Chapter 74: First Battle Against Huang Zu
Huang Zu finally could not tolerate it anymore. Initially, when Hu Xian was killed and Chaisang was seized, Huang Zu endured it for Cao Cao’s sake. He thought Gan Ning would soon be annihilated by Sun Ben.
But Huang Zu never expected that Gan Ning would grow braver with each battle. In just one winter, he captured the entire Yuzhang Commandery, thoroughly driving away the Jiangdong Army, which truly left Huang Zu dumbfounded.
But Huang Zu still believed this was due to Cao Cao supporting Gan Ning from behind. He had no ideas about Yuzhang Commandery for the time being and concentrated his energy on Lujiang Commandery.
Just as Huang Zu was winning victory after victory and had just occupied Lujiang Commandery, he never dreamed that his backyard would catch fire. Gan Ning actually captured southern Jiangxia Commandery, and the six thousand troops he had deployed in E County were completely annihilated.
Huang Zu could no longer tolerate it. He immediately ordered his son Huang She to lead ten thousand troops, commanding hundreds of warships to recapture E County.
At dawn, the urgent alarm bells echoed over Wuchang City. Yuzhang Army soldiers rushed up to the city wall one after another. Ding Feng also went up to the city wall. A soldier pointed into the distance and shouted: “It’s beacon fire!”
Dozens of miles away, a newly built beacon tower was emitting thick smoke. This was an enemy situation alert from the Xiakou side, meaning that Huang Zu’s or Liu Biao’s fleet had passed Xiakou and was heading toward Wuchang County.
Of course, this fleet might not necessarily be coming to attack Wuchang County. It could be a fleet heading to Lujiang Commandery.
But this possibility was obviously too small. There was an eighty percent or higher chance that Huang Zu’s army was coming to recapture southern Jiangxia Commandery.
It would take about two days to sail from Xiakou to Wuchang County. Ding Feng immediately began preparing for battle. He had previously sent people to the countryside to buy large amounts of straw and rice straw, and had the citizens weave them into thick, solid large balls, wrapped with sulfur and pine resin inside.
Thousands of small-mouthed thin-skinned pottery jars had already been sent in advance from Chaisang. These pottery jars would shatter upon impact, and each one was filled with fire oil, sealed with clay at the small mouth.
No matter if the enemy built a pontoon bridge or directly attacked with ships, fire attack was the best method.
At that moment, Wei Yan hurriedly came to Ding Feng and said: “General, you must not be misled by the alert from the Xiakou side!”
Ding Feng was stunned. “What does General Wei mean by that?”
“Thirty miles across from us is Zhu County. As far as I know, Zhu County has always had a large number of ships, but not many garrison troops. But after we captured Wuchang County, how could Huang Zu not send troops to Zhu County? I estimate that Zhu County now has a large army.”
“General Wei means that if the enemy army wants to attack us, they would come directly from Zhu County, with no need to go via the Xiakou side.”
Wei Yan nodded. “If the opponent’s counterattack army takes the Xiakou route, that means Huang Zu is bringing out his coffin capital.”
Ding Feng immediately dispatched a fast boat to scout Zhu County. One hour later, the fast boat sped back. The scout ship brought back important intelligence: twenty miles away on the riverbank, a fleet was anchored, with approximately two hundred ships.
Ding Feng immediately realized that the enemy was likely planning a night sneak attack.
Ding Feng hurriedly gathered the generals to discuss countermeasures. Everyone chimed in one after another, and soon a complete defensive counterattack plan emerged.
Nightfall quietly descended. Huang She stood at the bow with hands behind his back, admiring the bright moon in the sky. At this time, his subordinate great general Su Fei stepped forward and smiled: “Young master’s brilliant move! It fully utilized the beacon tower the enemy built at Xiakou. They must think we won’t arrive until two days later.”
Huang She chuckled smugly, stroked his beard, and pretended to be profound: “All’s fair in war. Gan Ning has had it too easy. Once things go too smoothly, they become complacent. The problem lies with them themselves.”
At this point, Huang She asked again: “General Su, will the ship attack be effective?”
Su Fei nodded. “For E County, ship attack is the most effective. The ground under its city wall is too narrow. The soldiers can’t even stand properly, so too few troops can participate in the attack. But attacking directly from ships allows a large number of soldiers to be rapidly deployed to the city wall. However, ship attack also has weaknesses.”
