Chapter 208: Sneak Attack On Jiangling
Jiangling is the largest city in Jingzhou. Before Liu Biao, Jiangling had always been the seat of government in Jingzhou. Only after Liu Biao became governor of Jingzhou did he move the seat of government to Xiangyang. Jiangling is not only the city with the largest population, but also Jingzhou’s largest river port. With over a hundred years of accumulation and Liu Biao’s painstaking efforts, more than a hundred large warehouses were built along the Jingzhou section of the Yangtze River, as well as a dock stretching three li long.
But today, the Yuzhang Army’s target is not the Jiangling dock and warehouses, but the shipyard located ten li east of Jiangling.
The Jiangling shipyard was once the largest shipyard along the Yangtze River until the Nanchang shipyard appeared, after which it fell to second place. This shipyard once built over ten thousand mengchong warships for Huang Zu, earning it the reputation of the mengchong shipyard.
However, after the Battle of Changsha Commandery, this famous shipyard began to decline. Liu Biao lost confidence in naval battles and drastically cut the shipbuilding budget. Without funding, a large number of shipbuilders became unemployed. To make a living, they took their families and defected to Yuzhang Commandery. By the time Liu Biao died, seventy percent of the Jiangling shipyard’s shipbuilders had been poached by Yuzhang Commandery.
Cao Ren received Cao Cao’s order to build a large number of ships, so he appointed Zhang Yun as shipbuilding commissioner and commandant of Jiangling, tasking him with full-scale shipbuilding and responsibility for Jiangling’s security, with a garrison of eight thousand men.
In these past few months, the shipyard has already built over three hundred medium-sized cargo ships, which are the most urgently needed ships for the Cao Army, facilitating the transport of supplies from Nanyang Commandery to Xiangyang. One hundred fifty giant trebuchets were transported to Yiling County by these over three hundred medium-sized cargo ships.
With a large quantity of shipbuilding materials arriving and shipbuilders transferred from various places assembling, the Jiangling shipyard is preparing to start building its specialty, mengchong warships.
At this critical moment, Lin Jia wrote a report to Gan Ning. It was this report that made Gan Ning determined to strike at the Jiangling shipyard.
“Boom!”
A large tua warship rammed open the water fortress gate of the shipyard, and countless warships surged in, speeding toward the shore.
The shipyard covers a vast area, ten li east to west and about five li north to south, plus over a hundred thousand mu of water area, larger than a small county town. The warehouse cluster is in the southwest, the shipbuilding area is in the center, and the northeast is the dormitory living area housing over ten thousand shipbuilders, plus a garrison of about five hundred men.
Yuzhang Army warships rushed ashore, and ten thousand soldiers disembarked one after another, heading straight for the living area and garrison barracks in the northeast.
Thanks to the sketch drawn by Lin Jia, which played a huge role in this operation, the ten thousand soldiers were divided into multiple groups, each with clear objectives. Soon, groups of shipbuilders were led by soldiers to the warehouses to help load the warehouse supplies onto ships. Except for the five hundred soldiers, who were captured in their sleep and sat in several tents, with the Yuzhang Army promising to release them at dawn, the soldiers no longer resisted and silently prayed for dawn to come quickly in their hearts.
The components of one hundred fifty giant trebuchets were also completely loaded onto ships. Once the ships were full, they immediately set off for the opposite shore, where several thousand Wuling Commandery garrison troops were waiting to help unload.
The shipyard was busy in a tense and orderly manner, loading large quantities of materials and supplies onto ships.
At this time, Ding Feng led five thousand soldiers in ambush on the official road between Jiangling City and the shipyard. There were watchtowers on the city wall. Even though it was nighttime, the Yuzhang Army’s over a thousand warships charging in with great momentum would still be spotted by the watchtowers.
“Dang! Dang! Dang! Dang!” Alarm bells rang on the city wall.
Zhang Yun was also startled awake from deep sleep. He donned his armor and rushed to the city wall.
“What is going on?”
“General, it seems something has happened at the shipyard. Enemy army is sneak attacking the shipyard!”
“Ah!”
Zhang Yun was greatly shocked. If the shipyard was destroyed, how could he explain to Cao Cao? Moreover, there were Xiahou Yuan’s highly valued one hundred fifty giant trebuchets, which were to be maintained and then transported to Jingling County in a couple of days. How could something go wrong at this time?
“Pass my order: First Army, five thousand troops, assemble!”
Zhang Yun was panicked and led five thousand soldiers out of the city, rushing quickly toward the shipyard. No matter what, he could not ignore it.
Not far east of the city was a large forest, with the official road passing through it. It was now the fourth watch, and the moon shuttled through the clouds, appearing and disappearing intermittently.
Riding on horseback, Zhang Yun looked at the pitch-black forests on both sides, feeling uneasy in his heart. This was a good place for an ambush. Large numbers of troops could hide in the forests on both sides, while his own army advanced on the narrow official road with no cover, not even a single tree. He secretly regretted that in his haste to rescue the shipyard, he had not considered the possibility of a Yuzhang Army ambush.
But it was too late now. His main force had all entered the official road within the forest, so he could only grit his teeth and hurry through as fast as possible.
“Vanguard Army, speed up and get out of the forest as soon as possible!”
Just as the Cao Army vanguard was about to exit the forest, suddenly clappers sounded all around. In the night, five thousand arrows were fired simultaneously, an arrow rain as dense as flying locusts blanketing the sky and shooting into Zhang Yun’s completely unprepared army, instantly filling the official road with screams and wails.
Zhang Yun knew they had been ambushed and anxiously shouted at the top of his voice: “Retreat! Retreat quickly!”
Actually, no shouting was needed. Their army discipline was already lax, and faced with life and death, no one was willing to think of others.
Chaos erupted in the Cao Army ranks. The five thousand soldiers struggled in the arrow rain, scrambling to flee back the way they came, trampling each other, crying and begging, with extremely heavy casualties…
Zhang Yun could no longer care about the soldiers. Under the protection of three hundred personal guards, he turned his horse around and fled for his life.
Ding Feng only intended to ambush the Cao Army and had no intention of engaging them in fierce battle. When the Cao Army soldiers fled desperately, he did not order a pursuit.
Leaving behind over a thousand corpses and scattered Cao Army wounded soldiers, he led his army to withdraw to the shipyard.
By this time, the Yuzhang Army had finished loading the supplies and begun to withdraw.
Ding Feng ordered a fire to be set, completely burning down the shipyard. He led his five thousand soldiers aboard the last two hundred doujian warships and withdrew toward Yidao County in the south.
Zhang Yun fled back to the city and immediately closed the city gate, not daring to venture out again. He ran to the city wall and stood there gazing toward the shipyard, only to see massive firelight in the distance as raging flames completely engulfed the shipyard.
Zhang Yun felt a chill of fear. He truly did not know how to explain to Cao Cao.
This raid on the Jiangling shipyard at a critical moment had a major impact on the overall situation. It meant that Nan Commandery had completely lost its shipbuilding capacity. Apart from the over three hundred medium-sized cargo ships built earlier, it could no longer build any warships.
But its most profound impact was that Cao Cao could no longer cross south from Jingzhou via Jiangnan. The Cao Army could only choose the eastern line, that is, the route through Hefei into the Yangtze River.
As for whether Cao Cao intended to attack the Yuzhang Army or the Jiangdong Army, no one knew yet. Probably even Cao Cao himself had not decided.
The situation in Jingzhou was clear: all forces were actively preparing for war, ready to welcome the impending Cao Army southern campaign.
