The World Online
Page 413Chapter 413- The Oriole Lurks Behind
Translator: ryangohsf
Editor: Nora
Outside Su County.
Sha Pojun and his eight thousand elites were getting ready to attack the city gates. Who would have known that the city gates would suddenly swing open and let loose a huge army? They were the six thousand Liu Bang troops.
"Right on time!"
Sha Pojun was also a vicious character; he immediately ordered his troops to charge!
"Kill!"
The eight thousand elites were all elite cavalry. On the opposite side, half of Liu Bang's troops were cavalry, and the remaining were all infantry.
Hence, Sha Pojun felt very confident.
Liu Bang similarly unsheathed his Chixiao Sword and hollered, "Kill!"
"Kill!"
The two armies charged at one another outside the Su County walls.
This was destined to be a decisive battle.
The killing shouts spread out through the wilderness, shocking many birds and causing them to fly off.
The commoners in the city were already used to it. As people of a chaotic time, they were already numb to war.
Hua Xiong walked at the front, getting into a fight with Fan Kuai.
Both of them were strong generals. This battle that spanned passed time and space was a really interesting one.
Sha Pojun was also a born soldier; he chose Cao Can as his opponent. The generals under the other two lords chose Xia Houying and Lu Wan. The remaining Zhoubo guarded beside Liu Bang and helped him engage in slaughter in all four directions.
As for Xiao He, he naturally stayed put in the town hall.
The advantage of generals quickly displayed itself on the battlefield.
As the two sides went head to head, apart from Hua Xiang and Fan Kuai, who managed to hold their own, the rest of the men barely hung in there.
Although Sha Pojun’s sub-occupation was general, he could not compare to Ouyang Shuo. When he engage Can Cao, although he was not instantly defeated, he still struggled.
Xia Houying’s opponent was stuck in a particularly dangerous predicament.
Xia Houying was a strong general, and his opponent was only a basic general. How could he compare?
The more terrifying aspect was that the generals under Liu Bang had all activated their specialties. Under the buffs of all the specialties, their combat strength increased by a large grade. It was like they were injected with drugs.
Although Sha Pojun held the numerical advantage, they were unable to claim victory due to their generals being at a total disadvantage.
The battle entered a stalemate.
Just as both sides engaged, outside of the battlefield, a huge army slowly crept onward.
They were not anyone else, but Ouyang Shuo.
Before this had occurred, Ouyang Shuo was still worrying about how to use his four thousand men to take down the Su County. He did not expect the battlefield to experience such a huge change. He did not expect Liu Bang to actually act so rashly either.
If he knew that this would happen, why would he have waited?
In a blink of an eye, a new change occurred on the battlefield.
With a stab of his spear, Xia Houying directly sent his enemy off their horse.
When Lu Wan saw that, he did not back down, and in just five minutes, he similarly killed his opponent.
With that, the morale of Sha Pojun's army plummeted. Especially the five thousand men of the two ally armies. Since their main generals were slaughtered, they were instantly like headless chickens.
When Sha Pojun saw that, he ordered the two lords to personally go to battle, as he struggled to handle Cao Can. As the two lords respected Sha Pojun, they did not dare to reject his demand.
Thanks to this, the allied army barely hung on.
Even so, the morale of Liu Bang's forces soared.
Especially Xia Houying, Zhuo Bo, and the like. They could not find an opponent, so they slaughtered their way through the enemy forces.
If these troops were not Sha Pojun’s elites, they probably would have just collapse right there.
Similarly, Hua Xiong was paying close attention to the situation. In his battle with Fan Kuai, he already held a slight advantage. He knew that at such a time, he had to do something.
At this moment, Fan Kuai’s eyes were already red with bloodlust.
It was rare for him to meet an opponent who was around his standard, making him feel pumped.
When Hua Xiong saw that, he laughed coldly, turning his body slightly to the side to avoid Fan Kuai's killing move. At the same time, he cut down toward Fan Kuai's neck before the latter could react.
With such a huge blade, the outcome could be expected.
Fan Kuai's head flew up and dropped to the ground with a loud peng!
Fan Kuai had died in battle!
"Fan Kuai!"
Liu Bang, who was far away, exclaimed when he saw Fan Kuai fall.
The entire battlefield was stunned.
The morale of both sides immediately dropped by a grade.
One must know that Liu Bang had lost one of his core generals.
"Great!"
Sha Pojun was impressed. As expected from his general, he did not let him down.
"Kill!"
Sha Pojun avoided Cao Can and started to command the army to charge at the enemy. He knew that at this moment, facing off against the other generals held no meaning. They needed to kill the enemy army.
"Kill!"
Sha Pojun's forces used the momentum of the huge victory; their morale climbing up to the sky.
The rumbling noises of the horse hooves stunned the hearts of Liu Bang's army.
"General, let's back off!" suggested Cao Can when he saw the situation.
"No!" Liu Bang shook his head, he was not crazy, scolding, "I want to take revenge for Fan Kuai!"
Fan Kuai ah, he was Liu Bang’s loyal and reliable brother. They had scrapped through so many huge battles. Who would have expected him to die here? The current Liu Bang was far from the cold and ruthless man in history.
"Revenge!"
