Chapter 332 (1/2)

The bait had been bitten. Liu Mang and Liu Ye looked at each other. Both of them saw the surprise in each other’s eyes.

“Milord. I will go and make preparations!” Liu Ye cupped his fist at Liu Mang. Liu Mang nodded in reply. Liu Ye then disappeared amidst the two thousand Urban Army. His horse was temporarily given to another 1000-man commander.

The cavalry’s speed was fast. Initially, it was just a shadow over the horizon but they soon appeared in front of Liu Mang’s Army within a while of the ground shaking. Their horses neighed and their armors clanked.

“All of those are good horses!” Liu Mang could not help but feel moved when he saw the Xiliang Cavalry’s horses. Although Lu Bu also had the Wolf Cavalry, there were too little horses. If Liu Mang had enough horses, he would have already established the White Horses earlier. It would not be like the current situation where Zhao Yun only had two hundred men with him. If that had been the case, Lu Bu would have ten thousand heavy cavalries. He would not have been ambushed so easily by Liu Bei. Liu Mang resisted his greedy thoughts and went in front of his two thousand Urban Army troops.

The seven thousand Xiliang Cavalry stopped with a wave of Hu Che Er’s hand. Hu Che Er looked at the Urban Army below him. Although he did not count one by one, he could tell that there were roughly three thousand people. Hu Che Er was not someone who would attack impulsively. He had his men stop to observe the enemy as he still believed that there would be a trap and could not rest easy.

“Go and call them!” Following Hu Che Er’s instruction, a Han 1000-man commander rode forward. This Han 1000-man commander was a very arrogant man. He rode up to Liu Mang’s Army and pointed at them with the whip in his hand. “Which one of you is the Fake King of the Han? Tell him to come out! General Yang Wu’s subordinate Hu Che Er have already said that as long as he kneels and lick our horse’s hooves, he will spare your lives! Otherwise, the Xiliang Cavalry bury your corpses here!” The Han 1000-man commander was truly arrogant. He not only addressed Liu Mang as Fake King but also told him to kneel and lick their horse’s hooves. He was truly a person who did not know the meaning of the word death.

“You!” A lot of soldiers in the Liu Mang’s Army could not endure this. This is because the Urban Army was trained by Liu Mang. Not only does Liu Mang have their loyalty. Some of them even wors.h.i.+pped him. This caused the Urban Army to be angered when Liu Mang was insulted2.

One of Liu Mang’s generals wanted to move forward and kill this man but he was stopped by Liu Mang.

“Milord! Let me take this dog’s head and dispel your hatred!” The soldier from the Urban Army cupped his fist at Liu Mang.

“No need!” Liu Mang laughed indifferently. ‘Trying to provoke us? This Hu Che Er is truly not an ordinary Qiang clansman. Liu Mang already obtained information that Hu Che Er was from Qiang but did not know what Hu Che Er was like as the people of Qiang usually had developed bodies with simple minds. The only reason Liu Mang knew about Hu Che Er was because this person killed Dian Wei. He never expected to be surprised by Hu Che Er who knew how to intimidate them at Guangzhou City. Now, he dispatched someone in a futile attempt to provoke Liu Mang. If the Liu Mang’s Army responded to this provocation, their battle formation may be broken.

“But Milord!” The soldier still felt unsatisfied.

“Haha! The Fake King of the Han is this boy? Are you afraid now that my army is here? If you are afraid, kneel down now!” The Han 1000-man commander laughed loudly. He had thought that Liu Mang was afraid when Liu Mang stopped his men.

Provocation strategy would depend on a person’s skill to curse at others. There are those whose words could make others jump and there are those who only knew how to speak rudely. This Han 1000-man commander that was showing his skill to Liu Mang truly did not know the meaning of death.

Liu Mang did not reply to the Han 1000-man commander but to his own subordinate. “You said that you wanted to cut off this dog’s head but it is just a dog. There is no need to be so angry! Men cannot understand the words of dogs!” Although Liu Mang sounded indifferent, it was not soft. It was loud enough for the Han 1000-man commander to hear it.

“Haha! That’s right! We do not understand dogs so why would we do anything?” Another soldier burst out laughing.

