Chapter 480 – Merciless
Two days later, Liu Bei's 150,000 soldiers finished producing siege weaponry. Siege towers, trebuchets, ladders, and ten million of arrows.
With such preparation, they marched toward Hongnong City, provoking Zhang Liao's men to a decisive battle.
Ma Chao, the leading commander of Liu Bei Army, held a weapon that did not suit this era.
An arquebus, the firearm that Cao Cao had shared the blueprints to Liu Bei, came into play in this battle.
Although Liu Bei possessed the blueprints and manufacturing methods, due to the unfamiliarity of the production process, only 20 crude rifles were made.
Moreover, the ammunition was limited to 10 bullets per gun, as Liu Bei's men did not understand chemistry or gunpowder recipe. As Liu Bei hated Tong and his yellow turban family, he also disliked taoist priests, who had the production methods of gunpowder.
Because of his bias treatment toward the priests, not many of them were willing to work for Liu Bei.
As a consequence of the lack of educated population, Liu Bei's forces suffered from their empire's slow research and productivity, unable to build advanced weaponry fast enough for sudden war.
Still, thanks to Xu Shu and Pang Tong's insight, they had already instructed their blacksmiths to build blunt weapons for their cataphracts and heavy footmen.
They knew that Tong's soldiers were sporting heavy armors, so ordinary spears and halberds would not be able to kill these men easily. Maces and hammers were a better solution to fight against knights.
With half-done preparation, Liu Bei was looking forward to crippling one of Tong's legions, so the others could have the courage to rebel against this emperor in the open.
"Surround the city! Cut off their chain of supplies!"
Ma Chao immediately used the number advantage to seal the city, hoping to starve Zhang Liao's men.
150,000 men divided into three regiments, 50,000 men each, and barricaded Hongnong City west, east, and south gates.
Per Pang Tong's instruction, he intentionally left the north open, so Zhang Liao could flee toward the north. Had the latter done so, his army would get sandwiched between the Yellow River, Hongnong City, and Liu Bei's armies. Then, they would become a sitting duck, waiting to be slaughtered.
The 50,000-man regiments also served another purpose, baiting Zhang Liao to leave the city. Since Zhang Liao only had 50,000 men, he should not be able to sortie with all of his men to cripple one of the regiments.
Tong had done this before when Han Fu's men had attempted to surround Tong's fort. Because Han Fu's men spread out too thin, Tong sortied and finished off one of the regiments, causing critical damage to the sieging army.
Being aware of such tactic, Pang Tong would not allow his men to suffer from such a basic stratagem.
Also, Ma Chao, Liu Bei, Pang Tong, and Xu Shu disguised themselves as reserve soldiers, hiding behind the main regiments. This was to prevent Zhang Liao from assassinating their important officers.
The three regiments completed their formation within 3 hours. Yet, the Monster Legion inside the city had not shown any sign of movement. Only their banners fluttered, and their garrisoning soldiers on the wall looked at them in solemn.
All routes but the north had been sealed. Liu Bei and Pang Tong looked at the city, waiting for the reaction of Zhang Liao and Li Feihong.
They did not attack the city right away. Instead, he wanted to intimidate Zhang Liao and Li Feihong with their number.
If possible, Liu Bei wanted Zhang Liao and Li Feihong to betray Tong and surrender to him!
"Send an envoy. Ask them to open the gates and surrender, or we shall begin the siege."
Pang Tong accepted the order and sent his men right away.
The messenger approached the gate by himself and shouted toward the defending soldiers.
"OPEN THE GATE AND SURRENDER!! LORD LIU BEI HAS PROMISED THAT WE WILL TREAT ALL PRISONERS FAIRLY!! WE WILL NEVER EXECUTE ANY PRISONER OR CAPTIVE SOLDIERS!!"
The garrison soldiers looked down upon them, but none of them uttered a voice of protest.
Ten minutes of awkward silence passed. Yet, no one replied to the messenger's demand.
The messenger treated the awkward silence as a refusal. He turned around and prepared to leave.
At that moment, the creaking sound of moving metallic doors was audible. The bronze gate behind him opened.
The messenger looked back in delight, believing that Zhang Liao had surrendered.
However, what came out of the gate shocked the messenger and everyone in Liu Bei's forces.
They were former Liu Bei's officials and civilians, who still believed in Liu Bei's leadership. These peasants slowly walked out of the gate and headed toward Liu Bei Army.
One of the officials reached out for the messenger and bowed to him, "General Zhang Liao has told us to evacuate from this city if we still want to follow Lord Liu Bei, so we won't get caught in the battle. I hope that Lord Liu Bei can accept us."
Unable to respond, the messenger looked back toward the main army, asking for help with his gesture.
Pang Tong noticed that. He galloped his horse forward to talk with the leaving officer himself, which exposed his identity in the process.
The strategist approached the official, "What's going on!?"
"We're former subordinates of Lord Liu Bei! General Zhang expelled us from the city since we're not willing to join him in this fight. Please help us!"
