Chapter 46: Capture The Leader To Round Up The Rest
The city-wide search continued until the afternoon before gradually ending. No spies with irrefutable evidence were found. Martial law was lifted, and next, the interrogation of over a thousand captured out-of-towners began. The spy was very likely hidden among them.
Sun Fu lacked experience and did not take this matter seriously, but his subordinates would not make mistakes.
The deputy general under Sun Fu was named Cheng Zi, son of great general Cheng Pu. He was accomplished in both civil and military affairs, currently serving as commandant of Nanchang, sealed as commander of a detached unit.
Although Cheng Zi also did not realize this was a precursor to Gan Ning’s army attacking the city, he too thought it was Tong Zhi of Luling taking advantage of the New Year to send spies to buy armor.
But he completely inherited his father’s caution and carefulness. Cheng Pu had always warned his son from childhood that as a general, one must be cautious. Once anything unusual appeared in the city, defense levels must be raised, and one must never be careless.
So when Sun Fu did not raise the defense level to wartime status but continued to maintain alert status, Cheng Zi sought out Sun Fu.
Although wartime status and alert status differed by only one level, the measures implemented were completely different.
Wartime status required half the soldiers to be on the city wall for defense. No sleeping on the sly was allowed on the city wall. All soldiers in the barracks must sleep wearing armor and holding weapons, not even removing their shoes. At the sound of the alarm bell, they must immediately rush to the city wall to fight.
Alert status was much lower. At night, one could remove clothes and shoes to sleep, but weapons must be kept nearby. Additionally, only a thousand people were needed for night patrols, including street patrols and city wall patrols.
“It’s just spies coming to buy weapons. General Cheng is making a fuss over nothing!”
Sun Fu was somewhat displeased. He was playing chess with his concubine, and Cheng Zi had disrupted his train of thought.
Cheng Zi clasped his fists from below the hall and said: “Reporting to the general, this subordinate is not considering the matter of spies buying weapons, but Haihun County has seen warfare. We must raise our defenses here. There are many painful lessons in history, all because the garrison commander was careless and…”
“Enough! Enough! Don’t lecture me.”
Sun Fu waved his hand impatiently. “Raise it if you want! Don’t come bother me again.”
Cheng Zi was overjoyed. “Thank you, general, for agreeing!”
Cheng Zi hurried back to the barracks and immediately announced that the entire army was entering wartime status. Curfew at night, no one allowed out.
At the same time, he raised the defense level, increasing the night watch soldiers to two thousand five hundred. The north and south city gates were always the top priority, with six hundred deployed each to North City and South City. The remaining east and west city gates each had four hundred deployed, and the other five hundred were divided into twenty teams to patrol the streets.
Around the first watch, Wang Ping led three hundred soldiers to sneak into a mansion right next to the East City Gate.
The master and servant women were all locked in a small room. The entire mansion became a temporary garrison for the Chaisang Army. It was only about thirty steps from the East City Gate, making it the best observation point.
Wang Ping stood on a ladder, poking his head over the courtyard wall to carefully observe the situation at the city gate.
Wang Ping’s heart sank immediately. There were actually over a hundred soldiers near the city gate tunnel.
Normally, defending soldiers were mostly on the city wall, with deployment roughly three to one between the wall and under it, so there would be three hundred on the city wall.
This was wrong! Wang Ping immediately sensed the crisis.
It was freezing cold. Normally, soldiers would light a fire pile, with most sleeping and only a few warming themselves by the fire and chatting idly—that was how it should be.
But there was no fire pile in sight. Over a hundred soldiers were holding spears, lined up on both sides of the city gate. They were freezing, rubbing hands and stomping feet, yet extremely vigilant with no sign of drowsiness.
Wang Ping pointed to the city gate tunnel and whispered to his brother Wang Xiaoman: “The enemy army has entered wartime status. The East City Gate also has at least four hundred deployed.”
Wang Xiaoman’s face turned pale instantly. The consequences of his mistake were starting to show.
“Big brother, what do we do now?” Wang Xiaoman was on the verge of tears.
Wang Ping thought for a moment and asked: “Do you know where Sun Fu lives?”
Wang Xiaoman nodded. “He lives in the prefectural office rear residence, not far from here!”
