Ch52 - Sheng Jing Pass

After listening to this sentence, Jing Shao’s originally worried expression gradually turned into a foolish laugh, and he hugged the person in his embrace. “That’s not easy to say; who was the one who wanted to divorce me in the beginning?” Feeling reluctant now? But he didn’t dare say the last sentence out loud. 

“If you divorce me, it would be perfect timing; I can marry you into the Marquis’s family as a wife.” Mu Hanzhang swatted at Jing Shao’s head with the feather fan in his hand.

“En, that wouldn’t be too bad either.” Jing Shao moved closer to kiss him.

“In your dreams; as if I would want to take you as a wife.” Mu Hanzhang avoided the kiss and stood up. “You eat too much and you’re also lazy – what can you help with if you marry in?” With that, Mu Hanzhang picked up the little tiger at his feet, turned around, and walked out airily.

Jing Shao was stunned for a long time. Really, Jun Qing was trying to flip over the heavens! He unexpectedly dared to say that his own husband was “lazy and ate too much”! Thus, he lifted his feet and chased after him. He was prepared to teach his Wang Fei a proper lesson on respecting his husband. He only made it a few steps, however, when he unexpectedly bumped into the left and right protectorate generals, who had come over to discuss setting up camp. Jing Shao could only curb the smile on his face and solemnly go back to the center tent. 

—

After Zhao Meng departed with the troops to Sheng Jing Pass, Jing Shao ordered the Shu army to stand by and be ready for any news from Tiger’s Teeth Pass. Jing Shao would take the remaining 20,000 people as well as the rations, fodder and equipment, and station them 30 li away from Sheng Jing Pass.

Sheng Jing Pass was located in the mountains, which towered with precipitous ridges on both sides of the pass. The road was narrow and steep. A high wall had been built at the narrowest part of the road. The thick and black brick wall was as high as ten zhang, and had countless arrow embrasures; many people could vaguely be seen milling around on the wall. The heavy wooden gate was firmly shut and settled deeply under the door opening. The setting sun could hardly shine through and only through one or two rivets was there occasionally a sparkle of cold, clear light.

It was already late. Zhao Meng planned to set up camp and rest for the time being. Tomorrow, he would attack the gate. He had just stopped his horse when the closed gate unexpectedly rumbled open. The cavalry on the front line immediately tightened their grips on the lances in their hands. After waiting for a long time, however, still no one came out.

“General, beware of any traps.” The officer next to him whispered a reminder.

Zhao Meng frowned and took out the first brocade pouch from his clothes and threw it to the officer. “Read.”

The young officer quickly took out a letter from the brocade pouch which only contained these words: “An open door holds deceit; a cornered enemy, no need to seek.”

The young officer’s voice was very loud and clear, and several deputy generals and military officers around him heard the words very clearly. They couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration – as expected, the military advisor was supremely clever in his schemes! 

Zhao Meng snorted coldly and shouted towards the gate, “Southwest traitor, you coward! Hearing that the army was coming, you must have been scared out of your wits. We’ll directly open your door to greet you!”

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When Zhao Meng saw that it wasn’t some great general who had come out, he said to everyone, “Who is going to go fight?”

“This small officer is willing to go!” The young officer who had just read the plan that had been in the brocade pouch raised his weapon and urged his horse to charge forward with his legs.

The enemy deputy general also sped up, and the two war horses galloped like the wind. “Dong!” With a sound, the silver spear and the steel mace clashed. Sparks flew in all directions, but because the horses were going too fast, the men were only able to make contact once before flying past each other. They quickly turned their horses around and rushed forward to attack again. This particular deputy general sent by the southwest army wasn’t very good at martial arts, and was soon suppressed by the young officer.

“Kill!” Zhao Meng lifted his hand and roared, and the already impatient cavalry soldiers rushed forward one after another. The call to “Kill” echoed in the air for one moment, and the southwest army on the other side also attacked head on with their weapons. Because of the narrow road, there weren’t many soldiers who could rush to the front. Looking down from the gate tower, one could only see the dark mass of the army that occupied the space between the two mountains in the shape of a long dragon. The dragon tail was still, and only the dragon’s head extended out slightly. 

