Chapter 119: Night Raid On Liling
The Water City Gate is an iron grating gate, with one inside and one outside, one more gate than in Wan County. Its hard defenses can be said to be impregnable, with everything possible done to the extreme, but its soft defenses are extremely weak. There are no soldiers visible on either side of the Water Gate, and the corridor leading up to the city wall nearby also has no soldiers.
Two hundred soldiers ran up to the city wall along the corridor. This was the Northeast Corner, two li from the East City Gate and three li from the North City Gate. There was no starlight or moonlight, only low dark clouds, making the night exceptionally pitch black. They were too far apart, so the city towers on both sides were invisible, with only a vague outline discernible.
“Lower the rope ladders!”
Wang Xiaoman gave the order, and his subordinate soldiers threw down thirty rope ladders, then tossed three lit torches down from the wall. Whether the soldiers at the city gate would see them was no longer important at this point.
Wang Xiaoman even felt a bit regretful. It would have been better to take the city gate directly, but he had chosen a method of scaling the walls. However, the regret was just a fleeting thought. He immediately cast it aside. The method was a bit crude, but more likely to succeed. If they had risked attacking the city gate and the drawbridge had been locked, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
The Battle of Nanchang City had left him with a profound lesson. This time, Wang Xiaoman did not dare to be careless again.
On the moat, dozens of rafts were used to build a temporary pontoon bridge. Three thousand soldiers ran swiftly across the pontoon bridge, crossing the moat in moments and rushing directly under the city wall, beginning to climb up rapidly.
Thirty rope ladders were laid against the city wall, and the soldiers climbed up very quickly. In moments, nearly a thousand soldiers had reached the top.
“Take the brothers to assemble under the city!”
A battalion commander immediately led over a thousand soldiers rushing down the corridor toward under the city wall.
Wang Xiaoman had already figured it out. At this point, there was no need to rush to attack the city gate. They should first take the barracks.
At that moment, Taishi Ci climbed up to the city wall carrying his Great Iron Spear. He glanced at the city wall and frowned. “Why hasn’t the city gate been taken yet?”
Wang Xiaoman quickly said, “General Taishi, attacking the city gate would easily raise the alarm. It’s better to take the barracks first!”
Taishi Ci reacted quickly and immediately understood. “You’re right. Take the barracks first. Commandant Wang, please lead the way ahead.”
The barracks were in North City. Under Taishi Ci’s lead, three thousand soldiers marched swiftly in formation along the inner river street and soon arrived at the barracks covering over a thousand mu of land. They went directly to the back door, which was the passage for delivering vegetables and grain. There were no sentry posts here, only a tightly closed large gate.
Soldiers smashed the iron lock with a hammer, pushing open the gate with a creak. Three thousand soldiers charged in under Taishi Ci’s lead.
At this point, Du Jin’s intelligence played a huge role. They rushed directly to a row of houses on the west side, which were the generals’ dormitories, much better than those of ordinary soldiers. The soldiers kicked open the doors and charged in, capturing over twenty generals in moments.
From the dormitory at the far end, they captured a balding general in his thirties, who was none other than the commander Yang Ling. He was completely naked, utterly embarrassed. Two women in the room huddled in the corner, trembling in fear.
“Spare my life, General!” Yang Ling shouted in terror.
“Get him a piece of clothing to put on!”
A soldier found a long robe and haphazardly draped it over him. Taishi Ci said coldly, “Escort all the generals away!”
All the generals were taken away. Taishi Ci did not need these generals to surrender. He was just worried they would lead resistance. Without the generals, the soldiers were just a flock of sheep.
As Zhao Kai passed by Yang Ling, he spat hard in his face. “Pah! An incompetent general harms the entire army. Following a stupid superior like you, I must have been blind!”
Yang Ling was full of shame, lowering his head and not daring to speak, as he was taken away with the other generals.
The Yuzhang Army began driving people out of the soldiers’ barracks. Groups of soldiers were herded out from the barracks, most shirtless and barefoot, with hands raised over their heads kneeling on the ground. Fear filled every soldier’s eyes. They had no choice but to be afraid.
