My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 123: Easily Conquering Chu County
On the night of September 15th, on the surface of the Yangtze River dozens of miles upstream of Guangling.

Three fighting warships and dozens of warships, relying on the faint light of the full moon, maintained an orderly formation and sailed upstream towards Tangyi County at the mouth of the Tushui River.

Zhang Fei, who was not good at naval battles, stood on the bow of the largest warship, looked up at the bright moon in the sky, and felt secretly grateful in his heart.

When preparing for war a while ago, Zhang Fei only gathered a few troops and warships and immediately wanted to launch an offensive.

But Mr. Zhuge, despite his busy schedule, repeatedly took time out to advise him to be cautious, saying that haste makes waste and he had to wait until today.

At this moment, Zhang Fei finally understood why - on the river, warships were not allowed to light torches and had to sail in the dark. They had to wait for a full moon night to take into account the formation and order.

If the attack was launched on the night of the waxing moon and the soldiers were not proficient in boat handling, the formation would either be scattered and unable to arrive at the battlefield at the same time, or the ships would be too crowded and prone to collision and loss.

How could it be like now, neither fast nor slow, yet hidden enough.

Just after the hour of Chou, the fleet had already entered the mouth of the Tu Shui River.

Tangyi County is still a few miles away from the river mouth, but there is a dock town outside the city, directly on the river bank. There is no organized garrison in the town, only a beacon tower at the river mouth with a watchtower on top.

Zhang Fei was too lazy to cover up and directly ordered his generals according to the plan to lead a fighting ship and ten warships to land at the dock, first take down the beacon tower and then take down the town.

Even though the visibility was poor at night, by this time, the Yuan army soldiers on the beacon tower finally discovered the situation and immediately began to roar warnings and light beacons.

It's a pity that they are too few in number, only a few dozen, and most of them are still sleeping. There are only seven or eight people who are on duty and on lookout. This small number of people is simply unable to organize any resistance.

As soon as the beacon fire was lit, Zhang Fei's soldiers were almost at the beacon tower. The night watchmen only had time to shoot three or five arrows. Seeing countless enemies rushing in the darkness in the distance, they chose to abandon the tower and flee without any hesitation.

Even so, more than 20 soldiers who had just woken up were blocked under the beacon tower and became prisoners because they were too slow. Seeing that the enemy, who were at least dozens of times their number, surrounded them, these people knew the situation very well and had no intention of taking up arms to resist.

In the darkness, soldiers and horses were everywhere, fires were flashing, and the people in the dock town finally knew that soldiers were coming. But most of the people just numbly blocked their doors and didn't think of running away.

Perhaps the people under Yuan Shu's rule no longer cared. It was the same no matter who ruled them. No matter who conquered Yuan Shu's territory, their lives would not be any worse.

During this foreplay, Zhang Fei never showed up, because this was also part of the military advisor's plan.

Only one of Zhang Fei's military commanders appeared in front of the group of beacon tower captives, and then said in a prearranged manner:
"We are under the command of General Sun Taoni! When our general learned that the traitor Yuan had rebelled against the Han Dynasty and established himself as the emperor, he had already drawn a clear line with this traitor and accepted the imperial court's appointment! The imperial court ordered us to join forces with Liu Bei to suppress the rebellion!
"Since my general has a past relationship with your generals Liu and Qiao, those who surrender quickly will be pardoned! Who is the leader among you? If you don't want to die, go to Tangyi County to persuade them to surrender. If you succeed, you will be promoted two levels!"

As soon as these words were spoken, a garrison commander and two team leaders among the captives immediately expressed their willingness to go and persuade them, and some ordinary soldiers were also willing to go.

The Han army commander pretended not to see their intentions and just gave a few more instructions:
"When trying to persuade them to surrender, remember to explain the pros and cons to the Tangyi County Magistrate! This place is too close to Guangling. Even if our General Sun does not cross the river to the north, Liu Bei next door will take action sooner or later! You are surrounded by enemies on three sides, and Yuan's navy has been destroyed. Whoever comes will be annihilated!

Liu Bei doesn't want to fight now, he is hoping to sit back and watch the fight, waiting for Cao Cao to weaken Yuan's main force! When he takes action, your fate will be even worse than it is now! Go!"

After the reasons for the threat were made clear, the prisoners were released, and even some of their horses were returned to them.

After doing all this, the Han army Sima put the remaining prisoners under strict guard, then returned to the dock and reported to Zhang Fei.

While reporting, the military commander said worriedly: "General Zhang, these people may not really be convinced. I think some of them just want to escape back to the city! Is it really a good idea to let them go? Will it make the city more difficult to attack?"

Zhang Fei confidently waved his hand and said, "Don't worry about that. Tangyi is a small county with at most one or two thousand soldiers stationed there, and the city wall is only a little over ten feet high.

The master said that the difficulty of this place is not to break through, but to avoid angering Yuan Shu and attracting heavy troops to garrison Hefei after breaking through, so he ordered us to pretend to be Sun Ce's subordinates. We are not in a hurry to break the city, but to give them time to pass the news of "Sun Ce's attack" back to the rear.

