Jinting Han people

The Han army defending Lady Sun's city was under the command of General Huan Yi, who found Zhou Qi's offensive quite unbelievable.

He had actually taken precautions against the Jin army's use of tunnels for their attack. After all, the Han army itself had used earthen tunnels to breach Yi'an City, so naturally they would have taken corresponding precautions. Since being ordered to garrison the city, he had buried two large urns in the city and sent soldiers to listen in day and night, but to his surprise, he had not detected Zhou Qi's movements.

The reason is simple: Zhou Qi was patient. First, he placed the tunnel entrance behind the earthen mound, making it undetectable from the outside. Second, he took a gamble and dug only one small tunnel, large enough to accommodate only a few dozen men for a surprise attack. Third, he only dug during the daytime fighting with Zhan, while simultaneously deliberately beating drums and gongs to intimidate the Han army and slowing down the digging pace. All of these measures successfully concealed the tunnel's progress. The tunnel wasn't completed until the morning of the tenth day, and then, just as the Jin army was about to rotate, they launched a surprise attack.

Zhou Chu was once a powerful figure in his hometown, renowned for his martial arts skills, considered the best in the Wu region. He passed down his martial arts to his family, and his descendants were all top-tier sword masters. When Zhou Qi quelled the rebellion of Shi Bing, Shi Bing sent his fierce general Qiang Du to resist Zhou Qi. However, Zhou Qi killed Qiang Du on the spot with thirteen sword strikes, causing Shi Bing's army to collapse in disarray. His son, Zhou Xie, was no less capable than his father, and few among his peers in Wu could rival him. At this moment, Zhou Xie led several dozen retainers in a surprise attack from a tunnel. Although outnumbered, the night patrols were few in number and unprepared. Within two quarters of an hour, he had killed over a dozen men and easily captured the east gate.

A single tunnel was not enough to capture a city. The most important factor was that Zhou Qi used the earthen mound as cover to conceal the movement of the main force, so that the Han army was completely unaware that most of his troops had already reached the city gates, which made the situation uncontrollable.

Huan Yi had just rested when he received the news that the east gate had already fallen and the situation was extremely precarious. Shocked, he quickly threw on his clothes and went out to see what was happening, immediately realizing that defending the city was no longer an option. Fortunately, he acted quickly and immediately issued two orders: one was to send his personal guards to defend the north gate to ensure the Han army's retreat; the other was for him to personally go to the east to stabilize the situation and buy time for the Han army's withdrawal.

Around this time, Zhou Qi had already stormed into the camp. His army, having rested for several days, was now at its peak of morale, and in close combat, they were virtually invincible. With the arrival of Huan Yi, Zhou Qi saw that the morale of the Han army had slightly improved, and he immediately knew that an important figure had arrived. So he ordered his brother Zhou Zha to launch a flanking attack from the rear. Huan Yi's army was immediately overwhelmed, and even Huan Yi himself was wounded by a sword and, while unconscious, was rescued from Lady City by his men.

By the time Li Ju led his troops to the rescue, Lady Sun's city had already fallen. Li Ju had only managed to gather a little over two thousand defeated soldiers, while nearly half of the five thousand defenders in the city had perished. Li Ju had no choice but to abandon his plan to recapture Lady Sun's city and instead organize a defense on the spot to prevent the palisades from being affected as well. Zhou Qi also had no intention of pursuing further. After capturing the city, he decided to withdraw while he was ahead and quickly turned back to take over Lady Sun's city to prevent a possible counterattack by the Han army.

When Liu Xian emerged from the city, observing Zhou Qi's army formation and listening to the details of their capture, he couldn't help but show a grave expression. At this moment, Huan Yi, having just recovered from his severe injuries, took the initiative to apologize to Liu Xian, saying, "Your Highness, you instructed me beforehand to be wary of Zhou Qi's forces, but I was incompetent and failed to notice them. Please punish me for my dereliction of duty."

Huan Yi had been stabbed in the abdomen; had the medical staff not sutured him quickly, his intestines would have spilled out. Seeing that he wanted to get up, Liu Xian quickly made him lie down, blaming himself, "Maolun, this isn't your fault. I did think Zhou Qi would attack from a different direction, but I didn't expect it to be like this. He even fooled me!"

Liu Xian's vigilance against Zhou Qi was indeed insufficient. Zhou Qi's other tactics were secondary; Liu Xian's main concern was that Zhou Qi was not the kind of person who would wholeheartedly serve the Jin dynasty. If the Jin army was doing well, he might offer assistance, but if the Jin army was making progress, he would certainly not provide help in their time of need. Therefore, when rumors of discord among Zhou Qi's generals circulated, Liu Xian believed them. However, he did not expect that under these circumstances, Zhou Qi would launch an offensive and subsequently rewrite the entire battle situation.

