Capítulo 24: Reinforcement from Xia Village
Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
"Village chief, we can't hold it anymore!"
"Hang in there for just a while more!"
Xiaozhu Village had also suffered an attack from the Yellow Turban soldiers. About a hundred Yellow Turban soldiers came charging in with aggression as the village chief, Xia Tianliang, led her troop of local soldiers to stand guard over the gates of the village.
Xiaozhu Village was just a Level 2 village, the only defense work they had were wooden fences. A small group of Yellow Turban soldiers had managed to break open the wooden fences, baging into the village to set fires.
Xia Tianliang became extremely anxious when she saw the buildings of her village being set on fire. Although Xiaozhu Village was not yet a Level 3 village, it wasn't far from Level 3 either, their population size having reached 700. If everything was destroyed just like that, all her efforts would be wiped out overnight.
"Brothers, charge for the village!"
A dozen Yellow Turban cavalrymen charged forward, swinging their deadly knives. The local soldiers standing in front of the cavalrymen were instantly killed by those knives!
The silver-level hero of Xiaozhu Village was caught up in a rigorous fight, killing a Yellow Turban cavalryman with his bow and arrows. Two other cavalrymen sprinted toward him, slashing their enormous knives towards the silver hero!
"Protect the village chief!"
Two elite local soldiers stood in front of Xia Tianliang. The popular sentiment of Xiaozhu Village was high, and now that the village chief was endangered, all of them risked their lives and rushed to her rescue.
Cavalrymen were terrifying during the early stages. One after another, the elite local soldiers all collapsed.
Knowing her weakness, Xia Tianliang's face turned pale. The hideous-looking Yellow Turban cavalrymen were fast approaching, and behind them were equally ferocious Yellow Turban soldiers. As the Yellow Turban soldiers set fires in the village, the morale of the local soldiers of Xiaozhu Village rapidly declined.
The galloping of horses soon sounded, a team of horses arriving with dust and dirt all over them. Chu Tian strung his bow and fit an arrow, releasing it in the direction of one of the Yellow Turban soldiers.
The arrow hit the soldier from the front, killing him right then and there!
Chu Tian secretly marveled at his luck. With his strength, he shouldn't have been able to kill a Level 20 Yellow Turban soldier with a single arrow yet, but that arrow happened to hit his vital spot, which was why the Yellow Turban soldier was killed.
Eleven elite infantrymen from Xia Village flopped down from their horses, forming a spear formation, brutally attacking the Yellow Turban soldiers from behind!
Hua Mulan brandished her Han-style knife, dashing into the crowd of Yellow Turban soldiers all by herself. Every swing of her knife sent blood gushing everywhere!
"The auxiliary troop is here! Villagers of Xiaozhu Village, chase the bandits out from the village!" Seeing the auxiliary force from Xia Village arrive as they had promised, Xia Tianliang was overwhelmed with joy. Leading the local soldiers of Xiaozhu Village, they stood up and retaliated.
The local soldiers who were great at fighting battles in their favor were instantly invigorated, their morale suddenly shooting up. They reinforced their front just in time.
"I am the Yellow Turban..."
Before the Yellow Turban chief could manage to introduce his origins, Hua Mulan had finished him off with three simple strikes of her knife.
Having encountered the bidirectional collusion of forces, hundreds of Yellow Turban soldiers suffered a terrible defeat and began fleeing as far away as they could.
In the midst of the battle, the second auxiliary troop from Xia Village, the 35 elite infantrymen, arrived. They delved right into the heart of the battle, thoroughly exterminating the troop of Yellow Turban soldiers that came to attack Xiaozhu Village.
There were approximately 150 Yellow Turban soldiers who came to attack Xiaozhu Village, only 30 of which managed to escape. The rest of the Yellow Turban soldiers collapsed in the two-sided attack by the forces from two villages. Particularly, the soldiers who barged into Xiaozhu Village to set fires were completely cornered in the village, getting attacked and killed by the local soldiers and villagers.
"Are you alright?"
Chu Tian possessed special-level riding skills, dismounting from his warhorse with great ease.
Xiaozhu Village had sustained substantial damage in the Yellow Turban's conquest this time, several buildings having been terribly burnt. Some local soldiers and villagers were still busy dousing the fire.
"Thank you. If it wasn't for the generous aid provided by Xia Village, we wouldn't have been able to fend off the Yellow Turban soldiers by solely relying upon the local soldiers of Xiaozhu Village," Xia Tianliang said, tidying her slightly tousled hair. Her words were filled with gratitude, asking, "What kind of payback would you like?"
