My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 515: General Zhang Yide is here

"What's going on? Why did Zhang Fei come at this critical moment? Why didn't the scouts along the way find out the enemy situation in advance?"

"Unfortunately, our main force moved to Jiangbei, but not all of them were moved. The troops transporting supplies were intercepted by Zhang Fei!"

At noon that day, in the new camp of Cao's army north of the Jialing River, Xiahou Yuan learned that the old camp in the south of the Yangtze River had been cut off by a sudden surprise attack by Zhang Fei and Gan Ning. He was immediately filled with resentment and regret.

But Xiahou Yuan couldn't blame anyone, because several counselors and soldiers, including Jia Xu, had hinted and reminded him:

If you decide to move the camp, be decisive and don't be reluctant to give up this or that. It is a pity to spend a whole winter repairing antlers and chevaux de frise, and those sharpened wood can indeed be dismantled and reused to strengthen the fortifications in the new camp, but these are just petty gains.

Compared with the greater goal of ensuring the safe assembly and concentration of the entire army, those small gains must be given up.

But there is no way, who makes Xiahou Yuan prone to greed when he is relaxed. To be precise, when the war situation continues to be tense, Xiahou Yuan can restrain his greed, but once it falls into a long-term stalemate and paralysis, his greed will relapse.

I always think, "I don't know how long the stalemate will last. Anyway, now is not the time to fight fiercely, so I have to save money when I can."

Now, this mentality has finally harmed him, and he can only swallow the bitter fruit, look forward, and find a way to remedy the situation.

Xiahou Yuan was unwilling to see the several thousand men in the Jiangnan old camp wiped out, so he found Feng Kai and asked him to prepare to cross the Jialing River in the dark tonight and smuggle back the remaining rear guard soldiers.

Feng Kai was embarrassed when he heard this, but he did not dare to disobey. Jia Xu, who was standing by, was worried that Xiahou Yuan would make the same mistake again, so he tried to persuade him:

"General, you can't do that! I heard that Zhang Fei broke through several trenches and antler defense lines of the Jiangnan Old Camp within half an hour this morning. It can be seen that Zhang Fei's offensive is fierce and his military strength is strong. He is absolutely confident that he can break through the camp and annihilate the few troops in the Jiangnan Old Camp.

He is now conserving his strength and reducing casualties. After breaking through several lines of defense, he is now entering a stalemate to accumulate strength. It is obvious that he is using this as bait to force you to send in more reinforcements so that he can use Gan Ning to intercept and kill you on the river! Don't fall for this trick again!"

Jia Xu was like a person who saw through the cards in the game, and he tried hard to persuade Xiahou Yuan not to add more bets to a game that was doomed to fail.

But Xiahou Yuan was so desperate that he had to bear the consequences. If he didn't show his hole cards, he would not follow and his previous chips would be taken away directly. How could he be willing to do that?
Xiahou Yuan slammed the table with red eyes and said, "Didn't you say a few days ago that it's not the flood season yet, and although Gan Ning's navy is powerful, the water here is shallow and the river is narrow, so it's difficult for large ships to move.

What's more, I planned to meet him at night. It's dark on the river at night, and there's no moon these days. If Gan Ning uses a large ship to chase and intercept, isn't he afraid of running aground on a reef? Captain Feng defeated Gan Ning once a few days ago, so why can't he do it this time?"

Jia Xu and Feng Kai were speechless: How come Feng Kai's small victory over Gan Ning a few days ago became the reason for Feng Kai to be in such a difficult situation?
However, this kind of malicious speculation cannot be used to oppose Xiahou Yuan’s military orders without solid evidence.

Feng Kai had no choice but to bite the bullet and try again that night with his navy.

……

That night, Feng Kai waited until a time when the enemy was estimated to be sleeping the deepest, and then secretly sent two patrol boats to quietly cross to the other side and use secret codes to contact Cao's army in the old camp in Jiangnan.

They were given an incense stick of time to prepare, get up and pack, and go to the riverside to prepare to ferry across the river. After an incense stick of time, Feng Kai's main fleet would come to pick them up.

This is already the most simplified reception process, and it cannot be simpler - Feng Kai certainly wanted to send the main fleet directly to pick up the people the first time. The problem is that if the friendly forces on the south bank did not receive the news in advance and accidentally fired in the dark and thought they were sent by Gan Ning, it would be troublesome.

Sending one or two ships to report the news first can at least ensure that the risk of leakage is minimized and the target is small.

However, Feng Kai still underestimated the vigilance of Liu Bei's army.

Although Zhang Fei failed to occupy the camp on the north side of Cao's old Jiangnan camp near the bank of the Jialing River, he only occupied the deer horn fortifications on the east side of the Jiangnan old camp and was unable to directly cut off the communication between the besieged Cao's army and the Cao's army on the other side of the river.

But considering that the distance between the two sides was very close, with the closest place less than an arrow's range, any slight movement of Cao's army on the opposite side of the defense line, such as withdrawing defenses, would be immediately observed by Zhang Fei's troops.

Before going to bed, Zhang Fei had specially instructed the sentries to be alert tonight, to always pay attention to the movements of the enemy, and to shoot a few rockets or whistling arrows from time to time at night to harass the enemy. This would not only prevent the enemy from sleeping well, but also serve as a test for direction.

Therefore, just when Cao's army was about to retreat quietly, they were discovered by Zhang Fei's army after only two cups of tea.

The specific process of the discovery was not dramatic at all: after Zhang Fei's troops fired the Mingdi rockets again, they found that the other side had no reaction, and then the front-line night patrol officers organized a suicide squad to attack, and they went over to take a look, and found that the enemy had indeed run away.

