Chapter 149: Chapter 131, The Battle of the Three Ponds_5
He hadn’t reached this level yet, but there were already signs of it.
Two devastating defeats, coupled with being cornered in Sanchi Town and facing a deadlock, had greatly shaken his authority.
He could even guess that there must be many people whose faith was wavering, who were already considering Bol’s words.
Would surrender be a better choice? Following the previous opportunity to join the New Alliance Army, would it not spare them from facing the sharp edge of blades? Even without privileges, being just an ordinary civilian was better than losing one’s life.
There were probably not a few people with this mindset, and all these thoughts would turn into resentment, falling onto him, the great leader.
But there was still a way out.
He had to find a way out for his brothers; then perhaps his authority had a chance of being maintained.
Seeing that his action of slamming the table had silenced the crowd below, he felt somewhat relieved. His authority, built up over many years, had not completely vanished.
He took a deep breath and began to outline his plan:
“Those governors’ lapdogs, to put it plainly, are only about eight hundred strong, armed with fierce weapons, but they’ve spread their forces too thin in their attempt to surround us. If we concentrate our remaining cannons, all our explosives, in one place and strike with all our might, we’re sure to break out.”
Someone jumped out with a dissenting view, “The great leader makes it sound so easy! It’s our men who will be going out to die!”
Another spoke up, “Talking about breaking out, who knows how many would die on the way! Bore is right, we should have just been honest from the start.”
First there were scattered remarks, then the remaining crowd seemed eager to try, as if the whole meeting was on the verge of descending into a marketplace again.
But the sound of gunfire cut off the brewing argument.
The three who had just spoken each now had a bullet hole in their forehead.
They fell backward with disbelieving faces.
The shooter was Terrell.
Everyone else was startled, their faces carrying a look of disbelief as if they never expected Terrell to dare to draw a gun and kill people in such a setting.
All from outlaw backgrounds, some instinctively reached for their guns within moments.
“Nobody move!” Terrell bellowed loudly.
But at that moment, was shouting alone enough?
There were still those continuing to reach for their guns.
However, the many plunderers guarding nearby, as if prepared, raised their weapons and aimed at those who were stirring.
These men were undoubtedly Terrell’s confidants.
With the present situation foreseen, Terrell was naturally prepared.
These guards, already in position, targeted the agitating leaders and opened fire, but bullets don’t discriminate, and stray shots hitting the innocent were all too common.
Many fell and died; those not involved yet injured called out, some tried to resist, but in the end, they were all swept to the ground like the others before them.
Quickly, all the plunderer leaders on one side of the meeting hall were shot dead.
On the other side, there was little commotion.
That side consisted of Terrell’s staunch supporters, who even anticipated the current turn of events.
Once the tumult subsided, Terrell stood up and cursed, “A bunch of ungrateful bastards.”
After finishing his tirade, he directed his supporters to take over and integrate the troops of those who had been killed.
After making arrangements, he had someone bring in two wooden crates from outside.
Upon opening them, green vials of medicine wrapped in straw were revealed.
“Hand these out, and when it’s time to break through, have the assault team drink them.”
The battle came even more suddenly than expected.
Terrell, after clearing out the internal opposition, had almost exhausted all the authority he had accumulated over the years, managing to keep the tribes of the slain leaders under control as he took them over.
Then, he struggled to mobilize the troops, hoping to rally the remaining 3,000 to nearly 4,000 people within Sanchi Town to launch a full-scale breakout in the same direction.
The heavy artillery the New Alliance Army possessed was the weapon he feared the most.
One shot from that thing, if the troops were a bit too clustered, meant dozens, even hundreds of casualties; yet the width of the battlefield for breaking out of the city would not be too large, and if one were determined to break through, ensuring enough force in the assault team meant troops couldn’t spread out too much.
However, that would significantly increase the lethality of the enemy’s artillery.
It was truly a dilemma.
But a choice had to be made in the face of any dilemma.
Terrell planned to order his troops to launch a desperate assault, rushing to fight at close quarters with the enemy, just tens of meters away, so they could engage in close combat.
In this way, the distance between friend and foe was greatly reduced; the New Alliance Army’s heavy artillery would not be able to perform as well.
They would have to be wary of causing friendly fire, as the enemy could not afford to take losses any more than they could.
However, he somewhat underestimated the difficulty of reassembling his forces after the killings. Although he managed to avert outright mutiny and internal strife, the speed of regrouping the entire military force was far slower than expected.
Before he was ready to lead his forces in the breakout, the New Alliance Army launched an attack first.