Battle Royale of the Sinners

The Red Hare jogged back to the west cliff. Lu Bu had lost his motivation to continue fighting in this battle, so he left the cleaning up jobs to his subordinates again.

He looked toward the battle at the wall. It seemed to be over already after the Imperial soldiers had noticed the arrival of another force. The soldiers on the wall gave up and surrendered while the troops below the wall also shouted and begged for their lives.

Lu Bu shook his head. These men were pathetic to give them his attention.

'Where is their leader on these insects?'

Lu Bu darted his eyes left and right, searching for someone who stood out from the rest. Seeing that everything around him was nothing but corpses, a deep frown appeared on his face.

'Don't tell me, I've killed that scum already?'

He had not realized it yet. The man with the decorated armor who Lu Bu cleaved into two earlier was Wang Kuang. The governor of Henei was slain before anyone was aware of his identity.

While Lu Bu looked around the corpses as he had nothing else to do, he sensed the familiar aura from the north. He turned his head toward the direction where Zhang He and his men stationed.

'That aura again. The awakening process isn't over yet?'

'I see. He isn't awakening. He's simply growing from this battle.'

'I have to spar with him after this. This battle is too boring. My hands are still itching for a proper fight.'

...

...

From a distance away, Zhang He and his 10,000 men disengaged from the combat. They withdrew back from the battlefield the moment they had noticed the movement from the west cliff.

He had to retreat and avoided Jinyang Army. Had they stayed, they might have been mistaken as Imperial soldiers and caused unnecessary friendly combat.

After giving spaces to Lu Bu and the others, Zhang He ordered the perimeter sealed to cut off the Imperial soldiers' path to escape. During the process or organizing a new formation, he witnessed Jinyang Army strength in a war. He watched the combat scene in shock as their horsemen were stronger than he had imagined.

At first, Zhang He thought they would be similar to the Imperial Heavy Cavalry unit that he had seen in the past. Contrary to his impression, they displayed overwhelming power, discipline, teamwork, and their commanders' leadership.

What terrified Zhang He the most was the existence of the lone horseman who had charged into the enemy formations alone. Because that person cleaved the square formations of several battalions in half, the armored cavalries had it easy turning the panicking Imperial soldiers into mincemeat.

'They're completely different from us. Their horses were well equipped with armors. Their men even wore full-set of bronze mails under those Xiangnu clothes.'

Zhang He also noticed the similarity and the difference between their horse charge and his army maneuvering. Jinyang Army did not utilize the horse charge tactic by ramming their horses first and killing the enemies later. They thrust and swung their polearms to protect the front of their horses, allowing their partners to continue running forward without stopping.

The horses sometimes rammed into the standing dead bodies or injured soldiers from time to time, but they rarely collided with a living soldier.

The eyes of Zhang He glittered as he gained enlightenment from seeing the action of the elites.

'I'm not at a level that I can call myself a first-rate general yet! I'm nothing but a third rate wannabe!'

'I will never stop learning! I will never stop improving!'

'My army can do better! They have to be more discipline. Their equipment has to be forged! My sergeants are still inexperienced. My soldiers still lacked training.'

'How can I call myself a legend if I can't turn my soldiers into legends!?'

A new fire had been kindled in Zhang He's heart.

While his morale was increasing, the routed soldiers of the Imperial Army ran toward their direction.

Because Zhang He and his men lined up in a straight formation, covering all exit from the valley, the fleeing men despaired after seeing such a scene.

"We surrender! Please don't kill us!"

"Please let us live! We won't fight anymore!"

"Save us!"

…

…

Zhang Yang managed to track Zhang He's troops to the slope where they rushed down the mountain. He planned to charge down to chase after Zhang He Army as well, but the earthquake and the appearance of another unknown army stopped them on their track.

The governor forgot to order his men and observed the battle in shock. The army in Xiangnu clothes destroyed the Imperial Army like they were nothing. The infantries and arrows could not do anything to the horsemen's armor or the bronze armors of the horses. Like a wave, they simply charged and broke all formations, creating a chaotic scene.

By the time the Xiangnu horsemen reached the east cliff, the Imperial Army had turned into scattered mobs, running around in a panic.

The majority of the survivors attempted to run away toward the north, only to run into the ambushers earlier which formed a line formation in waiting.

These routed soldiers threw away their weapons and kowtowed, asking to surrender without being asked. The lone red-horse rider's killing intent and his power showcase terrified them to the point that they did not want to fight anymore.

"S-Sir?" Mu Shun called Zhang Yang, snapping him back from his trance, "What should we do now?"

