Chapter 68: Assaulting E County By Ship
Although Gan Ning’s ship attack method can also be considered a kind of surprise attack force for attacking the city, it has a fatal weakness: it fears fire. If large amounts of fire oil and flammable materials are thrown from the city wall, the ships can easily be engulfed by raging flames.
In the Three Kingdoms Period, tung oil, castor oil, and pine resin oil were mainly used as igniters, supplemented by large amounts of straw, rice straw, thin wood, mixed with sulfur, pine resin, and other flammable materials, forming a very effective fire attack.
Gan Ning also knew that ship attacks feared fire, but he had to take this gamble. He had carefully studied Huang Zu’s previous wars, which were almost all naval battles, and he had never once used a fire attack strategy, nor had any city encountered a ship attack.
So Gan Ning believed that this Deng Long would not think of a fire plan, not to mention that preparing for a fire attack required prior preparation, and his own strike this time was quite sudden, essentially catching the defending army off guard. Deng Long had no time to prepare fire oil.
At dusk, the fleet continued westward. Gan Ning had already completed deployment. Thirteen thousand-stone tower ships sailed at the forefront, their tower heights roughly matching the city wall, even slightly higher.
The pontoon bridge wooden planks they prepared were also quickly modified, mainly by installing two pairs of iron hooks at the front to hook onto the city wall, preventing the defending soldiers from pushing them off the city.
Ten miles from the county town, the army began to line up on the ships. Ding Feng, Xu Sheng, and Wang Ping each led three hundred men, standing respectively on the first three large ships.
This time, Gan Ning did not lead the first wave to climb the city. He learned from Sun Ce’s lesson: Sun Ce always climbed first in every battle, never taking his own life seriously, and ultimately died at twenty-six. If he had valued himself a bit more, he would not have walked into Ganlu Temple unprepared.
Gan Ning used archery as support, using arrows to protect the lives of the officers and soldiers.
Moreover, Gan Ning was the overall commander. If he climbed the city, who would command the battle? Although Xu Shu had wisdom, his combat experience was still far lacking.
At the second watch, the outline of the county town appeared before them. Gan Ning ordered: “Pass the order with flashing lights: prepare for battle!”
Flag soldiers on the mast continuously flashed lights, and soldiers on all ships were already ready.
The thirteen thousand-stone ships all turned rudders and sailed into the E River. After sailing two miles, the moat entrance appeared ahead.
At this moment, alarm bells rang loudly from the city wall. The defending soldiers had seen the vast fleet charging in—this was not their fleet, but enemy ships.
Countless soldiers rushed to the North City wall. Deng Long, fully armored with helmet and armor, rushed to the city wall. The soldiers hurriedly made way. Deng Long stood and watched for a moment, but he could not discern the enemy’s intention.
A tooth general advised: “General, this must be Gan Ning’s army. If they use ship attack, we are in great danger. This subordinate suggests preparing more fire oil, straw, and the like to burn their warships.”
Deng Long’s eyebrows shot up, and he cursed: “You, a mere tooth general, where is there room for you to speak? Get down from here!”
The tooth general could only bow and silently withdraw.
Time passed bit by bit. After about two quarters of an hour, the fleet suddenly rushed into the moat. In that instant, Deng Long suddenly understood and shouted: “They are using warships to attack the city! The whole army, prepare for battle!”
Thousands of soldiers raised spears and bows, shouting tensely.
When the first ship approached the city wall, arrows rained down from the city wall toward the large ship.
“Drop sails!” the lead boatman shouted. The sails dropped one after another, depriving the large ship of power, relying entirely on inertia to continue forward along the bank.
By now, three large ships had reached the bank. Arrows rained between the large ships and the city wall, shooting at each other, with soldiers constantly screaming as they were hit by arrows and fell.
The first large ship gently collided with the bridge pier in the moat, the hull shook and stopped. From the third-level ship tower, five long wooden planks extended immediately, their front ends hooking onto the city wall. Ding Feng waved his spear, leaped onto a plank, blocked arrows, and charged toward the city wall. The fifty ironclad soldiers behind him jumped onto the planks one after another.
Ding Feng and his fifty vanguard subordinates all wore iron armor, iron helmets on their heads, and iron masks, unafraid of arrows or enemy blades slashing, stabbing, or poking. But their greatest danger was underfoot.
