Book 52 Chapter 8 – The Battle of Luonan (1/2)
Book 52 Chapter 8 – The Battle of Luonan
Translator: Foxs' Wuxia
Twenty carts, which could block the ene cover for their own archers, which were nickna up the public square inside the south Changxia [suht
This kind of war vehicle was shaped like a trailer heels, the top was like a ‘人’ [man] character, covered with pre-treated rahide toto it
Additionally, there were over a hundred ‘toad carts’, which, actually were ordinary hand-operated wheelbarrows to transport goods What made them special was that these carts were fitted with boards to protect the soldiers pushi+ng the carts against arrows The carts were loaded with mud and stones, which they could directly push into the trenches, and thus substantially increasing the speed in filling the trench
The organized civilians continuously delivered sand, rocks, and dirt bags to the Changxia Gate and piled the for the time of the operation where the warriors would use the wooden donkey carts as cover, to transport the bags outside the city to fill the trenches
The machines with the ht-crossbow ht over froears, as long as they could cross over the trenches, would have huge destructive power against the enehters were lined up in the public square, divided into three teams Each team had one thousand lance-and-shi+eld-wielders, fifteen hundred archers, and five hundred cavalrymen Everybody was full of hope in this attack, hence thewith stored-upwas like a substitute for Kou Zhong, an unequalled sy Xuanying, wang Xuanshu, Ma Chang, Duan Da, Shan Xiongxin, Bing Yuancheng, Ba Yegang, Song Mengqiu and Xu Ziling were congregating on the Changxia city gate toatching for the movement of the enemy forces outside the city from the distance
Other than the arate about a li ahich was built on high elevation on the sht, built on the flat ground, relying only on deep trenches and wooden fence for defense However, if they could not capture the highland caht send the enemy troops in surprise attack, then there would easily be a danger of being defeated and dispersed
wang Xuanying sighed and said, “If we had known earlier, these hills could be shoveled to the ground first, then tonight’s battle would be much easier”
Perhaps because he was still discontented over the loss of Hulao to this day, wang shi+chong frowned and scolded him, “What’s the use of that comment? Think of ways to capture these three ca Xuanying had no choice but to keep hiscame to report that on the north side, the Anxi [peace and happiness] Gate, on the east side, the Shangdong [upper east] Gate, and the Jianchun [building springtime] Gate, the assault teams were ready These three units had three thousand men each, their equipxia Gate, the main assault force Only their scale was about a third of the main force; Their objective was contain said, “We are not in a hurry to seize the camp and kill the enemy, our tactic is to weary the troops, to put their troop disposition in chaos”
None of the generals did not accept the order and agreed Filling the trenches was the first step They would crush the eneuard the filled trenches
Spanning across two thousand paces outside the Changxia Gate were two layers of deep trenches, reaching up to two li long, separated by approxi wide, one zhang deep The second layer of trench was not continuous at all, but there were gaps about a zhang or so wide, which would enable the enemy to cross to the other side of the trench
On the outside perih wooden arroers, around each toere sand and dirt bags piled as high as a uard behind the sand and dirt bags day and night With the deploy machines and heavy arrow machines, it became a solid point of defense, combined with the three camps’ ability to be each other’s reinforcements, in term of defense, it was indeed impossible to fault
Four of the arroere located at both ends of the long trench, two at each end, surrounded by ring-shaped short trenches to protect the inseparably close with the left and right, two ca’s south side, the Changxia, Dingding and Houzai’s external access roads were heavily sealed off by the trenches and the battle towers
Under the illu sun, they could see frequent activities in the vicinity of the ene the peri, was locked up by the ene sharp wooden stakes Behind the blockade line, on the high places along the river bank were arroers and stone throwers Inside and outside the city, the air was thick ar-could-happen-any- asked, “Ziling, what is your thought thisshi+chong’s side, atching the eneest in scale – with rapt attention, he calate has a ‘Lu’ character on it, which opponent’s general does it represent?”
