Chapter 54

Pingling City, Yuan army

Jizhou army

Cloud Ladder Cart

Yan Liang

Chunyu Qiong, Wen Chou, Zhang He, Gao Lan, Liu Bei, Guo Tu, Feng Ji, Xu Ziyuan, Guo Gongze, Yang Jian

Ju Yi

deputy general

general

Guo Gongze

Yang Jian

Zhang Liao

Tian Feng

Yan Liang

Chunyu Qiong

Wen Chou

Zhang He

Gao Lan

Liu Bei

Guo Tu

Feng Ji

Xu Ziyuan

Le'an Commandery

Jinan Commandery

Qingzhou

Xuzhou

Pingling City

Jizhou

Yuan Shao army

Jizhou army

Cloud Ladder

Cloud Ladder Cart

Ox Head Mountain

Wen Chou's Main Camp

Tian Feng, together with Yan Liang and Chunyu Qiong, had already arrived at Wen Chou's main camp.

Le'an Commandery and Jinan Commandery

Qingzhou map

oil lamp

Now we need to produce glossary list after all lines. Format:

Ju Yi sat composedly under the commander's flag, leading the thirty thousand troops of the Yuan Shao army's vanguard camp as they slowly closed in, and at a glance he fixed his eyes on the purple-faced burly man on the city wall wielding a Spring and Autumn Great Blade, his aura extraordinary.

Ju Yi smiled and said to a deputy general beside him.

That man's aura is extraordinary; he must be the chief defender of Pingling City. He looks like a fine fellow, too bad he's run into me, Ju Yi, today.

The deputy general, his fighting spirit high, said to Ju Yi.

"General, let me lead a charge first."

Ju Yi waved his hand calmly, then said again.

"I heard that Guo Gongze's nephew is a good-for-nothing who lives off food and drink; before his death he had many useless fair-weather friends, one named Yang Jian, who has been shouting in the camp all night that I, Ju Yi, should be embarrassed, so let him lead the assault on the city."

Yang Jian, standing nearby, heard this and his heart skipped a beat; although he had indeed said those words, he usually bragged like this all the time, didn't he?

How could someone still have told this old coot Ju Yi about it!

If I go up now and get killed, I won't even be able to brag anymore; I'm likely to lose my head today, and the beautiful wife I was just planning to marry will end up being taken by someone else.

Yang Jian held a spear, cold sweat continually pouring down his face.

"General, I, a petty man, spoke rashly after drinking last night; please don't hold it against someone as insignificant as me, Yang Jian."

Ju Yi's gaze drifted to the man before him; his piercing stare almost pierced Yang Jian's innermost heart, and Yang Jian, sweat pouring, fell with a thud to his knees before Ju Yi.

"Those who retreat before the formation shall be cut down! Someone..."

Yang Jian hurriedly kowtowed; after several heavy knocks his forehead was nearly split open.

"General, I'll lead the men up, I'll lead them up, please don't kill me..."

Ju Yi nodded solemnly with a stern expression, then coldly laughed and said.

"Go on; your wife, children, and elders at home—I will naturally have someone look after them properly afterward."

At this moment Yang Jian cursed Ju Yi countless times in his heart, yet he still had to keep kowtowing to Ju Yi in thanks; unwilling, he followed a thousand-man unit as it advanced forward.

Zhang Liao on the city wall saw the two thousand-man squads detach from the Yuan Shao army, and ordered the soldiers on the wall to ready the bed crossbows and stone cannons.

"Nock the arrows, load the stones; when they come within two hundred paces, I want you to smash them all to pieces—none of these men's first charge shall survive!"

As Yang Jian led his few soldiers steadily closer to the city base, just as he raised his shield, heart in his throat, a sky-full of stones and arrows from the siege towers came pouring down upon them.

Yang Jian, at the forefront, didn't even have time to utter a cry before a stone shattered his skull and brains sprayed out; under the city defenders' overwhelming firepower, not a single man of that thousand-man squad survived.

Ju Yi secretly felt his heart race; such defensive strength was indeed not something that could be easily taken.

The forces that Guo Tu had cultivated in the army were thus dealt heavy losses by Ju Yi's covert stare and bold gall; the few junior officers in the vanguard camp who had once clung to Guo Tu fell silent as cold cicadas.

Thereafter Ju Yi, his expression stern, gave the order.

"Someone, surround it leaving one gap, continuously rotate troops to launch feint attacks back and forth; I want to see how many stones and arrows this Pingling City can muster."

"Have the Cloud Ladder Carts and siege towers ready; prepare to assault before the meal. Once we take Pingling City, I'll let you all goof off for two days."

……

At Oxhead Mountain, Tian Feng had already arrived with Yan Liang and Chunyu Qiong at Wen Chou's main camp.

The Yuan Shao army's main camp now filled the mountain base, like a white long river, cutting off the road between Lechuan Commandery and Jinan Commandery.

Through the night Tian Feng summoned the generals Wen Chou, Yan Liang, Chunyu Qiong, Zhang He, and Gao Lan, holding an oil lamp as he carefully examined a rough map of Green Province.

This was hand-drawn by the Yuan Shao army's scouts before the battle, of course it cannot compare to the products brought by Liu Bei's modern technology.

"Gentlemen generals, Pingling has now been besieged by our lord; we here face an endless stream of Liu Bei's reinforcements—our responsibility is indeed great."

"Sir, just say what you plan; our Jizhou army fears none of Xuzhou's rag-tag troops."

Wen Chou, with a solemn face, said to Tian Feng.

Tian Feng straightened his bent waist, then sighed: "Actually, before leaving Pingling I had already proposed that our lord send a senior general to lead elite troops to raid Xuzhou; if Liu Bei were attacked from front and rear by our army, he would certainly be unable to attend to both ends."

Zhang He rose and walked to the map, then suddenly realized: "In that case, we could not only take Green Province, but Liu Bei might not even be able to hold onto Xuzhou."

Tian Feng looked at Zhang He, whose strategic vision far surpassed the others, and nodded approvingly.

"It's a pity Guo Tu opposed it and dragged Feng Ji in to echo him; I and Xu Zi yuan and the others simply cannot change our lord's mind."

The several men's expressions grew somewhat gloomy; the hot-tempered Chunyu Qiong even slammed his palm heavily on the table before him。。

"That dog Guo Tu deserves to be hacked to death with a single blow!"

"Now we occupy the advantage of terrain and timing; the topography of Mount Funiu has been strictly defended by our over eighty thousand troops, and the relief forces from Lechuan Commandery can forget about passing through here."