Chapter 2039 - 2037: Once More (Sure Enough, Reincarnated Villains Are the Best in New Anime)

With the lessons learned from last time, the young girl naturally wouldn’t foolishly choose direct assassination again. However, this doesn’t mean she’s giving up. Indeed, throughout history, the methods of assassination have included not only direct attack but also poisoning!

As long as she carefully observes and determines Fang Zheng’s meal times, then finds an opportunity to poison him, it’s all possible!

Of course, this isn’t something that can be done overnight; it requires a long time of observation. Fortunately, over the next two days, perhaps in search of strategies, Xiang Yu didn’t launch attacks on Hangu Pass, making it easier for the young girl. She observed several times and found that Fang Zheng didn’t seem to have any differences in his eating and living habits from other soldiers.

Generally speaking, with the young girl’s experience, any of those generals in the army should have someone specifically responsible for their meals and lodging. After all, they are generals, and it’s also a precaution against poisoning.

However, Fang Zheng obviously wasn’t that particular. His food wasn’t different from the other soldiers, though he’d add more meat and wine, and have it brought separately to his room.

This way, the best method was to poison the food on its way to Fang Zheng’s room. But although the girl responsible for delivering the food looked delicate and seemed about the same age as the young girl, the latter could feel that the girl was just as capable. Reckless actions might startle the suspect.

Nonetheless, being a "professional assassin," she knew that opportunities are patiently awaited. So every day, she would stake out there until nightfall when Fang Zheng went to bed before leaving. She aimed to seize a moment to poison him, but it seemed this chance wasn’t easy to find.

During this time, Xiang Yu wasn’t idle either, constantly pondering how to break through Fang Zheng’s bizarre weapons. Admittedly, he did come up with some methods. After consulting with Fan Zeng, Xiang Yu decided to move the existing trebuchets further back, not to batter the city walls anymore but to first use them to hurl stones and "bomb" the ground outside Hangu Pass. According to their analysis of the fragments they found, these so-called "land fires" should have some intricate mechanism that explodes when stepped on.

If that’s the case, why not just detonate them in advance to neutralize the threat?

Besides, for those strange launching devices on the city wall, Xiang Yu found a method. He ordered modifications to the battering rams, adding a thick wooden shield made of rolling logs to the front. From afar, they looked like a bulldozer. Xiang Yu’s approach was straightforward: the enemy mainly relied on those strange black cylinders and land fires. As long as they neutralized the land fires and rushed to the city walls amidst chaos, those black cylinders couldn’t function effectively. Then the army could press forward to victory!

Having finalized the plan, Xiang Yu didn’t attack immediately. He first ordered the manufacturing of the equipment, understanding that an army strikes with one surge of energy, dwindles in the second, and exhausts by the third. The first failure could be excused by the enemy’s surprises, but the second already diminished morale. If the third attempt failed, Xiang Yu feared it’d be hopeless.

This preparation took half a month, after which Xiang Yu gathered the army once again and launched another assault on Hangu Pass.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!!!"

Flying stones pummeled the ground, triggering round after round of explosions. Yet Fang Zheng stood on the city wall, watching without a hint of surprise.

"Hmm, Xiang Yu is truly Xiang Yu. I knew he had some skills."

For Fang Zheng, breaking through the landmine field wasn’t difficult. After all, the greatest effect of landmines was not so much their lethality but their intimidation. The uncertainty of what lay ahead naturally induced fear and retreat. However, this rough and direct method was only feasible now since historically, when landmines became widespread, trebuchets had long been obsolete.

But now... Fang Zheng had to admit, trebuchets were quite useful for mine-clearing.

The stones launched by the trebuchets were often large enough to trigger the landmines, bursting them. Simultaneously, these sizable stones, thrown forward, could serve as defensive walls against cannon fire.

"Charge!!!"

Amidst artillery and landmine explosions, the soldiers shouted and charged, lowering their bodies and carrying ladders to scale the walls as they sprinted through the breached minefield, straight towards the walls.

