Chapter 155 – The Third Master of the Danyang Soldiers Appears!
Translated by Bloodfalcon, Edited by Krayto
“Hey uncle, shout 1, 2, 3 okay? And we throw down this bastard!!!” said one of Chu Zhongtian’s subordinate.
“I knew that, nephew!!!” Chu Zhongtian also responded back
“Well said, let’s throw him down together!!!” Chu Zhongtian acted as the leader in throwing down Liu Mang.
“LITTLE LORD!!!” Huang Zhong already tried to cut a path but there was not enough time as Liu Mang already had one foot in hell.
“No, this is the end!!!” Liu Kai and Liu Neng also showed despaired face. If Liu Mang dies, they will also die as Sun Ce and Jiangdong’s army also had grudge against them for the death of Zhou Tai and Zhou Cheng.
If Liu Mang died, this Wancheng city will be lost. Lu Bu’s army will be starved all the time because there will be no more grain and provisions. Fighting a war with an empty stomach; loss is a certainty.
With Lu Bu’s army is finished, those nobles who had invested in Lu Bu’s army will also die. This is a big contrast from previous days when they believed that following Lu Bu is a very good thing.
“Okay then, 1, 2, 3!!!” Those Danyang soldiers who lifted up Liu Mang quickly wanted to throw him to the outer city wall. Soon, Liu Mang will become meat paste in this Wancheng city.
“Hey, Lin Danda!!!” There is a commanding voice coming from behind, making Chu Zhongtian excrete cold sweat and subconsciously held Liu Mang’s body still, sparing him from his fate.
“Lin Danda, STOP!!!” That commanding voice came from the Urban Army. It was a young-looking soldier whose age was only in the teens. This guy was a veteran in Liu Mang’s army and one of the remaining 300 troops that he once led at Xiapi.
“Lin Danda, throw this bastard quick. Barbecued mutton is waiting for us!!!” Er Gou Zi reminded Chu Zhongtian.
“Er Gou Zi, I also want to throw down him, but!!!” Chu Zhongtian’s hand was suddenly held by Liu Mang. Liu Mang does not want to die now, even if he must die, he wanted to die painlessly and not like this.
“Brothers, come with me, save the general!!!” The Urban Army lieutenant who had seen Liu Mang was unable to calm down ordering his brothers to slaughter the Danyang soldiers.
“Wait!!!” Huang Zhong halted the Urban Army. Because if they rushed together, it will make the Danyang soldiers stunned and maybe the Urban Army will be able to win, but at the last moment, they at least will take hostage of Liu Mang and possibly will even die with him. That result was not desirable for anyone.
“Damned barbecued mutton, die, die, die!!!” Er Gou Zi shook Liu Mang’s hand whose is stubbornly holding on Chu Zhongtian, he must chop off his hand in order to kill him.
“Do it, if you dare!!!” That angry sound came again “Er Gou Zi. It’s been a few years since this Grandpa has seen you come back home and now you dare defy my order?!”
Chu Zhongtian and Er Gou Zi who had just seen that person clearly, became drenched in cold sweat; want to leave the place immediately.
“Oooohhhh, your courage is really big, eh? Put down this grandpa’s general right now!!!” That young man got angry again. The fierce Chu Zhongtian and Er Gou Zi suddenly complied with this young man’s order.
“Chu Jie?!” Liu Mang quickly see his savior. This guy is one of his veterans, a veteran from Xiapi, Kaiyang and Mt. Bagong battle. Liu Mang’s first impression of this guy was that he was a quiet man. When Liu Mang was reassessing his men, Liu Mang assign this Chu Jie as a company commander and assign 100 men under him, because he is a veteran and was able to lead as well as fight properly. But his age is only in the teens and his entire company was also comprised of men with the same age.
Liu Mang never thought that today, this boy would be the one who rescued him and started pondering about his true identity.
“Hey uncle, why do you still not throw that boy? Hurry up, or they will come for us!!!” The group of Danyang soldiers that followed Chu Zhongtian and Er Gou Zi became flustered and questioned why they had not moved. This high official is an easy merit and after that, they must prepare to withstand Urban Army’s assault.
“NOBODY MOVES WITHOUT MY ORDER!!!” Er Gou Zi bellowed loudly. The person that they did not want to see right now is not the enemy, not the death of their comrades but only this person’s appearance.
