Three Kingdoms: The Kingdom Cannot Be Partial

Chapter 247 The shame of Jingzhou remains unavenged; the hatred of Yiling, when will it end?
They used boats and ships as their base.

The sky and the river form the battleground.

The Han army's ships came in a grand procession.

Before Yanyu Pass, the Wu soldiers were on high alert.

Only General Pan Jun stood calmly with his hands behind his back on the wall of Yanyu Pass, displaying the demeanor of a scholar-general.

Looking out over the Han army's naval forces, which were still several miles away and whose outlines were nowhere to be seen, they turned their attention back to the riverbank in front of the pass.

The head of the Nine Ministers of Wu, the General of the Imperial Sacrifices, was not flustered at all; on the contrary, he felt very at ease.

As early as September of last year, before the Yangtze River had entered its dry season, he ordered the laborers at Yanyu Pass to dig open the upstream water diversion canals, forcing the river water into the shallows and causing it to backflow onto the hard ground on the banks. He also transported large amounts of silt from various places.

Within a month, the flat, sandy riverbank in front of the pass turned into a swamp of silt more than a foot deep.

After the dry season began, the river became shallow, and the surface of this muddy swamp gradually hardened after two or three months of wind and sun exposure. He then ordered people to cover it with a thin layer of river sand.

It is now early spring, and the river has risen slightly compared to winter, covering this seemingly hard sandy beach with a thin layer of water.

From a distance, viewed from a boat on the river, it still appears as a hard sandy beach.

Because the water flow along the Three Gorges is rapid and the river has a very low silt content, there is hardly any muddy land along the banks for hundreds of miles. Pan Jun believed that no Han army would expect that there would be a man-made silt swamp waiting for them here.

After all, this area used to be Han territory.

The Han army's understanding of Yanyu Pass was no less than his own, who had only been on the front lines in Wuxian for half a year.

In reality, the mudflats that others have created are so deep that a fully armed soldier could easily sink up to his knees and be unable to move forward if he stepped into them.

In the muddy tidal flats, he ordered his men to secretly nail deer antlers and iron caltrops into the mud, the pointed ends of which were embedded about a foot deep into the mud, making them invisible and impossible to pull out.

They were waiting for the Han army to leap into their boats.

It was noon.

The thick fog has almost completely dissipated.

The beacon fires and smoke signals from Shenjian Pass and Hutiaojian Gorge, pleading for reinforcements, filled the mountains and rose into the sky, but Yanyu Pass did not send a single soldier to help.

Now, the Han navy was finally able to sail downstream without the cover of shore infantry.

On a turbulent river with numerous reefs, turning back against the current is extremely difficult and risky.

Deng Xuanzhi, a soldier, sincerely praised:
"I never imagined that the Shu army would actually dare to sail eastward with only a small navy without the cover of infantry."

"However... if it weren't for Taichang's foresight in anticipating the enemy's move, seeing through the Shu army's feint attack, and possessing a composure that ordinary people like us cannot match, our Great Wu would probably have fallen into the Shu people's risky and treacherous scheme."

"Now that our Great Wu is fully prepared, we will show the Shu people what it means to overestimate themselves!"

Pan Jun ignored Deng Xuanzhi's confident words and remained unmoved, but he was indeed very confident in his own arrangements.

Leaving aside everything else, the muddy and treacherous shoals in front of Yanyu Pass alone could dampen the morale of the Shu navy by 40-50%.

If the Shu army proceeds cautiously, advancing by both land and water, this muddy and treacherous shoal may only serve to hinder the enemy.

But now that only the navy has arrived, there is an opportunity to catch the Shu army off guard, just as he had planned two days ago.

"Since we're here, let's not leave!" Pan Jun straightened up, his expression serious, and with the river wind blowing, his white beard fluttered, adding to his imposing aura.

On the great river.

The Han army's thousands of sails filled the river.

In front of a prominent reef in the middle of the river, dozens or hundreds of dinghys and warships lined up on the left and right, eventually converging at a point downstream.

Five miles.

Three miles.

Erli.

