Capítulo 60: War (1)
[3rd POV]
After the army of Gongmen City crossed Pearl Lake, they immediately headed further down West.
Their movements were greatly slowed down by the heavy cannons they carried like the enemy had predicted and they took three whole days to reach the border of Shu.
It was at this point that they started executing their war strategy which was quite simple. They will send their strongest force to the North of the Kingdom and launch an attack from there.
The rest of the army would then attack from the East which was the furthest from the neighbouring kingdom to make sure that no reinforcements could come from the other kingdoms.
In this battle, Lord Shen planned to use the element of surprise and march his way straight through the defences Shu would erect to stop them.
Although people knew that he had a weapon that could even kill the likes of Master Rhino, they were not aware of the full extent of it's abilities.
They probably thought it was a weapon that target one person at a time and not something that works better against a huge army than a single individual.
There were also the new explosives that he had deviced with the help of Tai Lung so he was at least confident in taking any elite army Shu would put forward to stop them.
It will be an absolute devastation.
"The plan is simple. We will send our strongest force to the North and the rest will move towards the East and attack from there." Lord Shen addressed his soldiers and amongst them, Master Ox and Master Croc shared a look.
When night came and while everyone else was asleep, Master Ox sneaked away from the camp.
Master Ox and Master Croc were forced to fight in this war by Tai Lung as he threatened them to not only kill them but the citizens of Gongment City would suffer if they disobey his orders.
With all his bad reputation, the Masters did not doubt his words and called his bluff. So for now, as the sworn protector of the Gongemen city and it's citizens, they will fight in the war against Shu.
They have been invaluable asset to the army as they were not only great instructors for the soldiers, their fighting power was one of the best as you would expect from the higher ranks of the Kung Fu Council.
But they were not planning to be helpless victims in this war. They were more than just lost lamps Tai Lung could force and control to his whims.
"Here take it." Master Ox said in a hushed voice and gave a scroll to a messenger bird who was hiding in the bushes. The scroll contained the plans and strategy Tai Lung and Lord Shen had devised.
"Thank you, Master Ox." The messenger said his heartful thanks to the one-horned Ox before he flew away in the night.
He was an owl so there was no sound as he flapped his wings and took off into the night. Master Ox watched as the messenger flew away and he slowly sneaked back into the camp.
But through the whole ordeal, he did not notice the pair of yellow eyes which glow eerily in the dark.
They were always on him.
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[A few Days later]
(The Eastern defence line of Shu)
After getting information from Master Gazelle and making sure that the war strategy of Lord Shen and Tai Lung was just as expected, the Shu dispatched most of its soldiers to the North to stop the attack.
But the East was not disregarded either as 5000 soldiers which consisted of mostly primates were stationed in the eastern walls.
Three days quickly passed and then four, finally Lord Shen and his army had reached the Eastern defensive lines but something was wrong.
There was a taste of something else in the air and as the soldiers of Shu looked at the horizon where the army of Shen was slowly appearing, they knew they had made a huge blunder.
"All of the army are here! Damnit! We have been tricked!." The Monkey King who had been ordered to lead the defensive line in the East cursed out loud when he saw the thousand-strong soldiers coming towards them.
They have been thoroughly tricked. But how could that happen? The information they got was from Master Ox himself and it should definitely be trustworthy because even Lord Shen had repeated the plan many times to his soldiers.
So how?
"Not the time." Monkey King bit on his own tongue as he looked around at the soldiers he was leading. They were five thousand strong and definitely had the advantage against the enemy when it came to number.
But he knew that would not be able to make up for the difference in the quality of their power. The army had Tai Lung and the weapons that Lord Shen had created.
"Soldiers!! Prepare for battle!! We have to protect our home from the evil claws of Tai Lung and Lord Shen!" Monkey King yelled out as his soldiers gathered their courage to face the full force of the Gongmen army.
They could see them on the horizon and they were marching ever closer. They were only a thousand strong yet the presence they had made them seem ten times that amount.
"Messenger!!" Monkey King called out and a small crow flew towards him.
"Fly back to the capital and report the situation immediately!! We have been tricked by Lord Shen, there will be no attack in the North as all of the army had gathered here. Ask for reinforcement as quickly as possible." The Monkey King said the crow immediately took off to report the news to the enemy.
The Monkey King clicked his tongue when he saw the slow flight speed of the crow. They sent a lot of birds to scout the enemy army and most of them never returned as they were probably killed by the enemy birds or even Tai Lung himself who knew the Crane technique.
So the current messenger they had was just a civilian they recruited to make up for all of the lost birds as some who refused to continue working for them in fear of death.
"Ready the catapult, archers get into position!!" Monkey King yelled and his voice infused with Chi was able to reach even the ears of the enemy.
They have towers and a huge wall that is 20 miles long and protects the king of Shu from the East.
They have the advantage of numbers and home ground so he hoped they could hold the force long enough for reinforcement to come.
