My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 658 The Raiders Arrive Earlier Than the Reinforcements
After Zhuge Jin ruled out all other possibilities behind Cao Ren's behavior pattern of "only mobilizing the navy and not the land army for the time being", the only answer became apparent.

Then, he would be able to take advantage of the situation and specifically counter the possibility that Cao's army might "sneak in a boat in the dark to reinforce the Yuliangzhou water fort tonight, and avoid directly wading and being attacked by Gao Shun halfway across the river."

Zhuge Jin's specific plan was quickly written into a secret letter, which was then handed over to a messenger boat and sent back to the Yuliangzhou front line more than 30 miles north as soon as possible.

At nightfall, it was successfully delivered to Gao Shun.

When Gao Shun heard that Si Tu had specially written a reply to his report today, he also attached great importance to it. He immediately read it by lamplight in the tent at night, and also summoned Guan Ping and Xiang Chong to discuss it together.

After just a few glances, Gao Shun was shocked. He was amazed by Situ's imaginative reasoning ability and his logical and meticulous step-by-step comparison and deduction.

"So the Cao army was silent during the day. It is very likely that they are planning to take the water route in the dark and transport reinforcements to Cai Mao's water fort? And then concentrate their superior forces tomorrow and use their superior strength to overwhelm our temporary camp? Jia Xu is really vicious!"

"Fortunately, Situ's countermeasures were ingenious. He saw through Jia Xu's despicable tricks and immediately passed on my order..."

After Gao Shun's swift and decisive order, Guan Ping, Xiang Chong, and other generals and staff all expressed their determination to follow his orders without any ambiguity.

Gao Shun quickly organized an assault force with his "New Formation Camp" as the spearhead, and a rear army of more than 10,000 people. They all made intensive preparations, had meals and rested, and then went out of the camp to prepare for battle.

……

Gao Shun's "New Formation" was certainly far inferior to the old Formation in terms of eliteness, training, and combat experience.

However, the quality of equipment of this new formation has already surpassed that of the comrades-in-arms back then, and the number of people is more than five times that of the old camp.

Its actual combat capability has been fully demonstrated in the Battle of Lumen Mountain a few days ago.

Tonight, Gao Shun sent out a new formation of about 3,000 people, as well as the same number of elite Danyang soldiers, to form a surprise attack force.

The troops boarded the small boat at the beginning of the second watch, then quietly sailed along the northern side of the Yuliangzhou waterway into the main stream of the Han River. They then turned east and sailed downstream towards the Yuliangzhou Water Fort Pier controlled by Cai Mao.

That's right, the strategy that Zhuge Jin came up with on the spur of the moment was to let Gao Shunli use the prediction that "Cao Ren and Xu Huang might send troops to reinforce Cai Mao in the dark tonight" to try to trick Cai Mao.

While the reinforcements of Cao Ren and Xu Huang had not arrived yet, Gao Shun took advantage of his proximity to the water and disguised himself as reinforcements. He went to Cai Mao's water stronghold by water, pretended to open the gate of the stronghold, sneaked in and suddenly launched a surprise attack!
Of course, the key reason why Zhuge Jin dared to persuade Gao Shun to do so was that: even if this move failed, there would not be too much loss.

If the attack was to sneak into the city through a false gate, one would also have to worry about "whether the city had a barbican, whether there were inner and outer gates, and whether a heavy gate could be lowered from the city wall to trap and annihilate the first batch of attacking troops that sneaked into the city."

However, Yuliangzhou Water Fort is just a water fort.

This water fort was not newly built after Cao Ren started the war, but was left over from when Liu Biao was in charge of Jingzhou.

This is used for the naval garrison near Xiangyang. Cai Mao has been stationed here for many years.

Many generals of the Jingzhou faction knew what the layout of the Yuliangzhou Water Fort was like, including Liu Qi and Huang Zhong.

As Liu Qi defected to Liu Bei, Gao Shun had already figured out the layout of the water fort before attacking.

Moreover, over the years, there were too many talents who came from Liu Biao's territory to join Liu Bei. Therefore, the defense and geographical intelligence of various places in Jingbei was one-way transparent to Liu Bei's camp.

After landing on the beach and establishing a beachhead last night, Gao Shun did not forget to spy on the enemy's current situation and verify the intelligence he had obtained before the war. So he now knew clearly that there was no space for an additional sluice gate at the water fort, and there was no possibility of an urn city at the water fort.

As long as we can trick the gate of the village open, we can rush in and inflict heavy damage on the enemy.

