My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 147: Pushing Forward and Defeat Anhui in One Battle

With a sharp whistling sound of wind, Gan Ning held the shield with one hand and swung his usual flail with the other, ignoring the resistance of the commander of the Yuan army on the opposite side and smashing it with all his might.

The hammer at the end of the chain circled around the enemy's gun barrel half a circle and still hit the opponent's shoulder heavily, breaking his bones and tendons, causing him to be seriously injured, vomiting blood and staggering.

Gan Ning used his shield to hit the seriously injured captain hard, knocking him off the city wall. He fell headfirst onto the ground with his helmet, and his cervical vertebrae were broken at a sharp angle.

Another general of Yuan army, Qu Junhou, saw Gan Ning charging forward with an open back, so he immediately came over with his horse-slaying sword in hand to take advantage of the situation.

Gan Ning sensed the danger behind him, and without even trying to untie the iron chain of the flail, he pulled hard and threw the flail and the entangled spear together, like a meteor hammer. The Yuan army's Qu Junhou instinctively tried to block the spear shaft, but failed to block the flying iron hammer head, which hit his arm and broke one arm immediately.

Gan Ning took advantage of this opportunity, snatched up a ring-handled sword from the enemy's corpse on the ground, jumped forward and fought hard, killing Qu Junhou, who had only one arm left.

The Han soldiers around Gan Ning were also brave, each vying for the lead, fighting to the death, and never retreating.

It is a pity that Gan Ning never saw Chen Lan himself supervising the battle on the top of the city wall, and thus failed to recreate the famous scene in the novel of "first climbing up Wancheng and opening the gourd to see Zhu Guang".

The flail is indeed a difficult weapon to use. After Gan Ning killed seven or eight people in a row with it and opened up the situation, he had to abandon it and use a knife instead.

From beginning to end, I didn't see any enemy being killed by being shot in the head by the iron ball on the flail.

If one can hit the enemy with this kind of soft weapon wrapped in iron chain and avoid accidentally hurting oneself, then one is already considered an expert in this art. If one still expects to hit wherever one points, then that is too much to ask.

"The Han and the thieves cannot coexist! Kill them!"

As the Han army soldiers gained a firm foothold on the city wall and cleared a position, Gan Ning roared and called out the slogans agreed upon before the battle to remind the soldiers: This battle is not a fight for territory among the princes, but to kill the usurpers and traitors!
For a while, the ordinary soldiers were also gradually infected, and they rushed forward while shouting, "The Han and the thieves cannot coexist! The Han and the thieves cannot coexist!"

On the battlefield outside the city, the sound of drums beating and cheering became more and more intense. Zhuge Jin gathered more than a hundred big drums and asked those with strong arms to beat them in unison.

He had even rehearsed in advance, asking the drummer to pay attention to his sword waving and conducting, to master the rhythm, and to have everyone beat the beat together as much as possible. With such resonance, the sound waves overlapped, shaking for ten miles, and Yuan's army on the city wall became more and more frightened.

More and more Han soldiers climbed up the city walls. At first, most of them were sword and shield soldiers. Later, spearmen also swarmed up and had time to form a battle array for attack.

The Han army spearmen lined up four people on the top of the city wall, in an orderly manner, pushing forward, layer upon layer, supporting each other.

There were gunfire everywhere and they were invincible. All the stubborn resisters of Yuan's army were killed by the gunfire. After fighting for about half an incense stick of time, Yuan's army finally collapsed completely.

The South Gate Tower was the first to be captured by Gan Ning. The soldiers in the tower were hopeless in their resistance and knelt down in surrender.

If this was the case for the veteran soldiers of Yuan's army guarding the city tower, the morale of the ordinary able-bodied men in the other sections of the wall naturally collapsed like an avalanche. The Han army was everywhere, kneeling on the ground to surrender, or jumping over the wall to escape and clear the way if they could not surrender.

