My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 106 I remember there was a water fort here
Zhuge Jin was pleasantly surprised when he heard Gan Ning's achievements, but also worried that it would be difficult to reward him. Fortunately, after listening to Gan Ning's report, he found that they were all about burning and looting, and there seemed to be no explicit mention of enemy casualties.

Out of caution, Zhuge Jin asked this question specifically.

Gan Ning put away his initial excitement and seemed to be "talking about something irrelevant". He responded vaguely:

"We probably killed or wounded about 1,000 or 2,000 enemy soldiers... It was still dark on the river, so we couldn't capture the enemy's ships or kill them, so it's hard to count the number."

Zhuge Jin did not pour cold water on the situation, but nodded secretly, knowing that most likely only a thousand people were killed or injured.

But this fits the situation. It was a sneak attack before dawn, and most of the enemy sailors did not live on the ship.

The fact that burning ships, burning water forts and robbing food was so successful must have been because the enemy's frontline soldiers were few in number. It would have been abnormal to kill a large number of them.

Of course, being able to burn so many large ships and intercept military rations was also a great achievement. But robbing rations was not part of Zhuge Jin's plan. Zhuge Jin could solve the problem by rewarding Gan Ning with cash. After the Lujiang Campaign was completely over and he had accumulated enough merits in various aspects, he would consider promoting Gan Ning.

After Zhuge Jin figured out how to reward, he decided:
"Xingba's achievements in this battle are indeed outstanding, and he deserves a generous reward. However, it is also thanks to his good planning and scouting. This kind of opportunity to take advantage of the enemy's lack of knowledge and launch a surprise attack only happens once in the entire war.

The grain robbery was not planned, so it is not appropriate to reward them with official positions, otherwise the generals will be greedy for merit and advance recklessly in the future. However, the grain robbery gains cannot be ignored. How about this, half of the intercepted military rations will be allocated to your unit, and the remaining half will be handed over as military supplies for the entire army.

Of course, the subsequent daily military expenses of Jinfan Battalion will still be paid from the public treasury. Xingba is willing to keep the half of the money for his troops to eat, or to exchange it for copper coins immediately, but for the time being, he can only buy it at half price without limit.

The promotion of officials will be handled uniformly after the Lujiang Campaign is over and the merits of each unit are verified. "

Gan Ning had just arrived, so he was promoted from military commander to captain, so it was reasonable to give him some benefits. But the next level was the lieutenant, and Guan Yu was only a lieutenant now. Zhuge Jin could almost imagine that by the end of the Lujiang Campaign, Gan Ning's official position might temporarily be higher than Zhao Yun or even Zhang Fei.

There was no other way, because Liu Bei started his career in Jianghuai in this life. There were many naval battles in the south, and generals who were strong on the water were more likely to make achievements and be promoted quickly in the short term. Zhang Fei was mainly blamed for his failure in Xiapi last year, and he had not had the opportunity to take charge for a long time, so he would definitely be in a slump for a while.

Fortunately, after Gan Ning heard Zhuge Jin's reward decision, he didn't think it was inappropriate.

In order to enforce military orders, it is impossible to give promotions for those who respond to unexpected emergencies. The only way is to give a share of the spoils and monetary rewards. This is the way to govern the army.

This way, the priorities are clearly distinguished, and it can also ensure that when the generals encounter opportunities to respond flexibly in the future, they will prioritize completing the main goal instead of being blinded by it.

Zhuge Jin bought the extra grain allocated to Gan Ning's troops at half price, and Gan Ning did not think it was a price cut. After all, it was an unlimited guarantee and must be much lower than the market price.

Moreover, this was unexpected wealth for Gan Ning, and his mentality was like "selling stolen goods". There is no thief in the world who expects to sell them at the original price when selling stolen goods.

It just so happened that Zhuge Jin had been operating the Poyang Copper Mine in the past few months and had produced a lot of it. He also had unspent money from smelting the bronze statue, so he took out tens of thousands of coins and bought back Gan Ning's portion of the military rations.

