Chapter 299
Abandoned Child Sun Qian
Sun Qian relied on luck to make the top advisor Liu Ye protect his empty city. Now, it was not possible for Sun Qian to stop as Liiu Ye was worried about Liu Mang. Liu Ye decided to send out the Urban Army. If Liu Mang’s Army was surrounded, they would be able to win or at the very least escape with the Urban Army.
Liu Ye did not touch the Black Flag Army as their heavy armor was too heavy. They were not suitable to be chosen to travel long distance. Liu Ye also felt that something was wrong and left the Black Flag soldiers behind. He also dispatched soldiers to guard the other entrances of the city. These soldiers were to prevent Sun Qian from launching a surprise attack. However, this action placed Sun Qian in a predicament.
Sun Qian wanted to cry. Three days have passed. According to his orders, he was now allowed to withdraw. However, now, he was also unable to withdraw. He tried to dispatch a few veteran soldiers but they were gotten rid off by these scouts. Sun Qian was now like a trapped turtle.
Liu Mang listened to Liu Ye’s report in the camp with a strange expression. This was because Liu Ye’s example was just like an Empty Fort Strategy. On top of that, the protagonist of this strategy was different. Zhuge Liang was replaced by Sun Qian who was a second-rate advisor on the level of Yang Hong at most. He should not be able to think of a way to win against the catapult or Liu Mang.
Liu Mang was now thinking like Sun Qian. What move would Sun Qian do when the opponent is himself? He countered every move, scaring himself. In fact, this is just Liu Ye’s own confrontation.
Liu Mang wondered how Sun Qian managed to think of his strategems and unwittingly raised Sun Qian to his level.
If Pang Tong was still in Yuzhou, Liu Ye’s thoughts were correct. This is because Pang Tong and Liu Ye were top class advisors. Both of them have high IQ. However, this person was Sun Qian. If Sun Qian could do such things, Liu Bei would not have lost Xuzhou to Lu Bu or be defeated by Cao Cao. In other words, this strategy must have been done by Pang Tong. Liu Mang never expected Pang Tong to also know how to use this strategy.
“Ziyang. Get ready to attack!” Liu Mang waved his hand. He had miscalculated. He thought that letting Liu Ye command an army alone would help him capture Ruyin quickly but now they do not even know whether the Yuzhou Army was a sham or not. Liu Mang would also not blame Liu Ye. After all, the smarter people would usually think too much. This was a psychological battle. It was just like a set of multiple choice questions. If the answer was all A, a person with poor grades would not be too concerned but a person with good grades would hesitate. This is because it should be impossible for all the answers to be A. They would wonder whether the teachers would try and trick them. The battle would have already been over if he let Xu Sheng lead the army. On the other hand, Liu Ye is like Sima Yi who would put others at their level.
“Milord. There may be a trap inside the city!” Liu Ye was still fearful.
“Haha. Ziyang. Sun Qian is not so difficult to deal with like you think. On top of that, you were only worried about me. Now, I have already captured Yingshang and I was not ambushed. What is there for you to be afraid of?” Liu Mang replied.
“But!” Liu Ye still wanted to refute but he did not know why.
“Don’t worry Ziyang. I will certainly be careful!” Liu Mang waved his hand. “Call Wei Yan of the shield troops!” Wei Yan was currently a small soldier in the Urban Army. Naturally, he would not be in the camp. After some time, Wei Yan entered from outside.
“Wei Yan of the shield troops greets Your Highness!” Wei Yan walked in and cupped his fist. Wei Yan had been disciplining himself at the Urban Army. His former rebellious traits was no longer visible.
“Wei Yan. How is your treatment at the Urban Army?”
“Your Highness. It is very good!”
“Do you hate me for putting a general like you here unused? Are you cursing me in your heart?” Liu Mang laughed at Wei Yan. If it was himself, he would already cursed several times.
“This one does not dare!” Wei Yan lowered his head. This was a lie. After all, he came to be a general. Zhao Yun and Wang Wei have already been promoted while he is still just a common soldier. This was not something normal people could bear.
“So you do not dare. Doesn’t that mean you are still resentful? You only do not dare because I am the King and of higher position than you!” Liu Mang smiled at the beast in front of him. This beast was wild and difficult to tame. If Wei Yan was a wolf, Liu Mang would need to turn this wolf into a dog.
“This!” Wei Yan did not know what to say. Liu Mang’s words were suffocating.
“Do you still want to remain in the Urban Army?” Liu Mang looked at Wei Yan and asked with a smile.
“I do!” Wei Yan replied loudly. He stayed in the Urban Army and have killed a lot of people. According to reason, he should also be promoted. Liu Mang has a lot of generals. However, he ended up looking for Wei Yan. This means that Wei Yan was about to be promoted.
“In that case, go back and be a shield!” Liu Mang waved his hand, signalling for Wei Yang to leave.
