My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 750 The Clown is Sun Wuwan

"What's going on? Where's the noise coming from?"

Cheng Pu, who was old and weak, had been slacking off in recent days. When he was half asleep, he heard the sounds of shouting and fighting, as well as the whistling of wind and fire, and was startled.

Almost in an instant, Cheng Pu's blood pressure soared and his forehead was covered with beads of cold sweat.

"Old General, this is bad! The enemy is attacking with fire from the water! The water gates and the fort walls are all on fire! It hasn't spread to the fleet in the water fort yet, but it won't hold out for much longer!"

A general stumbled into the central military tent and hurriedly told Cheng Pu the bad news.

Cheng Pu was stunned for several seconds after hearing this, his face full of disbelief: "What? This is impossible! Where are our scout ships? Why didn't they find out in advance! In early winter, how could the enemy attack my water fort with fire against the wind and the current! If they set the fire, wouldn't they burn themselves?"

The general cried with a sad face: "General, look at the fire outside the tent. Can I still play it lightly? Our patrol boats have been on guard against Wei Yan's attack from downstream. We knew that the enemy had no warships upstream, so we neglected to guard against it.

It's not that I didn't arrange patrol boats upstream, but there were far fewer than downstream. The enemy rushed over with the wind and water, and our patrols were not dense enough. When we found them and tried to intercept them, the enemy set fire, and it was too late! "

While Cheng Pu was arguing with his general, he was also busy putting on his armor. The general also helped the old general tie his armor belt while giving a verbal report.

As soon as he finished saying all this, Cheng Pu had already strode out of the central army tent. He didn't even have time to lift the curtain, but rushed out directly and pulled the curtain down.

Then Cheng Pu saw a scene that he would never forget.

The water fort in front of us was already engulfed in flames, especially in the direction upstream from the north, where flames were everywhere.

The water gates used by the warships to enter and exit the water fort had been burned to the point of being on the verge of collapse. Although the ten-thousand-pound sluice gates could not be burned, the door frames and pillars had begun to break and disintegrate.

The wall of the water fortress consisted of two parts, one on the shore and the other on the water. The part on the water was connected by sharp wooden stakes driven into the water. Now it was all washed away, with several wooden stakes broken. The fire had already spread to the inside of the water fortress and to several warships.

Some sailors tried to untie the ropes and get the warships away from the fire, but they were attacked by a rain of arrows from the enemy in the north through the camp wall.

The enemy was still shooting rockets. The Cao army soldiers who were hit by the arrows wailed and rolled over, and some even jumped directly into the river in an attempt to extinguish the rockets on their bodies.

At the same time, shouts and screams were heard from the south of the water stronghold. Although the rain of arrows there was not as dense as that in the north, but sparse, the number of enemy troops could not be distinguished in the dark, which also made the defenders very frightened and they soon fell into chaos.

Cheng Pu quickly scanned the battlefield, and then made a judgment based on his rich experience. He immediately shouted at the top of his lungs:
"Hurry up and open the south gate! Let all the warships that haven't caught fire rush out to meet the enemy! If we stay in the water fort, it will catch fire sooner or later!"

The generals around him hesitated for a moment, fearing that the old general did not understand the situation clearly: "General! The enemy ships in the south are making a lot of noise, and it is hard to tell how many there are in the dark. Will we be ambushed if we attack rashly?
Moreover, the water fort gate can only accommodate a few ships at a time. If we rush out like this, we won’t have time to form a battle array and will be defeated one by one by the enemy!”

What the general said was in line with common sense in naval warfare. Because in normal naval warfare, the enemy fleet approaching the water fort can be discovered long in advance. If the defender wants to meet the attack, he must sail out the ships in advance and form a battle array.

If the enemy is within a very close distance and we don't know how many troops are there, wouldn't we be surrounded and beaten by the enemy if we rashly send out one after another?
That would quickly turn into a strategy similar to the one where Calabash Brothers save their grandfather, with everyone going up to get killed one by one.

Cheng Pu obviously knew this, but he still drew his sword in a stern voice and insisted on the previous order: "The warships will catch fire sooner or later if they stay in the water fort! If we think the charge is too slow, we can break through a few of the south side of the fortress facing the water and let the warships rush out together!"

The generals did not expect the old general to be so courageous. They all thought of destroying their own wall, just to get out of the fire scene quickly. But from this order, we can also see how determined Cheng Pu was.

The subordinates no longer questioned and strictly followed Cheng Pu's orders, and each went to mobilize the warships.

Cheng Pu also personally boarded a large warship, which was roughly between an ordinary warship and a fighting ship. It was also the largest warship of Cao's Ru River navy.

After Cheng Pu boarded the ship, he asked the flag bearers on the ship to wave command flags and fire signals to direct the ships to break out.

It’s a pity that in the fire scene, the torch signals originally used for night command were buried among other natural fires and were not conspicuous at all.

This further led to the low efficiency of Cheng Pu's command. Many ships saw the fire signal and followed closely, while some ships that did not see it were still spinning in place and losing their composure.

