Chapter 47

The feudal lords of the Eastern Han were rolling up their sleeves and rubbing their hands together in preparation for the first historical warfare, while Chu Tian was still on his way to provide aid to Shangbi Village.

The war between the Han Court and the Yellow Turban Army would take place in December, but it was only mid-September now. Chu Tian still had time to renovate his territory and train his armies.

“Before the historical warfare begins, I’ll upgrade to a Level 2 town as soon as I can. That way, I can strive to become a Level 3 town as soon as the historical warfare ends, or even a Level 1 city. The rewards for being the first feudal lord to upgrade his territory to a Level 1 city won’t be bad.”

Chu Tian’s strategy was pretty simple. Upgrade to a Level 2 town before the historical warfare began, then prepare for the war with all his might and fight for the first city in the world.

The feudal lords beyond the custom had large numbers of pastures, which gave them the advantage of owning cavalries. However, in terms of population, regions within the custom had the upper hand.

“Master, we’ll arrive at Shangbi Village soon. Please allow me to lead the cavalry and conduct reconnaissance at the front.”

Hua Mulan’s voice pulled Chu Tian back to reality.

He might as well settle the trouble brought on by the Level 3 gold quarry at Shangbi Village before contemplating a matter that would occur two months later.

In preparation for “Riot of the Yellow Turbans”, Chu Tian had already thought of conquering other towns of the same status. Conquering a town meant doubling the size of his own territory.

Due to Shangbi Village’s need to mine gold, Chu Tian had to mobilize captives and labor forces from other villages to be involved in the mining. By now, the original population of 500 had increased to 700.

The person guarding Shangbi Village was the silver-level hero, the wandering fighter Wu Shang, alongside 50 Level 1 light infantrymen and 200 local soldiers of Shangbi Village.

There were two wooden arrow towers at the entrance of Shanbi Village.

Wu Shang was heavy-hearted. He wasn’t a professional commander and the military forces in his hands could hardly make ends meet. The combat power of an ordinary light infantry was only slightly higher than local soldiers.

Now, there were more than 500 enemies besieging Shangbi Village, among them about a hundred foreign people with various kinds of weapons in hand. Their individual combat power was surely stronger than a Level 1 army of the same grade.

It was 200 against 500, and the defense works of Shangbi Village were also very simple and sloppy, consisting only of wooden fences. Due to the imminent arrival of the enemies, Wu Shang could not manage to set hunting traps around the village. The enemies could destroy the wooden fences anytime and barge into the village.

“It only took them this small handful of people to conquer Shangbi Village? Our numbers are almost greater than all the villagers in there.”

The mayor of Lingyan Town, Li Er from the Great Tang, was riding on the back of a warhorse, observing the defense works of Shangbi Village but hesitating to charge forward.

However, based on his short time observing the scene, Shangbi Village did not seem to have a powerful military force. It was, at most, used to protect the village against bandits and small troops of Yellow Turban soldiers.

“Lead the light infantry and local soldiers and attack.” Li Er from the Great Tang ordered a silver-level commander.

Although he had brought about a hundred free players, the players might not be as daring as the professional soldiers in charging forth. They cherished their lives a great deal more.

The commander of Lingyan Town, a red-tasseled spear held in hand, officially launched his attack on Shangbi Village, alongside 100 light infantrymen and 300 local soldiers.

A troop of 400 soldiers seemed very crowded to Shangbi Village, who had a population of only 700, blocking the village entrance.

The light infantrymen in the front rows held their shields high and gripped ring-hilted knives in their hands, pushing their way forward.

In the middle were archers with longbows in their hands, ready to oppress the two wooden arrow towers and the soldiers who were guarding the village entrance.

Fortunately, the entrance of Shangbi Village was narrow, so the army could not spread out at once, allowing only about a few dozen people to attack at once.

Wu Shang stood on the wooden arrow tower, shooting arrows at the soldiers who were marching into the village. A light infantryman collapsed under his arrow.

However, there were too many enemies attacking Shangbi Village at once. At the back, there were more light cavalry and foreign people serving as backups.

It was extremely tough to try to secure Shangbi Village with the meager military forces that he had at present.

If it was a seasoned general or a shrewd advisor guarding Shangbi Village, they might be using various tricks and tactics to prolong the battle until the auxiliary forces from Xia Town arrived, but Wu Shang’s intellect wasn’t high. Instead, he was fixed in the mindset of safeguarding Shangbi Village at all costs.

