Chapter 185 Friendly?
Translated by Gamer
Huang Zhong and Sun Ce also moved. Their speed surpassed Liu Mang, Dong Xi, Taishi Ci and Xu Sheng. Their blades clashed as a blur of gold and black seemed to dance in the air.
Huang Zhong has long ago became a superclass general and reached the peak of refinement. His grasp of this state is much better than Sun Ce. However, because he shot that arrow earlier, he has reduced half his vitality.
As for Sun Ce, after being defeated by Huang Zhong, his body injury has not fully healed. Besides that, although he has reached the peak of refinement, time was short and the inner strength cannot be achieved overnight.
The two fight on the walls to a deadlock.
“Do you truly want to do this?” Lu Su looked at the letter in his hands. He was told to open the letter if the battle on the walls is at a deadlock. The six people on the walls fought and the sounds of the battle shook the earth. Whichever side that gets the first kill will have a huge advantage. Even Liu Mang is bracing himself under the heavy attacks of Dong Xi.
When Lu Su opened the paper, there were only two words written on it. Fire attack. Fire attack! Lu Su knows what it means. Fierce kerosene has been poured on top of the walls. Their original plan was to sacrifice hundreds of Danyang soldiers to take the fierce kerosene onto the walls. Archers on the siege tower will then release fire arrows onto the walls and ignite the fierce kerosene on Wan Cheng City. In Wan Cheng City, the Lu Bu’s Army wore heavy armor that is very strong. However, the heavy armor would not be able to withstand the heat and will finally turn into hot metal.
Originally, that plan would have been implemented but the ballista and Huang Zhong destroyed two of the siege towers. The remaining two siege towers fell into a panic. They are afraid two more arrows will fly out of the city to destroy the siege tower. To prevent the bow from being shot again, Sun Ce, Taishi Ci and Dong Xi went up the walls. Now they are fighting 3 on 3.
Now Sun Ce is asking to be left behind on the city walls for the two siege tower to shoot the arrows.
For them to release fire arrows and ignite the whole city.
If Sun Ce, Taishi Ci and Dong Xi were not on the walls. If the Danyang soldiers were not on the walls, then he can issue such an order. But now on the walls was not just Lu Bu’s Army but also 3,000 Danyang soldiers and 10,000 Su Ce’s Army common soldiers. If the fire attack order was issued, the Danyang soldiers and 10,000 common soldier will not be able to avoid it!
He wants them to perish together! Sun Ce is cruel. Truly cruel. He has already surpressed himself. He wants to enter Wan Cheng and does not want to wait a moment longer. As long as the fire attack commence from the siege tower, Lu Bu’s Army will turn into ash and buried together with 3,000 Danyang soldiers and 10,000 of Sun Ce’s Army soldiers.
Lu Su hesitated as he tried to harden his heart. But that is more than 10,000 soldiers. They were not 10,000 pigs. He then remembers that he was the one who sent out the siege towers but is now thinking of being merciful. Trying to be reasonable is like a joke! If they don’t capture Wan Cheng today then everything is lost. Sun Ce’s Army can only opt to retreat. While Lu Su is trying to think of what to do, someone on a horse rode up to him. “Report! Military Advisor! Bad news!” The man was a scout for the Sun Ce’s Army. He was riddled with arrows. The moment he got down from the horse, he fell to the ground and started foaming at the mouth.
“N?” Lu Su suddenly has a bad feeling. These are the scouts that Lu Su sent out. They were spread out hundreds of miles away. Their job was to update Lu Su about the location of Lu Bu Army’s Bing Province Wolf Cavalry. Now that the scout appeared here, it can only be one problem.
Sure enough, the scout delivered the news that worries Lu Su the most. “Militory advisor. Military advisor. Lu Bu. Lu Bu’s Bingzhou Province Wolf Cavalry. A lot is coming. A lot!”
The scout was breathing heavily as he tried to report to Lu Su.
“Bing Province Wolf Cavalry!” Lu Su’s brow wrinkled up. It was too fast. According to Lu Su, the Wolf Cavalry will only reach Wan Cheng late at night or early in the morning. But now it seems they were only a hundred miles away. That distance would be a one day march for infantries but would only take one or two hours for horses.
One or two hours! Lu Su looked at the stalemate at the walls. If this situation continues, one or two hours is not enough to finish the battle. When Lu Bu’s Wolf Cavalry arrive, the defending troops and the cavalry can do a pincer attack. It is truly not a joke. The whole army could be routed.
Lu Su closed his eyes and clenched his fist. Too late! Too late! It can only be this way! Lu Su opened his eyes again. His eyes were bloodshot. If Zhou Yu were here, he would say that his friend has changed. Lu Su has indeed changed. War will not only change ordinary soldiers but will also change scribes like Lu Su. The old Lu Su would think that wars are the assault of generals. The scribes will help produce technology but the assault and the killing is the general’s job. The generals would just need to follow a few advices and everything will be good. Now he found out that he was wrong. Generals can kills hundreds of people. People like Huang Zhong, Lu Bu and Sun Ce can even kill thousands of people on the battlefield. However, it is decisions that will kill ten thousands of people. The decisions are the job of the scribes. He is afraid that his strategy, his commands, will cause ten thousand people to die.
