Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1287 The End
Zhou Tai saw that Liu Bei's navy was approaching, but Sun Quan was still angry, so he quickly advised: "Your Majesty, Liu Bei's navy is large in number, we are not sure of victory, the most urgent thing is to retreat quickly!"

Sun Quan looked at Chai Sang and asked, "Retreat?"

"Where to retreat?"

"Does I still have a way to retreat now?"

Zhou Taishi asked tentatively, "What about Zhuge Military Advisor?"

"If we have his help by land, we may be able to fight Liu Bei!"

Sun Quan's mouth was bitter. "He has stopped Liu Bei on the shore and covered my retreat. If you hadn't come to rescue me, I might not have been able to leave Chaisang."

Zhou Tai was shocked. He thought that Chaisang would be a stalemate, but he didn't expect it to turn out like this. If all of Zhuge Jin's land soldiers were wiped out, what could his navy do?
Thinking of this, Zhou Tai said, "Your Majesty, please return to Nanchang first. I will go and defeat Liu Bei's army, bring Zhuge Military Advisor out, and then follow him back to Nanchang!"

"As long as the king is still here, the Wu Kingdom will not perish. Please go first!"

Seeing Liu Bei's navy rushing towards him in the distance, Sun Quan gritted his teeth and hesitated for a moment, and finally made up his mind and said, "Okay, I'll wait for you in Nanchang!"

"No matter who reaches Nanchang, I will fight to the death!"

Sun Quan immediately boarded a large ship and hurriedly headed south under the escort of more than a dozen ships. When Zhou Tai saw Sun Quan going away, he immediately ordered the warships to turn around and rush towards Liu Bei's navy led by Zhou Cang.

Soon, the sound of fighting was heard. Fierce fighting broke out on both sides of the river, which was reflected in the fighting between the two countries' infantry on the shore. The battle was brutal. Both countries could no longer withdraw and could only put all their troops into it.

Back to one day ago, Yuan Xi sent Huang Zhong to cooperate with Gan Ning of Lu Xun to attack Xu Sheng and Zhou Tai. Lu Su and Jiang Qin, who were raiding the battlefield, could not bear to see the Wu soldiers being killed and wounded at a very fast rate. After asking Yuan Xi for permission, they also joined the battle. However, their main purpose was to persuade them to surrender. The two had a high prestige in Jiangdong, and many warships surrendered immediately.

At that time, Xu Sheng and Zhou Tai were in charge of Jiangdong. Seeing that they were outnumbered, news came from the south that Sun Quan was surrounded by Liu Bei in Chaisang. Xu Sheng immediately said to Zhou Tai: "Youping, take your soldiers to Chaisang and rescue the king!"

When Zhou Tai heard this, he said, "What about Wen Xiang?"

"We are already at a disadvantage here, and with the two traitors Lu Su and Jiang Qin, how can you hold on alone?"

Xu Sheng said in a deep voice: "If you stay, you will not be able to stop the Jin army sooner or later. Xiong Hu is personally leading the army, which clearly shows that he intends to destroy the Wu Kingdom!"

"At this time, we must find a way to preserve our strength as much as possible and return to Nanchang to defend it, so that we can have a chance of survival."

"If anything happens to the king in Chaisang, there will be no hope for the Wu Kingdom!"

"I am not talented enough. Even if I survive, I will not be able to turn the tide. But you are an important minister that the king relies on. In the future, assisting the king and reviving the Wu Kingdom will all depend on you!"

"Come on!"

Zhou Tai had no choice but to grit his teeth and said, "After I rescue the queen, I will definitely come back to pick up Wen Xiang. Before that, don't be impulsive. You must save your life and wait for me to come back!"

The two warships were sailing farther and farther away on the river. Zhou Tai bowed to Xu Sheng from afar and said goodbye. In fact, they both knew that Zhou Tai's words just now were just consolation. They were afraid that after today, they would never see each other again.

