412 The Mantis Stalks the Cicada (1/2)
On the surface, Ouyang Shuo's target was Peng City, but in truth, it was the nearby Su County.
When Song Yi led the troops to save Zhao, West Conquering Army Commander Liu Bang was camping in Dang Prefecture.
Liu Bang sent out troops from the Dang Prefecture, going up north and clearing up the scattered troops of Chen Sheng and Xiang Liang. Then, he went down to attack the Qi Army, destroying Wang Li's forces.
The Wang Li forces around this area were just 150 thousand fringe members.
Following which, he led his troops through the west, where he met Peng Yue and Chang Yi.
The two of them joined hands to attack Chang Yi, but they failed. Liu Bang returned with his troops to Su County were he met the Gangwu Lord and took over his troops. As a result, he increased his numbers to over four thousand.
Hence, Ouyang Shuo needed to face a county with around six thousand troops. Although they did not have high numbers, Liu Bang had a flurry of famous generals by his side.
Xiao He, Cao Can, Zhoubo, Fan Kuai, Luwan, Xia Houying….
A series of names, enough to make one dazzled.
Apart from that was Liu Bang's luck. In history, trials and tribulations filled Liu Bang's road to becoming a ruler, and he was pushed to the brink many times. However, he miraculously survived it all.
One had to say that he had really high luck.
Hence, Ouyang Shuo did not dare act careless. When the troops reached outside of Su County, Ouyang Shuo ordered them to set up camp. Following which, he sent out scouts to investigate the enemy.
In the afternoon, although he did not receive any intel on the county, he received some very surprising news.
The scout reported that east of the county, a player army hid in the forests seven kilometers from them.
This group arrived a little earlier than Shanhai City, and seem to have nefarious intentions on Su County. Ouyang Shuo was impressed. It seems like there were many talented lords; he really could not underestimate them.
Ouyang Shuo ordered solemnly, “Immediately investigate their background!”
”Yes, my lord!”
Before understanding anything about this neighbor, Ouyang Shuo did not dare to make any moves.
Apart from that, Ouyang Shuo summoned Wang Feng and ordered the troops to hide themselves. Within five kilometers of the camp, they needed to camouflage and cover their tracks. They could not let the enemy scout realize their presence.
At nightfall, the scouts submitted a more detailed intel report.
Who knew that the enemy was actually an ‘old friend’.
The enemy was actually Sha Pojun and his two allies, a total of eight thousand men. One had to say that Sha Pojun was really ambitious. He broke away from the Yanhuang Alliance at this time to hunt alone.
He probably received some advice from a genius.
Even so, Ouyang Shuo could become the mantis stalking its prey.
When night fell, the entire army seemed totally invisible. Since they used military grain pills, they did not need to start a fire to cook.
Only the scouts were out there paying close attention to the movements of Sha Pojun's troops.
_Morning of the next day, Sha Pojun camp._
Sha Pojun was well dressed. He looked like he had slept really well; he seemed energized, as he walked out of the tent.
”Lord!”
A general guarded outside the tent and bowed upon seeing Sha Pojun.
This general was built like a cow, with a full beard on his face; his eyes looked like a copper bell. He was Hua Xiong, one of the famous generals during the Three Kingdoms Period, and the only famous general under Sha Pojun.
Hua Xiong was a general under Dong Zhuo during the ending years of East Han, becoming a governor for him.
191 BC, Guandong Army went up against Dong Zhuo, and the Changsha Prefecture Chief Sun Jian killed Hua Xiong.
The Romance of the Three Kingdoms wrote this period of history differently, saying Guan Yu killed Hua Xiong; this story was termed as ‘warm wine behead Hua Xiong’ and was spread down to later generations.
Sha Pojun nodded his head, “All troops proceed, we must take down Su County.”
”Yes, my lord!”
The eight thousand strong elite army walked out of the forest they were hiding in and waltzed toward Su County.
Liu Bang's troops were housed in Su County, and they were monitoring the Battle of Julu. Before the Battle of Julu reached a certain outcome, Liu Zhang would not randomly take the risk to enter the west.
Who knew that not only would they not receive any battle reports, they would instead welcome a huge army.
Based on the settings of the battle, if players attacked the NPC in their same camp, not only would they not gain any battle contribution points, they would also receive punishment.
The most important line would be that they could not receive a single merit point. If their luck was bad, their own camp could even list them as a wanted person, and they would get hunted down.
Undoubtedly, this was a red line.
However, sometimes, some lords would step across this red line for huge gains.
Sha Pojun was one of them.
He gave up the sizeable battle contribution points in hopes of obtaining one or two famous generals. If they could capture and recruit all of the generals around Liu Bang, that would be for the best case scenario.
For this, Sha Pojun had been planning for such a long time.
He tried so hard and contacted many people before he managed to purchase an invaluable ‘Punishment Exemption Gold Medallion’.
After use, one could freely move in the battle map and would not be wanted or punished.
It was only with this gold medallion that Sha Pojun felt no fear. To ensure that he could take down Liu Bang, Sha Pojun had also contacted his two closest allies.
To prevent the others from trying to make their own schemes and plans, Sha Pojun naturally needed to skip past the Yanhuang Alliance.
Truthfully, the position of Sha Pojun in the Yanhuang Alliance was really awkward. Di Chen was obviously split off from him, while Chun Shenjun's attitude was not clear, making him feel totally out of place.