If you can't trick them, then at most you'll have made a wasted trip, and maybe you'll be shot by a rain of arrows from the enemy and have to retreat in disgrace. How big of a loss can that be?
If you win, the profits will be huge; if you lose, the risk and loss will be controllable.

And with Zhuge Situ's plan, the chances of winning are very good, so what is there to hesitate about?
Before Gao Shun set out, he temporarily assigned Guan Ping some combat tasks:
Guan Ping was responsible for the attack on the water, while Gao Shun was responsible for the assault after Guan Ping tricked the gate of the village open and landed.

Coordinate efforts by land and sea, and try to take advantage of the chaos to turn Cai Mao upside down!
In addition, Gao Shun also prepared a backup force. Those troops did not need to take the boat. They just stayed on guard in their own camp, ready to attack at any time.

If you see a fire at Cai Mao’s water stronghold on the mountain or any other chaos occurring, rush out immediately.

……

After sailing for about a quarter of an hour, Gao Shun's surprise attack fleet soon arrived near Cai Mao's water fort.

Cai Mao's vigilance tonight cannot be considered relaxed, but it is definitely not strict either.

Obviously, the officers guarding the camp had received orders to welcome the reinforcements of General Cao and General Xu ashore tonight, and then organize a ground attack to kill Gao Shun early tomorrow morning.

So at the second watch, when they saw a fleet approaching on the Han River, the patrolling Cai Mao's army did not become overly alert.

If the incoming ship came from downstream, it would most likely be Guan Yu's reinforcements, which would make Cai Mao's army nervous.

But it just so happens that these ships are coming from upstream, and the upstream is the area controlled by Cao's army. They are coming from their own territory, and the time is about the same, so what is there to worry about?
As for the troops of Guan Ping and Gao Shun who landed yesterday, is it possible for them to sail their small boats along the shallow waterway on the west side of Yuliangzhou to the northern tip of the peninsula and then turn into the main stream of the Han River and sail downstream?

Cai Mao's people really didn't think of this extremely low-probability event for a while - it can't be blamed on their stupidity. After all, their main general is only Cai Mao, and the Jingzhou army has been lax in its military preparations for many years, so it is already good enough to achieve this.

If Cao Cao had brought an army that had experienced many battles, perhaps he would not have made such a mistake.

Moreover, even if we take a step back, in the mindset of Cai Mao's generals, they would definitely think:
Gao Shun's troops were on the same sandbar peninsula as us, and were directly connected by land. If Gao Shun wanted to attack them, he would have come over here directly by land.

How could he think of using the navy instead of going far away and taking a boat to take a detour? Gao Shun knew that he was not good at naval warfare, while Cai Mao was good at naval warfare.

If we must do this, wouldn't it be like deliberately feeding the enemy with moves and using our own weakness to attack the enemy's strength?

Therefore, it is impossible! Absolutely impossible!
Cai Mao's followers should obviously pay the price for their arrogance and negligence.

"Who are you coming?" It was not until Gao Shun's surprise attack force came very close to the water fort that the patrolling guards shouted loudly, asking the incoming ships to identify themselves.

"Open the gate quickly! We are sent by General Xu from Fancheng to reinforce General Cai!"

"Who is responsible for picking you up? Why are you here so early? Didn't we agree to arrive after half past three o'clock?" Officer Cai Mao, who was guarding the gate of the water fort, was a little puzzled as to why the time was different from the agreed time.

Cai Mao sent out many empty fleets today to pick up people from the north bank or Xiangyang. The captain who guarded the camp knew all the escort officers leading the teams, but he had never heard the voice of the man opposite him.

This more or less caused the captain guarding the village to become a little alert.

Unexpectedly, the "Cao Army officer" on the opposite side was angry: "Our General Xu raised the boat on the Baihe River himself to send us reinforcements! Why are you asking so many questions? Do Cai Mao's people dare to interfere in General Xu's affairs? We come to rescue you to give you face!"

The officer guarding the camp thought it was right. Xu Huang was not stupid and would not just sit there and wait for Cai Mao to send a boat to pick him up.

Xu Huang was on the north bank and could also search for boats along the Tangbai River and transport troops to reinforce.

The troops on the opposite side are all Cao Gong's direct troops, no wonder they are so bad-tempered.

Cai Mao's soldiers are now inferior to those in Cao's army, so how could they dare to provoke the boss under Xu Huang?

After a moment's hesitation, the captain guarding the gate ordered the gate to be opened.

