My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 322: Rescue Nanpi - Part

Once a war breaks out, no matter how careful the plans are made before the war, they will eventually be disrupted by various unexpected factors and will not be able to be strictly implemented as planned.

Zhang He and Gao Lan also knew that if they allowed Lü Weihuang and Zhao Rui to rely on the siege earthworks and engage in a firefight with the enemy troops coming from the water to tire out the enemy, and then they could lead their fresh troops forward, they would surely achieve greater results and fight more beautifully.

However, the enemy was so bold as to attempt to land on the east bank of the Zhang River and attack Lü Weihuang's troops. This change caught them off guard, and Zhang He and Gao Lan did not dare to sit back and watch their friendly forces fall into danger, so they had to attack directly.

Since the attack was more hasty than originally planned, and Taishi Ci did not leave them much time to prepare, and the Zhang River was not very wide, Zhang He and Gao Lan's fleets adopted the "add fuel to the fire" tactic the moment they entered the battle.

Hundreds of ships formed a long snake formation and joined the battle in batches.

Although Taishi Ci on the opposite side also had a long snake formation, the tonnage of each of his ships and the number of soldiers they carried were larger, so he would definitely have an advantage in a rotation battle.

Soon, the warships temporarily converted from grain transport ships in the front of Zhang He's fleet rushed downstream and rammed the fleet led by Chen Dao.

Because the speed is faster when sailing downstream, it is impossible for the opponent sailing upstream to dodge.

In addition, the ships that Chen Dao had led had their bows facing upstream and their left and right sides shooting arrows at the enemy camps on the east and west banks.

Zhang He's vanguard was not hit by many bows and crossbows during the approach, which really made Zhang He feel relieved.

What Zhang He was most worried about was that he would be covered by bows and crossbows during the engagement and suffer heavy casualties before he even got into close combat.

His ships were converted from grain ships, without side masts to block arrows or shooting holes. Soldiers on board had to temporarily put up shields on both sides to block arrows, which was definitely inferior to professional warships.

Now that they had collided and connected with each other easily and smoothly, Zhang He felt more and more confident.

"Beat the drums to cheer! Blow the horns with all your might! The boats behind us go around to the two banks! Don't stay! Don't block the river!"

Zhang He gave orders in a stern voice. Although he was not used to naval battles, he knew that he had more ships than the others, so he had to fight the battlefield in a situation where you are in me, I am in you, and the situation is intertwined. Only then can his numerical advantage be brought into play.

If the first dozen or so small boats blocked the surface of the Zhang River, the troops behind would not be able to quickly deploy, and the battle would turn from an encirclement and attack into a war of attrition, making it difficult to form a situation where the majority bullied the minority on the entire battlefield.

Zhang He was very satisfied with the current situation. Although he boasted of being a famous general, why not use the advantage of numbers to bully the minority when it is possible?

Chen Dao on the opposite side was not to be outdone. He personally patrolled the warship with a horse-slaying sword, killing two enemy soldiers who tried to board the ship while shouting orders.

The Hebei Army was not used to naval battles, and was accustomed to using long spears and halberds in land battles. Now that they were hastily joining in a naval battle, it was impossible for them to switch to flexible short weapons.

Except for a few elite soldiers who were equipped with iron halberds, most of them only used ordinary spears. When boarding, they were not good at swimming, and they generally trembled when jumping over the gangplank, and the spears that needed to be held with both hands became a burden.

The soldiers on Chen Dao's side who were responsible for blocking the entrance and killing the enemy were all equipped with swords and shields, and some had short spears with shields, which made them very flexible on the bumpy deck. They could also support themselves when their center of gravity was slightly unstable.

Normal iron halberds in the Han Dynasty were made with the hooked horizontal branch and the vertical spear head cast separately and fixed on the halberd shaft. Only elite troops would use halberds with the spear head and horizontal branch forged as one.

A normal one-piece forged halberd head is often shaped like a "卜字戟", that is, the horizontal branch is slightly tilted backwards, forming an arc hook towards the user himself.

However, the soldiers under the command of Chen Dao and Taishi Ci used the halberd head in the opposite way, that is, the horizontal branch was tilted forward towards the enemy.

It's a bit like the Jumonji Gun of the later Fuso Kingdom, or the fork used by Michelangelo in "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", but it only has a horizontal branch on one side.

This forward-leaning horizontal branch is not suitable for hooking and pecking at the enemy, but it is very suitable for blocking the enemy's long weapons. It can directly fork and deflect the spears stabbing from the opposite side like a fork.

This is also a weapon specifically designed to restrain the opponent's two-handed spear in the turbulent environment of water battles.

