The Rebellious Officials and Traitors of the Late Han Dynasty

Chapter 485 Zhou Yu's Elegy
On the top of Jiangxia City, war drums were beating loudly.

Zhou Yu leaned against the city wall, looking at the dark mass of Wei Yan's army outside the city, frowning. His left shoulder was still aching, it was the injury from Chen Dao's cold arrow yesterday. The arrow penetrated the armor and went three inches into the flesh. The military doctor said that if it was an inch off, it would have injured the heart.

"Commander-in-chief, you should go back and rest." Zhou Tai came over with a long sword in hand, his armor stained with blood, "I'll guard here."

Zhou Yu shook his head, his eyes still fixed on the city. Wei Yan's cavalry was gathering, the horses were neighing, the swords were flashing like a forest. He could see Wei Yan's black flag fluttering in the wind, like a beast choosing its prey.

"Report!" A scout rushed up to the city, "Wei Yan's army is preparing ladders, it looks like they are going to storm!"

Zhou Yu took a deep breath and put his right hand on the hilt of the sword. Jiangxia City is the gateway to Jiangdong and must not be lost, especially now. Once Wei Yan occupies Jiangxia, the army will quickly attack Wujun and deal a fatal blow to Cao Cao.

He turned to Zhou Tai and said, "Pass the order down, archers are ready, logs and rocks are ready. Also, let the people in the city retreat to the inner city."

"Yes!" Zhou Tai took the order and left.

Zhou Yu looked at the Yangtze River in the distance, the water was surging and the waves were rolling. He recalled the scene of the Battle of Chibi, when he and Zhuge Liang joined forces to burn Qin Shou's hundreds of thousands of troops, but unexpectedly, the fire attack plan failed, and now it was even worse.

"Be careful, Governor!" a cry of surprise was heard.

Zhou Yu suddenly came to his senses and saw an arrow flying through the air. He instinctively turned sideways, and the arrow grazed his cheek, leaving a bloody mark. Under the city, Chen Dao was putting away his longbow and looking at him coldly.

"Shoot!" Zhou Yu shouted.

Thousands of arrows were fired from the top of the city wall, and Wei Yan's army fell down immediately. But soon, more enemy troops rushed up, ladders were placed on the city wall, and the shouts of killing were deafening.

The battle lasted a whole day. When the sun set, Wei Yan's army finally retreated. Zhou Yu stood on the top of the city wall, looking at the corpses scattered all over the ground, with mixed feelings in his heart. He touched the wound on his left shoulder, and the blood had soaked through the bandage.

When I returned to the mansion, the moon was already high above the willow trees.

Cao Jie was waiting for him in the courtyard. The moonlight shone on her white clothes, as if she was covered with a layer of silver gauze. She held a cup of tea in her hand, and the fragrance of tea wafted in the air.

"Gongjin." She called softly, "Does the wound still hurt?"

Zhou Yu shook his head and sat down opposite her.

But Cao Jie still saw blood oozing out of the wound on his shoulder, and he suddenly felt worried.

After Guo Jia's death, everything in the city was piled on Zhou Yu. The once handsome and elegant Zhou Yu no longer looked elegant at all.

"Jie'er," he suddenly said, "if one day I die on the battlefield"

"Don't say such things." Cao Jie covered his mouth. "You won't die. I want to see you fulfill your father's wish to pacify the world, and to see you lead the children of Jiangdong to create a peaceful and prosperous era."

Zhou Yu held her hand, feeling the warmth of her palm. The night breeze blew, bringing with it the scent of flowers. He suddenly remembered that the crabapple tree in the mansion had bloomed.

"I'm afraid we don't have this opportunity. In the past two days, Wei Yan's attacks have become more and more fierce, completely different from before. The decisive battle is about to come." Zhou Yu said in a low voice.

