Chapter 77: Plundering Population
Huang Yuan was no fool either; he had similarly deployed heavy troops above the water gate, and additionally mobilized dozens of ships from inside to block the water gate.
At this time, Huang Yuan stood on the city wall, gazing at the distant enemy army fleet docking at the shore. Under the moonlight, he clearly saw the dense crowd, which filled him with terror.
Just then, a rumbling sound came from the surface of the Cao River. A soldier ran up to report, “General, there’s movement at the water gate!”
Huang Yuan was startled and hurriedly grabbed his spear, rushing toward the water gate.
Originally, more than twenty dilapidated ships were moored on the Cao River, all pulled ashore by the Yuzhang Army with ropes. The Cao River had been cleared clean, and an assault boat was accelerating toward the water gate. The soldiers on the city wall were greatly alarmed and drew their bows one after another to shoot arrows at the ship.
For a moment, arrows fell like rain, and the ship was bristling with arrows, but this did not affect the ship’s speed at all. The ship drew closer and closer, with a large number of small boats following behind.
Although Gan Ning’s attack on Lujiang this time consisted entirely of tower ships, each tower ship carried a sampan. Three hundred sampans followed behind, with twenty soldiers on each sampan, all under Wang Ping’s command.
Huang Yuan stood on the city wall, staring intently at the assault boat. The more he looked, the more something felt off. There was no wind today, and there were no sails on the ship. If it was propelled by oars, the two-zhang-wide Cao River simply couldn’t accommodate such a large ship. What power was the enemy using?
The assault boat had already charged to within fifty paces. Only then did those on the city wall see clearly that it was indeed an assault boat. Everyone suddenly understood the enemy’s intention: they intended to ram open the water gate.
Huang Yuan shouted loudly, “Order the rear army to assemble at the water gate!”
The rear army consisted of the three thousand new soldiers Huang Yuan had recruited just ten days earlier, who had received only minimal training. Huang Yuan knew that if the city fell, these three thousand new soldiers could not possibly hold back the ferocious enemy army like wolves and tigers, but he could no longer afford to worry about that—blocking them for even a moment would count.
The assault boat withstood the arrows shooting down from the city wall like raindrops, its speed increasing. Although this assault boat was specially made, it was narrow in width but very long in body, and its weight fully met the requirements of an assault boat. It was built from dense green oak wood, making the ship extremely heavy and very suitable for ramming. Moreover, it was fitted with a five-chi-long iron ram at the front, rendering it virtually unstoppable on the water.
“Shoot with arrows! Shoot arrows quickly!” Huang Yuan shouted frantically.
Arrows fell like a storm, but they did nothing to hinder the assault boat’s charge.
Huang Yuan suddenly felt a chill of fear and quickly retreated several steps backward, his figure vanishing into the darkness.
Still thirty paces from the water gate, the assault boat suddenly accelerated, growing faster and faster, carrying immense force as it smashed fiercely toward the water city gate.
“Crack!”
A massive cracking sound rang out. The already somewhat rotten water city gate was instantly smashed open with a two-zhang-wide hole, the entire gate shattering to pieces. The assault boat charged straight inside.
Dozens of ships were blocking inside the water city gate. The assault boat slowed down after entering the water gate and finally came to a halt, unable to move.
Wang Ping leaped up from behind, holding a shield in one hand and an iron spear in the other, running from one ship to the next, charging toward the inside of the city.
Hundreds of soldiers followed Wang Ping charging into the city. Arrows fell like a storm overhead, and soldiers were constantly hit by arrows and fell into the water, but more and more soldiers used the natural pontoon bridge formed by the ships linked bow to stern to rush into the city. Even the soldiers on shore jumped onto the ships and ran toward the city interior.
Wang Ping had already charged onto the land beside the city gate, leading hundreds of soldiers to pounce on the enemy army. The true role of a fierce general was not in single combat, but more in leading officers and soldiers in assaulting and breaking through. Generally, fierce generals wore iron armor and helmets; arrows could not penetrate their armor, and swords or spears were useless against them.
A great general might use a weapon to block arrows— he could block those from the front, but what about arrows from behind and the sides? Thus, the power of iron armor lay here: arrows simply could not penetrate. For this reason, great generals rarely died in battle; even Xiahou Dun was only coincidentally shot in one eye.
