Chapter 196 Gamble (3)

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Summer in the Jiangnan region is hot and suffocating. However, the weather is quite cool early in the morning. Meals were being prepared during the third shift of night watch. (TN: Around midnight) They will retreat around the fifth shift.

“Zi jing. Is everything ready?” Sun Ce repeatedly asked Lu Su. He was very worried as he is now a red-eye gambler. He is currently gambling everything.

“Don’t worry Milord!” Lu Su nodded his head. He also knew the importance of this moment. That night, he sent scouts to Wan Cheng. The messenger was Taishi Ci in case the Wolf Cavalry tries to intercept the message. This is because Taishi Ci is extremely experienced in breaking out of encirclements. Years ago, the Qingzhou Golden Army and their leader Guan Hai tried to besiege the North Sea with a few hundred thousand soldiers. It was Taishi Ci who rushed out of the city to ask for help. While the Yellow Turbans are nowhere near as strong as the Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry, the fact that several hundred soldiers failed to catch him shows that Taishi Ci is an expert.

True enough, Taishi Ci sent a message to Sun Ce that night. Everything is ready. “The rest is up to Marquis Lu.”

During the fifth shift of the night watch, before the sky became bright, the Sun Ce Army prepared to abandon their camp. They left behind everything that they could not carry with them. They even left behind some provisions. The important thing to carry is light equipment.

“Milord, you will be taking the rear.” Lu Su told Sun Ce. When retreating, those at the rear are generally fodder. The guys at the rear are used to being sacrificed to delay their enemies from the rest of the army in front. Now Lu Su is asking Sun Ce to be at the rear.

“Fine!” Sun Ce grit his teeth. Now he would listen to Lu Su almost unconditionally. Even then, he still felt a bit anxious. This is because of what he and Lu Su discussed. He would raise the banner under his name, wear the generals armor, and retreat. Isn’t this courting death? Won’t raising the banner attract the enemy’s attention?

However, Sun Ce still listened to Lu Su for his last gamble. He wore his armor and got up onto a horse. From there, he watched the first wave of his army retreat.

The activities done by the army during its retreat was light but was still discovered by the Lu Bu’s Army. The 500 Wolf Cavalry was ready in the camp of the Lu Bu’s Army.

“Milord, should we strike!?” Cheng Yu said aloud. If they were to strike now, the Sun Ce’s Army would suffer heavy casualties.

“No! Now is not the time!” Lu Bu looked at a portion of the retreating soldiers with cold eyes. Although attacking these soldiers would cause heavy casualties to the Sun Ce’s Army, it would scare the rest of the Sun Ce’s Army to continue hiding. At that time, it would cost more to capture the rest of the Sun Ce’s Army’s main camp.

Lu Bu wants them to die! He wants to route the whole army!

Lu Bu also wants them to taste the fear of death. There are times where death itself is not scary. It is knowing that you are going to die. That feeling is the most horrible feeling. Lu Bu wants them to experience such fear.

As time passed by, the main camp start to become empty. A troop of soldiers left carrying a banner with the Lord’s name. A general at the back was also wearing exquisite armor and was riding a horse. After they left, the main camp is now empty.

“Now!” Lu Bu said coolly. “It is now time to hunt!” Lu Bu kicked the horse. The wolves under the leadership of the wolf king began to hunt. Their prey for the day is the Sun Ce’s Army. They are food for wolves!

“Hungry! Hungry! Starving! *Howl*” Before the moon has disappeared, the wolves already started hunting. The distance between Wan Cheng and Sun Ce’s Main camp is not far. The cavalry that were running quickly reached the main camp. The soldiers at the rear could not escape in time and could only engage the Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry.

“Milord! The general’s banner! The general’s banner! Sun Ce has not left! He is over there!” Cheng Yu was a little bit excited. He did not expect Sun Ce to be at the rear. Is this not courting death? Since when did the soldiers at the rear ever survive? If there were 10 survivors from the rear, it would mean that everything else in front of the Wolf Cavalry is dead.

“N?” Lu Bu frowned. That was the banner of the commanding general. There was also a general with a powerful presence. Lu Bu knows that this person would definitely be a senior general in the Sun Ce’s Army. Could Sun Ce be stupid enough to personally bring up the rear? Lu Bu could not help but think deeply. He remembered the time when Sun Ce changed clothes with a soldier. No! Lu Bu shook his head. It is definitely one of Sun Ce’s generals. Sun Ce must have ordered a general to take up the rear. Perhaps he was willing to lose a general!

Looking at the retreating soldiers that did not break formation, Lu Bu knows that these are elites. Does he want to use these elites to slow them down? Impossible! Lu Bu also wants to kill these elites but then he also wants Sun Ce’s head.