Wu Jun was on high alert.

Pan Jun's expression grew increasingly stern.

He vaguely heard some sound.

Just as he was frowning in confusion, the Han army's naval forces had already approached within a mile.

The faint, almost imperceptible sound grew louder as the Han army approached. Pan Jun could roughly make out that it seemed to be a war song of the Shu people. Just as he was about to understand what the song was about, the great river suddenly fell silent, and all the shouts and cries disappeared.

The Han army's thousand sails beat their drums, and their oars and paddles rocked in unison.

The light and swift warships, with the speed of lightning, charged towards the dangerous shoals of the Wu army's river defenses, following the rapid currents of the great river!

"Prepare the crossbows!" Pan Jun roared.

Before the Yanyu Pass, the Wu drums resounded in rapid succession!
Just as the Wu drums sounded, Pan Jun suddenly heard a ghostly howl echoing across the river.

The shame of Jingzhou has yet to be avenged!

"When will the hatred of Yiling be extinguished?!"

"Wu Gou!"

"Wu Gou!!!"

"A blood debt must be repaid with blood!!!"

The voice was aged, yet powerful and vigorous.

Just as Pan Jun's expression of astonishment and disgust began to emerge, the Han army's naval forces erupted in a cacophony of shouts.

"..."

"..."

"The flood submerged the seven armies, terrifying Wei!"

"How hateful are the treacherous dogs of Eastern Wu!"

"Crossing the river in white to seize Jingzhou!"

The shame of Jingzhou has yet to be avenged!

"When will the hatred of Yiling be extinguished?!"

"The late emperor has passed away, his bones are not yet cold!"

"Today, warships fill the great river!"

"Cut off heads with swords, decapitate with spears!"

"Capture Wu the dog alive and present him to Chang'an!"

"Wu Gou!"

"Wu Gou!!!"

"A blood debt must be repaid with blood!!!"

Upstream of Yanyu Pass, on the Yangtze River.

The rough singing, shouted in unison by thousands or tens of thousands of people, was like thunder, shaking mountains and valleys, and churning rivers and seas. As the Han army's naval forces rapidly advanced eastward, it echoed repeatedly on the surface of the great river and between the mountains to the north and south.

Once Pan Jun had fully understood the lyrics of the song, he showed his disgust from the inside out.

Looking around again, he saw that many soldiers around him had been intimidated by the shouts of ten thousand men, and immediately gripped their swords in fury:
"Mysterious!"

"Pretend to be a ghost!"

"Draw the crossbows fully!"

"All troops, return to your battle positions!"

Anyone who dares to retreat will be executed!

Before the shout had even faded, he had already strode quickly toward the army's main drum.

First, he snatched the drummer's giant mallet, and then struck the main drum one beat at a time.

The drumbeats start slowly and then accelerate.

In just a few breaths, the drumbeats became as dense as a torrential rain, shaking the river and the sky.

Pan Jun exerted all his strength, hitting faster and faster.

They wanted to use the power of the drums to overwhelm the songs of Shu across the river.

On the surface of the river.

The Han army's naval forces arrived suddenly! The river wind billowed the battle flags and sails, making them flutter loudly!
Dozens of boats surged forward like thunderbolts, heading straight for the riverbank!
Even knowing that once they were swept away, they would never be able to return to the river, they did not stop for a moment.

Guan Xing stood at the bow of the Fubo ship, his hand on his sword, his gaze sharp as a knife, slowly sweeping over the seemingly flat riverbank in front of the pass.

The berth carrying the Tiger Warriors had already run aground. The sturdy hull of the ship struck the seemingly hard sand, but instead of making the expected sound of a hard object colliding, it sank in with a dull thud.

What splashed up was not sand or gravel, but dark, sticky mud.

The archers on the junks seized the opportunity and unleashed a volley of arrows.

Arrows rained down like a sudden downpour, piercing straight into the flesh and bones of the Wu soldiers.

Wu Jun's wails and screams rang out repeatedly.

"Get ashore, seize the beach!"

