Chapter 177
Chapter 181 Movement (1)
Translated by Gamer
"Besiege!" Sun Ce waved the large flag within the army. This time Sun Ce is not rus.h.i.+ng out to place ladders but pus.h.i.+ng the huge siege tower towards Wan Cheng.
"Release the arrows!" Liu Mang has never dealt with this kind of siege weapon before. Even when Old Cao besiege Lu Bu at Xia Pi and Kai Yang, this kind of weapon did not appear. Liu Mang wanted to test the first volley of arrows. The arrows aimed high was not able to reach the enemies on the siege tower and fell to the grown before it even hit the siege tower.
"Haha!" Sun Ce laughed as he looked at his siege tower. His siege tower is a hundred feet tall and is much taller than the walls of Wan Cheng City. Even generals need to put in effort to shoot so high up not to mention ordinary troops. Unlike the soldiers on the siege tower that just need to face the city and shoot, those on the walls need to aim which makes it harder.
"Wasted effort!"
Siege towers! Sun Ce’s eyes heated up. He truly looked forward to Liu Mang desperately attack the siege towers and then give up in despair.
"Rggh!" Liu Mang groaned. Liu Mang also saw the arrows fly halfway before dropping to the ground. The height and distance of the siege towers was still out of range for the archers. From inside Wan Cheng, the father and son pair, Huang Zhong and Huang Xu, appeared at the walls. Adding in Xu Sheng and himself, there is only 4 people who can shoot the siege tower. What can 4 people do?
Sun Ce, did you really think there is no hope for us! Liu Mang has not issued the command for the second volley of arrows. The first screams came from the below the walls.
"Liu Mang!" Sun Ce’s eyes grew cold again. Below the siege towers there were still people. The ones that screamed was the siege tower escorts and some other soldiers preparing to siege the city. The Lu Bu’s Army may not be able to shoot the towers but they managed to shoot the soldiers below it. The Black Flag Army pulled their bows hard to shoot the siege towers but was not able to reach it. The arrows then fell with the power of gravity, making it a deadly projectile.
As the siege towers take up a lot of s.p.a.ce, the surrounding area became more crowded. The arrows were able to inflict harm to the rest of Sun Ce’s Army, earning shrieks and screams from below.
"Wait!" The first one to lose blood was Sun Ce’s side. How could he endure it? "Move quickly, tell them if they don’t want to die they need to advance quickly!"
"Yes!" The flag waved again. The soldiers also know that in this crowd, there is nowhere to hide or dodge. They can only quickly advance closer to the walls where there are dead angles to save themselves.
Suddenly, the Sun Ce’s Army pushed the siege towers harder and their speed increased.
"Release the arrows! Release the arrows!" The arrows rained from the walls again but it is like trying to put out a forest fire with a cup of water. Under the threat of death, the siege towers quickly reached the walls of Wan Cheng. Soldiers boarded the siege towers fully equipped. They have also already raised their bows. Liu Mang can see their facial expressions.
"Now is my turn!" Sun Ce narrowed his eyes. The battle has reached this level. At this stage, no mercy can be shown. The moment an opening is seen, it must be used to make sure the opponent dies. There can be no escape.
"Pull the bow!" Sun Ce do not need messengers and stood up to directly shout his orders, relying on his own voice. With one shout, half the battlefield was able to hear his voice.
*Rustle* The sound of the bows being prepared can be heard on the siege towers. Liu Mang and the others felt a chill when confronting these arrows.
"Release!" Sun Ce shouted without hesitation. He wants to see Liu Mang become nervous looking at the inconceivable siege towers. He also wants to see the fear, and his collapse. This is Sun Ce’s payback to Liu Mang. After this he will hang Liu Mang’s head on the walls of Wan Cheng.
"You are about to die! Your Royal Highness!" Sun Ce’s eyes twinkled.
*Whoos.h.!.+* The sounds of truth arrived. The Sun Ce’s Army occupying the higher ground ruthlessly raining arrows onto their mark. Not much strength is needed to draw the bow. Gravity will help accelerate the arrows until they are powerful enough to pierce the city walls that was made out of limestone.
These limestone city walls were strong enough to repel the hackings of ax and knives. These walls were now not strong enough to
"Raise the s.h.i.+elds!" Liu Mang also knows that the siege towers are hard to destroy using ordinary methods. Fortunately, in Liu Mang’s hands was the giant s.h.i.+eld. The army suffered heavy casualties. Many giant s.h.i.+eld soldiers were killed, dropping their giant s.h.i.+elds. Liu Mang hid behind these giant s.h.i.+elds and avoided the first volley of arrows.
"Did you think that giant s.h.i.+eld would be of use!" Sun Ce was not impressed. The s.h.i.+eld’s purpose was for heavy armor infantries to defend themselves against cavalry charges and arrows. Against the arrows that came from high ground, the giant s.h.i.+eld is only able to defend the first volley.
The first volley was meant to determine the distance between the siege towers and the walls. From the second volley onwards, with a little bit of aiming, archers would be able to easily claim lives with the longbow.
Sure enough, the second volley of arrows followed. Liu Mang used the large s.h.i.+eld to block the front but he is unable to block the rear. The archers with little experience shoot the arrows towards the sky and the gravity brought the arrows behind Lu Bu’s giant s.h.i.+eld troops.
"N, n, n" Groans frequently came out. The one that is groaning was the Black Flag Army. The arrows shot pierced through the body and penetrated the wall.
