Three Kingdoms: Jiangdong is no longer a rat

Chapter 176 Escape
After Zhou Ang received the secret letter from his brother, he summoned his clansmen and went to Ouhai Pavilion, ten miles east of Shanyin City, in the name of family sacrifice.

Zhou Ang, courtesy name Yixiu, was thirty-three years old. He stood over eight feet tall, with a massive build. His eyes were fierce beneath his thick eyebrows, and his short beard, like a halberd, only added to his battlefield aura.

Years of military service have made his skin dark and rough, and there is an arrow scar on his forehead that runs diagonally to the tip of his eyebrow, which is the scar left from the battle of Yangcheng in the past.

Yan Yi didn't know much about Zhou Ang's life and deeds, and thought he was just a bonus to recruit Zhou Xin. But in fact, Zhou Ang's leadership ability far surpassed Zhou Xin's.

If Zhou Ang had not left the Three Kingdoms stage early and was not in the mainstream camp, his leadership ability and reputation would definitely have given him a place in Jiangdong. He was a person of the same level as Xu Sheng.

Zhou Ang's most representative battle was the Battle of Yangcheng.

This battle was a fight between brothers Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu, which took place four years ago.

At that time, Yuan Shu ordered Sun Jian to lead troops to capture Yangcheng in Yuzhou, which directly infringed on Yuan Shao's interests in Hebei. So Yuan Shao appointed Zhou Ang as the chief general and led troops to attack Yangcheng.

Soon after Zhou Ang led his army to Yangcheng, he repelled Sun Jian and brought Yangcheng into Yuan Shao's sphere of influence.

Upon hearing the news, Yuan Shu was furious and joined forces with Gongsun Zan, ordering Sun Jian and Gongsun Zan's cousin Gongsun Yue to lead troops to attack Yangcheng again.

However, not only did Sun Jian and Gongsun Yue fail to recapture Yangcheng, Gongsun Yue himself was shot to death by arrows from Zhou Ang's subordinates.

This battle took place before the rise of Cao, Liu and Sun, so it was not well-known in later generations, but at that time, it was a battle that shocked the two states of Yu and Ji.

The death of Gongsun Yue also indirectly prompted Gongsun Zan to personally lead his troops to attack Yuan Shao, which is the very famous Battle of Jie Bridge in the novel.

However, the Battle of Yangcheng ended with Yuan Shu's victory, and this result greatly weakened Zhou Ang's brilliance in the early stage of the Battle of Yangcheng.

It is said that in Shanyin, Kuaiji, Zhou Ang led his people to Ouhai Pavilion and began to solemnly worship their ancestors.

The ancients viewed death as life, and ancestor worship was prevalent. During the Shang and Zhou dynasties, temple sacrifices were the primary method. However, by the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, temple sacrifices had gradually shifted to tomb sacrifices, becoming a custom that has been passed down to later generations.

In China, ancestor worship is a very solemn matter, and no one would joke about it. Therefore, although the Zhou family's trip to Ouhai to worship their ancestors attracted some attention, it did not arouse suspicion.

Zhou Ang and Zhou Yu led their tribesmen in offering ancestral sacrifices, both to cover up their escape from Kuaiji and out of mourning before leaving. They knew they might not be able to return to Kuaiji for a long time.

The Zhou brothers were not worried about the safety of their ancestral tombs. After all, Wang Lang was a famous scholar of his time, and even if he was angry, he would not touch the Zhou family's ancestral tombs.

This ancestor worship ceremony lasted for a long time and only ended when night fell.

Zhou Ang ordered his clansmen to rest at Ouhai Pavilion on the grounds that it was inconvenient to travel late at night.

Until this point, most of the Zhou clan members still did not know that they were about to leave Kuaiji.

At four quarters past midnight the next morning, Zhou Ang ordered his men to wake up his tribesmen one by one, strictly forbidding anyone to ask questions or make any noise. They then quietly left Ouhai Pavilion and headed towards the coast.

What Zhou Ang didn't know was that in the dark night, several pairs of hawk-like eyes were staring at their every move.

These people are all Xu Jing's confidants.

What is strange is that they did not report Zhou's escape, but just watched the Zhou family leave with an expressionless face and recorded various details of their departure.

This was of course Xu Jing's instruction. After Xu Jing learned that the Zhou family had escaped, he immediately wrote a letter to Yan Yi to take credit for it, boasting about the various ways he had covered up and protected the Zhou family during their escape.

He handed the letter to his confidant and instructed, "Hurry to Qiantang. If anyone from the Zhou clan shows up in Qiantang, immediately give this letter to the Young Master of the Yan clan. If not, destroy it immediately."

Xu Jing's success under numerous lords was well-deserved. He possessed a keen sense of smell, and his guiding principle was to never stand in danger, never offend anyone easily, and to cultivate connections to maintain a safe retreat.

While he was writing furiously at his desk, Zhou Ang had already led his people to a secluded coast somewhere in Qiantang Bay and ordered them to light all the remaining torches.

Soon, more than ten small boats came over and divided into three groups, taking the Zhou clan members to the five fighting ships on the sea not far away.

The Zhou clan members were completely confused. Where are we? Where are we going?
When they learned that their entire family was about to move to Qiantang, many people beat their chests and cried. A few people cried because they were leaving their hometown, while most people cried because they
"Uncle, my family still has two houses, eleven acres of good farmland, a cow, two pigs, and dozens of chickens and ducks. Now they're all gone. How are we going to live in Qiantang?"

"Yixiu, I've already proposed to the Huang family for Xian'er's hand in marriage. I've already sent the betrothal gifts, and the wedding will be held in two months. You have to give me an explanation!"

Facing the crowd's complaints, Zhou Ang said in a low voice, "Brother has already made arrangements. Young Master Yan will compensate our clan double. What are you arguing about?"

The noise and complaints around suddenly disappeared.

The five fighting ships broke through the waves, first sailing slowly for an hour in the dangerous waters far from the coast, then heading for the safer offshore route and speeding towards Qiantang.

Just when they were about to sail out of the Yongxing waters, they were unfortunately discovered by a patrol fleet of the Kuaiji Army.

This patrol fleet consisted of five fighting ships and ten warships, and the commander was Wei Xiao, the Henghai Sima of the Kuaiji Navy.

Because nighttime navigation was difficult, visibility was obstructed, and the sea was often covered with mist, which made flag signals and drum signals ineffective, the Kuaiji Navy strictly prohibited other ships from sailing at night.

Even ships with permission to sail at night must fly two large white and yellow flags and light a sufficient number of lights. If they encounter a patrol boat on the way, they must immediately stop and be inspected.

Therefore, when Wei Xiao discovered these five sneaky fighting ships, he immediately ordered a pursuit without any hesitation.

Anyone who violates the order to sail at night will be killed without mercy!

The five fighting ships Zhou Ang was on had a large number of crew members and were moving at a slow speed, and were gradually being approached by the patrol fleet.

The Zhou clan members on the boat were terrified and their faces turned pale.

Wei Xiao saw the chaotic crowd in the firelight and heard faint exclamations coming from the front. A sinister smile played on his face: "Prepare the rockets!"

As his ship lit up its rockets, the soldiers on other ships also put rockets on their bowstrings.

Whizzing!

The first round of rockets was fired quickly, but due to the headwind, they fell into the sea more than a hundred steps away from the enemy ship and did not hit the target.

Wei Xiao had already tested his army's effective firing range and ordered, "After forty minutes, launch the second round of shooting!"

(End of this chapter)