On the medium-sized four-story ship "Fubo," General Guan Xing gave an order, and the vanguard's flags and drums suddenly rose in great numbers.

There were no unnecessary words.

Without any unnecessary hesitation.

More than a hundred elite Tiger Guards of the Han Dynasty bravely jumped aboard the junks and braved the Wu army's powerful bows and crossbows, as well as the barrage of arrows and stones, to begin a battle to seize the beachhead from the Wu defenders on the shore.

Seeing the Han army enter the effective killing range, the Wu army's coastal defense captain shouted loudly: "Fire arrows!"

He heard the general's order.

The bowstrings were released and hundreds of arrows were fired simultaneously.

The Han army also cried out in pain.

The strength of the Imperial Guards was closely related to the overall martial virtue of the dynasty and the monarch.

When a dynasty and its monarch are both full of martial virtue, then its imperial guard is often the fiercest and bravest army in the entire dynasty, with every soldier a tiger warrior.

When a dynasty or monarch is arrogant and decadent, his imperial guards are often just paper tigers, far less fierce than the border troops.

The martial virtue of the Han Dynasty needs no further explanation.

After Liu Shan personally led the expedition, he won one victory after another. He even went into the enemy's camp and killed a general with an arrow. The martial virtue of the monarch is beyond question.

This elite Tiger Army had fought alongside the Emperor and the Tiger General in the past year, engaging in more than a dozen battles, large and small, without suffering a single defeat.

They have gained invaluable battlefield experience and, more importantly, developed an invincible confidence.

Even the Wei people were no match for the mighty warriors of the Han Dynasty, so how could they fear the mere rats of Eastern Wu?!
The amphibious landing operation is about to begin.

However, as soon as these hundred-odd tiger warriors jumped from the boat onto the shore, their heavy armored bodies instantly sank into the mud, sinking up to their knees.

Some people exerted force to rush forward, but lost their balance and staggered back and forth.

Many more soldiers were trapped in place, and each attempt to pull out one leg required tremendous effort, while the other leg sank even deeper.

Even after struggling to pull his leg out and continue walking forward, he still stumbled along, unable to muster any strength.

In short, the first Tiger Warriors to land on the riverbank were like wild boars that had fallen into a quagmire; the more they struggled, the deeper they sank.

The second batch of pontoons attempted to land on the beach, but were blocked by the Tiger Warriors in front and unable to advance, while behind them lay the vast river and a mighty fleet of ships, leaving them unable to retreat and at a loss for what to do.

Let alone engaging Wu Jun head-on, even normal marching became a luxury.

Therefore, they could only engage in archery duels with the Wu soldiers using bows and crossbows.

The Wu army had coastal fortifications, but the Han army did not.

After several exchanges of fire, it was clear that the Han army's elite troops were at a disadvantage.

On the Fubo.

Guan Xing stood at the bow of the boat, his hand on his sword, looking down from a high vantage point.

The battle on the shore was in full view. Seeing that the Tiger Warriors were slightly weakened, he showed no sign of panic, as if everything was under control.

Wu Jun's arrows rained down with a sharp whistling sound.

Tiger Warrior raised his shield to protect his head and face, but not his entire body.

The iron spikes pierced the armor with a dull, teeth-grinding sound, accompanied by suppressed groans of pain, as arrows continued to strike.

The moment the body tilted, it made it even more likely to be swallowed by the mud.

"General!" The lieutenant was somewhat anxious.

Guan Xing remained calm, as if the difficult battle situation before him was not unexpected.

"Order the vanguard to use the boats as obstacles, and the archers to fire at full speed to suppress the Wu bandits' crossbows!"

Those trapped in the quagmire, form a shield in place and do not move rashly!

"After the army landed, they unloaded mud bags, sandbags, dry firewood, and straw, and piled them up on the riverbank!"

The orders were precisely conveyed through flags and drumbeats.

The chaotic beachhead immediately came into order.

The forward-departing mongooses no longer attempted to blindly charge the beach, but instead crossed their hulls, facing the Wu army with their solid broadsides. The archers on board used the shields on the hulls to unleash a rain of arrows on the Wu army in front of them.