“Uncle, what is wrong with you?!” Those who were just rebuked by Er Gou Zi felt strange.
“Splash, splash!!!” Er Gou Zi and Chu Zhongtian quickly knelt.
“Uncle, both of you want to surrender?!” Looking at their appearance in the battlefield, from a quick glance, one can see they wanted to surrender.
“Surrender your ass!!!” Chu Zhongtian exclaimed angrily and slapped one of his men. After that he and Er Gou Zi quickly held his fist toward Chu Jie respectfully and said “Third, Third Master Chu, greetings to you!”
“WHAT?!” All people on the scene are all speechless. Chu Zhongtian and Er Gou Zi called this young Chu Jie, Third Master? That rank is even higher than their rank as “uncle”
“Uncle, are you insane? Why call this youngster as “Third Master Chu”, while your title is “Uncle”?” They really cannot believe their ears. How can this young boy, whose age is less than 20, be a “Third Master Chu”? One must know that Danyang soldiers are all from one town. The entire town are family and relatives and were based on ranks. Chu Zhongtian and Er Gou Zi, both of their ranks were high enough to be the leader of these Danyang soldiers. But again, if this Chu Jie is the third master of Chu and the boss of Chu Zhongtian and Er Gou Zi, then this Chu Jie is the boss of all Danyang soldiers of Chu Town of Danyang region.
And that is the real fact. Chu Jie is the third master of Chu and subsequently the master of Chu Zhongtian and Er Gou Zi. In ancient times, ranks were held in high regard. They were honored and respected, therefore no one dared to overstep their boundaries
Chu Jie spent the rest of his childhood in Chu Town in Danyang region. However, because Tao Qian requested for the Danyang soldiers to be his official soldiers, Chu Jie followed his father to Xu Province. Later, Chu Jie's father was killed during a skirmish with Cao Cao and Chu Jie was appointed as Third Master Chu because of his experience fighting a hundred battles. After Tao Qian surrendered Xu Province to Liu Bei, he followed Liu Bei half-heartedly. Only when Lu Bu seized Xu Province from Liu Bei, did he decide to follow this invincible master wholeheartedly, even discarding his identity as Third Master Chu of Danyang soldiers along with Cao Bao.
During the siege of Xiapi, Lu Bu was almost finished and the Danyang soldiers almost ended. Chu Jie thought that it was time to meet their end, but Liu Mang appeared on the white gate tower and managed to rescue all of Lu Bu's army remnants along with the rest of the Danyang soldiers.
“ALL OF YOU!!! KNEEL DOWN!!! THIS IS OUR THIRD MASTER CHU!!!” Chu Zhongtian screamed angrily. Chu Zhongtian and Er Gou Zi truly feared this Third Master Chu. Both of them frequently committed offense, so many that this Third Master Chu often stood in between them in order for them not to be exiled, also during their time in Chu Town, he is the one who gave their nickname, Er Gou Zi (Two Puppies) and Lin Danda (Big Forest Bastard). Er Gou Zi's real name was Chu Zhongquan but no one remembers that name, only their nicknames that were given by Chu Jie.
“Third, Third Master, greetings to you!” All of Danyang soldiers that was led by Chu Zhongtian and Er Gou Zi, quickly knelt down before Chu Jie, an officer of Lu Bu’s army, and it made everyone who saw this view think that they surrendered to Lu Bu’s army.
“Um?!” The person who thought that was the leader of the other division of the Danyang soldiers. His name was Zuo Renjie and was the lord of Zuo Town. The town of Zuo and Chu were a bitter rivals and always fought with each other. They had big history of grudges between each other. Right now they are in luck as Zuo worked under Dong Xi and Chu worked under Chen Wu and by seeing this, Zuo Renjie decided that they decided to revolt.
Zuo Renjie smiled maliciously and thought “Hehehe, so, Chu wanted to rebel eh? Since we the Danyang soldiers of Zuo and Chu joined Sun Ce, he forbade us to fight with them. But all of them are now rebels. So, I can kill them and avenge our grudges!!!”
“Put down my general!!!” Chu Jie exclaimed. Liu Mang was quickly put down by Chu Zhongtian. A moment ago he almost fell, but he was now held by Chu Zhongtian firmly so. He did not fall otherwise, Liu Mang will be meat patty by now.
