webnovelfull Chapter 119 If you lose, you must admit it; if you're going to be beaten, you must stand at att
Chapter 119 If you lose, you must admit it; if you're going to be beaten, you must stand at att
Zhang Cheng painfully closed his eyes, struggled for a long time before opening them again, and said in a cold tone, "We haven't lost yet. As long as we take Shan County, we can still win."
"Feng Bing, you take five thousand men and hold off Guan Xing for me. You must hold out until tomorrow morning to buy me one night."
"Also, keep an eye on those five thousand prisoners. Don't let them cause trouble at a time like this. I must take the county town tonight."
Zhang Cheng originally had 30,000 troops, and after receiving 5,000 prisoners from Guan Xing, he had a total of 35,000. He then divided 10,000 of them among Zhang Ming, 3,000 among Chunyu Shi, and 5,000 among Gudaokou, leaving him with only 17,000 troops.
But he dared not use or release those five thousand elite troops, and he didn't even dare to issue them weapons. He could only have them do odd jobs such as escorting grain and building camps.
Nevertheless, they still held an absolute numerical advantage over Meng Jun, but now that Guan Xing had arrived, the balance of power had shifted.
Zhang Cheng, however, was unwilling to admit defeat. He ordered Colonel Feng Bing to block Guan Xing and personally beat the drum to order the army to continue attacking the city, preparing to capture Shan County before Guan Xing arrived. But could he succeed?
On the city wall of Shan County, Meng Jun's body was already stained red with blood. He looked extremely ferocious, as if he had been pulled out of a sea of blood, and he fought with increasing ferocity.
After cutting down another Wu soldier on the city wall, Meng Jun raised his sword to charge at the next man when he suddenly saw five beacon fires rising from behind the Wu soldiers.
The appearance of the beacon fire startled Meng Jun slightly. Then, as if remembering something, he shouted with joy, "General Guan has arrived! General Guan has brought his troops to rescue us! Brothers, our reinforcements have arrived!"
The beacon fires were signals he had agreed upon with Guan Xing before the battle; three beacon fires meant retreat, and five beacon fires meant reinforcements had arrived, and they should continue to hold out.
The soldiers defending the city knew of this agreement. Upon hearing it, they all looked ahead and saw the beacon fire, which immediately sparked a thunderous cheer, greatly boosting their morale.
After Guan Xing released the beacon fire to warn Meng Jun, he accelerated again and quickly rushed to within five miles of the Wu army. He saw the Wu army waiting in battle formation, his pupils contracted, and he immediately ordered an attack.
The army was exhausted and wanted to rest, but Meng Jun, who was stationed in Shan County, was even more tired. So Guan Xing dared not stop and could only take advantage of the army's arrival and high morale to launch a desperate attack. Fortunately, he still had a fresh force.
Upon seeing Wu Jun appear, Deng Hong, who had been jostled along on a stretcher until he was almost falling apart, shouted urgently, "Put me down quickly, quickly!"
He missed the previous battle because he was too slow in putting on his armor; by the time he finished, the battle was already over.
While he was still regretting not making it in time, Guan Xing suddenly had a brilliant idea: he ordered the soldiers to take out stretchers meant for wounded soldiers and carry the assault team on their way, in order to conserve the assault team's strength so that they could quickly engage in battle when they encountered Wu's army.
Heaven have mercy, because the Han army was short of cloth, the stretchers were all made of rattan, which was very uncomfortable to lie on due to the uneven surface. They were also carried by a group of rough men, which made their internal organs almost shift. The feeling was indescribably exciting.
The good thing is that they don't have to travel on their own. This time, they didn't take off their armor, so they didn't have to bother putting it back on. They could just jump off the stretcher and charge.
The downside was that the armor increased the weight of the stretcher, requiring several changes of soldiers to carry it, and they harbored a great deal of resentment towards the assault team.
"Commandos, follow me! Let's fight that damned Wu Jun!"
Deng Hong took the lead and rushed forward at top speed, with Xia Tongtielin and other assault team members following closely behind.
They felt somewhat guilty for being carried the whole way, and after being jostled around so much, they desperately needed to stretch their limbs. Once assembled, they charged forward like tigers descending a mountain, incredibly fast.
Wu army captain Feng Bing, who was blocking the enemy at the front, was startled by the momentum of the Han army's charge and hurriedly shouted, "Fire arrows! Fire arrows!"
At Feng Bing's command, a hail of arrows rained down on the assault team, who quickly formed ranks and raised their shields to defend themselves.
