Tiger Owl

Chapter 15 Crisis Strikes
Gan Ning's biggest crisis is not Huang Zu's revenge, as Huang Zu won't come so soon. His biggest crisis is Zhang Ying. Chaisang is too close to Zhang Ying, who is like a wolf, watching Chaisang, his prey, from not far away. Once he finds an opportunity, he will seize it firmly.

Gan Ning dared not stay in Nanchang County for long; once he succeeded, he immediately retreated north.

But Gan Ning was still a step too late. By this time, Zhang Ying had already led three thousand soldiers around Mount Lu and was at the gates of Chaisang.

Chaisang was originally Zhang Ying's territory, but it was taken over by Huang Zu. He couldn't afford to offend Huang Zu, so he had to swallow his anger. Now that Huang Zu has been driven away by Gan Ning, how could Zhang Ying possibly hand over Chaisang to Gan Ning?
If he can't afford to offend Huang Zu, why can't he offend a mere Jiang thief?

The smoke of war was still rising twenty miles away, and the city gates of Chaisang were already tightly closed.

Lu Su stood on the city wall, watching Zhang Ying's army a mile away. He quickly made a judgment: the enemy numbered around three thousand and did not carry siege weapons. They must be making siege weapons, so he would have at least a day.

Lu Su immediately said to Yang Jing, "Zhang Ying is cruel by nature. Once he breaks through the city, he will surely let his troops plunder. Everyone will be doomed. You should immediately take the yamen runners to call on the laborers to participate in the defense of the city and protect their homes. General Shen, you take a hundred soldiers and Chief Clerk Yang with you!"

Yang Jing was originally just a minor official in the granary, but Lu Su promoted him to chief clerk in the blink of an eye. Yang Jing was overjoyed and said, "I'll go and gather the men right away!"

Yang Jing hurriedly took Shen Mi away.

Lu Su then summoned Lou Fa and said, "Take two hundred soldiers to collect some supplies. First, oil, preferably turpentine, but actually wheat straw. Next, harpoons, then large stones and wood, the more the better."

"I'll go right away!"

Chaisang City quickly mobilized, with yamen runners banging gongs and shouting: "Zhang Ying is leading his army to attack! All men, stand up and defend your homes, your parents, wives, and children!"

The people of Chaisang all knew that Zhang Ying was cruel. If someone was even slightly behind on taxes, he would kidnap other people's wives or daughters and take them to Haihun County. Even if they were redeemed, they would be defiled beyond recognition. The people of Chaisang hated him to the core.

If Zhang Ying leads his army into the city, they will surely plunder and destroy Chaisang. Men in the city eagerly volunteered, taking hoes, harpoons, sticks and other weapons to the city walls to defend it.

When the people in the city heard that supplies were needed to defend the city, they donated millstones weighing dozens of kilograms, stone locks, stone benches, and sturdy pieces of wood from their homes. They also donated several thousand kilograms of oil. One oil shop even donated five hundred kilograms of turpentine and over a thousand kilograms of soybean oil in one go.

As for wheat straw, every household had some, and they all donated it, quickly accumulating tens of thousands of kilograms.

Even wealthy families were no exception. Under the leadership of the Yang family, those with money contributed money and those with grain, and their enthusiasm for resisting the enemy was unprecedented. By dusk, they had recruited more than 4,000 able-bodied men, 3,000 strings of cash, more than 1,000 shi of grain, and countless other supplies.

Young women were also mobilized to move supplies, cook for the soldiers defending the city, and carry wounded soldiers on stretchers.

With General Gan Ning absent, Lu Su took on the role of commander-in-chief of the city's defense without hesitation.

Zhang Ying stood on high ground, looking furiously at Chaisang City not far away.

Zhang Yingnian was about thirty-six or thirty-seven years old. He was tall and burly, with a face full of fleshy features, especially a scar running across half of his left cheek, which made him look particularly fierce.

Zhang Ying and Ze Rong were Liu Yao's trusted generals. When Liu Yao was defeated by Sun Ce, he fled to Yuzhang County with several thousand remnants of his army. Liu Yao appointed Zhang Ying as Left General, leading two thousand men to guard the area west of Pengli Lake, and Ze Rong as Right General, also leading two thousand men to guard the area east of Pengli Lake.

After Liu Yao's death, Zhang Ying and Zuo Rong were no longer bound by any constraints and became the two major warlords of Yuzhang Commandery.

Zhang Ying left in a hurry this time and did not bring any siege weapons. He originally wanted to launch a surprise attack on Chaisang, but Lu Su anticipated the enemy's move and sent people to set up a beacon tower 20 miles south of the city, which thwarted Zhang Ying's surprise attack plan.

"Go and cut down trees immediately, and make ladders and battering rams for me tonight!"

The soldiers searched everywhere for trees, felling and dragging large trees back to the camp. They worked through the night to make simple siege weapons.

