Chapter 253
Chapter 253 – Not Over Yet
Next morning .
Liu Bei and his brothers had been treated by their army physicians last night . Everybody rested in their tent .
Guan Yu sat alone in his tent, staring at the steel blade that was stolen from Tong and contemplating the battle yesterday . He noticed that Tong did not use his blinking magic again after he had displayed it . The same applied to the black weapon he used to kill Zhang Fei's horse .
'There's a limit in his magic . He's not that omnipotent as the rumor said . But his martial art and speed are better than mine . If it weren't because of Yide, I would have been punched to death!'
'And there's also the things he said when he provoked Yide …'
Guan Yu did not 100% believe in everything Tong said yesterday, but a part of it made sense .
People suffered from harsh taxes before Liu Ping took the throne . The bad harvest last year also devastated the peasants, which made them more miserable than the usual . It was natural for them to flock with a lord who was willing to help them .
Zhang Jiao might be one of the kind lords who extended his hands toward these poor civilians, but Liu Ping branded him as a traitor instead .
Conflicted feeling swelled in Guan Yu's heart as he could not find an answer he was looking for by himself .
'Is taking up arms with Xuande the right answer?'
'No, I've sworn that I'll get through this with my brothers! I won't change my mind!'
Guan Yu closed his eyes and reviewed his fight, trying to improve his martial arts .
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Jiang Man, who managed to scrape for his life, also sat in cross legs inside his tent, cultivating his mind .
There were bandages that covered his left face as his left eye was damaged . Though the empty left eye socket hurt, his mind was calm .
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<[chastity] 2 . 35%="">>
<[diligence] 17 . 42%="">>
<[humility] …="">>
The angelic power that Jiang Man was cultivating was different than what Tong had gone through . As the opposite of the [Sins], angels had to accumulate good deeds and righteous mind to increase the chance to awaken their wings .
It looked easier than getting the demonic cultivation method, but it had a significant drawback .
An angel could try to awaken each [Virtue] only once in a lifetime, which the same rules applied to Jiang Man . Should he fail, he would not be able to obtain a wing from the [Virtue] that he tried to awaken .
For example, had he tried to awaken his [Diligence] and failed, the [Diligence] would have been deleted from his soul, and he could not reattempt to awaken [Diligence] again forever .
Therefore, instead of getting rid of the [Sins] by reducing the chance to take over the host's body, Jiang Man had to increase all his [Virtue] to 100% before he could attempt to make a breakthrough .
In the system menu, Jiang Man had 7 virtues, which was the opposite of the 7 sins . As he sat and meditated, his [Diligence] percentage increased every minute passed .
7 A . M .
Liu Bei visited Jiang Man's tent to deliver him breakfast . Seeing that Jiang Man was sitting cross-legs, Liu Bei smiled .
"Little Jiang, have you gotten better?"
Jiang Man opened his eyes and glanced at this status menu .
<[diligence] 17 . 65%="">>
"I'm alright . It's just a couple of arrow wounds . No big deal . "
"Good . I've brought you breakfast . You should eat first . We'll continue marching in an hour . "
"What about Zhang Tong and the Yellow Turban? Do you have the scout report?"
Liu Bei narrowed his eyes for a moment, but he returned to his smiling face, "They're gone . Yesterday, they regrouped with their men at the north of Ji City and withdrew south . I think they're returning to Zhongshan . "
Jiang Man sighed, pitying that Tong had retreated . Without Tong, Jiang Man had to find another otherworlder to kill or attempt to get rid of Tong again in the future .
'Or, I can awaken my first 2 wings . Then, I can absorb life essence from the surrounding and pay the fine to cancel my quest . '
Lilim had given him another bonus . Jiang Man could cancel her mission with a condition . Jiang Man had to pay one million lifespans to the system as a fine for terminating the quest .
It sounded absurd and expensive at a glance, but Jiang Man knew that it was not that unreasonable .
In the note that Lilim had given him, there were details about how he could utilize his angelic wings to acquire lifespans and examples of things and lifespans they had .
A 100-year-old grown tree could generate over a thousand years of lifespans if Jiang Man could absorb it, which there were plenty of such trees in this era in this country . Absorbing the life essence from a living 20-year-old adult could also give Jiang Man 30 to 70 years, depending on the health and the upbringing of the victim .
"That's good . We have to gather more men before we can fight that monster," Suggested Jiang Man, "But what about Zou Jing's remaining army? I heard Zou Jing is already dead . "
Liu Bei smiled, "I've become their temporary commander, so we have the control of the entire army . "
"What? How? I thought there were many nobles in the army?"
"Hahaha! They've fled the moment Zou Jing was killed . I'm the only volunteer commander remaining . Besides, Yide and Yunchang did well in the last battle . They drove that monster Zhang Tong away with their prowess! You, too . Everyone is talking that you've used your stratagem to trap Zhang Tong, and all soldiers respect us!"
Jiang Man scratched his head, "I did nothing actually . I only suggested a tactic to stop Zhang Tong's cavalry charge . "
"Yes, that's the good stratagem you did! Thanks to you, we all have survived! Thank you . "
Liu Bei smiled as he held Jiang Man's hands . His face and his words sounded sincere, but Jiang Man felt that Liu Bei was acting .
