Liu Mang wanted to turn the enemy reinforcements into his own. He gambled on the fact that the enemy could not recognize each other in hopes that the enemy would kill each other.
“General Huang She. This is our General Zhang Fei. He is exhausted dealing with the King of Shu and is unable to greet you. Please forgive us!” Liu Mang stepped forward and cupped his fist toward the high ranking military officer in the lead before pointing at Guan Hai.
“You are Zhang Fei?” Huang Ri looked at Guan Hai and furrowed his brows. This is because Guan Hai looked extremely ugly and fierce from the scar on his face. The people of ancient times were quite picky in that ugly people would not give good impressions. Fortunately, this caused Guan Hai to look like a fierce general. Based on Huang She’s description, Zhang Fei was a fierce dark skinned general.
During this era, people loved to exaggerate. Nine out of ten warriors had dark skin while the last person would have even darker skin.
“I am Zhang Fei?” Guan Hai was stunned but he quickly joined Liu Mang in the act. “I am a man of Yan, Zhang Fei Zhang Yide!” Guan Hai wanted to laugh when he said he was from Yan but due to his wounds, he ended up weeping.
“I am not my uncle. I am Huang Ri. I am ordered by my uncle to come and help General Zhang Fei!” Huang Ri was also not too overbearing. Huang She had instructed him to not to offend Zhang Fei.
“Grandmother! That little boy over there! If he is Zhang Fei than who is this Zhang?” Zhang Fei immediately got angry at the sight of someone pretending to be him.
“Hm?” Zhang Fei had a loud and powerful voice. He had also called Huang Ri a little boy. Huang Ri immediately furrowed his brows from the man’s lack of courtesy.
“Is this the King of Shu?” Huang Ri asked as he looked at Zhang Fei. The first impression is always the strongest.
“Yes. This is the King of Shu, Liu Mang!” Liu Mang happily nodded.
“No! Our Third General is Zhang Fei!” Zhang Fei’s men panicked as the ballista had all turned to face them when Huang Ri asked this question. They had followed Liu Bei to Yangzhou and knew of its power. Even the Xiliang Cavalry’s heavy armor was unable to withstand the might of the ballista much less them, who wore leather armor for the sake of fighting on the river.
“Your general is Zhang Fei?” Huang Ri frowned. There are now two people that claimed to be Zhang Fei. Yet, Huang Ri believed Liu Mang because of his first impression.
“Wonderful! The King of Shu is even willing to pretend to be someone else in order to live!” Liu Mang complained as he pointed at Zhang Fei.
“General. We cannot only listen to one side!” Huang Hua advised. They had come to clean up the aftermath but was now stuck trying to differentiate their allies.
“Fine! All of you, step forward!! Let us see which side can give us prove that they are Zhang Fei’s!” Huang Ri was also unable to easily differentiate the two.
“You can start first!” Huang Ri said to Zhang Fei.
“Our general is the ferocious Zhang Fei, wielder of the Serpent Spear! He caused that Slave of Three Surnames, Lu Bu to retreat at Hulao Gate screaming for his mother!” One soldier stepped forward and said to Huang Ri. Although he exaggerated, he had properly explained that Zhang Fei was very skilled and could use the Serpent Spear.
“Correct. Then you must be Zhang Fei!” Huang Ri nodded. He had learnt from Huang She that Zhang Fei uses the Serpent Spear. As a result, the ballista all turned to face Liu Mang’s group.
Liu Mang felt uncomfortable from being aimed at by the ballista. No one knew the power of the ballista better than him. At such a close distance, there would certainly be no way to survive. “What a joke. Everyone knows about the Serpent Spear. It is precisely because our ferocious general Zhang Fei could wield this Serpent Spear that he became well known! What is the use of saying something everybody already knows?”
“We can say that! What about you?”
“We don’t need to say anything. Facts speak louder than words. You said your General Zhang Fei is good at using the Serpent Spear. Then let me ask you, where is the Serpent Spear right now?” Liu Mang sneered.
“Our general’s Serpent Spear is obviously…!” The man who was speaking suddenly stopped the moment he noticed that Liu Mang was actually holding the Serpent Spear. Zhang Fei had also felt extremely angry when he noticed Liu Mang holding his Serpent Spear.
“Despicable! You take advantage of my exhausted state to steal my weapon?” Zhang Fei roared out.
“So you are Liu Mang!” Huang Ri snorted and the ballista all turned back to aim at Zhang Fei.
“No! It is not us! We are Zhang Fei’s men!”
“Hm?” Compared to Huang Ri, Huang Hua was more sensitive to tricks. His intuition told him that something was not right. He could not help but advice that having possession of the weapon does not prove their identities as people could lose their weapons in battle. It would be better for them to show proof that they could use the weapon.
“That makes sense!” Huang Ri nodded.
