Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1071 Acting
Tian Yu and Zhuge Liang, who were supposed to be there, have not arrived yet. These few hours are an acceptable error for a sea route of several hundred miles, but it seems a little dangerous at the moment when Jiangdong is attacking desperately.

Although Yuan Xi was anxious, the battlefield was like this, changing rapidly, and you never knew what would happen next. He had encountered many more dangerous things over the years, not to mention that he had made various emergency plans before the war, and the current situation did not exceed the worst-case scenario.

He squinted his eyes and looked at the battlefield, then decisively issued an order to let the soldiers retreat from the boats and set all the warships on fire. Although this move was within the expectations of Jiang Qin, who was holding the line, because Ding Feng charged too fiercely, many of his soldiers were affected.

Seeing Ding Fenghuan's desperate charge, Jiang Qin immediately called him back and said, "You are still young and have many opportunities to make contributions. You should not rush into anything."

Ding Feng listened and lowered his head in silence. Jiang Qin had indeed hit the nail on the head on his head. He was indeed eager to make a contribution, so he took a reckless approach.

At that time, Ding Feng was only 20 years old, and was actually just a minor general under Jiang Qin. However, in this Jiangdong expedition, because of his strong request to be the vanguard, Sun Quan was very happy to hear it, so he temporarily gave Ding Feng the title of a general.

Jiang Qin was the commander, and Ding Feng had no choice but to obey. He looked at the shore unwillingly, and Jiang Qin comforted him, "Don't worry, the enemy has set fire to the ship, and they are at the end of their rope."

"And after fighting for such a long time, no generals have appeared on the other side, which means that Xionghu's generals are either in Youbing or Jianghuai. The King of Wu has indeed seized this opportunity!"

"Once the fire weakens and the smoke clears, we can ram these fire ships and rush to the dock!"

It's not that Jiang Qin doesn't want to land from other places, but the coastal terrain of Weili City is complex, either the terrain is high or there are many reefs. The safest way is naturally the waterway leading to the dock, otherwise Yuan Xi would not have blocked all the ships here.

Now these hundreds of ships were all on fire and burning fiercely. It was a big loss for Yuan Xi. He looked at the flames in the sky and thought that this was a little interest that Jiangdong had collected from the two battles of Chaohu Lake. The other side had destroyed thousands of ships.

The enemy's five or six hundred ships that are still intact are the last remaining manpower in Jiangdong except for Sun Quan's base camp. Whether they can be made to go without return depends on how the situation develops.

In less than half an hour, seeing that the fire was getting smaller, Jiang Qin ordered the warships to ram the ship abandoned by Yuan Xi. Xu Sheng, who was in the central army behind him, also led his troops to repel the Gongsun family fleet and rescued Pan Zhang. Ignoring sporadic harassment from the Gongsun family, the two began to move towards the dock.

Xu Sheng's approach was correct. He keenly realized that the more than one hundred ships of the Gongsun family posed no threat to him. Their intention was to delay the hundreds of ships on his side. Naturally, he would not be fooled. The most urgent task was to get on the dock as soon as possible and kill the fierce tiger. Then the trip would be a success!
However, although Xu Sheng was fast, Pan Zhang was even faster. He ordered his men to pull the sails to the full and sailed quickly towards the shore, and he was actually half a mile faster than Xu Sheng.

When Xu Sheng saw this, he cursed in his heart, "He ran away quickly when it was time to take credit, but when he was humiliated, he had to ask me to save him!"
Xu Sheng had a bad temper to begin with. Sometimes he would not even give face to Jiang Qin, the peacemaker with the best temper, let alone the notorious Pan Zhang. But at this time the war situation was related to the future of the Wu State, and internal strife was absolutely unacceptable, so he could only accept it with a pinch of his nose.

He thought to himself that it’s okay on the battlefield, but when I get back and stand before the King of Wu, I will definitely sue you severely!
Yuan Xi watched the Wu warships crash into the dock one after another and ordered his soldiers to retreat and form a battle formation. The Wu soldiers swarmed off the ships and attacked Yuan Xi while shouting.

Although the Youzhou soldiers under Yuan Xi were well organized, they could not withstand the enemy's large numbers and could only fight and retreat. They were forced to the direction of Weili City. The governor of Baekje County on the top of the city saw this and said to Jia Xu: "This is a good opportunity!"

Jia Xu nodded and said, "Okay, I will lead the army out of the city now."

The gates of Weili City were opened, and Jia Xu led hundreds of Youzhou rebels out in a line. Behind them came nearly two thousand Baekje soldiers who were in the city. In order to defeat Yuan Xi, the governor of Baekje County sent out all the defenders in the city. Naturally, they had to use all their strength to seize this great opportunity and must not let it go!

Jia Xu thought to himself that Yuan Xi had put on a complete show. His acting was too real this time. He almost got killed by his acting. Did he really want to fight him with these hundreds of soldiers?

If I instigate these hundreds of soldiers to rebel, can they force you to death on the beach?
He quickly shook his head to get rid of the thought. If he dared to do so, he would be the first to lose his head.

Because these hundreds of Youzhou soldiers are all Yuan Xi's confidants, and there must be a leader among them, but Jia Xu still doesn't know who it is.

In other words, rather than saying that Jia Xu brought these hundreds of Youzhou soldiers to deceive Baekje, it would be better to say that these hundreds of Youzhou soldiers were monitoring himself. If Jia Xu dared to inform Baekje and betray, these hundreds of people might all die, but Jia Xu would definitely not survive.

Jia Xu led his men to rush towards the dock, feeling worried. How should this play continue?

Ding Feng took the lead and rushed forward, followed closely by Pan Zhang, who was not to be outdone. Both of them saw Yuan Xi's banner. Such enormous wealth and glory were right before their eyes, and neither of them was willing to give it to the other!

