Chapter 123: Secret Weapon
Liu Biao paced back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back, appearing anxious. He had just received news that Cai Zan’s navy guarding Dongting Lake had been defeated, and Liling County had also been captured by the Yuzhang Army. He had lost both battles, having underestimated Gan Ning. If things went badly, Changsha Commandery might really be seized by Gan Ning.
Liu Biao was not only worried about Changsha Commandery, but about all four commanderies in southern Jingzhou. Changsha Commandery was just the beginning; Gan Ning would inevitably swallow up all of southern Jingzhou next.
At this time, his subordinate strategist Kuai Yue suggested: “Gan Ning has risen in less than two years, with an unstable foundation and lacking prestige. His hasty western expedition is actually committing the great taboo of warfare. Governor, why not send someone to contact Jiangdong, Sun Ben, and others, and join with Huang Zu to attack Yuzhang Commandery together? Gan Ning, worried about his home base being lost, will surely return to rescue Yuzhang, and the crisis in Changsha will naturally be resolved.”
Liu Xian hurriedly said from the side: “Huang Zu and Jiangdong are blood enemies; the two sides cannot form an alliance.”
Kuai Yue waved his hand. “This is easy to solve. Huang Zu doesn’t need to show his face; just have him send troops under our banner.”
Liu Biao hesitated. “But I heard that Gan Ning has already allied with Jiangdong; Jiangdong probably won’t agree.”
“We can try. We only want the money and grain from Yuzhang Commandery; give the population and land to Jiangdong. This temptation will be hard for Jiangdong to refuse.”
Liu Biao nodded; it was indeed worth trying.
That same day, Liu Biao wrote three letters, one each to Jiangdong, Sun Ben, and Huang Zu, suggesting that they join forces to exterminate Gan Ning of Yuzhang Commandery.
Of course, in the letter to Sun Quan, he did not mention Huang Zu, only saying the three sides should join together.
…………
On the north side of Dongting Lake, a massive fleet appeared; this was the reinforcements from Jiangling, personally commanded by Liu Cong as the commander, with Cai Mao as deputy general.
In order to help Liu Cong ascend to the position of heir, Cai Mao was eager to shore up Liu Cong’s weaknesses: support from the military and reputation.
Liu Cong was the second son and was naturally suppressed by the eldest son Liu Qi in terms of legitimacy. To reverse this and put Liu Cong above Liu Qi, there was only one way: let Liu Cong gain enormous reputation. There were many ways to gain reputation, such as excelling in scholarship and becoming a world-recognized literary master.
Or, like the ancestor of the Huang Family, being listed among the Twenty-Four Paragons of Filial Piety, which would also bring world-renowned prestige.
But neither was realistic for Liu Cong. The only feasible path was military merit; battlefield achievements were the fastest way to gain reputation.
So when Cai Mao learned that Gan Ning might seize Changsha Commandery, he immediately realized Liu Cong’s opportunity had come. Let Liu Cong lead the army to defeat Gan Ning invading Changsha Commandery. Liu Cong would not only gain military support but also enormous reputation, allowing him to smoothly be established as heir.
To seize this opportunity, Cai Mao persuaded Liu Biao to let Liu Cong be stationed in Nan Commandery.
And this time, Liu Cong personally leading the army to rescue Linxiang County was the most important part of Cai Mao’s entire plan.
Liu Cong stood on the largest tower ship, wearing armor and holding a war sword. He was twenty years old this year and was putting on armor for the first time.
Beside him stood the great general Cai Mao. He had once vowed revenge against Gan Ning, but he had not expected to meet Gan Ning again in this way.
His mood was equally complex; he had no confidence at all in his heart that he could defeat Gan Ning.
But on the surface, he still had to comfort Liu Cong.
“I have an army of 30,000, over a thousand warships, and soldiers who are well-trained and coordinate seamlessly. Although Gan Ning’s troop strength and ships are about the same as ours, his is a pieced-together army. Most of the warships are captured ships, and the soldiers are mostly from surrenders, not local Yuzhang Commandery soldiers. We are basically all Jingzhou Army with high morale, so we will surely win this battle. Second Young Master need not worry at all.”
Liu Cong pondered and said: “I heard their fire attack is formidable!”
Cai Mao chuckled. “We also have fire attack, in no way inferior to theirs.”
At that moment, a soldier on the mast shouted loudly: “Enemy army fleet spotted ahead!”
Liu Cong and Cai Mao hurriedly looked south. In a moment, countless small black dots indeed appeared on the distant water surface.
