Tiger Owl

Chapter 76 Sending Troops to Lujiang
Huang Zu could accept the loss of Lujiang County, but he absolutely could not accept the occupation of Jiangxia County. He had controlled Jiangxia County for eighteen years, and every inch of Jiangxia County had become part of his flesh and blood. Moreover, Gan Ning had cut off thirty percent of his flesh and blood with one stroke. How could he bear it?
Let alone the fact that Gan Ning only had Cao Cao's support, even if Gan Ning were Cao Cao's son, Huang Zu would still fight him to the death and tear him to pieces to vent his anger.

Huang Zu's son Huang She's disastrous raid on E County made him realize a reality: small-scale skirmishes would no longer be enough to reclaim the southern part of Jiangxia County; only a large-scale military offensive, or even a direct attack on Chaisang or Pengze, would be effective.

On the east bank of the Han River estuary north of the Yangtze River, there is a large city called Queyue City, which is shaped like a crescent moon, tall and sturdy, easy to defend and difficult to attack. It is home to an army of 50,000.

Outside the city, along the riverbank, was a massive naval stronghold with tens of thousands of warships moored. Queyue City and the water stronghold were Huang Zu's lair, which was what Wei Yan referred to as Huang Zu's coffin capital.

At this time, Huang Zu was mobilizing his troops and actively preparing for war, ready to launch a major attack on Chaisang and Yuzhang County.

However, such a large-scale war cannot be started on a whim. It requires the transportation of a large amount of food and supplies. Huang Zu even made an unprecedented request for help from Liu Biao, who readily agreed, saying that he would send troops to support Huang Zu if the situation became critical.

After all, Gan Ning had seized a large amount of money and grain that Liu Biao had transported from Changsha in E County, which also infringed on Liu Biao's interests.

Huang Zu was actively preparing for war, unaware that Gan Ning and Sun Quan had joined forces to launch a joint offensive against Lujiang County.

Zhou Yu led 20,000 troops in hundreds of warships from Linhu County in the east into Lujiang County, heading straight for his hometown of Shu County, where Huang Zu's 6,000 troops were stationed.

Gan Ning also led 20,000 troops from Pengze eastward, with the target being Wankou and Wanxian, where Huang Zu's nephew Huang Yuan led 5,000 troops to garrison.

When Huang Zu was young, he had the support of his family, which enabled him to barely become a regional warlord. He firmly held Jiangxia County in his hands and even took over half of Jingling County, which can be considered as some achievement.

But now that he is old, Huang Zu is becoming increasingly senile and incompetent. He cannot tolerate any dissenting opinions. The killing of the scholar Mi Heng is a typical example. Mi Heng scolded him for being old and senile, and Huang Zu killed Mi Heng in a fit of rage, which made scholars all over the world despise him, and the scholars around him left him one after another.

Huang Zu's decline began with the killing of Mi Heng, which thoroughly offended the literati.

Many generals and scholars advised him against attacking Lujiang County, saying that with Sun Quan and Gan Ning keeping an eye on Lujiang County from both sides, it would be easy for them to be attacked from both sides.

Even his son Huang She tried to persuade him, but Huang Zu wouldn't listen and went his own way. Although he temporarily captured Lujiang County, he also lost the southern part of Jiangxia County.

Gan Ning and Sun Quan have now joined forces to seize Lujiang County, but Huang Zu is completely unaware of this.

Gan Ning led 300 large ships to be the first to arrive at Wankou, which had not yet been rebuilt.

Interestingly, after Huang Zu occupied Lujiang County, he continued the construction of Wankou from Jiangdong. Even so, the construction of Wankou City was only 60% complete.

Only the city walls were basically completed, but apart from that, the warehouses and barracks inside the city had not been started, the moat had not been dug, there was no drawbridge, the docks outside the city had not been built, and the canal leading into the city was only half dug, so naturally not a single ship could be seen.

The military town is about the size of a small county town. It's not a county town because it has no civilian residents; it's entirely occupied by the military. Currently, there are only one thousand troops stationed there.
Gan Ning waved his hand, and ten thousand soldiers began to disembark. Several soldiers ran forward and fired a message into the city with crossbow bolts.

The city's garrison commander was Zhang Shun, a captain. He stood on the city wall, coldly watching the overwhelming Yuzhang army rushing in. A soldier ran up to him and handed him a message, "Reporting to the general, this is a message that the enemy just shot onto the city wall!"

Zhang Shun took the letter without even reading it, tore it to shreds, and shouted, "All troops, prepare for battle!"

The surrounding generals were shocked. "Why doesn't the general read the letter?"

Zhang Shun said coldly, "Today is the day to serve our lord to the death. Even if we die in battle, we will make the enemy taste our power!"

The generals fell silent. One thousand men against twenty thousand—Zhang Shun was simply insane.

Zhang Shun then shouted, "Light the beacon fires to notify Wan County that the enemy is attacking!"

The beacon fire on the tower was lit, and another beacon tower thirty miles away was lit, notifying Wan County.

A thousand soldiers rushed up the city wall, holding bows, arrows and spears, looking nervously at the Yuzhang army below.

