October 24th . Noon .

  Wang Kuang and Zhang Yang managed to return to the territory of Shangdang City with their 100,000 men . At the back of the marching soldier lines, Wang Yun and his 20,000 followed after them as he also needed to head back to Luo Yang .

  When they saw the long wall of Shangdang City, the two governors were relieved .

  Wang Kuang muttered, "We’re finally back . "

  "Yeah, we can restock our supplies from the merchants . We should rest a few days before we resume our march to Henei," Suggested Zhang Yang .

  While both of them were in a merry mood, a scout galloped his horse to them .

  "Report! There is something wrong with the Shangdang City! They put on yellow "Zhang" flags instead of purple ones . "

  Zhang Yang stared at the scout with wide eyes . His city flags had always been purple, and he had never used a yellow flag . A bad feeling crept into his heart .

  "Have you asked them to open the gate for you or have you talked with the gate guards?"

  "N-No, my lord . They fired their arrows at me . I can’t get close to the gate . "

  The face of Zhang Yang paled . Someone had stolen his city!

  The mind of Shangdang Governor was blank for a whole minute before his face reddened from anger . The pale white face turned red, then blue . Veins lines under his skin bulged so hard that anyone who looked at this face could notice the pulsing .

  Infuriated, Zhang Yang shouted, "Get our men to craft ladders! We will siege the city before nightfall!"

  This city located in a basin surrounded by mountain ranges . The only way to travel to other cities was to journey through mountain roads, valleys, or canyons . The path that Liu Ping and all Imperial troops moved was also passed through such mountain gaps .

  "- before night fall-fall-fall!"

  Because of the geography of Shangdang City, the voice of Zhang Yang echoed through the valley . The troops behind them could also hear their governor’s voice from far away, and they looked at the front of them in curiosity . ……

  2 PM .

  100,000 Soldiers lined up in a hundred square formations in front of Shangdang north gate . The twenty thousand men of Wang Yun did not participate in this siege as they took roles as reserves, which helped the army making ladders and a battering-ram .

  They did not lay a siege yet because they could not . Ladders with the height of five or six meters took times and efforts to make . Furthermore, they had to make at least 200 of them for a regular siege .

  The intelligence about the defender numbers was in Zhang Yang’s hands . From the rough count of the scouts, the enemy number on the wall was around 20,000 to 30,000 men .

  It was not a significant number . However, in this battle, they were a threat . Because the city wall of Shangdang was like a fortress inside a mountain, they could not use the massive troops to siege all gates at the same time as they could only access the north wall . The mountain range was the city’s natural barrier that blocked their path to the other gates . If Zhang Yang or Wang Kuang want to reach the other gates, they had to climb the mountains .

  As a result of this north gate geography, they had to get rid of these 30,000 garrison force on top of the north gate or break the gate to win .

  Zhang Yang looked at the gate with impatience while He could not keep his hands still as he scratched either his face or his arms all the time .

  \r \r \r

  "Has Wang Yun not finished yet?" Zhang Yang asked this aide .

  "N-No, my lord . He said it will take four or five hours to make at least 200 tall ladders . We can’t find many tall bamboos in this area, so we have to make ladders from planks instead . "

  Plank ladders were complicated to make in this era as only carpenters with tools could make one . These soldiers were not professional carpenters, so they had to create make-shift ladders without prior experiences .

  Listening to his aide, Zhang Yang massaged his temple because of the headache .

  Wang Kuang consoled him, "Brother Zhang, we can make a camp outside of the city wall today . Let’s take our time crafting ladders and siege weapons . Waiting for the tools for one day wouldn’t hurt . "

  "No, we have to take the city within today! We’re running out of food in three days, remember?"

  Wang Kuang groaned as he was reminded of the provision shortage problem .

  Without a choice, both governors stayed and waited for Wang Yun’s men to finish all the ladders . ……

  2 . 30 PM

  Jinyang Army, with the number of 50,000 men, arrived on top of the valley . From there, they could see the troops inside the canyon, lining up in front of the north gate of Shangdang .

  Lu Bu, Zhang Liao, Gao Shun, and Li Feihong were there as well . They were the commanders of this army .

  Jia Xu and Ju Shou had given them a simple order, "Obliterate them . "

  During the times when Ju Shou was in Ye with Jia Xu, he advised Jia Xu to eliminate these nobles as a part of the plan . In order to pacify the city after the war efficiently, Ju Shou saw these men as thorns . Because Wang Kuang and Zhang Yang’s soldiers were part of Henei and Shangdang noble clans, they had deep roots within these cities . Letting them live would be like allowing tigers back to mountains, so Ju Shou wanted to weed out the future problems .

