The next day, Zhang Xiu dispatched Hu Che Er along with ten thousand of his Xiliang Cavalry. He also gave Liu Bei ten thousand provisions. The reason for this was because he, who had been receiving provisions from Liu Bei would also be troubled from the lack of provisions. Besides that, he was also promised ten thousand gold.

The siege started again. Liu Bei’s catapults began operating but Xu Shu was now more experienced. He had all the soldiers wait below the walls and only stationed the bare minimum number of soldiers on the wall as lookouts. The walls were also not badly damaged as Xu Shu smeared cement all over the walls. Its effect was great as they were not hindered despite the lack of wet leather.

“Kill!” The catapult showed no effect. The soldiers carrying ladders approached in waved.

“Your grandfather Zhang Fei is back!” Zhang Fei jumped over the walls. He was a fierce general that could not be stopped by anyone in Shouchun except for Zhao Yun.

“Haha! I, Zhang Fei, am the first to enter the city!” Zhang Fei shouted wildly.

“Use the ballista! Shoot Zhang Fei down!” The injured Deng Yi commanded his men to take out the two remaining ballistae. The two ballistae aimed right at Zhang Fei.

“Hm?” Zhang Fei glared. He noticed this the moment it was aimed at him. “This thing again? If you have the ability, come and fight your grandfather Zhang Fei for three hundred rounds!” Zhang Fei hated the ballista as he was shot back down the walls by one the previous day. He now advanced at the ballistae, wanting to destroy it before it could fire a single shot.

Deng Yi would definitely not wait for Zhang Fei. With a wave of his arm, he shouted. “Fire!” The two ballistae then roared.

“Hmph!” Zhang Fei no longer dared to approach the ballistae. The previous day, he did not know how powerful the ballistae really was. However, he was barely able to hold his spear after knocking away the attacks. This time, Zhang Fei would not be so stupid and instead, chose to avoid the attack. His movements were quick despite his large size.

“Don’t think you can dodge!” Deng Yi grabbed the ballistae and once again aimed at Zhang Fei. His efficiency in aiming was much higher than the average soldiers and the arrow almost pierced Zhang Fei.

“Damn!” Zhang Fei shouted. As he was unable to dodge the attack, he swung his spear. The arrow from the ballista was made of iron but it broke when it came into contact with the Serpent Spear. However, Zhang Fei did not come out of it unscatched. The scattered sawdust scratched his cheek and some almost entered his eyes.

“Reload!” The ballista had already used up its ten shots. They needed to reload it quickly. Although the mechanism was now simpler, it still needed time to be executed.

“Die for me!” Zhang Fei arrived in an instant. His spear was right in front one of his enemies.

“Not good!” Deng Yi’s heart tightened. He had fought against Zhang Fei before. Naturally he knew about Zhang Fei’s strength. At that time, he didn’t know about Zhang Fei and tried to attack him with his sword. However, Zhang Fei knocked away Deng Yi’s sword. He would have died if Xu Shu had not rush over. Deng Yi could be categorized as a scholar. He had significantly better leadership than Zhang Fei but Zhang Fei was like a thousand men.

“Die!” Zhang Fei jumped up and swung his weapon. Deng Yi picked up a sword to block it but the huge force caused Deng Yi’s hand injury to open up again. He had already lost many men to Zhang Fei as Zhang Fei was amongst the top ten strongest general in the Three Kingdoms. Naturally, Deng Yi would not be able to win.

Deng Yi was sent flying after he dropped his sword. He spat out blood. Zhang Fei could have killed him then decided to attack the ballista first. Deng Yi was injured by the residual force instead of being attacked directly. He could only laugh bitterly from this.

“Hah! Why don’t you try and shoot me again! Come on!” Zhang Fei cockily shouted. “I want to see how you intend to deal with me without a weapon!”

“Haha. Even if you are strong, you are only a simple minded person!” Deng Yi staggered as he stood up and wiped the blood from his mouth.

“Hmph. Enough games. I should kill you and present your head to Brother!” Zhang Fei was no longer afraid of Deng Yi. He was now like a cat playing with the mouse before killing it.

Zhang Fei once again rushed forward. This time, Deng Yi would not be able to block.

“I am unwilling to die in the hands of such a simpleton!” Deng Yi wanted to struggle but had no strength.

“Die!” Zhang Fei swung his spear at Deng Yi, splashing blood onto his own face.

“I am unwilling!” Deng Yi shouted his last words before his eyes closed forever.

“Sigh!” Zhang Fei wiped off the blood from his face. “You are truly a man. Unfortunately, you are Brother’s enemy! Do not blame me!” He swung his spear again to cut off the man’s head. After hanging the head at his waist, he continued his massacre on the wall.

“We must hold on!” Xu Shu gritted his teeth as he personally joined the fight. Although he was a scholar, he had been a vigilante swordsman. After he ran into trouble with the authorities, he realized that a person is restricted even if they were strong. It was at that time when he decided to pursue knowledge.

He swung the sword in his hand. This was already the third sword he used in this battle. The first two sword had been broken. His body was covered in blood and his hands was also covered in blisters after killing many people. He wrapped the handle of the sword with a cloth so that he would not accidentally drop it.

