Chapter 70: Is Your Hand Sore?

  Pang Xi spent a sleepless night, thinking about whether to fight or defend, just like when Liu Yan and Ma Teng attacked Chang'an, escorting the Liu family's young master into Shu, Jia Long rebelled, Zhao Wei rebelled, these life-and-death choices Pang Xi had all made correctly, but this time, could he still make the right choice?

  Guarding, it's possible to scoop water with a bamboo basket in vain, and even be abandoned by Zhang Lu after crossing the river. Fighting, it's possible to suffer defeat and death, and with Liu Zhang's cruelty, there will surely be a disaster of extermination.

  The moon was slanted to the west, and the morning light was faintly bright. Pang Xi finally felt sleepy, but then he heard a knock at the door. Irritated, Pang Xi yelled: "What's so urgent? Get out of here."

  "General." A voice came from outside, led by a close attendant: "News has come from Zhang Menguan, Zhang Menguan...has fallen."

  "What?" As if struck by a heavy hammer, Pang Xi suddenly jumped up from the bed, opened the door and shouted: "How is it possible? Zhangmen Pass has thousands of guards, extremely dangerous, Liu Zhang doesn't even have siege engines, can they fly over?"

  The commander of the Imperial Guard stepped aside, and a defeated soldier from Zhang Meng Guan knelt on the ground, saying: "General, it's the rebel soldiers from Ba Ling Guan who took over Zhang Meng Guan. They have General Pang Yong's seal, and General He doesn't know that Ba Ling has been lost, so he opened the city gate..."

  The defeated soldier could no longer speak, and Pang Xi shouted loudly: "Where is He Yan? I want to dismember him."

  "General He has already died in battle." The defeated soldier replied tremulously.

  Pang Xi retreated several steps, his face suddenly changed, and he muttered: "It's over, it's all over. If Jiameng Pass is lost, Zhang Lu will not be able to enter Xichuan. Once the Chengdu army arrives, Bazhou will surely fall, and I will be in danger."

  The commander of the Imperial Guard saw Pang Hui's panic and stepped forward, saying: "General, I think it's not necessarily so. Although Zhangmen Pass has been lost, there are not many soldiers, and they are all surrendered soldiers. Zhang Lu has a large army of 60,000, and he will surely be able to attack quickly."

  "What if we can't take it?"

  The sudden arrival of the bad news made Pang Tong think of Jia Long and Qu Tian's words, which magnified infinitely in his mind. He repeatedly told himself that he couldn't wait for Liu Zhang's reinforcements to arrive in Chengdu, absolutely not.

  "Pass on the order, all generals discuss the matter, today we will leave the city and fight against Liu Zhang."

  The Brazilian generals gathered in the big account with a strong momentum, these generals are also the old base of the Dongzhou army, although not as good as Liu Yan's training of the Dongzhou army, but also brave, why they lost to Zhang Lu more than win less, just because Pang Xi did not want to win.

  "Liu Zhang is cruel and evil, doing everything in reverse, harming loyal and good people. We have no choice but to rebel today. Listen up, today's battle formation, our army is three times that of Liu Zhang, victory is certain. All generals must fight bravely forward, defeat the enemy army, and then pursue with all one's strength until Liu Zhang is killed. Anyone who retreats will be executed on the spot."

  "Yes." The crowd responded with thunderous applause.

  Pang Xi saw Deng Zhi remaining silent, seemingly disapproving of going to war. Now he couldn't care about that anymore and declared: "Deng Zhi is cowardly, unfavorable for battle, order him to be exiled as the Commandant of Xichong."

  "Deng Zhi said nothing and walked out with his sword without looking back."

  Pang Xi led Qu Tian and other generals out of the main hall, where many civil officials rushed up the stone steps outside. As soon as one of the officials was about to speak, Pang Xi remembered Qu Tian's words from last night and grew even more resentful towards these opportunistic people. He drew his sword and shouted angrily: "The military order has already been given, anyone who disrupts my army's morale will be beheaded."

  The officials were all speechless.

  The weather is gloomy, the sun shines through the clouds without any warmth, and the earth is cool all over.

  On the open plain, the two armies faced each other, a deathly silence prevailing, broken only occasionally by the snorting of war horses. Pang Shiyuan rode out on horseback and shouted at Liu Zhang: "Governor Liu, I, Pang Shiyuan, have always been loyal to the House of Liu. In the time of our former lord, I escorted several young princes into Shu, and later participated in the suppression of the rebellions of Ma Chao and Jia Long, supporting you in your ascension to the throne of Yi Province, defending Bazhou for many years. Though I have no achievements, I do have hardships. Why, sir, have you raised an army without cause, chilling the hearts of loyal ministers?"