Once the weapons of both sides were locked, the side with the spear was more clumsy and had an unstable footing on the bumpy deck, which made it easy for them to reveal their flaws and be killed by the soldiers supporting them.

As for the party using the forked halberd, although the weapon is also locked at the same time, at least the halberd only occupies one hand, and the other hand can still hold the shield to block, or after both weapons are swept away, they can directly collide with the shield.

……

Before the hand-to-hand combat began, dozens of Hebei Army soldiers on the opposite side fell into the Zhang River because of their unsteady steps or trying to dodge the opponent's weapons that were aimed at their ankles.

Fortunately, the Zhang River is not too deep in winter, only two or three feet at most, so if you have some swimming ability, you won’t drown, but it is very cold.

After paying the first price of casualties, Zhang He's soldiers finally jumped onto the enemy ship and began stabbing and fighting, but Chen Dao's soldiers were also very fierce. They didn't even wait for Zhang He's troops to gain a foothold, and rushed up directly to block the springboard, forming a local situation of outnumbering the weak.

The Hebei Army's spearmen had no time to form a battle array on the deck of the enemy ship and could only fight on their own. The advantage of the spears was instantly offset by more than half.

Even if some individual soldiers were very brave and waved their spears vigorously to try to avoid being approached by the enemy and buy time so that their comrades behind them could jump over and help.

But their weapons were soon pierced by forked short halberds, and then the enemy took advantage of their local numerical superiority and sent sword and shield soldiers to hack the Hebei spearmen to death with their swords.

The bloody and brutal boarding battle lasted only a cup of tea, and the Hebei Army suffered triple-digit casualties.

"This is impossible! How could these Yuan Tan's grain-protecting troops have such proficient water warfare skills? These weapons don't look like those used by Yuan Tan's troops! Zhang Nan and Wang Men have been fighting us for several months, and they don't use these at all!"

Zhang He finally became alert after he found something was wrong, and felt a slight chill on his spine. He didn't know whether it was because of the chilly winter wind or because he thought of some terrible possibilities.

If anyone is to blame, it can only be blamed on Yuan Tan, who knew that he could not trick Liu Bei, so he hoped to maximize the sneak attack effect of Liu Bei's reinforcements and kept the identity of Taishi Ci's troops secret from beginning to end.

The reason why Zhang He and Gao Lan dared to engage in a naval battle with the enemy was based on the psychological suggestion that "they mistakenly thought that the enemy was also from Hebei and at most just asked Liu Bei to buy a boat."

When you find the possibility of being cheated, it is already too late to back down.

At this point, even though he had some concerns in his heart, Zhang He had no choice but to continue the attack and fight a war of attrition.

As the Hebei army under Zhang He fought hard, their number was after all three or four times that of Taishi Ci and Chen Dao. After suffering considerable casualties, many Hebei soldiers armed with spears finally gained a foothold on the enemy ships and engaged in a bloody hand-to-hand combat.

However, Chen Dao and Taishi Ci's resistance was far from over.

After the vanguards of the two armies had been embroiled in a chaotic fight, Taishi Ci had already approached with his central army of three to four thousand men and about fifty ships.

Because the river was narrow, only the middle of the battlefield was in a jagged state, and the rear troops of the two armies were blocked there. Taishi Ci's troops could not engage in front-line hand-to-hand combat, so they hid in the back and rained arrows to cover Zhang He's troops. Taishi Ci even used Zhang He's powerful crossbows, which also allowed the crossbowmen to shoot directly without aiming, which was enough to pose a threat to the enemy at least 200 steps away.

Of course, Zhang He would also command the warships that were stuck in the back and unable to engage in hand-to-hand combat to shoot arrows to help in the battle. However, unfortunately, the warships on Zhang He's side were converted from ordinary grain ships. In terms of protection during a shootout, they were definitely much weaker than Taishi Ci's, and they were at a great disadvantage in a shootout.

Countless Zhang He's troops were blocked there and shot at in vain, screaming and falling into the water from time to time, which made Zhang He anxious. He ordered the front army to use oars and rowing boats, and with the force of the downstream water, directly hit the enemy ships, trying to rush deeper and drag the entire army into hand-to-hand combat.

Chen Dao on the opposite side also countered the enemy's moves. When he saw the enemy ships frantically trying to penetrate, he instead placed his warships horizontally and blocked the surface of the Zhangshui River with several warships, preventing the enemy from infiltrating and forming a local situation of outnumbering the enemy, and then he held on with his frontline soldiers.

