Chapter 336 (1/2)

Half the Xiliang Cavalry engaged against the Urban Army in battle. Hu Che Er then led his remaining men to join the battle. A bloodbath happened all over the battlefield. Liu Mang only have about one thousand men left. The rest have all perished. However, the Xiliang Cavalry was not faring any better. More than two thousand of the Xiliang Cavalry have also perished. The ones that were too injured to continue fighting was around one thousand in number. If this was truly a decisive battle, the victor would be Liu Mang.

Although the Urban Army has less than a thousand people, their Tortoise Formation had become stronger. This is because there would be less to defend and the soldiers would be able to use their strengths together. Besides that, the corpses of their companions also continued to defend the line by slowing down the Xiliang Cavalry.

“Rear guards! Follow me!” Hu Che Er knew that he would not be able to capture the battlefield in front of him anymore. Even if he were to win, the casualties would be too heavy. Since the front would not work, then he should simply attack from the sides. It would be a waste if he does not make use of the mobility of the cavalries. His vanguard and his middle guard unit had already engaged the enemy but he still had his rear guards with him. He wanted to bypa.s.s the Tortoise Formation and attack the ballista while the vanguard and the middle guard could simply keep the Tortoise Formation occupied.

The Xiliang Cavalry was formidable. The rearguard had immediately turned the moment Hu Che Er shouted. Their movements were extremely smooth as expected from elites.

“Where are they going?” Liu Ye stood by the ballista as he watched Hu Che Er’s movements. The rear guards had about two thousand men which made him feel suspect. He had paid attention to these Xiliang Cavalry as even just two hundred of them would be enough to take him and the ballista out.

“Military Advisor. Are they planning to escape?” An Urban Army 1000-man commander asked. He had worked with Liu Ye for many times already. The development of the ballista at Shouchun had been done by these soldiers of the Urban Army.

“Escape? Impossible!” Liu Ye shook his head. It was impossible for Hu Che Er to escape as he would die if he tried. Liu Mang had sent the Xiliang Cavalry a challenge and claimed that they would not have been able to win against the Wolf Cavalry if it was not because of the ambush. In other words, he had belittled the Xiliang Cavalry. This was still alright if the Xiliang Cavalry won but if they had lost, the statement would become a fact. A prideful person like Zhang Xiu would definitely kill Hu Che Er if this happened. Besides that, most of the Xiliang Cavalry was already here. He could not leave them behind. If Hu Che Er decides to continue the battle, they would still have a chance to live. This is because as long as Hu Che Er wins the battle, he would be able to explain himself to Zhang Xiu for the casualties in the Xiliang Cavalry. They would also be able to obtain Liu Mang’s head.

Liu Mang’s head was priceless and could even make Liu Bei die from happiness if it was given to him. Without Liu Mang, Shouchun is already won and Lujiang would be half won. The second important thing was the Urban Army’s armor. There were a total of two thousand five hundred armors to be outfitted to his elite Xiliang Cavalry while Liu Mang’s head could be exchanged for horses. The Xiliang Cavalry was not like the White Horses or the Wolf Cavalry. They do not care whether their troops were Qiang or Han. So, all the Xiliang Cavalry needs was training.

The third important thing was the ballista. Hu Che Er fully understood the might of the ballista. Each time it appeared, the Xiliang Cavalry suffered heavy casualties. If he could take it and learn how to manufacture it, Zhang Xiu’s Army could become even more powerful. The ones that Liu Mang sold to Sun Ce was tens of thousands of gold. Cao Cao could not even buy this with money. On top of that, this was the old ballista. The current ballista was even more powerful. If he could obtain this, he no longer needed to be afraid that Zhang Xiu would rebuke him.

“Flank them!” Hu Che Er brandished his sword. The two thousand Xiliang Cavalry turned towards their objective. The Urban Army was occupied dealing with the other five thousand Xiliang Cavalry. This two thousand Xiliang Cavalry took the chance to avoid the Urban Army and attack the ballista before the Urban Army could give a response.1

“Not good!” Liu Ye was startled. Hu Che Er truly could not be underestimated. He was willing to use most of his army to hold back the Urban Army so that he could attack his main objective. With the Urban Army occupied, they became unable to protect the ballista. On the other hand, the cavalry had good mobility. By the time the Urban Army could react to this, the ballista would already be destroyed.

“Military Advisor. Do not worry.” Just as soon as Liu Ye wanted to order a retreat, an Urban Army 1000-man commander said, “Milord had already expected this to happen!” Liu Mang had taken note of this when he looked at the terrain. He knew that his Urban Army were elites and could execute the Tortoise Formation flawlessly. However, he also realized that he was severely outnumbered. He needed to fight against the Xiliang Cavalry which was four times their number. Even if Liu Mang was formidable, he could only hold out five thousand soldiers at most. The remaining three thousand would become a headache for him. Right now, Hu Che Er still had two thousand soldiers that could not be ignored. After making considerations, Liu Mang spread out the positioning of the ballista and created a crossfire.

“Hm?” Liu Ye finally understood the reason Liu Mang split up the ballista into three groups. The first group of ballista at the centre is to prevent the enemies from breaking past the defensive lines. The remaining two groups of ballista at both sides was to prevent the enemies from flanking.