“Don’t worry about the city gate. Take a hundred brothers to capture Sun Fu. You must catch him.”
“I’ll go right now!”
Wang Xiaoman led a hundred subordinates along the alley toward the prefectural office.
In wartime status, Sun Fu was likely in the barracks. Wang Ping had no other way; he could only take this gamble.
……
Time passed bit by bit. ‘Bang—bang! Bang!’ The sound of the night watchman’s clapper came from afar. Second watch had arrived.
Wang Ping nodded to the other two battalion commanders. Wang Ping immediately waved his hand, leading two hundred subordinates out the back, along the alley toward the city wall.
Soon, they reached the city wall, hugging it closely, inching toward the city gate.
But no matter how careful, it was useless. The enemy had a hundred men, and Wang Ping was ultimately discovered.
“Who are you people?”
Wang Ping gritted his teeth and shouted, “Kill!”
The two hundred soldiers charged forward swinging blades together. The enemy shouted: “Enemy situation! Enemy situation!”
The defending soldiers also thrust spears to meet them in battle.
Why did Wang Xiaoman go to such lengths for spears? Without spears, their two hundred couldn’t even match the enemy’s hundred, let alone without armor.
Unfortunately, Wang Xiaoman had been betrayed, which only worsened the situation.
The army defending Nanchang was an elite army, completely different from Liu Xun’s army. They coordinated perfectly and struck ruthlessly. In moments, nearly fifty of Wang Ping’s two hundred soldiers were killed, and they were forced to retreat step by step.
At that moment, the three hundred soldiers on the city wall rushed down from the corridors on both sides. This was adding insult to injury; Wang Ping’s defeat was sealed.
Not only did Wang Ping fail, the entire operation to capture Nanchang was going to fail.
At the same time, urgent alarm bells rang out from the four city gates: ‘Dang! Dang! Dang! Dang!’ Soldiers in the barracks rose one after another, rushing out of the tent to assemble.
Wang Ping was surrounded. His subordinates suffered heavy casualties, with fewer than a hundred left. Wang Ping seized a spear and fought desperately against the enemy.
Seeing the enemy army growing, an enemy general shouted: “Capture him alive!”
Wang Ping despaired. He looked to the sky with a long sigh. “My lord, this subordinate has failed!”
At that moment, a shout came from not far away: “Everyone stop! Drop your weapons!”
Everyone looked over in astonishment. Sun Fu appeared dozens of steps away, followed by a large group of soldiers.
Sun Fu heard the alarm bells and hurriedly led a dozen subordinates fleeing toward the barracks, where he was spotted by Wang Xiaoman ambushing outside the gate. Wang Xiaoman led a hundred subordinates to swarm forward, taking out Sun Fu’s subordinates, pulling Sun Fu off his horse, pressing him to the ground, and binding him.
The fierce battle at the East City Gate stopped. Everyone was baffled. At this time, Sun Fu’s hands were grabbed, and a sharp dagger was pressed against his back.
Wang Xiaoman whispered from behind: “Tell them to drop their weapons!”
Sun Fu had no choice but to order: “You won’t even obey my command? Everyone drop your weapons.”
The soldiers, unsure, withdrew behind their company commanders one after another. The company commander was named Zhao Ren. He also saw that the commander Sun Fu was controlled by the enemy.
At a time like this, they certainly could not drop their weapons but had to find a way to rescue the lord.
He led the soldiers forward step by step. Wang Xiaoman suddenly placed his battle saber across Sun Fu’s neck and shouted sternly: “Back off, or I kill him!”
Zhao Ren was startled and quickly ordered the soldiers to halt. “Don’t advance!”
Wang Ping saw that his brother Wang Xiaoman had only fifty soldiers behind him. Wait, no! Where were the other fifty brothers?
He suddenly thought of something and hurriedly looked back. A group of soldiers had already silently climbed the city wall along the corridor—it was Wang Xiaoman’s subordinates.
Wang Ping was overjoyed. He subtly waved his hand, pointed to the city gate tunnel, and made an upward lifting gesture to signal opening the gate. Battalion commander Zheng Hu understood, leading a few soldiers quietly into the city gate tunnel.
