Chapter 428 – The Fall of Xiongnu
Sometimes, staying behind the walls was a good psychological tactic that could create a misconception about the defender's stance.
In this case, this was Ju Shou's idea that he had proposed to Lu Bu.
Ju Shou believed that Khan would let his guard down when Lu Bu revealed a bit of weakness by garrisoning in Jiange County.
Usually, orthodox generals would surround the county to lay siege and starve the defenders, and Ju Shou predicted that Khan would do the same since Ma Chao had already slipped through their net and tried to cut their supply lines. All their movements led to a starving tactic.
However, Khan had a weakness that his siege tactic would not work against Lu Bu. In this orthodox move, the attackers required a massive army, which had to be at least five times greater than the defenders.
There was a reason to have five times the number than the defenders.
The attackers had to surround the city, and each side required equal or more troops than the total defenders.
Khan did not have that!
Once they spread their troops to surround their county, their formation would become thin and vulnerable. A concentrated attack from the defender's troops could easily route them had they used all of their forces to strike one spot.
Lu Bu followed some of this strategist's advice. He hid his men behind the walls for a few hours.
As they had predicted, Khan let his guard down and ordered his men to surround the county.
Lu Bu immediately sent two platoons to distract the detached forces while he rushed forward with the main force.
His goal was simple, get rid of Khan ASAP.
Once Khan fell, Zhang He at Zitong would have an easier time dealing with Han Sui, and Ma Chao would lose his direction.
All Xiongnu would become a headless chicken, and their kingdom would collapse!
"DON'T RUN, COWARD!!"
Lu Bu bellowed as he flew toward Khan, who was also flying away.
The scene of two immortals flying in the sky astonished the soldiers in the county and Lu Bu's men on the ground.
"Our boss can fly!?"
"Holy crap! Our general is a god or what?"
"GET HIM, GENERAL!!"
The knights cheered while they were fighting the foes before them.
Meanwhile, Khan was in distressed as he feared his alternate self.
"LU FENGXIAN, STOP!! I'M THE FUTURE YOU!! I CAME FROME THE FUTURE!! DON'T ATTACK ME!!"
Lu Bu spat, "I DON'T GIVE A FUCK!!"
Lu Bu swung his halberd and collided with Khan's crescent halberd.
The force sent Khan flying down and crashed onto the ground.
Lu Bu dove down, chasing the Khan who had crashed landing.
"AHHHHH!!"
Khan cast regen to heal all his injuries, wasting 5,000 lifespans. He gathered all his forces and launched a counter-attack.
After swinging like trying to hit a baseball, Khan's full strength swing created a gust of storm.
Since Lu Bu had not mastered his flight skills, the sudden tornado blew him backward, sending his body over Jiange County like a ragdoll.
He managed to regain his balance in mid-air as the wind force died down. However, when Lu Bu flew back toward Khan's former position, he could not find the Xiongnu King anymore.
In frustration, Lu Bu asked the others through the clan chat.
"Has anyone seen Khan after I got hit by that tornado?"
No one answered since their eyes could not follow Lu Bu or Khan's movements.
"Shit! He got away again!"
.
.
Without Khan's command and his control, the cataphracts fought without a direction. As they were provoked by Lu Bu and his men, they attempted to counter-attack and lay siege without a siege weapon.
The cataphracts yelled in a monotone, "KILL!"
They could hardly fight back against knights with blunt weapons. At best, they managed to find an opening and killed a few redhares before they ganged on the fallen riders.
Ignored all the consequences, all cataphracts, who was dismounted, charged at the nearest enemies with their swords and spears.
This was a problem. Since they suddenly became madmen, and they did not fear death, they performed better than soldiers who had human conscience and angst.
Several knights were tackled from their horses by the suicidal soldiers. The berserk cataphracts acted like zombies, using everything to beat the knights, even if they had to break their bones or die in the process.
Casualties increased, and the redhare knights were pushed back.
"All units, withdraw to the city!" Han Hao shouted, trying to get his men inside the city as Khan's men were in a frenzy.
Lu Bu, Han Hao, and Gao Shun withdrew his knights from the drone army.
However, they remained as the rearguards of their men.
*SWUA*
*SWUA*
*SWUA*
The three immortals cut down all cataphracts that came their way without a problem. For hours, they kept on killing, piling militated corpses on the ground.
Han Hao and Gao Shun ran out of stamina first. They retreated back to the city.
Lu Bu remained in front of the south gate alone, venting his frustration on the oncoming soldiers.
"KILL!!"
Even after Han Hao and Gao Shun had retreated back into the city and closed the gate, the craze soldiers held their weapons with their teeth while they used their two hands to climb the wall!
It was a suicidal action to do in direct siege warfare since they could not protect themselves from the defenders. Without ladders, they would get tired before they reach the top of the wall, and the chance to get to the top was also slim.
Moreover, their iron scale armors were at least 40kg in weight, including their arms and leg guards. It was not easy to climb the slippery mud wall in that condition.
Archers on the wall simply peeked down and shot their arrows at the faces of their enemies. Boiled oil was poured down along with rocks and boulders.
One after another, the cataphracts fell down to the ground and died from the fall damage.
