My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 272 Zhang Gan and others join forces to kill Dao Rong

Xing Daorong attempted to break through Gan Ning's naval blockade head-on, but was cut in half and lost more than half of his troops. He fled in panic and retreated back to Youjiangkou.

Xing Daorong, who had become a frightened bird, had no time to think about whether there was any conspiracy behind his subsequent retreat, and he plunged directly into Xu Shu's trap.

After the remaining fleet of Xing Daorong turned from the Yangtze River into Youshui, they went upstream along Youshui and sailed for forty miles in a southwest direction.

At this time, half an afternoon and a whole night had passed since he was defeated by Gan Ning - he was defeated by Gan Ning on the afternoon of April 25th, and then he changed his route to escape. He fled back to Youjiangkou in the first half of the night that day and arrived in Chanling County in the early morning of the 26th.

After marching day and night and fleeing madly, the Changsha and Lingling coalition soldiers under Xing Daorong were already extremely tired and their spirits were extremely tense.

If they could not retreat by boat, all the soldiers could be divided into two groups, half of them sailing and rowing, and the other half sleeping and resting, so that the soldiers' physical strength could be stabilized. If they were marching on land, the whole army would probably collapse and be physically exhausted at this time.

After arriving at Chanling County, Xing Daorong's first thought was: If the city defense is not strict, then just take it. Loot the city to get some military supplies, and also allow the soldiers to rest and restore their morale.

However, Xu Shu seemed to be defending very strictly, with all four gates tightly closed. Xing Daorong saw that he had no chance, so he did not waste time entangled with him. He decided to go around the city and continue to escape.

Run as far as you can. If you can't go by water, abandon the ship and land, then take the land route south back to Wuling.

Unexpectedly, just as he was about to bypass Chanling City, the ship in front of him ran aground and the fleet had to stop.

"General! Someone has built a sandbar and reef in the river ahead! The channel is too shallow for ships to pass through!"

Xing Daorong felt his scalp tingling when he heard this. He had already smelled the scent of conspiracy.

There is no doubt that the blocking of the waterway was indeed the result of Xu Shu's emergency construction in the past two or three days.

Youshui River is not a very wide or deep tributary of the Yangtze River, so it is very easy to pile up sand and soil in shallow water to create a stranded area.

Xing Daorong had no choice but to let the fleet block there temporarily, and then sent part of the troops ashore, using shovels to try to dig and clear a channel. At most, it would be a little narrow, as long as one ship could pass through it. All the troop ships could be arranged in a long snake formation and pass through one by one.

But the labor required to dump the sand into the river is several times greater than that required to dredge the sand from the riverbed. It would take Xing Daorong at least half a day to complete this construction, even if it was just to make a channel wide enough for a boat.

Xing Daorong was not stupid. He had anticipated that Gan Ning might take advantage of the time difference to catch up, so he ordered other troops to be ready to disembark at any time, and also ordered the rear troops to be on alert and ready to resist Gan Ning's possible pursuers at any time.

If they really can't resist, they can even let a few warships at the rear sink and block the river where Gan Ning is chasing!

Xing Daorong ordered his soldiers to dig the river and clear the waterway. It took two hours and it was already past noon.

The weather was already quite hot by the end of April in the lunar calendar. The soldiers who were working hard to dig the river were extremely exhausted and suffered terribly. Some even fell down due to heat stroke.

Although Xu Shu in Chanling City was unable to shoot at the river with his bow and crossbow, he would occasionally order people to beat drums and shout on the city walls, causing Xing Daorong's army to restless and keep their nerves tense.

At 3:30 pm, a scout from the rear army suddenly reported: "General! Gan Ning's pursuit fleet downstream is approaching, only ten miles away!"

If Gan Ning wanted to chase, he would not have left Xing Daorong with the two-hour time difference, but Gan Ning deliberately let Xing Daorong temporarily distance himself and chased slowly, in order to conserve his strength and keep the soldiers energetic and morale.

If Xing Daorong marched frantically day and night, and Gan Ning also marched day and night, wouldn't both sides be exhausted?
Since his teammates are helping to block the road, Gan Ning can let his soldiers take a nap and wait for the battle to begin.

Xing Daorong knew that it was too late to dig the river, so he quickly ordered: "The whole army is ready to abandon the boats! Go directly by land, bypass Chanling and return to Wuling! Open the grain ships and let each soldier carry ten days of food on his own!"

Xing Daorong ordered his troops to change their route to land, but this could not be accomplished overnight because he initially took the water route and all the food and fodder for the army was directly loaded onto the boat.

If he suddenly had to abandon the ship, he couldn't abandon the food with it, otherwise all the soldiers would starve to death on the way before they could even reach Wuling.

Time was so short and he had no way of asking the quartermaster to release the grain in an orderly manner as planned. He could only open the grain ship at random and let the soldiers take it quickly.

The scene was so chaotic that it was almost as if Yurilov had opened the hatch of the An-12 carrying munitions on the African savannah and asked the black uncles and black girls to move AKs and RPGs.

The soldiers from Wuling County and Lingling County immediately started to loot in a hurry. In the end, they saw Gan Ning was about to catch up with them and there was no time to get food for them. Only then did the military judge kill more than a dozen soldiers who were looting food, and order was barely restored.