Huang Zu treated Zhang Shun very well. Zhang Shun's father, Zhang Yan, grew up with Huang Zu and they were old friends. Zhang Yan had been Huang Zu's granary official in charge of money and grain, and entrusted his wife and children to Huang Zu when he passed away.

Huang Zu had always treated Zhang Shun like a son, not only promoting him to the rank of colonel despite his previous privileges, but also personally handling the funeral arrangements when Zhang Shun's mother passed away two years prior. Huang Zu further promised that if Zhang Shun were to die in battle, he would raise Zhang Shun's son. It was these acts of kindness that made Zhang Shun utterly loyal to Huang Zu, with no thought of surrender whatsoever, preferring to die in battle to repay his lord's kindness.

However, not every lower-ranking general was loyal to Huang Zu. If Huang Zu had been more tactful, Ding Feng and Wei Yan would not have surrendered one after the other.

The city gate of Wankou was three zhang high, making it difficult to breach using siege ladders. Gan Ning ordered, "Use battering rams to break open the city gate!"

A massive battering ram, about five zhang long, appeared. It had handles, and one hundred soldiers held it up while another two hundred soldiers held up shields to protect it. From the air, it looked like a giant centipede.

Zhang Shun stood atop the city gate and shouted, "Prepare boulders and rolling logs! Once they get close to the city gate, smash them down hard!"

Several village chiefs behind him exchanged glances, then suddenly swarmed forward, pinned Zhang Shun to the ground, and tied him up with ropes. Zhang Shun struggled desperately, cursing, "You bunch of bastards, cowards! Let me go... Waaah! Waaah!"

His mouth was gagged. Twenty-odd guards tried to rush to his aid, but they were immediately surrounded by hundreds of soldiers. They were stabbed by spears and the guards screamed as they were stabbed to death.

Several village chiefs waved white flags and shouted, "We are willing to surrender! We are willing to surrender!"

Just as Gan Ning's army was about to attack the city, an unexpected incident occurred: a rebellion broke out inside Wankou City. A white flag was raised on the city wall, and then the gates opened. Several generals carried out Zhang Shun, who was bound like a rice dumpling, followed by a thousand soldiers who laid down their weapons and surrendered.

The disparity in troop strength between the two sides was too great, and not a single soldier was willing to fight to the death. They surrendered without hesitation, following their general.

Gan Ning immediately ordered Zhang Shun to be beheaded, and then appointed Zhang Tai, a general under Xu Sheng, as the garrison commander of Wankou, leading two thousand soldiers, including surrendered troops, to guard Wankou.

Gan Ning then led his fleet toward Wan County.

...........
The commander of Wan County was Huang Yuan, Huang Zu's nephew. He was a violent, cruel, and bloodthirsty man. Historically, Zhuge Liang wanted to kill Huang Yuan several times, but Liu Bei saved him each time. Liu Bei did not want to offend the Huang family in order to maintain the stability of Jingzhou and Xiangyang.

With the beacon fire lit, Huang Yuan learned that the enemy was launching a large-scale attack, but he did not know who the enemy was. However, Wan County only had four thousand garrison troops, plus newly recruited soldiers still in training, totaling no more than seven thousand men. Huang Yuan immediately sent several messages by pigeon to Huang Zu, urgently requesting reinforcements.

Two days later, Gan Ning's fleet arrived in Wan County.

Even before setting off, Gan Ning had discussed with his generals a plan to capture Wan County. They had captured Wan County before, although it was through a coordinated attack from within and without, but Gan Ning had already discovered the weaknesses in Wan County's defenses at that time.

The weakness of Wanxian's city defenses is its water gate. Cities in the Jiangnan region usually have a water gate, like Panmen in Suzhou. You can go and see it if you're interested.

The gates used in the water city were made of various materials and were not uniform. Capital cities like Jianye later used iron gates that were lowered from the top, but most county towns used wooden gates. Using iron gates was too extravagant. Some small counties even used wooden fences as gates.

The doors used in Wan County are made of wood, and since they are often soaked in water, the wood is quite rotten. These rotten wooden doors are best suited for battering rams.

Gan Ning prepared a specially made ramming ship for this purpose. The ramming ship was one of the warships of the Three Kingdoms. Its most distinctive feature was that it had a horn at the front. Therefore, its mission was to ram open the gates or wooden fences of the water fortress, hence the name ramming ship.

However, a normal pontoon boat is quite large, with long oars on both sides. Including the length of the oars, it is as wide as four or five zhang (approximately 10-15 meters).

The Caohe River in Wan County was only two zhang wide, so the Sumao boat obviously could not navigate in the Caohe River, nor could it be used to ram the water gate.

However… the word 'but' is the worst thing about everything.

A standard raft cannot navigate the canal, but a non-standard raft can be built!

Gan Ning prepared a non-standard, specially made raft. The hull was less than ten feet wide, with two three-foot-wide oars on each side. The entire raft was only sixteen feet wide at most, which was perfectly capable of navigating the two-foot-wide Cao River.

The bow of the ship was fitted with a large cast iron ram.

On the night of his arrival in Wan County, Gan Ning launched an attack on Wan County from Shuimen.

(End of this chapter)