He even guessed that the situation in Jiangdong had changed significantly. The only reason Wei Yan launched a general attack at this time was that he wanted to gain more credit. He wanted to resolve Jiangxia as soon as possible and then join the decisive battle to attack Wujun. "General, the enemy has shot a surrender document into the city."

At this time, a personal soldier came running over and handed over a surrender document. Zhou Yu took it and found that it not only described the treatment after surrender, but also the situation in Jiangdong.

Moling was lost, Wujun was besieged, Jiangxia had now become an isolated island, and Cao Cao no longer had any territory in the entire Jiangdong region. This immediately gave Zhou Yu a bad feeling.

"Oh no, Jiang Xia is in danger!"

Zhou Yu's face suddenly changed when he read the document of surrender. He was very clear about the current situation in the city. Jiangxia City had been besieged for such a long time that the food and grass in the city had long been exhausted, which had long caused dissatisfaction among those wealthy and powerful families.

The Huang family, the Fei family, the Li family, the Chen family and so on, these wealthy and powerful families are not so easy to deal with. Zhou Yu dared to conclude that by now, those aristocratic families might have already united.

Although the Cavalry Corps' attitude towards these aristocratic families was not very friendly, at a time of life and death, friendliness or unfriendliness was secondary. The first priority was to save their own lives.

The simplest and most effective way is to conquer yourself, give up Jiangxia City, and thus preserve your wealth.

They didn't dare to do so before when Cao Cao was in charge. But now that Guo Jia is dead, there are only himself and Zhou Tai in the city. The morale of the army is low, and many of the soldiers guarding the city on the city wall are their private soldiers.

"Commander-in-chief, the situation is not good." Zhou Tai rushed over with a serious face, "The Huang, Fei, Li and other families in the city have begun to secretly connect with each other. I'm afraid they..."

Zhou Yu raised his hand to interrupt him, his eyes burning: "I know. They have been unable to hold back for a long time. Now that the situation in Jiangdong is hopeless, they will definitely choose to surrender the city in order to protect themselves."

"Then what should we do?" Zhou Tai clenched his sword tightly, a hint of ruthlessness flashed in his eyes, "Should we take the initiative and kill those aristocratic families..."

When Zhou Tai was defending the city, he also found that something was wrong.

Zhou Yu shook his head and said in a deep voice, "No. The situation in the city is complicated. Any rash action will only lead to greater chaos. Moreover, their private soldiers are all over the city. Once there is civil unrest, Wei Yan will take the opportunity to attack the city, and Jiangxia City will fall in an instant."

"Are we just going to sit here and wait for death?" Zhou Tai asked unwillingly.

Zhou Yu was silent for a moment, his eyes cast towards the city wall in the distance. It was dark at night, the lights in Wei Yan's camp outside the city were bright, and the sound of war drums could be heard faintly, as if urging the fall of Jiangxia City. He took a deep breath and said slowly: "Pass the order down, the whole army is on alert, strictly prevent civil strife. In addition, send people to secretly monitor the movements of those aristocratic families, and report immediately if there is any unusual movement."

"Yes!" Zhou Tai took the order and left.

Zhou Yu turned and walked into the study, followed by Cao Jie. She looked at Zhou Yu's tired back, and felt a pang of pain in her heart. She knew that Jiangxia City was already in danger, and the burden on Zhou Yu's shoulders had already made him breathless.

"Gongjin, can we... still hold on to Jiangxia?" Cao Jie asked softly, with a hint of trembling in his voice.

Zhou Yu held the other's hand and sighed, "When I was resting recently, I felt that life is difficult, like a long river flowing eastward. Although it has the ambition to flow into the sea, its journey is slow and full of ups and downs. However, rivers can eventually flow into the sea, but life's ambitions are often difficult to achieve, which makes people regret for life."

Cao Ji understood what the other party meant. It was clear that he had no hope for the current situation, and a trace of despair suddenly appeared on his pretty face.

Even Zhou Yu has no confidence, so Jiangxia City will definitely not be able to be defended.

(End of this chapter)