Shan Xiongxin answered, “That should be Li Yuanji’s trusted aide, Great General Lu Jun’e ThisArh the enereatto the east with Li Yuanji, he is the Zongguan [ Yuanji’s aruard on the south side, from this, we can see that he attaches i sht ill fill only the first layer of trench, and then copy thes formation to hold fast to the second layer of trench to resist the enee between the two trenches, the enejun has any wise opinion?”
Ma Chang , “On our left we have the natural barrier of the Yi River, hence we only need to deal with the eneht coht, we could then deploy a thousand- the cavalry fro troops, and the cavalry fro-the-trench army’s fifteen hundred y is absolutely safe”
Everybody nodded and gave their approval wang shi+chong also thought that there should be no problehtfall ill start the offensive to give Li Yuanji a bit of color”
Everybody agreed The ed the city, it was only this ’s co felt evento do, otherwise, if Luoyang fell, everything would be finished
The banquet was attended by Xu Xingzhi, Chen Changlin, Xuan Yong, Luo Qifei, Bu Tianzhi, Chen Laodu
After three rounds of wine, Luo Qifei was the first to give report to hi, “That kid, because he could not resist the lure of a popular pleasure house prostitute – was bewitched by her This wo around the casino, i hi Yushan’s e sum of money to buy hi, if he served Xiang Yushan, riches and honor in the future will be endless, thereupon he is host by the crafty scoundrel” [Note: dictionary says the ‘ghost’ was ‘ghost of soer devour others’]
Letting out his weird laughter, Chen Lao Yushan himself Beautiful women plus money and valuables, really not many people can resist the temptation”
Luo Qifei said, “That kid confessed that upon seeing hoe seized total victory in the Battle of Liangdu Gorge, he felt deep regret, but he was under threat, hence he had no choice but to harden his scalp to continue Thispeople Shaoshuai, please punish me, otherwise Qifei will find it difficult to feel peace incal people improperly, rather, there are not many people available, so you have no choice but to shuffle the previous ordinary ency This ent, and if there is any doubt in the future, we can consult with Xu Junshi+ and listen to his views”
Ren Mei kid knows us too well, plus in Pengliang, the remnants of his defeated clique are still many, fortunately, I also know hiuarantee that we can get rid of Xiang kid’s people, and shut down all pleasure houses and ga kid”
Xu Xingzhi said, “Xiang Fa for many years, their influence is deep-rooted, moreover, it is closely related to people’s livelihood Therefore, although this matter is imperative, weroutine [idioreeing, Kou Zhong asked Luo Qifei, “Who is the person who coerce Liu Zhicheng?”
Luo Qifei replied, “He is a businesscheng, Liangdu and Lanling, three cities He does not belong to any gang or society, but has always , two gangs He supplied the carrier pigeons to Liu Zhicheng at regular interval, after the carrier pigeons were released, none ever return, even Zhicheng, that kid did not knohere the carrier pigeons were flying”
“Will Liu Zhicheng be willing to cooperate with us?” Bu Tianzhi asked
Luo Qifei nodded and said, “He just made a poisonous oath [this is literal translation, I can’t think of any English equivalent, but I think you knohat ithis sincere cooperation He only asked us to spare his dog life”
Kou Zhong cheerfully said, “One day his life is still in our hands, this greedy-for-life-afraid-of-death fellow has no choice but to listen to us obediently We need to figure out clearly how to proceed, and then we’ll use hi said, “But I ah to fool Li shi+ji, it must be accoence that Li shi+ji’s spy gathers will corroborate the information, only then will Li shi+ji be convinced without any doubt”
Kou Zhong said, “Supposing Li shi+ji is convinced that we are going to send our troops upstrea, hoill he react?”
Chen Changlin said, “If I were him, I would choose leisure over hard work, only when our troops are at the city walls will I use th to cut off our retreat part, to destroy our navy shi+ps, and then confront us head-on With Li Zitong as the exaainst our flywheel boats”
Kou Zhong nodded and said, “That is certainly the most brilliant tactics that we can coet any convenience His granny’s bear, what could be the better strategy to deal with hihed tenderly and said, “Didn’t Shaoshuai say so, certain place being attacked must be rescued; what could be the place that Li shi+ji cannot but to rescue?”