Chapter 337 (1/2)
The man in front of him had a reddish expression and a beautiful beard. If he wasn’t wearing the armor of the Urban Army, Liu Mang would have thought that he was Guan Yu. As it was not possible for this man to be Guan Yu, he could only be Wei Yan, Wei Wenchang. Wei Yan was also an astonis.h.i.+ng person but he was simply never as famous as Guan Yu.
“Wei Yan?” Although rescued, Liu Mang did not feel grateful. This is because he had ordered Wei Yan to protect Liu Ye. He wanted to turn around and take a look but he was not tall enough to look past all the soldiers killing each other around him. “Wei Yan! Why are you here? What about the Military Advisor?”
Wei Yan and Hu Che Er locked weapons1. He was as strong as Zhao Yun, and was at refinement stage. Both he and Hu Che Er were evenly matched. Liu Mang who watched the battle could now say with certainty that Hu Che Er had been hiding his true strength to catch him off guard.
Wei Yan then dragged his sword. With his skill and strength, he knocked away Hu Che Er’s weapons. Only then did he have the time to reply to Liu Mang. “Milord. The Military Advisor is alright. Right now, he is at the rear of the formation!”
“Hmph!” Liu Mang felt at ease after hearing Wei Yan’s words and calmed down. “Didn’t I tell you to protect the Military Advisor? Why are you here now? Do you think my orders are worthless?” Liu Mang had ordered Wei Yan to protect Liu Ye with his life but Wei Yan had disobeyed that order. One of the things that Liu Mang hated the most were people that don’t listen to orders. He would not hesitate to execute such a person even if they were comrades. Besides that, Wei Yan someone who had ‘past offences’. Liu Mang had thought that he had managed to supressed Wei Yan’s wild nature and that Wei Yan had managed to turn over a new leaf but it seems that bad habits are hard to change.
Liu Mang waited for Wei Yan’s answer. If Wei Yan did this for merits, he would not mind having both Wei Yan and Hu Che Er to kill each other.
“Milord. I did not leave on my own accord. Military Advisor had ordered me to come and a.s.sist Milord!” Wei Yan smiled bitterly. Both Liu Mang and Liu Ye were in a higher position compared to him. He could not afford to offend either one of them and could only explain patiently. “Military Advisor wanted the Xiliang Cavalry’s horses and ordered me to come and protect you!”
“Ziyang! Ziyang!2” Liu Mang looked at Wei Yan. He knew that Wei Yan would have no choice if he had truly been ordered by Liu Ye to do this. Liu Mang then nodded and said, “Wei Yan Wei Wenchang. If you can obtain this guy’s head, I will promote you by three ranks. I will make you a general and let you command an army!” Liu Mang composed himself. He wanted Hu Che Er’s head as the man frightens him. Those that are not of the same race have different hearts3. For the safety of the Han, it would be best to get rid of Hu Che Er early.
“Yes! Milord!” Wei Yan was overjoyed. He initially thought that he would be punished but instead, he was going to be promoted by three ranks if he killed Hu Che Er. Right now he was just a 1000-man commander but he would become a general after killing Hu Che Er. This was what he had been yearning for.
“Haha! Young Hu! Die for your grandfather Wei!” Wei Yan looked at Hu Che Er malevolently. Hu Che Er also became extremely angry for suddenly becoming his opponent’s rice bowl. He had not yet been defeated but others already wanted his horse. Now, they also wanted his head. What was going on?
“Nameless scoundrel! You are one lifetime too early to take your grandfather’s head!” Hu Che Er suddenly swung his hammers at Wei Yan. Both warriors fought unyieldingly. Liu Mang also wanted to join in the fight but he was injured and also weaker than the both of them. If he were to join the fight, Wei Yan would need to protect him. Just like during the battle at Hu Lao Gate. Zhang Fei and Guan Yu could have defeated Lu Bu. However, Liu Bei joining the fight caused the both of them to focus more on protecting their brother. In the end, Lu Bu turned the tables against them.
Liu Mang was not able to fight against Hu Che Er but he could still deal with the common XIliang Cavalry soldiers. His s.h.i.+eld continued to bath in blood. The Tortoise Formation was now truly like a tortoise with claws from the four hundred Urban Army Soldiers that just joined.
“Phew!” Liu Ye breathed out a sigh of relief. Truthfully speaking, he had taken a huge risk. The entire plan almost fell apart for the sake of a few thousand horses. Once the Tortoise Formation is broken, the ballista would not be able to prevent a total rout even if they were powerful. Fortunately, Liu Ye had won the gamble by believing in Liu Mang and the Urban Army. Aiming the riders and not the horses had definitely caused the attack power of the ballista to fall but Liu Ye had dispatched four hundred soldiers to counter this effect. The appearance of the four hundred soldiers increased the morale in the Urban Army and decreased the moral of the Xiliang Cavalry.