Although the casualties on the front-row warships would be relatively heavy, and although enemy ships might still be able to penetrate by ramming, at least the battle line could be maintained longer.

Moreover, Taishi Ci, who was sitting in the back, would observe Chen Dao's situation in a timely manner and allow the front-row warships to retreat when necessary - as long as the friendly warships in the back had rearranged themselves to meet the attack, the retreating warships in the front could pass through the corridor left by the rear army formation.

This is also where naval warfare has an advantage over land warfare. If the front row in a land battle wants to retreat, it is easy to disrupt the formation of the rear army. However, there are only a few ships in a naval battle, and it is impossible for the soldiers to leave the warships and run around randomly. The retreat appears to be more orderly and it is easier to form a gradient of resistance.

Especially the Southern Army, which is good at naval battles, has put a lot of effort into the formation of ships. How to arrange the battle array, how to leave corridors, and how to advance and retreat in an orderly manner are all knowledge.

In comparison, Zhang He and Gao Lan had no idea about this and just threw a bunch of random punches.

……

The bloody battle on the Zhang River lasted for a whole hour. Taishi Ci, with less than 6,000 men, withstood the chaotic attack of Zhang He and Gao Lan's 20,000 men.

So far, Taishi Ci has an absolute advantage in the exchange ratio between the two sides. It can even be said that if Taishi Ci can maintain this casualty exchange ratio, he can even destroy Zhang He and Gao Lan's troops before he is wiped out - unfortunately, actual combat is not a game, and Taishi Ci cannot always maintain this exchange ratio.

Because Zhang He and Gao Lan had more people, they were blocked there and the battle turned into a round-robin battle. Zhang He's rear army still had plenty of physical strength at this moment.

Although Taishi Ci's troops killed countless enemies in an orderly manner, most of the enemies were out of physical strength. If they fought for another hour, the two sides might end up in a draw. If the fight dragged on any longer, Taishi Ci's side would be in danger.

If there were no reinforcements, Taishi Ci's only hope was to break the enemy's morale before his own side was exhausted, and make the enemy flee on their own. Unfortunately, this was impossible, because Zhang He and Gao Lan were fighting in the siege camp, and their rear was stable.

Moreover, as Zhang He charged downstream, even if the morale of his soldiers collapsed and they stopped steer the boats, the boats would not retreat on their own but would continue to ram into the enemy and get stuck there.

Most of the soldiers under Zhang He's command could not sail a boat. As long as the sailors at the helm and rowing the boats did not retreat, those ordinary landlubbers would not know how to retreat unless they abandoned the boats and jumped into the river.

"Although Zhang He is not used to naval warfare, he has made some achievements in forcing his soldiers to fight to the death. Even after being killed so terribly, he still fought to the death. He must have specially selected soldiers who can't sail as his soldiers! They can't run away even if they want to!
This battle cannot continue like this, otherwise our army will be exhausted sooner or later, and there will be no rotation. It is better to pretend to be defeated and retreat as planned, lure Zhang He and Gao Lan further downstream, and create opportunities for Wang Men and Zhang Nan to attack Zhao Rui and Lu Weihuang. "

Taishi Ci assessed the situation and decided to temporarily retreat downstream to create some distance and create opportunities and space for friendly forces.

Taishi Ci's command was very orderly. When the troops were withdrawing, Chen Dao, who had just led the vanguard, had already passed through the corridors between the friendly fleets and hid in the rear because they had suffered heavy losses in the first wave. So when the troops were withdrawing, Chen Dao was the first to leave.

Taishi Ci led the central army and put up a brief resistance before retreating in an orderly manner, leaving behind Tian Yu, who was a completely new force, to cover their retreat.

Taishi Ci pretended that his reinforcements to Nanpi were ineffective. While retreating, he set fire to the "grain ship" that he had brought earlier as a pretense to "transport grain and grass to Nanpi City" and dropped anchor on the spot, forming a pile of fire on the surface of the Zhangshui River to prevent Zhang He from chasing him.

The situation of Zhang He and Gao Lan becoming more and more chaotic as they chased them. They had to drift downstream while dodging the fireboats, and their fleet formation became increasingly chaotic.

It was already past noon, and the lookout on Zhang He's ship suddenly saw some new enemy information: "General, there are enemy infantry and cavalry reinforcements on the east bank! The dust is so heavy that we can't tell how many enemies there are! They are heading straight for the siege camp north of the city!"

When Zhang He saw this scene, although he was still unsure of the strength of the enemy's new reinforcements, he knew that he should not be complacent, so he immediately ordered the entire army to retreat and return to the siege camp.

