Whether the tunnel collapses or not is of no concern to Chen Xi. In seven or eight days, they would have dug into the well Bag had identified. Then, they could send people in to open the city gates, and the cavalry could storm the city, overwhelming the unsuspecting Qiao Rui.
Speaking of cavalry, though Liu Bei's cavalry units had a one-to-one horse-to-rider ratio, their numbers had already exceeded ten thousand. Of course, they were far from the level of wealth and power held by soone like Gongsun Zan, but they were more than capable of overwhelming these central plains warlords. Even Cao ngde was envious, jealous, and resentful of Liu Bei’s cavalry.
Cavalry charges might not always be reliable, but their mobility was undeniable, especially when it ca to disrupting disorganized enemy formations—it's almost like a steamroller!
On the other side, Guan Yu had found a few loud-mouthed individuals to taunt Chen Guo’s commander, Chen Ji, from a distance. Guan Yu had clashed with Chen Ji multiple tis, each ti either defeating him head-on or ambushing him and scattering his forces.
Throughout their westward campaign, Guan Yu had not lost a single battle, regardless of the strategies Chen Ji employed. Liu Ye always managed to turn Chen Ji's sches against him. However, due to the long journey, they had only just arrived beneath Chen Guo’s city walls.
But after traveling with Liu Ye, Guan Yu found himself at a loss. Though Liu Ye could effortlessly see through Chen Ji's plans each ti, he always presented Guan Yu with a pile of counterasures. However, Liu Ye, clearly influenced by Chen Xi, was the kind who wrote down every idea, keeping it for future reference. As a result, Guan Yu was always handed a thick stack of strategies to choose from.
The options were all good, and if Guan Yu had only one to pick from, he wouldn’t have hesitated. But with so many to choose from, his pursuit of perfection made it challenging to select the best one. So, recently, while battling Chen Ji, Guan Yu had also been increasing his knowledge. As soone who read The Spring and Autumn Annals by night, Guan Yu had recently started studying Han history. But Guan Yu had a habit of not reading during the day, instead spending his nights reading by lamplight.
"Ziyang, should we continue attacking the city?" After finishing his morning exercises, Guan Yu, refreshed, looked at Liu Ye, who had two dark circles under his eyes, and asked.
It's true that Guan Yu tended to look down on scholars, but fortunately, he only did so with people like Liu Yan, those so-called refined scholars. Recently, Guan Yu had stopped looking down on Liu Yan as well, mainly because Liu Yan had helped boost Guan Yu’s reputation. Even though Guan Yu wasn’t much of a talker, he would now nod in acknowledgnt when he saw Liu Yan.
As for Liu Ye, who was genuinely capable, it was similar to how Guan Yu had respected Xu Shu in history. Liu Ye had directly won Guan Yu over, so Guan Yu greatly respected him.
"Today, let’s throw sothing different at them. We never intended to capture the city anyway. Our goal is to force Yuan Shu to send reinforcents. If we actually take down this county seat, forcing Yuan Shu to dig in and fight for Jiangling would be troubleso. I imagine that after a month of this, the morale of Yuan Shu's forces at Jiangling must have plumted," Liu Ye suggested, indicating that there was no need to storm the city—they were rely there to cause trouble.
"What are we throwing today?" Guan Yu asked, already feeling a chill. He had witnessed Liu Ye’s mischief and knew this could get out of hand. Ever since they acquired a trebuchet, Liu Ye had only used normal stones on the first day. Every day since, he had been tornting the enemy in increasingly creative ways.
"I’ve had people gather a lot of hornet, wasp, and yellow jacket nests from the mountains—about a hundred in total. These insects are about two inches long. It should be quite entertaining to see what happens when we throw those at the enemy," Liu Ye said, stroking his beard. "Recently, we’ve been short on tung oil, or else I’d have thrown fireballs to harass them as well," he added with a tinge of disappointnt.
"n, prepare to launch what the strategist has requested!" Guan Yu commanded the orderlies.
A dozen hornet nests were flung over the walls, and chaos erupted on the ramparts. The buzzing sound alone made Guan Yu shudder, while Liu Ye continued to watch the scene with great interest.
"It seems that Chen Ji's n lack loyalty and that their morale is so low they’re on the verge of desertion," Liu Ye remarked, stroking his small beard.
Guan Yu remained silent, but inwardly he couldn’t help but grumble, "Who wouldn’t have low morale after being tornted like this? First, there were the rocks, then smoke, then you added dung and so unknown, foul-slling fus. Now it’s hornet nests! It would be strange if morale wasn’t low after all that!"
That day when Liu Ye tried to control the wind and blow the poisonous smoke, it backfired. The wind shifted, and the stench nearly made Guan Yu retch on the spot. Heaven only knew what Liu Ye had mixed in there, but it was so vile that Guan Yu almost lost his breakfast.
It was the perfect opportunity to storm the city. But Guan Yu, covering his face with a cloth soaked in water, charged into the smoke to lead the assault, only for his soldiers to start vomiting before they even reached the walls. That should give you an idea of how revolting Liu Ye's concoction was.
Even now, Liu Ye continued to burn those mysterious, foul-slling substances, hell-bent on torturing the defenders of Chen Guo.
Liu Ye, unaware of Guan Yu’s silent complaints, was still lost in his train of thought, his mind bubbling with ideas.
"Yun Chang, look at those Yuan Shu soldiers on the walls, running around in chaos. Doesn’t it seem like they have no desire to defend the city? It looks like they’re just about ready to give up. Let’s add fuel to the fire," Liu Ye said, suddenly inspired by another idea.
"Trebuchet, change the payload!" Liu Ye ordered loudly.
Guan Yu didn’t say a word. He had already handed full control of the trebuchet to Liu Ye. Who knew what the strategist had in mind this ti?
"Go, bring up a dozen or so chests of money from the supplies. And get so gold ingots and gold beads," Liu Ye commanded Sun Kang.
Soon, dozens of chests of money were brought over. It was clear that these were not just Liu Ye’s funds—so belonged to Guan Yu as well. Guan Yu was curious to see what Liu Ye would do this ti.
"Yun Chang, once you see the soldiers on the walls descend into chaos, lead your elite troops and seize the city. This might be our best opportunity," Liu Ye said, turning to Guan Yu.
"Understood!" Guan Yu responded. Though surprised, he had witnessed enough of Liu Ye’s cleverness to trust him completely. He imdiately ordered his personal guards to prepare.
One by one, the chests of money were emptied into the trebuchet’s basket and flung towards Chen Guo’s city walls, now quiet after the chaos with the hornets. In an instant, it started raining money from the sky. The soldiers on the walls scrambled to grab as much as they could, completely ignoring their duties.
What did soldiers fight for in this era? If not for food, then for the few copper coins they could keep. These n were just regular soldiers, not personal guards. If money was falling from the sky, of course, they’d scramble to grab it!
Clink! A gold ingot hit the ground, and the soldiers, already in a frenzy over the coins, now had their eyes glowing red as they reached for their weapons. Morale, already low due to Liu Ye’s constant harassnt, quickly disintegrated as the Yuan Shu soldiers started fighting amongst themselves.
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