It wasn’t long before the southwest army started to retreat. Only then did Zhao Meng discover that after the small group exited the gate of Sheng Jing Pass earlier, they hadn’t moved more than ten zhang away from the high wall, so it was naturally now quite easy for them to escape. It seemed that this was premeditated, so Zhao Meng hurriedly ordered his men not to pursue them.

Before the dust and smoke even disappeared, the gate of Sheng Jing Pass was closed once again. Zhao Meng looked at the bodies outside the gate and felt a faint fire in his heart. The southwest army ran after just this little scuffle. It was as if, with all the strength and enthusiasm he had just mustered, he had only hit cotton, and he felt uncomfortable all over.

For two days in a row, the southwest army teased them like this. They let out a small group of soldiers and horses to stir them up, and then ran back quickly. A couple of times was fine, but it had now happened too many times. Not only was Zhao Meng extremely enraged, the soldiers also began to become restless. They were trapped on this narrow mountain road. They couldn’t walk any further and they also couldn’t fight to their hearts’ content. They were holding back too much!

“General, who cares what kind of plot they have? We have 50,000 people and horses. Can’t we still successfully attack this ten zhang tall wall?” the captain of the cavalry said furiously. 

“Yes, general, what are we waiting for?” cried the fiery little officer.

Just as he spoke, another southwest army group came out to fight. Zhao Meng spat out, “Damn it! Kill our way in for Laozi! ” With that, he waved his broadsword and headed for the leader of the group.

The long-handled broadsword spun half a circle in the air and slashed straight at the man’s neck. The man raised his sword to block it. Zhao Meng was as big and strong as a mountain, and he pressed the sword down unwaveringly. “Whoosh!” The blades slid against each other with an ear-piercing sound that was drowned out by the loud cries for blood and the sound of horse hooves. After just a brief moment, blood splashed on the ground; Zhao Meng had already beheaded the leader. For a moment, the spirits of the army soldiers surged. Unable to wait any longer, Zhao Meng waved the sword in his hand, flinging off the beads of blood that clung to its surface, and roared, “Charge!”

“Kill–” The dense mass of soldiers rushed forward. The yellow uniforms of the southwest army were soon submerged in a sea of black as the long dragon turned into a snake that rushed in. When the cavalry rushed in, the infantry wasn’t able to catch up, and with a “boom”, the gate of Sheng Jing Pass that had initially been open was suddenly closed. The soldiers who couldn’t keep up with the general were shut out, about ten zhang away from the wall, and arrows suddenly rained down from the tower. 

The soldiers without heavy armor were powerless to defend against the arrows. The infantry captain who was left outside the gate saw that the situation wasn’t right and quickly ordered a retreat.

But Zhao Meng, who was trapped inside the pass, had barely rushed forward a few steps when he realized that something wasn’t quite right. By the time he realized it, it was already too late There was a split second of silence around him before the mournful caws of crows echoed through the mountains; what awaited him inside the pass was a long, long mountain road on which stood rows and rows of a massive military force.

—

“Reporting –” Jing Shao, who was drinking tea with the military advisor, suddenly heard the drawn out sound of someone reporting in. The messenger jumped off his horse, rushed into the center tent, and knelt in front of Jing Shao with a plop. “Reporting to the Commander, General Zhao and the cavalry are trapped inside Sheng Jing Pass and unable to escape; the infantry was left outside the wall, and are being attacked by a hail of arrows!” 

“Southwest bastard!” When Jing Shao heard this, he lifted his hand and threw down his cup. He had instructed ten thousand times not to underestimate the enemy. This Zhao Meng; as soon as he went out, he dropped the ball. Jing Shao quickly called for the leader of the camp and ordered 200 cavalry soldiers to immediately stand by out front.

Jing Shao quickly put on his silver armor, and with a sword on his waist and a long pike in hand, he walked towards the exit.

“Xiao Shao!” Mu Hanzhang called out worriedly. When Jing Shao turned around, Mu Hanzhang reached out to help him tie his helmet on properly. “Be very careful!”

“You watch over the camp and wait for me to come back.” Jing Shao kissed him on the cheek, turned around, and lifted the curtain. The commander-in-chief should remain in camp, but there were no other generals available now, so he had to go. 

