Weird Three Kingdoms

Chapter 3625: How can the golden cicada shed its shell? The Yunmeng night boat burned in vain

Gan Ning's unexpected change of strategy caught Yu Jin off guard.

Yu Jin thought that no matter what, nothing would happen until dawn, but he didn't expect that something unexpected would happen in the middle of the night.

Cao's army rushed into the transport ships left on the shore and soon discovered that the ships were empty. They then quickly reported it to Yu Jin.

Yu Jin now faces two choices. One is to chase and kill those "escaped" Gan Ning navy warship squadrons upstream, or to intercept and kill those baggage carts transporting goods on foot downstream.

Yu Jin even began to doubt whether the Sichuan-Shu army had figured out this tactic from the beginning, so that if they were blocked by him, they would escape in the middle of the night?
Chase that way?
They must be chasing the baggage carts on the shore.

On the one hand, going upstream to pursue the warship detachment of the Sichuan-Shu navy was equivalent to giving the chrysanthemum dew to the Jiangling Water Fort. There was no guarantee that they would be attacked from both upstream and downstream at any time, which was too risky. On the other hand, the purpose of his leading the troops to intercept the Sichuan-Shu navy fleet was to intercept and burn the food and grass, not to destroy those warships.

"Turn around! Chase downstream!"

After figuring out the problem, Yu Jin immediately gave orders.

"General! What should we do with these ships?"

The soldier asked.

"Pour oil on it! Burn it!"

Yu Jin hesitated for a moment and then made a decision immediately.

If he wanted to take them away, he would have to spend time towing these ships out, and he would have to assign extra manpower to these transport ships before he could start them up. Going back and forth would not only take time, but would also require manpower, so it would not be very interesting. Moreover, these ships were just ordinary large fishing boats converted into transport ships. If he won, they could be considered warships, but they were not much better. So he simply burned them. Anyway, he could not leave them to the Sichuan Army.

Flames quickly rose up, and Yu Jin led his soldiers to search downstream along the river bank, and soon found traces of Gan Ning and other transport teams.

In the dark night, even with the stars and the moon to illuminate, torches are still needed for lighting, and these torches are as obvious in the dark as fireflies on a pile of coal.

Gan Ning was leading the soldiers and saw Yu Jin chasing them. He did not panic, but chose a nearby slope and had the soldiers push and pull the baggage carts onto the slope.

When Yu Jin saw this, he was stunned for a moment, and then he couldn't help but sneer.

Seeing him catching up with you, why didn’t you run away?
Do you really think that Yu Jin is a piece of mud?
Or are we waiting for Jiangling Water Fort to come to our rescue?

Yu Jin looked in the direction of Jiangling Water Fort on the boat, then turned around to look at the red sky in the distance. He felt vaguely regretful, but he didn't know what he regretted. After all, the soldiers and baggage carts in front of him were his current focus.

Yu Jin sent a part of his men to the downstream to intercept the possible troops from Jiangling Water Fort, and then he personally led his men to the shore in a menacing manner, formed a battle line, and charged towards Gan Ning.

Yu Jin felt that these grain transporting soldiers from Sichuan were just putting up a desperate resistance. He only needed to lead his soldiers to attack once or twice to completely defeat them.

……

……

Yunmengze has a complex terrain and abundant aquatic plants, especially in summer. The densely growing aquatic plants are just like mold in the rainy season, and a large area can appear in just one day.

Under such circumstances, it would be a very easy task for a small unit, especially one that is familiar with the terrain, to hide in this aquatic swamp.

Even though there were Cao's troops patrolling the main passages, they failed to discover Cai's private soldiers hiding in the water and grass.

Yunmengze is so big that if it is a large group of thousands of people, there will definitely be a lot of noise, but a small group of dozens or hundreds of people will be difficult to investigate.

After sending the news of their arrival to Jiangling Water Fort, Cai's private soldiers were waiting nervously.

Gan Ning's men told them to wait for a signal, but they didn't specify what the signal was...

Cai Zhong looked at the reeds swaying in the night wind, and his mind drifted back to the moment when Cao Cao led his army to approach Jingzhou.

At that time, all the people in the Cai family who had a say gathered in Cai Zhou. They sat in the Cai family ancestral hall and argued until late at night. They listened to the sound of the night watchman's clappers coming through the three walls, which sounded like the sound of a chisel knocking on a skull, empty and ringing.