Even so, several soldiers of the military law team were killed by the soldiers who resisted and tried to steal food. The atmosphere was tense and chaotic. "Don't take any more food! Just enough to eat! There is food when we reach Wuling! Retreat quickly!" Xing Daorong screamed in the chaos, trying to control the troops. He even wielded a big axe and killed several soldiers who disrupted the order. Finally, before Gan Ning caught up, he managed to get most of the soldiers to abandon their boats and leave the Youshui River.

But at this moment, the gate of Chanling was finally opened, and Xu Shu led several thousand infantrymen of Liu Bei's army out of the city to form a battle array to meet the attack.

Xing Daorong was stunned when he saw this scene: These soldiers who had been hiding in their turtle shells finally came out to fight in the field? And their number seemed to be less than his own!
He knew that being entangled by these troops would not end well. Once Gan Ning caught up with him, he would be finished. In this case, he might as well make a final desperate effort and seize the city in the chaos!

As long as the two armies fight each other, the scene will be in complete chaos. The defenders will be afraid of accidentally injuring friendly forces, and they will not even have time to close the city gates! If I drive the defeated defenders to be the free vanguard and rush into the city with them, then we can capture Chanling and save it!
Xing Daorong's mind was in a state of extreme confusion. He no longer had time to think and instinctively led his troops to attack Xu Shu's army that was leaving the city.

"Xing Daorong, where are you going? General Zhang Fei is here!"

Just when Xing Daorong was fighting with Xu Shu's army, another cavalry came towards them from the Youshui River Valley behind Xu Shu. It was Zhang Fei.

Taking advantage of the opportunity when Xing Daorong's front troops were stuck by Xu Shu's army and unable to turn and change formation, Zhang Fei stabbed Xing Daorong in the waist with a knife, making Xing Daorong experience the feeling of being torn in half for the second time in just two days.

The soldiers of Changsha Lingling County were immediately defeated, and their last breath was completely lost. They knelt down and surrendered in large numbers.

Zhang Fei charged and killed for only half an incense stick of time before he overwhelmed and conquered thousands of people.

Then, Gan Ning finally arrived. Seeing that the enemy had already disembarked, there was no battle to fight on the Youshui River. Gan Ning had no choice but to let the fleet dock nearby and let the soldiers wade ashore to attack Xing Daorong's rear army.

Because they had to wade ashore, Gan Ning's soldiers could not wear heavy armor to fight on land, otherwise they would sink to the bottom and drown before reaching the shore. This also caused Gan Ning to worry about losses and was unwilling to lead the charge, preferring to let Zhang Fei take the first credit for the interception in the final battle.

When Xing Daorong's army was about to collapse and had no intention of resisting anymore, Gan Ning's light-armored sailors could rush forward to fight with the wind, seize heads and expand the results of the battle, and there would be no risk at all.

Xing Daorong was in the midst of the chaos and was attacked by Zhang Fei in front of him. He was caught off guard with his mountain-splitting axe and could only barely block two of Zhang Fei's attacks before his weapon was knocked away.

However, after throwing away the axe, the weight on Xing Daorong's horse suddenly became several dozen pounds lighter, and its running speed also increased.

This allowed Xing Daorong to move around and use the cover of his personal guards to temporarily escape and create some distance.

Unfortunately, he had only run a few hundred steps when the number of guards around him became fewer and fewer. Xing Daorong panicked and was hit head-on by Gan Ning who came after him.

Xing Daorong had already lost his axe, so he had no choice but to draw out the ring-handled sword worn at his waist and try his best to fight.

Gan Ning also held the short sword and flail commonly used in water battles, holding weapons in both hands, but he did not take advantage of Xing Daorong in the length of his weapons.

The two men fought in close combat on horseback, each holding a short weapon. Each move was dangerous. After five or six moves, Gan Ning threw a flail at Xing Daorong's shoulder. He felt dizzy from the pain and dropped his sword when his hands went limp.

"Uh... despicable villain, if you and Zhang Fei dare to fight alone, why would I be afraid of you!" Xing Daorong knew that he could not escape, and he cursed before he died.

Gan Ning was not going to waste time talking to him. He quickly threw the flail, hitting Xing Daorong so hard that he vomited blood. Then he freed his hand to grab the helmet tassel and pulled his head over. With his other hand, he used a knife to cut off Xing Daorong's neck.

With the killing of Xing Daorong, the troops from Changsha and Lingling counties were completely wiped out. The remaining soldiers knelt down and surrendered, accepting the captives and reorganization of Zhang Fei and Gan Ning.

There was a naval battle yesterday and a land battle today. Both battles captured at least several thousand prisoners, totaling at least more than 10,000 people.

The subsequent work of recruiting prisoners and eliminating the remaining escaped enemies lasted for several days before the area around the Chanling battlefield was cleaned up.

After this battle, the field mobile force sent by Zhang Xian was completely wiped out. Only the city defense forces in Changsha and Lingling were left, still struggling to survive.

When Liu Bei's army counterattacks and attacks the city, the resistance will be much smaller. Moreover, many counties will be shocked when they hear that Xing Daorong's army has been annihilated, and they will realize that there is no future for them to follow Zhang Xian.

By then, there will definitely be large-scale surrender, and we can take back many places without bloodshed.

After all, many of these county officials in southern Jing were originally Liu Biao's subordinates, so they did not have much psychological burden to surrender again. At most, they felt that they had believed in others' words and made a wrong step at the beginning.

Submitting to Liu Bei can be considered as submitting to Liu Biao, as Liu Bei was helping Liu Biao to receive the throne.

(End of this chapter)