The two parties were tangled up in a back and forth struggle at the village entrance. 50 light infantrymen from Shangbi Village were hiding behind the wooden fences, blocking the enemies who tried to barge into the village with arrows and longspears.

“Block the village entrance firmly!”

Under the command of Elder Zhang of Shangbi Village, the villagers shifted the timber and building stones from the warehouse and blocked the village entrance, preventing the enemies from entering easily.

The villagers of Shangbi Village had attained a popular sentiment of 90 points due to Chu Tian’s aid in getting rid of the horse thieves. Not only would they not rebel at this point, they would even assist the guards proactively in resisting the enemies. This was why some ancient cities would rather perish than surrender in battle.

“The people of this village are stubborn indeed. It didn’t take us half as much effort when we previously conquered the Level 3 village.”

Li Er from the Great Tang was very impatient when he saw his attack being hindered.

He would be thoroughly ashamed if he couldn’t manage to conquer a Level 2 village with the capacity of his Level 1 town. In the future, the guild members might not be convinced to work for him.

“Squad of wandering fighters, climb over the wooden fences at the side and kill your way into the village. In the future, you will get a share of the gains from the gold quarry,” Li Er from the Great Tang promised a squad of free players from Lingyan Guild.

The wandering fighters of the Eastern Han were similar to assassins, experts and prodigies that wandered various nations during the warring era of ancient China, people who possessed relatively strong individual combat techniques. Correspondingly, the ninjas and wanderers of the Dongying region were very different.

Approximately 20 free players whose occupations were wandering fighters unsheathed their longswords upon hearing that they would get a share of the gains from the gold quarry. Under the command of their squad leader, they leaped across the wooden fences and killed their way into the village.

The local soldiers guarding Shangbi Village noticed the squad, but they were unable to defeat the players, who were well-equipped and had acquired several techniques.

“Sir, a squad of foreign people have killed their way into the village and are setting fires. Shangbi Village cannot stand it at all!”

Elder Zhang found Wu Shang, who was trying hard to secure Shangbi Village.

Wu Shang was kind of anxious, declaring, “I’ll go deal with them!”

Wu Shang was a silver-level wandering fighter, but he had encountered the combined attack of several players and the circumstances weren’t optimistic. The moment he left the wooden arrow tower, the attack force at the village entrance became even more ferocious.

“We’ll breach this village very soon,” Li Er from the Great Tang stated with a content smile.

The Level 3 gold quarry was about to fall into his hands. At that time, he would dispatch a thousand labor forces to exploit the gold quarry.

Right as the combined forces of Lingyan Town were ready to conquer Shangbi Village once and for all, a small troop of cavalrymen appeared at the edge of the battlefield, instilling a sense of insecurity in the allied troops of Lingyan Town.

“Chairman, the auxiliary forces of Shangbi Village have arrived!”

The reconnoiters of Lingyan Town weren’t imbeciles. The cavalry that had shown up near Shangbi Village was most likely its auxiliary troop.

It stirred up a commotion among the allied army of Lingyan Town. The cavalrymen and free players who were yet to join the attack could not help but turn around to look. A commander had turned up with thirty to forty light cavalrymen, which posed a serious threat to the route of retreat the allied army of Lingyan Town planned on using.

“There are only forty light cavalrymen, nothing to panic about!”

However, Li Er from the Great Tang suddenly became disconcerted, as the opponent did not seem to be as simple as just a cavalry of forty.

On the horizon, about 200 infantrymen and archers appeared.

The allied army of Lingyan Town finally got anxious, their formations becoming a little scattered at this point.

“Calm down! We have the advantage of numbers; we still stand a chance to win!”

Li Er from the Great Tang tried his best to maintain the troop formations, aware of how important formations were in the era of cold weapons.

Nonetheless, something despairing happened. Behind the 200 professional soldiers, local soldiers who were screaming, flags in their hands as they blotted out the hills and the lands.

Chu Tian was in the middle troop, riding on his warhorse. This time, he had dispatched 400 local soldiers from Xia Town, 300 local soldiers from Xiaozhu Village and 300 local soldiers from Yunlai Village, which made for a total of a thousand local soldiers.

These local soldiers had set aside their jobs and came here, holding weapons such as longspears, hoes, and knives, rushing to Shangbi Village’s aid.

Yes, they were going to bully them with numbers.