Three Kingdoms: The Kingdom Cannot Be Partial

Chapter 201 Fire

Just as the Han army was charging towards the Han River and the Wu soldiers were at a loss, a red-brown boat came speeding from upstream.

"General Right, the Shu navy has arrived!" The military commander in charge of relaying the order was terrified and could not control himself.

He came from the South Pass, more than 20 miles upstream, and like Zhuge Jin and others, he was unaware of the actual situation of the battle downstream.

At this moment, seeing the raging fire on the mountain, the Wu army below was also in a complete rout. Even the Wu soldiers guarding the boats on the Han River were in a panic, constantly crowding, trampling, and falling into the water while boarding the boats. How could they not know that they had already suffered a defeat?

The officers and soldiers on the same warship as Bu Zhi, such as Huang Bing and Sun Yin, were at a loss when they heard that the Shu navy had arrived.

But after pondering for a few moments, Bu Zhi was not worried but rather pleased, and kept asking:

How many warships have arrived?

"Did you set fire to the river?"

The messenger hurriedly shook his head and said:
"The Right General... has about a hundred warships, none of which are large warships, but all are junks and fighting ships, and there are also linked boats composed of junks and fighting ships. They have not set fire to anything downstream."

Upon hearing this, Bu Zhi made an assessment and said:
"The Shu navy has about five or six thousand men, and it's impossible for them not to use fire."

"Since they are not using it upstream, they must be planning to break through General Zuo's defenses and then burn our ships here."

"Pass down the order to command the soldiers on the shore to stop boarding the ships and form ranks to await the enemy!"
"Huang Bing, Sun Yin, and Luo Xiu, the three of you will provide cover on the boat!"

Huang Bing instantly understood Bu Zhi's plan and immediately stepped forward to stop him: "General Right, you must not put yourself in danger!"

Bu Zhi immediately shouted, "Enough nonsense! Check the anchors and cables, and make sure to block all of the Shu navy's ships!"

Only then did Sun Yin understand what the Left Commander-in-Chief wanted to do, and immediately urged him to stop.

"General Right, you must not put yourself in danger!"

"It would be better to temporarily abandon the soldiers on the north bank and sail all the boats to the south bank!"
"Or order the soldiers on the north bank to hold their ground and wait for the enemy; if that doesn't work, let them abandon their armor and flee to the north entrance!"
"The soldiers on the south bank are still in high spirits. We can launch a combined land and water attack from the south bank!"

"After defeating the Shu navy, the Shu army, having no ships, could only look at the Han River with longing!"

"It won't be too late for us to send our fleet to your aid then!"

Bu Zhi glanced around at the five or six thousand soldiers guarding the shore and immediately shook his head:

"These are all the elite troops of our Great Wu, how can we abandon them!"
"Stop talking and get ready!"

After saying this, Bu Zhi strode off the boat.

The tall banner bearing the inscription "Right General's Step" also came ashore with them.

Bu Zhi boarded the drum cart and personally beat the war drum.

Upon seeing this, the soldiers who disembarked with him all shouted loudly, announcing that the Right General had arrived.

Upon hearing the drums and shouts, the Wu soldiers surrounding the warship immediately looked in the direction of the sound.

Seeing that the Right General's tall banner had indeed abandoned the ship and gone ashore, he seemed to have found his backbone, and his expression brightened slightly. Under the command of his officers, he slowly regained his footing.

Just then, Zhao Yun and Gao Xiang spotted the Wu army's red-horse boats from the shore.

Upon hearing the Wu drums and seeing the Wu army, which had been fleeing in disarray after seizing the boats, suddenly turn around and engage the Han soldiers in battle, he immediately understood what was happening.

Gao Xiang exclaimed with delight, "It must be Liao Yuanjian and Fu Gongquan's navy that has arrived!"

The biggest fear in a coordinated attack is missing the deadline, and the second biggest fear is failing to seize the fleeting opportunity. The arrival of Generals Liao Hua and Fu Qian at the same time is the perfect opportunity!
Fa Miao was also slightly invigorated:

"It seems that General Chariot and Cavalry predicted it!"
"Wu Jun knows that our Han navy has arrived, and they are not retreating. They must think that the north wind here is not favorable for our Han navy to launch a fire attack!"