Mu Hanzhang followed him out. Jing Shao had already mounted his horse. Xiao Hei reared up and neighed. Jing Shao took the 200 cavalry soldiers with him and vanished.

—

Like a silver bolt of lightning, the silver armor and black steed cut through the long, thick dragon.

“What’s the situation?” Jing Shao reined in his horse and asked the infantry captain, who was standing at the front. 

“General Zhao has been in there for half a day; there were loud cries of fighting from inside earlier, but now there’s no movement.” The Infantry captain was very worried.

Jing Shao frowned and looked at the high wall in front of him. When he had fought in Sheng Jing Pass back then, the Southwest King used this trick of catching turtles in a jar. This time, Jing Shao hadn’t let Zhao Meng take all the cavalry precisely because he had been worried that Zhao Meng might fall for the same trap. At that time, Jing Shao didn’t have any cavalry and couldn’t rush to the rescue, so he had to take a desperate risk and fight at Tiger’s Teeth Pass to take a shortcut and save Zhao Meng. Hao Dadao had now gone ahead to break through Tiger’s Teeth, Crane’s Beak, and in any case, Zhao Meng had managed to drag this out for two days, so Jing Shao had been able to make it.

“It’s a great honor to see His Highness Cheng Wang today!” On the tower, a general dressed in brass armor said loudly, “Your Highness’s general is already besieged, and will be captured in a moment. Your Highness only needs to withdraw your troops…”

“Bow and arrow!” Jing Shao looked coldly at the man talking to himself on the city tower and reached for the bow which his subordinate handed to him. He pulled the bowstring back into the shape of a full moon. 

“Whoosh ~” When the general who had been talking for half a day saw Cheng Wang draw the bow, he quickly dodged to one side. The arrow scratched his face as it whistled past; he didn’t even have time to be fearful when the second arrow was already flying over right after the first one, and he was so startled that he could only squat down pathetically.

“Battering ram!” Not giving the people on the wall any time to breathe. Jing Shao raised his hand and signaled to start the siege with the battering ram.

Arrows swiftly rained down from the high wall.

“Shield!” Jing Shao waved his hand again, and a group of soldiers with square iron shields that had been prepared long before quickly came forward. They lined up on both sides of the battering ram and lifted the iron shields to protect those carrying the ram. They rushed towards the gate at a uniform pace, which immediately made the people on the wall panic. When it was first set up, the gate of Sheng Jing Pass had a fatal flaw: it was set too deep into the wall. Once people entered the gateway, arrows wouldn’t hit them. 

“Boom! Boom!” The sound of the ram striking the gate shook everyone’s hearts, like fear knocking on the door. Jing Shao didn’t attack the gate like other military leaders, who would ram the gate and set up scaffolding at the same time for the army to scale the wall. Instead, he had the cavalry step back beyond the range of the arrows, and calmly watched as the rain of arrows fell down in front of them.

“Boom!” The gate was suddenly rammed open. The soldiers carrying the battering ram rushed in with yells of “Attack!” and charged at the southwest army which was trying to withstand them behind the gate.

“Charge!” Jing Shao squeezed his legs around his steed and rushed forward like a sharp arrow, the cavalry also rushing in behind him. The gate was destroyed and couldn’t stop the rush of soldiers. The cavalry went in first and killed all the people in their way, and the foot soldiers poured into Sheng Jing Pass like the tide.

— 

“Reporting –” The soldiers who were patrolling nearby urged their horses back quickly and rushed into the center tent. “Reporting to the military advisor, thousands of troops are charging towards the camp, and are already less than ten li away!”

“What?!” The right protectorate general, who was currently teasing the little tiger, slowly got up at those words; all the elite troops had moved out, and there were now less than 20,000 people left in the camp, around 20% of whom were miscellaneous workers or servants, and almost no cavalry. Even if they could wipe out those thousands of troops, they would surely suffer disastrous casualties.

“Military advisor, you stay with Xiao Zuo for a while. Don’t take even half a step away from him!” The right protectorate general put on his armor and immediately went out.Ch53 - Desperate