After dealing with the internal problems, Zhuge Jin ordered: "Although we won this battle, we should not be careless. Our army burned a lot of ships and looted a lot of food, but not many people were killed. Liu Xun and Qiao Rui still have the strength to fight.

The impact of food shortage will not be felt overnight. Liu Xun can at least fight us for half a month. As for the shortage of large ships, they will exchange a large number of boats for battle. We must make a big fanfare to let the enemy know that we are in Chungu, and lure them to a decisive battle. Only after we hurt them again can we ensure complete peace along the Yangtze River."

Gan Ning nodded and agreed with Zhuge Jin's statement, but he was not worried: "The enemy has lost too many large ships. If they rely on small boats, they will definitely not be a match for our elite troops. When fighting on a large river, the quality of the warships is more important than the number of people."

Zhuge Jin: "Don't be too arrogant. Ziyi and Yunchang will attack Wuhu in the next few days. You have to delay them for at least three to five days, or even seven to eight days. Once Ziyi and Yunchang can join forces with us, Liu Xun will naturally not be a concern.

Don't be idle these few days. All the warships that are not on any mission can be slightly modified and equipped with some weapons. Before this battle, I expected that fire attacks would most likely severely damage the enemy's large ships.

Therefore, the subsequent battles will mostly be in the form of our few soldiers and large ships, while the enemy has many soldiers and small ships. I have specially thought of several simple modifications that are very suitable for naval warfare against a large number of small boats. Xingba must continue to practice with them. "

"I will follow your orders!" Gan Ning has become accustomed to carrying out orders as he is told. This inspiration passes through his brain and directly mobilizes his muscles to execute it, and it is so smooth that it leaves no trace. It is really exciting.

……

After Gan Ning left the battlefield, the defeated Qiao Rui's troops also returned to Ruxukou in a dire straits.

Qiao Rui suffered no other injuries throughout the journey, except for a wound he had inflicted when he picked up an enemy arrow. His subordinates had bandaged the wound for him on the way back.

This efficiency is just like preparing the gauze bandage first and then getting injured.

However, although physical pain is easy to heal, mental anxiety is difficult to cure, because Qiao Rui soon realized a problem - he did not know the identity of the enemy until the moment he gave up the pursuit after being defeated!

It was such a great humiliation. Our ships were burned, our food supplies were robbed, and we were beaten during the pursuit. We suffered three losses in a row, and we didn't even know whose fault it was.

If I go back, how can I explain this to General Liu? I can't even get my confession together.

When Qiao Rui was anxious, he suddenly noticed Qu Junhou who had just helped him to control the situation.

This man's name was Xu San. He was the cousin of Xu Qian, a Chaohu thief whom he had just recruited two months ago. He was also the middleman responsible for liaison between Xu Qian and Qiao Rui.

As mentioned earlier, before Liu Xun sent troops to Guangling last year, he persuaded Liu Ye to surrender Zhang Duo, one of the three major pirates in Lujiang.

In the Chaohu Basin of Lujiang County, there were three major pirates, Zheng Bao, Zhang Duo, and Xu Qian, who wreaked havoc on Chaohu, Feishui, and the Yangtze River. After Zheng Bao was killed by Liu Ye in a surprise attack, his followers split into two, one followed Liu Xun last year, and the other followed Xu Qian to continue stealing, and was just recruited by Qiao Rui this year.

The price Qiao Rui offered was also higher than the one Liu Xun offered last year. On the one hand, he knew Xu Qian was more unruly than Zhang Duo, and if the price was too low, he would not come. Otherwise, he would have gone with Liu Xun last year, so why wait until now?

On the other hand, when Qiao Rui started recruiting, although it was still more than a month before Yuan Shu proclaimed himself emperor, it was already an open secret among the senior officials of Yuan's army that "the lord would soon become emperor." Qiao Rui also knew that once the lord proclaimed himself emperor, he would be transferred to Lujiang to support Liu Xun and strengthen the front-line combat power of the Yangtze River.