What Xu Sheng had to do was to delay the pace of the Jin army as much as possible and guard this waterway, so that the Jin army would go to Chaisang and meet up with Liu Bei's army later. Otherwise, the Jin army would take advantage of the situation and block the Chaisang waterway, which would be blocking the waterway from Nanchang to the Yangtze River via Poyang Lake. By then, the armies of Yuan Xi and Liu Bei would go downstream, and Nanchang would no longer be able to defend itself.

In other words, Xu Sheng is now using his life to buy time for Zhou Tai, and he is indeed ready to die at any time.

When Zhou Tai saw Xu Sheng resolutely leading the warships to meet the Jin army's navy, he couldn't help but punch the bow of the ship hard.

Xu Sheng relied on the water fort on the shore and tried his best to hold on for a whole day and night. He rejected Lu Su's offer to surrender. The two ships faced each other from a distance. Xu Sheng shouted, "Zijing, I respected your character before, but now we are on different sides and I won't say much. But it is absolutely impossible for me to surrender!"

"Hurry back and tell Xiong Hu that if he wants to take my head, he should come here in person, and there's no need to ask you guys to act hypocritically!"

Lu Su sighed and said, "Wen Xiang, whether you believe it or not, Gong Yi and I have never done anything to offend the State of Wu. On the contrary, we have tried to mediate peace talks between the two sides several times."

"If Jin and Wu can make peace, the road ahead will surely be much broader than it is now."

Xu Sheng angrily asked: "We are joining forces with the traitors of Jin?"

"Zijing, don't you look at what you are talking about?"

Lu Su said in a deep voice: "Before, Wei State could be said to be following the emperor's orders to the princes. Wu State joined forces with it for a just cause. Whatever we do, we have a legitimate reason."

"But what now?"

"You must know that the State of Wei has begun to force the emperor to abdicate, right?"

"Now the Wei Kingdom is secretly trying to seize the Han Dynasty, and everyone in the world knows it. The Jin Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom of Han received the secret decree from the emperor, but it turned out to be true. Who is the traitor now?"

"Wen Xiang, Wei's perverse actions have turned Wu into a rebellious party!"

"You should also understand that the King of Wu was the first to destroy the previous two ceasefires. He knew that it was impossible to do so, but he still dragged the entire Jiangdong into the war. Do you think this still makes sense?" Xu Sheng shouted, "Why is it meaningless?"

"We have received favors from the third generation of the Sun family's master. You want me to betray the master, but I can't do it!"

Lu Su shook his head and sighed, "I admire Wen Xiang very much, but now Wu is the first to be unjust, and the unjust will surely fail."

Xu Sheng said decisively: "Zijing, don't say anything, I have decided to die for the country of Wu."

Lu Su had no choice but to return and report to Yuan Xi. After hearing this, Yuan Xi said to Lu Xun: "There are also righteous men in Jiangdong."

"It's a pity that Sun Quan didn't know how to cherish it. Now that Wu is doomed, their resistance is meaningless and they will just die in vain."

"In that case, let's launch a full-scale attack."

After hearing this, Lu Xun issued orders to Gan Ning and Huang Zhong, asking them to attack from two directions. At the same time, he ordered his lieutenants Xie Jing, Li Yi and others to land by land and attack the water stronghold to cut off Xu Sheng's retreat. Lu Su and Jiang Qin provided support to prevent the Wu army from raiding the flank.

As the two armies encountered each other, arrows and rocks flew back and forth, warships collided fiercely, boats and ships shuttled through them, and people were constantly injured and fell into the water. The battle was extremely brutal from the beginning.

As for Lu Su and Jiang Qin, they sighed to each other. They stood at the bow and saw Xu Sheng leading the warships to charge left and right in the distance, and they couldn't help feeling sad.

If the Wu Kingdom has lost even its righteous reputation, even if Xu Sheng dies in battle, there will probably be no explanation. This is what happens when you join the wrong lord. All we can say is that it is fate that plays tricks on us.