Lu Su looked firm. The original Lu Su who can only do paperwork has finally matured. If the former Lu Su can only be counted as a second-rate counsellor, then the current Lu Su would be able to stand on his own.
“Pass my military orders. All those on the siege towers use fire arrows! Target is Wan Cheng City! Rapid fire!” Lu Su roared out his command.
“Ah. Ah!” The messenger was confused. Now use fire arrows? Their own soldiers are still on the wall. If they use fire arrows now they will just be killing each other. They would know how to shoot the arrows but they are not able to identify friend and foe. They can only harvest heads. “Military advisor. Military advisor! Our men are still on the walls!”
“N!?” Lu Su’s attention turned to stare at the messenger. “Did you not understand my order! Or did you think I am blind!?”
What is this situation? The messenger heart chilled up but he still hesitated. “But, but!” His brother is still on the walls! He was among those Sun Ce soldiers. He really could not understand this command.
After a while, the messenger stopped thinking about it. This is because he was now unable to think about anything.
*Splash* A column of blood rose up and splashed onto Lu Su’s face. A head fell to the ground. Lu Su’s face that was contaminated with blood did not show any panic or fear. Instead, it looked a bit insane. “Whoever who questioned my order will be killed!” This messenger was personally beheaded by Lu Su.
“Yes!” All the other messengers shouted. The weak military advisor has always been a good old man and always had a smiling face. Who knew that he would suddenly become hostile? Someone who is always angry may be scary but it did not reach the level of fear. Besides that, the longer you are with this kind of person, you will get used to his behavior. However, someone who is usually kind and agreeable that suddenly gets angry to the point of beheading people will cause fear. This is because you do not know whether he would suddenly kill you. In silence, they quickly sent out Lu Su’s commands.
The command was quickly carried out. Despite the confusion from the soldiers on the siege tower, they quickly obeyed Lu Su’s orders and rained fire arrows onto the walls of Wan Cheng. The arrows used are not to hurt people. However, the chaos and destruction caused will cause more injuries compared to arrows made to hurt people.
“Agggh!” The arrows fired hit both the Lu Bu’s Army and the Sun Ce’s Army. As the Black Flag’s Army wear heavy black armor and the Urban Army wear heavy silver armor, the damage to them from the fire arrows is comparatively small. However, those in the Sun Ce’s Army met tragic fates. Especially those in the Danyang soldiers. The Danyang soldiers wear armor made with vines or rattan. It has high defensive power and is light in water. Unlike iron armor that sinks, there is a buoyancy for the rattan armor. This is mostly used in places with a lot of water like Jiangdong. This made the soldiers a dragon in water and a fierce tiger on land. It was the true strength of the Sun Ce’s Army Marine Corps.
But now those vine and rattan armor brought a tragedy. No matter how strong the armor is, it is made out of wood. It is a flammable material. Arrows that hit the Danyang soldiers did not kill them but set fire to their armor. Some soldiers fell into panic and started rolling on the floor. But on the city walls, rolling was a mistake. This is because the fierce kerosene brought by the Danyang soldiers was already spilled onto the city walls. Rolling on the floor will allow the flames to cover their whole body. Victims could immediately stop thinking about staying alive.
The flames immediately surrounded the Danyang soldiers. Within the fire, screams can be heard everywhere. Despite the huge pain experienced from the fire, the Danyang soldiers died slowly. The pain was unbearable even for the soldiers.
Some people tried to put out the fires but could only scream and become ash because they could not put out the fires fast enough. The walls of Wan Cheng became hell. Both the Lu Bu’s Army and the Sun Ce’s Army tried to escape from the fire but it was futile.
The Black Flag Army was wearing heavy armor and found it difficult to run away. Once the collided with someone and fell over, they could only crawl and could no longer get up. This is because the kerosene started burning the top of the armor as well, making it impossible to take off. Once the upper body is in flames, you would stop thinking of running. In the end, the Black Flag Army can only be scalded to death and their armor would be their coffin.
“Very ruthless!” Liu Mang said as he tried to withstand Dong Xi’s attacks. As he looked at the hell made by the flames on the walls of Wan Cheng, he could not suppress the rage that was forming against Sun Ce. His rage is because the Black Flag Army and the Urban Army would not be able to escape the sea of flames and would only be buried there. He was also surprised because Sun Ce is more ruthless to his own soldiers compared to his enemies. This wall had more than 10,000 of Sun Ce’s Army soldiers and at least 3,000 Danyang soldiers. In order to capture the city, he sacrificed them to kill less than 3,000 Urban and Black Flag Army soldiers!
“Sacrificing anything to capture Wan Cheng is still worth it!” Dong Xi could not answer the question so Sun Ce answered it. He managed to answer the question because Huang Zhong also asked the same question. Sun Ce was actually not expecting this. At first, the siege tower on its own could have defeated Lu Bu’s Army and captured Wan Cheng City. Who knew from the city there was a ballista that could destroy the siege tower with one shot and also Huang Zhong’s iron arrows. If the all 4 of the siege towers were destroyed, Sun Ce can stop thinking of capturing Wan Cheng City.