'As expected from the famous [Pretender], he's good at acting . If I were a native, I would have thought that Liu Bei was being naïve or sincere!'
'But, doesn't he know that he's acting kind of gay!?'
…
…
March 13th .
Zhongshan City, 500 meters in front of Zhongshan eastern wall .
Liu Yan Army, which was led by Yan Yan, stationed in twenty 1000-men square formations . Five hundred trebuchets and spike barricades were arranged in front of their formation . Twenty thousand men of their soldiers remained from the initial 30,000 after a month of the prolonged siege attempt .
Zhang Bao, Zhang Liang, Bo Cai, and Zhen Yi did their best to protect the city . As the Zhang brothers had baptized in the battle at Anping with Guo Dian force, they utilized the trebuchets and their repeating crossbows well .
With the newly recruited militias from the city and Zhen Yi's private army support, they did not worry about their number of archers .
As a result, Yan Yan and Liu Yan were intimidated by the solid defensive wall and archers . They decided to trade trebuchet projectiles instead of sieging directly to avoid the deadly repeating crossbow arrows .
The stalemate lasted until today as a piece of news changed everything .
"Zou Jing is dead?"
The scout of Yuan Shao reported their intelligence in place of Liu Yan's scouts as they were faster . However, that was not important . The critical news that shocked Liu Yan was the defeat of Zou Jing .
"How is Ji City?"
"Reporting, Zhang Tong didn't take the city . His army is withdrawing back to Zhongshan at the moment . We are expecting him to arrive here in a day or two . "
Liu Yan's face paled . Sweat droplets could be seen on his face as he got nervous after losing his close aide .
Yan Yan gazed at the wall of Zhongshan city and shook his head .
"Let's retreat, my lord . If Zou Jing can't handle Zhang Tong and a few thousand men, I doubt we can take the city with Zhang Tong defending it . "
"Retreat to Ji? Will it be safe? Now that Zou Jing is dead, I think most of my elites would have been dead . Our military power is crippled!"
"No, my lord . We will not go back to Ji . We should head back to our homeland and solidify our power while we hide from all conflicts . "
Liu Yan widened his eyes as he was enlightened, but he frowned in a few seconds after .
"Then, who will take care of Ji City? I don't have anyone I can entrust the governor role . "
"We don't have to . I think Gongsun Zan will move into the city sooner or later . Even if we send a letter to Liu Yu in the Capital to give this city to him, he will eventually fight with Gongsun Zan and lose the city regardless . "
"I see," Liu Yan paused, "Send my order . We're going to move to Chengdu! It's going to be a long journey so those who don't want to come with us, they can join forces with Yuan Shao . Messenger, I hope that Lord Yuan Shao can provide us some supplies in exchange for the service from some of our soldiers . Please deliver my message . "
The scout bowed and left .
Liu Yan gazed at Zhongshan City with complicated eyes .
He muttered, "A pity . I've heard Zhen Yi's daughters are beautiful . I failed to make them my concubines . "
Yan Yan heard it, but he pretended not to hear it . He followed after his master and organized his men to leave the territory .
…
…
March 14th .
Tong returned to the city with a paled face . Although Zhang Bao reported that Liu Yan canceled the siege in the clan chat, Tong still rushed back as soon as possible .
3,000 Men survived from the fight with Zou Jing and Liu Bei's brothers . Only a bit over a thousand men died in the battle .
As for the rest of the men, they had retreated back to Zhongshan long ago .
"Welcome back, young master Zhang . "
The bootlicker, Zhen Yi, stood in front of the north gate to welcome Tong .
"Thank you, Sir Zhen . Please provide my men with a place to rest and get me a fresh horse . I'll continue my journey to Julu . "
"Won't you rest in the city?" Zhen Yi was puzzled .
Tong had a wry smile on his face, "No, I have to head back to Julu and help the others . I don't have time to rest . "
"Eh?"
The baffled Zhen Yi had a frown on his face as he did not understand why Tong was in a hurry .
Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang, who came out to receive Tong as well, nodded as they understood the reason .
In the clan chat, the situation in Julu was not optimistic . Despite having Lu Bu, Jia Xu, Zhang Liao, and Li Feihong together, they were facing tough foes like Wen Chou, Yan Liang, and Tian Feng .
Lu Bu's monstrous strength was countered by the duo, Wen Chou and Yan Liang .
The Gao family, Feng Ji, and an unknown strategist under Yuan Shao were keeping Li Feihong, Zhang Liao, and Gao Shun at bay .
Lu Zhi, Zhou Cang, Xu Huang, and Jia Xu were also in a stalemate with Yuan Shao's main army and Tian Feng .
In the detail reports in the clan chat, they had the disadvantage in both number and weaponry .
The reason for their inability to defeat Yuan Shao despite the quality of Tong's generals were Yuan Shao's new weapons .
Tian Feng's had copied Tong's repeating crossbows, which all of Yuan Shao troops were sporting these crossbows as well .
Moreover, they had something that Tong had planned to research, but he did not have enough time or manpower to do it .
They had gunpowders!</[diligence]></[humility]></[diligence]></[chastity]>