In a moment, we will march directly to the city, using crossbows to cover the attack and ladders to attempt a feint attack. Tell the soldiers to take cover and not to work too hard. They can retreat when they encounter a little resistance. When it is almost daybreak, we will withdraw and attack again in the afternoon, using our own flags.

The subordinates followed the order completely. Half an hour later, around the hour of Yin, the Han army advanced to the city of Tangyi and quickly prepared for a simple attack.

……

At the same time, in Tangyi City, the county magistrate Lu Da was sleeping soundly when he was suddenly awakened by a servant who said there was an urgent report of military intelligence.

Lu Da woke up in a daze, put on his clothes and rushed to the South Gate Tower, only to see several of his own garrison commanders and officers in team uniforms being pulled up to the top of the city wall in a basket by the soldiers defending the city. In the dark night, when they heard the report from their own scouts on the beacon tower, they did not dare to open the city gate. Instead, they asked someone to inform the county magistrate first. They probably spent a lot of time at the city gate.

The gatekeeper also reported to Lu Da that it couldn't be false, because they also saw the beacon tower on the riverside at the mouth of Tu Shui River burning with fire a quarter of an hour ago. Calculating the time, these soldiers should have come to report the news.

Lu Da knew the situation was urgent, so he did not even have time to go back to the government office. He went straight to the tower and asked, "Where did the enemy come from? Why did they suddenly attack my city? Didn't I hear that Liu Bei had withdrawn his troops?"

The captive who escaped back gasped and cried, "County Lady! It's not Liu Bei, it's Sun Ce! Sun Ce has surrendered to the imperial court... I mean the Han Dynasty, and accepted the title of General of Suppressing Rebellion!
Sun Ce was worried that Liu Bei and Zhuge Jin would squeeze him out. His territory now borders on Your Majesty's territory only a little bit. He was afraid that if Liu Bei took Tangyi or Zhuge Jin took Wujiang, he would be completely cut off from Your Majesty's territory and would not be able to get a share of the spoils from the war against Your Majesty.

So he wanted to strike first, so that when Liu Bei and Zhuge Jin attacked Your Majesty later, he could also take advantage of the situation and seize territory! "

These words would definitely not be said by a mere village chief, as he did not have such insight. Therefore, it was all thanks to Zhang Fei's troops that when they let him go, they made Sun Ce's motives known to the public.

Of course, when Zhang Fei's troops were acting, they certainly had a different emphasis. They emphasized that "Sun Ce was worried about being isolated, so he was very determined this time. Please don't resist, otherwise you will definitely die a miserable death." As for whether the released captives had a deviation in their retelling of the key points after hearing it, Zhang Fei had no control over it.

When Lu Da heard this, he thought about it for a moment and immediately felt that it made sense, and for a moment he felt as if he had fallen into an icy cave.

Although he was only a county magistrate, he observed the enemy and friendly situation around him every day and was very clear about it.

The territories of Sun Ce and Yuan Shu now only bordered Tangyi and Wujiang. If Sun Ce's army crossed the Yangtze River from Moling, the first place they would face would be Tangyi, which was ruled by Yuan Shu.

If Sun Ce's army crossed the Yangtze River from Niuzhu, the first place they would face would be the Wujiang River under the rule of Yuan Shu.

Now that Sun Ce has accepted the title from the Han Dynasty, he cannot attack other friendly forces fighting against Yuan. If Zhuge Jin seizes Wujiang first and Liu Bei seizes Tangyi first, Sun Ce will have no choice but to watch helplessly in the future war against Yuan.

In order to seize territory when everyone is pushing down the wall, Sun Ce must ensure the connection of the territory, so he took action at this time!

"What should we do? What should we do? You guys guard the city first, and I'll think of a countermeasure! We'll think of a solution after dawn. Also, immediately send someone to ask for help from Magistrate Zhou in the rear! Ah, that's not right! You can't ask Magistrate Zhou for help! I heard that he and Sun Ce had a life-and-death friendship. Send someone to bypass Chu County and go over the mountains to Hefei for help!"

Lu Da was relatively loyal. He did not surrender immediately and wanted to try to resist.

Yuan Shu was able to become an emperor, and he was not completely mentally retarded. He was somewhat selective about the local officials in the frontline territories under his rule. Any officials who were suspected of being unstable could only be placed in the second-tier hinterland, not in the forefront.

Just as Lu Da was getting ready, Zhang Fei arrived and started clamoring to attack the city.

Lu Da ordered his troops to defend the city to the death. After withstanding two waves of attacks that were loud but ineffective, over a hundred people were killed or injured. Just when he himself was feeling uneasy, the enemy attacking the city retreated at daybreak.

Lu Da could hardly believe his eyes, but when he saw the big "Sun" flag abandoned on the battlefield outside the city in the morning sun, he had to believe it.

"Why is Sun Ce so undetermined? He retreated after I put up a bit of resistance? Didn't he make adequate preparations and just planned to bluff and force me to land? Seeing that I was determined and afraid that staying any longer would cause trouble, he withdrew?"