Zhao Yun looked at the battlefield on the banks of the Han River.

The Wu army surrounding the warship, after stabilizing their formation, stopped retreating and even showed signs of pushing back the Han army's lines.

The very front of the Han army's lines, especially the part closest to the Wu army's warships, seemed to have been stripped of a layer, becoming jagged and irregular.

After a moment's hesitation, the old general spoke solemnly:
"It must be Bu Zhi leading the troops to cover the retreat."

"Although Wu's army was not good at land warfare, Bu Zhi was well-liked by the Wu people. His troops fought with their backs to the river, and their warships provided cover from a high vantage point."

"Pass down the order that if the soldiers encounter strong resistance from the enemy, they should not fight to the death, but try their best to avoid Wu's arrows and maintain the battle line!"

The Wu navy had the advantage of high ground and the ability to shoot arrows, but Zhao Yun did not immediately order his soldiers to retreat. Instead, he tried his best to maintain the battle line.

Once the vanguard retreats, the soldiers in the rear, unaware of the situation, may assume that the vanguard has suffered a defeat, which would boost the morale of the Wu army.

When Zhao Yun was young, he served under Gongsun Zan and witnessed such scenes several times. The Battle of Jieqiao, which enabled Yuan Shao to completely secure his control of Ji Province, was a typical example.

Before long, a scout came from upstream to report.

The Wu army that intercepted the Han grain ships on the Yue River yesterday has completely withdrawn.

The Wu navy, which had been poised to make a move in the middle of the Han River upstream, had taken all of its several thousand soldiers aboard its ships and was now sailing downstream.

Just as the scout finished reporting, Zhao Yun spotted nearly a hundred Wu army ships approaching in a grand procession on the Han River.

Before long, half of the boats reached the north bank of the Han River, providing cover for the Wu army infantry on the shore.

The other half moved to the south bank of the Han River, leaving some of the Wu troops there.

After landing, Wu's army formed a battle formation on the spot.

There were already three or four thousand infantrymen there, and with the addition of the three or four thousand men who came down from the ship, the area stretched as far as the eye could see.

As for the Han River, it was already full of Wu army ships, a magnificent sight.

Since the Han army had no warships or navy, while the Wu army had more than two hundred warships deployed on the battlefield, the morale of the Wu army was boosted once again.

The fighting on the shore reached a temporary stalemate.

But the Wu infantry on the mountainside and in the valley presented a different picture.

Generals Yang Qun, Yan Zhi, Cuan Xiong, and Li Qiu led their troops in a relentless pursuit, routing the Wu infantry time and again. The Han soldiers fought fiercely, with many soldiers breaking several of their swords in the process.

They finally stopped when they reached the northern pass of the Han River, where Liu Zan's two thousand elite naval and infantry troops had already seized control of the mountain pass.

The passageway was extremely narrow, and the arrows from Wu's naval forces could completely cover the entire battlefield.

But by the time the Han army reached this point, they had already achieved their objective.

The water here flows swiftly, and on the opposite bank are sheer cliffs and primeval forests reminiscent of the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River, leaving no place for the boatmen to even stand.

Unless the Wu army can defeat them on land, their naval fleet will have no chance of going upstream again.

Yang Qun and Yan Zhi ordered their soldiers to form a battle formation here, facing off against the Wu army led by Liu Zan at a distance.

He then ordered some of his soldiers to go back and clean up the battlefield.

Many Wu infantrymen were left behind and now had no way to escape, leaving them at the mercy of the Han army.

Liu Zan was powerless to do anything about it, and could only order his men to organize the defeated soldiers behind the narrow valley passage and set up a defensive line in the passage.

...

Upper reaches of the Han River.

The location of Zhuge Jin's banner.

Wu's army had nearly a hundred ships, which crossed the Han River.

The Han navy, with two thousand elite troops under the command of General Liao Hua, sailed down the current in more than thirty medium-sized warships.

With the added speed of the water and the sharp, steel-reinforced rams, the Han navy breached the Wu navy's first line of defense in just one round.

Weighing over a thousand pounds, the "striking pole," like a giant hammer, was lifted high by the winch and then slammed down heavily.

Dozens of mud boats used by Wu's navy to prevent the Han army from using fire attacks were either pierced by the rams or punched through by the battering poles.