Just like the Iron Pagoda cavalry crafted by the Jin Kingdom with the strength of the entire nation—heavy armored cavalry that was invincible before encountering Yue Fei, like a tank group, leaving the Song army helpless. In the end, they could only target the horse legs not covered by the iron armor, breaking it in one stroke.
There was only one way to deal with an enemy great general: have one’s own great general charge up and use weapons that could pierce iron armor, such as horse spears, to take out the enemy great general. Once the commander was slain, the morale of the soldiers behind would plummet rapidly, and in most cases, they would turn and flee, resulting in a great defeat for the army.
This was the true significance of great general single combats.
Wang Ping was as ferocious as a fierce tiger, naturally inspiring rainbow-like morale in the soldiers behind him. They killed the defending new soldiers, forcing them to retreat step by step. At this moment, the ships blocking the city gate opening were dragged away, and the rumbling sound of oars rang out again. The assault boat sailed into the city, followed by a large number of sampans entering the city one after another. More and more Yuzhang Army soldiers were killing their way into the city.
The new soldiers were terrified out of their wits and turned to flee for their lives one after another, discarding their weapons and stripping off their armor as they ran back to their homes.
With no obstruction, six thousand navy soldiers were the first to kill into the city. The south city gate slowly opened, and Xu Sheng led five thousand soldiers to kill into the city as well.
Huang Yuan had long since fled. The moment the water gate was rammed open, Huang Yuan knew the game was up and led two thousand soldiers fleeing toward the north city.
This was not his hometown Anlu County, but a distant foreign land. What did Wan County have to do with him? He had no intention of perishing with the city.
Huang Yuan had not run far from the city when suddenly a gong sounded, and a force of three thousand ambush soldiers charged out, led by the great general Chen Mu.
The ambush soldiers came from all directions. Huang Yuan was greatly alarmed and led his army in a desperate breakout. In the end, Huang Yuan escaped the encirclement with only dozens of personal guards, while the remaining two thousand soldiers were all intercepted and surrendered.
Gan Ning led six thousand army into the city and ordered the entire city to be under strict curfew, strictly forbidding the army from plundering civilian property. The supplies in the city were quickly inventoried: a total of 100,000 shi of military grain, seventy thousand guan qian, and countless other various supplies.
There were also more than four thousand surrendered soldiers.
Gan Ning immediately ordered fifty thousand guan qian to be distributed as rewards to the three armies, eliciting thunderous cheers.
But capturing Wan County was only the first step. The second step was for Gan Ning to take away sufficient resources. Land resources could not be taken, but population resources he would take.
This was also the difference between vassal lords contending in the south and north during the late Eastern Han Dynasty: in the north, plundering and slaughtering occurred, with city massacres happening frequently.
But in the south, city massacres were rare. They focused more on plundering population, migrating people from other cities to their own bases.
Sun Ce and Sun Quan often did this. After a major battle, they would immediately migrate the population north of the river to Jiangnan. The populations of Lujiang Commandery and Jiujiang Commandery had been migrated countless times.
After the Jiangdong Army migrated a batch of population, northern population would soon come to fill the gap, only to be migrated again the next time—like leeks, cut batch after batch.
At noon the next day, three thousand tower ships from Yuzhang arrived at Wan County, and the army began forcibly migrating the citizens.
So-called forcible migration meant that if they cooperated, the army would allow them to pack up their property and grain, taking their family property with them on the migration. If they did not cooperate, people would be directly seized, with no chance to pack up money and grain.
Soon, everyone knew not to defy the military order and began packing up their money, grain, and family property.
One by one, tower ships fully loaded with citizens departed Wan County, sailing toward Yuzhang Commandery. Of course, it was not only the citizens inside the county town; citizens within a hundred li radius were all migrated together. In total, thirty-two thousand households and over one hundred thousand people were moved.
Yuzhang Commandery had vast alluvial plains internally, with large amounts of fertile land designated as official fields but left uncultivated. These thirty-two thousand households of citizens would be organized into garrison households, under the responsibility of Colonel of Garrison Fields Yang Xuan, specifically tasked with cultivating the official fields for the government while also supporting their families.
A few days later, news came that Zhou Yu had led the army to capture Shu County. The garrison commander Xie Hui was slain in battle, and his six thousand troops were completely annihilated.
At this point, Huang Zu’s dream of occupying Lujiang Commandery was thoroughly shattered. Gan Ning sent men to deliver the seal and tally of Wan County to Zhou Yu, while he himself led the army withdrawing toward Wankou.
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