Chapter 279 – White Eared Heavy Armor
White Eared Heavy Armor
The defenders on the walls were all feeling enthusiastic. They had all fought back the enemy assault and killed many. It was a very happy moment for these soldiers. They looked at the corpses accumulated below the city and felt that it does not matter even if they were outnumbered. Hao Shao’s army had fallen into a state of excitement and their morale had doubled. They thought of how Liu Mang would reward them after they fought back the enemy.
Wasn’t getting promoted and earning rewards the reason they left their homes to join the Liu Mang Army? At first they had a lot of complains following Hao Shao into this small city. Now, all of them had changed. They did not expect the small city to give them the opportunity for promotion.
The happiness of the soldiers were comparable to the faith that they could defeat the enemy. Hao Shao became calmer. Those from the Wolf Cavalry would notice that Hao Shao was feeling uneasy. The reason so many of the Liu Bei’s Army’s soldiers perished was because the enemy did not react. This was the first time they had seen this defensive method. They had gotten the enemy by surprise which is why they got this result. This would unlikely happen a second or third time.
Liu Bei was not easily dealt with. Otherwise, Liu Bei would not have managed to bring Cao Cao and chase out Lu Bu. Hao Shao does not want to face the shame of being chased out anymore. Liu Bei had chased Lu Bu out of Xuzhou and has plans for Yangzhou.
Besides that, chasing the enemy away would only make them angrier. They would react stronger and the counterattack would be more powerful. Against a siege with twenty thousand, the ones fighting at the would only become more ruthless. This was why Hao Shao did not dare to relax. However, he did not tell his troops and allowed them to be excited. They would be more courageous when they were excited.
“Come. Come on! Let this Hao Shao see if you have greater progress!” Hao Shao took a deep breath. He knew that it was impossible to defend against Liu Bei’s assault with just Guangzhou. However, Hao Shao wanted to stop Liu Bei here to buy time for Shouchun.
The drum starts to be beaten and Liu Bei’s Army started to move again.
“All units. Prepare for combat!” Hao Shao shouted. However, the soldiers had already begun to move and pick up their bows and aimed below the city before he could even shout.
But when they looked down, they were dumbfounded. To shoot or not to shoot? This was because there were no longer a swarm of soldiers below the city but rams.
Liu Pi had twenty thousand soldiers. Even after counting the casualties, they still had at least fifteen thousand soldiers. The firewood was collected by them and along with Pang Tong’s expertise, the rams were built quickly.
“Rams?” Hao Shao clenched his fist. He gazed at the huge vehicles. The rams were still siege weapons at that era. The impact of the rams could knock open the gates. As the gates were made of wood, it would not be able to stop the impact of the rams unless it was heavy and sturdy. Otherwise, it would not even last a few hits from the rams. Even the gates of Wan Cheng had been destroyed by rams.
If the moat was completed and there was a drawbridge, it would not have been so difficult. This is because it would be impossible for the drawbridge to be lowered unless the city was already having difficulty. Now, the ram has space to approach.
One by one, the rams approached Guangzhou City while being pushed by soldiers.
“Shoot! Shoot those soldiers pushing the rams!” Hao Shao ordered. Arrows are useless against the rams. Even fire arrows would take a while for it to burn the rams and the burning rams could also be used to burn down the city gates. Shooting down the soldiers would cause the ram to stop moving.
Hao Shao gave the command for arrows to be shot at the brave soldiers pushing the ram. Arrows being shot at a group of soldiers was good as the target would be big and they would hit even if their aiming was bad. But now, the target was smaller. Their skills become more apparent as some of the arrows were unable to even fall close to the soldiers pushing the ram. Fortunately, with a thousand archers, some of the arrows would inevitable hit.
“Argh!” As the arrows fell, the rams also slowed down.
“Detestable!” Liu Pi gnashed his teeth as he looked at the scene below Guangzhou. He had his troops prepare the shields but the shields could only defend from one side. He was ready to sent out a second wave of troops when he was stopped by a messenger.
“General! The military advisor has dispatched people to bring the armor!” The messenger cupped his fist at Liu Pi as he reported.
“Put that armor aside. Can’t you see I am busy sieging the city?” Liu Pi was a little bit impatient.
“General. The military advisor said that these armor is useful for sieging the city!” The messenger added.
“I can use it?” Liu Pi was shocked. His current strategy was given to him by Pang Tong. That was why Liu Pi would still listen to Pang Tong even though he would be a little bit unhappy. When he calmed down, he cannot help but think of how this armor would help with the siege.
“Take me there!” The two of them then quickly went outside of the camp.
“General. Look!” The messenger pointed at the armors on the carriages. “This is what the military advisor has sent us!”
“This is…!” Liu Pi’s eyes turned bright when he saw the armors because the armors were the familiar heavy armors of Liu Bei’s elite White Eared soldiers. The White Eared soldiers are one of the best heavy armored soldiers in the world. The only ones that could compete with the White Eared soldiers are Jizhou’s Halberd, First Camp and Formation Breaker. Even Liu Mang’s Urban Army could not necessarily defeat them. The Black Flag could have won before they fought at Wancheng but now there were too many recruits.
Runaway Liu could run from place to place as he had these soldiers with him. They were death soldiers. In other words, they were all brainwashed into mindlessly worshipping Liu Bei. It was just like how the Yellow Turbans worshipped Zhang Jiao and were unafraid of death. The White Eared Soldier’s greatest achievement was fighting against the Tiger Cavalry. Although the Tiger Cavalry lost to the Wolf Cavalry, it could not be helped as the God of War Lu Bu was present. That was why the Tiger Cavalry’s strength should not be underestimated.
Even if a heavy infantry were to meet a heavy cavalry, they could use formations like hedgehog and tortoise formations. However, the White Eared Soldiers are the only one that dared to charge at the Tiger Cavalry.
What Pang Tong had sent over was their White Eared Soldier’s heavy armors. These heavy armors were one of the reason they were able to make a name for themselves. The White Eared Heavy Armor was about the same as the Black Flag’s but the most crucial difference was that the White Eared armor had an outer armor and an inner armor. They were layers of chainmail and it was not even something that generals could wear. Liu Bei had spent a lot to increase the strength of his forces.
Not only could the chainmail protect them from blades. It could protect them from arrows as well. The lattice like chainmail could not be pierced by arrows. Even if an arrow managed to shoot through, it would only be like a mosquito bite and would not cause fatal injuries.
“Hahaha! Guangzhou is doomed!” Liu Pi laughed loudly. Altogether, he had four hundred of the White Eared heavy armor. Liu Bei was afraid there would not be enough heavy armor for attacking Yangzhou and took out one thousand. Pang Tong then took out four hundred for Liu Pi to use.
With these armors, Liu Pi would no longer need to fear the arrows from the walls. As long as there were no arrows being shot at them, he could rely on his three rams to break into Guangzhou. Once that happened, Liu Bei would no longer be angry. Liu Pi was no longer thinking of merit as Liu Bei had already lost face. Five thousand people attacked a city only to lose half of it without even managing to touch the city. Even the thick-skinned Liu Pi no longer dared to raise the issue of merit. The fire in Liu Pi’s eyes became stronger as he thought of that.
He was now thinking of how to capture Guangzhou, massacre all of his enemies and to capture and punish the young general. Even then, his hatred would be difficult to be appeased.
“Pass down my orders. Have four hundred sturdy men put on this armor. Have them push the rams and stab Guangzhou in the ass!” Liu Pi no longer cared whether he was vulgar or not. He was happy knowing that he was about to win.