Seeing that the situation was hopeless, Chen Lan quickly led hundreds of his personal soldiers northward and broke out from the north gate.

When they met other Yuan soldiers along the way, they would coerce and command them to flee together. When they arrived at the north gate, they could barely coerce two or three thousand people, who swarmed out in disorder, and the rest of the soldiers were left to Zhuge Jin and Gan Ning.

……

Gan Ning didn't know that Chen Lan had already escaped. After he took down the South Gate Tower, he hacked and killed his way along the city wall, and was invincible.
He fought his way from the south tower to the southeast corner of the city wall, then turned north and fought his way to the east gate tower, forcing the defenders to surrender. Only then did he learn the confirmed news from the surrendered general. Afterwards, he did not bother to sweep the city himself, but only seized the horses and led his trusted brothers from the Jinfan Camp to the city treasury.

After about an hour, Gan Ning finally took control of the key nodes in the city. However, it would take another day or two to completely eliminate the remaining enemies in the city and restore order.

The Yuan army was so frightened that no one dared to set fire to the treasury. As soon as Chen Lan ran away, those Yuan army officers who thought they were guilty of serious crimes thought about protecting the treasury and offering it to General Fubo to atone for their sins.

As Gan Ning took control of the government treasury, Zhuge Jin himself led a large rear army and cavalry and charged directly into the city from the opened south gate. He met Gan Ning in the city center and then ordered the cavalry to briefly survey the gates, encircle them, and clear out the enemy piece by piece.

When Gan Ning met Zhuge Jin, he first bowed according to military etiquette. Zhuge Jin also encouraged him for his first achievement today and promised:

"I wronged you last year. You almost didn't get promoted to lieutenant. Today, you have taken the lead in breaking through Wancheng, which is enough for promotion. I will write a memorial tonight to recommend you as lieutenant."

Gan Ning bowed and said, "Thank you, General! We were able to win this battle in one fell swoop, thanks to your huge chariot. It was as easy as walking on flat ground to climb the city walls. I am really ashamed to have taken all the credit."

Zhuge Jin laughed loudly: "This car is not invented by me. My brother figured it out more than a month ago. I just made some improvements to make it easier to disassemble and raise."

Gan Ning sighed with emotion: "That is because the generals and brothers are all extraordinary talents, which is why they can do this. It's a pity that Chen Lan was not killed in this battle. It would be better if we could ambush and completely surround Wancheng."

Zhuge Jin patted Gan Ning on the shoulder encouragingly and said, "Don't worry. If we surround them completely, the enemy will be desperate and may not collapse so quickly after our army reaches them first. This is just right now.

Besides, killing Chen Lan here is not the best outcome. Shucheng and Lu'an will be attacked later. If Chen Lan dies and his followers are completely wiped out, who can we rely on to bring fear to the enemy forces in Shucheng and Lu'an?

We were able to use this siege vehicle when we attacked Wancheng because Wancheng is close to the Wanshui River, and large ships can reach the city. Later, when we go north and attack the source of the Wanshui River, the northern hinterland of Lujiang County is no longer accessible by water.

To go from Wancheng to Shucheng, one needs to take a detour and bypass the hills on the edge of Huoshan (Dabie Mountains), making it difficult to transport supplies, so this kind of heavy tower truck may not be needed.

But as long as the remaining enemies who were defeated in Wancheng escape to Shucheng and bring the bad news that Wancheng was captured in half a day and the bad news that Wankou surrendered without a fight, they can further undermine the morale of the enemies defending the subsequent cities!

"Perhaps the enemy troops will be discouraged and dare not hold on any longer. Our army is so powerful that it will be like a bamboo breaking. After a few sections, everything will be solved easily!"

Du Yu was not born yet, so the two idioms "as powerful as a hot knife through butter" and "solved easily" had not yet appeared.

However, Zhuge Jin felt that the situation he faced today was very consistent with this characteristic, so he quoted it casually.

