Chapter 327 (1/2)

Hefei and Guangzhou were hundreds of miles away from each other. On foot, they would take at least four days. However, for the heavily armored Xiliang Cavalry, the journey was only two days.

Hu Che Er took eight thousand Xiliang Cavalry straight to Guangzhou. Guangzhou not only has a few thousand injured after being attacked by Liu Bei. Although the Guangzhou had not yet been repaired, it also has about ten thousand heavy infantries.

At the gates Shouchun, the arrival of the Xiliang Cavalry did not seem significant but at this small Guangzhou, the people started to lament. The quake caused by the stampede of the Xiliang Cavalry caused the gates of Guangzhou to shake as Guangzhou was just a small county town. Its walls was made from the earth and had almost been destroyed by rams. The vibration could be felt from the walls and this made the troops concerned. They quickly went and inform their superior officers.

“Enemy attack!” A loud horn came from Guangzhou as the soldiers quickly gathered at the walls. Amongst them were about several hundred soldiers in heavy armors. These were the Urban Army and the Black Flag Army. Standing between them was the King of Shu, Liu Mang.

“Milord is right. The Fake King Liu Mang is really at Guangzhou!” Hu Che Er was not an idiot. He only showed his straightforward nature for his enemies to see. Those that underestimate him would pay for their mistakes with their lives.

“The Xiliang Cavalry?” There were not many troops from the Urban Army and the Black Flag Army. This is because the walls from Guangzhou is too small for that many people. Liu Mang was simply up there just so he could see who the enemy was. From their banners to their appearance, it was evident that they were foreigners.

“This must be the Xiliang Cavalry!” Liu Mang said to himself. He had seen many heavy cavalries such as the Wolf Cavalry, Tiger Cavalry and the Yuzhou Cavalry. Except for the Wolf Cavalry, Liu Mang had confronted them before.

Now, Liu Mang was going against the Xiliang Cavalry. He had very little information of the Xilliang Cavalry but he knew that his father-in-law’s Wolf Cavalry had fallen into a trap set by the Xiliang Cavalry and were badly defeated. Even then, Liu Mang did not underestimate them. He had sent a messenger to Shouchun using the river. This was how the message reached Shouchun so quickly. However, the Xiliang Cavalry reacted and arrived in just two days. This demonstrated the speed of the Xiliang Cavalry.

“Little Lord. Let Hao Shao defend this city! As long as these hundreds of soldiers are here, nothing will happen to Guangzhou!” Hao Shao cupped his fist at Liu Mang. He wors.h.i.+pped Liu Mang for being able to stop a hundred thousand soldiers with ten thousand at Wancheng. He wanted to show his idol that he was also not an ordinary person.

“Hao Shao.” Liu Mang glanced at the man. He had truly underestimated Hao Shao. He would probably not even notice this man if it was not because of Zhang Liao’s recommendation. For what reason would Hao Shao follow him to Shouchun if he was not even given the chance to fight against the Xiliang Cavalry. As Liu Mang already had Zhao Yun and the White Horses, Zhang Liao’s recommendation put him in a bind. Liu Mang had already given the others positions. He was not able to create a new position just for Hao Shao or even provide Hao Shao with troops. As a result, he had Hao Shao become the governor of Guangzhou as a favour to others despite the fact that he had already given up on Guangzhou because it would not be able to stop the enemy unlike Gus.h.i.+ and Anfeng.

However, Gus.h.i.+ and Anfeng fell in less than a day. One had its leader killed by Zhang Fei while the other surrendered to Chen Dao and the Liu Bei’s Army. It could be said that the two gates of Yangzhou had already been opened. However, Guangzhou lasted for four days before Liu Bei gave up on it as it was too small. Guangzhou now became the city a.s.sisting Shouchun. This was an unexpected surprise.

‘Hao Shao…’ The name sounded familiar to Liu Mang. He could not help but ask. “Hao Shao. Where are you from?”

“Hm?” Hao Shao froze for a moment. Why would Liu Mang ask him this question at this moment? “Little Lord. I came from Taiyuan.”

