Tiger Guards

Chapter 396 Breaking the Dike and Attacking
At night, Zhao Ji conducted his routine patrol of the camp.

The air was still muggy, reaching around 25 or 26 degrees Celsius even at midnight.

Outside the camp, knights carrying torches occasionally passed by. When Zhao Ji returned to the central army, he saw a military officer who looked unfamiliar holding a silk book. Zhao Jian, standing beside him, forced himself to be alert: "Grand Marshal, the Commandant of the Expeditionary Army has reported that the dike is about to collapse. He has ordered his officers and soldiers to move to the west bank to avoid the flood."

Zhao Ji nodded, took the letter from the messenger, and read it in the dim moonlight: "Okay, let's set it for midnight."

Zhao Ji took out a waist token and handed it to the other party: "Give it to Xingba, and I will approve his plan."

"Here."

The officer received the waist token, bowed deeply, and immediately took his leave.

Gan Ning has already moved his troops to the west bank. He needs to hurry over there to join them, otherwise the dam will collapse and the floodwaters will sweep away any remaining forces, and he will be unable to give orders.

Tonight, either the dam will collapse on its own, or Gan Ning will release shovels upstream to disrupt it and cause a breach.

Zhao Ji sat down, looked up at the starry sky, and could almost feel the heat of the rising sun.

Logically, the morning light should be cool, but even the golden rays of the morning light falling on the ground are still hot.

Seeing his silent expression, Zhao Jian brought him a cup of hot tea: "Grand Marshal?"

"Nothing much. Order all battalions and units to proceed according to the pre-arranged plan. Break camp and head south at the fourth watch."

Zhao Ji gave a brief instruction and then glanced at the position of the crescent moon in the night sky to determine the time.

He disliked fighting in sweltering heat while wearing armor. After defeating the armies of Li, Guo, and Guanzhong, the armor coverage rate of his entire army surged. If he were to wage war in the autumn, his heavy infantry would be able to sweep through Ji Ling's camp.

No matter how sturdy this campsite is, it's still a campsite built on flat ground, not a campsite on a hill.

However, forcing heavily armed troops into combat now results in very short stamina and bursts of power for the troops.

Therefore, we can only focus on the details. The entire infantry advanced lightly equipped with carts, and after arriving near the battlefield, they took turns resting and then donned armor to participate in the assault.

The cavalry were armored to protect their flanks and prevent attacks on the main army during its march.

During an attack, the cavalry would rest on the spot, be used to pursue fleeing troops, and serve as the general reserve.

Sun Ce dared to lead his troops to steal chickens, and Zhao Ji did not mind committing all his cavalry to charge at Sun Ce.

Wei Yue and Zhang Liao's armies were on the southwest bank of the Ying River. After the flood, they could only hold off Ji Ling's western camp and could not provide assistance to the battlefield on the east bank.

As for Lü Bu's army, they have only just left Wandu and are too late to join the battle.

Unless the entire army works together to maintain and reinforce the dam, which might delay the collapse of the dam, the army would be too exhausted, and if the dam were to collapse suddenly, the army would suffer heavy losses.

There's also the battlefield in Xuzhou; we can't wait any longer.

Don't be fooled by the fact that Liu Xun sent his cousin to surrender; his elder brother was working for Yuan Shu. If he could temporarily abandon his elder brother and submit to the court, what's a little sacrifice of a cousin for the sake of the family's cause?
Following Zhao Ji's order, Zhao Jian immediately arranged for the officers of each battalion on duty to return to their respective camps and issue a notification at the officer level.

Some troops began packing their belongings under the sparse campfires and starlight, and voluntarily lit more campfires.

More and more campfires were lit, and each camp began to make preparations in advance.

On such a hot midnight, many people are already light sleepers, or even unable to sleep at all.

There was no need to light a fire to cook; they ate dry rations. The three-day rations carried with them were enough to sustain them through a decisive battle.

Most of the armor and weapons were loaded onto carts, and only the officers and soldiers on duty would wear armor and stand guard.

There was almost nothing to pack up; each team simply used its own vehicles and lined up to await the order to proceed.

While Zhao Ji closed his eyes and pretended to sleep, he tried to listen to the sound of the waves seven or eight miles away. He clearly overestimated himself.

At the dam construction site, Gan Ning took the initiative to throw out ballast boats from upstream. These were ordinary boats, just loaded with enough ballast stones.

Five medium-sized transport ships slowly drifted downstream. Once the ships had stabilized their speed and were generally on the right track, the sailors who were rowing and controlling the ships immediately switched to smaller boats and rowed vigorously to avoid the two banks.

As expected, when the first transport ship touched the dam, the dam, which was already overflowing and softening the sand, immediately bulged outward, creating two more obvious outlets. The outlets expanded rapidly under the scouring of the water.

Immediately afterwards, other transport ships also crashed into it. Upon seeing this, the dozen or so officials and soldiers guarding the east bank of the dam immediately spurred their horses and retreated to the main camp to report the incident.