  Liu Zhang sat steadily on his horse, coldly gazing at the opposing army of Pang Hui. He turned to his side and said to Hao Meng: "General, I don't want to exchange empty words with this man surnamed Pang, you speak."

  "Yes." With a loud response, he led the big hammer and horse out, letting out a thunderous roar: "You rebel, my master doesn't want to waste words with you. If you're loyal, dismount immediately and come see him."

  What a loud and powerful voice, it scared the Brazilian soldiers so much that their hearts skipped a beat. Pang Xi also felt his eardrum ache, let out a cold hum, and shouted: "Governor, everyone in the world is watching, it's not that I, Pang Xi, want to rebel, but I have no choice but to rebel. You, Jiangzhou, slaughtered innocent people, corrupted the four sciences, and now I will use military force to remonstrate with you."

  Pang Xi drew his sword and raised it to the sky: "Down with the rebels, up with the rightful ruler. Kill!"

  "Kill."

  The Brazilian army swarmed out, and Fa Zheng looked at the momentum of the Brazilian army and said to Liu Zhang: "Master, in my opinion, the Brazilian army is numerous, but its wings are weak. We can divide our troops into three routes, one route to resist the center, and two routes to attack its sides, and we must break through."

  Liu Zhang shook his head and said to Zhang Ren in a low voice, "Divide 2,000 soldiers to guard the two wings, and lead the rest of the army into the central army of Bazhou, targeting Pang Xi."

  "Yes."

  Zhang Renlang loudly promised, holding his long spear high, and shouted to the whole army: "Brothers, do you see Pang Xi's big banner? Whoever cuts down Pang Xi's big banner will be rewarded with 100 gold coins and promoted three ranks. Whoever kills Pang Xi will be rewarded with 1,000 gold coins, enfeoffed as a marquis, and appointed as a general."

  "Kill."

  The mountains and seas shouted and killed, the sound shook the sky, the two armies fiercely collided, people and horses overturned, the sky and earth changed color. Pang Tong's goal was Liu Zhang, Liu Zhang's goal was Pang Tong, both of whom were elite troops in Shu, fierce and fearless of death. Zhang Ren held his spear and horse, leading the charge into the enemy array, where the spear tip passed, a bloody light flashed.

  Pang Tong was surrounded by his personal troops, intently watching the battlefield, with his hand tightly gripping the hilt of his sword. Qu Tian comforted him, "My lord, Liu Zhang is overestimating himself, using a few thousand soldiers to charge against our army of tens of thousands in the middle, he's taking the path to death."

  "But." Pang Xiu gazed at the intense battle in the arena and frowned, saying: "But our army hasn't been able to advance even a step forward."

  "Those are just temporary, the two armies are locked in a stalemate, consuming each other. Our army has more numbers than the enemy's, so we will ultimately win. Moreover, we don't even need to wait until then. Look, although our central forces are at a standstill, our wings have a great advantage and can soon break through the enemy lines and charge into Liu Zhang's main camp."

  Pang Tong took a glance and indeed, as Qu Tian said, Pang Tong's two wings had nearly 20,000 troops, while the enemy had only over a thousand, although they were elite, but also just like an ant trying to shake a tree. Looking at Liu Zhang's main array again, there were only a few hundred cavalry and less than a thousand guards, once surrounded, there would be no chance of survival, he couldn't help but nod his head.

  The two armies fought for nearly an hour, and Zhang Ren's two wings were subjected to the fierce attack of tens of thousands of troops, gradually unable to hold on, showing signs of collapse. Fa Zheng looked a bit anxious and said to Liu Zhang: "Your Excellency, our guard is weak, let's retreat to the mountain first, otherwise the enemy will kill us, Your Excellency is in danger."

  Liu Zhang gripped the hilt of his sword tightly, observing the battle while saying: "The fierce battle is raging on, if I make a move, the morale of the army will surely collapse, and it's absolutely impossible to retreat."

  "But..."

  Liu Zhang raised his hand to stop Fa Zheng from speaking and asked a nearby flag-bearing soldier, "Is your arm sore?"

  "Not sour."

  "It's fine as long as it doesn't fall." Liu Zhang said in a deep voice, "I want you to hold this commander flag high for two hours. There are only two situations where this flag can be lowered: one is if you die, and the other is if I die. Do you understand?"

  The soldier stood up straight, raised his head and said loudly: "Understood."

  Liu Zhang nodded and said to Fa Zheng beside him: "Now let's test the ability of this thousand elite soldiers selected by Zhang Ren for me."

  ，！