He also had his own difficulties. Tonight, each batch of reinforcements would arrive a few days later, and the time was originally planned, because there were only so many berths at the dock.

If the first group of people had not yet finished unloading and the next group of ships arrived, blocking the surface of the Han River in darkness, chaos would definitely occur.

It just so happens that the berth is still empty now and someone has arrived early, so why not let them in quickly, unload the people, make room and wait for the next batch of ships?

The mentality of the gatekeeper at this moment was like that of a security guard in a luxury community in later generations.

If he met a visitor in a suit who politely asked him to open the door, he would still dare to yell and make things difficult. But if the other party came up and said directly, "Open the door! Get out!", then he would rush to open the door, because he knew that such an arrogant person must be the owner, not a salesman.

So, a team of small boats of unknown origin entered Cai Mao's water stronghold in a mighty manner, and thousands of soldiers landed smoothly one after another.

The captain guarding the gate felt something was wrong the more he looked at it. However, before he could expose the flaw, after most of the people had been unloaded from the ships, several of them suddenly caught fire.

The soldiers of Cai Mao's army were still confused. Those fire ships also burned several large ships at the nearby berths.

Suddenly, a rain of arrows broke out from the crowd and flew towards the captain guarding the gate.

He and the personal guards around him were caught off guard and were shot like hedgehogs one after another. Several of them didn't even have time to finish their screams before they were abruptly stopped by the rain of arrows.

Thousands of surprise attack soldiers suddenly launched an attack together, launching a chaotic battle against Cai Mao's water camp.

"Kill Cai Mao! Destroy Cao the thief!"

"All troops, move forward! Go straight to the central army tent! Don't worry about the gate!"

Following the initial chaos, hundreds of Cai Mao's direct troops who were responsible for guarding the village gate were caught off guard by Guan Ping's surprise attack force and almost completely collapsed.

Guan Ping personally wielded a weight-reduced version of the Qinglong Sword, charged forward, killed more than a dozen enemy soldiers, rushed to the gatekeeper captain who was knocked to the ground by the arrows, and chopped off his head with one sword - although this could not even be considered a finishing blow, it was just a decapitation of the enemy corpse that had been shot to death.

After killing the surrounding enemy soldiers, Guan Ping continued to shout loudly and commanded his troops to set fire everywhere in the dock area of the water fort. Swallowtail torches and bundles of burning firewood were thrown everywhere, and flames were everywhere, which soon spread to the surrounding military tents and warehouses.

After taking control of the area near the dock, the surprise attack force continued to advance towards the depths of the water fort, hacking and killing wildly along the way.

The night patrol troops of Cai Mao's army rushed over to plug the leak, but more soldiers were still soundly asleep and had no time to get up, grab their weapons, and form a battle line.

The Yuliangzhou Water Fortress was in complete chaos. As several fires broke out in the camp, Gao Shun's reserve troops, who were ambushed on the west side of the water fortress by land, saw the fire from afar and heard the shouting and fighting, and were about to launch an attack.

……

"General! General, something bad has happened! Gao Shun is coming to attack us!"

Just a few minutes later, in the central military barracks of Yuliangzhou Water Fort, Cai Mao had just woken up. He listened to his subordinates' miserable reports in a daze, his mind still a little confused.

But he had led troops for many years after all, and even though his mind was not clear, he instinctively ordered his servants to put on armor for him, while urging him to ask:
"How did Gao Shun break in? Why didn't the night patrol guarding the camp wall raise the alarm?"

The messenger said, "They attacked from the water gate! They didn't attack from land! Gao Shun's men disguised themselves as General Xu's reinforcements and tricked them into opening the gate!"

Cai Mao felt a rush of blood to his head: "What? How could it be such a coincidence? Quickly form a battle array and follow me to the north to rescue Shuimen!"

As Cai Mao put on his armor, he was still reviewing the situation in his mind: How could Gao Shun know that reinforcements would arrive from the northern water gate tonight? If he didn't know, how could he think of pretending to be Xu Huang's reinforcements? But if Gao Shun knew, would he only do this? Wouldn't he have a trick up his sleeve?
The more Cai Mao thought about it, the more scared he became. The guards around him had already helped him put on his armor, and the shouts and cries of killing in the distance were becoming more and more fierce and chaotic. The guards brought the war horses and asked Cai Mao to mount them.

Cai Mao hesitated at this time, and suddenly changed his mind: "Let Zhang Yun lead the team to block the water gate in the north! The western wall must not be slack! Gao Shun will see the chaos in my camp and will definitely attack from the west by land!"