"The Cai bloodline..."

Cai Zhong sighed softly, and the sound dissipated in the night wind.

The way Cai bowed down before Liu Bian at the foot of Xiangyang City was actually no different from the way Cai Mao bowed down before Cao Cao's desk in Cao's army tent.

The night wind carried moisture and penetrated into Cai Zhong's armor, as if the armor they were wearing was made of paper, just like Cai's promise.

Cai patted his chest in front of Liu Biao and also patted his chest in front of Cao Cao.

His pectoralis major muscles were swollen, but it couldn't hide the bloodstains left on the bluestone slabs from his kneeling.

Cai Zhong reached out and groped for the sword at his waist.

On the ring of the sword, a small jade ornament was tied with a red rope.

The coolness of the jade penetrated into Cai Zhong's fingertips, as if it was going to penetrate into his bones.

This jade Zhongweng was not of much value and the quality of the jade was not very good, so Cai Zhong just casually tied it to the ring on the handle of his sword.

At this moment, he suddenly remembered that this Yu Zhongweng seemed to be given to him by Liu Cong...

Liu Cong, whose name contains the character "Cong", likes to collect jade articles and also likes to give them to others as rewards.

A gentleman is like jade.

what.

A gentleman is like jade...

When he was eighteen years old, Cai Zhong followed his father to war and saw with his own eyes those "gentlemen" cutting out the flesh of the captives to make meat soup.

During the banquet that day, Cai Zhong's father whispered to him on his way home, "Don't look at those guys who claim to be gentlemen, they are actually worse than beasts!"

Cai Zhong couldn't help but sneer when he thought of this. These people always like to sing some loyal and righteous words, but they don't know that when Yuan Gonglu was trapped in Shouchun, the first person to exchange his son for food was the Confucian scholar who was full of etiquette.

And what about Cai?
Cai Zhong looked at the reeds crisscrossing in front of him, and felt that the reeds before him were like the archway erected on Caizhou.

The archway that was built of wood and stone, carved and painted with gold.

On the day of the memorial archway's inauguration ceremony, the Cai clan elders slammed the table in the ancestral hall, beaming with joy, "As long as the Cai clan memorial archway is erected, the Cai clan will protect Caizhou!"

But if even the ancestral graves are trampled flat by iron hooves, what is the use of this archway?
In order to maintain the reputation on the surface, we have to hold on to the reputation in our hearts, and we would rather lose it if possible.

What loyalty, filial piety, chastity and righteousness are but the foam on the Han River.

When Liu Bei entered Jingzhou alone, didn't he step on the backs of the Kuai and Cai families to enter the city?
When Cao Cao entered Jingzhou, didn't he step on the heads of the Liu family?
And now that the Cavalry have arrived, the only troops left that can be used as a token of surrender are Cao's troops, right?
His father's voice seemed to linger in his ears in the night wind: "Only the reeds that survive the winter will produce new ears next year."

The reeds in Caizhou grow one crop after another.

Even though the Han Dynasty lasted for a hundred years, the rulers of Jingzhou changed one after another.

A mocking smile appeared on Cai Zhong's face.

Just as Cai's thoughts were turning, suddenly a bright red color lit up the sky.

"That's the big river over there..."

A member of the Cai clan said.

"Is this the signal?"

Another person said.

Cai Zhong listened but didn't answer.

He felt his heart beating a little faster.

He raised his hand and signaled to the Cai family's private soldiers around him.

Cao Cao is no longer capable.

Cai needs a letter of surrender. Without a letter of surrender, who would trust Cai for no reason?
When it comes to frontal combat, Cai is still a little lacking, but if it comes to making some small moves, Cai can still do it.

"Get started!"

Cai Zhong gave the order.

……

……

The sudden sound of war drums and shouts was like thunder, instantly breaking the silence around Cao Jun's Yu Jin camp.

Strictly speaking, the Cai family was the local tyrant in Jingzhou, while the Cao army led by Yu Jin and others were inferior. Even though they had sentries and patrols, there were still loopholes.

The sound made by Cai's private soldiers was like the sudden arrival of thousands of troops, sweeping towards Yu Jin's camp.

Alarms sounded in Cao's camp. Soldiers hurriedly climbed up the sentry tower on the wall and fired in the direction where the sound came from.