While his face was still white as a sheet, Zhang Yang answered by instinct, "We'll return the main army. Abandon those men and report everything to His Majesty as soon as possible!"

Zhang Yang swallowed his pride and decided to abandon all of his properties as he could not see a way to win against these forces.

"B-But, will we get punished?" Asked Mu Shun again.

"I don't think so! These raiders are from Xiangnu tribes! It is obvious now that Zhang Jiao and Xiangnu tribes are in league together! They are the rebels that we have to eliminate before our country is destroyed!"

Zhang Yang looked at Zhang He and his men with hatred. If it were not because of these ambushers, they would not be in disarray and would not have lost.

'We'll regroup at Nie County. Then I can get my revenge after we have destroyed Julu and Zhang Jiao!'

The 30,000 heavy cavalries left the battlefield to the north without provision. They hoped that they could resupply at Nie County, which located further north of here. The main army of the Emperor should have arrived at the county already.

…

…

Ju Shou stood on top of Shangdang northern city wall with a perplexed look. The siege just now was dangerous.

When he led his conscripted troops to the northern gate, Zhang He told him that he would take all main forces to the east gate to ambush the enemies. He told Ju Shou that there was a path to the top of the east cliff which they could gain an advantage point to rain arrows or charge down the mountain.

Ju Shou did not have this information beforehand, so he thought that Zhang He made an excuse to flee from the city. Although he doubted the young general, Ju Shou allowed him to go with the horsemen as he had learned from his scouts that the reinforcement was already here. The city would not have fallen even if he was short-handed.

Who would have thought that Zhang He did not desert the army, but he contributed significantly in this battle? The horsemen rained arrows onto the unprepared troops and crippled the reserve forces of the Imperial Army, forcing them to siege without proper siege weapons.

Relieved that Zhang He did not abandon him and his men, Ju Shou concentrated on commanding the newbies to fend off the enemies.

Even though the Imperial troops were underprepared, they were still a threat to the rookie defenders. The conscripted soldiers never had military training, so they awkwardly fought with their enemies. Thirty percent of the defenders were either shot by the enemy arrows or killed by the climbing soldiers within two hours after the combat had started.

At that point, Ju Shou was depressed that the soldiers on the wall would start deserting the army soon if nothing had changed.

Fortunately, the gate managed to hold from the battering ram, and the wall withstood the oncoming soldiers by the time when the lurking reinforcement finally decided to jump into the fray.

Jinyang Army was efficient with their work. In less than 30 minutes, they crushed all battalions of the Imperial Army and turned them into useless mobs.

Zhang Yang and Wang Kuang's soldiers on the wall were also aware of the changes. They immediately surrendered as soon as they lost the hope to win this fight.

"My lord, all enemies outside the wall has surrendered. We are awaiting your instruction."

A sergeant reported the current situation to Ju Shou with a smile.

Ju Shou turned around to look at the sergeant. He had traces of fresh wounds and blood all over his body.

'It must have been a hard fight.' Ju Shou thought.

"Stripe their armors, weapons, and clothes. Open the gate and guide them inside the city. Don't forget to invite our reinforcement to our welcome banquette."

The eyes of this civil officer still locked on the lone rider on a red horse. He was staring at the northern area where Zhang He was at.

'That should be the grand commander of Jinyang Army. He's simply a monster.'

Lu Bu had left a terrifying impression on Ju Shou. The image of a single warrior destroying everything in his path was beyond his comprehension and logic. Furthermore, the menacing aura coming from Lu Bu also frightened the garrison troops on the wall.

'I hope we can be allies forever. I don't want to fight against someone like this!'

…

The cleaning process went on until the sunset, and the result of the battle arrived in Ju Shou's hands.

The rookie garrison force suffered 40% damage from the brief few hours of combat. Out of 30,000 mercenaries, only 18,000 of them survived in one piece. The rest either died or crippled for life.

Zhang He's 10,000 light horsemen returned in full number, which shocked Ju Shou. They had suffered light injuries from stray arrows and spears, but after a few weeks of resting, they should be in a complete condition again.

Similar to Zhang He unit, Jinyang Army did not have any casualty. Even if they had one, they would not report it to the higher up as the entire squad might be punished by Lu Bu for being weak.

The total number of surrendered soldiers was 25,000 men. The initial number was over 50,000 men. However, half of them was either crippled from the combat or was a part of Shangdang noble clansmen, so Ju Shou put them out of misery.

These remaining innocent prisoners would be converted into Shangdang defense force later to replenish the dead garrison troops.