As expected it would be like this! Liu Mang peeked past his giant s.h.i.+eld to look at the soldiers on the siege tower. The giant s.h.i.+eld troops are also shrinking. This is because the more the old archers shoot, the better they become at shooting and can even shoot through the gaps of the s.h.i.+eld to wound their victims.
"Hahahahahaha!" Sun Ce laughed wildly below the city. The amount of people shooting the city below them is 3,000 archers. Each archer carries a quiver of arrows with 12-15 arrows.
More than a dozen volley of arrows were shot. As if exchanging 1 life for 10 lives, thousands of Lu Bu’s troops were killed and the army suffered heavy losses. On the other hand, Sun Ce’s Army only lost a few hundred soldiers from the first volley. Even if he adds in the loss of the several tens of thousands of soldiers lost on the first 2 days of siege, the end result was also a good bargain. Sun Ce thought of Lu Su.
Great talent! Truly great talent! He decided to give Lu Su a great reward. Reward the Lu household. On top of that, give Wan Cheng for Lu Su to manage.
After more than a dozen volleys of arrows, the shooting finally stopped. This is because their arrows ran out. The soldiers from the bottom would need to transport the arrows up. The Sun Ce’s Army below suddenly became busy.
The siege tower support group is busy but the rest of Sun Ce’s Army was not slacking off. Under Sun Ce’s command, the soldiers went crazy and advanced towards Wan Cheng City. It is impossible for there to be any survivors after the volley of arrows. Wouldn’t those be merits on top of the walls! Then as their lord said, after the siege they get to have 3 days of free indulgence. Due to this reward, the Sun Ce’s Army went crazy.
They climbed the ladders. Flocking to the walls, they expected merits and indulgence once they finished climbing. Instead, the things that await them were spears and swords.
Black armor and white s.h.i.+eld. The Sun Ce’s Army felt fear. Black devil! Yesterday, the Black Flag Army were their companions. They have met each other before.
When the volley of arrows fell, the arrows managed to injure the Lu Bu’s Army. However, very few collapsed. Although everyone was injured, there are very few deaths.
The first few who climbed the ladder were not part of Sun Ce’s main army but ordinary soldiers. They are not as brave as the Danyang soldiers. One by one they retreated. However, the battlefield is a place where the brave win. The moment you are afraid, your death is not far.
Like a group of ducks, Liu Mang and the Lu Bu’s Army chased them back down from the wall.
"Heavy armor!" Sun Ce felt like he just ate a fly. He thought he managed to cause heavy casualties to Lu Bu’s Army. Who would have thought that the arrows that pa.s.sed through the giant s.h.i.+eld did not give them any fatal injury because they wore heavy armor!
Correct. Liu Mang and the Black Flag Army has once again put on their heavy armor. Those who died were also used as protection from the arrows. The heavy armor was not only good for shock but also good for repelling arrows.
As the volleys of arrows were large, it managed to injure a lot of Lu Bu’s Army although it failed to achieve heavy casualties as imagined by Sun Ce.
Looking at the Sun Ce’s Army being driven out of the walls did not fill Liu Mang with joy. This is because he knows that while not many Black Flag soldiers died, there are a lot of them that were injured. Even with Heavy Armor, it is difficult to resist that many arrows.
"Heavy armor! Fine! I will tire you to death!" 3,000 Danyang soldiers and 10,000 ordinary soldiers rushed towards the walls.
Heavy armor is able to defend most of the damage but it is too heavy. It has explosive power but not endurance. In siege warfare, the most important ability is endurance. The one who is unable to persevere is the one that will lose.
The Black Flag Army was nurtured from an early age. Out of 5,000 children, they only took 2,000. They can put on heavy armor for strong physical combat. Even then they cannot persevere very long.
Sun Ce’s objective now is to consume the physical strength of those heavy armored troops. Liu Mang was doing the same as always. He was wearing the heavy armor and is running a marathon while Sun Ce is trying to deplete the Black Flag’s Army using human lives.
"Sha! Sha! Sha!" The Danyang soldiers once again rushed up the walls. They have met their rivals. Even though the start of the siege has only been a mere 3 days, the two sides have forged a relations.h.i.+p of death and hatred with each other.
The Black Flag Army that initially had 3,000 now only left with less than 500. The Danyang soldiers that initially had 10,000 were only left with 3,000. In the Black Flag Army, there were a lot of brothers and friends that were killed by the Danyang soldiers. The Danyang soldiers also had blood relatives like uncles and and grandfathers that were also killed by the army. Because of that, when the two sides meet, an outbreak of war immediately occurred.
The Danyang soldiers were unable to slash through the heavy armor but they were flexible enough. The Black Flag Army that wore the heavy armor was able to kill one but they became slower from the second slash onwards. The Black Flag Army fought killed many. However, there are at least 10,000 ordinary soldiers causing them to fight really hard. Out of the 10,000 ordinary soldiers there are at least 2,000 corpses. The Danyang soldiers also suffered a few hundred losses.
"Withdraw!" Regardless of how many thousand deaths, Sun Ce does not care about the process. He is only interested in the results. Now, more than 2,000 deaths have brought him the desired result.
The Lu Bu’s heavy armored infantry is tired and weak. The archers on the siege tower is ready and the arrows will rain again. Besides that, Sun Ce has also put oil on the siege tower. He wants to use a fire attack to burn Wan Cheng City.
Under the command of Sun Ce, the archers once again raise their bows. This time however, it was not ordinary arrows. Liu Mang can see that the arrows were burning. Those are fire. Does he intend to burn the walls?