In less than half an hour of fighting, dozens of warships of Wu's first line of defense were sunk.

The Wu soldiers on board abandoned their warships and jumped overboard to escape.

Liao Hua did not press his advantage and continue his attack on the second line of defense.

Instead, he ordered the boatmen to sail the warships upstream for more than a hundred paces before anchoring, thus stopping all the ships and creating distance between them and the Wu navy.

Upon seeing this, Zhuge Jin immediately sensed something was wrong.

Sure enough, in less than a quarter of an hour, several simple, linked boats appeared one after another in the upstream canyon. They were large boats made up of many small boats strung together. They were loaded with firewood and other flammable materials, and they didn't even bother to hide them.

"All boats, disperse to the left and right, prepare to extinguish the fire!" Zhuge Jin hurriedly gave the order.

At that moment, the Han army's fire ships were set ablaze.

The grass and trees piled on the boat seemed to have been doused with oil, and almost instantly, a raging fire broke out on the boat.

Wu Jun was on high alert.

"Raise the racket pole!"

"Prepare for grappling!"

The Wu army officers on each boat issued orders one after another.

While the naval forces on the ships prepared for battle, all Wu army ships moved towards the east and west banks of the Han River, clearing a path for the Han army's fire ships that were speeding downstream.

Erli.

One mile.

Half a mile.

The Han army's fire ships roared in.

Although Wu Jun's navy was still at shore, it had made all the necessary preparations.

Whenever the Han army's fire ships approached, they used "striking poles" to smash the ships and "hooking hooks" to resist them—these were their methods of dealing with the fire attack.

However, at this moment, the Han warships that had been anchored upstream suddenly moved!
The elite navy from Baidi City, under the command of Captain Chen Hu of the warships, did not row upstream to retrieve the anchor, but instead cut the hemp ropes holding the anchor in place.

Before the Han army's fire ships arrived, more than thirty warships had already rushed downstream.

They could either ram directly into Wu's warships or sail directly into the path cleared by Wu's navy.

When Xiahou Cheng, Teng Yin, and other Wu generals saw this, they were momentarily puzzled.

Shouldn't the fire ship have crashed into it first?

If the warships ram into the enemy first, and then the fire ships rush in later, wouldn't they burn even the Shu army's own ships?
Just as Wu Jun was completely baffled, two Han army ships came roaring down the river, billowing smoke and raging fire, and ended up passing through the passage that Wu Jun had cleared.

Along with the boats cleared by Wu Jun's ships, seven or eight linked boats, fully loaded with firewood but not yet lit, passed through the passage.

In addition, another thirty or forty warships flying the Han Dynasty flag served as escorts for the linked ships, following closely behind and heading downstream.

In naval warfare, the side that goes downstream naturally has an advantage. The first wave of ramming launched by the naval force led by Colonel Chen Hu had caused considerable damage to the Wu army's ships.

First, many boats were knocked out of balance, and dozens, if not hundreds, of Wu people fell into the water.

The steel-reinforced ram pierced through the side walls of several Wu ships, causing them to take on water and lose their balance. In the ensuing chaos, the Wu soldiers began to jump aboard nearby vessels to escape.

Many warships were jostled together by the collision.

The warship Zhuge Jin was on was also rocked violently by the impact. After regaining its footing, it was momentarily stunned: "This is... going downstream?"

Not only did Zhuge Jin not understand, but the Wu soldiers under his command also did not understand.

When the Han army's flaming barges had already passed the Wu navy and drifted two or three miles downstream, Wu general Xiahou Cheng, filled with doubt, approached Zhuge Jin:

"General Zuo, are the Shu troops going to burn General You's ships?"

Zhuge Jin nodded upon hearing this: "Indeed."

Teng Yin hurriedly asked, "Since General Zuo knew, why didn't you send someone to stop them!"

Zhuge Jin then said, "General You knew that the Shu army would use fire to attack the boats, and had already made a plan, instructing me to deliberately let the Shu navy go downstream."

"The downstream wind direction is completely opposite to this. If the Shu army uses fire to attack the boats, not only will they fail to burn our boats, but they will also set themselves on fire."

Both Xiahou Cheng and Teng Yin were stunned and looked at each other in bewilderment.

