Chapter 391- Yanhuo Yaonie
Translator: ryangohsf
Editor: Nora
Since more than half of Leizhou had fallen and Yanhuang Alliance had no intentions of helping out, one of the lords stepped forward. He was the lord of Yanluo County, Yanhuo Yaonie.
Yanluo County was also a grade 3 county, located in the south-middle portion of Leizhou. It was situated right next to Leizhou Bay. Compared to the other three grade 3 counties that had fallen, Yanluo County was temporarily okay due to its geographical location.
Lord's Manor, Meeting Hall.
As the master, Yanhuo Yaonie sat on the lord's seat.
On the left of the hall, there were five lords. Their territories were located in the mid-south region of Leizhou. Amongst them, there was a man around twenty years old, who looked a little anxious. His name was Po Zuozi.
Po Zuozi's territory was known as Tanmu County.
Based on the attacking speed of the south troops, in less than two days, Tanmu County would be taken down.
Hence, Po Zuozi was the most supportive and eager about this lord’s gathering.
On the right sat two men with big backgrounds. The one in front was an old man with a round face; he looked merciful. His name was Bao Shuya, a subordinate of Yanhuo Yaonie, and his most important civil servant.
In truth, although his ability was not good enough to manage everything, he was still a capable official. The reason he lacked fame was because of Guanzhong, who appeared during the same era.
Living under his shadow, Bao Shuya would naturally appear a lot duller.
Name: Bao Shuya (King rank)
Dynasty: Spring and Autumn (Qi)
Identity: Yanluo County Prime Minister
Occupation: Civil Servant
Loyalty: 80
Command: 45
Force: 30
Intelligence: 70
Politics: 70
Specialty: Righteous (Raises honesty of territory by 40%), Promotion of talent (raises development of talents in territory by 25%)
Evaluation: With him at the helm, everything will be safe. Forming miracles and good relationships with people, he becomes known.
Besides Bai Shuya was a middle-aged general dressed like a scholar. He looked really cold and handsome; his face was like a sword. His appearance would instantly inspire fear.
This middle-aged general was Caogui.
When talking about Caogui, one would definitely have to raise up the historical famous text, Caogui War Theory.
Name: Caogui (King rank)
Dynasty: Spring and Autumn (Lu)
Identity: Yanluo County city protection division major general
Occupation: Advanced General
Loyalty: 80
Command: 75
Force: 45
Intelligence: 55
Politics: 70
Specialty: Motivation (Raises troops morale by 30%)
Evaluation: Advisor-type general. Makes use of his knowledge to fight tough battles and to take unexpected victories.
Although Caogui was weaker compared to Luo Shixin and other generals, he was still an exceptional general. The harder to understand aspect was his fortes—strategy and beating stronger enemies.
Bao Shuya and Caogui, one civil servant and one general; these two were Yanhuo Yaonie's trump cards.
Yanhuo Yaonie was a very low-profile person. Even though he possessed two historical characters in his territory, no one outside knew.
Only at a crucial moment was he willing to expose his trump cards.
When they saw these two people, the five lords who had come over felt a little more confidence.
In their territories, they also had one or two historical characters. However, it was highly difficult to find their names in history books.
Some were totally unrecorded in history.
The most famous one was called Bai Lishi. He was the son of Bai Lixi, also a general.
Bai Lixi was an official that Qin Mu used five black sheepskin to exchange from the market. This famous official helped the Qin Country become one of the five giants during the Warring States Period.
The famous one was Bai Lixi but his son?
"Guys." Yanhuo Yaonie looked around at everyone," Shanhai City is coming with bad intentions. It's highly crucial that we unite if we want to get past these troubling times."
The lords all nodded in agreement.
"Brother Yaonie, what idea do you have? Just say it out and we will follow you."
"That's right, just say it."
"Great!" Yanhuo Yaonie was delighted, “Since all of you trust me, I'll say it directly. We must form an alliance. Making use of our teleportation advantage, we will attack and catch the enemy off guard!"
The moment his words landed, the hall fell into a frenzy.
"Brother Yaonie, forming an alliance is okay. The problem is based on your plan, we will gather our forces together. If we do so, what will happen to our territories? Without an army defending them, we will be taken down in seconds." The lords were also smart; they were not dumb.
"Stupid!"
The one that spoke up was not Yanhuo Yaonie but Po Zuozi.
Po Zuozi stood up emotionally and loudly said, “Don't you guys know the simple theory that if the lips die the teeth will feel cold? If we can't destroy them, what is the use of a dead city?" He looked at one lord and shouted word by word," What use is there?"
The lords were unable to give him a reply.
