Chapter 199
Chapter 199 – The Impatience Zhang Yang
October 24th . Noon .
w.a.n.g Kuang and Zhang Yang managed to return to the territory of Shangdang City with their 100,000 men . At the back of the marching soldier lines, w.a.n.g Yun and his 20,000 followed after them as he also needed to head back to Luo Yang .
When they saw the long wall of Shangdang City, the two governors were relieved .
w.a.n.g Kuang muttered, "We"re finally back . "
"Yeah, we can restock our supplies from the merchants . We should rest a few days before we resume our march to Henei," Suggested Zhang Yang .
While both of them were in a merry mood, a scout galloped his horse to them .
"Report! There is something wrong with the Shangdang City! They put on yellow "Zhang" flags instead of purple ones . "
Zhang Yang stared at the scout with wide eyes . His city flags had always been purple, and he had never used a yellow flag . A bad feeling crept into his heart .
"Have you asked them to open the gate for you or have you talked with the gate guards?"
"N-No, my lord . They fired their arrows at me . I can"t get close to the gate . "
The face of Zhang Yang paled . Someone had stolen his city!
The mind of Shangdang Governor was blank for a whole minute before his face reddened from anger . The pale white face turned red, then blue . Veins lines under his skin bulged so hard that anyone who looked at this face could notice the pulsing .
Infuriated, Zhang Yang shouted, "Get our men to craft ladders! We will siege the city before nightfall!"
This city located in a basin surrounded by mountain ranges . The only way to travel to other cities was to journey through mountain roads, valleys, or canyons . The path that Liu Ping and all Imperial troops moved was also pa.s.sed through such mountain gaps .
"- before night fall-fall-fall!"
Because of the geography of Shangdang City, the voice of Zhang Yang echoed through the valley . The troops behind them could also hear their governor"s voice from far away, and they looked at the front of them in curiosity .
…
2 PM .
100,000 Soldiers lined up in a hundred square formations in front of Shangdang north gate . The twenty thousand men of w.a.n.g Yun did not partic.i.p.ate in this siege as they took roles as reserves, which helped the army making ladders and a battering-ram .
They did not lay a siege yet because they could not . Ladders with the height of five or six meters took times and efforts to make . Furthermore, they had to make at least 200 of them for a regular siege .
The intelligence about the defender numbers was in Zhang Yang"s hands . From the rough count of the scouts, the enemy number on the wall was around 20,000 to 30,000 men .
It was not a significant number . However, in this battle, they were a threat . Because the city wall of Shangdang was like a fortress inside a mountain, they could not use the ma.s.sive troops to siege all gates at the same time as they could only access the north wall . The mountain range was the city"s natural barrier that blocked their path to the other gates . If Zhang Yang or w.a.n.g Kuang want to reach the other gates, they had to climb the mountains .
As a result of this north gate geography, they had to get rid of these 30,000 garrison force on top of the north gate or break the gate to win .
Zhang Yang looked at the gate with impatience while He could not keep his hands still as he scratched either his face or his arms all the time .
"Has w.a.n.g Yun not finished yet?" Zhang Yang asked this aide .
"N-No, my lord . He said it will take four or five hours to make at least 200 tall ladders . We can"t find many tall bamboos in this area, so we have to make ladders from planks instead . "
Plank ladders were complicated to make in this era as only carpenters with tools could make one . These soldiers were not professional carpenters, so they had to create make-s.h.i.+ft ladders without prior experiences .
Listening to his aide, Zhang Yang ma.s.saged his temple because of the headache .
w.a.n.g Kuang consoled him, "Brother Zhang, we can make a camp outside of the city wall today . Let"s take our time crafting ladders and siege weapons . Waiting for the tools for one day wouldn"t hurt . "
"No, we have to take the city within today! We"re running out of food in three days, remember?"
w.a.n.g Kuang groaned as he was reminded of the provision shortage problem .
Without a choice, both governors stayed and waited for w.a.n.g Yun"s men to finish all the ladders .
…
2 . 30 PM
Jinyang Army, with the number of 50,000 men, arrived on top of the valley . From there, they could see the troops inside the canyon, lining up in front of the north gate of Shangdang .
Lu Bu, Zhang Liao, Gao Shun, and Li Feihong were there as well . They were the commanders of this army .
Jia Xu and Ju Shou had given them a simple order, "Obliterate them . "
During the times when Ju Shou was in Ye with Jia Xu, he advised Jia Xu to eliminate these n.o.bles as a part of the plan . In order to pacify the city after the war efficiently, Ju Shou saw these men as thorns . Because w.a.n.g Kuang and Zhang Yang"s soldiers were part of Henei and Shangdang n.o.ble clans, they had deep roots within these cities . Letting them live would be like allowing tigers back to mountains, so Ju Shou wanted to weed out the future problems .