“Yes. Huh?” Wei Yan immediately replied before the words registered. He was not promoted and would instead continue to be a shield soldier.
“What’s wrong? Do you have a complaint?” Liu Mang laughed again. However, his laugh hid a trace of killing intent.
“This subordinates receives the order!” Wei Yan felt lost in his heart but he did not dare to disobey the person in front of him. He could only lower his head. “This subordinate takes his leave!”
“Milord. This is?” The one that was most affected was Wang Wei. In terms of military might, Wei Yan was superior. Wang Wei also did not believe that Wei Yan was a person who knows nothing. Placing him as a shield soldier is a waste of talent. Now, Liu Mang had called Wei Yan in but there were no rewards. This is inconsistent with the reward and punishment system of the Urban Army.
“Tell Wei Yan that I will give him twenty soldiers from the Urban Army. Tell him to lead the soldiers into Ruyin. I want to know the situation in Ruyin within one hour, especially the position of the storehouse.” Liu Mang did not call Wei Yan for no reason. He wanted a powerful person to lead the soldiers into the city and find out the actual situation. He hated fighting against Sun Qian. If Sun Qian had really placed an ambush in the city, Liu Mang could only burn the place down. What Liu Mang wanted was not the city. It was the provisions. Liu Mang had many generals. However, these generals need to lead their respective groups while Liu Mang wanted Huang Zhong for different matters. All that’s left is Wei Yan. He should give the hungry beast some meat to eat.
“Lead twenty soldiers into the city?” Wei Yan asked. Although Ruyin’s gates were open, nobody knew what was inside. What would they do if they were ambushed? Wei Yan was also worried and gritted his teeth. However, he was a warrior. He should be advancing in the battle. If he was afraid of everything, it would be better to return to being a farmer. Besides that, he had already been in the bottom long enough. Even though he said he was happy at the Urban Army, it was not what he wanted.
“I understand!” Wei Yan nodded and took a deep breath. With risk, comes wealth. Entering Ruyin may be Wei Yan’s chance for a promotion.
“Set up the catapults and get ready for a siege!” Liu Mang said.
“Milord. There are no enemies on the wall.”
“Are you just going to the the catapults there to do nothing and then throw away the collected stones? Just use it!” Liu Mang replied. “Also, Han Sheng. We will be counting on you for this. Let us go and greet this Sun Gongyou!”
Under Liu Mang’s guidance, Liu Ye led the group to the walls of Ruyin.
When Liu Ye reached the bottom of the walls, someone notified Sun Qian. “Mister Ziyang. There are nobody within Ruyin. Come in and have a drink with me.”
“Hmph! Sun Qian! Your…” Liu Ye wanted to curse Sun Qian and say that his schemes have already been seen through. However, he was stopped by Liu Mang.
“Sun Qian you despicable man! You used yourself as bait for us to divide our forces. Milord fell into an ambush and his army was disastrously defeated. Milord himself has gone missing. You truly are the most despicable person in the world for your evil schemes!”
Liu Mang stepped forward to curse Sun Qian. The other generals by his side were confused as Liu Mang had cursed himself to have gone missing1.
“Who is this?” Sun Qian could not recognize Liu Mang. Liu Ye led the way and Liu Mang did not wear his iconic gold armor. As a result, Sun Qian believed that this was a general under Liu Ye.
“There was really an ambush?” Sun Qian was really shocked. He was only following Liu Ye’s line of thought. ‘Was I really bait and did Liu Mang really suffer an ambush? Nobody told me this!’ Sun Qian felt that this was suspicious. If troops were dispatched to ambush Liu Mang, it would mean that he, Sun Qian, was abandoned. Sun Qian was one of Liu Bei’s top advisor. It could be said that he was Liu Bei’s trusted subordinate. If he does not know about this, it would mean that he was avoided. Leaving him here for three days meant that he was abandoned. Sun Qian felt a trace of anger.
“General. Do not throw malicious slander. There can never be too much deception in war. How could strategems be considered evil schemes? Look at Ruyin. We are already ready to surrender. How could I still be a traitor?” Sun Qian tried to extract information from the one speaking.
“Hmph. Sun Qian. Aren’t you just sacrificing yourself like a faithful official? Aren’t you using your life to exchange for the victory of this campaign? We will help you accomplish your goal. After all, Milord is defeated. We now have nowhere to go. We might as well fight our way into Ruyin and kill you or die trying! This is to take revenge for our Lord!” Liu Mang yelled righteously.
“Wait. General!” Sun Qian panicked. Although he was not afraid of death, he did not want to have such an unclear death. If the youngster’s words were true, Liu Mang’s may have died at Yingshang. The group of soldiers would not let him off easy. Sun Qian would really become abandoned.
Liu Mang ignored Sun Qian and ordered, “Prepare the catapult! Attack the walls of Ruyin!” The catapults had already been readied and fired the moment Liu Mang’s voice was heard.
*Boom* Sun Qian immediately felt the ground shake.