Battle Royale of the Sinners

August 1st, 190 A.D.

It was still summer in Xiapi. Rainfall was frequent during this period, and river tides were higher than the usual.

Yuan Shao and Tian Feng prepared everything to welcome Cao Cao's massive army.

Yuan Shao's 100,000 soldiers did not station only on the wall top or behind the city, but they also stationed their elite cavalries and infantries in front of the gate.

On each wall, Yuan Shao placed ten cannons on top, while the rest of the cannons were hidden with Tian Feng ambush force.

As for the other ten, Tian Feng took them to protect a dam, north of Xiapi.

Tian Feng hid his 25,000 infantries in a forest to the north, directing water from Yi River and building a dam. He had created a flood trap, which could be used against Cao Cao Army.

Xiahou Yuan was with the garrison forces outside of the city, protecting the east wall. As they were mercenaries, Yuan Shao wanted them outside to be their meat shields.

Yuan Tan was infuriated with this setup, but he had to accept it since it was his father's order.

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Cao Cao Army and Sun Jian Army arrived at Xiapi County. They stared at the defensive wall and barricades, which Yuan Shao and Tian Feng had prepared to welcome them.

They splitted their troops into four armies. Each was responsible for sieging each wall.

Sun Jian and Cheng Pu took 25,000 men and Cao Cao's ten wheeled cannons with them to attack the west wall. Huang Gai and Han Dang commanded the same number of troops, but they were in charge of the south gate.

Cao Cao stationed his men at the east wall, while Pu Jing would take care of the north. All 100,000 soldiers and 40 cannons were ready.

Pu Jing used his souls as scouts, checking the defensive formation. Soon, he found Yuan Shao's cannon crews.

Pu Jing: "Mengde, they have cannons. Don't move in the siege weapons."

Cao Cao: "Ho? Do they have the same weapons? Did they build it? I thought it is one of your world's creation."

Pu Jing: "One of our intels said that Yuan Shao traded something with Zhang Tong. I think this is the thing they traded."

Cao Cao: "Ah, Zhang Tong again. Forget it. Miaocai, how is the preparation over there?"

Xiahou Yuan: "All cannon crews have been bribed. Too bad I can't contact the other crews outside the city, but all cannons here have been disabled."

Cao Cao: "See? Nothing to worry about. Say, what are they doing outside the city again?"

Xiahou Yuan: "Tian Feng took men to the northern river. Guo Jia said that they are using a floodgate tactic, so the north troops will face some troubles."

Cao Cao: "You hear that, Putin?"

Pu Jing: "Aye. I'll keep my heads up."

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At the first day of the siege, Cao Cao had his men constructing trebuchets and ballistae. He did not reveal his cannons for now as they were vulnerable to the soldiers before the wall.

Had they charged at the cannon crews, all cannons would be destroyed.

Sun Jian and Huang Gai followed Cao Cao's order and set up the same gears for the battle. All four front approached the garrisoning troops with their weaponry.

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East Gate

Xiahou Yuan commanded all 10,000 soldiers below the wall to not fire any arrow or move to retaliate against Cao Cao. As they were his troops, none of them bothered questioning their superior's decision.

On top of the wall, Yuan Shao men bellowed, "Use the cannons! Fire at the enemy's siege weapons!"

The cannon crews nodded and loaded the weapon. However, Xiahou Yuan had already bribed these people, and they had already switched out all gunpowder and replaced with random ashes.

Because of that, none of the cannons fired a single round. Each of them released an odd smell of ashes.

"What happened!?"

The crews still pretended that they did not know anything.

"Something is wrong with our cannons, my lord. It won't shoot!"

"What!?"

All commanders rushed to the cannons and tried to fire a volley. However, none of them realized that the gunpowder was not here.

"We've been conned by Zhang Tong!!"

This was what Guo Jia had planned. It served as back-up stratagem just in case their campaign failed.

Had they failed to take down Yuan Shao, they would provoke a misunderstanding between two forces, ruining their alliance. Thus, it would give Tong an enemy while Cao Cao could recuperate from his losses.

Still, Guo Jia did not want Cao Cao to fail.

The next plan was in motion. Cao Cao brought his ballistae and trebuchets closer to the wall. Without the interference of the defenders, they got into an ideal firing range.

All of the siege weapons aimed at the top of the wall, ignoring the soldiers below the wall.

"Fire!"

20 Trebuchets and ten ballistae released their arrows and stones.

Xiahou Yuan bellowed, "Raise your shields and move forward 30 paces!"

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

As Xiahou Yuan's soldiers marched forward while they covered their head, stones and logs slammed into the wall. Some of the rocks hit the garrison soldiers on the battlement, killing them from the impact.

Still, a few stray rocks also hit Xiahou Yuan Army. They could feel the impact through their iron shields, and the clanking noise of metal clashing resonated throughout the battlefield.

Xiahou Yuan complained to Cao Cao in the clan chat.