Qiao Rui himself was not a naval commander, so he had to strengthen his naval warfare capabilities, so he lured Xu Qian with a much higher official position than last year. Fortunately, he also knew that the official position would eventually be fulfilled, because once Yuan Shu became emperor, everyone's official position would be increased. Qiao Rui just made the promise in advance. A small number of the naval soldiers chasing the enemy today were originally Xu Qian's subordinates. Qiao Rui knew that these people were familiar with the surrounding situation, so he called Xu San to discuss secretly:

"Xu San, you performed well today, very bravely. When I get back, I will promote you to the rank of military commander - below the rank of captain. I can make my own decision without asking for permission."

When Xu San heard that he was going to be promoted, he hurriedly thanked him and thought to himself: Helping the general to cover up the truth about his injury was indeed a good deal, and I got a promotion.

After winning the hearts of the people, Qiao Rui spoke openly, but he kept his voice low to ensure that others could not hear: "I am really ashamed to say that I have been chasing for a long time today and returned with injuries. I don't even know where the enemy troops are. You have been in Ruxu for a long time. Do you have any clues? Could it be that Liu Bei is coming to attack?"

Xu San couldn't help but feel a trace of contempt in his heart, wondering how this man became a general? After being beaten so badly, he didn't even know who the enemy was.

However, Xu San didn't know who Yuan Shu had offended or what hostile forces there were. He could only analyze the surrounding geographical environment. After thinking for a while, he said:
"It can't be Liu Bei, right? Liu Bei is probably 400 miles away from here by water, and he is sailing upstream along the Yangtze River. How could he get so far? Speaking of the other side of Ruxukou, there were only two forces.

The closest one is the commander Zu Lang of Jing County, and a little further away is Sun Ce of Wuhu and Niuzhu. Upstream is Zhuge Xuan of Chaisang and Pengze, but I heard that Zhuge Xuan seems to have had a conflict with Zu Lang of Shanyue in recent days, and it seems that there have been flag changes in Chungu, but the details are not clear. "

Qiao Rui's face became more and more ugly. He had just arrived in Ruxukou and did not have a deep understanding of the surroundings. He only knew vaguely that there were friendly forces around him.

After hearing this, he thought to himself that Zu Lang was a Shanyue bandit and could not possibly have such a strong force in the Yangtze River. His soldiers did not even have large ships. And Sun Ce was even less likely to attack him. Although Zhuge Xuan and Sun Ce were both "former officials of Yuan Shu", Sun Ce's loyalty should be relatively higher.

Moreover, Qiao Rui had been familiar with Sun Ce when he just crossed the river three years ago. At that time, Sun Ce was of low status and Qiao Rui was his superior.

Then it can only be Zhuge Xuan.

Qiao Rui hesitated for a moment, still worried about wrongly accusing a good person, but in the end he had no choice. In order to have an explanation, he gave the following instructions:

"The enemy who attacked in this battle was Liu Yao's surrendered generals who were taken in by Zhuge's family, such as Taishi Ci. It is said that two months ago, Liu Yao lost Dantu and tried to seek refuge in Yuzhang, but then died of illness.

The Zhuge family must have wanted to annex the last remnants of Liu Yao, so they were using each other. Taishi Ci and others were resentful of Your Majesty, so they took the initiative to drag the Zhuge family into this. But no matter what, the Zhuge family must have been dragged into this by Taishi Ci, and they actually did such a treacherous thing!
After we return, we will report this to the emperor. Whether to forgive the Zhuge family is up to His Majesty. It has nothing to do with us. We are only responsible for fighting! If Zhuge Xuan is willing to behead Taishi Ci and send him to His Majesty to apologize, His Majesty may consider pardoning the Zhuge family."

Qiao Rui made up a set of reasons and excuses in his mind, which made sense politically, and decided to confess like this when he returned.

If he directly said that it was the Zhuge family's fault, he would have a hard time explaining it if a good person was wrongly accused. But there would be no problem if he dragged Taishi Ci into it.

