Chapter 47: Seizing Nanchang
Cheng Zi also led several thousand troops to the East City Gate, blocking Wang Xiaoman’s dozens of men in the middle, but Wang Xiaoman was holding Sun Fu in his hand with a battle saber pressed against Sun Fu’s neck, making Cheng Zi afraid to act rashly.
Hundreds of soldiers raised crossbows aimed at Sun Fu, but Wang Xiaoman showed no fear, grabbing Sun Fu’s hair and holding him in front of himself as a human shield, with the sharp battle saber pressed against his neck.
Cheng Zi was frightened and quickly waved his hands, telling his subordinates to lower their crossbow bolts.
“This young general, how about we make a transaction? I let you out of the city, and you release General Sun!”
“Fine! Open the East City Gate and let me out of the city first.”
“The East City Gate won’t work. You can leave from the North City Gate.”
Cheng Zi knew full well that Gan Ning’s army must be outside the East City.
Wang Xiaoman laughed heartily, “No sincerity if we don’t go through the East City Gate. I won’t believe you!”
Both sides were at a temporary standoff. Wang Ping anxiously looked toward the city wall. His subordinates had gone up there for a while—why was there still no movement?
Wang Ping did not know that the gate bolt on the city wall and the iron wheels for raising the drawbridge were all locked with large locks. Without an iron hammer, the soldiers could only use steel files to chisel through the locks bit by bit.
As the lock was chiseled open, the drawbridge crashed down, the city gate also opened, and a large group of soldiers appeared in the dark city passage, led by the great general Gan Ning.
Hearing the crashing sound of the drawbridge hitting the ground, Wang Xiaoman immediately pulled Sun Fu and ran to the side. Wang Ping also led soldiers charging up, using their bodies to block the enemy army and clearing a passage for Wang Xiaoman.
The balance was broken, the enemy army surged forward trying to snatch back Sun Fu, and Gan Ning also led his troops charging up, leading to a chaotic melee between both sides.
In the chaos, ‘Pfft!’ an arrow struck Sun Fu’s shoulder, causing him to cry out in pain.
“Stop fighting now!”
Cheng Zi shouted to halt his subordinates. The earlier volley of arrows had nearly killed Sun Fu, scaring him into a cold sweat.
The enemy army had already entered the city. Fighting chaotically at this point would only get Sun Fu killed, and he would have no way to explain it.
“Retreat! Retreat!” Cheng Zi hurriedly shouted, ordering the soldiers to fall back step by step, retreating over a hundred paces.
At this point, the only option was to negotiate with the opponent, let them have the city in exchange for Sun Fu’s release so they could withdraw.
Both sides entered a standoff once more.
Wang Xiaoman saw Gan Ning and excitedly shouted loudly: “My lord, I captured Sun Fu!”
Wang Ping also hoped desperately for their lord to praise his brother profusely. If Xiaoman hadn’t captured Sun Fu, this city attack would have failed.
Gan Ning gave him a thumbs up to show approval. Wang Xiaoman scratched his head embarrassedly, then personally pushed Sun Fu forward. Sun Fu looked extremely disheveled, barefoot on one foot, hair disheveled, and with an arrow wound in his shoulder.
Sun Fu was quite handsome, but unfortunately he had been punched several times by Wang Xiaoman, twisting his handsome face out of shape, with undisguisable fear in his eyes.
Gan Ning glanced at him and asked coldly: “You are Sun Fu?”
Sun Fu was a fair-faced scholar, usually pampered and lofty, never encountering any setbacks from childhood to now. Captured for the first time in his life, he was truly afraid in his heart.
Seeing a fierce tiger-like enemy great general appear before him with extremely sharp eyes, his legs trembled, but he braced himself and asked: “I am Sun Fu. And who are you?”
“I am Chaisang Gan Ning!”
Sun Fu’s eyes suddenly widened in shock, exclaiming: “Aren’t you in Haihun County?”
Gan Ning narrowed his eyes and smiled: “What do you think?”
In that instant, Sun Fu suddenly understood—he had fallen for a ploy to lure the tiger away from the mountain.
Gan Ning smiled and said: “Let me make a transaction with you. Have your subordinate army lay down their weapons and surrender, and I can let you return to Eastern Wu.”