Not long after they left, the torrent surged forward, the dam collapsed rapidly, and the gabions and log frames built inside were also washed away one after another.

The Ying River burst through the dam, rushing downstream and submerging and covering the mudflats, paddy fields, and irrigation canals on both banks. At Ji Ling's camp, after hearing the long-awaited sound of the river, the drums of the two camps on the east and west sides sounded loudly.

As the reserve campfires were lit, the officers and soldiers of the army were indeed somewhat at a loss, and could only wait to see the extent of the Ying River's attack.

As the side passively waiting to be flooded, the morale of this army was extremely low.

Every day during this period was agonizing for them; and with each passing day, as more water was stored upstream, their suffering intensified.

This kind of mental pressure cannot be repaired or relieved on its own. As it accumulates day by day, the morale of the troops becomes a serious problem.

In a close-quarters fight, death is not guaranteed; but to quietly wait for the flood to sweep away all hope is simply a matter of fate.

A death sentence is not scary; what is scary is waiting for the death sentence to come.

When the man-made flood came, it quickly spread to the walls of the camps on both banks; after the defenders repeatedly reinforced and thickened the walls, the earthen walls were still quite solid and did not collapse in one go.

However, the defending troops built these two riverside walls while under siege. Lacking materials such as lime, they could only use loess, riverbed silt, and reeds to construct them.

In Dongying, Ji Ling ordered his men to test the water level with spears. They found that the water level only submerged the corner of the wall by four or five feet, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

Dongying is actually better, as it is situated at a higher elevation than Xiying.

Xiying was in a terrible state. When the floodwaters submerged the walls by seven or eight feet, cracks immediately appeared, and the water flow quickly eroded the walls, widening the cracks.

The floodwaters spread throughout the camp, submerging all kinds of barracks and tents. The officers and soldiers in the camp either climbed the walls, climbed onto the roof, or clung to driftwood to avoid drowning.

In the chaos and confusion, some people even drowned in knee-deep floodwaters.

The situation in Dongying was not much better. Water was seeping through the camp gates everywhere, and the ground inside the camp quickly became slippery. Fortunately, the walls did not collapse, which blocked most of the floodwater.

The flood peak came quickly and went away relatively quickly.

Before Ji Ling could even tally the losses of the western camp, he saw a large infantry and cavalry army advancing from the north, carrying torches.

The terrain to the north is higher, and there are no other obstacles around, so the entire army formation, which looks like a fiery dragon, can be seen from there.

The cavalry advanced on the left, carrying torches, and the scouts expanded their reconnaissance range to a radius of eighty li.

Infantrymen pushed and shoved vehicles, inside which were their armor, weapons, straw mats, and tents, or horse-drawn wagons carrying parts for twenty catapults.
From time to time, scouts would bring spears that had been buried to measure the water level. Based on the submersion height indicated by these spears, Zhao Ji could naturally understand the extent of the damage to the road caused by the flood.

Fortunately, the water attack was not very large and did not damage the road, so it did not affect the infantry's advance.

In other words, the damage to Camp Jiling was certainly less than expected.

Along the imperial road, all the daredevils were fully armored, and their vehicles were pulled by horses. In terms of comfort, they were second only to the five thousand elite Tiger Infantry who had been transformed into chariots and horses.

Behind them followed five thousand elite Tiger Step soldiers, also clad in armor and traveling by carriage.

Following behind were over a thousand Qiang soldiers marching on foot; they were a volunteer force that had only recently been transferred.

They primarily used spears, and were accompanied by large carts carrying battle formations and spears. Their mid-to-long-range damage relied on spear throws and flying stones.

Similar to the Ba soldiers, the Qiang soldiers placed more faith in the skill of using shields than in heavy and cumbersome armor.

Behind the Qiang soldiers were the Guanzhong soldiers, and behind them were the marching ranks of the Five Battalions.

Zhao Ji followed the Guanzhong troops as they moved. He sat inside the chariot, unwrapping a leather scroll to study the planned formation for successive assaults.

The entire army was divided into four parts: a separate cavalry unit, which served as the general reserve; and three infantry units, which took turns launching strong attacks.

The first wave consisted of armored daredevils and tiger infantry; as they attacked, the Guanzhong soldiers donned their armor, ate their rations, and then took over the charge; the last wave consisted of five battalions totaling ten thousand men.

More than 20,000 infantrymen charged forward in one go. Zhao Ji did not believe that Ji Ling could withstand this fierce punch!
Let alone him, it would be the same if Yuan Shu were in charge.

Yuan Shu's army was already in disarray; the truly capable soldiers were those of Chen Guo, but they had gone to the Xuzhou battlefield.

Liu Bei and Guan Yu could inspire the people to fight side by side and defend the city against floods.

And what are you, Ji Ling?
If he were truly capable, why would he follow Yuan Shu?

(End of this chapter)