Jia Xu did not care about the domestic affair but the result of the war, so he added this plan into the operation . Then, he let Ju Shou handled the rest with the condition that if Ju Shou were to fail, he would be held responsible for this action .
The 50,000 heavy cavalries donned in Xiangnu tribal clothes, lining up in rows and getting ready to charge down from the top of the cliff .
Lu Bu raised his fist up to stop the men as he noticed something from the corner of his eyes .
A lone horseman on the opposite side of the cliff, 500 meters away, was looking at them for a moment before he left . Lu Bu recognized the aura of the horseman . It was the aura that he sensed earlier .
"That warrior is really here, and we seem to be on the same side . "
"I can easily crush these insects any time I want to, but I would have destroyed his awakening process if I did that . "
A cunning smile appeared on Lu Bu"s face as he called Zhang Liao over .
"Wenyuan, do not attack yet . Let"s wait and see a bit longer . "
Zhang Liao frowned . The chance to crush the enemies was here, but Lu Bu had chosen to delay it . He did not understand what his boss wanted .
"There"s a good fellow who"s about to baptize in this battlefield . Let him play with these guys first . "
Still frowned, Zhang Liao nodded and waved his hands, gesturing the troops to step back and hide .
"Is it your instinct again, or is it out of a whim this time?"
"Instinct, of course!"
"I hope your instinct is right, Fengxian . "
"Bah! My sense is always right! Have I ever lost in a battle because of my sense!?"
Zhang Liao sighed as he did not want to believe it, but Lu Bu was right about one thing .
Lu Fengxian had never lost in a war if he utilized his instinct . Although Zhang Liao had to complement Lu Bu"s plans and clean up after his deeds, Lu Bu was still the key of all victories they had .
…
3 PM .
w.a.n.g Yun rode to the main army . His men finished making rough 100 ladders and a battling-ram . However, they were far from enough in this siege as the number of ladders were too few . He also wanted to talk to the two governors to ask for another day to make trebuchets or catapults for the battle .
"No! We will siege the city today! We will not wait until we run out of food!"
The reply from Zhang Yang shattered the hope of w.a.n.g Yun .
"Rus.h.i.+ng to siege like this is like throwing lives away . The enemies have come here prepared . At least, we should take back a step for one day . One day can make a lot of difference between rus.h.i.+ng in with only ladders and fighting with proper siege weapons . "
w.a.n.g Kuang also helped w.a.n.g Yun persuading Zhang Yang . He also wanted to take it slow as he was not confident fighting with numbers .
"You have no idea at all, do you?" Zhang Yang spat . He had his reasons for rus.h.i.+ng the a.s.sault .
Inside the treasuries of his household, he stored over 50,000 gold and other valuable treasures worth of over 100,000 gold . In his Manor, a hundred of young female slaves, which he secretly bought from the local fat merchants, were kept there as his trophies .
This city was his paradise and his everything . Losing it for even one more day could spell a disaster as the wealth and the women he acc.u.mulated would have been stolen by the army inside the city .
"You cowards and take it easy if you want! I will lead my men to take the city myself!"
Zhang Yang broke away from the two men . He went to the reserve force to take all the ladders so that he could transfer all of them to his troops .
Before he could complete what he wanted to do, a messenger rushed in to report important news to the three commanders .
"Report! We"re under attack from a group of cavalries! The reserve force has been hit!"
Zhang Yang, w.a.n.g Kuang, and w.a.n.g Yun snapped back from the argument . w.a.n.g Yun rushed to his men without saying anything, leaving the two governors behind . The reserve force that the messenger mentioned was his troops that Liu Ping had entrusted him, so he returned to them in a panic .
w.a.n.g Kuang also returned to his own troops as he wanted to stand by for a possible battle . On the other hand, Zhang Yang glared at the messenger and questioned him .
"Whose affiliate are those cavalries from?"
"Reporting, they did not carry a flag, but we noticed that they wore different uniforms from ours . "
Zhang Yang spat again, "Useless idiot! It"s obvious that they will wear different clothes! How many of them!?"
"M-My Lord, we didn"t know . They just attacked us and retreated before we could even rally our men . "
The governor gnashed his teeth, frustrated from the incompetency of the messenger and the scouts . Zhang Yang opened his mouth and about to curse the messenger out loud to shame him .
*WHOOSH* *WHOOSH*
*WHOOSH* *WHOOSH*
Several sounds of flying objects could be heard from a distance away . Zhang Yang turned around to the source of the noise, and he saw a glimpse of an arrow volley from the top of the eastern cliff .