Chapter 121: Troops At The City Gates
Zhang Yi immediately dispatched two thousand spearmen from the left wing to counter the cavalry, while he led two thousand soldiers from the right wing and three thousand from the central army to prepare to engage the enemy’s main force.
Taishi Ci also led five thousand spearmen charging in, Zhang Yi also led five thousand spearman soldiers to meet them, and both sides engaged in a fierce battle in the wilderness.
The three thousand crossbow soldiers had long discarded their crossbows, drew their battle sabers to fight against the enemy’s sword and shield soldiers, and although they suffered heavy casualties from the enemy army’s sword and shield soldiers, they fought to the death without retreating.
Suddenly, incendiary bottles came falling from the sky like raindrops into the dense enemy crowds.
“Pa! Pa! Pa!” The dense incendiary bottles fell into the crowd, shattering on impact, with fierce flames bursting up and instantly engulfing the nearby soldiers, screams immediately rising everywhere.
Zhang Yi’s ten thousand soldiers were all veteran soldiers who had followed his father for many years, loyal and with extremely strong combat ability; although attacked from both front and back, they still fought to the death without retreating.
But the Yuzhang Army’s special forces soldiers broke this stalemate, hurling incendiary bottles like raindrops into the enemy ranks, with more and more soldiers set ablaze, crying and fleeing in panic.
Humanity’s innate fear of fierce flames ultimately caused Zhang Yi’s army to collapse under countless falling incendiary bottles; the crossbow soldiers were the first to rout and flee, triggering the spearman army’s collapse—they discarded helmets and armor, threw away their heavy spears, and fled desperately for their lives.
But at this point, the Yuzhang Army cavalry cut off their retreat; with no way forward and pursuers behind, the six or seven thousand soldiers completely collapsed in the wilderness.
“Those who surrender will not be killed! Those who surrender will not be killed!”
Yuzhang Army soldiers shouted while pursuing and killing; seeing a glimmer of hope, Zhang Yi’s soldiers knelt and surrendered one after another, raising their hands high.
But Zhang Yi refused to surrender; he led several hundred soldiers attempting to break out from the southwest direction, but they were surrounded by Taishi Ci personally leading one thousand cavalry, and the defeated soldiers dwindled with each fight until only Zhang Yi remained.
Taishi Ci shouted loudly: “Zhang Yi, if you surrender, I guarantee you the position of Changsha Prefectural Assistant.”
Zhang Yi was utterly exhausted and let out a long sigh. “One mountain cannot hold two tigers. I, Zhang Yi, would rather die than serve under another.” He drew his dagger and thrust it fiercely into his own chest, dying on the spot.
Admiring Zhang Yi’s toughness, Taishi Ci ordered that Zhang Yi’s body be transported to Nanxiang County for a proper burial.
Taishi Ci’s army was the first to occupy Nanxiang County.
……..
Gan Ning’s army charged into Dongting Lake, with hundreds of warships heading straight for Baling Town Water Fortress, but when the hundreds of warships were still twenty li from the navy barracks, they were discovered by the enemy’s scout ships.
Several fast boats turned around and sped back, with one fast boat rushing back to the water fortress first.
Navy Colonel Cai Zan heard that the Yuzhang Army’s main warships had arrived; he sprang to his feet and shouted: “Sound the alarm bell, order the entire army to board the ships!”
Soon, the bell in the barracks rang out ‘Dang! Dang! Dang!’, throwing the navy soldiers into chaos as they rushed toward the fleet.
At this moment, the Yuzhang Army’s thirty vanguard ships arrived—all mengchong warships equipped with oars, extremely fast, blocking the water fortress gate and trapping over three hundred Jingzhou Army warships inside the water fortress.
Furious, Cai Zan ordered: “Deploy the tuma warships to break through the enemy!”
A large tuma warship charged out from the water fortress, viciously ramming toward the Yuzhang Army warships blocking the gate. With a ‘Bang!’ a mengchong warship was capsized by the tuma warship, which continued forward, smashing through three or four enemy ships blocking the gate and clearing a waterway.
