Chapter 229 Demoralizing Tactic (1/2)
Chapter 229 – Demoralizing Tactic
Dong Zhuo Camp, north of Luo Yang.
It was already 7 PM, and both sides withdrew their troops.
Dong Zhuo had set up a camp three kilometers north of Luo Yang and close to the Yellow River.
In Dong Zhuo's private tent, the fat tyrant lied on his bed with a pale complexion. Though he survived Diao Chan's mental attack, he had yet to recover from the fright and the torture.
Hua Xiong stood beside the bed, guarding his boss. Unlike rusty Dong Zhuo, Hua Xiong's body was in shape, so he had already recovered from the previous battle.
Li Ru, however, stared at the two with a frown. He had helped to command the troops during the siege, but he did not expect a difficult fight. Furthermore, he was not satisfied by the sudden order of Dong Zhuo and Hua Xiong for signaling the attack without consulting him.
The loss of 20,000 soldiers of 100,000 in the siege was unacceptable to Li Ru.
”I'm going to contact the others in Hongnong. I'll have them send us some reinforcement and pincer Luo Yang's west gate. Hua Xiong, prepare 10,000 troops and have the others rest for the night.”
…
10 PM.
North wall of Luo Yang.
A hundred garrison soldiers stood, guarding the wall, which illuminated by thousands of torches. They watched into the darkness in nervousness as they had experienced the siege battle for the first time.
Because of the anxiety, they did their best to stay awake to keep watch. Not a single firefly could escape the garrison soldiers' eyes.
Their fear became a reality as a hundred thousand torches could be seen from the horizon.
*BOOM*
*GONG*
*BOOM*
The sounds of war drums and war gongs alerted everybody in the city. The garrison soldiers who had a hard time trying to sleep widened their eyes as the sounds awoke them. They rushed on top of the gate to prepare to defend.
”WAAAH!”
”SHAAAA!”
The scream and shout came from the other side, which further put the troops on their toes.
Liu Yu also rushed to the top of the gate, resuming his command.
”Prepare fire arrows!”
*GONG*
*GONG*
The garrison forces readied their bows and arrows, aiming forward. Strangely, Dong Zhuo's troops stopped out of the arrow-range, but they still shouted and hit their war drums.
”Fire!”
Liu Yu ordered a fire-volley. Though they might not hit the enemies, he wanted to get a good visual on their troops.
A hundred thousand fire arrows flew through the sky and dropped on the ground, illuminating the battlefield.
Liu Yu managed to catch a glimpse of Dong Zhuo's troops. They formed a shield formation and hid behind their barricaded shields.
'Odd,' Liu Yu thought, 'Is this a fake night attack?'
*WHOOSH*
*BOOM*
A sound of trebuchet launching stones alerted Liu Yu. Because these sounds were memorable, all soldiers shrunk their heads down by instinct as they thought the stones might hit them.
Fortunately, all the stones came up short and landed in front of the wall.
”Stay alert! Keep watching the lines. Ready your bows, shoot on my signal!”
…
On the other side, Li Ru watched the siege with an indifferent expression.
”Fire another barrage,” Li Ru ordered.
Ten trebuchets blindly hurled stones at the wall hitting nothing but the ground.
”Shout and sound the gong.”
”WAAAHHH!”
*GONG*
*GONG*
Ignoring the chaotic noise, Li Ru yawned as he lazily gazed at the top of the wall.
'The plan succeeded.'
He turned to look at Hua Xiong, who was sleeping amid the noisy battlefield. Li Ru chuckled as he was amazed by the adaptability of this general.
”Good gracious. I wish I can sleep anywhere like you.”
Before coming here, Li Ru did not want to siege the city at night, but he faked the siege and played a mind game with the defenders.
Since they had to siege the Capital, it would be unwise for him to divide his troops and attack all walls. Sieging all walls and gates consumed more resources than hitting one wall with everything they had as they had to create extra siege weapons and waste more woods.
Secondly, Li Ru wanted to create a false image that he did not have enough personals to attack other gates. In reality, he had already sent a fast horse to Hongnong, asking his men to dispatch an addition army to Luo Yang.
'There's still an issue with that little girl's identity. She's Wang Yun's adopted daughter in the report, but her emergence as an immortal is unheard of. Is she the same with Zhang Tong?'
An uneasy feeling crept through Li Ru's mind. There were so many reports about the supernatural phenomenon and the rumors about identities of several immortals in various forces. The event this morning was also real as he directly experienced it.
'That earthquake and shattering sky are ominous signs. Something is very wrong with this country, or could it be that the girl will bring the calamity to us all.'
'No matter what she is. We'll capture her and kill her! Everything will be solved once she's dead!'
…
…
December 1st, 182 A.D.
6 AM.
Liu Yu and his men stared at sunrise with blood-shot eyes. They had not slept all night as Li Ru's 10,000 soldiers kept shouting and drumming non-stop. Moreover, the trebuchet barrages kept them on their toes as sometimes the trebuchet stones landed on top of the wall, killing or injuring the garrison soldiers.
However, in the end, Li Ru did not siege the wall during the night.
The 10,000 troops, who had stayed and shouted last night, withdrew. As heaven had bullied them, the other 70,000 soldiers of Dong Zhuo replaced the former army.
It was then that Liu Yu realized that he had been duped.
”This is a ploy! They're tiring us out!”