"Not bad, not bad, truly impressive."

Watching the soldiers below, Fang Zheng nodded in satisfaction. Indeed, the creativity of ordinary people is boundless. Frankly speaking, if he had only crafted landmines and cannons, they’d probably face a tough battle now. However, luckily, Fang Zheng had long prepared for this.

"Release the signal."

With this in mind, Fang Zheng instructed the general beside him, who immediately went off to fulfill the order. Shortly after, they saw a firework shooting into the sky, exploding with a "bang."

"What is that?"

Seeing the fireworks in the sky, Xiang Yu frowned slightly. He could guess it was some signal, but... what signal could it be?

Could it be that Young Master Fang would choose to attack? Or were there ambushes? But ambushes? Xiang Yu, being a renowned general, would certainly have scouts closely monitoring the area around Hangu Pass. It’d be a joke if someone managed to sneak behind them for a surprise attack. He was certain, the scouts reported no ambushes around!

It couldn’t be from the sky, right...?

"Boom!!!"

However, even before Xiang Yu could finish reflecting, suddenly, the explosion resounded, and he witnessed his army erupting in chaos with explosions everywhere!

Previously, it was only the front lines suffering artillery strikes, which Xiang Yu could tolerate. But now the rear ranks were also under attack—what’s going on? Xiang Yu had previously ensured that the "devices" had long range and specifically moved the troops further back. How were they still struck?

It couldn’t be from the sky... hmm?

With that thought, Xiang Yu shuddered and hurriedly looked up at the sky, then widened his eyes in shock.

In the azure sky, Xiang Yu saw several pitch-black shadows drifting about. Due to the bright sunlight, he couldn’t discern what they were, but he was sure they weren’t clouds or any bird!

"What, what are those?!"

Not only Xiang Yu, but other soldiers also noticed those bizarre silhouettes in the sky, becoming nervous. Yet what made them even more uneasy was yet to come. They saw black dots falling from those shadows, whistling downward, landing within the ranks, and then...

"Boom!!!"

Sparking another wave of explosions.

"It’s the immortals! It’s the immortals!"

"This is an immortal technique, run away!!"

This time, the soldiers could no longer remain calm. People of this era were inherently superstitious. They had no idea what those objects in the sky were, but they knew they weren’t ordinary!

Indeed, this was Fang Zheng’s third hidden ace—the hot air balloon!

In this era, the idea of creating those highly advanced hot air balloons is certainly impossible. In fact, even the few hot air balloons Fang Zheng managed to make took quite a long time. After all, the only material usable for hot air balloons in this era is animal skin, and sewing such a large balloon using animal skin requires a lot of time and effort.

Next, it was simple. Taking advantage of the era having no air defense, Fang Zheng directly sent people up in the hot air balloons and had them drop a pile of landmines down. No precision was needed... mature gravity would solve the problem on its own.

"Retreat, retreat immediately!!"

By this time, Xiang Yu could no longer maintain his composure. Though Fang Zheng’s hot air balloons indeed had certain limitations, they weren’t easily noticeable at high altitudes. Now seeing the opponent in the sky, Xiang Yu naturally knew this was Fang Zheng’s doing. In this situation, there was no way they could continue the battle!

Aside from retreating, there was no other option!

However, what Xiang Yu hadn’t anticipated was that the signal Fang Zheng gave this time wasn’t solely for the hot air balloons.

The real deal was the combined air bombardment with the ground armored troops!

"Grand General!!"

Just as Xiang Yu attempted to retreat his army, scouts from the rear suddenly brought news.

"We’ve been ambushed by the enemy troops!"

Was there really an ambush?!

Upon hearing this, Xiang Yu’s face darkened.

"How many are there on the other side?"

"This, this humble one does not know, but the opposing side has a thousand chariots!"

"Chariots?"