Although the messenger didn't understand what was going on, he quickly conveyed Cai Mao's order.

At almost the same time, deafening shouts of killing broke out on the west side of Yuliangzhou Water Fort.

Gao Shun's rear troop, numbering over ten thousand, took advantage of Cai Mao's internal strife to attack from both sides by land.

"Hurry up and get on the wall! Archers, shoot as many arrows as you can! Anyone who hesitates or arrives late will be killed!"

Cai Mao shouted at the top of his lungs and drew his sword to command his men to guard him.

Unfortunately, in the middle of the night, the archers who hurriedly climbed up the wall had no organization at all, and the sparse rain of arrows posed no threat to the enemy troops who were attacking the camp.

More of Cai Mao's soldiers were still wandering around like headless flies, or had not had time to get up. Less than two or three out of ten soldiers could be organized.

Gao Shun's land attack troops, at almost no cost, set up rafts made of tied logs on the trench outside the water camp wall.

Countless soldiers, as ferocious as wolves and tigers, rushed across the trench on rafts, smashing and chopping, and using the help of setting up rafts, they climbed over the village wall and rushed in.

The soldiers of Gao Shun's army who had charged into the camp wall immediately spread to both sides, fiercely attacking from the side and killing the archers of Cai Mao's army who were on the wall. Then they cooperated from both inside and outside to capture a gate of the camp.

As the gate to the western land route was opened, Gao Shun's soldiers rushed in surgingly, and Cai Mao was already powerless to turn the tide.

"Where is Cai Mao, you bastard? Don't run away, Cai Mao! Gao Shun is here!"

Gao Shun's troops pursued Cai Mao like a tiger descending from a mountain, forcing him to flee everywhere and causing his army to be completely routed.

……

On the other side, in the direction of Shuimen Wharf on the north side of the water fort.

After receiving Cai Mao's instructions, Zhang Yun was very dedicated and took his direct subordinates to plug the leak.

However, when he arrived, the situation at the North Gate had deteriorated to a point that was simply out of control.

The number of Cai Mao's troops in the North Camp was indeed greater than that of Guan Ping's surprise attack force.

But when the war has reached this point, counting heads will not be of any use.

Cai Mao's soldiers, who had lost their command system, had no idea how many enemies there were or the strength comparison between the enemy and us. The only thing that controlled them was endless fear.

Moreover, Guan Ping's surprise attack team followed the strategy agreed upon before the battle and constantly used various slogans to undermine the morale of Cai Mao's troops:
"General Huang Zhong of Annan is here! Those who surrender will not be killed!"

"Brothers from Xiangyang, the eldest son and General Huang treated you well in the past!"

"Cai Mao murdered his master and committed treason. His crime is unforgivable! Now that he is doomed, brothers, don't accompany Cai to his death!"

"General Guan is here to help the eldest son avenge his father! We are brothers, let's go together to kill Cai Mao, the traitor who betrayed his master!"

Among the troops under Cai Mao's command, only his most trusted and reliable men were left to chance. As for the other wavering soldiers from Jingzhou, they would only help whoever was stronger.

Now Guan Ping had people shout out the crime of Cai Mao's murder of his master. Countless soldiers thought about the fact that Liu Biao had been in charge of Jingzhou for more than a decade and had been recuperating with the people. Some of them also knew that Liu Bei was more lenient in imposing taxes and levies than Cao Cao, so they became more shaken.

In the end, Zhang Yun could only command his own guards. The other soldiers either ran around or hid far away. Who would be willing to die for Cai and Zhang in vain in the dark night? It was simply an unclear death.

"Hold on! Kill the enemy general holding... the Blue Dragon Sword?!"

Zhang Yun fought back several times but failed. Finally, when he saw Guan Ping rushing towards him with a simplified version of the Qinglong sword, Zhang Yun was so scared that his legs went weak and he even thought he was hallucinating.

The lighting conditions and visibility were poor in the dark, and under the light of the fire, it was impossible to tell from a distance whether the person opposite was Guan Yu or Guan Ping.

The personal guards around Zhang Yun also knew the reputation Guan Yu had accumulated over the past ten years, so they dared not resist and dispersed like waves.

Guan Ping and his trusted aide Qu Fen bravely rushed to Zhang Yun. Zhang Yun only had the last hundred or so personal guards left to try to resist, fighting and retreating.

After killing five or six people in a row, Guan Ping rushed to Zhang Yun and slashed at him with his sword.

