Three Kingdoms: Jiangdong is no longer a rat

Chapter 150 Killed in Action
Furious, Yu Fan's army sped up its march. However, when the army reached the water ten miles east of Qiantang, it was forced to stop.

The reason is simple. The wooden bridge over the river was destroyed.
Shang Sheng was extremely angry and shouted, "Where's the ladder? Quickly build it and cross the river!"

A general said cautiously, "The soldiers transporting the ladders are moving very slowly. It will probably take another quarter of an hour to arrive here."

Shang Sheng was so angry that his chest heaved violently. With no place to vent his anger, he whipped a soldier beside him fiercely.

The entire army had no choice but to rest on the spot.

A quarter of an hour later, the ladders arrived, and Yu Fan led his entire army across the river in a hurry. Before they had gone two miles, another cavalryman came with a report: "General, the enemy cavalry has raided our camp, and the fort has fallen into their hands!"

When Yu Fan heard this, his body shook, and the generals around him were also shocked.

The only one who could raid his own camp at this time was the elusive Xu Sheng.

After capturing the fort, they all thought that Xu Sheng's troops had already headed to Qiantang, so they did not leave the cavalry behind, but unexpectedly they fell into the enemy's trap again.

So insidious!

Everyone realized at this time that the enemy was trying every means to prevent them from reaching Qiantang.

He Xiong asked in a deep voice, "Have the wounded soldiers in the fort escaped?"

The scout's face was filled with sorrow as he said in a sorrowful voice, "All gone."

The generals gnashed their teeth in hatred, and Shang Sheng lowered his head feeling guilty.

He Xiong clasped his fists towards Yu Fan and said, "Military Advisor, our rear is short of cavalry. Should we send some of them back?"

Yu Fan's face was as gloomy as water. He said slowly, "That's unnecessary. The enemy is trying to trick our cavalry into splitting up. Send someone to inform the follow-up troops to leave a few more soldiers at the various forts. Lord Zhou, what do you think?"

Zhou Xin had been taciturn since the expedition began, only answering a few words when asked. Hearing this, he said, "The military advisor's arrangements are excellent. However, I believe that since our army set out, we've been forced to split up our forces to prevent Yan Yi from capturing Qiantang. Our main force hasn't been able to effectively assemble, which has given the enemy an opportunity. This situation hasn't improved to this day. Given the current situation, I have something to say: we need to plan a retreat route in advance."

The generals were quite dissatisfied, but because of his once prominent status, they were unwilling to refute him.

Yu Fan agreed with Zhou Xin's words. After a day or two of fighting, he had personally experienced the difficulty of the enemy and became more determined to seize Qiantang.

Qiantang must not be allowed to fall into Yan Yi's hands. Otherwise, with the strategy and sharpness shown by this boy, once he becomes powerful and covers the entire Jiangdong, no one will be able to control him in the future.

He thought for a moment and gave the order: "Leave 500 soldiers in Shui to repair the wooden bridge. After the reinforcements arrive, add another 500 troops. The rest of the troops should accelerate their march towards Qiantang. Any forts along the way with fewer than 300 soldiers will be ignored!"

The generals responded loudly, then returned to their respective units and urged the soldiers to speed up their march.

At this moment, in Qiantang City, ten miles away, the battle has reached the most critical moment.

Yan Yi personally beat the drum, and Generals Chen Gan, Fan Yi, and others took turns donning armor and leading their troops to scale the city walls. The supervisory team stood at the front of the battle formation, their eyes blazing with murderous intent, ready to shoot anyone who retreated.

As for those who deserted in battle, Yan Yi improved on Yan's method and now has a set of effective systems.

On weekdays, he attached great importance to military discipline. He not only strengthened the psychological education of soldiers, but also used psychological deterrence and other means to increase the obedience of soldiers.

During wartime, officers from all units were strictly required to personally lead the charge, and the previously fixed supervisory teams were replaced with rotational supervisory teams among the units. Those who disobeyed military orders were subject to punishment, ranging from minor penalties to immediate execution.

Beyond the battlefield, even more tactics were employed. These included implicating relatives, confiscating land, increasing rewards and pensions, reinforcing the nominal military nobility system, and eliminating long-standing military malpractices. The gradually implemented military nobility system, in particular, provided immense incentives and temptations to the soldiers, as the benefits were so numerous.

First, soldiers who received military nobility not only received rewards such as money, food, land, and houses, but also enjoyed the privilege of exemption from some corvée labor and taxes. They also had greater chances of promotion.

Secondly, military nobility could be inherited by direct relatives by downgrading, and could also be used to atone for crimes. For soldiers of humble origins who held military nobility, restrictions on food, clothing, travel, land ownership limits, marriage, funerals, etc. were also gradually relaxed.

As a result, obtaining military rank became an important way for many people to improve their social status, or even the only way, so naturally everyone flocked to it.

In reality, many military nobility benefits already existed, but various factions mostly just paid lip service to them, rarely implementing them seriously, or only targeting certain individuals. Yan Yi simply refined them further and, despite immense pressure, rigorously implemented them.

This point alone won the approval of almost all soldiers.

The soldiers were fighting for themselves and were also willing to fight for Yan Yi.

This can be seen from their brave performance on the battlefield.

In less than two quarters of an hour, the attacking soldiers began to climb the city wall one after another and occupied several battlements.

Zhong Jin was horrified upon hearing the news. He led his personal guards and hurried back from the north city. While commanding the defense, he shouted at the top of his lungs, "Hurry to the city and gather all men over the age of fifteen to defend it!"

His personal guards were the elite soldiers left behind by Zhu Zhi. After fighting desperately, they barely intercepted the enemy soldiers who attacked the city wall in a small area, but they were never able to drive them down the city wall.

Seeing this, Chen Gan personally went up to the city wall to fight. Fan Yi was not to be outdone and led his men to launch a fierce attack from another section of the city wall that was left undefended.

On the city wall, soldiers fell like raindrops, and soon other soldiers rushed up.

Yan Yi gazed at the gruesome battlefield, listening to the soldiers' screams, his palms gradually soaked with sweat. Suddenly, a cavalryman came galloping over with a report: "My Lord, the Sima of Wei has been killed!"

The Sima of Wei refers to Wei Kuan. He is not the first general to be killed in battle. Up to now, the number of generals killed or wounded in Yan Yi’s army has reached six or seven.

Without thinking, Yan Yi took out a token from his waist bag and handed it to Li Chou beside him: "Hurry to Nancheng and replace Wei Kuan!"

Li Chou nodded, took the token, mounted his warhorse, and galloped towards the south city.

Yan Yi climbed onto the tower carriage and felt a little relieved when he saw more and more soldiers rushing up the city wall.

However, at this moment, the reinforcements hastily gathered in the city and some soldiers from the north city arrived one after another and managed to stabilize the front line.

The corpses on the city wall had almost piled up to the height of the parapets, and the soldiers on both sides stepped on the piles of corpses and fought in a group.

Yan Yi's face turned pale. He knew that it wouldn't be long before his army would capture West City, but during this time, casualties would inevitably increase significantly.

Suddenly, a blaze erupted from the other side of the wall, shouts rang out, and over a thousand hardy defenders, weapons in hand, charged up the wall with murderous intent.

Zhong Jin was overjoyed when he saw this and shouted, "Ziyuan, come and help me!"

Yan Yi, who was sitting in the building carriage, also showed a hint of joy and clenched his fist, saying, "The big thing is settled!"

(End of this chapter)