By this time, dawn was breaking. Zhou Qi's offensive caught not only the Han army off guard, but also the rest of the Jin army completely unprepared. Seeing the Han army proactively approach the palisade and form ranks, the nearby Jin camps were in turmoil. They hurriedly formed ranks while exchanging information, trying to find out what had happened. Upon learning that Zhou Qi's forces had captured Lady City, the Jin soldiers were astonished, then cheered loudly, chanting Zhou Qi's name in unison. After all, they had been attacking for over ten days, suffering heavy losses and achieving nothing. This was finally their first breakthrough, and every soldier in the army was excited.

However, at the same time, Wang Kuang, the commander-in-chief, felt differently. Faced with Zhou Qi's success, he did not feel happy or joyful; instead, he felt annoyed, almost as if he had been fooled.

Any intelligent person, or rather, anyone who considers themselves intelligent, detests nothing more than someone trying to show off their intelligence in front of them, because it undoubtedly implies contempt. If the attempt to show off fails, that's one thing, but if it succeeds, doesn't it force them to admit that they are indeed more foolish than the other person?
Throughout history, such examples are numerous. To name a few recent ones, there are Yuan Shao and Tian Feng, Cao Cao and Yang Xiu, Sun Quan and Shen You; and many more from further back. Even Lao Tzu specifically advised Confucius on this matter, saying: "Those who are clever and insightful but close to death are those who love to criticize others. Those who are eloquent and knowledgeable but endanger themselves are those who expose the faults of others." This means that those who are clever and insightful are close to death because they like to discuss others, and those who are skilled in debate and knowledgeable are easily in danger because they like to expose the shortcomings of others.

Zhou Qi is now undoubtedly in such a situation. Wang Kuang put on a forced smile and said to Wang Dao beside him in a pretentious manner, "This Zhou Xuanpei, since he has such a brilliant plan, why does he have to show off like this? Just say it directly, do you think I would refuse?"

Then an order was issued to commend Zhou Qi, saying: "The military advisor has won the first battle, which is of great merit. He can be called a role model for the three armies and a pillar of the country. Even Yu Jin and Xu Huang are not worthy of praise."

This commendation actually left a caveat. Yu Jin and Xu Huang were both indeed among the Five Elite Generals, distinguished for their merits. However, Yu Jin, due to the defeat at Xiangfan, surrendered to Guan Yu, thus tarnishing his reputation in his later years. Xu Huang, on the other hand, had joined the rebels in his early years and only surrendered to Cao Cao when Cao Cao welcomed the emperor. Therefore, from another perspective, Wang Kuang was actually secretly cursing Zhou Qi for his past betrayal and disloyalty to the court, predicting that he too would suffer a similar fate in his later years.

Wang Dao, standing nearby, was well aware of Wang Kuang's thoughts. However, he was also somewhat helpless. Zhou Qi's actions were indeed very undignified; warfare requires unity of purpose from top to bottom. He wasn't the commander-in-chief, yet he acted so arbitrarily. If things went wrong, who would be held responsible? If they succeeded, no one would say anything, but if they failed, wouldn't he just be another Ma Su who ruined the overall situation?

From this perspective, Zhou Qi's actions had nothing to do with disobeying orders; rather, they were an attempt to seize the commander's authority. This caused not only Wang Kuang to be dissatisfied with Zhou Qi, but also Wang Cheng, Wang Dun, and others to harbor some resentment towards him, while Wang Dao could not say much.

As a result, not long after the two armies withdrew, Wang Cheng immediately suggested to Wang Kuang: "Since Military Advisor Zhou is so wise and resourceful, Marshal, I think the military situation in Xiangnan is even more urgent. Why not send him south to Guangzhou as the governor to replace Wang Ji in handling military affairs? This would probably allow him to make better use of his strengths and serve the country."

This was essentially a blatant promotion in name only, a demotion in reality. On the current battlefield in Jingzhou, the only place without a numerical advantage was Xiangnan. Du Tao had a large force while Wang Ji had a small one, and Wang Ji was repeatedly sending urgent messages. Sending Zhou Qi away from Yi'an to Xiangnan was a deliberate attempt to put him in charge of a more difficult situation. If he couldn't handle it, he would be punished; if he succeeded, the country would benefit.

But everyone was eager for Zhou Qi to leave, so they all agreed, saying, "Indeed, indeed."

Seeing that everyone was in agreement, Wang Kuang suppressed his joy, pretended to think for a while, and sighed, "Alas, such talent is hard to come by. If it weren't for the urgent situation in Hunan, I wouldn't have been willing to let him go!" "The overall situation is the most important! The overall situation is the most important!" everyone said in unison again.

And so the matter was settled. When the news reached Zhou Qi, Gu Rong and the others were initially stunned and bewildered, then flew into a rage: This was outrageous! How could they make things so difficult for everyone?! Gu Rong immediately wanted to go to the commander's tent to demand justice from Wang Kuang. Unexpectedly, Zhou Qi casually grabbed him and said, "Yanxian, don't be foolish! If you go and contradict Wang Kuang, aren't you afraid he'll make an example of you?"

Gu Rong retorted angrily, "What are you afraid of? What time is it? Stop showing off your power plays! The Wang family thinks they can outmaneuver Liu Xian with this? What were they doing in Luoyang back then? With you leaving, is this battle doomed to defeat?!"