“Little boy Liu Mang! How dare you shame me!” The Han 1000-man commander was furious at being treated like a dog. Not only was the Liu Mang’s Army laughing. Even some of the other Hans at the Xiliang Cavalry were laughing.

“Even if we could understand the words of dogs, would you bite a dog that bites you?” Liu Mang continued to teach his subordinate.

“Of course not. Dogs biting people is natural but men biting dogs is a filthy action! So what should we do about mad dogs?” Liu Mang then took out his sword. “We simply need to use our swords for mad dogs!”1

“Liu Mang! You!” The Han 1000-man commander was so angry that he would have charged in if not for the fact that the heavy infantries were already in formation. Those that insulted him must die.

“Come back!” Hu Che Er shouted from within his own army. He did not want his subordinate to continue to get insulted. “You Hans have sharp tongues. Both you, Liu Mang, and your father-in-law Lu Bu are both like this. But, in the end, Hefei still fell! What a pity that I, Hu Che Er, was not around. Otherwise, I would have gotten Lu Bu’s head! No matter!” Hu Che Er pointed at his horse and then asked, “Do you recognize this horse? Do you recognize this heavy cavalry?”

“This is…” The Urban Army became agitated. This is because the armor the Xiliang Cavalry wore was similar to their own. They had carved patterns and were made from aluminium. Not only was the armor strong but it was also light.

“Hm?” Liu Mang’s eyes narrowed. This is because these were the armors he brought here from the modern era. The only people who could wear this armor was the Formation Breaker, the Urban Army, and the Wolf Cavalry. Liu Mang also recognized some of the horses. They were good and healthy horses that was half a head larger than the other horses in the Xiliang Cavalry. These were the pure blooded Arabian horses. It was impossible for these horses to appear anywhere else in the entire Han dynasty as Liu Mang had only brought the few thousand horses with him.

“Is it familiar? This is given to us by your father-in-law! We truly feel very apologetic!” Hu Che Er laughed. Hu Che Er had taken the armors and horses from the Wolf Cavalry. They only obtained a few hundred horses as most of the horses were killed together with their riders. However, they had obtained a lot of armors as the armors would not be destroyed when the one wearing it was killed. Initially, Liu Bei intended to use the armor for himself but he had to give it to the Xiliang Cavalry to quell Zhang Xiu’s rage after the Xiliang Cavalry got ambushed by Liao Hua.

Liu Mang closed his eyes. He was seemingly able to see the Wolf Cavalry’s battles. He could see them laughing with him. The Urban Army and the Wolf Cavalry had worked together many times before. Although Liu Mang did not know their names, he recognized them. Now, the Wolf Cavalry had been beaten into a terrible state, causing Liu Mang to become angry. It was one thing if the Wolf Cavalry had simply been defeated but the Wolf Cavalry had been ambushed.

“The Wolf Cavalry’s armors and horses?” Liu Ye who was hiding clenched his fist. He was afraid that Liu Mang would rush out in anger. Liu Ye has seen the relations.h.i.+p between the Wolf Cavalry and the Urban Army. Even many of the Urban Army soldiers that were hiding were giving out killing intent. They had good friends.h.i.+p between both armies. “Milord. You must endure!”

“The armors and horses. I, Liu Mang, will personally ask for you to return them!” Liu Mang replied to Hu Che Er.

“Is that so? Both the armors and horses are over here. Come over and take a look!” Hu Che Er gave a mocking smile. He wanted to provoke Liu Mang to attack. This way, the Urban Army would be wiped out regardless of whether there was an ambush.

Liu Mang did not reply to Hu Che Er. Instead, he turned to Huang Zhong and angrily said, “Han Sheng! Is the Urban Army a place where dogs can just come and go as they please? What are you doing?” Liu Mang’s sudden loud voice caused the Urban Army to be startled. However, Liu Mang managed to supress his anger after roaring out.

Huang Zhong did not feel discontented even though Liu Mang shouted at him. Instead, he simply nodded and lifted his bow.

“What?” Hu Che Er’s rage disappeared. This is because Huang Zhong aimed at the Han 1000-man commander that he dispatched. With a loud roar, Hu Che Er took out his bow and aimed towards Huang Zhong in attempt to save his soldier.