There was no need to be polite about this. The night patrol officer who discovered the situation immediately notified Zhang Fei.

Zhang Fei woke up from his sleep and jumped up. He ordered repeatedly: "Prepare horses and put on armor! Let the patrol soldiers follow me to chase and kill immediately! Quickly arrange battering rams to knock down the gate of Cao's camp. Also, set off fireworks to notify Xingba to intercept on the river!"

Zhang Fei also knew about this emergency. It was too late to expect ordinary soldiers to mount their horses and attack as quickly as he did. Anyway, the enemy had already fled and had no intention of fighting, so they only had to fight with the night patrol sentries. They didn't need too many people. Just a cup of tea later, Zhang Fei rushed to the enemy camp like a black whirlwind with only a few hundred cavalry and hundreds of armored soldiers. Before he attacked, several golden flame fireworks made of primitive black gunpowder and salt had been shot high into the sky by crossbows, and could be seen from several miles away.

As soon as Zhang Fei set off the fireworks, Wei Yan, who was on the other side (west side) of Cao Jun's old camp in the south of the Yangtze River, saw it and also set off fireworks to help relay the message.

Half an incense stick later, Gan Ning's fleet arrived.

At this time, Feng Kai's main fleet arrived at the south bank to pick up the friendly troops who had just lined up at the riverside.

Zhang Fei and Gan Ning launched the attack one after another. Zhang Fei chased and killed him from behind, while Gan Ning intercepted him in the river.

The retreating Cao army was thrown into chaos and could only send some of its men back to rely on the camp walls and deer horns to resist Zhang Fei.

But if he turned back to guard the rear at this time, his fate would be doomed to be very tragic, as he would have given up his chance to escape to others in vain. In the end, he would either be killed by Zhang Fei or collapse and be captured.

Zhang Fei led the charge, riding his horse and wielding his spear, charging back and forth, shouting and fighting fiercely. He was like a bulldozer, forcing a path through the resisting Cao army and rushing straight to the river.

"General Zhang Yide is here! The Cao villain will die soon!" Zhang Fei shouted loudly, and then stabbed out with his spear, or just swept it violently, and all those he met were defeated, and none of his men could match him.

"Zhang Fei! It's really Zhang Fei!"

The scattered resistance of Cao's army was no match for Zhang Fei's fierce attack, and after suffering hundreds of casualties, they finally collapsed. Some soldiers knelt down and surrendered, while others who were close to the river but had not yet boarded the boat rushed into the river regardless of anything.

Some of the slower boats were soon overloaded. The people on the boats were frightened when they saw Zhang Fei approaching. They used their knives to hack at their comrades in the water who were trying to climb onto the boats, creating another tragic scene of "the boat was filled with people's fingers chopping".

Gan Ning on the river also changed from the decadent and weak state he had when he pretended to be defeated a few days ago - tonight, because of the poor visibility and the fear that the large ship would run aground on reefs if fighting in the shallow water near the shore, Gan Ning really did not use the fighting ship.

At most, a few warships were used as command ships, and most of the soldiers drove small boats.

I can only say that Gan Ning's acting was really great when he pretended to be defeated and defeated the arrogant enemy a few days ago. He acted like "he could only bully Feng Kai because of his big ship". He retreated in frustration when the fighting ship ran aground, which gave Xiahou Yuan and Feng Kai confidence.

Not until tonight did Xiahou Yuan and Feng Kai have the chance to truly understand: Even if both sides were sailing small boats and using gaiters and had no advantage in weapons, Gan Ning could still defeat ten Feng Kais alone on the Jialing River!

That deliberate defeat a few days ago is destined to be recouped several times over with interest!

On the Jialing River, Gan Ning's soldiers hooked the Cao army's small boats, which were fully loaded with soldiers, and then approached to shoot, board, and kill. The unstable northern soldiers were cut to pieces by Gan Ning's Bajun Jinfan Battalion's fierce attack.

In order to rescue friendly forces in the Jiangnan old camp, the price Feng Kai paid in the end was probably more than the number of people he rescued.

……

It was a bloody and short battle, which included both the crossing and the fighting, and lasted only a little over half an hour in total.

But the intensity of the killing during this half hour or so was extraordinary.

Finally, Feng Kai gathered the defeated troops and fled back to the water stronghold. After a brief count, he found that only about 2,000 friendly troops in the Jiangnan old camp had boarded the ship.

Before today, the number of Cao's troops in the Jiangnan old camp was between 3,000 and 5,000. That is to say, half of them did not escape at all, or were killed or captured when Zhang Fei attacked the camp during the day.

Of the 2,000 men on board, a small half were killed by Gan Ning in the river. Feng Kai's own navy also suffered an additional 2,000 casualties in this operation.

In other words, in the end, in order to rescue 2,000 people, a total of 3,000 people died, which was worse than just watching them die.

After this battle, the final result was that the Cao army left behind in the Jiangnan old camp lost a total of 3,000 people, and Feng Kai's navy lost 2,000. On the first day of the decisive battle, Cao's army lost another 5,000 combat forces.

Xiahou Yuan originally had 60,000 to 70,000 troops, but after this attack, they were almost wiped out. There was only 60,000 troops left, and even more troublesome was that after being killed by Zhang Fei, the morale of Cao's army dropped even further.

In comparison, the total casualties of Liu Bei's army in the two battles today were only a few hundred, less than 20% of Cao's army. And a small half of them were caused by the armored soldiers falling into pits and being stabbed in the feet by bitter bamboo sticks when attacking the camp.

(End of this chapter)