There are only two types of siege weapons that can be easily made: a simple siege ladder and a battering ram, which are used to break open city gates.

It is called a simple siege ladder because it lacks a pair of fine iron hooks at the front end. The hooks can be directly hooked onto the city wall, making it difficult for the defending soldiers to overturn the ladder.

Overnight, Zhang Ying's army produced more than sixty simple siege suits.

At the fourth watch, Zhang Xi, who had gone to deliver the message, climbed down the rope from the north city wall and ran towards the Yangtze River dock. Lu Su watched his back as he walked away and soon disappeared into the night.

…………

As dawn broke, three thousand troops began to assemble outside the south city. Five hundred soldiers and two thousand able-bodied civilians also gathered on the south city wall, each holding a steel fork, ready for battle.

The remaining able-bodied civilians dispersed to guard the other three city walls, preventing small groups of enemy troops from launching sneak attacks. "Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!"

As the war drums sounded below the city, Zhang Ying led three thousand troops to charge forward like a tidal wave.

The defending soldiers had no bows and arrows and could only watch helplessly as the enemy charged forward.

"Get the boulders and logs ready! Don't be afraid, everyone. We will definitely defeat the enemy!"

Lu Su, dressed in leather armor and holding a long spear, shouted loudly back and forth, boosting the morale of the defending troops.

"Our reinforcements will arrive soon. Everyone, cheer up and defeat the enemy's attack!"

Zhang Ying, noticing that no arrows were being fired from the city wall, excitedly shouted, "There are no arrows on the city wall! Charge up!"

"Kill!"

Three thousand soldiers surged forward like a tidal wave, crossed the moat by using planks, and placed ladders on the city walls. Countless soldiers leaped up and quickly climbed upwards.

Lu Su shouted, "Throw stones and logs at it!"

The soldiers picked up various stone tools weighing dozens of kilograms and hurled them downwards. One after another, stone mills and stone benches fell from the sky, crashing heavily onto the heads and bodies of the attacking soldiers. The soldiers were unable to dodge in time and were smashed, their bones broken and tendons snapped. They screamed and fell off the ladders.

In an instant, hundreds of soldiers were hit and fell to the ground. Zhang Ying was furious and shouted, "Shoot with arrows!"

A thousand soldiers below the city drew their bows and unleashed a barrage of arrows at the city walls. The soldiers had leather armor to protect them from the arrows, but the civilians who came to their aid had no armor and were struck by the arrows, falling to the ground screaming in agony.

Lu Su shouted anxiously, "People, don't go near the city wall! Use harpoons to spear the ladders out!"

The prepared harpoons began to come in handy; the soldiers used the harpoons to hold the two ends of the ladder and pushed it outwards with all their might.

The makeshift siege ladder, lacking iron hooks, was immediately pushed outwards by harpoons. As the ladder gradually moved away from the city wall, the soldiers on the city wall shouted in unison and pushed with all their might. Amidst screams, the ladder and a string of soldiers were overturned and fell heavily to the ground or into the moat.

Some soldiers pushed the siege ladders to the side, causing them to lose their balance and fall over. In the blink of an eye, more than 30 siege ladders were overturned by the defending soldiers, and more than 300 attacking soldiers were injured.

"Set it on fire!" Lu Su shouted, seizing the opportunity.

The defending soldiers were prepared. They immediately threw down bundles of wheat straw from the city wall, followed by torches. The wheat straw was coated with grease and burned very quickly, instantly setting the area below the city ablaze.

Countless soldiers below the city were burned and screamed in agony, their bodies engulfed in flames as they jumped into the moat.

Zhang Ying was dumbfounded. Seeing that the city walls were already engulfed in flames, and that there was no longer any chance to attack, he could only bitterly order, "Withdraw the troops!"

"Dang! Dang! Dang! Dang!"

As the retreat gong sounded, more than 2,500 attacking soldiers withdrew like a tide, and cheers erupted from the city walls.

In the first attack, Zhang Ying's soldiers suffered nearly 500 casualties, including more than 120 killed in action and more than 360 wounded, either from falls or burns.

More than eighty people were killed or wounded on the city wall, almost all of them civilians who were hit by arrows. Among them, twenty-seven people were unfortunately shot in vital areas and died.

Seeing that the enemy had retreated to within a mile, Lu Su immediately ordered his soldiers to climb rope ladders down the city to collect stones. They also used ropes to lower many baskets and lift up the huge stones one basket at a time. They only had a little over a thousand huge stones in total, and they used more than four hundred of them at once, so they had to collect them in time.

"Chief Clerk Lu, we've also managed to get over thirty bows and arrows!"

Shen Mi led a dozen soldiers to climb up the city wall, each carrying several bows and arrows.

Lu Su was overjoyed, realizing that the thirty-odd bows and arrows could prove useful in a critical moment.

After resting for half an hour, Zhang Ying launched another attack on Chaisang City. This time, instead of sending out siege ladders, he sent out a huge battering ram.

(End of this chapter)