The Rise Of An Empire

For a full half an hour, screams could be heard everywhere on top of the Liang pass walls and in front of the pass until complete silence descend on the battlefield. Dead bodies litter the ground and painting it a perfect red color.

Back in the Liang clan commander in chief tent, Gao Liang was still wearing his armor with dry blood all over as he observe the map of surrounding areas while waiting for the report to come in from Tuong Liang. After a short time later, Tuong Liang walked in and when he see Gao Liang with his hands behind his back observing the map. He begin to speak up "my lord, we have concluded the battle."

Gao Liang: "how many casualties did we suffer and what about the enemy?"

Tuong Liang: "my lord, we have lost one thousand warriors and another five hundred injured. The injured won't be able to rejoin the battle for another month at least. The enemy army have been completely annihilated down to the last man."

Gao Liang: "did you take all the men off the wall and leave a few to clean up the aftermath for the Pei Kingdom to see?"

Tuong Liang: "yes, we have set the bait and just waiting for them to bite it. I'm pretty sure they are hating us to the bone at this moment and can't wait to destroy us."

Gao Liang: "hmmm, today I have reveal our cards to destroy the Pei Kingdom vitality greatly and also affected their morale as well. If we can use their hatred for us to damage it further then that would be for the best. However, I have this feeling that the attack is nothing more than a ruse. Their real intentions will show itself anytime now but what could it be?"

Walking up next to Gao Liang and looking at the map of the surrounding areas, Tuong Liang said "could you think that whatever they are planning will come from these surrounding areas my lord?"

Gao Liang: "possibly, if I was the commander of the Pei Kingdom imperial army then after seeing all of my enemy trump card by sacrificing thousands of soldiers and also depleting my enemy resources. Then surely I would have a follow up plan to crush my enemy completely without sending more soldiers to their death and the way to do it will be to utilizing the resources from all those cities in the surrounding areas that are loyal to the kingdom."

Tuong Liang: "then wouldn't our bait be useless if this is really true?"

Gao Liang: "that is just my speculation at the moment, we don't know for sure yet but if the Pei Kingdom commander is smart then he will no longer attack us but instead bombard us until the time to show their true intention arrived. Send a message to Lu Liang and everyone else to prepare themselves well for the coming week, it might be our clan decisive battle."

Although shocked inside, Tuong Liang is experience enough to know that his lord won't talk nonsense and so he choose to not ask further as he bowed respectfully before leaving to carry out his tasked.

Alone in the tent, Gao Liang murmured to himself "no matter what they have plan to do, we can't afford to lose."

*******

Just as Gao Liang predicted, Loi Pei and his generals along with the rest of Pei Kingdom imperial army have a front roll seat to this spectacle. Many brave soldiers in the imperial army begin to lose heart after witnessing the carnage that befall their comrades.

Close to twenty thousand imperial soldiers march on to attack Liang pass and only after two hours of fierce fighting. No…..it wasn't even a fight but a massacre! Nearly twenty thousand well trained imperial troops was completely annihilated!

Turning to look at their commander who have his eyes closed after the battle ended while in deep thought, the four general started to talk with great hatred in their eyes.

General Ma Jing: "My lord, allow me to lead the troops personal and avenge our brothers!"

General Re Ming: "After all of that, I doubt the Liang clan have any more of those mysterious weapons in reserve. If we attack again now then they won't be able to prepare!"

General Po Sing: "They probably think we have given up for today and won't lunch anymore attacks my lord!"

General Za Xuong: "Most likely the Liang clan army have left the wall and only left a few soldiers for clean up."

With his eyes closed, Loi Pei thought to himself 'So that's what you have been hiding while you waited for me to send a big portion of my army into your trap. Well done Liang clan, well done. But now I will crush you completely.'

Once his eyes opened, Loi Pei looked towards his generals before saying "We will no longer attack the Liang pass but instead we will bombard them endlessly. During that time, I want you to send out messengers for all the cities nearby to send us raw resources such as iron, steel, wood, and ropes immediately."

Everyone: "commander?"

Seeing their eyes full of hatred turned into that of confusion, Loi Pei explained further.

"We will construct the ultimate siege weapon that will help us win this war, this construction will need a large amount of resources which we currently don't have on hand. From the transportation of resources from the nearby cities to our camp combine with the construction time will take us approximately one week to finish. By that time we will destroy the Liang pass and storm them with force!"