Chapter 257: Battle At Queyue Begins
On the city wall, six thousand Western Chu Army soldiers stood on the city wall, their gazes cold and stern as they raised their bows and arrows to shoot continuously, showing no sign of the fear and terror that should have gripped them; the Cao Army blanketing the area outside the city would make any other force tremble in their boots.
But this army showed no trace of cowardice; their confidence came from the three hundred massive catapults behind them, from the fully prepared defensive works already in place on the city wall, and from the large quantities of fire oil.
Nine thousand soldiers were responsible for operating the catapults. The massive catapults stood about five zhang tall, with long arms fitted with stone pouches at the rear, operated by thirty men, capable of hurling hundred-jin boulders over five hundred paces away.
Huang Zhong gazed coldly at the dense enemy army charging up. He gritted his teeth, waiting for the best opportunity. One siege ladder after another hooked onto the city wall, with Cao Army soldiers crowding the front for the city assault; the Cao Army had begun attacking the city.
With a “Boom!” a massive crash sent rubble flying as the first siege ladder reached the city wall, followed closely by over a hundred more siege ladders hooking on one after another. Ten thousand Cao Army soldiers swarmed up like ants, hacking with knives, stabbing with spears, shooting arrows, desperately trying to breach the city wall. Arrows rained down from the wall like a dense shower, rolling logs and rubble smashed down like hail, blades clashed and spears thrust amid flying blood and flesh.
Western Chu Army soldiers used long forks to shove the siege ladders outward forcefully. One long siege ladder was pushed off, flipping backward and crashing down, eliciting a chorus of shrill screams from those atop it.
Over fifteen thousand Cao Army soldiers had crossed the moat. Those under the city wall began counterattacking; arrows rained densely toward the city wall. Western Chu Army soldiers were continually struck and fell screaming from the city wall, with casualties mounting steadily.
Huang Zhong swung his long blade and finally issued the order, “Counterattack!”
Drums thundered inside Queyue City as three hundred giant catapults activated simultaneously. Their long arms swung out, hurling eighty-to-ninety-jin boulders through the air. The three hundred boulders spun as they flew over the moat, whistling as they smashed into the dense crowds. “Boom!” Boulders rolled through the masses, sending chunks of mangled flesh flying; over a dozen men were crushed into bloody pulp, a horrific sight. One after another, boulders slammed into the crowds amid waves of agonized screams.
At this moment, on the city wall, the long-suppressed soldiers hurled countless fire oil cans downward. Massive fires erupted on siege ladder after siege ladder, with countless burning soldiers screaming as they jumped off.
The Western Chu Army shifted to a full-scale fire oil assault, replacing boulders with giant pottery jars filled with fire oil. In the sky, burning giant pottery jars tumbled and whistled as they crashed to the ground.
In a short time, the giant catapults launched six volleys, smashing over fifteen hundred giant pottery jars into the enemy ranks. Everywhere was a sea of fierce flames, with countless Cao Army soldiers wailing and writhing in the inferno.
The fire attack had already inflicted massive casualties, but the Western Chu Army did not stop there. Dozens of warships appeared on the moat’s surface, led by a three-thousand-stone Tuma warship.
The Tuma warship moved with blinding speed, charging fiercely at the pontoon bridge. “Boom!”
The pontoon bridge was snapped in two amidships. Cao Army soldiers on the bridge plunged into the water one after another. Soon after, flames erupted on the pontoon bridge. Three pontoon bridges in succession were rammed apart, and firelight blazed across the river surface.
The retreat of fifteen thousand Cao Army soldiers was cut off; flames raged everywhere under the city wall. Tens of thousands of bundles of rice straw were thrown down, turning the entire area below the wall into a hell of fire.
Countless Cao Army soldiers, scorched by the flames, desperately leaped into the moat for survival. But the moat was two zhang deep; once they jumped in, their heavy leather armor did not float but dragged the soldiers straight to the bottom.
The eastern shore of the moat was filled with smoke, fire, and screams. Countless soldiers turned to flee, but were still continually engulfed by flames. A single shattering pottery jar could ignite dozens of soldiers.
Cao Ren watched in stunned disbelief. In this moment, he felt profound despair; he knew he had made a grave mistake and had once again suffered a humiliating defeat.
The battlefield finally fell quiet as the Cao Army retreated to their barracks. Corpses littered the field, and the moat’s surface was covered with floating bodies. The thirty-zhang moat was a total death trap for northern soldiers unaccustomed to water.
In this battle, Cao Ren suffered the most humiliating defeat of his life, even more shameful than last year’s rout. Of twenty-five thousand soldiers, casualties were heavy; nearly all six thousand wounded were burns, rendering them combat-ineffective for months. Even Zhang Liao’s arm was burned.
Cao Ren was forced to withdraw to Xiling County Town. He wrote a letter of apology and dispatched it to Yecheng via express courier over eight hundred li.
Cao Cao received Jia Xu’s letter and the Jiangdong negotiation agreement.
In the letter, Jia Xu repeatedly apologized, stating that his rash marriage alliance proposal was merely to placate Jiangdong and make them believe in the agreement’s authenticity.
Cao Cao, of course, knew the agreement’s true purpose was to sabotage the alliance between Gan Ning and Sun Quan, preventing them from joining forces to resist Cao Cao.
In this regard, Jia Xu’s stratagem of sowing discord had succeeded completely, utterly shattering the Gan-Sun alliance.
Cao Cao would not hold Jia Xu’s rash suggestions against him; Cao Cao always judged actions by results, not process.
Just as Cao Cao prepared to sign and seal his approval of the agreement, the express military report from Cao Ren was placed on his long desk.
It was less a military report than Cao Ren’s confession of guilt. In the document, Cao Ren candidly explained his misjudgment and erroneous decisions: eager to wash away his shame, he had pressed the attack recklessly, resulting in even greater humiliation and losses exceeding twenty-six thousand.
This massive loss left Cao Cao unable to sit still. He was utterly shocked and furious; Gan Ning had actually established a foothold north of the river and halved their forces in a single battle.
After deep thought, Cao Cao immediately summoned several strategists. Since Guo Jia’s death, Cheng Yu, Xun Yu, Xun You, and Jia Xu were his most important strategists.
In the inner hall, the three strategists passed around Cao Ren’s military report. Cheng Yu spoke first, “Chancellor, there are many suspicious aspects to this campaign. Has the Chancellor not noticed?”
Cao Cao was taken aback. “What suspicious aspects?”
Cheng Yu said, “I read General Cao Ren’s report. All his combat decisions related to the intelligence he received. Cao Ren is a battle-hardened great general who generally wouldn’t make such rash, elementary mistakes—unless the intelligence gave him false enemy situation, leading him to deploy based on erroneous, inferior information.”
“Zhong De is right!”
Xun You added from the side, “General Cao Ren states in the report that he believed there were only six thousand inside the city, no large catapults, no fire oil provisions, so he ordered a heavy assault to seize Queyue City with superior troop strength. His tactics were sound in themselves, but where did that belief come from? It must have been intelligence from Chaisang. So the problem lies with the intelligence, not the military.”
Xun Yu also said, “Previously, the Chancellor sent five hundred taels of gold to Chaisang’s intelligence chief to bribe the military attaché for top-secret intelligence. I suspect the gold courier was captured, Gan Ning uncovered the intelligence post, but turned the tables by sending a mix of true and false intelligence, causing General Cao Ren to fall completely into the trap.”
