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Chapter 199
Chapter 199 - The Impatience Zhang Yang
October 24th. Noon.
Wang Kuang and Zhang Yang managed to return to the territory of Shangdang City with their 100, 000 men. At the back of the marching soldier lines, Wang Yun and his 20, 000 followed after them as he also needed to head back to Luo Yang.
When they saw the long wall of Shangdang City, the two governors were relieved.
Wang Kuang muttered, "We're finally back."
"Yeah, we can restock our supplies from the merchants. We should rest a few days before we resume our march to Henei, " Suggested Zhang Yang.
While both of them were in a merry mood, a scout galloped his horse to them.
"Report! There is something wrong with the Shangdang City! They put on yellow "Zhang" flags instead of purple ones."
Zhang Yang stared at the scout with wide eyes. His city flags had always been purple, and he had never used a yellow flag. A bad feeling crept into his heart.
"Have you asked them to open the gate for you or have you talked with the gate guards?"
"N-No, my lord. They fired their arrows at me. I can't get close to the gate."
The face of Zhang Yang paled. Someone had stolen his city!
The mind of Shangdang Governor was blank for a whole minute before his face reddened from anger. The pale white face turned red, then blue. Veins lines under his skin bulged so hard that anyone who looked at this face could notice the pulsing.
Infuriated, Zhang Yang shouted, "Get our men to craft ladders! We will siege the city before nightfall!"
This city located in a basin surrounded by mountain ranges. The only way to travel to other cities was to journey through mountain roads, valleys, or canyons. The path that Liu Ping and all Imperial troops moved was also passed through such mountain gaps.
"- before night fall-fall-fall!"
Because of the geography of Shangdang City, the voice of Zhang Yang echoed through the valley. The troops behind them could also hear their governor's voice from far away, and they looked at the front of them in curiosity.
...
2 PM.
100, 000 Soldiers lined up in a hundred square formations in front of Shangdang north gate. The twenty thousand men of Wang Yun did not participate in this siege as they took roles as reserves, which helped the army making ladders and a battering-ram.
They did not lay a siege yet because they could not. Ladders with the height of five or six meters took times and efforts to make. Furthermore, they had to make at least 200 of them for a regular siege.
The intelligence about the defender numbers was in Zhang Yang's hands. From the rough count of the scouts, the enemy number on the wall was around 20, 000 to 30, 000 men.
It was not a significant number. However, in this battle, they were a threat. Because the city wall of Shangdang was like a fortress inside a mountain, they could not use the massive troops to siege all gates at the same time as they could only access the north wall. The mountain range was the city's natural barrier that blocked their path to the other gates. If Zhang Yang or Wang Kuang want to reach the other gates, they had to climb the mountains.
As a result of this north gate geography, they had to get rid of these 30, 000 garrison force on top of the north gate or break the gate to win.
Zhang Yang looked at the gate with impatience while He could not keep his hands still as he scratched either his face or his arms all the time.
"Has Wang Yun not finished yet?" Zhang Yang asked this aide.
"N-No, my lord. He said it will take four or five hours to make at least 200 tall ladders. We can't find many tall bamboos in this area, so we have to make ladders from planks instead."
Plank ladders were complicated to make in this era as only carpenters with tools could make one. These soldiers were not professional carpenters, so they had to create make-shift ladders without prior experiences.
Listening to his aide, Zhang Yang massaged his temple because of the headache.
Wang Kuang consoled him, "Brother Zhang, we can make a camp outside of the city wall today. Let's take our time crafting ladders and siege weapons. Waiting for the tools for one day wouldn't hurt."
"No, we have to take the city within today! We're running out of food in three days, remember?"
Wang Kuang groaned as he was reminded of the provision shortage problem.
Without a choice, both governors stayed and waited for Wang Yun's men to finish all the ladders.
...
2. 30 PM
Jinyang Army, with the number of 50, 000 men, arrived on top of the valley. From there, they could see the troops inside the canyon, lining up in front of the north gate of Shangdang.
Lu Bu, Zhang Liao, Gao Shun, and Li Feihong were there as well. They were the commanders of this army.
Jia Xu and Ju Shou had given them a simple order, "Obliterate them."
During the times when Ju Shou was in Ye with Jia Xu, he advised Jia Xu to eliminate these nobles as a part of the plan. In order to pacify the city after the war efficiently, Ju Shou saw these men as thorns. Because Wang Kuang and Zhang Yang's soldiers were part of Henei and Shangdang noble clans, they had deep roots within these cities. Letting them live would be like allowing tigers back to mountains, so Ju Shou wanted to weed out the future problems.