  Jia Xu did not care about the domestic affair but the result of the war, so he added this plan into the operation . Then, he let Ju Shou handled the rest with the condition that if Ju Shou were to fail, he would be held responsible for this action .

  The 50,000 heavy cavalries donned in Xiangnu tribal clothes, lining up in rows and getting ready to charge down from the top of the cliff .

  Lu Bu raised his fist up to stop the men as he noticed something from the corner of his eyes .

  A lone horseman on the opposite side of the cliff, 500 meters away, was looking at them for a moment before he left . Lu Bu recognized the aura of the horseman . It was the aura that he sensed earlier .

  ’That warrior is really here, and we seem to be on the same side . ’

  ’I can easily crush these insects any time I want to, but I would have destroyed his awakening process if I did that . ’

  A cunning smile appeared on Lu Bu’s face as he called Zhang Liao over .

  "Wenyuan, do not attack yet . Let’s wait and see a bit longer . "

  Zhang Liao frowned . The chance to crush the enemies was here, but Lu Bu had chosen to delay it . He did not understand what his boss wanted .

  "There’s a good fellow who’s about to baptize in this battlefield . Let him play with these guys first . "

  Still frowned, Zhang Liao nodded and waved his hands, gesturing the troops to step back and hide .

  "Is it your instinct again, or is it out of a whim this time?"

  "Instinct, of course!"

  "I hope your instinct is right, Fengxian . "

  "Bah! My sense is always right! Have I ever lost in a battle because of my sense!?"

  Zhang Liao sighed as he did not want to believe it, but Lu Bu was right about one thing .

  Lu Fengxian had never lost in a war if he utilized his instinct . Although Zhang Liao had to complement Lu Bu’s plans and clean up after his deeds, Lu Bu was still the key of all victories they had . ……

  3 PM .

  Wang Yun rode to the main army . His men finished making rough 100 ladders and a battling-ram . However, they were far from enough in this siege as the number of ladders were too few . He also wanted to talk to the two governors to ask for another day to make trebuchets or catapults for the battle .

  "No! We will siege the city today! We will not wait until we run out of food!"

  The reply from Zhang Yang shattered the hope of Wang Yun .

  "Rushing to siege like this is like throwing lives away . The enemies have come here prepared . At least, we should take back a step for one day . One day can make a lot of difference between rushing in with only ladders and fighting with proper siege weapons . "

  Wang Kuang also helped Wang Yun persuading Zhang Yang . He also wanted to take it slow as he was not confident fighting with numbers .

  "You have no idea at all, do you?" Zhang Yang spat . He had his reasons for rushing the assault .

  Inside the treasuries of his household, he stored over 50,000 gold and other valuable treasures worth of over 100,000 gold . In his Manor, a hundred of young female slaves, which he secretly bought from the local fat merchants, were kept there as his trophies .

  This city was his paradise and his everything . Losing it for even one more day could spell a disaster as the wealth and the women he accumulated would have been stolen by the army inside the city .

  "You cowards and take it easy if you want! I will lead my men to take the city myself!"

  Zhang Yang broke away from the two men . He went to the reserve force to take all the ladders so that he could transfer all of them to his troops .

  Before he could complete what he wanted to do, a messenger rushed in to report important news to the three commanders .

  "Report! We’re under attack from a group of cavalries! The reserve force has been hit!"

  Zhang Yang, Wang Kuang, and Wang Yun snapped back from the argument . Wang Yun rushed to his men without saying anything, leaving the two governors behind . The reserve force that the messenger mentioned was his troops that Liu Ping had entrusted him, so he returned to them in a panic .

  Wang Kuang also returned to his own troops as he wanted to stand by for a possible battle . On the other hand, Zhang Yang glared at the messenger and questioned him .

  "Whose affiliate are those cavalries from?"

  "Reporting, they did not carry a flag, but we noticed that they wore different uniforms from ours . "

  Zhang Yang spat again, "Useless idiot! It’s obvious that they will wear different clothes! How many of them!?"

  "M-My Lord, we didn’t know . They just attacked us and retreated before we could even rally our men . "

  The governor gnashed his teeth, frustrated from the incompetency of the messenger and the scouts . Zhang Yang opened his mouth and about to curse the messenger out loud to shame him .

  *WHOOSH* *WHOOSH*

  *WHOOSH* *WHOOSH*

  Several sounds of flying objects could be heard from a distance away . Zhang Yang turned around to the source of the noise, and he saw a glimpse of an arrow volley from the top of the eastern cliff .