Chapter 154 - Surrender
Translator: TeamTWO
Editor: Jun
The battle that followed totally entered the rhythm of Shanhai Town.
Out of the 3 leaders of the raiders, their main leader Huoda had died, their 2nd leader Heiqi was trapped at the north gate and their 3rd leader Huo Liu was captured. The raiders at the west gate had no one to lead them. Although they still had a little fight in them, they didn't know what to do, whether to advance or retreat.
Ouyang Shuo didn't give them much time to think. After solving the city wall’s danger, he ordered General Shi to prepare the sword shield soldiers to totally destroy the raiders.
Ouyang Shuo said goodbye to the members before walking down the city wall. As he walked down, the cavalry was resting, and the medical team did simple bandaging for those that were injured. That assault wave went as expected. As they prioritized destroying the siege weapons, however, they had lost 50 odd men.
"Sire!" Seeing Ouyang Shuo, Lin Yi bowed.
Ouyang Shuo nodded and praised him. "You've done well."
"Sire, what do we do next?" Lin Yi was concerned.
"Of course we must end it with a bang and totally destroy them. This time the infantry unit will follow you all out of the city."
Lin Yi was stunned, asking, "Sire, the raiders still have that many people? Why don’t we use the walls to continue to defend?"
Ouyang Shuo shook his head. "They are already afraid, so why would they have the courage to continue attacking. If it happens as I expected, once we launch our final attack, they won't be able to set up any defenses, and running will be their only option. We don't have any time to waste with these raiders. Don't forget that the north gate is still under attack."
"Understood."
After a short rest, Ouyang Shuo personally led his troops and brought 550 cavalrymen and 800 sword shield soldiers out of the city gates.
This time, Ouyang Shuo wasn't prepared to use any tactics like interweaving. He would face then head on. The cavalry was like a flood, and after charging into the raider forces, started a merciless slaughter. The sword shield soldiers followed behind, and under the leadership of General Shi, they were valiant and courageous.
Talking about it, the sword shield soldiers were bored from having to defend all day, now that they had a chance to attack, they could let all the pent-up anger out.
As Ouyang Shuo had expected, Shanhai Town's attack was something the raiders didn't expect. After being subjected to a large number of casualties, the raiders, who were already frightened, couldn't hold on anymore. They didn't hesitate anymore and ran for their lives.
At this time, Ouyang Shuo had other thoughts. He rose on the Qingfu horse and shouted at the raiders that were running, "Put down your weapons, and we will not kill anyone that surrenders!"
Seeing the lord use such a trick again, the soldiers followed with a tacit understanding. "Put down your weapons, and we will not kill anyone that surrenders!" The loud shouts caused their eardrums to tremble.
To speak the truth, these raiders attacking Shanhai Town didn't make any sense anymore. Since the main leader had died, surrendering wasn't a bad option. Hence, without much of a rush, the raiders threw down their weapons and surrendered.
Definitely, there were those stubborn ones who still tried to run. To those, Ouyang Shuo didn't give a chance and ordered the cavalry to attack and kill them one by one. Needless to say, a four-legged creature was obviously faster than a two-legged one, and most of those who tried to run were killed.
Seeing that running was useless, more and more raiders started to surrender, the weapons in their hands were like hot yams, and they threw them quickly onto the ground.
Ouyang Shuo didn't have time to collate all the numbers, leaving the sword shield soldiers to send the prisoners back to the barracks. Ouyang Shuo brought the cavalry back to the city, then crossed the city and went towards the west gate.
Heiqi at this moment still didn't know what had happened at the west gate, trying his best to lead the cavalry to break through. Unfortunately, this cavalry was good at assaulting and not sieging. Added with the lack of siege weapons, it was much harder.
Restricted by the width and depth of the city protection river, the Beihai naval fleet and their Mengchong warships couldn't sail into the river. Hence, only the 4 squadrons from Qiushui Town city protection unit, which included 1 sword shield squadron, 2 bowmen squadrons, and 1 crossbowmen squadron, could defend the north gate. Luckily, there were the 4 acruballistas placed by the God Machine Unit that made up for the difference in numbers.
Both sides were at a stalemate, and neither side knew how to settle it.
At that moment, Ouyang Shuo led the cavalry forces and rushed to the north gate. Ouyang Shuo ordered Lin Yi to bring the troops and wait at the gate while he went up to the city tower.
Seeing Ouyang Shuo, Zhu Hongliang and Zhang Daniu, who were in charge of defending the north gate, were astonished.
Ge Hongliang asked with uncertainty, "Sire, did the west side already win?"
