Chapter 120: Two-pronged Attack
Gan Ning also personally led an army of 30,000 and over 2,000 warships to arrive at Jiayu County. Jiayu County is a newly built county town, located at the southernmost part of Wuchang County, about over 200 li from Dongting Lake.
At the end of the Han Dynasty, there were no county towns on the shores of Dongting Lake, only some villages and small towns. The largest town was Baqiu Town, which Gan Ning called Baling Town, but in fact it was called Baqiu Town.
The northernmost county town in the entire Changsha Commandery was Xajuan County, but this county town was located in the eastern mountains, relatively close to Ai County in Yuzhang Commandery. Initially, Liu Xin had set out from Xajuan County to Ai County, using the pretext of supporting Zhang Ying to invade Yuzhang Commandery.
However, Xajuan County was far from the Yangtze River, with no waterway connections, and was not a target Gan Ning considered.
The two northernmost county towns close to the Yangtze River were Luo County, which is today’s Miluo County, and Yiyang County. Luo County had a garrison of 2,000 soldiers, while Yiyang County had no soldiers stationed.
Further south was Linxiang County in the middle reaches of the Xiang River, the administrative seat of Changsha Commandery, which is today’s Changsha.
Now the first target of the Yuzhang Army was the 5,000 navy troops on Dongting Lake.
After resting for two days in Jiayu County, Gan Ning personally led the army majestically toward Dongting Lake.
……….
Taishi Ci sent out over a hundred scouts to probe for news of the enemy army, but he never received news of the enemy army heading south. Instead, he learned that the 5,000 troops stationed in Xiangnan County had moved north.
Taishi Ci immediately realized his strategy had failed. The opponent had not taken the bait. Of course, there were likely two reasons for not taking the bait: one was naturally that Liu Xin had seen through his intentions, and the other was that the Lord’s army had likely already moved south, leaving Liu Xin no time to worry about Liling County.
If the enemy army had not taken the bait, Taishi Ci prepared to continue carrying out his mission. The mission Gan Ning gave him was to sweep through southern Changsha Commandery.
Since the garrison troops of Xiangnan County had already moved north, Taishi Ci’s first target was Xiangnan County, located 150 li away from Liling County.
Just as Taishi Ci was about to set out, he suddenly received news that an army of over 10,000 was rapidly heading to Xiangnan County from the south.
This intelligence truly surprised Taishi Ci. After a moment’s thought, he immediately guessed that it must be Zhang Yi’s army. He had scouts in Xiangnan County. With the Jingzhou Army withdrawing from Xiangnan County, Zhang Yi was seizing this opportunity.
The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind. Taishi Ci also immediately realized this was his opportunity.
Taishi Ci made a decisive decision. He had Wang Xiaoman lead 5,000 troops to guard Liling County, while he personally led 10,000 troops to intercept Zhang Yi’s army.
Although Zhang Yi had sent Xu Jing to Nanchang County to discuss cooperation with Gan Ning, Gan Ning would never accept his conditions. Since he could not accept them, he had to eliminate Zhang Yi’s forces.
This was also one of Taishi Ci’s missions, but now it had to be carried out ahead of schedule.
……….
Zhang Yi led 10,000 troops north from Ling County, which is today’s Hengyang, while Xiangnan County is the Xiangtan area today. Zhang Yi had long been covetous of Xiangnan County. Capturing Xiangnan County would put Linxiang County within reach, and he could swiftly capture Linxiang County if an opportunity arose.
Zhang Yi naturally had his own plans. Once the Yuzhang Army moved south from the north, Liu Xin would inevitably lead troops north to meet them in battle. At that time, Linxiang County would be vulnerable, and that would be his opportunity.
To capture Xiangnan County, Zhang Yi had sent intelligence scouts in as early as last year, using carrier pigeon messages. So as soon as Liu Xin transferred the 5,000 troops from Xiangnan County to Linxiang County, Zhang Yi immediately received the news. How could he not seize such an opportunity?
The army of 10,000 advanced north along the Xiang River, with a fleet on the Xiang River transporting grain and supplies. At noon this day, still 60 li from Xiangnan County, Zhang Yi suddenly received news that an army of 10,000 had appeared 10 li ahead.
Zhang Yi was greatly alarmed and hurriedly looked north, vaguely seeing a black line rapidly charging toward them.
