Chapter 57: Dead-end Annihilation
The shopkeeper held the cup and took a sip of hot water, timidly saying to Gan Ning: “My family has run shops for generations. We were just doing honest business, earning a little money to support the family, but unexpectedly we encountered disaster.”
“Who is that waiter?”
“He is called Wang Qiu. He was originally a distant relative of mine. From a young age, he was fond of fighting and bullying, committing all kinds of evil. Later he joined Tong Zhi. Because he had studied for a few years, he became Tong Zhi’s confidant. They wanted to collect intelligence on Nanchang County, so Wang Qiu came to me and wanted to be my waiter. I had no choice but to agree.”
“You often go to Luling County to send him intelligence?”
“Yes, this Wang Qiu is lazy and hates long boat trips, so he forced me to send letters for him.”
Gan Ning’s eyes turned, “If you help me send a letter to Tong Zhi, pretending it’s from Wang Qiu, do you think it’s feasible?”
“I have no problem sending the letter, but it has to be Wang Qiu’s personal letter! And it needs his fingerprint, but Wang Qiu is already dead.”
The fingerprint is not a big problem; it can be taken from a dead person. As for the personal letter, there is still a way to solve it. Yang Xuan is an expert at forging letters.
………
That afternoon, news came from the prefectural office that Huang Zu was personally leading an army of fifty thousand to attack Chaisang. Gan Ning immediately led the army north to support Chaisang, leaving only one thousand troops to guard Nanchang County.
In the evening, the shopkeeper also boarded a fast boat to Luling County.
Luling County is today’s Jian in Jiangxi. It takes four days by boat from Nanchang, which is quite arduous. Tong Zhi required monthly reports on the situation in Nanchang. Wang Qiu was unwilling to endure this hardship, so he forced his uncle the shopkeeper to send letters for him.
Four days later, the shopkeeper arrived at Luling County and went straight to the prefectural office to find Tong Zhi. He had been sending letters for over a year, so everyone was very familiar with him.
Tong Zhi was about fifty years old, extremely ugly, with a short and fat body and bulging eyes, looking just like a toad. He was a Shanyue person from Danyang Commandery. After defeat in battle, he fled to Yuzhang Commandery and took the opportunity of Liu Yao’s death from illness to seclude the southern part of Yuzhang Commandery, renaming it Luling Commandery and proclaiming himself Prefect of Luling Commandery.
Tong Zhi himself did not have the guts to divide the commandery. In fact, it was Liu Biao’s intention. Liu Biao and Huang Zu had reached an agreement to divide Yuzhang Commandery.
Northern Yuzhang Commandery went to Huang Zu, southern Luling Commandery to Liu Biao. As for the boundary line between Yuzhang Commandery and Luling Commandery, it was actually up to Tong Zhi to decide.
If Tong Zhi could capture Nanchang County, then both sides would use Nanchang County as the boundary line.
To encourage Tong Zhi to capture Nanchang County, Liu Biao ordered his nephew Liu Xin to give him three thousand sets of armor.
Do not underestimate three thousand sets of armor. One set includes armor, spear, battle saber, and archery, totaling over hundred strings of cash. Three thousand sets are three hundred thousand strings of cash, which is by no means a small amount.
Seeing that the envelope the shopkeeper brought was red, Tong Zhi’s spirits lifted. He hurriedly opened the letter and read it carefully, immediately overjoyed. Nanchang County actually only had one thousand troops—this was unprecedented.
He could hardly believe it and read it twice more carefully. The handwriting and handprint were the same as usual, just saying that Huang Zu’s army of fifty thousand was attacking Chaisang and Gan Ning had led his army north.
“Shopkeeper Liu, is there really only one thousand troops inside the city?”
“Probably! Wang Qiu was so excited he was trembling all over. I told him to come send the letter himself, but he refused. He said he needed to continue surveilling the enemy army.”
Tong Zhi thought about it and agreed. Gan Ning had squeezed out the Jiangdong Army and captured Yuzhang Commandery, so Huang Zu came to pick the peaches—it completely fit Huang Zu’s character.
Nanchang County surprisingly only had one thousand soldiers. How could he not seize this heaven-sent opportunity?
Tong Zhi did not dare delay. It would take at least four days for them to reach Nanchang. He immediately ordered the entire army to assemble and bring seven days’ dry rations. One hour later, Tong Zhi led all thirteen thousand troops north.
South of Nanchang was mountainous terrain. Tong Zhi’s army was almost all Shanyue people, marching on mountain roads as if on flat ground, and at a fast speed.
Of course, the key was that the entire army’s morale was high. Tong Zhi’s subordinates extremely hated the Han people and wanted to annihilate completely all the Han people in Yuzhang Commandery, leaving only young women.
