Chapter 176 – Choice

Translated by Gamer

In the main camp of the Sun Ce’s Army, Taishi Ci and his soldiers have beheaded all the nobles and their bodyguards.

Sun Ce ignored their protests. Even the Wu Clan who was Sun Ce’s relatives was not spared. They could only express disbelief when Sun Ce personally executed them.

Wiping off the blood from his sword Sun Ce asked in a cold voice. “Zijing, is everything ready?”

“Milord, everything is ready to go!” Lu Su held his hands together. He now sees Sun Ce in a different light and is ready to serve him dedicatedly. He now shows a mix of fear and worship to Sun Ce.

To gain control of the troops Sun Ce is willing to kill his own kin. What if tomorrow he decides to kill Lu Su?

Now Lu Su believes Sun Ce is one of this generation’s hero but at the same time he wants to step back.

Now that the battle at Lujiang has ended, Lu Su is preparing to leave. Perhaps that someone has something that requires his service.

“Now let us get ready to begin!” Sun Ce stood up. He took the helmet from the bodyguard beside him and got ready to leave the camp.

“My lord your injury!” Taishi Ci hesitated. He understood the most the severity of Sun Ce’s injury. Even if Sun Ce has reached hyper-class general, an injury is still an injury. It will not heal so quickly.

“Don’t worry Ziyi. I am fine!” Sun Ce understood his own injury. He knows that his injury will last for about 100 days however, time does not permit it. He must capture Wan Cheng by today. Even if it is not for revenge, withdrawing the troops safely is now also a problem.

Looking at Taishi Ci’s worried face, Sun Ce’s heart grew soft. “I have made up my mind. Don’t worry Ziyi, your lord has not brought you to glory conquering the world. How can I let myself get killed!”

Sun Ce naturally gave his reasoning. Sun Ce knows that a lord should not have charged ahead only to need to retreat.

Taishi Ci may be a military commander but he is not a representative of Sun Ce. How would he know what Sun Ce wants to do?

“Understood!” Taishi Ci nodded and left. He is not Lu Su. He is not a military strategist and there is nothing much for him to think about. All he needs to do is help his lord strike the enemy. He is impressed by Sun Ce. This is because Sun Ce is a top martial artist and also because Sun Ce forgave him for being his enemy last time.

Don’t mention about how many Sun Ce has killed. Even if Sun Ce and Liu Mang has killed thousands of people he still will not betray Sun Ce.

‘Dong Dong Dong’ The sound of drums started up again. Without the meddling of the noble clans, Sun Ce’s army became more orderly. There are about 5,000 Danyang soldiers and another 10,000 ordinary soldiers.

The soldiers prepared the swords and ladders. Besides that, accompanying the soldiers are battering rams. The rams were not used the day before because it would not reach the gates in time. Today’s campaign however, begins at noon and Sun Ce’s army needs it to play its strength.

“Battering rams!” Liu Mang looked at the 12 rams with his telescope. In addition to trying to scale the walls, there are hundreds or even thousands of soldiers pushing the battering ram. The front end of the giant tree on the ram is made of metal. It is extremely strong and every blow can be a huge blow to the gates.

“Soldiers, March!” Sun Ce give a symbol that today they must break open the gates of Wancheng. “SHAA!”

“SHAA!” the five thousand Danyang soldiers shouted. They are the elites of Sun Ce’s army and most of the ladders were given to them. Now led by Taishi Ci, the Danyang soldiers are now exhibiting a scary force of will.

“A thousand steps, eight hundred steps, four hundred steps, three hundred steps.” The castle moat was already buried yesterday morning by the bodies of the soldiers. Sun Ce’s Army stops at the side of the river as the soldiers passed by.

“Release the arrows!” Liu Mang fiercely commanded. From the walls, dozens of arrow was immediately fired. For the sake of luring more soldiers onto the walls, Liu Mang allowed the soldiers to climb after placing soldiers in the walls.

Now the same trick will not work twice. Sun Ce also knows that they have heavy infantry inside.

“Ah ah ah ah!” From the walls came out a lot of flying arrows. Liu Mang’s command was to randomly shoot arrows at the Wan Cheng soldiers without worrying about the leftover arrows. If you have a bow just keep shooting.

Screams of death echo all around. The soldiers that got shot are mostly normal soldiers. The Danyang soldiers are not getting shot. They continue to push forward using the people in front of them as shields. Soon a row of dead soldiers filled the battlefield.

And so, up to about a thousand unlucky soldiers fell to the Liu Mang’s arrow volley.

Who cares if about a thousand soldiers die? Sun Ce has cavalries although they do not have elite soldiers. This is one of the reason Sun Ce wants Liu Mang and Lu Bu to join him. To survive in war you need elites. Having elites is half the war.

“Go up!” A battalion of common soldiers reached the front. These are the noble’s private soldiers.

The day before they are still commanded by their respective lords. All they care about is money. That is why the nobles will not dispatch them so easily. The private soldiers were happily taking advantage because on the battlefield there are people to kill.

However at noon, the Sun Ce Army told them that their masters died on the walls. They are now serving under a Jiangdong commander. Now, scaling the city walls is becoming difficult.

All the private soldiers are now rushing the walls in fury while holding their weapons like forks or shovels. When the ladders were placed, they started climbing the walls like worms.

“Now what should we do?” Among the Danyang soldiers, there is someone who wants to run away. He has already reached the bottom of the city walls but started hesitating and did not climb the ladder.

“Neng, what should we do? There is not enough manpower on the walls.” The effort seemed futile. The Danyang soldiers still remain at 5,000 soldiers. Although they did not lose a single soldier, the fact that one-fifth of the army is not doing anything is too obvious.