“Not good!” Liu Mang turned to look at the deputy who managed to find this flaw.
“Haha! Let us see how you, Liu Mang, is able to use our General Zhang Fei’s Serpent Spear!” Zhang Fei’s men laughed. The Serpent Spear was like Lu Bu’s Sky Piercer. They were extremely difficult weapons to use. Without proper mastery, they would be like long sticks. The Serpent Spear in particular was much longer than a cavalry’s spear. Only Zhang Fei would be able to use it properly.
“Milord!” Guan Hai softly called out to Liu Mang in a worried tone. He may be strong but even he can’t use that weapon. He was more specialized in swords.
“N.” Liu Mang lightly patted Guan Hai’s shoulder to reassure him. “Since you are so convinced, you guys go first.” Liu Mang handed the Serpent Spear over.
“Hmph! This Zhang is the only one who can wield the Serpent Spear! Little boy Liu Mang! You are definitely going to die this time!” Zhang Fei stepped forward and grabbed the Serpent Spear. However, he frowned when he tried to use it the way he usually did.
Liu Mang saw this and felt relieved. He was now certain that Zhang Fei was too exhausted to swing the Serpent Spear properly. He then advised Guan Hai to use his exhaustion as an excuse and to just use simple movements to swing the Serpent Spear when it was Guan Hai’s turn. Using fancy movements would simply be shooting themselves in the foot.
Since neither side could properly wield the Serpent Spear, Liu Mang would not allow things to become even worse for himself. He had to make Huang Ri believe that Zhang Fei was ‘Liu Mang’.
“King of Shu, Liu Mang. Are you still unwilling to give up? General Huang Ri. Did General Huang She describe the appearance of our general and Liu Mang?”
Huang Ri nodded. Huang She would have definitely spoke about Liu Mang a lot as Liu Mang was his sworn enemy.
“Then you should know that this person is extremely repulsive. At a glance, he won’t look like he was born from human parents.” Liu Mang deliberately not say his name and simply pointed at Zhang Fei as he said this.
“Indeed.” Huang Ri nodded. Huang She had indeed said something like that. How would Liu Mang know such nonsense? It is simply because nobody would describe their sworn enemy as handsome. At the very least, Liu Mang was still human to Huang She.
“Bullshit!” Zhang Fei roared in anger. Even Dian Wei would not endure this kind of insults.
Huang Ri looked at Zhang Fei and frowned. Zhang Fei’s appearance was really nothing worth looking at. He made fun of Dian Wei because he was slightly more handsome than Dian Wei. However, he was still amongst the ugly.
On the other hand, Guan Hai looked ugly because of his scar. However, the scar made him look like a valiant warrior.
“That being said, this person is outstanding!” Liu Mang praised. “We had brought so many elites but only end up in a draw.”
Liu Mang’s words were actually compliments towards Huang Ri. He was saying that they could not win but Huang Ri could.
Huang Ri nodded. On Liu Mang’s side, everyone was injured while only Zhang Fei alone was injured on the other side. The other soldiers were ignored.
“One last thing! Look at our positions. We are on top of the small boats that is used to attack while Liu Mang is on the attacked boat!” As Liu Mang and the others were closer to the small boats, they looked like the attacking party.
“Your words are reasonable!” Huang Ri nodded. Huang Hua still felt suspicious but he could not figure out what was wrong.
“Men. Kill all of them except for the Fake King Liu Mang!” Huang Ri ordered.
“General! We are not Liu Mang’s men!” Zhang Fei’s men all screamed out but they were quickly shot down by the ballista.
“Liu Mang! You are despicable!” Zhang Fei roared out in anger but nobody paid him any attention.
Liu Mang watched the bodies fell into the river and felt that this was extremely cruel. However, this was war. If this didn’t happen to them, it would happen to him.
“General Huang Ri. Why are we sparing this Liu Mang? We should just behead him!” Liu Mang advised.
“Do we need you to teach General Huang Ri what to do?” Huang Hua coldly replied. He found himself unable to like Liu Mang.
“Don’t dare, don’t dare!” Liu Mang nodded helplessly.
“Huang Hua, withdraw!” Huang Ri was feeling happy as he had killed many of “Liu Mang’s” men. “I will be honest with your general. My uncle Huang She has hatred for Liu Mang. I am certain your strategist knows about this as well. If it is possible, my uncle wants to obtain Liu Mang alive!”
“I understand.” Liu Mang had an expression of realization. However, he had killing intent in his heart. Huang She wanted Liu Mang alive obviously to torture him. There was pleasure in humiliating your sworn enemy by forcing him to kneel in front of you.
‘Huang She! Wash your neck and wait!’ Liu Mang thought to himself. He exchanged greetings with Huang Ri in front of the unwilling Zhang Fei. He then took the ships provided by Huang Ri and advanced to Xiangyang.