"So what do we do now?" Xiahou Cheng stopped thinking about it. He couldn't figure it out anyway, so he just handed it over to Zhuge Jin.

Zhuge Jin looked at the Han army's warships and said:

"Let's hold off the Shu navy here for now. We don't need to wipe them out completely. I expect that it won't be long before the Shu army here will also go downstream."

Xiahou Cheng, Teng Yin, and the other generals were puzzled but impressed.

Teng Yin gave a disdainful snort:
"Although the Shu bandits occupy the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, they are not good at naval warfare. Instead of relying on the current to fight against our Great Wu navy, they are going downstream and are courting their own destruction."

Xiahou Cheng and the other generals also nodded.

If the Shu navy abandons them and heads straight downstream, won't they be attacked from both the north and south by the Shu navy and the naval forces of Bu Zhi and Liu Zan downstream?
"——Woo!"

Just then, the Han navy from Baidi City sounded the long bugle call to attack.

"Jump up and show these Wu dogs what the White Emperor Navy is all about!" Chen Hu roared, waving his command flag and directing his soldiers to board the ship.

On the upper reaches of the battlefield, Liao Hua heard the bugle call signaling Chen Hu's attack and saw that the Baidi navy had already jumped onto the Wu army's ships. He quickly ordered his men to sound the long horn and commanded the last sixty-odd ships to rush towards the Wu army's navy.

Downstream from the battlefield, on a warship.

Fu Qian, clad in full armor, stood at the bow of the ship, sword in hand, his expression solemn, focused on the waters downstream, without glancing back at Chen Hu, Liao Hua, and the other generals.

……

West City.

Prefect Shen Yi, along with his son-in-law Kuai Che and a host of generals and officers, were all astonished as they gazed at the battlefield north of the Han River.

They had heard of Bu Zhi's reputation.

I won't go into the old story of a thousand men pacifying Jiaozhou.

Ever since Sun Quan sent Lü Meng to seize Jingzhou, Bu Zhi left Jiaozhou and went north to Jingnan. He first quelled the unrest in Jingnan, and then took charge of Jingbei. His power was unparalleled for a time, second only to Lu Xun.

This time, when Shen Yi led his troops to build a siege in the west city, the discipline of the northern camp under his command was strict and they were not to be trifled with. This is why Shen Yi took the initiative to send grain and women to the Wu army and showed weakness to Bu Zhi by "begging for surrender".

He was genuinely afraid that Bu Zhi would seize Xicheng by force, just as Sima Yi had forcibly attacked Shangyong.

It should be noted that before Sima Yi's swift journey of a thousand miles and his execution of Meng Da on the sixteenth day, Bu Zhi's reputation in military affairs was far more renowned than Sima Yi's.

Now, Bu Zhi has been defeated.

It could even be described as a complete defeat.

Shen Yi said in a daze, "As expected of Zhao Yun. If Zhao Yun had gone to war with Liu Bei during the Battle of Yiling, how could Liu Bei have suffered such a crushing defeat?"

His son-in-law, Kuai Che, was also terrified.

In just over an hour, Zhao Yun decisively defeated Bu Zhi, a general of the Wu Kingdom.

Even in traditional storybooks, you wouldn't dare write something like this!

Kuai Che asked, "Uncle, should we go down and help Shu defeat Wu?!"

Shen Yi pondered for a long time, then shook his head and said:

"The battle situation seems to have reached a stalemate. The Wu army still has hundreds of warships upstream, while the Shu army has no ships."

"Even if they win, the Wu army can retreat to the south bank and cut off the Han River. The Shu army will not be able to completely defeat the Wu army. Once Sun Quan's reinforcements arrive, the Shu army on the north bank will probably have to retreat in frustration."

"Uncle, look, a fire ship!" Kuai Che suddenly pointed to the Han River.

Upon hearing this, Shen Yi and the others turned around and were immediately shocked to see dozens of warships escorting two large, burning and smoking barges speeding down the upper reaches of the Han River.

Lower reaches of the Han River.

On a three-story ship.

Huang Bing suddenly pointed south and shouted with great joy:
"Right General!"

"Fire ships... the Shu army's fire ships are here!"

However, after he finished speaking, no one responded. Then he suddenly remembered that the Right General was no longer on the warship, but on the shore.

(End of this chapter)