On the one hand, it can be said that the Zhuge family really had ambitions and rebelled after swallowing up the remnants of Liu Yao. On the other hand, it can be said that Taishi Ci overthrew his superiors and acted alone, and he was able to satisfy both ends.

……

Qiao Rui pursued Gan Ning and did not return until dawn. The return journey was against the wind and the current, so the speed was naturally much slower. It was estimated that he would not be able to return to the camp until noon.

According to the original agreement, it was obviously too late to welcome the arrival of Liu Xun's main force.

Liu Xun was very punctual and arrived at exactly 9:00 p.m. When there were only ten miles left to Ruxukou, he asked the lookout to pay attention to the scouts and not to miss the opportunity to reef the sails and slow down.

After all, the two places are hundreds of miles apart, and Liu Xun rarely comes to Ruxukou, so it is easy for him to misjudge the terrain.

"General, according to the route, we should be almost there. There is a river mouth ahead, most likely the Rushu River. There should be no other rivers along the way, and it should be about thirty to fifty feet wide..."

The lookout observed again and again but did not see any landmark terrain, so he finally relied on the river to confirm it. However, he still felt uneasy and had to report this.

After hearing these ambiguous words, Liu Xun was originally angry. He climbed up to the lookout to observe himself, and then he became suspicious.

"Looking at the width of the river, it should be the Ruxu River... But I remember that Ruxukou was a water fortress! There is also a dock town on the river bank outside, why does it look so flat? Never mind, let the fleet take down the sails and pull over!"

Because it was at least seven or eight miles away, he couldn't see clearly, but it was not his fault.

The fleet sailed another three or four miles forward, and the lookout was finally able to confirm that he had not neglected his duty. He shouted, "I'm not mistaken, it is indeed Ruxukou. Look, there is still smoke coming out of there. The water fort must have been burned!"

When Liu Xun heard this, his eyes went dark and he almost wanted to kill the lookout who was talking nonsense with a knife. However, he couldn't help but squint his eyes and stare at him carefully for a while before confirming that what he said was true.

But he was still filled with anger, and he gave the lookout a stern warning: "Why are you shouting so loudly? Are you trying to disrupt our army's morale? If you shout again next time, I will put you to military punishment!"

The lookout was beaten so hard that he saw stars and was dizzy for a long time. He didn't realize why he was beaten so badly when he had done nothing wrong.

Liu Xun was extremely anxious and ordered the fleet to approach quickly. When they got closer, the scene became more shocking. Countless large ships were burned black, stranded and sunk in the river mouth, blocking the waterway. The berths for civilian ships along the Yangtze River were even more severely damaged.

The fire also burned down the wooden structures of the water fort's walls and opening gates, leaving only some rammed earth and stone wall remnants. No wonder you can't see the water fort from a distance.

"Where is Qiao Rui! Let him come out to see me!" Liu Xun was furious and started screaming hysterically as soon as he got ashore.

Fortunately, the lieutenant Xu Qian who was left in the water fort by Qiao Rui came over immediately and helped to explain the situation:
"General Liu, calm down! Before dawn today, the enemy disguised their flags to deceive our camp, and then set fire and looted. Our army received the news of your arrival in advance, so we neglected to take precautions and fell into the trap! But General Qiao has personally led his troops to chase and kill them bravely, and they will probably be back soon!"

Qiao Rui also cooperated. Just as Xu Qian was trying to stabilize Liu Xun, several sentries from Qiao Rui’s army on the only remaining wooden watchtower that had not been burned down in the water fort shouted, “General Qiao is back after chasing the enemy!”

Liu Xun hurriedly pushed aside Qiao Rui's troops and rushed to the watchtower to look out. Seeing that Qiao Rui's flag was indeed returning slowly from downstream, he suppressed his anger and prepared to wait for Qiao Rui to arrive before settling the account in person.

"What a bunch of rubbish! How could they be ambushed so badly!"

(End of this chapter)