"Payback… those horses can be the reward for aiding you today."
Chu Tian was trying all means to put a cavalry together. Xiaozhu Village had captured eight horses. With the 15 horses that Xia Village already had, there would be a total of 23 horses.
Unlike You Prefecture, Bing Prefecture, and Liang Prefecture, during the early stages of Xu prefecture, war horses were a scarce warfare resource. Whoever owned a powerful cavalry would hold the right of initiation to attack.
"Only horses as a reward? That's fine."
Xia Tianliang generously handed over all of the eight war horses to Chu Tian. The prosperity level of Xiaozhu Village's economy was far from the price of eight war horses.
"Village chief, 21 elite local soldiers and 62 local soldiers were killed in the battle," the elder of Xiaozhu Village reported to Xia Tianliang, updating her on the losses suffered.
Xia Tianliang had a worried look on her face. Local soldiers made up the labor forces of the village. Having to sacrifice 83 laborers at once was a heavy blow to Xiaozhu Village, which would certainly affect the speed of upgrading Xiaozhu Village to Level 3.
"Send condolences to the families of the deceased local soldiers. I'll figure out the population issue..."
Xia Tianliang bit her lip softly. As the village chief, one had to be able to face the various crises that occurred in your territory. Fortunately, the buildings that were burnt in Xiaozhu Village were personal houses, the economical buildings unaffected for the most part.
The development goal of Xiaozhu Village was to be a commercial town, not placing much importance on military affairs. In terms of their monthly income of copper coins, they were probably wealthier than Xia Village.
"The cumulative score of Xiaozhu Village is 104 points. How about you?" Xia Tianliang asked Chu Tian, reminding him of something.
Chu Tian was busy wiping out the Yellow Turban soldiers from two villages and hadn't yet gotten a chance to check his own cumulative score.
The "Yellow Turban Holocaust" from this time was an activity exclusive to Eastern Han. There was a ranking based on cumulative scores.
Killing a Level 10 Yellow Turban soldier contributed 1 point to the cumulative score, while killing a Level 15 soldier added 1.5 points, and a Level 20 one gave 2 points.
The score gained from killing the Yellow Turban heroes was directly proportional to the grade and status of the hero.
The Yellow Turban soldiers killed by the subordinates and soldiers of the feudal lord would be counted in the feudal lord's cumulative score as well.
"312 points..."
Chu Tian wouldn't have believed it if he hadn't seen it for himself. It turned out that he was fabulous, the score he had obtained triple that of Xiaozhu Village's.
Xia Tianliang was also greatly surprised when she heard such a high score. "You'll probably make it into the ranking of Xu Prefecture this time, no, you'll even get a place in the top 100 ranking of the entire Eastern Han!" she exclaimed.
"Perhaps."
Chu Tian took an inventory of his losses. Xia Village had lost four more elite infantrymen while rescuing the villagers of Xiaozhu Village, the rest injured.
However, Xia Village still had fight left in it.
"Maybe Xiaozhu Village can help you fight for the rankings. Xiaozhu Village has 200 local soldiers left, so we can form a league with your village and wipe out the Yellow Turban soldiers left in the vicinity. How about that?"
Xia Tianliang knew that Chu Tian's cumulative score was high. There was a thoughtful look in her eyes as she contemplated how to help Xia Village make it into the ranking.
With Xiaozhu Village's 200 local soldiers fighting alongside them, apart from the stable morale of the elites of Xia Village, they would be able to destroy more Yellow Turban soldiers.
"What's the price?"
"No need for a price. You could fight for the ranking of the Eastern Han, while Xiaozhu Village could fight for the ranking of Xu Prefecture."
With the alliance formed by the armies of the two villages, there were a total of about 40 elite infantrymen and 500 local soldiers.
The Yellow Turban Holocaust went on for a great fortnight, while Chu Tian trained 19 light cavalrymen and 40 elite light infantrymen in Xia Village. That way, 14 days later, Xia Village would have 21 light cavalrymen and 82 elite light infantrymen.
Xia Tianliang trained a large number of elite local soldiers in Xiaozhu Village.
The allied armies of the two villages began wiping out the Yellow Turban soldiers in their vicinity, setting up spies everywhere. Each of them left behind 100 local soldiers to guard the village, while the remaining cavalrymen, infantrymen, and local soldiers left the village and waited to ambush the Yellow Turban soldiers.
After attacking two small troops of Yellow Turban soldiers outside the village, Xiaozhu Village's score became 161 points and Xia Village's became 453 points.
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