“Taiyuan? Hao Shao? Hao Shao!” Liu Mang’s eyes suddenly lit up as he received an insight. “Are you Bodao1?”

“Hm? Little Lord. How do you know?” Hao Shao felt that this was strange as he never told Liu Mang his courtesy name. When men call each other in their courtesy names, it was a show of respect and intimacy. Although Hao Shao was Liu Mang’s subordinate, he was not Liu Mang’s direct subordinate. So, Hao Shao was not able to tell Liu Mang his courtesy name. The hundreds of Hao Shao’s surviving troops also would not call him with this name as they were mere underlings and did not have the qualifications to know. After a while, Hao Shao ‘understood’ that it must be mentioned in Zhang Liao’s recommendation letter.

In truth, when Liu Mang received Zhang Liao’s letter, he had skimmed through the letter instead of thinking about things deeply. On top of that, Liu Mang felt like grumbling to Zhang Liao. ‘What is the meaning of sending me men that you do not want?’ As Liu Mang did not want to have a falling out with Zhang Liao, he had to make arrangements for Hao Shao. Now, Liu Mang thought of this as a treasure.

Two thousand defenders stopped an enemy army of twenty thousand and even caused a few thousand of the enemy to perish. They even captured hundreds of prisoners and obtained four hundred of the White Eared’s heavy armor. When Liu Mang saw the moat, he laughed bitterly noting that he himself would have send troops down the middle if he did not have any catapults.

“Hao Shao Hao Bodao!” Liu Mang’s eyes flashed. This was truly a treasure. In the original timeline, Hao Shao ended up working for Cao Cao after Lu Bu got defeated and became a high ranking general. Liu Mang could not remember much about Hao Shao. There was also not much written in the records. However, Liu Mang could remember the name as it was one of the people that gave Zhuge Liang trouble.

After the Battle of Jieting, Zhuge Liang changed his target to Chencang Zhuge Liang heard of Hao Zhao’s might and believed that attacking would be a difficult task. So, he sent Hao Zhao’s friend, Jin Xiang, to persuade Hao Zhao to defect. Hao Zhao replied to his friend, “You know me and the laws of Wei. I have received much from the state and my family is important. There is no need for you to say anymore as I will die defending this place. Go back and tell Zhuge Liang to attack.” After that, Jin Xiang came back with another message from Zhuge Liang, “You are outmatch. There is no need to seek death.” Hao Shao replied, “My decision is set. I know you but my arrow doesn’t.”

Zhuge Liang had more men and Hao Zhao’s reinforcements would not arrive. So Zhuge Liang’s army marched towards Hao Zhao. The ladders used to climb the walls were burned down by fire arrows. Zhuge Liang filled up the moats and sent siege towers but Hao Shao build another wall behind behind the outer wall. Zhuge Liang tried many other methods but Hao Zhao foiled them. After more than twenty days, reinforcements came, forcing Zhuge Liang to withdraw.

This was truly an impressive feat. Hao Zhao may not be an expert in sieges but he was still able to make a person feel invincible. Some say that Chencang was a place that was easy to defend but hard to attack. Even then, Hao Zhao’s was still formidable at defending. It could even be said that one could rest easy as long as they place Hao Zhao at the borders. They would only need to listen to reports of the number of enemies and the number of enemies defeated.

Liu Mang felt regret. If he knew that this person was so good at defending, he would have given Gus.h.i.+ or Anfeng to him. After all, Hao Shao managed to hold out for four days with only two thousand soldiers and also earn precious time for Xu Shu at Shouchun. If Liu Mang had let Hao Shao be in charge of all the cities, it is possible that Liu Bei would not have even entered Yangzhou.

“Bodao. It is fine to have the men just be a little bit more alert. There is no need to be too fl.u.s.tered!” Liu Mang wanted to see Hao Shao’s defensive tactics with his own eyes but he could not find the opportunity. The enemies outside the city would also not be able to provide him with that opportunity.

