ballista on the walls.

“You did not see anything?” Pang Tong was a little disappointed and felt a little bit frustrated. The youngster noticed Pang Tong’s mood changing for the worse and smiled, “Military Advisor. Do not be disappointed. Although I did not see it clearly, I found how we could restrain it.” The youngster said again when he could not bear to see Pang Tong’s disheartened expression.

“You have a way?” Pang Tong’s eyes s.h.i.+ned. Pang Tong had called him sir because this man was learned in machines. The man was even better than his close friend Zhuge Liang. This was the reason behind Pang Tong’s att.i.tude to this man. Originally, he dismissed such studies but remembered its benefits after being defeated. He now wanted to learn this again but it was too late. Kongming would also not bother with him. Fortunately, his uncle had recommended this youth to him.

“Military advisor. Do you still remember that blueprint?” The youngster asked Pang Tong to recall.

“Are you saying…” Pang Tong’s eyes lit up.

“Yes. We use catapults1!” The young man nodded. The catapults was not developed by him alone. He had heard from Guan Yu, Pang Tong and the surviving soldiers from Yuzhou about Liu Mang’s rock ballista. He copied and then improved the design. He had thought that it would not be needed on this trip to Yangzhou but now seemed like a good time to use it.

“Weren’t those not completed?” Pang Tong felt doubtful. There were many areas the trebuchet needed to be improved on despite the blueprints. On top of that, most of it were not as good as Liu Mang’s rock ballista. Originally, Pang Tong wanted Liu Bei to give an order so that a rock ballista would be plundered and given to the youngster for development. However, it seems that it was already too late.

“It’s range is not enough but if we get closer, we could still hit the wall!” Shouchun was eighty feet tall and the moat was a dozen meters wide. The trebuchet would be able to hit the walls when used outside the moat.

“Good. Do it!” Pang Tong nodded and ran back to where Liu Bei was.

“d.a.m.n it! d.a.m.n it!” Zhang XIu was very annoyed. His ten thousand Xiliang Cavalry was prepared to show off his strength to Liu Bei and to shut the mouth of the Liu Bei’s Army. Now, both have failed. Instead, they became a joke. Zhang Xiu lost more than a thousand heavy cavalry. It was very costly.

“Milord. Let us White Eared Soldiers go and try!” Chan Dao cupped his fist at Liu Bei.

“White Eared Soldiers?” Liu Bei frowned. The moat had to be filled or Shouchun cannot be attacked. However, the ballista had caused the Xiliang Cavalry to fall into a sorry state. Would the White Armored Soldiers be able to withstand its attacks? Unlike Zhang Xiu, Liu Bei only had five thousand of the White Eared Soldiers. He would feel distress if he lost them. However, many more would perish if he did not send them out. Liu Bei looked to Zhang Fei and Liao Hua as he thought of it. Liao Hua was simple. He had only just become the head of the Yuzhou Army and had no intentions of shouldering so much responsibility on his first day. So, he lowered his head and avoided Liu Bei’s gaze. On the other hand, Zhang Fei also knew that soldiers were needed to kill the enemy and just laughed.

While Liu Bei was in a dilemma, Pang Tong came over and said, “Milord. Order a retreat. I have a plan!”

Liu Bei’s eyes flashed. He then waved his hand to order the retreat.

___

While the battle continued at Yangzhou and Yuzhou, the same was happening at Guandu.

Cao Cao’s battle at Guandu had been going on for months but to him, it felt like years. He felt much older. His black hair had also turned white.