307. Huang Zu's Dilemma

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Dian Wei can be sure that this man was a battle junkie like him, which excites him where he also let out a loud roar sweeping off Huang Chao's rod hammer and attacks Huang Chao with ha slash maneuver which was received by Huang Chao, and soon a bout of attack and defense were traded between the two wear the sound of their weapon coming in contact was so loud that the War drum sound slight loose against the sound of their weapon.

Both sides of the Army were in silence watching the duel happening in front of them with serious faces, since the winner or loser of this duel could have a large impact on their next battle.

From 10 bouts, 50 bouts, 100 bouts, 200 bouts, and 400 bouts were exchanged between them and there's no sign of stopping, where both sides have a different reaction from this occurrence in front of them.

Huang Cha's advisor seeing that Huang Chao could duel Dian Wei for so long thought that he had a chance to win against Dian Wei and that maybe the youngest young lord had the same prowess as the famed Dian Wei.

On Zhang Chao's side, alongside Chen Deng and Zang Hong, he thought that Dian Wei finally found his match in terms of strength and even thought that Huang Chao had the same strength as Huang Zhong, Lie Fan, Taishi Ci, Gan Ning, and Zhang Liao.

Zhang Chao has seen all except for Lie Fan duel each other back at Xiapi, where Huang Zhong and Dian Wei stood tall as the first place and second place respectively, now that there's someone from Huang Zu's side that could stand tall against Dian Wei are worrying.

But all that changes after they receive insight from Chen Lan and Fang Yue who tell them that Dian Wei isn't using all of his strength and that he is playing with Huang Chao because maybe it's the only enemy who could entertain him.

True to their words, Dian Wei is just playing with Huang Chao and when they entered their 400 bout, he could feel that Huang Chao began to be tired and his strength at attacking him slowly decreased.

Feeling that Dian Wei decided to end this duel and give out a burst of strength which shocked Huang Chao, who thought that Dian Wei was lap tired like him and knocked him off his horse after taking one of Dian Wei's twin halberd at his torso.

Fortunately for him, his armor managed to stand the blow of Dian Wei even though it broke in the process, only leaving him a big blue bruise. The sudden changes surprised all the spectators, but soon Zhang Chao's side let out a loud cheer while Huang Chao's side just stayed silent their morale plummeted.

Seeing that Huang Chao has been knocked off his horse, Dian Wei brings his horse and turns around returning to his camp leaving Huang Chao there, soon picked up by a unit of cavalries helping him enter Xiangye.

The end of the duel causes a massive backfire on Huang Chao's advisor who soon sends a letter to Huang Zu to ask for reinforcements, detailing to Huang Zu about what happened.

After the letter was sent, the sound of a war drum from the side of the Lie Fan's army was heard and when Huang Chao's advisor returned to the wall, he saw 10 Hwacha lined up while being protected by some infantries ready to be fired.

He doesn't know what that is as he hasn't seen them before, and Dian Wei alongside Zhang Chao didn't use it when they were sieging Xingyang since they wanted to stall the battle until the new year, now that they needed to speed up they brought out the heavy artillery.

Huang Chao's advisor was confused but told his soldier to be alert of anything, and soon he would undergo one of the worst experiences of his life.

Zang Hong as the leader of the Hwacha units, after receiving the report that all Hwacha were ready to be fired, after calculating the distance and checking that it was correct, ordered the Hwacha to be fired.

The nightmare for Huang Zu's men at Xiangye then began, as the Hwacha let out a sound that surprised and scared them at the same time, where they also saw their comrades being pierced by a high speed arrow on the head or shoulders piercing through their armor.

Huang Chao's advisor was terrified by the sight he saw, so he fled toward a safe location while organizing his men to defend themselves from the unknown weaponry used by Lie Fan's Army.

He hoped that Huang Zu would send his reinforcement as soon as possible, as they couldn't hold on much longer with the blow after blow on their morale and also now that Huang Chao was bedridden after the doctors found out that he had several broken ribs.

While the battle was ongoing at Xiangye, at Yangtze River Lie Fan's navy and the Lu Clan's navy dominated their naval battle, and Huang Zu's navy kept retreating while defending themselves from their attack.

Huang Zhong and Liu Ba decided to continue bombarding Huang Zu's Navy until they reached Jiangxia's port and from there the Qinglong army disembarked from the ships, and began a battle on Jiangxia.

When they were battling against Huang Zu's Navy, the Sun Clan navy suddenly appeared and joined their side in suppressing Huang Zu's navy, but it didn't surprise both Huang Zhong and Liu Ba as they already knew that the Sun Clan would arrive at any moment.

The combined attack from three of the Clan's Navies finally suppressed Huang Zu's navy combat power, which truly showed the expertise and experience of Huang Zu's Navy since it needed a combined Navy of three clans and also a new technological weapon.