To everyone's surprise, Zhou Qi smiled, dismissed the people around him, and whispered to Gu Rong, "Yanxian, don't be in such a hurry. Do you really think that my presence here will benefit us?"

Upon hearing this, Gu Rong was taken aback, and the resentment in his heart instantly dissipated. He stared into Zhou Qi's deep eyes and found them unfathomable. He asked, "Xuan Pei, what do you mean?"

Zhou Qi said slowly, “Yanxian, the Jin dynasty’s foundation was originally in Jiangbei. Now that the Liu clans have raised an army and the Central Plains have fallen, Wang Yan and other northerners have had to cross the Huai River to the south. We, the Jiangzuo gentry, are right under their noses. How can we tolerate them? Therefore, in this battle, he has used us Wu people as his vanguard to fight Liu Xian like a clam and a snipe. No matter who wins, we will suffer heavy losses, and they can reap the benefits.”

“How can we suffer such a loss?” Zhou Qi paused, looked at Gu Rong with a meaningful expression, and said, “I had already thought it through before I came here. The most urgent thing is to make a name for ourselves and prove that we Wu people are no ordinary people. Then we should try to withdraw, preserve our strength, and let Liu Xian and Wang Yan fight it out. Then it will be our time to wait for the right price.”

With just a few words, Gu Rong was so surprised that he was speechless. So this was Zhou Qi's plan. No wonder he was so unusual in arguing with Wang Kuang. Gu Rong had thought it was just his arrogance, but there was actually such a deeper meaning behind it!

He said carefully, "Are you doing this because you think the King of Han has a better chance of winning?"

Zhou Qi snorted and slowly said, "Of course, Liu Xian did do my father a favor. Although I'll teach him a lesson in this battle, it won't be a big deal. On the contrary, Wang Kuang and the others will definitely be eager for war after this battle, which means a decisive battle. When that happens, if you remain inactive, it will be a way of repaying that favor."

"And what about you, Xuanpei?" Gu Rong asked again, as if he were seeing Zhou Qi in a new light. "Are you really planning to go to Guangzhou to take up your post?"

"Of course not!" Zhou Qi glanced around instinctively, then lowered his voice again, "I plan to rush back tonight, and while they're still unaware of the news, find Lu Ye and He Xun, and secretly organize the local militia, waiting for you to get your results..."

He stretched out his right hand and grabbed at the air with force, then slowly said, "I will wipe out the Langya King and his men in one fell swoop. At that time, the sky over Yangzhou will once again belong to us Jiangdong people."

At this point, Zhou Qi shook his head and chuckled for a while, then sarcastically said, "For so many years, these northern barbarians have been so arrogant! You, my father, and Lu Shiheng and the others have been bowing and scraping to them in Luoyang every day, acting as their watchdogs, and they still think they're climbing the social ladder! Ha, they're the real bunch of old dogs in yellow coats! It's hateful that we've lost our country and our families, and have no choice but to be subservient to them. Now that things are finally starting to look up, how can we go back to the old ways!"

Zhou Qi's words were a testament to the blood and tears of the Wu people over the past decades, and Gu Rong deeply sympathized with them. However, he also knew that Zhou Qi's thoughts went beyond simply settling scores with the Jin dynasty; he also wanted to advocate for autonomy in Jiangdong. Given the current situation, this demand was unlikely to be easily met, so he felt compelled to ask a few more questions:
"Xuanpei, have you thought about what we should do after this? If Liu Xian wins, he probably won't just sit idly by and watch Jiangdong suffer, will he?"

Upon hearing Gu Rong's words, Zhou Qi immediately fell silent. He stroked the sword at his waist, remained silent for a long time, and then said, "We still need to observe further..."

Before Gu Rong could speak, he gestured for Gu Rong to be quiet and expressed his concerns: "Liu Xian is indeed a wise ruler, but he is, after all, the King of Han, and we are sworn enemies. He may not care, but will his Shu people care? Neither you nor I are sure. You should have heard that Lu Zhi is very powerful over there. Will he tolerate us?"

Seeing Gu Rong's speechless expression, Zhou Qi sighed and analyzed, "We can't let our guard down. Haven't we learned our lesson from Luoyang? So this time, we can first offer Liu Xian a token of loyalty. If he allows Jiangdong to govern itself, we might as well acknowledge him as our master in the future. But if his men insist on opposing us or fighting us for power, then don't blame us for not showing any mercy..."

At this point, Zhou Qi made a gesture of drawing a sword and cutting his neck with his right hand.

Seeing how well he had thought things through, Gu Rong had nothing to say. In the end, he could only nod in agreement and say, "Alright, Shiheng is gone. Among our generation, Xuanpei is the only one who can be called a hero. No matter what, I will support you!"

After their conversation, Zhou Qi handed over all military power to Gu Rong, then accepted Wang Kuang's seal of office. He feigned a trip to southern Hunan to assume his post, but secretly returned to his hometown of Yangxian to prepare for the establishment of a self-governing government. (End of Chapter)