Faced with this unexpected answer, Xiang Yu was genuinely stunned. Since Zhao Wuling King’s introduction of the warrior attire and archery on horseback, chariots had gradually faded out of the historical stage. Yet now, chariots had reappeared?

What puzzled Xiang Yu even more was.

"Could mere thousand chariots really not be taken down?"

Indeed, Xiang Yu’s troop heading towards Hangu Pass also brought several thousand chariots and tens of thousands of cavalry. Could mere thousand chariots really not be dealt with?

"These chariots are different, Master!!"

"I will go see for myself!"

Hearing the opponent’s crying response, Xiang Yu realized the situation was dire and urgently spurred his horse to advance towards the rear. Upon reaching the rear battlefield, Xiang Yu immediately understood why the mere thousand chariots of the opponent had made his subordinates so tense.

Previously, chariots were pulled by four horses and had a compartment with three soldiers standing on it: one controlling the horses and the other two wielding swords, spears, bows, and arrows to attack. However, the chariots now presented to everyone were completely different. They were massive, enclosed wooden compartments, pulled by eight horses in two rows. These chariots had four wheels, a large body, and were equipped with some sort of crossbows.

These crossbows were also extraordinary. They could shoot thirty bolts in succession at once. A thousand chariots together could shoot enough to lay any enemy flat on the ground. Although Xiang Yu’s side also retaliated, their arrows could not effectively penetrate the chariot’s wooden boards to harm the enemies inside.

This was Fang Zheng’s design. Of course, ideally, tanks would be the best design. Unfortunately, this is too hard to achieve; this era lacks engines. Completely relying on horses to pull, aside from the issue of whether horses could drag heavy cannons, just the sound of cannon explosions would be enough to scare the horses into fleeing. So as an alternative, Fang Zheng had to design the ancient famous repeating crossbow---it serves as an armored vehicle just as well.

Despite lacking rubber, the wooden wheels naturally made for a bumpy ride on plains with no comfort, but since Fang Zheng himself wasn’t riding... comfort didn’t matter.

With air raids up above and these lethally powerful, peculiar chariots behind, Xiang Yu’s army was utterly crushed. Although Xiang Yu orchestrated repeated counters with cavalry and chariots, the opponent’s bolts were ingeniously designed. Though their firing rate couldn’t compare with machine guns, they were sufficient against the charging cavalry.

Moreover, the opposing side’s chariots were pulled by eight horses, having slightly more ’horsepower’. Seeing Xiang Yu’s troops advancing, they simply turned tail to retreat, followed by a round of volleys, sending Xiang Yu into a rage.

Would his 400,000-strong army really be buried here by the opponent’s mere 40,000-strong army?

This scene was naturally witnessed by Little Ying, who clenched her teeth, wishing she could immediately rush out from hiding and kill Fang Zheng. But the young woman knew she had to wait for the right opportunity. Even if her elder brother suffered defeat this time, as long as she could kill this butcher, her brother could easily deal with them!

Just then, the young woman saw several maids hurriedly walk out, carrying a set of dishes.

"How’s the front line? Is Lord Fang Zheng dining?"

"Lord Fang Zheng said to place it on the stove in his room; the battle will end soon, and he will dine once the battle is over."

"Alright, understood."

Upon hearing the messenger’s words, the maid nodded, carried the tray into Fang Zheng’s room, and placed it properly. Just as she finished, she heard a call from the back.

"Kohin sister, we have a problem here..."

"What problem? I’ll take a look."

Saying this, the maid turned to leave Fang Zheng’s room not forgetting to carefully lock the door, and seeing this, the young woman’s eyes lit up.

Opportunity!

Seizing the gap as the maid left, Little Ying hurriedly flipped down from the roof eaves, then jumped into the room through the opened window. Immediately, she swiftly took out poison from her bosom, opened the lid of the flask, poured it in, and stirred a few times.

Heh heh heh, this time you’re dead!

Just as Little Ying was planning to leave, suddenly the sounds of footsteps came from outside.