But no matter what, a considerable number of warships still carried out Cheng Pu's orders in the chaos. A large group of sailors used all kinds of means, whether it was temporarily fixing axes and iron spikes on the bows to act as "ramming corners", or other means, to forcibly dismantle and ram, and destroyed several holes in the wall on the south side of their own water fort.

A large number of warships rushed out to try to save the fleet, but in the darkness they had no idea of the enemy's situation, and they didn't know where to attack after rushing out.

In the harbors on both sides of the downstream, in the reed marshes where only dry stems were left, Wei Yan had already ambushed a considerable number of warships and yachts.

Although his warship was slightly smaller than Cheng Pu's and his naval warfare skills and tactics were not as good as Cheng Pu's, Wei Yan was not afraid at all.

Seeing Cheng Pu rushing out in a disorderly manner, Wei Yan calmed down and controlled the rhythm, then seized the opportunity and ordered all the ships to encircle and charge.

"All forces attack! Surround Cheng Pu's fleet from three sides. Don't be afraid of the enemy's large ships. Drift up and engage in a boarding battle!"

The warships under Wei Yan's command all sounded war drums at the same time, and the soldiers beat the drums desperately, lit the fire horns, and charged towards Cheng Pu's fleet.

Although Cheng Pu had tried his best to open a few more holes in the wall of his camp to avoid the tactic of adding fuel to the fire, he was ultimately unable to line up his entire army and push downstream in the dark.

So Cheng Pu's vanguard fleet, just like the Calabash Brothers saving his grandfather, sent out ships one by one for a long time before gradually stabilizing the situation.

Wei Yan personally braved the arrows and stones and led hundreds of small boats to the front in the dark. He hooked the enemy ships with grappling hooks and sickle spears, then jumped on them and killed them in hand-to-hand combat.

Some of them relied on the pre-installed iron rams on the front of their own small boats to directly ram the side of the enemy's large ship and dig a few feet into it, pinning both the enemy and us, and then jumped on to engage in hand-to-hand combat.

Cheng Pu paid the price of dozens of warships being destroyed, captured, or forced to land before he gradually stabilized his position.

Cheng Pu was indeed a famous general in naval warfare. He made the most correct judgment in a short period of time. Although the water fort suffered heavy losses, he managed to save the fleet as much as possible.

The losses were heavy and morale was extremely low, but at least the navy could be saved.

This was the wisest decision Cheng Pu could have made. If he had dragged on and wanted to defend the water fort, the final result would have been the loss of both the water fort and the fleet. Now at least he had temporarily saved one and a half.

After Wei Yan took advantage of the initial sneak attack, he soon fell into a fair fight with Cheng Pu. The two sides were in a stalemate for a while, and it seemed that it would be difficult to determine the winner within half an hour. However, the battlefield of this battle was obviously not just a water battle on the surface of the Ru River. The attack and defense of the camp on the shore was equally important.

As Cheng Pu withdrew the fleet, the defense of the water fort was already extremely weak. Liu Bei's army's fire rafts from upstream also hit the water fort from the north, so the fortifications on the north side were the most severely damaged.

Zhang Fei personally led nearly 10,000 cavalry and infantry, divided them into several batches and left enough reserves. Almost at the same time as Wei Yan and Cheng Pu were fighting, he launched a general attack on the camp.

Zhang Fei did not dare to deploy too many troops at once, for he was afraid that the visibility would be unclear in the dark and the enemy situation would be unclear. If too many troops were deployed, it would be difficult to coordinate with each other and chaos would easily occur.

Therefore, the best way to fight is to bring more troops, but deploy them in batches. It is better to fight in waves than to go all out.

These are the basic skills for raiding a camp or attacking a stronghold at night. Zhang Fei is considered a veteran who has been leading troops for more than 25 years, so his basic skills are naturally very solid.

Zhang Fei was seen urging the assault troops on the shore to attack the camp in waves.

They used temporarily brought battering rams to smash out several gaps for rushing in, and used temporarily brought rafts to build a simple trench bridge across the trench.

Finally, the armored infantry swarmed into the chaotic water fort and fought with the enemy soldiers.

Zhang Fei himself was fighting in the crowd, holding a copper hammer in one hand and a shield in the other. The guards he led personally were also extremely fierce. They would rush forward when they encountered the enemy and quickly cut a bloody path through Cao's army.

Cheng Pu himself was not guarding the water fort, and the guards left behind were obviously no match for Zhang Fei.

Two Cao army captains who were in charge of guarding the camp were killed in the head by Zhang Fei one after another, and the battle in the camp gradually came to an end.

Until the water stronghold was raided, Cheng Pu was still fighting with Wei Yan on the surface of the Ru River.

At this moment, the two armies had been fighting for one and a half watches. The sky gradually brightened. Zhang Fei ordered his men to make noises, raise flags, and shout, announcing that the water stronghold had been captured.

When Cheng Pu's troops on the river saw their old nest destroyed, they began to waver and their morale plummeted. Wei Yan took the opportunity to switch from a stalemate to a counterattack and pursuit, and defeated Cheng Pu's troops.