Even then, Lu Bu looked at the general carrying the banner behind the main army. His hands was ready to swing his Neptune Halberd. If something was not right, he would immediately behead his enemy.

“Don’t even think of running!” Sun Ce was inside this army. Sun Ce swallowed his voice. He lowered his voice as he is afraid of being recognized. Once he is recognized by Lu Bu, he is really finished. Although his soldiers are elites, they are no match for the Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry. However, he did what he discussed with Lu Su and waved his hands. Following his order, the 2,000 elite soldiers rushed towards the Lu Bu’s Army. Their objective is to intercept the rhythm of the Lu Bu’s Army.

“Hmph! Did you really think you can stop us!” Lu Bu groaned. The Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry changed formation. Each cavalry moved to the side and took out their bow. They aimed facing the wind and fired the arrows into the Sun Ce’s Army causing numerous casualties.

Lu Bu’s Army approached closer causing Sun Ce to have cold sweat. He tightly held his Overlord Spear. If things continue to deteriorate, he will break out of the encirclement on his own.

Lu Bu’s Army continued to approach. Those who tried to stop them are either dead or wounded. Just from one charge from the Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry, the entire Sun Ce’s Army could be routed without resistance.

However, Lu Bu lowered his Neptune Halberd and led the Wolf Cavalry towards the other Sun Ce’s Army that was retreating.

“Phew!” Sun Ce sighed in relief. He was really afraid to be discovered by Lu Bu. At that time he would be dead for the great cause of uniting Jiangdong. At Jingzhou, he has Liu Biao targeting him, and here he has Lu Bu. These two warlords are not easy to deal with.

However, since Lu Bu has left, it would mean that Sun Ce has won half of the gamble. Sun Ce smiled again. He could not wait to see the look of despair on Lu Bu’s face.

“Take action!” Sun Ce commanded. Suddenly, thousands of soldiers emerged from within Sun Ce’s main camp. Each of these soldiers were strong and determined. They were equal to the Danyang soldiers and the lookout division.

They hid themselves in the empty main camp. These are Sun Ce’s remaining 10,000 soldiers. Among these 10,000 soldiers are 5,000 elites. They dug a big hole to hide themselves in it. Now is the time to spring the ambush.

In addition, he still has another 5,000 which would be used to deal with the Wolf Cavalry.

Sun Ce looked at Wan Cheng city emitting light. You did not expect me to return! Sun Ce rushed quickly to the walls of Wan Cheng with his Overlord Spear. Wan Cheng! Wan Cheng! Sun Ce excitedly imagined Lu Bu’s face when he received this news.

“We siege in 3 hours!” Sun Ce’s empty main camp started to become crowded again.

“Milord!” Lu Bu and the Wolf Cavalry continued to pursue the soldiers in front. On the way, there were no obstacles that managed to stall the Wolf Cavalry. The five thousand wolves rode onwards and left behind only corpses. Even then, Lu Bu was not satisfied. This is because he did not find what he was looking for. Now he was met with a fork on the road. The road may in three but the final destination was still Yangtze River. Cheng Yu looked at Lu Bu and hoped for a command.

“Split!” Lu Bu said without hesitation. He looked at the road that split into 3. They would split into 3 groups. One group would have 2,000 cavalries while the other 2 groups will have 1,500 cavalries.

The group with 2,000 cavalries will be led by Zhang Fan, who was the chief commander Zhang Liao’s elder brother. Although Zhang Fan was not as formidable as his younger brother, he was still quite strong and was a second-class general.

The remaining groups of 1,500 cavalries will be led by Lu Bu and Cheng Yu.

“Milord, this is!” Cheng Yu was a bit puzzled. The path Lu Bu chose was the small middle path. General Zhang Fan took the highway. The small rugged roads were built by common citizens. The rugged road was used by the citizens while the remaining two roads were used by government officials. Official roads were bigger and more comfortable. The journey would also be faster and would allow them to catch up to the Sun Ce’s Army faster.

Now Lu Bu has chosen to use the difficult path. What is he trying to do!

“Did you think Sun Ce would not think about small and rugged roads?” Lu Bu told Cheng Yu as he looked at the road. “The smaller the road, the more dangerous the road is and the easier it is to lose the pursuit of the enemy! Sun Ce should be on this road!” Like what Lu Bu said, the road is small and dangerous. Although it is not high, the edges of the road were like hills and was a good place to set ambushes. Those who are not careful could even fall down the edges.