After hearing this, Gan Ning was amazed by the witty remarks.

Liu Ye, who was standing by, was also surprised to hear that the general was very magnanimous and extraordinary. He quickly took out the hairpin pen he carried with him, pulled out the bamboo tube on the tip of the pen, and wrote down the two famous aphorisms of the general, "like a broken bamboo" and "solve the problem easily".

The hairpin pen is a small pen with a tip as thin as a hairpin. Because it is thin, it can be put into a bamboo tube with ink inside. There is no need to worry about it drying up. You can write immediately after pulling it out. It is very convenient and does not require freshly ground ink. However, there is often not much ink in the bamboo tube, so you can't write more than a few words. It can only be used in emergencies.

After Gan Ning and Liu Ye were convinced, they no longer worried about whether Chen Lan escaped or not. After all, if such an incompetent general escaped alive, it would not make the subsequent attack more difficult.

They were very conscientious. One of them continued to be responsible for clearing out the remaining enemies in the city, while the other helped Zhuge Jin seal the treasury and count all the seized accounts and household registers.

……

In fact, it is impossible that Zhuge Jin had no plans to intercept and kill Chen Lan. He just didn't let Gan Ning be distracted by these trivial matters.

Since it was anticipated that Chen Lan would collapse and flee after being defeated, and that going from Wancheng to Shucheng in the north would definitely require bypassing the remnants of the Huoshan Mountains, Zhuge Jin had already instructed Taishi Ci to set up an ambush on the hills on the edge of the Huoshan Mountains and near the road before attacking the city this morning.

He instructed Taishi Ci: If you encounter enemies from the east fleeing from south to north, let their vanguard go, and then attack them from the side to cut off the enemy, but there is no need to pursue complete annihilation.

In order to prevent Taishi Ci from not understanding his plan, Zhuge Jin also emphasized:
He made this request not to reduce the casualties of Taishi Ci's troops, or to prevent the enemy from jumping off the wall if the enemy was completely blocked, but to send some of the remaining troops back to Shucheng to report the news, so as to spread the fear of the successive defeats and the enemy's strong power to Shucheng.

After Taishi Ci fully understood it, he had no objection and just carried it out resolutely.

That evening, Taishi Ci returned with his troops, bringing back hundreds of heads and more than a thousand prisoners. He also reported truthfully that he had annihilated about two-thirds of the enemies who had escaped from the city, and that only a few hundred people had finally broken through.

Moreover, Taishi Ci had a look of reverence on his face, and when he presented the captives, he could not help but sigh:

"I sent troops northward early in the morning to set up an ambush. When I arrived there, I discovered that there were two roads to the north of the city. The one that went up the Wan River was a main road, and the other that went northeast and crossed the hills was a small road.

At that time, I was thinking, if Chen Lan was just trying to escape, why didn't she take the main road? She could have escaped faster. But the general insisted that I set up an ambush on the side of the small road, and I didn't dare to disobey him. In the end, I really blocked her! The general is really a genius! "

Zhuge Jin smiled and said, "This is not my divine prediction. I did not expect where Chen Lan would go. But if he takes the main road along the Wanshui River, the road will become narrower and narrower, and he will return to the depths of Huoshan Mountain and will not be able to reach Shucheng.

What I need to be on guard against is Chen Lan's entire division returning to Shucheng. I want to make sure he can reach Shucheng, but at the same time, I want to weaken him as much as possible. If he doesn't go to Shucheng and wants to return to Huoshan to become a bandit, I will let him go, and it doesn't matter if I can't stop him. When the entire Lujiang area is pacified in the future, he will come out and surrender sooner or later."

Taishi Ci then suddenly realized that General Fu Bo did not calculate that Chen Lan would go to Shucheng, but if he did not go to Shucheng, the general would not be afraid of him at all.

Zhuge Jin was very satisfied with the interception effect, so he encouraged Taishi Ci and ordered him to contribute more in the subsequent attacks on Shucheng and Lu'an.