Zhang Yun instinctively tried his best to resist with the iron halberd, and barely blocked the knife. He actually felt a brief sense of surprise in his heart.

"How could I block Guan Yu's sword?" Zhang Yun felt dizzy and seemed to have forgotten the crisis of life and death.

That feeling is really subtle and hard to describe, just like a guy in Jurassic Park who survived a bite from a Tyrannosaurus Rex, and then was so stunned that he forgot to run away, and had no time to avoid the second bite from the Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Zhang Yun instinctively blocked and blocked one or two more moves. Only then did he react: "Why is he so young? This is not Guan Yu! No wonder I can still block it!"

Unfortunately, when he calmed down and realized that he was not facing Guan Yu, his life came to an end.

This line of thought obviously slowed down his reaction.

When Guan Ping slashed with his sword again, Zhang Yun's iron halberd was knocked away by the block, and then the remaining force of the sword cut off his neck along with the neck armor under the helmet.

It was only due to the toughness of the armor plates that, even though Zhang Yun's cervical vertebrae had been severed, his tendons and trachea were still somewhat adhered, and the entire head did not fall to the ground.

But no matter what, it's already dead as hell.

Guan Ping killed Zhang Yun and continued to attack fiercely, quickly killing the enemy's rescue troops. Countless former Jingzhou soldiers knelt down and surrendered without any psychological barriers when they saw that the situation was hopeless.

On the other side, in the battlefield inside the main camp, Cai Mao himself was also forced to flee everywhere by Gao Shun's sharp and fierce attack. He fought and marched eastward, and the number of his troops around him became fewer and fewer.

Seeing that the fire at the Watergate Wharf in Beiying was getting bigger and bigger, and there was no news of Zhang Yun's rescue, Cai Mao did not dare to go to the Beiying Wharf in order to escape by boat. He could only flee eastward to a sandbar beside the Han River.

The terrain of the sandbar is not suitable for building deep-water anchorages, so there are no docks here and no large warships can be deployed.

Cai Mao, panicking, finally gathered a dozen or so boats and fled with his personal guards in a small boat. The rest of the former Jingzhou navy was abandoned in the Yuliangzhou camp.

Gao Shun and Guan Ping defeated the enemy's main generals, one of whom fled and the other died, so the rest of the troops naturally lost their will to fight.

Although there were still more than 10,000 people, these soldiers were basically defeated and collapsed at the first touch.

However, in the direction of the Water Gate in the north, some changes did occur later that night - because Guan Ping pretended to be Xu Huang's reinforcements and launched a surprise attack, he arrived just over one shift earlier than Xu Huang's real army.

So as the fire on the south bank of the Han River rose to the sky and there was chaos in the camp, Xu Huang's reinforcements, which were about to set sail from the north bank, of course hurried to speed up, wanting to reach the south bank to quell the rebellion and assist the friendly forces.

Unfortunately, Xu Huang's troops arrived too slowly. When they crossed the Han River and arrived at the north gate pier of Yuliangzhou Water Fort, Zhang Yun had already been killed by Guan Ping.

Guan Ping had enough energy to turn around and fight his way back to the dock area on the shore, and give Cao's army a head-on blow when they were trying to get ashore, attacking them halfway across the river.

Xu Huang's reinforcements came in a hurry, so it was impossible for all ships to arrive at the same time. Even if they arrived, there were not enough berths at the dock for them to land at the same time.

This kind of independent reinforcement inevitably became a tactic of adding fuel to the fire. As soon as the first ones arrived on the shore, Guan Ping led a superior force to counterattack and drove them down the Han River in one charge.

Those who cannot swim and panic and don't know where to go will most likely drown.

Those who could swim or were clever would quickly flee back to the boat and paddle away, not caring about the lives of their comrades.

The beach was in chaos, with those rushing up and those retreating crowded together. Visibility was poor in the dark, and warships collided from time to time.

The small boats could not withstand the impact of the warships and often capsized on the spot. The cries of Cao's soldiers who fell into the water could be heard for miles.

With the lesson of Xu Huang's reinforcements, the reinforcements sent by Cao Ren on the other side, although arriving later, at least they recognized the situation.

Seeing the raging fire at Yuliangzhou Water Fort, the generals sent by Cao Ren came to the conclusion that it was impossible to save Cai Mao. No matter how many people came ashore in the dark, they were all sending military merits to Gao Shun.

The only thing to do now is to cut losses and retreat, and then make long-term plans.

(End of this chapter)