The large contingent of Jingzhou Army warships behind followed suit and charged out; Xu Sheng’s three hundred large mengchong warships arrived, each carrying two hundred soldiers, totaling six thousand soldiers.
On the vast water surface, arrows flew from both sides’ warships like rain, fire bottles were hurled, smoke and flames filled the air, soldiers continuously leaped onto the opponent’s large ships to fight hand-to-hand, and shouts of killing filled the water.
After a fierce battle of over half a shichen, both sides had wins and losses, but the Jingzhou Army could not withstand the opponent’s offensive and gradually fell into a disadvantage.
At this point, Gan Ning’s main warships also arrived, over a thousand warships blotting out the sky.
A soldier hurriedly reported to Cai Zan: “Report to the colonel, the enemy main force has arrived!”
Cai Zan was burning with anxiety; he was already at a disadvantage against the enemy’s vanguard, so how could he stand against their main force?
He ordered: “Hoist double yellow flags to retreat!”
Double yellow flags were raised on the flagship; all warships had signal flag soldiers who also hoisted double yellow flags, notifying the entire army to break out and withdraw.
One large ship after another broke away from the battle and headed southwest to break out; Xu Sheng would not let them escape so easily and led mengchong large ships to intercept nearly two hundred ships.
Soon, Gan Ning’s main warships also arrived, surrounding the enemy warships that had not escaped; seeing no hope of breaking out, the Jingzhou Army warships hoisted white flags and surrendered.
In this battle, both sides had wins and losses; the Jingzhou Army lost over a thousand killed and more than two thousand captured, while the Yuzhang Army also suffered hundreds of casualties.
The prisoners of war were all detained, to be used for bargaining with the enemy after the war ended.
The Yuzhang Army then occupied Baqiu Town Water Fortress, and the massive fleet continued southward; Gan Ning had received intelligence that Jiangling had assembled fifty thousand Jingzhou Army troops, which were surely coming to support Changsha Commandery, so he had to capture Linxiang County before the enemy reinforcements arrived.
Of course, Linxiang County was not so easy to take; its city walls were tall and sturdy, the moat was thirty zhang wide at its widest, bordering the Xiang River, with the moat and river integrated, and the water gate secured by two iron grilles—it was essentially a larger Liling County.
More importantly, Deputy General Huang Zhong was far more reliable than Liling County’s Yang Ling; as soon as Jingzhou learned of Yuzhang Commandery’s war preparations, it notified Changsha Commandery, and only Huang Zhong carried it out to the letter, raising the city defenses to war preparation status with three thousand soldiers on defense every night.
At the same time, Huang Zhong ordered a citywide census, temporarily sending all citizens not registered in Linxiang County to Xiangnan County, ensuring no enemy soldiers were hidden inside the city for an inside-outside collaboration to seize it.
Finally, Huang Zhong persuaded Liu Xin to transfer the seven thousand garrison troops from Xiangnan County and Luo County back to Linxiang County, bringing Linxiang County’s garrison to seventeen thousand.
As long as Linxiang County held, it would be meaningless for the Yuzhang Army to capture other county towns, as they could not hold Changsha Commandery for long; Linxiang County was like a divine needle stabilizing the sea—while it held, Changsha Commandery would not be lost.
Huang Zhong stood on the North City wall, silently gazing at the Yuzhang Army camp several li away; no expression showed on his weathered face. Huang Zhong was tall and sturdy, with leopard eyes and lion nose, a large head, looking like a lion.
But Huang Zhong’s gaze was forlorn; because he firmly opposed promoting Cai Zan, he offended Cai Mao and sat on the cold bench for a full ten years, from age forty to fifty, the golden decade of his life slipping away like water.
Huang Zhong let out a long sigh; he was already fifty-two this year—did he still have hope of achieving success in this lifetime?