Sun Fu hesitated somewhat. Gan Ning snorted coldly, “I led twelve thousand troops into the city. If a melee breaks out, blades and arrows spare no one—you’ll hardly keep your life. This is for your own good!”
Sun Fu looked at the dense mass of enemy troops and felt a chill in his heart. He could only nod, “Fine, we have a deal!”
Sun Fu did not know the hardships of starting a venture. To him, it was just a few thousand soldiers—how could they compare to his own life?
Gan Ning escorted Sun Fu forward to confront them. Both sides raised torches high, facing off on the central main street, illuminating it as bright as day.
Sun Fu shouted loudly: “General Cheng, order the entire army to lay down their weapons!”
Cheng Zi’s expression was extremely complicated, annoyance flickering in his eyes. This Sun Fu was truly muddleheaded—surrendering before negotiations even began, leaving him no room to negotiate.
Gan Ning said loudly: “General Cheng, you are surrounded. As long as you lay down your weapons, I, Gan Ning, promise to let you and Sun Fu return to Eastern Wu.”
At this moment, shouts came from behind as soldiers ran up to report to Cheng Zi: “Enemy troops have appeared behind us, about four or five thousand!”
This was Ding Feng leading five thousand men entering from the North City. Gan Ning had not sent all his forces to the East City in one go but split into two routes: Ding Feng leading five thousand to ambush outside the North City, while Gan Ning led seven thousand to the East City.
Chaos erupted in the East City, drawing North City soldiers to rush there for support, allowing Ding Feng to easily capture the North City.
“General Cheng, you are a smart man. You have only five thousand troops, we have twelve thousand. If you don’t surrender, annihilation awaits, and Sun Fu won’t be going back either. Even if I let you go, how will you face the Marquis of Wu?”
Cheng Zi was blocked from both front and rear, defeat inevitable. He looked at the bound Sun Fu, thinking that if Sun Fu died he would have no way to explain, then at his panicked subordinates around him. Cheng Zi sighed deeply and ordered: “Pass the order: the entire army lays down weapons and surrenders!”
Sun Fu and Cheng Zi were placed under house arrest. The soldiers took over Nanchang County Town, pacified all the surrendered soldiers, took control of all warehouses, and released all the more than one thousand captured citizens.
Wang Xiaoman led troops charging into the home of his former chief clerk who had betrayed him, beheading the father and son. Their betrayal had caused one hundred twenty of Wang Xiaoman’s subordinates to die in battle, filling him with deep hatred.
But the war was not over—there were still Han Dang’s five thousand men. Gan Ning knew full well that Han Dang would surely encounter He Qi fleeing back, and Han Dang would definitely rush back immediately to support Nanchang City.
This would form a situation of besieging the city and striking the reinforcements. The core of the besiege-the-city-and-strike-the-relief strategy was to exploit the enemy’s anxiety to rush to the rescue and ambush them midway.
Gan Ning examined the map. Twenty li west of the city was a large forest right beside the official road—an ideal ambush spot.
“General Xu, what kind of person is Han Dang?”
Xu Sheng bowed and said: “Reporting to my lord, Han Dang has an extremely strong sense of responsibility—one promise is worth a thousand gold.”
“And cautious?” Gan Ning asked again.
Xu Sheng smiled: “Cautious is not Han Dang, it’s Cheng Pu. Among General Sun’s four former generals, they were known as loyal, brave, cautious, trustworthy: loyal was Zu Mao, brave was Huang Gai, cautious was Cheng Pu, trustworthy was Han Dang. Han Dang is not cautious—if he were, he wouldn’t have gone to rescue Haihun County.”
Gan Ning looked at the ambush spot on the map and nodded: “Success or failure hinges on this one move.”
Gan Ning immediately ordered the lightly wounded Wang Ping to lead two thousand soldiers to garrison Nanchang County and guard the surrendered soldiers. He himself, along with Ding Feng and Xu Sheng, led ten thousand troops to the ambush site twenty li west of West City.
=====
【There was a small error earlier from Old Gao. Most Three Kingdoms warships could actually use both sails and oars, so there was no issue of being unable to campaign westward in winter. Old Gao had assumed too much and underestimated the ancients’ wisdom, so the previous chapter 34 was revised.】
