Chapter 172: Striking Lujiang
The next day, both sides reached an agreement on the details of troop deployment.
In the official residence, Lu Su was reporting the details of the negotiation to Gan Ning. Lu Su smiled and said, “It seems Jiangdong is very clear; they know that if we deploy troops to Jiujiang Commandery, the Cao Army will definitely intervene.”
“And then?” Gan Ning asked with a smile.
“Then Zhang Zhao directly asked me, if the Cao Army deploys troops to intervene, will we withdraw from Jiujiang Commandery? I told him that if Cao Cao sends an army to drive us out, we will not withdraw, but if Cao Cao chooses peaceful persuasion, we might withdraw.”
Gan Ning laughed, “Zhang Zhao didn’t lose his temper?”
“Zhang Zhao has that much composure; he instead calmed down and asked me what to do about Sun Ben. I replied that our condition for withdrawal is that Sun Ben must withdraw his troops from Danyang Commandery, no matter how the Cao Army pressures them, but the withdrawing troop strength must not be less than thirty thousand.”
“So what did Zhang Zhao say then?”
“Zhang Zhao agreed. He told me that if Sun Ben withdraws thirty thousand troops, they will have the confidence to defeat Sun Ben’s army.”
Gan Ning nodded, “Let’s talk about the compensation for deploying troops!”
“It’s already settled—it’s the conditions you proposed, General: three hundred thousand barrels of tung oil. After we deploy troops, they will first deliver one hundred thousand barrels; after we advance into Jiujiang Commandery, they will deliver another one hundred thousand barrels; finally, after they recover Danyang Commandery, they will deliver the last one hundred thousand barrels to us.”
Gan Ning said gladly, “We can sign the contract now!”
Zhang Zhao returned to Jiangdong satisfied with the contract; three hundred thousand barrels of tung oil in exchange for Danyang Commandery—this price was too cheap for them, only three-tenths of Jiangdong’s tung oil production.
Of course, Zhang Zhao was a politician; he also knew that Gan Ning was deploying troops to help them not just for this tung oil, but to make up for the consequences of the rift between the two sides caused by the matter with Huang Zu back then, to ease relations between the two houses. More importantly, it was what Gan Ning said to him before parting: ‘The reason I’m deploying troops is that I do not want Cao Cao’s forces to establish a foothold south of the Yangtze River.’
This statement was very insightful, leaving Zhang Zhao pondering it all the way back. The Cao Army would sooner or later launch a southern campaign; whether they could keep the Cao Army north of the Yangtze River depended heavily on Sun Ben—it was absolutely crucial not to let Sun Ben gain a foothold on the south bank of the Yangtze River.
Sun Ben was a very important chess piece and also key to Cao Cao’s future southern advance, but Sun Ben himself did not know it. This sneak attack on Danyang Commandery succeeded and seemed like a victory, but Sun Ben had committed a major strategic misposition; he had expended his chess piece role too early. Once he was driven out of Danyang Commandery by the alliance of Gan Ning and Sun Ben’s forces, it would be difficult for Sun Ben to advance south again in the future.
From this perspective, Sun Ben’s sneak attack on Danyang Commandery might not be a bad thing.
At nightfall, Zhao Yun and Taishi Ci led thirty thousand troops and had already appeared on the west bank of the Wanshui River. Xu Shu had received Gan Ning’s order to strike Lujiang Commandery.
Although Sun Ben’s army had deployed more than twenty watchtowers along the Wan County riverside for strict surveillance of the Yuzhang Army’s movements on the west bank, the enemy had made a habitual thinking error: these more than twenty watchtowers were all deployed opposite Wan County, stretching over ten li, as if they were certain that the Yuzhang Army would cross the river from Wan County if deploying troops.
Of course, the enemy must have also planted scouts in Wan County. Although the scouts could not be found for the time being, Xu Shu had his own methods. He left the garrison in Wan County untouched, letting the scouts continue to surveil the barracks, while Zhao Yun and Taishi Ci’s armies did not enter Wan County at all.