In a panic, Cheng Pu, relying on his thirty years of experience in leading troops, made a barely feasible decision to survive from defeat. He ordered the remaining troops to abandon the entangled friendly forces, to gather the main force whose ships were still in good condition, and to try to move towards the east coast, towards Shangcai City.

"Hurry to the west water gate of Shangcai City! The water fort has been lost. Even if our army has saved the fleet, we will be homeless! The first priority right now is to let the young master make a decisive decision and immediately abandon Shangcai and withdraw the troops!"

While giving the order, Cheng Pu also explained it to several generals around him, fearing that they did not understand the decision.

After all, giving up Shangcai City was a very important decision. Sun Quan and Ling Tong were clearly not that weak in the battle to defend the city. They could have held out for at least a month, so why did they just abandon the city?

However, if they did not abandon the city, Cheng Pu's water stronghold would have been lost. Although the navy's strength was not completely destroyed, it was severely damaged and they would be homeless again.

As long as the water fort was lost, there would be no way to block the Rushui waterway, and Wei Yan could lead the fleet to drive straight in and infiltrate Cheng Pu's rear. If there was another mistake at that time, Sun Quan's entire army would be wiped out and suffocated to death in Shangcai City.

Therefore, if they did not retreat now and insisted on defending, they might be able to hold out for another month, or at least half a month. But what about after a month? That would cost the entire army being annihilated, and even Sun Quan being captured or even killed.

It's not worth it to pay such a huge price to delay this little time.

Just withdraw!

……

At the same time, in Shangcai City.

Shortly after a fire broke out in the water fort on the opposite bank in the middle of the night, Sun Quan was awakened from his sleep by Ling Tong.

Sun Quan also hurried to the west gate tower of Shangcai City and looked at General Cheng Lao's water stronghold on the opposite bank, which was being attacked from both sides by Zhang Fei's fire rafts and cavalry and infantry upstream and Wei Yan's warship fleet downstream.

Sun Quan saw with his own eyes how Cheng Pu gradually fell into decline and finally suffered a crushing defeat, but he was completely powerless to do anything.

When Cheng Pu finally fled to the west water gate of Shangcai City with his defeated fleet and asked Sun Quan to open the gate to receive him, Sun Quan was heartbroken but could do nothing.

As soon as he entered the city, Cheng Pu quickly found Sun Quan, knelt down to apologize, and asked Sun Quan to put the overall situation first.

"Young Master! I am incompetent! I did not see through Xu Shu's plan, and was defeated by the enemy's fire attack from upstream! Now that the water fort has been lost, although our army still has some warships, they are like a tree without roots. Young Master, please follow me to retreat to a safe place in the rear as soon as possible! Otherwise, once the navy is driven away, the enemy will surround us from all sides, and the army and civilians of Shangcai will have nowhere to retreat!"

Sun Quan originally wanted to ask a few questions about the consequences of the defeat, but after hearing what Cheng Pu said, he was at a loss and knew that he had to prioritize now.

"How hateful! There are still so many military supplies in the city that are needed to hold on. Are we going to abandon the city and retreat now? Should we set it on fire?" Sun Quan couldn't help but talk to himself, struggling between conscience and desire.

Kan Ze on the side thought for a moment, then suddenly stepped out to salute, offering advice: "Young Master! It's too late. General Cheng's navy has been badly damaged. I'm afraid they can't transport all the soldiers at once. How can we set fire?
If we set fire to the city, will the soldiers still defend it? And if the enemy suddenly becomes fierce and attacks the city with all their might, we will definitely not be able to defend it! By then, the city may be breached before we have even finished retreating!"

Sun Quan's mind raced, and he asked anxiously, "What do you think?"

Kan Ze thought quickly, then gritted his teeth and said, "If the young master trusts me, I will ask General Cheng to speed up the withdrawal of the troops, and send my subordinates to Zhang Fei to discuss the terms with him.

We said that as long as Zhang Fei allowed us to withdraw, we would not burn the city, destroy supplies, or harm the people. If he insisted on killing us all, and our army had no hope of retreating, then the young master would naturally fight to the death with all his strength! Even if he finally took Shangcai, it would take another half a month and thousands of soldiers would be killed or injured!"

Sun Quan thought about it and decided that this was the only way, so he entrusted the negotiation work in Shangcai City to Kan Ze. Sun Quan himself followed Cheng Pu and boarded the ship, taking several thousand of his most loyal guards with him.

As for the remaining people, Cheng Pu did not have time to transport them. If Zhang Fei agreed to the deal, Cheng Pu would have to come again in the future to transport them.

Ling Tong was naturally left behind by Sun Quan to supervise all the soldiers defending the city. If Zhang Fei did not agree to negotiate, Ling Tong would be responsible for resisting Zhang Fei's attack until the last moment.

If Zhang Fei agreed to the negotiation conditions and then broke the agreement, Ling Tong would also be responsible for setting fire to the city before finally taking the city, burning all the supplies and destroying the houses.

(End of this chapter)