Chapter 152 – The Siege Begins
Translated by Bloodfalcon, Edited by Krayto
“Clang!!!” Finally the great arrow stopped and raised dust.
“Milord!!!” When the arrow missed Jiang Qin due to Taishi Ci's intervention, that arrow changed its direction toward Sun Ce. That great arrow's momentum is too great and no man can prevent that.
Sun Ce has fallen down, both of his feet are on the ground and bleeding from his right side and both of his arms each on its side still attached to Sun Ce, but his Conqueror Spear was split into two.
“Milord!!!” Taishi Ci truly stunned. Sun Ce just maintained that posture while bleeding, this appearance really too gory.
“Cough, cough!!!” When Sun Ce coughed, Taishi Ci's heart is eased a little but suddenly “POOF!!!” Sun Ce spit out blood from his mouth. He is heavily injured.
“ALL ARMY ATTACK, RESCUE MILORD!!!” Lu Su also became afraid and flustered and quickly signaled all army to charge. Where he stood, the view is very clear and he is able to see when that ballista launch the great arrow. That huge momentum made Lu Su tremble very much, if that arrow comes one more round, his lord will die.
Another shot? Liu Mang also wanted to shoot one more round and kill Sun Ce directly and bring Jiangdong into a standstill, but alas, the bowstring is broken. This is the prototype of the oxybeles, it can only shoot one arrow. To launch again, they must install the bowstring and asked 100 people to pull the bowstring.
Moreover the ballista also did not have good accuracy but Liu Mang's crossbow was able to shoot with this much precision because the person who shot it is Huang Xu. Only a person with good archery skill can shoot all target with ballista.
100,000 troops finally moved and Liu Mang also quickly responded. Front door of Wancheng city quickly opened to give retreat to 2,000 of Urban Army along with Huang Zhong. Actually Huang Zhong did not want to leave Jiang Qin and Sun Ce but those 100,000 troops have moved and one super-general cannot make a difference at all against sheer numbers.
Liu Mang bellowed “All forces return to the city!!!” All 2,000 troops one by one entered the city and after every single one already entered, they raised Wancheng city's drawbridge and closed the gate.
“SHA, SHA, SHA, SHA, SHA!!!!!” 100,000 troops came one after another, they are all advancing with no interruption. Wancheng city's moat cannot even kept them off. In Sun Ce army's hand there are some cloth sack, inside them is sand in order to absorb the water, some of them set the ladder and put a plank in the moat.
The moat's depth is about 7-8 meters but is unable to prevent these soldiers from attacking the city by scale the ladder. The most brutal siege warfare is about to start.
“STEADY, STEADY!!!!” Liu Mang ordered. He is the current master of Wancheng city, his every movement and action decided the future of this Wancheng city, decided the safety of the Liu private soldiers and it decided the Liu clan's fate as their soldiers are not elites unlike the Zhou.
Regarding that issue, actually it happened during the reign of Emperor Ling of Han. When he was the emperor, he started to limit the influence of his own clan, starting with the Liu clan of Wancheng city.
They were prohibited to form their own elites, including the two Imperial Uncles Liu Biao and Liu Zhang. They can only maintain their own existence but fortunately all of them secretly gathered their own private soldiers although not elites.
Right now, the number of Sun Ce’s army who crossed the moat had already reached 3,000 troops.
“RAISE THE BOWS!!!” Liu Mang shouted loudly. The arms of these Liu private soldiers are shivering, they have not experienced this kind of battle before. So Liu Mang needed to raise their morale by shouting loudly, otherwise they would be just waiting for death. As long as they can survive this siege warfare, they will mature as a soldiers, all fear will be stripped and all that will be left are bloodthirsty healthy veterans.
“SHOOT!!!!” Liu Mang ordered all of his subordinates to do volley. This tactic is used because the number of the enemies is a lot, one did not need to aim.
“AAAAHHHHHHH!!!!” On the ladder and on the moat, pitiful sounds of death were screamed. But that did not stopped Sun Ce’s army's attack. They scaled the ladder one by one, when one died another one replaced him.
“Whiz, Whiz, Whiz!!!” Sun Ce’s army also started to counterattack. Under the city, there is a neat formation consisting of archers. Although Lu Bu’s army had the advantage of terrain, they are small in number while the enemy was the complete opposite.
“AAAHHHHHH!!!!” Lu Bu army's soldier started to fall one by one but only those who are too close to the city wall.
With blood flowing inside Wancheng city, those Liu clan's private soldiers knew that it is dead end. Fighting will cause death, surrendering will also cause death, therefore they roused their fighting spirit and kept shooting at those who are climbing the wall.
“Brothers, hold your shield and sword. RUSH WITH ME!!!” Liu Mang quickly grabbed his great shield and axe. He is the commander so he must go up to the front, he must set an example, and otherwise these soldiers will be afraid and will retreat. When Liu Mang got up, all of the soldiers also followed him to rush with him.
“We absolutely cannot let them occupy the tower!!!” Liu Mang ordered. Once Sun Ce’s army managed to occupy the tower, all of their defensive organization will crumble and the inner city will be in danger and the defense of inner city is inferior compared to outer city.
“SHAAAA!!!!!” The bloody struggle started. Lu Bu’s army troops was killing those of Sun Ce’s army who managed to climb up to city wall and Sun Ce’s army were killing those of Lu Bu’s army by dragging them after they were stabbed.
Both sides are killing each other in order to survive. Blood and flesh were dancing in the air.
