Chapter 111: Beneath the Walls of Guangling

The old friend leaves westward from the Yellow Crane Tower, In the flowery season of March, going down to Yangzhou.

Guangling during the Jian’an era was far from the bustling and beautiful place it would become in the Song and Ming dynasties; a killing intent pervaded the vast twelve county cities.

The Yellow Crane Tower, which would not be built for another twenty-plus years, was a non-existent thing at the time, because at this moment, Xia Kou did not belong to the Sun family of Eastern Wu.

Like Xia Kou, the current master of Guangling did not have the surname Sun, but rather the surname Chen, named Deng, with the courtesy name Yuanlong.

“Kill!”

“One head equals one point of Merit!”

“Kill one to break even, kill two to get rich!”

Under the dark night, Guangling City was surrounded by clusters of torches, casting a red glow over the pitch-black sky. A group of Players in all sorts of outfits roared as they charged toward the City Wall.

Among this crowd was a figure who was also excited but kept a vigilant pace, seemingly taking frequent steps but never rushing to the very front.

If Mo Xiaobai were there, he would definitely recognize him as Four-Three-Two-One.

“The Great God has already dealt with the Pengcheng battlefield and will surely come to reinforce Guangling soon. Once the Great God arrives, the battle here will definitely see new changes.”

“Tonight’s fierce fight must capture Guangling City!”

Since entering the Instance, Four-Three-Two-One had followed his pre-planned strategy. Although he occasionally did small tasks, most of his time was spent watching the movements of the Second Young Master of the Sun Family.

Sun Ce was naturally the Commander for the campaign to Guangling, but the Main General of the Front Camp was the young Sun Quan. The two brothers fought side by side, and the Sun Family had used all their strength to take Guangling.

Unfortunately, although Guangling City was small, the man defending it was extraordinary. Sun Quan commanded the Troops and Horses for dozens of days straight, trying every possible method to attack the city, but he never managed to take a single City Gate.

Seeing his younger brother fight in vain again and again, Sun Ce, who commanded from the Central Army, was not in a rush. In Sun Ce’s view, Cao Cao’s decline was obvious, and he could not hold out for many days. Letting Sun Quan face off against Chen Deng was a way to temper his younger brother using Chen Deng’s hand.

However, a few days ago, the Pengcheng battlefield suddenly ended, and the situation in Guangling also underwent a subtle change.

Chang Xi was dead, which meant Cao Army reinforcements were approaching.

If the Cao Army reinforcements arrived, neither Sun Ce nor Sun Quan would be happy about it. Taking advantage of this chance, Four-Three-Two-One finally met Sun Quan at noon to discuss the possibility of a night raid.

Sun Quan went back to discuss with his Big Brother, and they both thought it was worth a try. Later that afternoon, they made a brief test before withdrawing their troops. Then, in the middle of the night, they launched a sudden attack on Guangling’s South Gate, planning to break through in one battle.

Unfortunately, this little trick did not make Chen Deng panic. At this moment, Chen Deng personally stood on the high walls beating the war drum to boost morale. Although Guangling had few soldiers, their morale was not low at all.

Since the night raid failed, they could only fight a fierce battle.

Having the Players take the front line was also Four-Three-Two-One’s idea. The strategy he gave Sun Quan was that if the attack failed, they should send the Players out to tire the enemy. Once the Guangling soldiers showed signs of fatigue, the Danyang Elite Soldiers of Jiangdong would storm the gate in a hurry.

This entire plan was not bad at all: surprise attack, tire the enemy, then sudden fierce assault. With these three steps, it looked impossible for Guangling, with only a few thousand defenders, to resist the twenty thousand Jiangdong Elites plus over ten thousand Players.

Once this plan was proposed, both the Jiangdong side and the Player side were very satisfied. The Sun brothers felt hopeful of capturing the city, while the Players were excited that they could finally enter a major battlefield.

Before this, the tasks the Players did were only minor side jobs. Although they could earn scattered Merit, they never had the chance to experience the thrill of besieging a city.

Now, with thousands of people roaring and charging forward, their blood was already boiling before they even fought.

“Bang~ Bang~~”

“Bang Bang Bang~~”

War drums beat, and swords and blades rang.

Chen Deng had already done all his preparations to perfection before the battle started. Now, he did not need to command; in fact, for a battle involving so many people, relying on one person to command was useless.

The only thing Chen Deng had to do was send a signal to his Soldiers.

I, Chen Yuanlong, am with you all!

…

“This is so frustrating. What is Chen Deng thinking? Why won’t let us go up yet?”

“Don’t rush, isn’t the fighting happening over there?”

“Look, the Players are starting to attack the city over there. It’s incredibly cool. This must be the first time Players have had a siege task, right?”

“Sieging looks cool, but they die fast. I think Chen Deng’s intelligence really crushes the two Suns. By the way, what is Zhou Yu doing at this time? If Zhou Yu came, Chen Deng might have to kneel.”

“There are very few people in Jiangdong capable of commanding a specific front right now. Zhou Yu should be in Jiangxia. After all, the Sun Family has always considered Liu Biao the most threatening opponent to the south. When have they ever taken Chen Yuanlong seriously?”

“If it weren’t for this battlefield, I wouldn’t know Chen Deng was this strong. Watching him command was truly beneficial.”

In a valley about five li northwest of Guangling City, thousands of Players looked up at the distant battlefield. These were Players who took a task from Chen Deng to temporarily leave the city. Tonight, they would play a very interesting role.

Daydreaming and his great army!

This group of people had even selected who would play Daydreaming. It was said to be a core member of the Ritian Alliance who joined on the very day the alliance was founded.

Hiding in the valley and watching others fight fiercely was not a pleasant feeling. Many Players were rubbing their fists, eager to act.

Unfortunately, without an order from Chen Deng, the Players could not attack on their own.

They also knew that Chen Deng did not have many chances to turn the tide. If they messed around, losing one battle would be nothing, but if Guangling fell, all the Players would be punished.

Thinking of the miserable state of the Players in the Yuan Shao Camp at Pengcheng, this group had to hold back even if they wanted to charge out.

Ten minutes.

Half an hour.

One hour.

One watch.

The screams and bloody slaughter of the fierce battle drifted through the space. Just as many waited with their eyes getting blurrier and blurrier, a streak of fire flew out from the north side of Guangling City.

The fire was not large, but under the night sky, it was extremely dazzling.

At this very moment, the Guangling messenger at the valley mouth also lit his torch.

The next second, dotted fires began to spread for more than ten li.

Not long after, a massive fire blazed up fifteen li away, stretching out in a continuous line, looking as if a huge group of people was approaching.

Those torches, the Players on the field knew very well, because they had taken them out to set up.

But these Players simply did not understand why Chen Deng had arranged them five li away, yet set up thousands of torches so far away at more than ten li.

The Guangling Players did not understand, and the Jiangdong soldiers were even less clear.

As the fire gradually appeared at a location more than ten li to the northwest, the Scouts who were responsible for checking the surroundings immediately sent the message to Sun Quan.

Sun Quan was on horseback and also saw the distant light flash.

Judging by the density of the light, it was at least four or five thousand people traveling at night.

Damn it!

The Cao Army from Pengcheng had arrived!

In an instant, Sun Quan looked at the Guangling City that seemed about to collapse. He felt very unwilling in his heart and roared roughly, “Order it: Guangling City must be captured within half an incense stick!”

Half an incense stick!

Judging by the distance of the Cao soldier torches, he only had half an incense stick of time left!

If he failed to capture it, he would have to withdraw his troops.