Pang Tong widened his eyes and gazed at the crowd, who was waiting to leave the city.
"So, Zhang Liao won't surrender?"
"He asked us to deliver you a message. He said that he would fight to the very end, but he did not want to get the bystanding innocent involved in this fight."
"…"
Pang Tong was taken aback by Zhang Liao's action of expelling the citizens back to Liu Bei. It sounded righteous and fair in a sense. But strategic wise, it was a cunning move.
Without a hostile civilian inside the city, Zhang Liao Army's food consumption rate would be lesser than when they had to protect these peasants. Their army would also be able to sustain longer in prolonged siege battle without supplies from their forces.
In turn, Pang Tong and his men's provision would be eaten away by these people, the non-combat civilians.
Liu Bei would not be able to refuse their migration either. Had he done so, the image that Liu Bei had recently built after he stole the Liang Province from Tong would be for naught.
Pang Tong glared at the garrisoning soldiers as he gritted his teeth. But a smile appeared on his face.
"Fool!! Zhang Liao, you have lost!"
The strategist kicked his horse and galloped back toward Liu Bei's men.
He bellowed, "ALL HORSEMEN, CHARGE!! THE GATE HAS OPENED!! RUSH INSIDE THE CITY, NOW!!"
Among the regiment of 50,000 soldiers, half of them consisted of cataphracts. These former Khan's creation kicked their horses and rushed toward the opened gate.
The peasants screamed in a panic upon seeing the incoming soldiers. They ran toward the sides, getting away from their charges.
However, most of these civilians carried carts, wagons, and other belongings. Their luggage got on the way of their running, hindering their speed. Moreover, the gate was narrow, and over ten thousand people were still queueing to leave the city.
As a result, thousands of peasants could not clear the way on time.
*BOOM*
Mercilessly, the horses ran over the crowd, killing the innocent civilians as they rushed through the gate. Screams and death throes echoed. Blood splattered and corpses were sent flying by the cataphracts.
Yet, the garrisoning soldiers on top of the wall glared at them and clicked their tongue in disgust. They turned around and entered the gatehouse on top of the main gate. None of them reappeared on the wall again.
The cataphracts managed to get inside the city by running over the obstacle peasants, but none of them faced a resistance. The town seemed unguarded.
They entered the inner city. Yet, no soldier had been found.
But these cataphracts could not think since they were only soulless dolls that followed their master's command. They entered the government houses and occupied them as instructed.
When the banners of [Zhang] was replaced with [Liu], it signified that the city had been taken successfully.
Pang Tong watched the city banners on the wall taken down by his men as he laughed.
"Ha! Zhang Liao, the monster? He's a foolish monster that only knows how to raid, then!"
The strategist had yet to notice the carnage and the crying people along the path inside the city. Many civilians were hugging their dead family members. Some were searching for their loved ones and shouted for their names, while some lucky family looked at Liu Bei's soldiers with hatred as they cursed them.
"MURDERERS!!"
"LIU BEI, YOU SCOUNDREL!!"
"WE WERE BLIND!! WE SHOULD NOT HAVE TRUSTED YOU!!"
The swearing got louder each minute as the civilians and officials did not approve of Pang Tong's heartless action.
Soon, the strategist finally realized what was wrong.
Still, he sighed and feigned ignorance.
"A sacrifice is needed in war. Winning without a casualty is ideal, but it's impossible in reality. Without the sacrifice of a chess piece, the other pieces on board won't be able to move forward! Lord Liu Bei will do his best to ensure the later generation's prosperity in your place. You should be honored that your family members contributed to this victory!"
Many officials and scholars heard Pang Tong's remarks. Afterward, the swearing got louder as these people joined in the dissing.
Liu Bei, the innocent lord, did not know what Pang Tong had done as he only watched his men from the sideline. However, the commotion and the people's voices got clearer each minute, and one of them was audible.
"GO TO HELL, LIU BEI!!"
Liu Bei widened his eyes in shock, "W-What did that person just say?"
For Liu Bei, his image and reputation were as important as his entire Shu Han Dynasty. Because of his righteous and kind lord image, Liu Bei managed to climb up the ranks and became one of the Three Kingdoms that recorded in history.
However, that reputation might end today after Pang Tong's mistake.
The lord stared at the wall and attempted to listen to the sound of combat.
He heard none! Only the crying voices of the peasants entered his long ears.
All of them were cursing and swearing. All their hatred directed toward himself.
The inferior complex of Liu Bei kicked in. Combined Liu Bei's failure experience from both worlds and Liu Ping's memory, his instinct cried that he had just fallen into a trap.
"WHERE ARE YUANZHI AND MENGQI!?"
Both Xu Shu and Ma Chao rode to Liu Bei right away.
Liu Bei roared, "KILL ALL PEASANTS! DON'T LEAVE ANYONE ALIVE TO TELL A TALE ABOUT WHAT HAD HAPPENED TODAY!!"