The soldiers moved into position as quickly as they could and they started loading up the catapult which they would launch the moment the enemy crossed their range.
Monkey King used a telescope and looked at the enemy. He could see them stopping way before they entered into the range of the catapult and archers.
Then they started loading up the weapons which were called cannons. He cursed under his breath and quickly counted how many of the weapons there were.
While he was doing so, his eyes searched for the person he dreaded the most but oddly enough, he could not find him. That gave him a bad feeling but he did saw Lord Shen who was standing at the forefront of the army.
The Monkey King focused on Shen who had the most carefree and easygoing smile he had ever seen on a King in the middle of war.
It was the smile of a victor.
And then, Lord when waved his wings and his beaks moved to speak one order. Monkey king could read what came out of Shen's beak.
'Fire.'
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"Oh, god damn it." Monkey King cursed and put away his telescope to stare at the horizon which was suddenly lit up in the colour of red.
Then he saw streaks of red line flying towards the wall and to his soldiers. They were like fireworks but he knew they were something much worse.
If fireworks were the manifestation of dreams and wonder, this one was a nightmare, a hell on earth.
*BOOM*
*BOOM*
*BOOM*
*BOOM*
*BOOM*
The sound reached them and they were a melodious beat of their death, a song to thier funeral.
It would likely be impossible to hold the fort until reinforcement arrives. It would be a miracle if they held out for half a day.
But fortunately, Monkey King could maybe provide that miracle they needed.
"Brace yourselves!!!" Monkey King yelled as the soldiers ran around like headless chickens. They have been through countless wars and they trained all of their life learning the way of violence.
But this was like nothing they had ever seen before.
This was an advance form of war which none of them were familiar with. It was the ultimate violence of the future.
They knew how to fight against soldiers and warriors but what they faced was the cold touch of metal and the indifferent heat of a raging fire.
The cannons reached them and they crashed against the stone wall of their defence. An explosion followed as the towers and fort shook violently.
The Monkey King, the sage of the west let out his Chi and his body was soon covered with the heroic colour of gold. He leapt off and bravely faced the cannon balls but the rest of the soldiers were meat in a pot, waiting to be butchered.
Limbs flew off and the shockwave sent the Soldiers to their death as they met their end without even being able to fight back. The weapons Shen had created were truly cruel as the soldiers did not get the glorious death they always dreamed of, instead, they met their end like any civilian.
Absolutely helpless.
War was violent, the Monkey King knew this as someone who gained fame through wars. But what he witnessed that day was beyond anything he had ever seen before.
"Rush towards the enemy!!" Monkey King yelled as he punched and kicked away multiple cannon balls but they were just too many in number, it was just a waste of his Chi.
They could not fight back from this range so if they wanted to even stand a chance against them, they needed to close the gap between themselvee.
The soldiers got out of the towers and leapt off the walls before they started running towards the enemy.
"My soldiers push forward!!" Monkey King yelled and ran first with his body covered in golden glory.
In return, Lord Shen ordered his men to aim a little lower as they started massacring the incoming enemy.
Monkey King watched as they became the attacker when they were supposed to be the defender. He also watched as his men quickly dwindled in number with every meter of distance they covered.
It was then that he realized how easily Shen turned the war in his favour. The advantages they had, being the defender in their fort and their number slowly died as Lord Shen flipped the table.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAAH!!" A desperate laugh rolled off the Monkey King as he witnessed how easily Shen took away their advantages and made them his own.
They were basically puppet under his control, he had every right to smile like a victor before the war even started. Monkey King realized.
He watched as his soldiers died due to the explosions of the weapons. But he thought at least he would avenge them by killing Lord Shen when he reached them.
He may be helpless when it was long range but when he reached them.....
That dream also quickly died down when he remembered Tai Lung was somewhere there and two of his friends, Master Ox and Croc stood beside Lord Shen to protect him.
A sage, a prodigy, a war hero.
How can he be so helpless?
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At least Shen will only win this battle. He can never win the war.
When the soldiers in the north reach the East to give a reinforcement, they will put an end to Lord Shen and Tai Lung's ambition.
After all, the fact that they would be sending their strongest force to the East was just a lie to trick them. And the soldiers there will quickly realize it and come back to help in the Eastern fronts.
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(The North of Shu)
"What is the meaning of this?" The general of the Shu military asked as he looked through his telescope.
On the North of Shu, 50,000 soldiers were stationed here to protect against the invasion of Gongmen. From the information they got, the strongest force was going to invade from the North, so they stationed 10 times the amount they put in the East.
Yet even when it was about time the army reached the Northern defence line, there was no army in sight.
Instead, there was one person walking slowly towards them. He was wearing a black cloak that hid all of his body so they were not sure who it was.
The person in the hood took out his hands from the cloak and started badging his hands. He wrapped the white bandage tightly around each of his fingers in such a way that his claws remained out and not retracted.
"I thought they were sending their strongest force here, to the North." The general muttered in confusion.
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They did.
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[Tai Lung's image]
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