“What weaknesses?”
“Ship attack fears fire. Once the enemy is prepared and has a large amount of combustibles ready, we’re in big trouble.”
“So we have to use stratagem to sneak attack them.”
Su Fei sighed: “I hope tonight will succeed!”
At the second watch, two hundred doujian and three hundred zouge set off. The doujian were the main force warships, while the zouge were the logistical supply boats, following behind.
They drifted downstream. After sailing twenty miles, they turned into the E River. After entering the E River, the water became shallow. The boatmen poled the doujian forward and raised the sails. Soon, doujian after doujian entered the moat.
The first six were the initial assault large ships, each fully loaded with five hundred soldiers. The first batch of three thousand elites had to take the city wall, after which endless armies would follow onto the city wall.
By now it was the third watch. The city wall was extremely quiet, with no one in sight. This quietness on the city wall made Su Fei uneasy. His intuition told him something was wrong.
It was impossible for there to be no one at all. The enemy was arriving in two days, so there should at least be patrolling soldiers. Yet not a single soldier was visible on the city wall.
“Something’s wrong! Something’s wrong! There must be a problem.”
Anxiety rose in Su Fei’s heart, but at this point they could no longer turn back. Su Fei also lacked the courage to call a halt. What if there really was no one? If he called a halt, wouldn’t he miss the opportunity?
More importantly, the nature of ship attack meant he couldn’t call a halt. Ship attack was like that—once entering the moat, it directly entered combat mode and couldn’t stop.
Su Fei could only grit his teeth and press on, praying no accidents would occur. The six large ships charged forward along the moat bank one after another.
At that moment, the city wall suddenly rang with urgent bell sounds: ‘Dang! Dang! Dang! Dang!’
The ambushing Yuzhang Army soldiers suddenly stood up, picked up pottery jars filled with fire oil, and threw them at the enemy large ships. The pottery jars shattered upon hitting the deck, fire oil spilling everywhere. Immediately after, countless torches were thrown over, and fierce flames erupted with a boom.
Su Fei was greatly anxious. They had to rush to the city wall before the flames fully spread. He personally lifted a boarding plank toward the city wall, but the soldiers on the city wall were prepared. They smashed thin-skinned pottery jars filled with fire oil against the wooden planks. A stream of burning fire flowed along the plank toward them, scaring the soldiers into dropping the planks one after another.
All the wooden planks were engulfed in fierce flames. None of the attacking soldiers dared to climb the city wall. This was a fear of fire ingrained in human genes, just like tens of millions of years ago when human ancestors were small reptiles in the forest, and giant snakes were their natural predators. It wasn’t that they devoured many human ancestors that humans developed a fear of snakes gene.
Fierce fire was the same. Forest fires were once humanity’s most terrifying natural disaster, so when fierce flames raged out of control, the genetically ingrained fear of fire would erupt.
The five or six large ships were entirely ablaze. The defending soldiers also threw straw balls over. The fire, aided by the wind, burned even more fiercely. The sails also caught fire. Soldiers screamed in agony from the burns and, in despair, jumped into the river. Soon, all six large ships were swallowed by the flames.
The raging flames also ignited many nearby zouge small boats. The soldiers on the small boats were terrified and jumped into the moat to escape. At the same time, three thousand defending troops on the city wall began shooting crossbow bolts at the soldiers in the river.
Huang She was still on a large ship in the E River at this time. The scene in the distance left him dumbfounded. Suddenly, countless ambushing soldiers emerged from the west side, throwing burning pottery jars at the fleet anchored on the E River.
The ambush soldiers came too suddenly. Over one hundred eighty doujian anchored by the E River were instantly set ablaze. Only the more than one hundred zouge small boats drifting in the E River were unaffected. Huang She’s large ship was also ignited. The fire spread rapidly, and dozens of personal guards hurriedly protected Huang She as he got into a small boat to escape.
That night, a fire attack routed Huang She. All two hundred doujian large ships were destroyed by the flames. About five thousand soldiers were burned to death or injured, or shot dead by arrows. More than three thousand were captured. Several hundred soldiers fled into the interior of the south bank. In the end, Huang She and Su Fei escaped across the Yangtze River with only over one thousand remnant soldiers in small boats.