Xiahou Yuan: "Mengde! Take it easy, will ya!?"

Cao Cao: "I've already held back. Did you see that I haven't brought out our cannons?"

Xiahou Yuan: "Screw you! Just let us switch sides right now and use your cannons, dammit!"

Cao Cao: "Not yet, Miaocai. Pretend to fight for a couple days. Using cannons here will ruin the city and the precious cannons on the wall. I need the county walls and all tools they bought from Zhang Tong."

Xiahou Yuan: "You're too greedy!"

Cao Cao: "Hahahaha!"

For three hours, Cao Cao kept using his range advantage to wither down the number of defending soldiers. Meanwhile, Xiahou Yuan did not move further. He kept staring and defending against stray bullets from the trebuchets.

On the wall top, Yuan Shao's men braced the bombardment. Several soldiers inside the city brought woods and logs to the battlements, building their catapults to counter Cao Cao.

Late afternoon, East Wall managed to build five catapults, and they were ready to be used against Cao Cao's siege weapons. However, Cao Cao withdrew his troops to establish a camp, which frustrated the defenders.

Xiahou Yuan was summoned back into the city along with all of his men at dusk. As Yuan Shao wanted his men to rest, he ordered Xiahou Yuan to protect the east wall tonight.

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At the west gate, Sun Jian did not have the same luxury as Cao Cao. The defender ground forces launched a counter-attack against Sun Jian Army, which turned into a battle between 10,000 defenders against Sun Jian's 25,000 men.

In the first hour, the 10,000 soldiers zoned the wall area, guarding the perimeter of 200 meters before the gate.

Sun Jian's soldiers did not take out their cannons or used the trebuchets. He probed them with his archers, testing their patience.

His plan worked. After a hail of arrows, half of the ground force charged at the archers.

Sun Jian did not approach the wall like Cao Cao. Instead, he ordered his men to keep retreating backward, drawing the enemies away from the wall.

As a result, 5,000 charging infantries isolated themselves from the other battalions.

Cheng Pu and Sun Jian pincered the stray troopers with their light cavalries, routing them with ease.

Sun Jian's troops suffered casualties of 1,000 men from the pincer attack, but the garrison lost the 5,000 soldiers.

As elites, Sun Jian did not try to pursue or attack the wall again. He reorganized his force and made camps, recuperating his men's stamina and health.

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The south gate was the most eventful one for the first day of combat.

At the beginning of a siege battle, Yan Liang rode outside and challenged a general from the sieging army.

Huang Gai accepted the challenge, and they fought on horseback.

Both elite generals exchanged 70 blows in the duel, and they called it a draw as they were too tired to continue.

Before Huang Gai could leave, Yan Liang turned around and threw a knife at the opponent. The sharp throwing knife got his back!

Fortunately, Huang Gai's imperial armor was dense enough, and the weapon did not harm any critical organ.

Huang Gai turned around and retaliated by throwing his secondary spear at Yan Liang, but it killed his opponent's horse instead.

In a panic, Yan Liang shouted, asking for help from his men. Ten thousand footmen rushed at Huang Gai and his troops right away.

Han Dang led his troops forward after Yan Liang had cheated the duel. Ten thousand armored infantries rushed at the oncoming defenders, which both sides clashed.

Amid the chaos, Yan Liang and Huang Gai managed to return to their men alive, but both were infuriated by the opponent.

Huang Gai violated Cao Cao's order and commanded his men to bring out the cannons.

On the other hand, Yan Liang got to the top of the wall to check his cannons. He found out right away that the crews did not use the right gunpowder.

All crews on the south wall were arrested and replaced with his men. They managed to secure real gunpowder and repair the cannons on the wall.

Within an hour, Yan Liang's men interrogated the cannon crews and found out about the bribery and a possible sabotage scheme of Guo Jia. Then, Yan Liang sent this discovery report to Yuan Shao in the city, while he manned a cannon to fight against Huang Gai Army.

Huang Gai Army brought their ten cannons forward, and both sides started firing their first rounds of bombardment at the same time.

Huang Gai's cannons aimed at the wall, while Yan Liang's weapons targeted the crowd of soldiers.

The thunderous boom of hot weapons deafened everyone at the south of Xiapi. County wall was slammed by cannonballs, while the soldiers on the field were squashed by mysterious black balls as well.

The battle of south Xiapi lasted till dusk. Both sides lost 10,000 men in a day, but Xiapi southern wall was no longer considered a proper defensive wall anymore.

A few sections of the wall crumbled to the ground. As if someone took a few bites out of the wall, several half-circles were left behind from the cannon shots. The weak parts collapsed, leaving a half-breached hole behind.

Huang Gai and Han Dang were also not in good shape. As their soldiers were shot by many cannon shells, their morale was low, and the generals did not think they could fight with their full potential in this battle anymore.

As such, Huang Gai sent his apologies to Sun Jian in the clan chat and informed him about his failure.