Without a doubt, these Danyang soldiers have white cloth wrapped around their hands.

“This is impossible! It is too obvious!” Er Gouzi said at the side. They all rushed to the walls but at first they were one out of ten people not doing anything and were harder to spot. Now there were at least one of them every five soldiers making the situation more obvious.

“Then what!” Chu Zhongtian shouted. “Do you want to fight on the walls against grandfather?” He realized yesterday that the amount of cavalries inside the walls is not plenty. At the time when Sun Ce, Dong Xi and Chen Wu went out to fight, the Lu Bu Army retreated. His heart nagged at him. He was too worried about his grandfather.

When Wancheng City held up, Chu let out a sigh of relief. Then somehow he has to siege the city.

“You must go!” Er Gouzi told him again. Thousands of people wearing the cloth will not be able to trick the Danyang soldiers. He was right.

“N?” Lu Su frowned. That day, Chu’s battalion backed down from the walls suddenly. When the other battalions advanced, Chu retreated. This can only mean they met a strong opponent. When he investigated, he found that Chu’s battalion had too many surviving soldiers.

Then there is a report that someone in Chu’s battalion has kneeled on the wall. As they were Danyang soldiers they should kneel to Sun Ce, not on the wall. At first Lu Su thought the report was falsified because the two respective battalions have grudges against each other. They would always fight every time they see each other.

Now that Lu Su has seen this scene he has no choice but to trust the report.

Just as he was wondering if he should tell Sun Ce, about eight hundred people caught the ladder and flooded it.

“Ah?” On the walls? Lu Su’s doubt began to clear. Perhaps because there are too many people that they cannot go up front. Lu Su shook his head. Climbing the wall is the time of their lives.

“SHAAA” More and more of Sun Ce’s soldiers swarmed the walls but is not able to break through Lu Bu Army’s defenses.

Three thousand of the Black Flag troops threw away their heavy armor. It is too heavy and may tire them faster when they swing their weapons. Some of them change their heavy armor with standard armor while others change into commoner clothes.

They may not be heavy armored troops but they are still elites. The blades they used will hit their targets as if daring several Danyang soldiers to approach. They may not be wearing armor but they are still agile and should not be underestimated. As Sun Ce’s soldiers try and cut them they avoid and countered drawing blood.

“Battering ram ready!” Sun Ce ordered as he looked at the city walls. The Danyang soldiers seem to have trouble breaking down Wan Cheng’s city defenses. These are model soldiers.

From yesterday’s battle, he knew that Liu Mang’s soldiers are trained and strong. They also had good equipment and are united. The three-to-five thousand soldiers are actually capable of resisting the ten thousand soldiers.

Now appearing from the city walls were soldiers wearing standard armor. However Sun Ce knows these are not city guards. This ‘guards’ are the main force of the army. They pick off Danyang soldiers 1-by-1 in group fights like insects. You cannot expect the Danyang soldiers to fight tactically. All they can do is rush. Each of this mysterious soldiers are capable of dropping at least 23 Danyang soldiers before perishing.

Who are these soldiers in the end? Sun Ce guess this is one of Lu Bu’s heavily armored infantry.

No! Sun Ce shook his head. Sun Ce did not see any figure with high rank. Yesterday, Chen Wu and Dong Xi almost killed Liu Mang. Liu Mang is Lu Bu’s little lord. There cannot be anyone with higher rank available to save him.

In the end who are those soldiers! How many soldiers did Lu Bu take with him when he left. How much more hidden strength do they have hiding in that city. Sun Ce does not know it was the remnants of the Black Flag Army

If Sun Ce knows the original history, this troops are essential for the future of Zhou and to help him conquer the country but then he lost the soldiers to Liu Mang and now the soldiers are fighting him.

If he knows this, Sun Ce will definitely vomit blood. These three thousand elites not only prevented Sun Ce from entering Wan Cheng but is also killing all of Sun Ce’s cavalries.

The battering ram started to move. Five thousand ordinary soldiers led it to the gates. Now the defenses at the gate is at a mess. Although the Danyang army is not able to defeat the Black Flag army, with the help of the noble’s army they are able to stall the Black Flag Army.

The Black Flag army is also too busy killing to get rid of the battering ram.

Even the arrows from the city did not reach the battering ram.

‘BANG!’ The first wave of attacks began. The battering ram continuously hit the gates. The millennium old wood with copper damaged the gates causing it to give out a squeaking sound.

“They are hitting the gates!” Huang warned. He is a veteran that has been in more battles than Liu Mang has eaten dinner. Naturally he warns the others when the gate is hit by the battering ram. If the gate is rammed open, ten thousands of the Sun Ce army can directly flood in. At that time they will be unstoppable.

“Little lord! Allow me to open the gates to get rid of the battering ram!” Against the battering ram, the only way to fight it is to go out and destroy it. Now the Sun Ce Army is everywhere at the walls with the Black Flag Army fighting them. Besides that, they still have cavalries to support then.

“Humph!” Sun Ce smirks. He can see that the Wan Cheng soldiers are insufficient and is being pressed by the Danyang troops. If you want to deal with the two battering rams then you have to reduce the amount soldiers guarding the walls. If you do not then the gates will be forced open by the battering rams.

“Liu Mang Liu Hanyang! I want to see how you choose!” Sun Ce looks up at the golden figure on top of Wan Cheng.

“Choose?” Sun Ce and Liu Mang locked eyes. That arrogant figure does not allow others to ignore him.