The wooden planks were about four feet wide; one slip or unsteady step would send them falling.
Enemy soldiers crowded the front of every plank, desperately thrusting spears at the charging Yuzhang Army officers and soldiers.
Gan Ning crouched on top of the large ship and shot arrows. His arrows were sharp, instantly killing four obstructing soldiers, creating an opportunity for Ding Feng. Ding Feng leaped onto the city wall and fought the enemy. His subordinates followed, jumping onto the city wall one after another, clearing a passage.
Gan Ning’s arrows never missed; every arrow killed a defending soldier in a key position, creating conditions for his own officers and soldiers to climb the city.
As Ding Feng led fifty ironclad soldiers to climb the city first, the remaining two hundred fifty on the large ship also jumped onto the planks one after another, charging toward the city wall. Despite soldiers constantly being hit by arrows or pierced by spears and falling with long screams, more and more soldiers climbed the city wall.
Xu Sheng from the second ship and Wang Ping from the third ship each led three hundred soldiers to charge onto the city wall, creating nine climbing points on the city wall.
Gan Ning immediately ordered: “Pass the order: whole army, climb the city!”
Lights flashed continuously, issuing the commander’s order. The small boats behind rushed forward, using siege ladders to board the large ships. Soldiers climbed onto the large ships continuously, jumped onto the climbing planks, and charged toward the city wall.
Both sides fought fiercely on the city wall. Initially, the defending army had the numerical advantage, with several men surrounding one, trying to drive the first nine hundred Yuzhang Army soldiers off the city. But as more soldiers climbed up, the tide turned. Many defending soldiers sensed trouble and quietly fled down the city.
More and more soldiers fled down the city, until even Commander Deng Long vanished. Without the commander, the defending army on the city wall was killed in retreat after retreat, while the number of soldiers climbing the city kept increasing. When ten thousand soldiers reached the city wall, the defenders completely collapsed.
Thousands of defending soldiers turned and fled madly. The Yuzhang Army pursued and killed, charging into the city, slaughtering the enemy soldiers who wailed for their fathers and mothers. Countless knelt and surrendered.
In the end, the twenty thousand army all entered E County town from the city wall.
……….
The fierce battle in the city had stopped. Apart from the killed soldiers, the rest of the defending army all surrendered, about four thousand men. Deng Long disguised himself as an old farmer to escape but was exposed by a subordinate general and captured alive by Ding Feng.
Xu Shu led men to take over the E County official granary and government office, busily inventorying money and grain supplies.
Gan Ning entered the city; order was well-maintained inside, and the soldiers committed no offenses.
Ding Feng stepped forward and reported: “Reporting to my lord, we killed fifteen hundred enemies, four hundred fled, three thousand nine hundred surrendered, and this subordinate captured the enemy commander Deng Long alive!”
“Well done. How many brothers did we lose?”
“We lost nearly six hundred, but not a single ironclad soldier was injured.”
This is why great generals are not easily killed: generals all wear iron armor and iron helmets that arrows cannot penetrate and ordinary blades and swords cannot breach. Only in single combat between great generals, using special weapons that can break armor, can one take down the other.
At this time, Xu Shu came over with a smile: “My lord, want to hear about the official granary’s money and grain gains?”
Gan Ning gladly said: “I wish to hear the details!”
“We captured a total of two hundred thousand shi of grain, seventy thousand guan in money, twenty thousand sets of armor and weapons, and countless other supplies. We also found a large amount of fire oil—nobody knows why they didn’t use it.”
Gan Ning chuckled, “This is Heaven’s Will, letting us capture E County. But how could a county town have so many money and grain supplies?”
“This includes taxes collected from Southern Jiangxia Commandery, as well as money and grain shipped here by Liu Xin from Changsha Commandery, temporarily stored here.”
“Then we shall accept it graciously. Strategist, take out fifty thousand guan to reward the officers and soldiers.”
Soldiers have no salary and rely on various rewards to support their families. After a victory, there must be rewards—this is the rule, to maintain military discipline.
“This subordinate understands and will arrange it immediately!”
Gan Ning smiled and asked again: “Are there any famous scholars in the city?”
Xu Shu nodded, “Reporting to my lord, this subordinate inquired: the E County county assistant is the renowned famous doctor Zhang Zhongjing.