Han Hao and Gao Shun were relieved when they saw that the enemies committed military suicide. They reported the situation from their war-front to Lu Bu.
Lu Bu saw the notification and the reports. He stopped fending off against the mindless army alone and got back into the city.
Then, the same situation replicated at the south wall. Cataphracts acted like zombies, climbing the wall recklessly and fell to their death.
From the late afternoon, the suicide climb continued and ended at 3 AM the next day.
The result was obvious, Khan's robotic 95,000-man army died at Jiange County walls.
.
On the night of the same day, Zhang He was not idle.
Realized that Han Sui and his men did not have anyone that could fight against their immortal generals, Zhang He, Gao Lan, and Qu Yi formed a 5-ghost team to raid Zitong County by sending only their souls to kill Han Sui's soldiers.
At midnight, their souls rushed inside the county.
Five white ghosts were easily detected by the garrison forces, but they could not harm them. All soldiers and conscripted militias swung their swords at them, but they only cut through the air.
Zhang He wanted to use this chance to kill all soldiers, but they were restricted by Lilim's law. Had he killed too many innocents with his virtuous souls, Zhang He would not be able to continue cultivating the angel wings.
After all, they were called [Virtuous Souls] for a reason. Angels were supposed to be saintly beings, who were disciplined in their moral conduct. Senseless killing even in wars was prohibited.
Even though they refrained from direct killing, Zhang He and the other souls could do something else that would not violate the laws.
As the souls could not be stopped by mortals, they reached Zitong's granary.
Zhang He's three souls took the lead. They stole torches and set the granary on fire.
Meanwhile, Gao Lan and Qu Yi cultivated demonic wings. Gao Lan had awakened [Gluttony], while Qu Yi had [Sloth].
Both of them use the curses to the garrisoning cataphracts, making them sleep or torture them with hunger.
Qu Yi and Gao Lan also followed their general's example, burning more packages of Zitong's provision.
Once the fire was lit, town guards rang the alarm bell and summoned everyone to extinguish the flame. Even the civilians were forced to help.
The ghosts did not stop. They kept flaring their torches as they burned more food warehouses.
Garrison soldiers drew water from the town wells to douse the fire, but they were inefficient. As it took a minute to draw one bucket of water from a well, that one minute was enough to burn a 100kg of the provision in a warehouse.
Even if they had 100 wells, it was not enough to extinguish all burning warehouses at once.
Zhang He, Qu Yi, and Gao Lan unsummoned their souls as their tasks were completed.
Now, they camped in front of Zitong's north gate, challenging them to come out of the city tomorrow. Had they not come out, they would starve them to death.
Han Sui, who was watching the carnage, reported the incident to Khan. However, his lord ignored his plea as he never replied anything back.
Khan's messages appeared the next early morning, which he seemed to communicate with Liu Yang, but Han Sui did not understand what they were trying to do.
Han Sui was too depressed to understand his lord.
Without a wink of sleep, he watched the burned granaries with a heartache.
At 6 AM, Han Sui received a shocking piece of news.
Han Sui's eyes almost slipped out of his eye sockets as he widened his eyes.
"WHAT!? BUT HOW!?"
He had many questions.
How did Khan encounter Zhang Tong?
Since Zhang Tong never left Ye City, had Khan moved to Ye within a night?
Or was it possible that Zhang Tong had hidden in Jiange and ambushed Khan?
But Khan was an immortal with great skills, how did Zhang Tong kill Khan?
Han Sui's mind was blank for a minute before several pieces of his memories came back.
It was his memory before Khan had brainwashed them. It was about how he and Ma Teng were still friends.
'Huh? What is this?'
The clouded memory that he had forgotten resurfaced. He remembered now that Khan and Liu Yang set him up and controlled everyone in Liang Province.
"Oh, god. We've been had!?"
Horrified and disbelieved, Han Sui ran toward the north wall of Zitong.
Upon climbing the stairs to the top of the wall, he saw Zhang He's camps, which blockade the northern passage toward Jiameng Pass.
Han Sui gritted his teeth.
'No point fighting anymore. I have to surrender!'
He walked toward a conscripted gate captain, who was responsible for protecting the north gate.
This person was famous among the militias, but Han Sui did not want to know his background right now.
"Raise white flags. We're surrendering."
The conscripted captains stared at Han Sui in disbelief.
"Really?"
"Yes. Khan is dead. We don't have to fight anymore."
"Khan is dead? How did you know?"
"Let's say that I know! Just follow my order, goddammit!"
"Oh, sure. But first …"
"Hmm?"
The captain unsheathed his sword and stabbed into Han Sui's stomach.
He smiled at Han Sui, "A little payback for what you did to our lord. I can't let you survive and enjoy your retirement life."
"… Y-You!"
The captain took off his helmet.
It was Yan Yan, a former subordinate of Liu Yan and Liu Zhang, whom Khan had killed.
He was one of the fugitives that Khan and Han Sui were searching for!
"Your head will come in handy. My men and I will get free merit by giving it to his majesty's men. Thanks for your hard work."
It was the last words that Han Sui had heard before his consciousness blackened forever.