“There he is!” Zhang Fei slaughtered his way through. He had been looking for Xu Shu, the leader of the defenders. In battle, capture the leader. This was a truth that will never change. Once Xu Shu is dead, Shouchun would fall. This was why Zhang Fei became excited when he saw Xu Shu.

“Xu Shu! Give me your life!” Zhang Fei already attacked before he got close.

“What!” Xu Shu saw the spear near his chest. He swung his sword and knocked the spear away.

“Not bad! You can actually knock away my Serpent Spear!” Zhang Fei’s eyes glinted. He had thought that Xu Shu was only a scholar but his attack was blocked.

“Zhang Fei?” After fighting, Xu Shu finally recognized the assailant as Liu Bei’s brother.

“Yes, it is I, Zhang Fei!” Zhang Fei was pleased. He held his spear in front of himself and yelled.

“That is…” Xu Shu’s expression suddenly changed when he looked at Zhang Fei’s waist.

Following Xu Shu’s gaze, Zhang Fei realized that that Xu Shu was looking at the head hanging from his waist. “Haha. Xu Shu. This is my merits. Do you want it? I can’t give it to you!” Zhang Fei said as he patted the head on his waist.

“General Deng Yi!” Xu Shu felt sorrowful. Deng Yi was someone he had brought here from Jingzhou. Deng Yi had followed Xu Shu all this way because he admired Xu Shu’s knowledge. Xu Shu had brought Deng Yi here to join up with Liu Mang. Now, Deng Yi was only a head at Zhang Fei’s waist.

“Don’t worry. You will soon reunite with him!” Zhang Fei laughed. “Oh right. Our military advisor asked you to surrender. He said that if you surrender, he would let you govern Yangzhou and even give you the position of military advisor!” Zhang Fei casually said as he looked at Xu Shu.

“Military advisor? You mean Pang Tong?” Xu Shu coldly asked.

“The military advisor also said that there is nothing good about the False King Liu Mang, Slave of Four Surnames. As someone talented, you should be helping to restore the Han instead of following the shameless Lu Bu. Kong Ming could correct himself after realizing his mistake and that you, Xu Shu, should as well.”

“Correcting my mistakes? Haha! Shi Yuan. Do you really think Kong Ming had made a mistake? Did you think Kong Ming had changed his mind? Can you not truly see that he has strategies in his heart?”

“Of course I can.” Pang Tong replied as he watched the scene on the walls from Liu Bei’s camp.1 He had been together with Zhuge Liang for a long time. Naturally, he knew every single one of Zhuge Liang’s actions had a purpose. He was also seldom wrong. Once, they were going to read books under the sun. Zhuge Liang had brought out and umbrella which caused him to be mocked by others. However, it soon rained, silencing those that mocked him. All of his actions had purpose.

Liu Biao was just a guard dog. Nobody would have picked him. Even Shi Tao looked at Liu Biao with disdain. Only a few scholars of talent from Jingzhou remained with Liu Biao. They could already tell that Jingzhou had no future. Yet, strangely, Zhuge Liang chose Jingzhou. It was also not possible for him to be doing it for his family as his brother was at Jiangdong. At the end of the day, he would need to help his Lord. Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong had also gambled to see whose master was more accomplished within two years. The loser would become a book servant2 to the winner.

Promises were worth a thousand gold. Pang Tong would not believe that Zhuge Liang would give up so easily. This meant that Zhuge Liang remained at Jingzhou for a conspiracy. This was for his chosen Lord.

However, Pang Tong did not want to accept this and wanted to capture Shouchun on that day itself. After that, he wanted to go to Guangzhou to defeat and execute Liu Mang, putting an end to Zhuge Liang’s wishes. The Lu Bu’s Army is also about to be finished from being attacked from three sides.

“Yuan Zhi. If you do not surrender, do not blame me, Shi Yuan, for forgetting past relations!” Pang Tong said to himself. He had ordered Zhang Fei to tell Xu Shu to surrender. If Xu Shu would not surrender, Zhang Fei was to bring Xu Shu’s corpse to him. Pang Tong naturally knew about Xu Shu’s talent. He knew that Xu Shu was almost as formidable as Zhuge Liang and himself. He knew that Xu Shu would become dangerous if he was with the enemy.

“A faithful official would not have two Lords! I will not surrender. Especially not to a man with fake righteousness!” Xu Shu sneered.

“Fake righteousness? You are really courting death!” Zhang Fei had been angered. It was one matter if Xu Shu refused to surrender but Xu Shu had insulted his brother instead. “Military advisor already told me to bring your corpse to him if you refuse to surrender!”

“Haha. You want my life? Come and take it!” Xu Shu gave a simple reply and took out his sword. “Everyone said that Zhang Fei is ferocious. Come and show me how ferocious you really are!”

____________________

Pang Tong seemingly has telepathic abilities or really good hearing. Don’t ask me how.

During those times, the ‘master’ has different servants for different things. A book servant is the servant only serves the master and his children during ‘study period’. Not sure if ‘study period’ includes reading war documents though.