This caused Huang Zu's Navy to retreat once again and it was several tens of kilometers before they reached Jiangxia, and at this moment they were joined in by Cai Mao's navy who came to support Huang Zu's navy.

This reduced the pressure put on Huang Zu's navy but not by much as Cai Mao's navy was also surprised by the new weapon that Lie Fan's navy was using and by the sizes of their ships.

So Huang Zu's Navy commander sent a letter to Huang Xu at Jiangxia, asking for all ships in Huang Zu's command at Jiangxia to be sent out, completely emptying Jiangxia's ships.

So when both letters finally arrived at Jiangxia, Huang Zu was furious at the news he received as both his army and navy were thoroughly suppressed by Lie Fan's Army and Navy.

He never expected Lie Fan's Navy to be so powerful that it could suppress his Navy, which was known as the best in the empire. For Lie Fan's Army, he could slightly accept their superiority, but not at the cost of his youngest son being injured like that.

Huang Zu then held an emergency meeting calling all of his available retainers at Jiangxia, he wanted to inform them of the news of the front line and also asked for their opinions on how they should handle this matter.

Huang Zu: "Everyone, I have received the news from the frontline both our army and navy, they are thoroughly suppressed by Lie Fan's army and navy! Give me your advice or suggestions on how we should handle this matter!"

Zhang Shuo: "My Lord I think what we can do is hope for Lord Liu Biao's reinforcement to come, as this report shows that Lie Fan's Army will always be unstoppable and also now his navy begins to show signs of invincibility like his army?!"

Wen Ping: "You Fool! How could we just wait?! My Lord, I think we should call back all of our soldiers and ships to Jiangxia, and put up a defense in Jiangxia while waiting for the reinforcement!"

Su Fei: "General Wen Ping, please watch your language as you're the youngest here aged in your twenties, I understand your frustration and the advice you gave was good but unfortunately our ships can't be called back as they were deadlocked in the battle, right Admiral Huang?"

Huang Zu: "Hah, unfortunately, what Su Fei said is right, since our navy lost its dominance that means they have to fight completely against the Three Clans navies, but I think General Wen Ping's suggestion to call back all our army is reasonable to do."

Deng Long: "Admiral Huang I have a suggestion that I would like to give, but I hope everyone here and Admiral Huang doesn't scold me for what I'm about to say."

Huang Zu: "Oh? Okay said it Deng Long, we have known together for so long you can say anything you want, don't worry as long it's not cursing us Haha!"

Deng Long: "Haha Admiral Huang is jesting, well then my suggestion is that how about we surrender to Lie Fan? Wait! Don't be angry yet! From everything that has happened, when if Lord Liu Biao's reinforcement comes I do think we will win this battle! So why don't we just jump ship to Lie Fan, the trajectory of the landscape was Lie Fan for several past years!"

Deng Long who gave his suggestion saw that some faces of his comrades changed, especially Wen Ping who can be seen to be very angry and wanted to lash out but was stopped by Deng Long who then continued to finish his words.

The moment he stopped talking, the hall became chaotic as some immediately condemned Deng Long led by Wen Ping and Su Fei, as they thought loyalty was above all else, and Deng Long words even his thoughts were already a betrayal to Liu Biao.

Some don't agree with Deng Long because they feel that they can win the land battle, it's already a fact that their navy will list now against the combined attack from three Clan navies, but for their semy they were optimistic that they have a chance.

While the last group was silent, Deng Long's words caused them to think about the possibility of changing sides with Lie Fan, Deng Long's words aren't wrong about the trajectory of the landscape was Ie Fan over the last several years.

Lie Fan's domain size has almost tripled compared to several years ago, and the battle he participated in always results in victory, and his enemies all lose.

Huang Zu was also one of the people who thought of this possibility, he was the hegemon of Jiangxia before Liu Biao came along and became Governor of Jing Province, he pledged his allegiance to Liu Biao in exchange for his navy, and Liu Biao gave him supplies.

Their relationship is more like a mercenary contract but after several years pass Huang Zu is satisfied with his life becoming one of the most powerful officials in Jing Province, but now all of that can be taken away if he were to lose his navy destroyed by Lie Fan.

His Navy is the only reason he became one of the most powerful officials in Jing Province which even Cai Mao doesn't dare to offend, maybe if he were to change sides he could retain his position albeit slightly inferior to his current position, but at the same time, he already feel some sense of camaraderie with Liu Biao so both thoughts were fighting inside of Huang Zu's mind.

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Name: Lie Fan

Title: Three Heroes Who Defeat Lu Bu

Age: 29 (196 AD)

Level: 16

Next Level: 2,462,000

Renown: 725

Cultivation: Yin Yang Separation (level 9)

SP: 1,071,700

ATTRIBUTE POINTS

STR: 936 (+20)

VIT: 598 (+20)

AGI: 583 (+10)

INT: 587

CHR: 93

WIS: 509

WILL: 397

ATR Points: 0