But no matter what, he still sent out messengers to deliver the latest urgent news to the rear and update all the new situations encountered.

This doubt was finally solved before noon as another wave of enemy troops attacked.

The attacking troops this time were under Liu Bei's banner. They were powerful and had a large number of men and horses. The leading general was none other than Zhang Fei.

Zhang Fei arrived at the foot of the city, holding his spear and standing on his horse. When he was still more than a hundred steps away from the city wall, he shouted loudly:
"Listen, you dog officials on the city wall! Originally, my elder brother had no intention of attacking your city, but this morning the navy patrolling the river caught you guys colluding with Sun Ce, so we have no choice but to attack! When you get to the Lord of Mount Tai, you can only blame yourselves for not knowing what's good for you!"

Lu Da was stunned when he heard this from the top of the city wall, but his voice was too soft, so he had to let a few people who were cursing at the battle line to repeat it in unison: "We have no connection with Sun Ce! Sun Ce has betrayed His Majesty... betrayed Yuan Shu and accepted the imperial canonization! He even attacked us in the middle of the night yesterday!"

Zhang Fei angrily shouted, "You can tell me these lies when you go to the Lord of Mount Tai! Attack the city!"

The Han army was serious this time, with battering rams and small ladders, all of which were transported directly over via the Yangtze River and Tushui on large warships. After a springboard was built at the dock, they were pushed ashore to attack the city directly.

Thanks to the fact that the city wall of Tangyi was too low, only about ten feet high, the corresponding ladder truck had to be a few sizes smaller, otherwise it would not be able to be transported by the fighting ship.

Under such a serious attack, the Tangyi defenders soon could not hold on.

A ladder truck is different from a simple flying ladder. At the very end, the soldiers can rush directly to the top of the wall at an elevation of 30 degrees, freeing up both hands to hold weapons. The effect is not much different from a Western siege tower.

Seeing that the first soldiers had gained a foothold on the top of the city and cleared a small area, Zhang Fei even handed his snake spear to his subordinates, replaced it with a shield and bronze hammer, and rushed up the ladder himself.

As Zhang Fei climbed up the wall, he swung the copper hammer fiercely, and dozens of Yuan soldiers fell to the ground, including two garrison commanders, Qu Junhou.

The deceased's head was either hammered into a ball of watermelon-stuffed tofu and covered by a dented helmet; or his chest was smashed so that it was completely dented, with the sharp holes of the broken ribs piercing into his heart and lungs.

Zhang Fei was angry that these Yuan troops were ignorant of the danger and did not surrender directly, so he attacked them particularly ruthlessly. As a fierce general known for his great strength, he did not hold back when using heavy weapons, so the deterrent effect was naturally extraordinary.

He didn't know that the reason why the defenders had these psychological advantages and were willing to hold on to the end was entirely due to the scene he played in the early morning - at that time, the Tangyi defenders withstood a wave of attacks from "Sun Ce", and then their morale was boosted, and they thought they were doing it again. This time when they encountered Zhang Fei's real attack, they also thought they could hold on.

Fortunately, with the gatekeeper Qu Junhou also being smashed to death, the remaining soldiers finally came to their senses and scattered like birds and beasts or knelt down to surrender. Seeing this, the county magistrate also hurriedly ordered surrender to avoid being liquidated by Zhang Fei.

"We are willing to surrender! General, spare our lives!"

Zhang Fei was still not satisfied, so he smashed the parapet with a copper hammer, sending rocks flying everywhere. He then picked up Lu Da and angrily yelled, "If you had known this would happen, why didn't you surrender earlier? Tie him up and follow me to attack Chu County!"

Lu Da was horrified when he heard this. Zhang Fei actually took over a county and didn't want to stop to rest at all, but wanted to attack again in one go?
But his worries were soon realized. Zhang Fei only sent a part of his troops to take over Tangyi, disarm and control the prisoners, while he let the rest of the soldiers get back on the boats and continue upstream along the Tushui River, intending to attack Chu County without stopping.

The two small ladders were also pushed back to the fighting ship and were about to sail upstream with the ship.

……

However, just as Zhang Fei was preparing, something unexpected happened to Yuan's army in the upstream direction of Chu County.

Nearly a hundred boats, carrying about two thousand enemy soldiers, sailed down the river and headed straight for Zhang Fei. On the leading boat flew a flag with the Chinese character "Zhou" on it.

"Could it be that the defenders of Chu County dare to come to reinforce Tangyi? It's a good opportunity for them to come! We can annihilate them in a field battle and save them the trouble of siege later!"

Zhang Fei narrowed his eyes and made such a judgment. He immediately ordered his soldiers to be on guard, and all the ships were docked and all the bows and crossbows were strung.

However, when the enemy troops came closer, they did not seem to be hostile. They just sent out a small boat with a white flag to send a message.

"I wonder which captain Zhang under General Sun led the troops here? We are the troops of Zhou Yu, the prefect of Chu, and we have come to join you in attacking Tangyi! Please ask your commander to come out and have a chat!"

(End of this chapter)