Ouyang Shuo nodded and laughed. "That's right, the threat has been nullified. General Shi is sending all the prisoners back to the barracks. I was worried about your side, so I brought cavalry here to assist."
"That's great!" Ge Hongliang and Zhang Daniu said together.
"Let's go, let me have a look at the raider's cavalry." Ouyang Shuo walked beside the city tower and looked across, only to see 800 odd cavalry hiding out of the range of the bed crossbow, not daring to expose themselves.
As for this batch of cavalry, Ouyang Shuo did not want to let them go. After this huge battle, although Shanhai Town won, they had suffered heavy casualties and needed new blood. These raiders were nice replacements. After the battle, Shanhai Town would upgrade to Shanhai City and would need to expand the army. Since this was so, to get this batch of raiders under their flag was highly suitable.
Ouyang Shuo wasn't bothered about their identity as raiders. In the Shanhai Town army, a large portion of them were raiders. As long as they were paid a salary and after a period of time under military regimentation, the banditry in them would slowly be wiped out. Raiders who liked to do evil weren’ot many. Most just wanted to earn money, and helplessly had no choice but to become a raider.
Ouyang Shuo turned and asked Ge Hongliang, "Director Ge, based on your observations, what is the character of the leader of the raider cavalry like?"
"Sire's meaning is?" Ge Hongliang was surprised.
"You don't need to care what I think. Just say your feelings." This director liked to think too much sometimes.
He hesitated awhile before saying, "Based on my observations, he doesn't look like an evil person."
"Oh." Ouyang Shuo's eyes brightened and he asked curiously, "Why do you say so?"
Ge Hongliang organized his words and said, "From the start, the enemy directly charged for the city gates and prepared to attack. When they found that the strength of our bed crossbows was too huge, however, the leader immediately retreated and didn't continue to attack recklessly. Hence I predict that he cares about his men. Normally, such a leader wouldn't be evil and immoral."
Ouyang Shuo nodded; he couldn't disagree with that.
Ouyang Shuo thought for a while before saying to Ge Hongliang, "Since that is so, let's go talk to this leader!"
"Oh!"
Walking down the city tower, Ouyang Shuo rode the Qingfu horse and ordered the city guards to open the gates and put down the suspension bridge.
Just as Heiqi was contemplating whether to advance or retreat, he suddenly saw the gates that he couldn’t take down open from the inside. As the suspension bridge was slowly placed down, a squad of cavalry appeared at the gate.
Ouyang Shuo led the cavalry across the suspension bridge and over the city protection river untilthey were less than 1000 meters away from the raiders. He shouted to them, "I’m the lord of Shanhai Town, who is your leader? Can he come out to talk?"
Heiqi was shocked, suddenly seeing a young general riding a special horse and wearing exquisite armor. His aura was special.
Hearing his words, Heiqi additionally felt surprised, and a bad premonition rose up from deep within his heart. At this time he didn't dare be too careless and went to the front of the cavalry, shouting, "I’m the leader of the cavalry, Heiqi! I don't know what advice sire has for me?"
Ouyang Shuo nodded, as his reaction wasn't as reckless as a normal raider’s." I can't give advice on anything, but as for the situation on the west side, you aren't clear about it so I can help fill you in."
Heiqi had a bad premonition in his heart. On the surface and in outward strength, however, he didn't show it and shouted, "Hen, what will you say?"
Ouyang Shuo started to beat around the bush and said, "Your leader was killed by my bed crossbow. Not only that, but your entire western forces have already surrendered. You don't need me to say more and you should already know what that means. I don't want any more slaughtering. As long as you surrender, I promise I will accept you in the Shanhai Town army."
Ouyang Shuo's shout caused a stir in the cavalry forces.
Heiqi froze, as the worst outcome had occurred. Of course he wouldn't be scared by such simple words by the enemy, scolding, "Lies. This is only your word, how could I trust it?" Hearing Heiqi's words, the raiders became quieter and started to doubt the truth.
Ouyang Shuo gave a sinister laugh, turning around and signaling Lin Yi.
He understood and ordered his men to send Huoda's head to them.
Seeing their main leader's head, the raider cavalry believed that the troops at the west had surrendered. A feeling of despair rushed into their hearts. As for their troops, even if they wanted to run across the floating bridge, it was impossible. After all, the enemy had cavalry and wouldn't allow that to happen.
Heiqi turned around and looked at his terrified men. They had looks of fear and pain. He gritted his teeth and shouted, "We surrender."
"Good!" Ouyang Shuo was delighted.