To share the burden with Gan Ning, who had already fought two bloody battles and was quite exhausted, so that the troops would not need to rest for too long before they could launch the next attack.

When you are unstoppable, what you are pursuing is speed. If you slow down, you have to accumulate potential energy again.

Taishi Ci was greatly encouraged and said that his troops had been relatively relaxed before and could continue the pursuit tomorrow, leaving Gan Ning's troops to stay in Wancheng to clear up the occupied rear.

Zhuge Jin was very satisfied with this situation, and explained some details about "how to bluff in the future, how to use intimidation to scare away the enemy, and attack tough battles as a supplement", and then let Taishi Ci play freely.

……

After explaining everything, it was already nightfall that day, and Zhuge Jin was busy the whole day.

Because he was busy receiving various things, personally inspecting the treasury accounts, and meeting with surrendered generals to appease them, he realized that he had only eaten breakfast in the morning before the siege, and had no time to eat lunch.

Seeing that it was almost dark, he quickly ordered dinner to be prepared.

Fortunately, once we entered the city, everything was ready and very convenient.

Even though ordinary soldiers of Yuan's army were eating wild vegetables, boiled river clams, and porridge made with a little rice bran, the homes of Yuan's civil and military officials could still be searched for fine wine, livestock, and the best game.

Under Yuan Shu's rule, there was no such thing as civil officials, military generals and ordinary soldiers sharing weal and woe. The people below were suffering, while the upper class was still struggling to eat. This extravagant and dictatorial man who was ignorant of suffering deserved to be defeated by Zhuge Jin.

After a while, the army's chef prepared a delicious meal for Zhuge Jin using the wine and meat looted from Chen Lan's mansion. Moreover, the chef and the guards under him were rewarded with a full meal by Zhuge Jin before Zhuge Jin could eat.

Ingredients can be collected and cleaned by our own people, but prisoners must not be used in the kitchen. This is also Zhuge Jin's principle. Who knows if those guys really surrendered. It would be bad if they poisoned the food while cooking.

When Zhuge Jin was eating, there were several weak maids who had been searched and let in to serve him. They helped him to set the table, bring him water basins, and help him wash.

A guard who was a close confidant of Zhuge Jin even made a special introduction, saying that these maids were the maids who swept the outer courtyards of the mansions of Liu Xun, Qiao Rui and Chen Lan.

As the inner quarters had been sealed off, the soldiers did not dare to divide the spoils among themselves. Captain Gan wanted to ask the general to help make a decision when he had time, to see which spoils could be used to reward the soldiers and which spoils could not be moved lightly as they were of great use.

Zhuge Jin heard this and then remembered something: "Are Liu Xun's family members also in Wancheng? He went to Lu'an to guard it himself, but he didn't bring his family with him?"

The guard Qu Junhou responded, "Indeed, they didn't take it away. Perhaps Liu Xun didn't expect that Wancheng was so strong that it could be conquered in one day.

I have heard from many captured Yuan army officers that the walls of Lu'an are not as high and strong as those of Wancheng. In Lujiang County, only the walls of Hefei can be compared with this one."

Zhuge Jin nodded: "In this case, Liu Xun and Chen Lan's families should not be moved for the time being, so that they can have more concerns about their weak spots. And we must make it public among the three armies, so that everyone can spread this news.

If the news doesn't get out, we can still let a few stubborn captives go to shake the enemy's morale. Anyway, when Xingba asks about it, you can tell them that the women and property of Liu Xun and Chen Lan will be divided among them in the future. But we have to wait until Liu Xun and Chen Lan die. For now, just bear with it!"

"What about Qiao Rui?"

Zhuge Jin: "Wasn't Qiao Rui killed by Cao Cao last year? What use can there be in his family? There are only a few old, weak, women and children left. I will go and check it out after I finish my meal."

(End of this chapter)