In the darkness, no one knows how many troops are attacking, so shooting is the safest way to deal with it.

However, the purpose of Cai's private soldiers this time was not to directly attack Yu Jin's military camp. After all, Cai's private soldiers were private soldiers, and there was still some gap if they really wanted to fight against Cao's regular soldiers.

Even if it was a sudden attack, as long as they failed to break through the camp in one go and gave the Cao army some time to react, the Cao army soldiers would surely be able to stabilize their position and then turn the situation around. Moreover, the number of Cai's private soldiers was not large, and even if a few of them were good at martial arts and could fight against the elite Cao army, they could not decide the outcome of the battle.

Therefore, the main purpose of Cai's private soldiers' attack on Yu Jin's camp, in addition to disturbance and obstruction, was to burn the ships.

Humans are land creatures, so even if there are ships, humans still like to live on land. This is human instinct.

Therefore, in Yu Jin's camp in Yunmengze, most of the soldiers were in the camp on land, while only a few soldiers stayed on the ships to stand guard.

When there was a whistling sound in the camp on land, attracting the attention of most of Cao's soldiers, Cai Zhong, with some good men, sneaked to the place where Yu Jin's camp stored the boats under the cover of the noisy and chaotic sound waves.

Cai's private soldiers either climbed up the side of the boat, or went ashore to fight their way in, while others drilled boats from the bottom of the water and attacked the large and small ships of Cao's army docked on the shore.

Although Cao's soldiers were training in Xincheng to form a navy, most of them came from Jiangbei. Unlike the fishermen in Jiangdong who made boats their homes, not many people were willing to sleep on a shaky boat, so there were almost no people on the boats, and their attention was attracted by the noise on land. By the time they discovered that Cai's private soldiers were mainly targeting the boats, it was already too late.

Cai's private soldiers were basically all from Jingxiang, and most of them were good at swimming, especially in terms of ship structure. So even though they were stepping on a swaying ship, they felt as if they were walking on flat ground. They were also very good at destroying any part of the ship, and they didn't even need special instructions. They would just enter the cabin and start smashing things with axes.

They specifically choose to destroy the bonding points or the core keel. After a few blows with the axe, water often starts to seep into the cabin.

By the time the Cao army soldiers on land came to their senses and began to line up to rescue the ships, Cai Zhong had already jumped into the water with his men and escaped under the cover of darkness.

On the one hand, Cao's army was worried that there might be other attackers in the dark, and on the other hand, they were anxious to save the leaking ships. They had no intention of chasing and killing Cai Zhong and others. They could only watch Cai's private soldiers drift away after paying a very small price.

……

……

Gan Ning was stationed on a slope. When he saw Yu Jin and his soldiers coming in a menacing formation, he did not panic but ordered some baggage carts to be pushed to the front of the formation.

When Yu Jin saw Gan Ning and others responding in this way, he thought it was just the old trick of using baggage carts to form a formation, but Yu Jin soon discovered that it was not that simple.

The wooden board on the side of the baggage cart facing Cao's army was lifted up, revealing arrows flashing with cold light inside.

This is a crossbow cart.

This giant war beast made of wood and iron was so powerful that no one dared to underestimate it, even though it was squatting in a baggage cart and making no roaring sound.

The composite crossbow arm, as thick as a human arm, is made of mulberry wood and ox tendon as the string, and it emits a heart-pounding buzzing sound when it is stretched tight.

The quiver was hung upside down at the back of the crossbow like a honeycomb, with the three-foot iron-backed crossbow arrows arranged neatly.

When the four soldiers started to turn the capstan together, the mechanism made a rhythmic sound of metal clashing.

The crossbow string slid into the slot one by one like a giant python shedding its skin. Each deafening roar was accompanied by several crossbow arrows breaking through the air.

Amid the whistling sound of crossbow arrows tearing through the air, the Cao army formation that had finally rushed within a hundred steps suddenly burst into eerie blood flowers.

Where the rain of arrows covered, the leather armor shattered like paper, and even the shield covered with iron sheets could not withstand the bombardment of several crossbow arrows. It then broke, pierced, and brought up a scarlet cloud of dust and blood mist.

"Swish, swish, swish!" 』

Crossbow arrows flew everywhere.

Blood and flesh were flying everywhere.