“Whose army is this?” Zhang Yi asked urgently.
“Reporting to the Lord, it is the Yuzhang Army!”
Zhang Yi felt a chill run down his spine. How could the Yuzhang Army appear here? He had no deployments of scouts in Liling County and did not know that Liling County had already fallen.
The appearance of the Yuzhang Army made him extremely tense, and he had never fought the Yuzhang Army before, so he did not know their combat strength.
Zhang Yi certainly knew that withdrawing at this time would be the most dangerous. Once pursued by the enemy army, military morale would collapse. At this moment, there was no choice but to brace himself for battle; they were too close.
Zhang Yi made a decisive decision and ordered the entire army to form up. The two armies slowly approached. Taishi Ci had specially chosen a plain for the interception, where the battlefield could be fully deployed.
Both sides’ armies numbered 10,000, but the Yuzhang Army had 2,000 cavalry, which was the key to victory.
Zhang Yi formed a wild goose formation: 3,000 crossbowmen in the front, and 7,000 behind, with 2,000 each on the left and right wings and 3,000 in the center.
Taishi Ci saw through the enemy army’s deployment and immediately ordered 5,000 mixed infantry and cavalry as the vanguard army, while he personally led 5,000 as the rear army.
The cavalry charged first, which was a tactic of the steppe nomads, but the Han people did not fight this way. The cavalry of the Han Army was used for flanking maneuvers, not to lead the charge.
So leading the front were 3,000 sword and shield soldiers, followed closely by 5,000 spearman army. Among the crossbowmen, there were also 300 special soldiers, fire oil soldiers, who hid among the crossbowmen and would launch special attacks on the enemy army at key moments.
On the vast plain, the two armies advanced one after the other. The 2,000 cavalry were deployed on both sides of the formation, 1,000 on each side, positioned relatively far back, out of reach of the crossbowmen’s arrows.
The armies drew closer and closer, now only 150 paces apart. Unable to contain his inner tension, Zhang Yi ordered: “Pass the order to loose arrows!”
“Loose arrows!”
The general shouted, the clappers sounded, and the 3,000 crossbowmen loosed arrows together. The sky instantly formed a massive arrow cloud, blanketing the sky and shooting toward the Yuzhang Army’s vanguard.
The Yuzhang Army was well-trained. They had conducted such live-fire drills against crossbowmen countless times, of course not with real arrows, but with blunted training arrows.
The soldiers needed no command from the general. As the arrow cloud reached overhead, the 3,000 sword and shield soldiers simultaneously crouched down, huddling together and covering their bodies with large shields. The arrows fell with a patter, embedding in the ground and shields. The soldiers used their swords to cut off the arrows stuck in the shields and began charging wildly.
The enemy needed some time to reload their crossbows, which was the sword and shield soldiers’ opportunity—they had to seize it.
It was not until the mid-Tang Dynasty, with Li Guangbi’s four-stage shooting, that crossbowmen began uninterrupted arrow fire, greatly increasing casualties.
After running dozens of paces, the second volley of arrows was launched. The arrow cloud rose into the air and quickly reached the Yuzhang Army overhead. Arrow after arrow fell like raindrops. The sword and shield soldiers crouched again, using shields to resist the enemy’s dense arrows, but some soldiers were still hit and screamed in pain. Some soldiers could not cover their entire bodies and could only protect their heads and chests, leaving their legs exposed. Over 100 were hit by arrows, almost all in the legs.
“Kill—!” The sword and shield soldiers leaped up and charged toward the crossbowmen 100 paces away, shields raised.
When the crossbowmen were preparing their third volley, the enemy was already within 60 paces. At this point, arcing fire was no longer possible; they could only stand in a line and fire directly.
Dense arrows shot like a storm directly at the charging Yuzhang Army soldiers, felling nearly 300 more, still mostly leg wounds.
But Zhang Yi’s crossbowmen had no fourth chance. 2,500 sword and shield soldiers instantly crashed into the crossbowmen.
At the same time, the 2,000 cavalry also launched their attack. They moved extremely fast, flanking around the enemy formation from both sides. Their intent was very obvious: they aimed to attack the enemy from the rear, putting the enemy under attack from both front and back.
This was an open stratagem. Even seeing through their intent, Zhang Yi’s army was helpless unless they had reinforcing troops; being attacked from both front and back was inevitable.
