Chapter 484 – Hongnong Decisive Sweeping
"Commander Li, I request permission to migrate Hongnong civilians here."
Zhou Cang knelt and cupped his fist toward Li Feihong. The carnage scene was too much for this bald general to bear, so he wanted to ease their pain.
"Permission denied. I need them to stay out and spread an ill rumor about Liu Bei. Never let any civilian enter this dimension."
Zhou Cang bit his lower lip and bowed before he left.
As Zhou Cang was about to lead his platoon to enter the gates, he glanced at Li Feihong with resentment. He would remember this incident, and he planned to report this to Tong later.
All Zhang Liao, Bo Cai, and Zhou Cang's men packed their classic repeating crossbows along with their melee weapons. As for the modern rifles, they ran out of bullets, so they were useless in this battle.
The group rushed into the gates without caring where it led them to.
Upon getting out of the gates, they found themselves on top of the east wall, where no soldier presented.
Zhou Cang took 5,000 men to rescue the civilians right away. Without caring about Li Feihong's primary order, he ignored the city-capturing objective and brought all the crying peasants to the front of the west gate.
When Zhou Cang appeared in front of the troubled civilians, they cheered and immediately cooperated with him. Although he went missing during Pang Tong's charge, not many people hated him for his absence.
Still, a few selfish civilians wanted someone to blame. They cursed at Zhou Cang for not helping them earlier.
"Where have you been when Liu Bei attacked us!? You're supposed to protect everyone!"
"Deserter! You only come back because there are no more enemies! Shame on you!"
"My children died because of you. Had you defended the city properly, those men would have killed my children!!
Zhou Cang did not argue with them. Instead, he pulled a pistol and aimed toward the sky.
*BANG*
The noisy crowd stopped cursing Zhou Cang. The thunderous bang frightened them.
"SHUT UP, YOU PIECE OF SHIT!! YOU ASKED TO REJOIN LIU BEI, WE GAVE UP THE CHANCE. AND YOU KNOW WHAT? THIS IS HOW LIU BEI REPAYS YOUR LOYALTY!! IF YOU WANT TO BLAME SOMEONE, BLAME YOUR GODDAMN LORD FOR KILLING YOU!!"
The civilians that never blamed Zhou Cang nodded in agreement. Zhang Liao and Zhou Cang allowed them to rejoin Liu Bei, but the latter refused their loyalty. Instead, Liu Bei's men saw them as a road into the city.
However, haters were always hating. The previous swearing citizens continued to vent their anger on Zhou Cang's soldiers.
One of the strong men among the crowd attempted to steal a soldier's sword from the sheath on the latter's belt.
But that person awoke the wrath of the soldier. He kicked the men away and pulled his sword before he cut the man down.
The killing created a commotion. Many weak-willed women screamed in a panic.
Zhou Cang was already in a bad mood. He pulled the trigger and fired two more shots.
*BANG*
*BANG*
"SHUT DA FUCK UP!! IF YOU KEEP ON SCREAMING, I'LL SILENCE YOU MYSELF!! I'M TRYING TO SAVE YOU HERE!! IF YOU DON'T COOPERATE, YOU CAN MIGRATE SOMEWHERE ELSE FOR ALL I CARE!!"
The threat worked like magic. Everyone stopped creating noise and followed the army's instruction, gathering and treating the injured people in order. Though many of them glanced at Zhou Cang in resentment, they did not dare to voice their opinion anymore.
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Meanwhile, Zhang Liao and Bo Cai led the other 45,000 elites to deal with 100,000 soldiers inside the city. These men were facing a tough challenge.
Urban warfare was not their forte, and they were dealing with strong foes who doubled their number. This fight might not end without a casualty as usual.
But Zhang Liao was calm. He arranged 40,000 men to protect the west gate zone while the remaining 5,000 men would be the assault force to create chaos inside the city.
All 5,000 men were infantry under Bo Cai's command.
"I trust that you excel in commanding footmen. When you were a yellow turban in previous life, did you have experience in urban warfare?" Asked Zhang Liao.
Bo Cai nodded, "I do. I remember raiding villages and small towns, but I have no experience saving citizens in a big city like this."
"That's good enough. I want you to look at the entire city as many villages bundling together as one. Separate them into sections and focus on clearing one section at a time."
"Understood, sir!"
"I'll provide support when more of our enemies notice your movement. First, we'll start with our entrance zone and we'll expand south!"