“General, are you all right?!” “Little lord, are you okay?!” Chu Jie and Huang Zhong quickly went toward Liu Mang and said their concern.
“I am okay, I am okay!” Liu Mang did not have any flesh wound besides his frightened mental.
“Old General Huang. QUICK, lead the remaining Urban Army to help the other walls to repel Sun Ce’s army. Otherwise, the consequences will dreadful!” Sun Ce’s army has 100,000 troops. He can consume Liu Mang completely and Liu Mang will only able to repel them.
“Yes sir!!!” Huang Zhong nodded and led the rest of the Urban Army to repel Sun Ce’s army and put out the fire.
“General, what about them?!” Chu Jie asked Liu Mang. As long as Chu Jie did not speak his order, these Danyang Chu division did not dare to move.
“Let them return unharmed!” Liu Mang waved his hand. Each warlord corporates local people to conscript. In Lu Bu’s army, not only are there Bing Province Heavy Cavalry, Formation Breaker. There are also Xu Province soldier, Guangling soldiers, and the Danyang soldiers also have Jiangxia naval soldiers in Gan Ning's hand, as well Lujiang soldiers who were recruited from Wancheng city.
The biggest advantage from local conscription is they will not dare to rebel against the ruling lord because their families can also become hostage, in order for them not rebel against the ruler. No one would want their clan to be exterminated.
These Danyang soldiers, can join Lu Bu army under Chu Jie's order but what next? Their clan will be exterminated by Sun Ce and these Chu Danyang soldiers will fight half-heartedly and will rebel after receiving that news and that is not what Liu Mang wanted, he will never let happen.
“Yes sir!!!” Chu Jia nodded. “Do you hear that, Lin Danda, Er Gou Zi? Go back where you came from or the one waiting for you is death!!!”
“Yes, yes, third Master!” Chu Zhongtian and Er Gou Zi nodded profusely. Their subordinates were also relieved. They feared that this Third Master Chu will make them join the battle against Sun Ce and will make their families enter a fatal predicament.
“Third Master, please excuse us. This time we follow the Sun. In battlefield, we definitely will meet again unavoidably. We beg your mercy not to kill us. In battlefield, we will feign death and will not fight with you. We hope that Lu Bu’s army will spare us!” Chu Zhongtian begged Chu Jie and Liu Mang. They do not want to fight the army which their Third Master belonged to and they do not want to fight against military order, so they only can have an agreement with Lu Bu’s army rep.
“Very well!!! When you go to battlefield, wear white cloth on your left shoulder. Like this we know that all of you are Danyang soldiers from Chu. I will also relay my order to keep their hands off all of you!” Liu Mang nodded. With this, the Danyang soldiers of Chu became neutral parties in battle and will not harm Lu Bu’s army and Sun Ce army's Danyang soldiers battle prowess was reduced by half.
“Good! Then we all go!” Chu Zhongtian is not silly. They have killed Lu Bu’s army on this city wall so they quickly climbed down the ladder and started to leave.
“The Chu division is defeated?!” Lu Su twitched his brow when he is looking at the city wall. “Those Chu divisions were supposed to be undefeatable!!!” Lu Su knows about the battle efficiency of the Danyang soldiers and they are the trump card of Sun Ce’s army, even if they lose, they can still take down most of Wancheng city's defenders.
Lu Su truly had big doubts because the one who made those Chu division surrender is that golden-armored general, the Prince of Shu, Liu Mang. Lu Su has discerned that Lu Bu's son-in-law’s skill in wushu is even lower than himself but quickly his attention changed toward Sun Ce.
Sun Ce had reached the ladder was already prepared to scale the ladder, but he cannot cut down his soldiers unlike the Danyang soldiers who cut down everything that impeded their paths for they are his people and the one who till his soil.
So Sun Ce just used half of his Conqueror Spear to use as a climbing tool for him to jump toward the city wall. Just one jump, he managed to scale one-third of the city wall, after that he quickly climb the wall.
In siege warfare, the most dangerous moment is when one is scaling the ladder. Once the ladder has been pushed or rocks thrown down or boiling oil poured out, you will be unable to avoid any damage. At the very least, one of your organs will be broken and the worst one will be death.
Sun Ce do not want experience that kind of thing, so he quickly climb the city wall in an alarming speed.