Lu Bu chose this path because he believes that Sun Ce would take this road. This is called going into the mountains knowing that there is danger ahead (TL: Another idiom). Another reason is that because the road is dangerous, he cannot let Cheng Yu and Zhang Fan use this road. Although both of them are quite strong, if they were suddenly ambushed, they would have a high chance of dying. However, if it was Lu Bu, the Wolf Cavalry would be invincible.

“This is how we would do it!” Lu Bu immediately took 1,500 cavalries and went to the middle path. Cheng Yu and Zhang Fan also nodded and went to their respective roads with the remaining Wolf Cavalry.

The first to engage the enemy is Zhang Fan. Zhang Fan chased down his enemy and unexpectedly caught a big fish. The big fish was the Jiangdong Wu family’s deputy commander Wu Yun. Wu Yun was a deputy commander that was chosen by his abilities. He quickly stopped his retreat and made his soldiers form a battle formation. In the wilderness, to flee against cavalries are like exposing your back for others to stab. How could two legs escape from four legs? Even if he was skilled, he was no match for the Wolf Cavalry.

Zhang Fan sneered. Who are we!We are the Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry! The things that they do not fear the most is charging into battle formations. If it were the Wolf Cavalry before the Xuzhou incident, they may receive severe losses charging into battle formations. However, they now all wear heavy armors and have spears in their hands. With their weapons, they could charge through enemy lines and no one could stop them. Even the Ferocious Cavalry was no match for them, how could these soldiers compare?

If it were Sun Ce’s elites, then Zhang Fan might have avoided. However, these soldiers were just mixed soldiers. In that case, they were better off becoming Zhang Fan’s merits.

“Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry! Start hunting!” Zhang Fan and the cavalry did their first wave of attack and charged into the Sun Ce’s Army. The 2,000 cavalries attacking fiercely and quickly immediately caused the enemy troops to panic.

“Do not panic! Do not panic!” Wu Yun tried to calm his soldiers. “They are only 2,000 people. We have 5,000 people. We have double their numbers! What are we afraid of! The one that should be afraid is them! As long as we can withstand, we can survive!”

“Double?” Zhang Fan heard Wu Yan and laughed. To defeat cavalries, infantries will have to pay 10 times the price. This is especially true for heavy cavalries which were like nightmares on the battlefield. 10,000 heavy cavalries could determine the outcome of a war. 5,000 heavy cavalries could become a deterrent on the battlefield to scare enemies. Now Zhang Fan is in command of 2,000 Wolf Cavalry and could easily destroy the formation of 5,000 infantries.

Only heavy infantries have the possibility of making the Wolf Cavalry hesitate. This is because even if wolves managed to bite open tortoise shells, they will also be injured. Now all these lightly packed soldiers were just merits.

Just before the Wolf Cavalry come in contact with Sun Ce’s soldiers, they felt the horror of the wolves. One by one they would spit blood. The soldiers were like sheep that could offer no resistance.

A formation would be destroyed with one blow from the Wolf Cavalry. If they were elites, a hole would be torn open and there would be casualties. After that, the elites will mend the hole and become like a hedgehog to deal with the cavalry.

However, these soldiers were not elites. They were just hired as the noble’s private army. They may have been farmers or peddlers that could only cultivate land or trade. When the war favors them, they would be able to fight like how they fought on Wan Cheng. That is why they were brave enough to fight. Together with the rewards promised by the nobles, the soldiers were more excited and fought harder. This made the defenders of Wan Cheng fight so hard.

However, this is now different. They were retreating. These soldiers do not understand the difference between retreat and disperse. For them, the two words are the same.

Once they are defeated, they will retreat. If they had won, they would be celebrating in Wan Cheng. They would not be running all the way here. Now the enemy has even caught up. They have already seen the terror offered by the Wolf Cavalry once. The ones that fell could have been their relatives that were recruited by the other nobles or the Sun Ce’s Army that were retreating from the walls of Wan Cheng. The final result was complete annihilation.

Their miserable look was still in their minds and were like demons haunting them. The only way they could be released from this curse is death.

“Help me! I don’t want to die! I don’t want to die!” The Wolf Cavalry and the Sun Ce’s soldiers came into contact. Under the might of the horses and spears, the battle formation was torn apart like a piece of paper. The Wolf Cavalry do not discriminate. They are bloodthirsty wolves. They only know how to bite away your life. This is their nature. There is no sympathy for the weak.

These Sun Ce’s soldiers began to collapse and could not stand. They were completely destroyed leaving behind innards and a scene of hell.

These former peasants could not withstand the pressure and started to flee. They wanted to escape and did not want to see the demons again.

“Move! Scram!” The soldiers did not hesitate to run towards their fellow officers with a knife just to leave behind a little bit of hope.

