gnovel Chapter 46 Zang Ba
Chapter 46 Zang Ba
On this day, the atmosphere in the Juyi Hall of Taishan Dazhai was lively.
Zang Ba sat on a chair covered with a tiger skin, drinking heavily, with a kidnapped wife in his arms.
"Boss! Great news!"
A scout rushed in excitedly.
"Cao Cao, the Minister of Works, has sent a secret letter and generous gifts!"
The scout presented a letter and several heavy boxes.
The box was opened, and it was filled with gold and silver jewelry, dazzling to the eye.
Zang Ba laughed loudly: "That old fox Cao Mengde never comes to our hall without a reason. Tell me, what does he want me to do?"
He opened the letter, glanced at it, and a disdainful smile appeared on his face.
"He told me to send troops to attack Li Zhao in Qingzhou."
"They say that Li Zhao performed some kind of miracle in Qingzhou, deceiving the people and making them all confused. He's a heretic."
"If I can conquer Qingzhou, he's willing to recommend me as a cavalry captain and even give us half of Qingzhou's wealth and provisions!"
Upon hearing this, the henchmen in the hall immediately had their eyes light up.
"Qingzhou? I've heard that place is incredibly wealthy now!"
"Yes! I heard that even the horses there eat millet! And the locals eat dry rice every day!"
"Boss! Let's do it! We're practically starving in this backwater! Let's go to Qingzhou and rob a bunch of thieves, that'll be enough for us to eat and drink for years!"
Zang Ba was also somewhat tempted.
Although he didn't believe in miracles, he believed that Qingzhou had money and grain.
Moreover, he firmly believed Cao Cao's statement in his letter that "Li Zhao's troops are mostly new recruits and are no match for him."
In his view, how could those peasants who farmed the land compare to these heroes who licked blood from the edge of a knife?
"good!"
Zang Ba slammed the wine bowl on the ground and said with great bravado.
"Pass on my order! Gather ten thousand brothers! Let's descend the mountain!"
"Let's go to Qingzhou! Get rich! Rob grain! Rob women!"
"roar--"
A wild, beast-like howl echoed through the Hall of Righteous Gathering.
……
Three days later, at the border of Qingzhou.
A large contingent of over ten thousand people marched in.
Their clothes were a jumbled mess, and their weapons were a mixed bag. There were broadswords and spears, as well as hoes and clubs.
The group was completely undisciplined, noisy and chaotic, like a flock of ducks going to a market.
But these ducks are man-eating ducks.
Zang Ba rode a tall, magnificent horse at the head of the procession.
He looked at the boundless Qingzhou Plain ahead, his eyes filled with greed.
"This place is so flat! There's not even a place to hide."
Zang Ba curled his lip.
"With this terrain, our Taishan soldiers could easily scatter them with a single charge!"
He turned to Sun Guan, the second-in-command beside him, and said:
"Old Sun, do you think these Qingzhou soldiers are stupid? We're practically right under their noses, and we haven't seen a single one!"
Sun Guan also looked disdainful.
"They must be terrified. I heard that Li Zhao is just a weak scholar who fooled these people by pretending to be a ghost."
"He's probably already wet his pants by now that we're here! Hahahaha!"
The bandits burst into laughter.
They didn't take the Qingzhou soldiers seriously at all.
In their view, this trip was just a way to make money.
However, their laughter soon came to an abrupt end.
After they crossed a small hill, an open space came into view.
At the edge of the open field, an army stood silently in formation, waiting for them.
The number of people is not large, only about three thousand.
They weren't wearing heavy iron armor, but rather uniform leather armor.
Instead of spears and swords, each of them carried a strangely shaped wooden box.
That was the Divine Machine Battalion led by Taishi Ci.
"Is that all the people?"
Zang Ba was stunned for a moment, then flew into a rage.
"Is Li Zhao looking down on me? Sending three thousand men to their deaths?"
He raised the large sword in his hand and swung it forward.
"Brothers! Charge!"
"Kill them all! Loot Qingzhou!"
"Kill them!"
Ten thousand bandits from Mount Tai, like a flood bursting its banks, charged toward the Shenji Camp's position with strange cries.
Although they lacked discipline, their ferocity as desperados was quite terrifying.
If it were an ordinary army, it would probably have been thrown into chaos by the time it faced such a charge.
But the Shenji Battalion was no ordinary army.
They stood motionless, like a group of cold-blooded statues.
Taishi Ci stood at the front of the formation, coldly watching the approaching bandits.
Three hundred steps.
Two hundred steps.
One hundred and fifty steps.
"Raise it!"
Taishi Ci gave the order.
Three thousand Qingzhou repeating crossbows were raised in unison, aimed at the crowd in front.
One hundred steps.
"put!"
"Boom boom boom boom boom—"
The rapid, resounding bowstrings instantly echoed through the sky, like the music of death itself.
Thirty thousand short arrows, like a black cloud, carrying the howl of death, covered the bandits charging at the forefront.
"Puff puff puff puff puff—"
The sounds of arrows piercing flesh filled the air.
The more than one thousand bandits at the forefront didn't even have time to scream before they were instantly turned into hedgehogs.
They collapsed as if they had hit an invisible wall.
Blood instantly stained the earth red.
The bandits behind were stunned by this sudden attack.
They had never seen such a dense rain of arrows.
Even the government army's powerful crossbowmen had to reload after firing a volley!
Who shoots like that in a row?
Before they could even react...
"Put it on again!"
Taishi Ci's cold voice rang out again.
The soldiers of the Shenji Battalion skillfully pulled the lever.
Another thirty thousand arrows were unleashed.
More than a thousand more people have fallen.
In just a few breaths, the bandits of Mount Tai lost nearly three thousand men!
The originally surging crowd was abruptly cut off.
The momentum of the charge came to an abrupt halt.
Fear began to spread in the hearts of the bandits.
This isn't a war; it's a massacre!
They suffered heavy casualties before they even got close enough to touch the enemy.
"What...what the hell is this?!"
Zang Ba was also terrified.
His proud warriors of Mount Tai were as fragile as paper in the face of these wooden boxes.
"Retreat! Retreat now!"
Zang Ba knew that if they continued charging, all ten thousand men would perish here.
He turned his horse around and tried to escape.
However, at that moment...
Two cavalry units suddenly emerged from the woods on either side.
On the left is Zhao Yun's White Horse Cavalry.
On the right are Guan Yu's cavalry with swords.
The two cavalry units, like two sharp knives, plunged fiercely into the chaotic ranks of the bandits.
"Zhao Zilong of Changshan is here! Those who surrender will not be killed!"
"Guan Yu is here! Who dares to fight!"
Zhao Yun's silver spear danced, while Guan Yu swung his Green Dragon Crescent Blade.
Two fierce generals, each capable of defeating ten thousand men, moved through the bandit ranks as if they were nothing, stirring up waves of bloodshed.
The bandits of Mount Tai were completely routed.
They threw down their weapons and fled in all directions, crying and shouting for their parents.
Zang Ba was also scattered by the chaotic army.
In his panic, he only wanted to escape back to his old lair in Mount Tai.
But he hadn't run far when he felt a gust of wind behind his head.
He instinctively turned around to look.
A red-faced general, riding a fiery red warhorse, caught up with them like a god.