And after today would he have a second chance? The answer is no. Lu Bu and the Wolf Cavalry may arrive at Wan Cheng at any time. At that time the one that needs to defend would be him. To prevent Huang Zhong from firing any more iron arrows, Sun Ce went up the walls. To stop the rest of Lu Bu’s Army, 13,000 soldiers went up the walls. This is all so that the siege towers can start shooting again. This is how Sun Ce traded 13,000 of his soldiers in exchange for Wan Cheng City.
“Run! Quickly run!” On the walls, Chu Zhongtian and Er Gou Zi weeped. Originally they went up the walls to kidnap their Third Master. After successfully kidnapping their master, all they needed to do was go down the walls. However, the siege towers have started shooting again. Around them were flames and corpses. The city was filled with the nauseating smell of roasted meat. The smell was nauseating because the roasted meat was human meat. This made Er Gou Zi swear to never eat roasted mutton ever again. This is because when he sees roasted mutton, he will remember this day.
“Release me! Release me! Chu Zhongtian! You traitor! Traitor!” Chu Jie struggled without success. He was tied tightly by Chu Zhongtian and Er Gou Zi. They took advantage of Chu Jie when they were allowed to pass. This is because they hate white cloth on their arm. The Black Flag Army and the Urban Army did not attack them. In fact, the Urban Army helped them. This is because they knew all of them would most likely perish on the walls of Wan Cheng.
Let a few people escape! Allow the Urban Army to defend the walls and leave a seed. With that mindset, the Urban Army helped to kidnap Chu Jie.
They were just about to go down the city gate tower when the walls started burning. There is fierce kerosene and flames everywhere. The racks and ladders were also in flames. Now Chu Zhongtian is dumbfounded. Where do we run?
“Lin Dan! Lin Dan! Go there! Go there!” Er Gou Zi suddenly thought of an idea.
“There!?” Chu Zhongtian also suddenly remembered. “Right. Let’s go there!” ‘There’ would be the place the Chu division use to go up the walls. They also brought up pots like the other Danyang soldiers but their pots were filled with water instead of kerosene. They did that because they were afraid the Third Master would perish so they purposely left an escape route. He did not know it would become his escape route. But it is difficult to rush out with the fire around them.
Chu Zhongtian grit his teeth. Staying here will definitely end in death. Rushing out will burn you half to death. However, there is still a way out. It requires teamwork. “Brothers! If you want to live, follow me Chu Zhongtian rush out!”
“Go!” Chu Zhongtian took the lead and rushed into the sea of flames. Watching Chu Zhongtian rush out, the Chu division also followed behind him. They all give Chu Zhongtian priority. Chu Zhongtian is their talented officer.
“A way out!?” Both the Lu Bu’s Army and the Danyang Army were surprised. This sea of flames have an escape road? Dead Road right? The flames there were burning so strongly that the limestone is starting to turn red. But if that is not the way out then where should they go to escape? The temperature is so high that people cannot stand up. Lying down on the ground would also kill you.
The Danyang soldiers had the fastest response. Especially Zuo Ren Jie from the Zuo division. They may be the Chu division’s rival but it does not affect his desire to live. Chu Zhongtian rushed past him and he also became crazy. Chu Zhongtian has a death wish. What? Am I Zuo Ren Jie afraid? The worst that can happen is we die together.
”Rush through my brothers!” Zuo Ren Jie also charged into the sea of flames, refusing to be behind the Chu division. The Zuo camp and the Chu camp are like enemies. They constantly fight against each other, scheme against each other, and they never spend time with each other.
Now Zuo Ren Jie refused to be left behind by Chu Zhongtian. Under the leadership of Zuo Ren Jie, the Danyang soldiers also rushed into the sea of flames.
Now nobody is fighting on the walls whether they belong to Lu Bu’s Army or Sun Ce’s Army. Now they are all fellow victims of the fire. Those that continue to fight with absolutely become a crispy and tasty roasted duck.
“Rush through! We will get out together!” Lu Bu’s Army also moved. Although they wore heavy armor, their desire to live gave them energy to keep moving.
“I want to live!”
“Fuck you Sun Ce!” said a voice of someone dissatisfied with Sun Ce.
“Jiangdong son of a bitch. You just wait for me!” This one was even weirder as he himself was from Jiangdong. The ones on the siege tower have earlier already cursed Sun Ce non-stop. These people once they escape would definitely find the king, make him settle debts. How is this a war? Curse his ancestors!
As the flames spread, people continued to rush past. One of the Sun Ce’s soldiers fell. He thought he would be dead because if he did not burn to death he would definitely be trampled on. Suddenly a big hand pulled him up. He wanted to thank the person but could not. After all the person who pulled him up had silver armor. He was part of Lu Bu’s Army. The people they have been fighting against up until now.
This kind of scene happened everywhere. Watching this kind of scene, people who did not know better would think they are allies.
Nobody would know that they were trying to kill each other a moment ago!
(TL: Such a hot-warming ending. Sorry. Couldn’t resist)