Deng Hongxia, Tong Tielin, and the other two continued their charge as if they hadn't seen the arrows, because they were wearing heavy armor and could ignore them.
These heavy armor sets are replicas of the Southern Song Dynasty infantry heavy armor made by Guan Xing, the same kind worn by Yue Fei's Beiwei Army. Unfortunately, they are too difficult to make, and there are only three sets in the entire Han Army at present.
Deng Hong and his two companions, relying on their heavy armor to withstand the arrows, charged to the front of the Wu army's formation at top speed, crashing into the Wu army's ranks like mad bulls.
Wu Jun had never considered being attacked from behind, so he had not prepared defensive tools such as antler fences. By the time he received news of the Han army's arrival, it was too late to make preparations.
Faced with the undefended Wu army, Deng Hong naturally showed no mercy. He, Xia Tong, and Tie Lin were like three tanks charging into the enemy ranks, not caring about anything else but just crashing through.
The three men easily broke apart the Wu army's formation, buying precious time for the assault team. The assault team joined the battle, further breaking apart the Wu army's formation and buying even more time for the Han army to follow up.
Gan Xun led his men to the scene, and looked at the Wu army that had been smashed into a mess with a look of astonishment. As he ran, he said sourly, "No way, after this battle, I must have the steel mill make me a set of armor like this. It's so damn cool."
Gan Xun quickly charged into the enemy ranks, causing the Wu army, whose morale had already been low due to their retreat being cut off, to flee in disarray, and the Wu army's formation visibly collapsed.
At the same time, Wang Tao divided his army into two parts and rushed into the mountains on both sides to block the retreating Wu army and prevent them from escaping into the mountains.
He led the Yue army from the mountains. The Kuaiji Mountain and Siming Mountain on both sides of the road were their hometowns where they had grown up. They knew better than Guan Xing how many paths were in the mountains and where to ambush the enemy.
Wu Jun was thrown into chaos and began to turn and charge his own formation. The five thousand prisoners who were being held captive became excited and immediately raised their hands to surrender without thinking. At the same time, they shouted in unison, "Brothers, the battle is over, there is no need to fight anymore. Surrender, the Han army will treat us prisoners well."
"Don't kneel in the middle of the road. Kneel properly on the side of the road, throw away your weapons and raise your hands. Don't block the Han army's way, or you might get killed by mistake."
"That's right, that's right. We have experience with surrendering. We're all brothers, we wouldn't lie to you."
The fleeing Wu army was completely stunned by the shouts. Some didn't know what to do, but instinctively did as they were told, and then...
Seeing that the Wu army, which had been lured by the prisoners and was surrendering one after another, had completely broken down, Captain Feng Bing could no longer afford to gather the remaining troops to continue the resistance. He took off running towards Zhang Cheng.
Zhang Cheng's side hasn't collapsed yet; they're currently launching a full-scale attack on the city. Zhang Cheng himself is even beating the drums, his hands moving so fast they leave afterimages.
Feng Bing rushed to Zhang Cheng and said urgently, "General, the Han army is too beastly. We can't stop them, we simply can't stop them."
"The front has collapsed, and the Han army is already advancing this way. Let's retreat quickly, or it will be too late."
Zhang Cheng's drumming hand suddenly stopped, and he said weakly, "Where can we retreat to? Our road ahead is blocked and our road back is cut off. Where can we retreat to?"
Feng Bing said urgently, "Retreat into the mountains, cross the mountains to return to the Yinyu Plain, and then go to Shanyin to meet up with Prefect Chunyu."
Zhang Cheng shook his head and said, "Have you forgotten that Guan Xing has Yue soldiers under his command? Knowing Guan Xing's nature, he must have sent troops into the mountains while attacking. If they go in now, they will definitely be blocked."
"Even if we're not blocked, we can't get out. We're not familiar with the mountain terrain, and we'll definitely get lost if we go into the mountains. We also don't have any food or supplies, so we can't cross the Siming Mountains at all."
"Once you're at the gambling table, you have to be prepared to accept the consequences. If you lose, you have to admit it, call it quits, and surrender."
As the gong sounded, the Wu army that had attacked the city retreated like a tide, and Zhang Cheng then sent Feng Bing to discuss surrender with Guan Xing.
Fifteen minutes later, Zhang Cheng appeared before Guan Xing with his hands bound, staring at Guan Xing with a wry smile and said, "Guan Anguo, congratulations on winning again."