In front of them were rows of sharp spears and cold crossbow bolts, and one cold, ruthless enemy after another. At this moment, they were so close to death that many soldiers trembled all over—not from the chill of the autumn night, but from fear.
Taishi Ci suddenly felt a bit weary. Although such a sneak attack was necessary, he did not particularly like it. He preferred that kind of fierce battle with blood and fire.
He said to his great general Gao Lian, “Handle the rest! Make all the enemy army soldiers and generals believe we only have three thousand men.”
“This subordinate understands!”
Taishi Ci was not only a fierce general; he also understood tactics and strategy. He led fifteen thousand troops to attack but used only three thousand to breach the city, hiding the other twelve thousand. He wanted to give the enemy army the illusion that the Yuzhang Army had only sent three thousand troops.
A few days later, the commander of Linxiang County, Liu Xin, received news of the fall of Liling County. Liu Xin was truly shocked, especially when he learned that only three thousand troops had sneak-attacked Liling County. Liu Xin was furious and immediately led eight thousand troops to rush to Liling County.
At that moment, the old general Huang Zhong, who had gone to Luo County to drill troops, returned.
In front of the government office, an official clasped his fists toward Huang Zhong and said, “Reporting to the general, Liling County has fallen. It was sneak-attacked by three thousand Yuzhang Army troops who came over. The prefect is furious and has led eight thousand troops to Liling County.”
Huang Zhong was greatly alarmed and urgently asked, “How long has Prefect Liu been gone?”
“About one hour.”
Huang Zhong immediately turned his horse around and galloped south toward South City with over a dozen cavalrymen.
Huang Zhong was from the Huang clan of Nanyang and had always been unremarkable. In the second year of Chuping, shortly after arriving in Jingzhou, Liu Biao, to win over the Huang clan of Nanyang, appointed Huang Zhong as General of the Middle Army. Ten years had passed, and Huang Zhong had aged from over forty to over fifty, still just a General of the Middle Army. Of course, this was largely because Huang Zhong was upright in character and often criticized Cai Mao, thus offending him.
This was the consequence of following the wrong lord. In history, Liu Biao guarded his territory for twenty years without aggressive strategy. Many excellent civil officials and military generals under him had no opportunity to achieve success and could only grow old with time.
Huang Zhong galloped thirty li in one go. Finally, on the official road ahead, Liu Xin’s army appeared. He spurred his horse to catch up.
“Stop! The entire army halt!”
Huang Zhong waved and shouted. The soldiers all recognized Huang Zhong and stopped advancing.
At this point, Liu Xin rode out and asked, “Old General, what happened?”
Huang Zhong rode forward, clasped his fists, and said, “Is the prefect heading to Liling County?”
Liu Xin nodded. “Indeed!”
Huang Zhong sighed and said, “The prefect wants to retake Liling County, but how will the logistics of grain and fodder for eight thousand troops be ensured?”
“I ordered every soldier to carry ten days’ dry rations. The enemy only has three thousand men, so retaking Liling County should not be a problem.”
“How does the prefect know the enemy only has three thousand men?”
Liu Xin was stunned. “Defeated soldiers reported it upon return. Does the general think there’s a problem?”
“Of course there’s a problem. The prefect deployed intelligence scouts in Yichun County, but no intelligence came from the scouts, indicating the enemy used deception tactics to fool Yichun County’s scouts, preventing them from discovering the Yuzhang Army’s deployment. Since the Yuzhang Army used deception tactics, how could they possibly send only three thousand men to attack Liling County?”
Liu Xin had only been hot-headed for a moment. After Huang Zhong’s reminder, he immediately realized it too. How could the enemy have sent only three thousand troops to attack Liling County? He had been muddled.
He quickly bowed in thanks. “If not for the old general’s reminder, I would have nearly fallen for it.”
He immediately ordered, “The entire army retreat to Linxiang County!”