Cao's army also had crossbows, but compared with the crossbow chariots, they were like children's toys.

Yu Jin originally thought that they had an advantage in long-range attacks. After all, compared to bows and crossbows on land, Cao's army on the warships could carry large and powerful crossbows, and the number of crossbow arrows was more abundant. So Yu Jin felt that even if they fought against Gan Ning's soldiers, they could still win in the end. But he never expected that Gan Ning actually hid a crossbow cart in the baggage cart!
Although machines may be damaged, before they are damaged, the power of machines is obviously much better than human power.

When manpower is limited.

Machines can exert their power to the limit before they are damaged.

Taking into account that Gan Ning and others might carry bows and crossbows, Yu Jin deployed sword and shield soldiers on the front line.

Originally, Yu Jin wanted to use sword and shield soldiers to advance under the earth slope to minimize the damage caused by Gan Ning's bows and crossbows, and then send archers to suppress him in advance, or even use rockets to ignite Gan Ning's baggage carts in depth, so that Gan Ning would be at a loss and eventually be strangled in one fell swoop.

The idea was certainly not wrong, but when they encountered Gan Ning's crossbow carts, these Cao army's sword and shield soldiers were in trouble.

The crossbow arrows hit the shields like a violent storm, making a constant clanging sound, like a death elegy.

If it were ordinary crossbow arrows, these sword and shield soldiers only needed to stand up their shields and overlap them to form a shield wall, which would basically block the damage. Then they could wait for a gap in the opponent's attack and advance again.

But now Cao's soldiers are facing crossbow chariots!
Even if the shield can withstand continuous crossbow bombardment without breaking, the person standing behind the shield may not be able to hold on!

Every time a crossbow arrow hit the shield, it was like a heavy hammer hitting the surface of the shield, forcing the sword and shield fighters to use both hands to stabilize the surface of the shield. Even if the Cao army soldiers tried their best, the shield wall was lifted up by the continuous crossbow arrows.

The sword and shield formation of Cao's army could not stand, which naturally affected the following spearmen and archers. Following Gan Ning's order, the Sichuan soldiers on the slope followed Gan Ning and rushed forward, rushing towards the Cao's army formation!

Gan Ning dragged his sword and rushed to the front.

When he saw that the swords of Cao's soldiers were almost reaching his head, he suddenly swung the sword in his hand, and the back of the sword directly knocked the sword of the Cao soldier on the opposite side away. Then he used his strength to accelerate and chopped down, passing across the neck of the Cao soldier like lightning!

"kill! 』

With Gan Ning's loud shout, the heads of Cao's soldiers flew high into the sky.

Gan Ning held the sword with both hands, and with great force, he chopped left and right, and chopped up and down vertically, instantly knocking down several people and killing a hole in the formation of Cao's soldiers.

"kill! 』

Gan Ning's men then charged forward, holding their spears in both hands, and stepped forward, thrusting their spears into Cao Jun's chests!

More of Gan Ning's soldiers rushed out and rushed towards Cao's army. They were equipped with excellent weapons and armor of the cavalry standard, which were better than the weapons and armor commonly used by Cao's army. Then, with Gan Ning charging in the front, Cao's army was quickly destroyed.

The remaining Cao army soldiers who were lucky enough to survive threw away their weapons and armor and crawled away crying for their parents, completely losing their previous arrogance.

Gan Ning was not that vicious, otherwise he would have soaked the crossbow arrows in some gold juice before firing, and the person hit by the arrow would have the wound festering, and even if it was a minor injury, the person would not live long.

Yu Jin was immediately horrified and quickly sounded the horn to call back the soldiers who had gone ashore, leaving the corpses on the ground. He stared at Gan Ning's position on the slope with suspicion and dared not send any more people to rush up.

Gan Ning did not intend to oppose Yu Jin. Seeing that Yu Jin was not sending anyone, he ordered the crossbow carts to be taken away and continued to move forward.

This time, Yu Jin was caught.

Let’s fight. Those crossbow carts are no joke. No matter who gets on them, they will be useless.

But if we don’t fight, all our previous efforts will become a joke.

Did Yu Jin work so hard to lead his troops out in the middle of the night just to give Gan Ning a head?

Although several transport ships were burned, everyone knew that they were just large fishing boats. How could that be considered a great achievement?
But now, what should I do?