Zhou Bo, Xia Houying, Lu Wan, and the rest were all on the verge of tears. They had lost a brother who had been through thick and thin with them just like that. How could they feel good?
Cao Can sighed; he could only charge along with the troops.
This battle finally entered its climax.
No matter how hard they tried, Liu Bang's forces were forced back.
Sha Pojun’s elite army was unexpectedly amazing. If nothing went wrong, they would win this battle right here and now.
Thinking about that, a pleased smile appeared on Sha Pojun’s face.
Di Chen, Chun Shenjun, wait and see!
Sha Pojun did not know that Ouyang Shuo closely monitored this entire situation.
"Lord?"
Wang Feng came to Ouyang Shuo’s side, asking if it was time to strike.
Ouyang Shuo was focused on the battlefield, “Let's wait awhile longer."
The battle still had not resulted in heavy casualties.
Ouyang Shuo still did not have the confidence to handle both sides.
He did regret Fan Kuai’s death. However, Ouyang Shuo did not get hot headed. His goal was Xiao He and the Chixiao Sword. As for the other generals, they would not make a huge difference to Shanhai City.
Ouyang Shuo thought about it before he said, “Order a unit to move near the city gate."
He was worried that Liu Bang's troops would retreat back into the city.
"Yes, my lord!"
The slaughter far from them was still in play, and it was getting more and more intense. Liu Bang's troops were falling into an increasingly worse situation.
"Let's retreat, general!"
Cao Can came to Liu Bang's side once again.
When Liu Bang heard Cao Can’s words this time, he did not resolutely decline.
In the end, compared to the loyalty to his brothers, his end goal of ruling over everything was more important.
Liu Bang sighed before he said, “Retreat!"
"Not good, they want to escape, stop them!"
Why would Sha Pojun allow Liu Bang to leave? He did not want to face a siege battle.
Liu Bang's troops were mainly infantry. When fighting, both sides had intertwined with one another, so retreating was not easy. The more they tried, the greater the casualties.
All of a sudden, Liu Bang's army suffered a heavy loss.
At the same time, Sha Pojun ordered for a cavalry force to make a detour to block the city gate.
This time, Liu Bang had no way out.
"Your mother!"
Liu Bang was furious. He personally led his forces to crush the enemy in front of the gates.
Zhou Bo and Xia Houying, one left, one right, covering his sides, as they instantly killed a way out.
Just as he was about to heave a sigh of relief, a general blocked the gates.
It was Hua Xiong.
As people would say, when enemies meet, they would naturally be filled with killing intent.
Zhou Bo and Xia Houying did not say anything; they just charged forward.
Currently, Zhou Bo and Xia Houying were not as strong as they were at their peak of their history. On the other hand, Hua Xiong was summoned at his peak.
Comparing the two, there was naturally a gap.
In this battle, Hua Xiong was undoubtedly the key person.
The battle at the city gate grew more and more intense.
Although Liu Bang's forces had suffered heavy casualties, Sha Pojun's forces were not in a good shape themselves.
When the war just started, the eight thousand men army had already experienced huge losses. At this stage, Liu Bang's army fought like locked up animals, and their killing intent and combat power were shocking.
Only five thousand were left from the eight thousand strong army.
As for the six thousand strong Liu Bang army, they had already lost around half of their count.
The crucial matter was that the battle was still ongoing.
If it was someone else, there might be a chance of surrender.
However Liu Bang would not, he naturally would not surrender to a player.
Both sides went at one another, no one willing to rest.
What they now competed in was a battle of perseverance. Which army could hold on and not collapse in the face of heavy loses?
At the same time, Xiao He, who was in the town hall, could not sit still any longer when he heard the news. He gathered a five hundred strong men and rushed out to help Liu Bang.
Although five hundred was not a lot, it was still an injection of life.
At first glance, it seemed like Hua Xiang would fail to defend the city gate.
The pincer by Zhou Bo and Xia Houying was really deadly.
At the crucial moment, Sha Pojun led his troops over to assist.
This battle really had many ups and downs.
The small city gate became the main contention point of both sides.
Liu Bang had already lost all intentions of taking revenge. At this point, he just wanted to retreat into the city.
Naturally, Sha Pojun did not want all his efforts to be wasted, so he tried his best to prevent their escape. Even though his troops had suffered heavy loses, his goal did not waver once.
To him, even if he used up his entire army to exchange for Xiao He and a few others, it would still be more than worth it.
Hence, Sha Pojun was not afraid to make sacrifices.
If the situation continued to follow its current development, Sha Pojun's victory was imminent.
Now, Sha Pojun was afraid of soldiers accidentally injuring the generals of Liu Bang's army. Especially Xiao He, who was a huge treasure.
Fan Kuai’s death had already pained Sha Pojun.
Unfortunately, Sha Pojun's ambitions were destined to go to waste.
In the midst of the killing, another general in Liu Bang's camp died. He was another one of his good brothers—Lu Wan.
After he learned that Lu Wan had died, Liu Bang's eyes turned fully red. Fan Kuai and Lu Wan were his two closest brothers. He had not expected that both of them would actually die today.
Being provoked like this, Liu Bang could not keep cool anymore. At the same time, the Chixiao Sword in his hand emitted a bloodthirsty glow.