There was no need for the ballista to change directions. The ballista on one side simply needed to change their targets to the enemies charging towards them.

“Aim and fire!” A few 1000-man commanders shouted. Twenty ballista roared out. Pressure had reduced on the vanguard and the middle guard. However, Hu Che Er’s rear guards were faced with misfortune.

The three thousand Xiliang Cavalry at the frontlines bore the brunt of the attacked and were killed on the spot. The others behind them were also unfortunate. With the corpses in front of them, they could not help but slow down and get themselves shot as well.

“d.a.m.n it!” Hu Che Er did not suffer any injuries thanks to the protection from his guards but he could not endure such grievances.

“Move back the defensive line!” Liu Mang noticed the situation and had the soldiers advance towards the ballista. Hu Che Er lost five hundred soldiers before realizing that he had lost his opportunity. Besides that, his attempt to flank ended up getting his army stuck in a battle against the Urban Army. Now, his entire army of seven thousand was fighting the Urban Army. Escape was no longer possible.

“Well played! One of us will die here!” Hu Che Er’s fearsomeness was displayed. Although he had suffered heavy losses, he still had thousands of Xiliang Cavalry. On the other hand, Liu Mang only had around eight hundred soldiers that could still fight. If he could eliminate the Urban Army, it would still be worth exchanging five Xiliang Cavalry soldiers for one Urban Army soldier.

“Kill! Brothers! We no longer have a way out! Kill the Fake King Liu Mang. Three ranks of promotion and one thousand gold for those who kill Liu Mang and another hundred for every enemy soldier killed!”

As the Xiliang Cavalry acted violently, Liu Ye coldly looked at their horses. He knew that his Lord wanted to form a cavalry. They were able to find the riders but not horses. It was hard to buy horses at the Central Plains. At that time, the only places they could buy horses at was Hebei and Liaodong. Hebei was about to change owners.h.i.+p but Cao Cao would be even more against selling horses compared to Yuan Shao. Liu Mang also did not go out to the sea and could not buy from Liaodong. Besides that, Liu Mang was also too poor to buy horses. There were five thousand horses here and it would be worth five hundred thousand gold if they could obtain them all.

The horses that Liu Mang wants were now here. Although many of the Xiliang Cavalry’s horses had been killed by the ballista, there were still many horses left behind. After defeating the Xiliang Cavalry, there should still be a few thousand horses remaining. Liu Ye’s eyes burned brightly but tried resisting his urge as it was too risky. This is because the Xiliang Cavalry had become desperate. A single mistake may cause the situation to reverse.

Liu Ye still gritted his teeth when he thought about the importance of a heavy cavalry in the future. If Yangzhou had a group of soldiers like the Wolf Cavalry, the battle would not have ended up like this. There would be more flexibility. Liu Bei would also not be able to carry off the provisions at Ruyin. With a cavalry of five thousand, Xu Shu would be able to order Zhao Yun to patrol outside the walls of Shouchun. If Liu Bei attacked Zhao Yun’s cavalry, Xu Shu would be able to attack Liu Bei’s rear. On the other hand, Liu Bei would be too afraid to leave a cavalry of five thousand roaming around freely to attack the city.

“Let’s gamble!” Liu Ye then gave the order. “All ballista, aim high! Aim the riders!” Liu Ye chose to have the ballista shoot the riders and not the horses. This was difficult to do as the horses were a bigger target. Before this, the ballista could cause heavy casualties. By shooting the horse, the rider would fall off and get trampled. Now, it was less powerful because they were targeting the riders.2

“Military advisor?” The Urban Army 1000-man commander was confused. Right now, their priority was to wipe out the Xiliang Cavalry instead of obtaining horses. The Urban Army could not last much longer and their Lord would be in danger.

“Milord would understand my decision!” Liu Ye gradually replied. In a chaotic world, one could not only see the things in front of them. They must also look at the future. They were going to need horses regardless of whether Liu Mang wanted them. Even the Wolf Cavalry needed horses to make a comeback but horses were not easy to buy.

“Wei Yan!” Liu Ye suddenly called out to the 1000-man commander beside him.

“This general is present!” Wei Yan replied as he cupped his fist to Liu Ye. Liu Mang had wanted to polish Wei Yan instead of blindly sending Wei Yan to his death. After receiving merits for capturing Sun Qian and taking the empty city, he was promoted to a 1000-man commander.

“Wei Yan. I order you to leave a hundred soldiers behind to be responsible for the ballista. Take the remaining four hundred soldiers up and a.s.sist Milord!” Liu Ye said to Wei Yan. The hundred soldiers left behind was meant for controlling the ballista. There were more soldiers around simply to help turn, reload and protect the ballista. However, Liu Ye wanted the horses and so, one clip of ammunition was enough. The remaining troops were dispatched.

“Military Advisor?” Wei Yan was not willing to accept this command. This is because Liu Mang had ordered Wei Yan to protect Liu Ye and the ballista. In fact, Liu Ye had to be protected even at the cost of all the ballista and his own life. If Wei Yan were to leave, he would be disobeying orders.