Thinking of plundering the commandery seat Nanchang, images of alluring women and piles of gold and silver filled everyone’s minds, making them all expectant and excited.
The army marched by day and camped by night. Four days later, they entered Nanchang County territory. That afternoon, the army entered Azure Dragon Gorge. They had passed dozens of gorges along the way; this was the last one. Twenty li ahead after this gorge was Nanchang City.
Tong Zhi’s spirits greatly lifted, urging the entire army to speed up. They were about to reach Nanchang City. The officers and soldiers also rallied their spirits and quickened their march.
Azure Dragon Gorge was over ten li long, with sheer cliffs on both sides. The entire gorge was about three zhang wide, overgrown with thorns and weeds. The front dragon mouth was only one zhang wide, called Dragon Mouth Pass.
This was an extremely dangerous military choke point. Normal armies would be very cautious, either sending people ahead to scout or advancing half and holding half back.
But Tong Zhi’s army did not care at all, because they had already passed over twenty such gorges on the way north. It was like boiling a frog in warm water—their vigilance gradually vanished.
When the army reached the north exit, they unexpectedly found it blocked by boulders.
Tong Zhi heard a commotion ahead and immediately urged his horse forward, asking: “What’s going on?”
“Commander, the exit is blocked by boulders!”
Tong Zhi was startled and hurriedly looked up at both sides—dozens of zhang high sheer cliffs. He suddenly realized he had fallen into a trap and shouted: “Retreat immediately!”
At that moment, dense large stones rained down from above. Soldiers were hit one after another. In an instant, countless soldiers had broken bones and splattering blood. Soldiers cried and shouted, scrambling to flee back.
Tong Zhi’s warhorse was struck on the head by a boulder, neighed, and fell to the ground. Tong Zhi was flung a zhang away.
Personal guards immediately came forward to help him up and raised shields to protect him as he fled south.
But along the way, boulders continued to fall. Many soldiers fell headlong, convulsed for a moment, and then lay still.
A large group of soldiers ran back to the entrance, only to find it blocked by over a hundred large logs. Soldiers desperately pushed the logs, but the log pile did not budge. The base of the other end was driven with over ten wooden stakes, and the logs were nailed together with iron nails. How could they push it?
Unable to push, they could only climb. The desire to escape home drove the soldiers to climb the logs regardless. They did not know that on the other side of the logs stood five thousand soldiers in formation, raising crossbows aimed at them.
The first batch of several hundred soldiers had just climbed over when dense bolts shot toward them. Soldiers were hit by arrows and fell, not a single one left alive.
The next batch of soldiers climbed over, but they were still met with merciless bolts that pierced skulls and chests, dying in despair.
Batch after batch of soldiers climbed over the logs to escape, and batch after batch were shot dead. The open space under the logs was piled with corpses, layered like small hills.
This was a cruel death trap. The soldiers on the other side of the logs could not see this side. Even hearing the screams, they would still climb over with luck in their hearts, because only by climbing over could they see hope of escape.
But once they climbed over the logs, there was only death.
Gradually, fewer soldiers climbed over the logs. After shooting five or six thousand, no more soldiers climbed over. Several hundred Chaisang Army soldiers came forward to clear the corpses and bolts.
At the same time, soldiers on the mountaintop began throwing large amounts of rice straw and wood into the gorge, along with jars of tung oil. Then hundreds of torches were thrown down, and the gorge burst into flames.
Soon thick smoke filled the gorge. Intense fear drove the soldiers to climb the log pile desperately again, but awaiting them was still execution-style shooting.
From the moment their leader Tong Zhi fell for the trick and marched north, their fate was sealed.
Gan Ning led twelve thousand troops ambushed at both ends of Azure Dragon Gorge. From the stone rain to the fierce fire burning to the bolt shooting, Tong Zhi’s army had nowhere to escape. Gan Ning had not considered leaving them any way to live.
The fire in the gorge burned for two full days. No more soldiers climbed the log pile to escape. Soldiers came forward and pulled the logs apart one by one, opening a one-zhang-wide passage.
Inside the passage lay over a thousand corpses, all suffocated to death after violent coughing. They had all wanted to climb out of the log pile but had no strength left, finally dying painfully from inability to breathe.
Several thousand soldiers entered the gorge to clear the field. Any surviving soldiers were given a stab to finish them off.
Xu Sheng found Tong Zhi, also dead from suffocation. His ox-horn golden helmet made him instantly recognizable, but out of caution, Xu Sheng still ordered soldiers to carry the body out for Shopkeeper Liu to identify.
“It’s him!”
Shopkeeper Liu finally felt relieved, no longer worrying about revenge from Tong Zhi.
“He is Tong Zhi. He has no son; both his sons died in Danyang Commandery.”
Gan Ning nodded and immediately ordered: “Burn all the corpses and dig a pit for deep burial!”