The battle lasted for a whole day and night. Only one in ten of the hundreds of warships and naval forces under Xu Sheng's command survived. He himself was wounded so many times that he could not even stand. Finally, he asked the guards to tie him to the side of the ship with a rope before he continued to command.

But no matter how strong his fighting will was, he could not stop the Jin army's torpedo crossbow. He watched the warships around him catch fire and sink. When the sky finally brightened, he was left with only more than 20 damaged warships.

Xu Sheng sighed and looked towards Chaisang, thinking that Zhou Tai should have rescued Sun Quan by now?

I have done my best so far, and I will leave the rest to others.

He raised the long sword in his hand and said to his left and right: "Pass my order, the whole army surrender."

"As the commander, I have killed so many people. I am truly incompetent. After I die, you can hand over my head to the State of Jin. This will absolve you of your guilt and will be my compensation to you."

After he finished speaking, he turned the long sword and stabbed it at his own throat. His two subordinates rushed over at the same time, holding Xu Sheng's arm with one hand and grabbing the blade with the other, shouting: "General, we are incompetent, please let us die with you!"

Seeing his subordinates put their long swords on their necks, Xu Sheng's long sword trembled constantly. Finally, he threw the long sword away dejectedly: "Forget it."

"Send a signal and surrender to the Jin army."

After receiving Xu Sheng's request to surrender, Yuan Xi, accompanied by Huang Zhong and others, sailed the boat towards Xu Sheng's warship. Jin soldiers had already boarded the boat and tied Xu Sheng up and brought him over.

Yuan Xi saw that Xu Sheng had more than a dozen wounds on his body that were bleeding continuously, so he said to the doctor, "Treat him first."

Xu Sheng was not afraid and said, "Xionghu, I will not surrender to you. I am willing to sacrifice my own head in exchange for the lives of others!"

His subordinates also knelt down and shouted, "We are willing to sacrifice all our lives in exchange for the general's life!"

Lu Su and Jiang Qin also leaned forward to plead for mercy. After hearing this, Yuan Xi said to Xu Sheng, "I know your loyalty."

"I won't say that you have put your trust in the wrong person. I will let you live a few more days. I will let you see with my own eyes whether the Wu Kingdom you are loyal to is worth it."

Xu Sheng was carried away to treat his wounds. In this battle, the only large-scale navy of the Wu army was completely annihilated. The hundred or so ships that Zhou Tai took away when he left no longer posed any threat to the Jin army.

Everyone looked towards the river. In the surging river, there were countless ship wreckage and corpses floating in the turbid waves. Under the glow of the morning sun, the blood-red river water seemed to be covered with a layer of golden light.

Yuan Xi couldn't help but sigh: "Under the sun, it looks magnificent, but who knows that it is made of the flesh and blood of countless lives?"

"Too many people have died in this world. I hope that in the future, such tragedies will happen less often."

Huang Zhong was about to speak when he suddenly fixed his eyes and pointed to the distance and said, "Those floating over there don't seem to be the flags of the Jin and Wu armies."

Lu Xun ordered his men to take a small boat to salvage the flag and send it over. After identification, everyone found that although the flag had changed color due to being soaked in the river water, it was obviously the flag of the Hannan Kingdom!
Gan Ning said in a deep voice: "This is floating over from upstream. Judging from the direction and time, it should be in the direction of Chaisang in the west!"

"During the previous battle, Zhou Tai left early. He should have gone to Chaisang to help Sun Quan. Then I'm afraid he encountered the Hannan navy and a big battle broke out between the two sides!"

After hearing this, Yuan Xi said, "Rally the army immediately and march to Chaisang. Hannan also has troops there. If we help them capture Chaisang, we can drive the Wu navy into Poyang Lake. From now on, there will be no place for the Wu navy to stand on the Yangtze River!"

The Jin army's navy immediately combined three routes into one and headed upstream at full speed. However, because they were going upstream and the wind was against them, it took a day for them to arrive at Chaisang.

At this time, the battle of Chaisang had already come to an end, and the result was so tragic that even Yuan Xi and others who arrived were shocked.

(End of this chapter)