"General, it may be too late to turn around in a hurry! Going back means sailing against the current!" The general in charge of sailing immediately reminded him.

Zhang He secretly groaned, realizing that he still didn't know enough about naval warfare. After chasing the enemy too deep, he wanted to retreat, but it was not as easy as in a land battle.

"Then the whole army should land immediately! No need for ships! We should do our best to repel the enemy reinforcements coming from land! No! Wait, raise the flag and let the central and rear armies land immediately. We cannot land! Otherwise, the enemy ships will turn around and attack us, and we will be attacked halfway across the river!"

Zhang He at least had some potential to be a famous general, and he hastily thought of this terrible possibility. If his entire army landed, the enemy navy that escaped on the Zhang River might immediately turn around and rush back, taking advantage of the opportunity that some of his troops had already landed and some had not yet landed, and directly messed up his landing site.

Therefore, we must divide our forces! Some troops should just hold the river surface and buy time for the friendly troops to land!
With this distribution, Gao Lan led the central and rear troops directly to the east bank of the Zhang River, abandoned their ships and went ashore in a mess.

The Yuan Tan army coming from the opposite side was none other than the Qingzhou general Guan Tong. In today's battle, he was responsible for the land reinforcements, while Taishi Ci was responsible for the river. Taishi Ci would go first to consume and pull the enemy, while Guan Tong would come to finish off the attack. This was also agreed upon.

Although Gao Lan's fighting ability was superior to Guan Tong's, his soldiers had also experienced a lot of hardships in fighting, and they did not have sufficient time to form up and prepare after landing. The two sides fought in a mess, and the scene was extremely tragic.

On the Zhang River, Tian Yu and Taishi Ci turned around again and launched a head-on attack on Zhang He. After Gao Lan led the middle and rear troops to land, Zhang He's remaining troops had no advantage over Taishi Ci.

He held on until Gao Lan gained a foothold on the shore, then he quickly retreated, but was killed by Taishi Ci all the way. Nearly a hundred small boats were intercepted, forced to land, burned, and sunk by Taishi Ci, causing heavy losses, and completely depriving Cao's army of the potential for subsequent naval battles.

Zhang He himself was also in the pursuit and was hit by a crossbow arrow. He was seriously injured and had to flee and withdraw from the battle. Fortunately, this crossbow arrow was not as deadly as the one on Mumen Road decades later.

On the east bank of the Zhang River, Gao Lan and Guan Tong fought for a while. He originally wanted to counterattack in one go, but when he saw Zhang He retreating, he did not dare to fight any longer. He just wanted to move closer to Lu Weihuang in the land camp and join forces.

Helpless, when the wall fell, everyone pushed it. The battle had reached this point. Zhang Nan in Nanpi City saw that the friendly forces had advantages in all directions, so he also prepared for battle, went out of the city to attack, cut off Gao Lan and Lu Weihuang, and took advantage of the chaos to attack Lu Weihuang's crumbling camp and killed him.

Most of the troops under Lu Weihuang's command were Yuan soldiers who surrendered in the Battle of Guandu. After the generals who were guilty of treason were killed, these soldiers who had been loyal to the Yuan family surrendered one after another. The siege deployment of Cao's army on Nanpi was completely torn apart.

Cao Hong, who was in charge of the rear, found that something was wrong and quickly organized seven or eight thousand veterans of the Cao family to hold the line. He always kept the defense line on the south side of Nanpi City unshakable. He also took in some of the defeated soldiers of Lu Weihuang and Gao Lan who had fled from the west and north, and finally successfully met up with Gao Lan.

But at least 20% of the "Guan Du surrendered troops" were drawn back by Yuan's army's victory.

Zhang He and Gao Lan's direct subordinates also suffered heavy casualties and fled in panic, with thousands of people drowned in the Zhang River.

Gao Lan abandoned his ship and went ashore to fight Guan Tong and reinforce Lü Weihuang. All his ships were stranded, and most of them were captured by Taishi Ci who fought back. If Cao's army continued the siege, they might not even have enough ships to transport food to Cao Hong.

The Zhang River was about to freeze, and this conflict was equally urgent for Yuan and Cao. Even if Cao Cao sent more ships from other places, if he missed the deadline and the river was frozen and unable to open, he would have to transport grain to Cao Hong by land.

Cao Hong had no choice but to request a temporary withdrawal after suffering the loss of more than 10,000 men, and plan to attack Nanpi again after the thaw in the spring next year.

As long as Nanpi's food can be resupplied, this round of siege will lose its meaning. It is not a good choice to let our troops suffer in vain outside the city in the winter.

(End of this chapter)