Chapter 315 (1/2)

Chapter 315

“Kill!” The walls of Shouchun had been stained with blood. The sound of killing did not cease. Liu Bei’s soldiers attacked continuously. Once Shouchun is captured, Yangzhou would be theirs. The small Lujiang would not be able to anything.

Liu Bei has tens of thousands of soldiers while Xu Shu only had ten thousand soldiers. However, Xu Shu had the help of the people, making them evenly matched.

The siege had been going on for four days. Liu Bei’s Army had already lost more than ten thousand soldiers while even more people had died on the walls. However, Shouchun was still not yet captured. “Order a retreat!” Liu Bei said as he looked at Shouchun. The sky was turning dark. They could no longer attack for the day.

“Phew!” Xu Shu breathed out a sigh of relief when he saw Liu Bei’s Army leave. The intensity of the attack was too powerful. In four days, he was only left with less than two thousand men. If it was not for the walls, Shouchun would have already fallen. Liu Bei also suffered heavy casualties as more than half of the Qingzhou Army was killed. It was reasonable to say that Xu Shu came out with the advantage.

That being said, Xu Shu was unable to feel happy as Liu Bei still has half of his army while Xu Shu only has two thousand men. The most important issue was that they were lacking provisions.

With the help of his bodyguards, Xu Shu found a place on the wall to take a rest. After a while, a general in white armor walked onto the wall. He saw the dead bodies and furrowed his eyebrows. He only saw a few thousand men on the walls. Besides that, these men had no light in their eyes. They had already lost hope. “Military advisor. Let me join in the defense!” Zhao Yun cupped his fist. He had seen the battle in the past few days. Due to the lack of fierce generals, the battle becomes a one sided ma.s.sacre the moment Zhang Fei or Chen Dao climbed the wall. The garrison soldiers were not a match for them. Deng Yi was also injured and would have been killed if it was not because of his good luck. They somehow managed to use the remaining two ballistae to chase Zhang Fei and Chen Dao away. The battle would not have become like this if Zhao Yun was also there. This was why Zhao Yun wanted to join the fight on the walls. In the end, he was also one of Liu Mang’s men.

“No. General Zhao Yun, you still have other important things to do. Your troops cannot be on the battlefield.” Xu Shu replied heavily.

“What other important things are there? Is it more important than defending Shouchun?” Although Zhao Yun would not violate a direct order, he was also anxious. He wanted Xu Shu to tell him his task.

“It is definitely something more important than defending Shouchun!” Xu Shu looked at Zhao Yun with a small smile. He did not want to tell Zhao Yun what it was because it would become a huge blow to the morale. What he needed Zhao Yun to do was to leave, taking all the drawings and blueprints with him. These things must not fall into Liu Bei’s hands. There was also no one else that could accomplish this task besides Liu Bei.

“Right. Is there news from Milord?” Xu Shu asked to change the subject.

“There is.” Zhao Yun nodded. As Zhao Yun did not partic.i.p.ate in the battle, Xu Shu let Zhao Yun deal with matters in the city. That was why Zhao Yun ended up being Liu Mang’s point of contact. “Milord sent us five thousand provisions.”

“Five thousand provisions!” Xu Shu laughed and then felt down again. He laughed because they would be able to last longer with the provisions. He felt down because they would not be able to hold out much longer.

“Where is Milord right now?” Xu Shu continued to ask. Shouchun no longer hoped for reinforcements from Lujiang. They had already received news that the Wolf Cavalry had been ambushed Hefei. Lujiang could only protect themselves now.

“Reports tell us that we have captured Ruyin!” Zhao Yun did not dare to hide anything from Xu Shu.

“Ruyin?” Xu Shu remembered that Ruyin was a granary with lots of provisions. With the provisions from Ruyin, Yangzhou would be able to stop their food crisis.

“Military advisor. Most of the provisions from Ruyin had been taken away by Liu Bei. When Milord’s army arrived, the city was almost empty. The remaining twenty thousand provisions in the city had been burned by Pang Tong’s men! Milord did not get any provisions from Ruyin!”

“Burned!” Xu Shu laughed bitterly. Pang Tong was truly ruthless to simply burn that much provisions. On top of that, he had made use of Liu Mang to have Sun Qian killed. Xu Shu had truly underestimated this man.

“Is Milord not returning?” Xu Shu asked again. As Liu Mang’s Army no longer had enough provisions to fight their way to Runan, they could only retreat. However, they could not immediately return to Shouchun.

“Yes. Milord has made a detour to Yiyang.” Zhao Yun already knew the answer.

“So they are not returning!” Xu Shu said to himself, feeling a bit lost. This is because he had still been waiting for Liu Mang’s reinforcements. Now, he found out that the reinforcements would not come. He then laughed. “No. He should not be coming back!” Shouchun was already out of provisions. If Liu Mang were to return, he would only delay the inevitable. In other words, it was better for Liu Mang not to return.

“Ziyang. This is truly a good strategy!” Xu Shu saw that this move was planned by Liu Ye in order to cut off Liu Bei’s supply route. Liu Bei has struck deep into Yangzhou. However, the disadvantage was that his front lines was too far in front. If Liu Mang were to cut off his supply routes, Liu Bei would be forced to retreat.

___

‘Liu Ye Liu Ziyang?’ The people in Liu Bei’s main camp digested this name. However, this was not in admiration to Liu Ye but one of hatred. This was because of the intelligence brought by the many scouts that sacrificed their lives to deliver it. This was because the route from Yuzhou to Yangzhou had been blocked. The location of the block was not Yiyang but Guangzhou. The same place that Liu Pi had failed to capture. They did not expect Guangzhou to become such a problem now.

“Liu Ye Liu Ziyang! He truly deserves to be a person Cao Cao personally chased after!” Pang Tong felt that the man was not such a simple person when he saw this information. He had already watching this person the moment Liu Mang entered Yuzhou. The reason why Liu Mang could capture Yingshang and Ruyin so quickly was not only because of superior military strength but also due to this man’s strategy. Besides that, he also received news that Sun Qian, who was supposed to be killed by Liu Mang, had survived although he was in a sorry state.

This made Pang Tong frown. He did the empty city stratagem to have Sun Qian killed. If Liu Mang’s Army were all warriors, they would just charge in and that would be the end for Sun Qian. Even if it was not, Sun Qian would still be unable to escape because of Pang Tong’s dispatched subordinates. As expected, Sun Qian was captured and then wanted to exchange his life for the provisions. Pang Tong then had the provisions burned and tried to pin it on Sun Qian. As long as the Liu Mang’s Army become angry, Sun Qian would die. He was supposed to die but somehow survived.

Sun Qian’s testimony on how he survived was a lie. If Liu Mang wanted him to burn, he would not be able to stop it. If Liu Mang’s Army truly wanted Sun Qian to die, they would not give him an easy way out. The tank of water would be boiling from the fire.

Pang Tong believed that this was Liu Ye’s strategems as Liu Ye was Liu Mang’s current military advisor. However, he could not say this out as it would meant admitting that he was plotting against Sun Qian. However, Pang Tong now remembered Liu Ye. Now, Liu Ye had appeared again. As they were unable to capture Runan, they went to Guangzhou to block Liu Bei’s supply routes. Their intention was to keep Liu Bei at Yangzhou and make them unable to fight. This was also to give Shouchun a breather.