Chapter 207: Sneak Attack On Jiangling
Ma Liang was a very serious person. Although he knew Zhou Ji would not deceive him, Zhou Ji had only heard it from others and had not seen it with his own eyes. What if there was a mistake?
The next morning, Ma Liang asked the inn shopkeeper Wang Anjiang to send a message to the shipyard deputy manager Lin Jia. At noon, Lin Jia hurried over.
Lin Jia was Gan Ning’s personal informant planted in the Jiangling shipyard, through whom he kept track of the shipbuilding progress in Jiangling at all times.
Lin Jia had seen Ma Liang when he was received by Gan Ning. He recognized Ma Liang at a glance and was stunned, asking in surprise, “How did you come here, sir?”
Ma Liang waved his hand with a smile and said, “Please sit down, Manager Lin!”
Lin Jia sat down and asked, “I wrote a report to the general earlier. Has the general received it?”
“He has received it. The general praised you for being very diligent.”
“I also hope the general can act as soon as possible. As soon as a ship is built here, it sails away and is dispersed to various places. It’s hard to gather them together, and the opportunity will be lost.”
“I will tell the general!”
After a pause, Ma Liang then asked, “Has Manager Lin been at the shipyard this whole time?”
“At the shipyard!”
“Are you familiar with the warehouse in the cabin?”
Lin Jia thought for a moment and said, “The shipyard has thirty-three warehouses filled with various materials. I’m very familiar with some, but not others, and I haven’t even been to some!”
“That’s the case. I’m here investigating a batch of Cao Army giant trebuchets. According to the intelligence I’ve obtained so far, this batch of trebuchets is stored in the shipyard. Have you seen them?”
“Treblets?”
Lin Jia thought for a moment and still shook his head. “I’ve never seen them!”
“Could they be stored in a warehouse you’ve never been to?”
“That’s possible. There are several large warehouses in the southwest corner that are locked year-round. Although they are in the shipyard, the items stored inside are said to have nothing to do with shipbuilding, so we’ve never gone in.”
“Can we go in and take a look?”
“We can try!”
Ma Liang added, “This matter is of great importance. Manager Lin must see it with his own eyes and not rely on hearsay!”
Lin Jia nodded silently. He was thinking about how to enter those warehouses when suddenly an idea struck him. He had a way.
“I’ll try today or tomorrow. As soon as I have news, I’ll tell you, sir!”
Lin Jia hurriedly returned to the shipyard. In the afternoon, he made an excuse to search for materials to build mengchong warships and searched the various warehouses. Soon he found those large warehouses that were locked year-round.
There were no guards, so he directly had the shipworkers smash the locks and entered the largest warehouse. Sure enough, he saw huge trebuchet wooden frames, bases, throwing poles, and giant wheels. These giant trebuchet parts and baffles filled four large warehouses. Lin Jia silently counted and estimated there were about one hundred fifty of them, with the same number of baffles.
At this moment, a general led a hundred soldiers rushing in and shouted, “Who are you? How dare you trespass into the forbidden area!”
Lin Jia stepped forward and said, “I’m the shipyard deputy manager. We lack high-quality wood for building mengchong warships. These woods are all top-grade materials, and the specifications are large enough.”
“What nonsense!”
The general couldn’t help cursing, “These are siege weapons, and you want to use them for shipbuilding? Dreaming! All of you, get out. Drive them out.”
The man was the shipyard deputy manager, and the warehouse was inside the shipyard, so the general didn’t make things difficult for them and directly had the soldiers drive them out.
Lin Jia waved his hand and led his dozens of subordinates out of the warehouse.
The next morning, Lin Jia met Ma Liang again and handed him a hand-drawn blueprint. It was a map of the shipyard, including drawings of dozens of warehouses, with several warehouses storing the giant trebuchets marked.
“Did Manager Lin see the trebuchets with his own eyes?” Ma Liang asked.
Lin Jia nodded. “I saw them all. I counted them myself. There are indeed one hundred fifty, along with matching baffles. They are truly huge. People seem very small in front of them.”
“They won’t move them away, will they?”
“Not for the time being. They placed them in the shipyard warehouse to use the shipyard’s tung oil for maintenance. They’ve just started applying the oil, but it’s hard to say after the oil is applied.”
Ma Liang left Jiangling by ship that same day, taking a fast boat to rush to Chaisang.
A few days later, Ma Liang’s ship arrived in Chaisang. He immediately hurried back to the official residence to report the situation to the lord.
After hearing Ma Liang’s report, Gan Ning was genuinely impressed. Not only had Ma Liang found the whereabouts of the trebuchets, but he had also connected with Zhou Ji, who could bring a lot of important military intelligence to prepare for capturing Chaisang in the future.
Gan Ning looked at the blueprint and pondered for a moment. He immediately made a decision: ‘Sneak attack Jiangling!’
Soon, three strategists hurried to Gan Ning’s official residence.
“Does the general have urgent business?” Lu Su asked.
Gan Ning nodded. “There is indeed something quite urgent. Let me brief you three.”
Gan Ning handed his unsigned order to Lu Su and the others. They passed it around and looked it over. Lu Su asked puzzledly, “Wasn’t the general planning to act when Cao Cao moves south? Isn’t it too early to act now?”
Gan Ning shook his head. “Things haven’t developed in the direction I hoped. The shipyard finishes one ship and sends it off immediately. There’s no chance to gather them. If we can’t destroy the ships, we’ll destroy their shipbuilding ability, take away all the raw materials and shipbuilders, and take those one hundred fifty giant trebuchets instead of destroying them.”
Lu Su, Xu Shu, and Pang Tong all voiced their unanimous support for Gan Ning’s decisive action. Once decided, they must act immediately, as delay would miss the opportunity.
The mission to sneak attack Jiangling was assigned to Ding Feng. Ding Feng had long been frustrated. After the Changsha campaign, he had nothing to do, and even the attack on the Jingnan Three Commanderies didn’t involve him, which really depressed him. Now the opportunity had finally come. How could he not be extremely excited? Although it wasn’t to occupy Jiangling, successfully completing the mission was still good.
That same day, Ding Feng led fifteen thousand troops and eight hundred warships out of the Dongting Lake navy base, entered the Yangtze River from Dongting Lake, and sailed along the south bank of the Yangtze toward Wuling Commandery opposite Jiangling County.
The most important thing for the sneak attack on Jiangling was secrecy, so Ding Feng had the navy sail only at night, hugging close to the south bank of the Yangtze, so the enemy couldn’t spot them.
Three days later in the evening, Ding Feng’s fleet arrived at Yidao County on the south bank of the Yangtze. Across was Jiangling County.
Ding Feng gazed at the pitch-black Yangtze and said to his deputy general Kan Huang, “It’s only the second watch now. We’d better strike overnight to avoid prolonged delay breeding trouble!”
“The general is right. If they notice anything unusual, they might move the trebuchets, and we’d lose the opportunity.”
Ding Feng nodded and said, “You lead ten thousand troops to act according to the original plan. I’ll lead five thousand troops to ambush outside the south city gate. Once Zhang Yun leads troops to reinforce, I’ll ambush him.”
After the two discussed the details, they didn’t let the soldiers disembark to rest. The fleet immediately turned around and headed toward Jiangling on the north bank.