Zhang Liao did not use all of his men right away. Instead, he micro-managed small units to clear one objective at a time. His real specialty was not commanding large troops but coordinating small units for best efficiency.
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Zhang Liao's tactic and battle plans had always been similar to the present during his previous life, including during the Battle of Hefei, year 214 when Sun Quan invaded Wei with 100,000 men. At that time, there were about 5,000 to 7,000 men at Hefei Fort. Yue Jin and Li Dian were also there with him.
Cao Cao instructed the trio via a letter beforehand that Yue Jin should protect the fort while the other two had to head out and fight.
The situation looked hopeless at that time. However, the three generals chose 800 men to sortie with Zhang Liao. The next day, Zhang Liao and his 800 men rode out and attacked Sun Quan Army before they could get into a formation.
They worked as if they were assassins. Every time Zhang Liao killed an officer, he kept shouting his name, "I am Zhang Liao!", terrifying Sun Quan's men as Zhang Liao maneuvered his unit within Sun Quan's encirclement.
Sun Quan Army attempted to surround and kill Zhang Liao, but they failed. As Zhang Liao was trained under Lu Bu for years, his martial arts and his combat prowess were only second to that god of war. Thus, Sun Quan Army failed.
Although Zhang Liao could not inflict significant damage to Sun Quan Army at that time, the valor that Zhang Liao had displayed was enough to raise everyone's morale inside Hefei Fort. On the contrary, Sun Quan Army's morale was poor because of Zhang Liao's threatening image.
The siege continued for days, yet Wu Army could not defeat the smaller army with stronger willpower.
Sun Quan decided to retreat later, but Zhang Liao, again, did not miss this chance. He rode out with his men to assassinate Sun Quan for good.
During the chasing battle, Zhang Liao almost had Sun Quan in his palms. Because Sun Quan had many talented bodyguards, the warlord managed to survive that day.
At the end of the battle, Zhang Liao's fame skyrocketed and became a legend.
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In this world, Zhang Liao had all the experience of the old world, and he also had the power of a 4-wing angel. He had the confidence that he could annihilate all 100,000 soldiers inside the city on his own.
However, he deemed that it would be inefficient since he had to rescue all civilians inside the city, not winning a simple battle.
A rescue operation like this was something new to Zhang Liao.
He looked at his remaining 40,000 men as he contemplated the next move.
'I can use Tong's FBI tactic at that time, but I have to secure an exit point for Bo Cai first. Also…'
Zhang Liao opened the map of Hongnong City and began drawing lines on it. The lines separated the city map into blocks, and the general wrote numeral letters, which Tong and Te Langpu had taught them about the new way of identifying their location.
He wrote numbers on the top of the blocks and the sides of the blocks.
Then, it became a 20×20 chessboard.
Afterward, he marked their position with a cross. Their current position could be read as [10-1].
Zhang Liao picked Bo Cai's token and placed it on the center between [9-2], [10-2], [9-3], [10-3].
"We'll secure all [X-1] spaces! Detach 1,000 men and secure each sector that I pointed to. One platoon, one block! Come and see me when you're done!"
Many 1,000-man commanders looked confused at first, but they caught on Zhang Liao's intention a few seconds later. Nineteen commanders took 1,000 men each and moved toward the general location on the map.
After 19,000 soldiers left Zhang Liao's main army, a messenger from Bo Cai's unit came back.
"General, Vice General Zhou has secured the perimeter, and the civilians are being guided back to the west gate as ordered. He asked you what will be our next move."
Zhang Liao nodded and taught the messenger about the map he created. Five minutes later, the messenger left with a new order.
The bogeyman general placed Bo Cai's token on [10-5] next, but he picked a pen and painted the previous locations that Bo Cai was on with black ink. Four squares became black, signifying that these areas were secured.
More men came back and reported the completion of their orders. As usual, Zhang Liao gave them a new order and placed new tokens on the map. Afterward, he painted all the secured square blocks into black.
The sweeping continued without the help of Li Feihong.
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While everyone was busy, Li Feihong was still observing the work of his generals in his private dimension. He did not need to step out of this world to participate in the battle himself.
The captives, Liu Bei, Ma Chao, and Xu Shu, were watching as well. These men were shocked by the real-time broadcasting.
"This… This power of immortals is…" Xu Shu muttered, "…Really unfair."
Li Feihong sneered, "From the beginning, you've already lost."
"… I can see that."
"Then, I'll get to the point. Xu Yuanzhi, you're different from the others. Swear allegiance to the emperor and I'll set you free."