Jia Xu did not care about the domestic affair but the result of the war, so he added this plan into the operation. Then, he let Ju Shou handled the rest with the condition that if Ju Shou were to fail, he would be held responsible for this action.
The 50, 000 heavy cavalries donned in Xiangnu tribal clothes, lining up in rows and getting ready to charge down from the top of the cliff.
Lu Bu raised his fist up to stop the men as he noticed something from the corner of his eyes.
A lone horseman on the opposite side of the cliff, 500 meters away, was looking at them for a moment before he left. Lu Bu recognized the aura of the horseman. It was the aura that he sensed earlier.
'That warrior is really here, and we seem to be on the same side. '
'I can easily crush these insects any time I want to, but I would have destroyed his awakening process if I did that. '
A cunning smile appeared on Lu Bu's face as he called Zhang Liao over.
"Wenyuan, do not attack yet. Let's wait and see a bit longer."
Zhang Liao frowned. The chance to crush the enemies was here, but Lu Bu had chosen to delay it. He did not understand what his boss wanted.
"There's a good fellow who's about to baptize in this battlefield. Let him play with these guys first."
Still frowned, Zhang Liao nodded and waved his hands, gesturing the troops to step back and hide.
"Is it your instinct again, or is it out of a whim this time?"
"Instinct, of course!"
"I hope your instinct is right, Fengxian."
"Bah! My sense is always right! Have I ever lost in a battle because of my sense!?"
Zhang Liao sighed as he did not want to believe it, but Lu Bu was right about one thing.
Lu Fengxian had never lost in a war if he utilized his instinct. Although Zhang Liao had to complement Lu Bu's plans and clean up after his deeds, Lu Bu was still the key of all victories they had.
...
3 PM.
Wang Yun rode to the main army. His men finished making rough 100 ladders and a battling-ram. However, they were far from enough in this siege as the number of ladders were too few. He also wanted to talk to the two governors to ask for another day to make trebuchets or catapults for the battle.
"No! We will siege the city today! We will not wait until we run out of food!"
The reply from Zhang Yang shattered the hope of Wang Yun.
"Rushing to siege like this is like throwing lives away. The enemies have come here prepared. At least, we should take back a step for one day. One day can make a lot of difference between rushing in with only ladders and fighting with proper siege weapons."
Wang Kuang also helped Wang Yun persuading Zhang Yang. He also wanted to take it slow as he was not confident fighting with numbers.
"You have no idea at all, do you?" Zhang Yang spat. He had his reasons for rushing the assault.
Inside the treasuries of his household, he stored over 50, 000 gold and other valuable treasures worth of over 100, 000 gold. In his Manor, a hundred of young female slaves, which he secretly bought from the local fat merchants, were kept there as his trophies.
This city was his paradise and his everything. Losing it for even one more day could spell a disaster as the wealth and the women he accumulated would have been stolen by the army inside the city.
"You cowards and take it easy if you want! I will lead my men to take the city myself!"
Zhang Yang broke away from the two men. He went to the reserve force to take all the ladders so that he could transfer all of them to his troops.
Before he could complete what he wanted to do, a messenger rushed in to report important news to the three commanders.
"Report! We're under attack from a group of cavalries! The reserve force has been hit!"
Zhang Yang, Wang Kuang, and Wang Yun snapped back from the argument. Wang Yun rushed to his men without saying anything, leaving the two governors behind. The reserve force that the messenger mentioned was his troops that Liu Ping had entrusted him, so he returned to them in a panic.
Wang Kuang also returned to his own troops as he wanted to stand by for a possible battle. On the other hand, Zhang Yang glared at the messenger and questioned him.
"Whose affiliate are those cavalries from?"
"Reporting, they did not carry a flag, but we noticed that they wore different uniforms from ours."
Zhang Yang spat again, "Useless idiot! It's obvious that they will wear different clothes! How many of them!?"
"M-My Lord, we didn't know. They just attacked us and retreated before we could even rally our men."
The governor gnashed his teeth, frustrated from the incompetency of the messenger and the scouts. Zhang Yang opened his mouth and about to curse the messenger out loud to shame him.
*WHOOSH* *WHOOSH*
*WHOOSH* *WHOOSH*
Several sounds of flying objects could be heard from a distance away. Zhang Yang turned around to the source of the noise, and he saw a glimpse of an arrow volley from the top of the eastern cliff.
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