The Han dynasty excelled in craftsmanship, and their crossbows had a range and firepower several times greater than those of the Wu army. After relying on boats and shields as cover, the Wu army, which initially held a slight advantage, gradually fell into a disadvantageous position in this round of crossbow fire.

Many of the Wu soldiers who dared to peek out were shot down, while the archers who remained in formation were suppressed by the Han army's long-range firepower and could not raise their heads.

The Tiger Warriors, stuck in the mire, stopped struggling forward in vain and instead linked their shields together as much as possible, shrinking behind them to block the sparse arrows coming from the Wu army.

On the great river.

Despite knowing that the mudflats ahead were difficult to cross, the fully armed Tiger Warrior continued to jump off the boat and slowly pushed the dinghy he was on toward the shore.

About fifteen minutes passed.

Nearly a hundred boats were moored on the shore.

More than a thousand Han soldiers, including Tiger Warriors, gathered nearly a thousand crossbowmen in a battlefield a hundred paces wide, and rained arrows down on the front of the battlefield.

Before the battlefield, which was more than a hundred paces wide, the Wu army was suppressed so much that they could not even lift their heads. Countless people were killed or wounded, not to mention that they could no longer use their bows and crossbows to repel the enemy.

Seeing that the firepower suppression was effective, Guan Xing gave an order.

Two hundred Tiger Warriors, having completed their preparations, emerged from behind the ships, raised their shields, and slowly pressed towards the Wu army.

Although advancing through the mudflats remained difficult, the two hundred fully armed Tiger Warriors were clearly much more at ease than the first wave of Tiger Warriors who had stormed the beach, thanks to the absence of the long-range suppression from Wu's crossbows.

Inside Yanyu Pass, atop the watchtower.

Deng Xuanzhi, who had joined the army, was somewhat alarmed:
"The Shu army knew that the shoals were difficult to cross, and the rear guard could not keep up."

"Our Great Wu has fortifications on the front lines as evidence."

"He actually dares to come in formation? Is he trying to get himself killed?!"

As soon as Deng Xuanzhi finished speaking, Pan Jun saw that the two hundred or so Han soldiers had entered the range of the Wu army's crossbows. So he gave another order: "Concentrate a thousand crossbowmen to the Bingduan defense line! Make sure the Shu army doesn't get to the front of the camp!"

Just as Pan Jun gave the order, Wu archers in front of the two hundred or so elite warriors drew their bows and fired hundreds of arrows at once.

Despite the shields blocking the arrows, many of the elite warriors were still struck by arrows thrown overhead and passing through the gaps in the shields. They groaned and fell, but they still formed a wall and slowly advanced.

Wu's more than a thousand archers quickly assembled in front of the two hundred Tiger Warriors and fired several volleys of arrows at them.

But in a short while, the Han archers hiding behind the two hundred elite warriors also pressed forward, and a rain of arrows fell, suppressing the Wu archers once again.

Pan Jun frowned, trying to find a solution.

But at that moment, Deng Xuanzhi suddenly pointed upstream and exclaimed, "General, look! What are the Shu troops doing?!"

Pan Jun looked up and saw countless Han soldiers moving about on the endless stream of boats on the river.

He frowned and stared intently again.

But then they saw Han soldiers on the ship seemingly receiving something on the deck.

"Could it be that black oil?!" Deng Xuanzhi thought of something and was momentarily horrified.

Pan Jun pondered for a long time but couldn't come up with a solution. Finally, he turned his gaze back to the Han soldiers who were storming the beach.

But then they saw two hundred Han soldiers with shields raised, and the first two hundred armored Han soldiers had already stepped into the middle of the beach, less than fifty paces from the Wu army's defensive line.

Pan Jun snorted coldly:
"Forget about all that. Those Shu soldiers who are charging with shields are undoubtedly their first wave of suicide bombers. Let's concentrate our elite Wu warriors and crush these few hundred Shu soldiers who are trying to storm the beach before we worry about anything else!"

(End of this chapter)