There are also those that were trampled. Once a soldier fell down, they would not survive and would only become minced meat.

“Go back! Go back!” Wu Yun shouted. Once the formation collapse, it would really be over. If they still had a formation, they could withstand a bit longer. Now it is a complete massacre.

“Return to me!” Wu Yun cut down a fleeing soldier. The soldiers head flew and a fountain of blood splashed over Wu Yun’s face. This made his face look hideous.

“Everyone go back! Whoever dares to run will receive the same fate!” A few soldiers were scared of Wu Yun. They turned around to face the cavalries.

However, they made another turn a short while later. This is because they would rather face death than demons. (TL: Soldiers just did a 360° turn hahaha)

“Go back! Go back!” Wu Yan began killing. Behind them were demons. In front of them was Wu Yun. The soldiers also went crazy. Either way they would die! They might as well join hands to fight the same opponent. Rather than the demons behind them, Wu Yun seems like a better choice!

“I quit! I want to live! I join the army to fight! Fight humans! I did not join to fight demons!” A soldier shouted. He was already dissatisfied with Wu Yun earlier. He hid himself in the center of the army and hoped that they risk their own lives. They did not.

“If you don’t go, you die!” Wu Yun cut off his head. His head was split in two and his brains fell out.

“Little brother! Little brother!” The man Wu Yun killed was the brother of another soldier. When he saw his brother die in the hands of Wu Yun, his eyes turned red. When they left for war, his mother asked him to protect his brother. He also promised his mother that he will die protecting his brother. Now, his brother is dead in front of him. He did not die in the battlefield. He was not killed by the enemy. He was killed by his own general.

“Wu Yun!” This soldier became furious. He held his brother’s corpse tightly in his arms as he looked at Wu Yun.

“What are you doing! Go back and fight or else I will kill you!” Wu Yun got ready to kill this soldier. He pointed his knife at the soldier.

“Fuck you!” The soldier became very angry at Wu Yun. His brother is dead. Then there is Wu Yun’s attitude and the demons behind them. All this made the soft-spoken farmer go mad. His sword stabbed towards Wu Yun.

“General! Be careful!” Wu Yun’s bodyguard stepped forward to help but he was too late. The sword stabbed Wu Yun’s sword arm. As Wu Yun’s sword arm was stabbed, he dropped the sword.

“You are courting death!” The bodyguard leaped towards the soldier to cut him down. Wu Yun is their general. They only managed to be here because there was Wu Yun. Now someone hurt their general. How could they forgive him?

Unfortunately, the bodyguard forgot that not only one soldier was dissatisfied with Wu Yun.

“Wu Yun has no weapons! Get up there! Kill him! Kill him! Once he is dead, we will be able to live!” A soldier shouted. They want his life. Before this, they were too afraid to do anything because Wu Yun is a general that can determine their life and death. However, this position was overtaken by the demons behind them. Why would they continue listening to Wu Yun?

Fortunately, the soldiers are open with their inner thoughts. Kill Wu Yun and rush past him. That way, they will live.

Some of the anxious soldiers also said “The demons are after Wu Yun’s head. If Wu Yun is dead, the demons will stop!” However, Zhang Fan was not just targeting Wu Yun. He wants to kill the whole of Sun Ce’s Army.

The Wolf Cavalry will not stop until they drink blood.

However, the soldiers believed that statement and started looking at Wu Yun.

“What are you doing! I am your general! I am the deputy commander of the Wu family! Are you trying to rebel!” Wu Yun angrily shouted.

If it were a little while ago, the soldiers might have listened to him but they all became crazy trying to look for a way to live. Even if the person in front was a general or Sun Ce, they would do the same thing.

“Kill Wu Yun!” One of the soldiers started the attack. He dashed in front and cut off Wu Yun’s arm before he was beheaded by one of the bodyguards.

The other soldiers at the side also started to approach. They wanted to survive but Wu Yun is blocking their way. If they do not take down Wu Yun, they will not live.

This is especially true for those at the back. “The demons are coming! Run!”

Wu Yun’s bodyguard was unable to stop it. This soldiers are now crazy and they have lost their general. The only thing remaining is their fear and will to live.

“Kill! Kill!” Wu Yun was soon swarmed by people. He was not killed by the wolves but by his own men. It was a terrible way to die for Wu Yun.

Zhang Fan also did not expect his assault to bring so many casualties to the 5,000 Sun Ce’s Army. His Wolf Cavalry barely killed 1,000 people. The rest were trampled on or killed by their own men.

Zhang Fan picked up a flat helmet full of broken meat. A dumbfounded Zhang Fan pondered about how to get his merit. Should he tell Lu Bu that this is one of Sun Ce’s general?