"Let me ask you. With your forces, do you have confidence in defending against them?"
The meeting hall fell silent once again.
Out of everyone present, none of them would dare to say that they could go up against Shanhai City's army.
Think about it, in just one week, they had taken down ten territories. Such a bloody battle reward and achievement could let all the lords present accept this cruel reality.
Seeing that the lords were all deep in thought, Yanhuo Yaonie said once again, “The situation is as such. We should all just accept the facts. We can only give our all and hope for the best."
"I agree!"
"Agreed!"
With this, the alliance was formed.
Following which would be the specific battle plans and strategies.
In this aspect, they needed Caogui. As the major general of the city protection division, he could also take the role of commander of the alliance army.
The combat strength of all six territories together totaled close to forty thousand.
Their target was the south side troops.
6th month, 2nd day, Tanmu County.
Under the leadership of Fan Lihua, the south side army finally arrived at Tanmu County.
Only to see that there was just a small amount of guards on the city walls.
"General, there seems to be too little enemies."
Fan Lihua frowned, as she realized that something was up.
"Lets not care about that and just attack!"
"Yes, general!"
Since disembarking into this land, the south side army had swept ahead and claimed everything in their path. The successive victories made all the soldiers, including their general, underestimate their opponents.
Even though Tanmu County looked a little weird, Fan Lihua did not take it to heart.
The siege went smoothly.
In less than an hour, the vanguard squad claimed the city wall.
Fan Lihua frowned, “There's something wrong. Order the troops to be wary!"
"Yes, general!"
After they entered the city, they actually found no one on the streets.
This was quite usual.
During every siege, the residents would hide.
The clattering of the horse hooves was really ear piercing.
The moment the whole army entered the city, things changed.
Suddenly, a secret door appeared on the city gate they had already taken down. From it, many troops swarmed out and shut the gates.
"No good, we are trapped!" Fan Lihua was alarmed and shouted, “Form up, defend!"
It was too late.
Only the sight of all the streets swarmed with many soldiers greeted them.
The worst part was that a large number of archers had appeared on the roofs.
The arrow rain pelted straight toward the army.
In an instant, they suffered heavy casualties.
"General, what should we do?"
"Why are you panicking? Sword-shield soldiers cover and destroy the shop boards, form a defensive formation and just defend."
Fan Lihua would not dare to hide in the shops. If the enemy set these places on fire, the entire army would be lost.
"Yes, general!"
The 1st division was undoubtedly an elite force; they did not panic.
The sword-shield soldiers formed up to block the arrows, while the archers at the sides shot back. The strong bow and hard crossbows showed their strength. Although the enemy had the height advantage, the 1st division managed to go head-to-head with them.
The archers on the roofs were shot and corpses rolled down one after another.
The threat from the roofs were slowly negated.
As for the other soldiers, they bravely rushed to the shops at the side and pulled down boards.
Fortunately, there was a grain shop at the side filled with grain. The soldiers shifted bags of grain onto the streets to form a simple defense.
Relying on this, the 1st division actually miraculously survived.
Caogui sat on one of the arrow towers in the city gate and looked at the south side troops, “As expected from an elite army, they can adapt in such a situation."
In a situation where they did not possess an absolute advantage, Caogui did not dare to fight them head-on.
If not, who would lose was not that certain.
The war was now in a stalemate.
However, everyone knew that this was just temporary.
Fan Lihua stood behind one of the wooden boards. She shook her head in regret, as this was all her fault. She did not expect that in a short few days, the enemies would create a regional alliance.
Making use of the teleportation formations, the enemy had caught them off guard.
Luckily, the 1st division were not scrubs. As long as they fought normally, they stood a chance.
Fan Lihua's trump card was Luo Shixin's division.
As long as he led the 2nd division of the Dragon Legion over, this problem would be solved. Not only that, the alliance would be in big trouble.
With that, the mid-south portion of Leizhou would have totally fallen.
Fan Lihua was waiting; Caogui was waiting too.
Although the alliance army had an advantage and twice the numbers, Caogui did not have the confidence of killing them all.
Caogui was also waiting for reinforcements.
Yanhuo Yaonie had contacted other territories to pull them into the alliance. Then, they would teleport over to Tanmu County.
Both sides were in a race against time.
Luo Shixin's forces needed at least two days to rush over.
Could Yanhuo Yaonie’s reinforcements arrive within these two days?
All of this was unknown.
The news that the south side troops were trapped had spread all around Leizhou.
This victory came at a really opportune time.
The invincible image of the Shanhai Army was immediately destroyed.
The Battle of Leizhou experienced its biggest change yet.