Cai Mao hurriedly shouted loudly: “Raise the battle flags and sound the alarm bells!”
Two red flags rose on the flagship, followed by the alarm bells ringing loudly.
“Dang! Dang! Dang! Dang!”
Soldiers resting in the cabins rushed out one after another.
Liu Cong was truly nervous, gripping the war sword tightly, his fingers turning white at the knuckles.
Cai Mao saw Liu Cong’s nervousness and hurriedly ordered: “Quickly escort the Second Young Master to the cabin to rest!”
Several soldiers escorted Liu Cong down to rest.
War drums boomed on the water surface as both sides sounded their war drums to boost their armies’ morale.
Excluding logistical warships, the Yuzhang Army had 750 warships of various sizes in battle, with 25,000 troops. The Jingzhou Army was similar, with 700 warships in battle and over 27,000 soldiers.
It could be said that the two armies were evenly matched; the final victory or defeat would depend on performance in the heat of battle.
“Dong! Dong! Dong!”
The drum sounds on the water grew denser and denser, shouts of killing shook the sky, and the two massive navies drew closer and closer until they intertwined and clashed in fierce battle.
Arrows rained down on the water surface. As soon as two ships approached, both sides hurled fire oil bottles at each other. Thick smoke filled the water surface, with firelight visible everywhere.
Gan Ning stood on a mengchong large ship, continuously observing the fierce battle between both sides. They were evenly matched, but the Yuzhang Army had higher fire-extinguishing efficiency and slightly held the advantage in the overall battle situation.
Using fire oil to attack enemy warships had replaced archery and boarding melee, becoming the primary naval battle tactic currently, also because the ships were all wooden and inherently indefensible against fire.
Both sides were throwing fire oil bottles while extinguishing fires. When the fire-extinguishing speed could not keep up with the burning speed, the ship’s burning would spiral completely out of control, and that ship was done for. The soldiers could only surrender or jump into the water to escape.
Gan Ning turned and ordered: “Pull out the fifty doujian!”
“Woo——”
The horn sounded, and not far behind, fifty hidden doujian emerged. These were the Yuzhang Army’s trump cards. Each doujian was equipped with a latest secret weapon: the powerful naval weapon oar pole that later became popular in the Sui, Tang, and Song dynasties.
As the name implies, it was a very long pole that could directly smash the opponent’s ships. This oar pole looked like a thick bamboo pole, but its production process was extremely complex, similar to making a halberd pole: repeatedly soaking in oil and drying to make it an extremely tough and powerful naval weapon.
There were two kinds of oar poles. One was for direct whipping; one strike down with the pole could split a mengchong warship in two with its immense power.
The other was slightly shorter, with an iron chain at the top of the wooden rod attached to a several-hundred-jin heavy iron ball. One smash down would create a large hole in the enemy ship.
During the Sui Dynasty’s battle against Southern Chen, the Sui navy, weaker in strength, used these two kinds of oar poles to utterly defeat Southern Chen’s powerful navy.
This was also a secret weapon the Yuzhang Army had been preparing for over half a year, used in actual combat for the first time today.
One doujian sailed out and happened to meet an oncoming mengchong warship. Several Jingzhou Army soldiers holding fire oil bottles stood on the mengchong warship, which was speeding toward the doujian. As the two ships passed, over a dozen fire oil bottles were thrown onto the doujian, but before they could leave, a large wooden whip suddenly descended from the sky. The several soldiers at the bow panicked and fled, but the ship could not escape.
“Pa!” With a muffled bang, the immense power whipped fiercely onto the mengchong warship. The hull could not withstand such a blow and instantly broke into two sections, with the soldiers on board falling into the water one after another.
The doujian soldiers’ morale soared, and they accelerated toward another enemy mengchong warship.
Another doujian charged toward an enemy tower ship. Jingzhou Army soldiers on the tower ship unleashed arrows like rain, while the doujian soldiers used shields to block. As the two warships passed each other, two oar poles on the doujian activated simultaneously. The two-zhang-long giant timbers crashed down heavily onto the enemy ship, sending wood chips flying everywhere.
But the most ruthless were the chain hammers on the wooden pillars. “Boom! Boom!” Two massive bangs, and two several-hundred-jin iron hammers smashed ruthlessly into the other side’s hull, creating two large holes. Lake water surged in, the ship began to tilt, the soldiers on the tower ship fell into chaos, and they jumped into the water to escape one after another. The water surface was full of soldiers crying for help everywhere.
The Yuzhang Army’s prisoner ships arrived, rescuing the fallen soldiers and temporarily sending them into the bottom cabins to be held.