At this time, Taishi Ci’s army appeared on the west bank of the Wanshui River fifteen li north of Wan County, while Zhao Yun’s army appeared on the west bank of the Wanshui River fifteen li south of Wan County. These two river crossing points bypassed the watchtowers on the opposite shore.
Dozens of ships quickly built pontoon bridges on the river surface, with iron chains linking the ships together and wide wooden planks laid on top—a total of two pontoon bridges, one in the north and one in the south.
At the third watch, the two armies from north and south simultaneously crossed the pontoon bridges and advanced toward the opposite shore, thus opening the curtain on the Battle of Lujiang.
Sun Ben’s army barracks were very quiet. The commander Xu Yuan was the brother of Lujiang Commandery Prefect Xu Qian. Xu Yuan was also very cautious, deploying many sentry posts and roaming patrols around the barracks. Enemies attempting a sneak attack could be detected from a li away, and they would immediately strike iron plates.
At the third watch, two roaming patrols of Sun Ben’s army were sitting together chatting idly when they suddenly noticed countless small red dots appearing in the sky. The two stood up in astonishment, staring blankly at the red dots drawing closer in the sky until hundreds of red dots flew over their heads. Only then did they finally realize they were firebirds—hundreds of burning firebirds had appeared in the sky.
The two looked back and were utterly terrified; the direction of the hundreds of firebirds was precisely their barracks. In a panic, they took out iron plates and desperately struck them.
“Clang! Clang! Clang!”
The piercing striking sound cut through the quiet night, but the sky was already no longer quiet. Hundreds of fire kites turned into blazing fireballs, diving straight toward the barracks.
Alarm bells rang loudly in the barracks. Many soldiers ran out of their tents and saw the firelight in the sky, shouting and yelling in fear.
This was the first actual combat use of the fire kite. Although some fire kites kept falling from the sky, many flew into the barracks. In an instant, over a hundred tents were set ablaze.
Fires broke out on all sides in the barracks, the flames spreading rapidly, with firelight everywhere, thick smoke filling the air. Terrified soldiers rushed out of the burning tents without even time to put on shoes, scrambling in the crowded masses toward the camp gate to escape.
Although the fire kite’s long-range sneak attack was very effective, it had obvious drawbacks: it was relatively slow and too conspicuous. If slowness was not a flaw, then being conspicuous was a major defect. As long as the sentries were not asleep, they could spot the anomaly in the sky from a li away, sound the alarm, and give the soldiers more time to escape, preventing total annihilation and being burned to death in the barracks.
But the result was the same. Just as several thousand soldiers had escaped the barracks, thirty thousand Yuzhang Army soldiers surrounded and charged from all directions, their shouts of killing shaking the heavens around the blazing barracks.
Over eighty percent of the escaped soldiers were barefoot, without armor and unarmed. Suddenly seeing fierce armies charging from all sides, they were so frightened that they knelt down and surrendered one after another, begging for mercy.
Out of the six thousand troops, over five thousand four hundred escaped, but more than five hundred perished in the sea of fire, including the commander Xu Yuan. The warhorse he rode was startled and carried him straight into the blazing inferno.
The next day at noon, the barracks had been burned to white ash. Yuzhang Army soldiers began clearing the barracks, carrying out charred black corpses one by one.
The soldiers found a dead warhorse, and beside it, a corpse burned to black charcoal. He wore a gold tablet engraved with Western Army Colonel Xu Yuan.
After handling the barracks, the prisoners of war were sent to Wan County for detention. Zhao Yun and Taishi Ci continued leading the army to pounce on Shu County a hundred li away. Lujiang Commandery was large, but its troop strength was concentrated: six thousand deployed on the east bank of the Wanshui River, and another fifteen thousand deployed in Shu County. Once Shu County was taken, it meant Lujiang Commandery was taken.