“Hm?” Hao Shao could not understand his Little Lord. Liu Mang had suddenly asked about his courtesy name and then his eyes s.h.i.+ned as he laughed. Fortunately, Hao Shao knew that this was his Little Lord. Otherwise, he would have thought that he came across a person with mental disorder when he was asked not to be fl.u.s.tered with the enemies below the city.

“The Xiliang Cavalry would not attack the city!” Liu Mang replied as he looked at them.

Sure enough, one of the men in the Xiliang Cavalry asked Hu Che Er. “General. Are we going to prepare to attack the city?”

“Siege the city? No need!” Hu Che Er shook his head. He would only do that once he became r.e.t.a.r.ded as his heavy cavalry was not suited for attacking cities. The only time when a cavalry would be used to attack cities was when they lack infantries.

Hu Che Er will not do this even if Guangzhou was worn out and its walls were made of soil. At the end of the day, Guangzhou was still a city with walls and gates. If his men were to climb the walls, they would have to abandon their horses. At that time, they would be no match for the ten thousand heavily armored defenders. Besides that, capturing Guangzhou would not bring him any benefits. They were only here to protect the provisions and kill those that went out.

“Alright. There is nothing worth seeing here. Let us go back.” Liu Mang shook his head and said. There was no city tower at Guangzhou and a person would be able to feel the cold wind blow just by standing on the walls. Rather than feeling the cold on the walls, it was better to drink wine below it.

“General! Look at that!” Liu Mang leaving could be seen by the Xiliang Cavalry below. One of the thousand men generals saw this and told Hu Che Er.

“All units, take precautions.” Liu Mang had already descended the walls but Hao Shao did not dare to be careless.

“Is this the King of Shu, Liu Mang?” Earlier, Hu Che Er had said Fake King. Now, he said King of Shu. Hu Che Er saw that Liu Mang had knowledge and courage to know that he would not attack. It was a person that had a kind of contempt for his enemies while also having self-confidence. “Let us go!” Hu Che Er took his men and left as he had achieved his purpose. His actions made Hao Shao increase his opinion of Liu Mang.

—

Guangzhou had become a resting place for Liu Mang after it was occupied.

“Military Advisor. This is truly a good stratagem! We have cut off Liu Bei’s supplies from the Wei River to the borders of Yuzhou and Yangzhou, making him unable to attack Shouchun with all of his strength and force him to split his forces. It seems that we have been successful!” Xu Sheng was the first to speak. He truly admired Liu Ye. Although Liu Ye had been tricked by Sun Qian’s empty fort strategy, he later sowed dissension in the Liu Bei’s Army. Unfortunately, the provisions at Ruyin had already been burned and they no longer had the strength to attack Runan. Liu Mang and Xu Sheng had initially thought of returning to Shouchun for a decisive battle against Liu Bei but Liu Ye claimed that this would only delay Shouchun’s fate with the possibility of dying together with Shouchun. He then advised to cut off Liu Bei’s provisions. Now, it would seem that the strategy had been a little successful. The appearance of the Xiliang Cavalry was proof that Liu Bei had divided his forces.

“No. It is not successful yet.” Liu Ye shook his head and did not accept Xu Sheng’s compliments. This is because his strategy was not successful yet. “Xu Sheng. Our strategy was to cut off Liu Bei’s provisions and to divide his forces. However, this soldier is not one of Liu Bei’s.” Liu Ye wanted Liu Bei to send his own troops. If only a little troops came over, they could be wiped out while Shouchun could be saved if a lot came over.

However, the ones that came was the Xiliang Cavalry from his ally Zhang Xiu. This was a problem for Liu Ye’s stratagem as the eight thousand cavalry would be able to escort the transports carrying provisions, solving Liu Bei’s problems with provision.

With this, Liu Bei could continue his siege on Shouchun while not having any problems with his provisions. On the other hand, Liu Mang’s Army would just be stuck at Guangzhou.

“The Xiliang Cavalry must be removed!” Liu Mang said as he lightly hit the table. If the Xiliang Cavalry remained, they would be able to send supplies to the Liu Bei’s Army. At that time, Shouchun would be closer to being captured.