Yuan Xi saw that the Jiangdong army had rushed to within a hundred steps, and the Baekje soldiers in the rear army were also approaching. His side was completely suppressed within a range of seven or eight miles. He said to Sun Li beside him: "It's time to light the fire."

Then he smiled and said, "Make sure we are in a good position, so as not to blow ourselves up."

Sun Li pulled out a bamboo tube from the ground in front of him. Inside was a matchlock soaked in grease. He said, "Don't worry, brother. Everything has been confirmed. Watch me!" He gave an order and dozens of soldiers around him lit the matchlocks in the bamboo tubes in front of them.

The tinderbox burned fiercely and spread rapidly into the bamboo tube.

When the tinder is buried in the soil and ignited, it is easily extinguished by the soil. Later, Zhuge Liang came up with the idea of ​​using bamboo tubes to protect it. Yuan Xi believed that this was the most suitable solution for underground ignition, as it not only prevented the tinder from being extinguished by the soil, but also provided sufficient air.

The other side of the matchlock was proposed by Yuan Xi and improved by Zhuge Liang who gathered craftsmen. It is a gunpowder box that can be detonated underground and is called a landmine!
Thousands of Jiangdong soldiers rushed ashore, all holding weapons in their hands and rushing towards Yuan Xi's camp with red eyes. The reward for killing Yuan Xi was so generous that it made them go crazy, just to get rich overnight!
Then the next moment, flames burst out from the crowd without warning.

Fire and smoke rose up to a height of ten feet, accompanied by deafening explosions. The powerful air waves tore through the limbs of the nearest soldiers, blood splattered everywhere, and dyed the fire with an extremely enchanting color.

Explosions sounded one after another, dozens of smoke columns rose up, and hundreds of Jiangdong soldiers were beheaded and their limbs flew everywhere.

These mines were buried by Yuan Xi after he took over the dock. He dug a tunnel at night. They could not be seen from the ground, but the ground underneath had already been hollowed out, filling up with Yuan Xi's reserves over the past few years!

Yuan Xi covered his ears, although he had done experiments before, but this was the first time he saw so many mines exploding at the same time. He couldn't help but be surprised at the power of the mines. This was because the explosion in a confined space could actually increase the power of gunpowder. In addition, he had improved the gunpowder in recent years, and he did not use black powder, but small particles made after drying, which increased the power of the explosion several times.

Otherwise, with the most primitive power of gunpowder, it could only blast the ground a few feet at most, which is far from achieving the current effect.

Things like rockets are used most notably to send signals and start fires. Their real destructive power is actually very limited. This is why Jiang Qin and others tried their best to prevent rockets from igniting their own ships.

In their understanding, as long as they could block the burning of the rocket, Yuan Xi would have no other tricks. However, they had no idea about things like landmines because they were beyond their understanding and it was impossible for humans to foresee unknown things.

This also made Jiangdong pay a heavy price. As navy soldiers, most of them wore leather armor and light armor, or even no armor. Under such explosive power, their bodies were completely unprotected. For a while, the battlefield was littered with mutilated corpses.

Ding Feng was lucky. He was far away and was only knocked to the ground by the gust of air. However, several teeth in his mouth were blown out. He lay on the ground, spitting out a mouthful of blood. Seeing the soldiers rolling and wailing around him, he instantly lost his fighting power and let out an unwilling roar.

Sun Li, who was beside Yuan Xi, stuck out his tongue and said with lingering fear: "Damn, it's really scary. At this time, no martial arts will work."

Then he eagerly drew out his knife and said, "Brother, can I get started now?"

Yuan Xi said calmly: "Wait a little longer. The enemy has been scared and doesn't dare to come up for the time being. Let's deal with the ones behind first."

The change that Jia Xu had been waiting for finally arrived.

He led the Youzhou soldiers to charge at Yuan Xi's rear. When the two sides pretended to prepare for a battle, the Baekje soldiers in the rear, who were relying on the power of others, were attacked by a cavalry that suddenly appeared.

There are not many cavalrymen, only a few hundred of them, but they are the most elite among the Youzhou soldiers. Precisely because of their small number, they have been lurking for half a month without being discovered. Now is the time to kill the enemy!
The leading general was wearing a white robe and a silver helmet, holding a steel spear in his hand. On the flag behind him was a big word "Zhao" written on it. It was Zhao Yun, who had not appeared in Youzhou for two years and was almost forgotten!

He had been holding it in for many days, watching the Youzhou soldiers die in battle at the dock, but he had no choice but to endure it for the sake of the overall situation. Now, seeing the Baekje soldiers from Weili City coming out to take advantage, he was already furious, and led his cavalry and rushed directly into the Baekje soldiers' formation like a tiger into a flock of sheep.

The Baekje soldiers were caught off guard. Before they could even turn around, they had no power to fight back against the fully armed Youzhou cavalry. Countless of them were stabbed to death by spears or hit by horses. Their situation was so tragic that it was even worse than that of the Jiangdong Army which had just been bombed by a landmine.

The Youzhou cavalry only fought a few battles, and most of the more than a thousand Baekje soldiers were killed or wounded. Their archery skills, which they were proud of, were useless in this melee, and the situation instantly turned into a one-sided massacre.

Jia Xu pretended to resist while retreating towards Weili City. At the same time, he shouted to the county governor on the top of the city: "The situation is not good. I will stop the enemy. You leave quickly!"

The governor of Baekje County was standing on the top of the city wall, watching his own soldiers being killed like pigs. He knew the city could not be defended and was so frightened that his hands and feet were cold. Now when he heard Jia Xu's call, he couldn't help but feel touched. Mr. Wenhe is such a good man!

(End of this chapter)