“Haha. The situation has been fixed!” Liu Ye finally relaxed. After this, the Urban Army would become famous and the Xiliang Cavalry would no longer run rampant. Zhang Xiu would receive a huge slap to his face. All they needed to do now was wait for Liu Mang’s Army to take Hu Che Er’s head.
“Send a notification! Those that lay down their weapons would not be killed!” Liu Mang gave the order. All that was left in this battle was a ma.s.sacre. Liu Mang was afraid that these soldiers would become death soldiers and allowed them to surrender. As long as they dropped their weapons, they would become less of a threat even if they suddenly became death soldiers.
“The King of Shu gave the order! Those that dropped their weapons would not be killed!” The soldiers all shouted one by one. The Xiliang Cavalry also no longer wanted to fight as they were not able to break through the Tortoise Formation. Besides the Tortoise Formation, there was also the ballista attacking them. Even if they wanted to leave, they were obstructed from the disordered situation and could not escape. They only had two choices left, that is to resist until the end or to surrender.
The sound of blades could be heard as a Xiliang Cavalry soldier dropped his weapon and shouted, “I surrender!” This soldier no longer wanted to fight. He was Xu Yang, a Han member of the Xiliang Cavalry. In the past, his family had been killed by the Qiangs. In anger, he joined Dong Zhuo’s Xiliang Cavalry to avenge his family. He followed Dong Zhuo to strike fear into the Qiangs. That was the life he wanted to lead. However, everything changed the moment Dong Zhuo entered Luoyang. First, they fought against the Bingzhou Army and then the eighteen warlords. What he wanted was to fight foreigners and not the Han. After Dong Zhuo’s death, they followed Zhang Ji and later, Zhang Xiu. After many years of campaigns, the Xiliang Cavalry now had a lot of new members and less old members. The original Xiliang Cavalry formed by Dong Zhuo had the Han to Qiang ratio of seven to three. This allowed the Han to remain in control but also allowed the Qiangs teach the Hans how to ride horses. These slowly changed once they entered the Central Plains. It became difficult for the Hans to enter the Xiliang Cavalry. This is because it was not easy to form a cavalry. They would need a lot of armor and horses. On top of that, the riders need to be good a horsemans.h.i.+p. To form the cavalry quicker, Zhang Ji had simply selected Qiang soldiers instead of Han soldiers. As time pa.s.sed, there were not more Qiang soldiers compared to Han soldiers in the Xiliang Cavalry. The Xiliang Cavalry still belonged to the Han because Zhang Xiu was around. However, once Zhang Xiu has perished, the Xiliang Cavalry would become a horrifying place.
They Qiangs would not care about the lives of the Hans. They were barbarians. If the restriction placed onto them by Zhang Xiu was removed, the aftermath would be inconceivable. One of the reasons the foreigners could not defeat the Han is because they do not have proper equipment such as heavy armor. However, the Xiliang Cavalry already have heavy armor. If a barbarian with a brain like Hu Che Er becomes the commander, the Han will face a disaster.
Xu Yang no longer wanted to fight since a while ago. He did not want to follow the Xiliang Cavalry anymore. Initially, he thought of dying in battle but Liu Mang’s orders had given him hope to live. So, Xu Yang decided to drop his weapon.
“Xu Yang you Han dog! I will kill you!” A Qiang 1000-man commander raised his sword and charged at Xu Yang.
“I rather be a dog than to accompany you barbarians any longer!” Xu Yang had his pride. In the past, the Xiliang Cavalry defended the country. They were the defenders of Xiliang. However, the current Xiliang Cavalry was in the hands of barbarians, ruthlessly killing Hans. Xu Yang no longer wanted to follow them.
“Who dares to harm my general?” Xu Yang also had guards with him. They moved to try and save Xu Yang but were too far away.
“Kill that Qiang clansman!” Liu Mang shouted towards Huang Zhong. He would not allow the person that had just surrendered to die. Although Huang Zhong was tired, he could still shoot arrows. His arrow that killed the attacker and saved Xu Yang.
With Xu Yang as an example, more of the Han soldiers started to drop their weapons. The Qiang soldiers also followed, as they no longer had fighting spirit.
“Hu Che Er. Don’t tell me you want to surrender?” Liu Mang shouted towards Hu Che Er while the battle continued. He wanted to capture Hu Che Er without effort and then have him executed.
“Haha! Surrender?” Hu Che Er sneered. “If I do, would you allow me to live?” Hu Che Er could easily tell what Liu Mang was thinking. He mocked Liu Mang as he knew that Liu Mang would not spare him.