Three Kingdoms: Jiangdong is no longer a rat

Chapter 256 Zhou Tai on the Charge

The rapidly deteriorating war situation caused widespread panic in Wu County.

Despite the government posting notices throughout the city overnight, declaring that the situation was still under control, the number of people gathering near the government office continued to increase. Everyone was trying their best to find out the latest developments in the battle and closely watching the government office's every move.

Because the streets near the official temple were too crowded and the order was gradually becoming chaotic, Liu Yao's carriage took a full quarter of an hour longer than usual to reach the official temple, with frequent stops and starts along the way.

With bloodshot eyes, Liu Yao stepped down from his carriage, ignoring the officials who came to pay their respects along the way, and walked toward the council hall with a gloomy expression.

In the Battle of Cangshui Pavilion, half of the eight thousand elite troops he had painstakingly recruited were lost, and of the four generals who led the army, one was killed and three surrendered. This devastating news was like a bolt from the blue, and his usual fear and apprehension towards Xu Gong were completely replaced by rage.

Liu Yao stormed into the council hall, intending to demand an explanation from Xu Gong.

Before he could even steady himself, Xu Gong, whose face was equally grim, launched the first attack: "Zhengli, why did you recall the four thousand troops sent to reinforce Youquan without authorization?"

The 4,000 troops that reinforced Quan were led by Yu Mi and Chen Heng, generals under Liu Yao, and were also the only remaining troops under Liu Yao.

Liu Yao's lips trembled with anger, and he hissed as if tearing off a mask: "I said long ago that we should send the Yuting and Shazhong reinforcements to reinforce Piling together with Zhang Ying to ensure that there would be no mishap! You insisted on doing things your own way! If I hadn't recalled Yu Mi and Chen Heng in time, wouldn't even this detachment have been completely wiped out?"

Xu Gong's eyes widened, seemingly not expecting Liu Yao to be so presumptuous. Like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, he suddenly stood up from the couch: "Absurd! If it weren't for that scoundrel Zhang Ying who only traveled fifteen li a day, timid and hesitant, thus missing the opportunity to fight, how could Piling have fallen into enemy hands so easily?"

"Incomprehensible! Utterly incomprehensible!" Liu Yao was so angry that he turned and walked out.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Gu Cheng quickly gave Xu Gong a wink, then stepped forward and grabbed Liu Yao's sleeve: "My lord, please calm down! At this critical moment, I hope you will think of the people of Wu County!"

Liu Yao struggled slightly but failed to break free. Helpless, he stopped and sighed, "The eight thousand defenders of Piling fell in just five days. With the enemy's sharpness so great, what way is there to resist? With such a huge disparity in strength, we might as well surrender."

Upon hearing this, the hall fell into a deathly silence.

Xu Gong's face was particularly grim. Looking around at everyone in the hall, he realized that surrendering would only mean changing masters and at most losing some benefits. But as the instigator and core leader of the anti-Yan coalition, his fate would be dire if he surrendered.

He suppressed his fear and anger, his sinister gaze sweeping across Liu Yao's face before turning gentle: "My lord, you must not boost the morale of others and diminish your own prestige. To be honest, Tao Gongzu and Liu Xuande have secretly sent envoys, promising to send troops to our aid. As long as we can hold out for two months, the reinforcements will surely arrive."

Liu Yao glanced at him with a hint of disbelief: "Is this really true?"

Xu Gong knew that any hesitation at this moment would shake the morale of the army, so he immediately straightened his expression and nodded as if to speak. Suddenly, Sun Xiao rushed in, his face beaming with joy. Before he could even bow, he shouted, "My lord, good news! Huge good news!"

Xu Gong was slightly taken aback, then quickly walked down to the hall and asked impatiently, "What good news is there?"

Sun Xiao's gaze swept over everyone in the hall, finally landing on Xu Gong's face. He raised the bamboo slip in his hand, trembling with excitement: "Zhou Shu is dead! Zhou Shu is dead!"

A chorus of excited exclamations immediately erupted in the hall.

Xu Gong snatched the bamboo slip and eagerly unfolded it, his face filled with wild joy, his voice shrill with excitement: "Good riddance! Good riddance!"

"With Zhou Shu dead, Yuzhang is leaderless and will inevitably change!"

"If Zulang can free up his hands and launch an offensive in Danyang, the situation may be reversed."

"Even if we cannot completely change the course of the war, the pressure on our army can be greatly reduced."

The people in the hall were discussing amongst themselves, and their previous dejected mood had vanished. Even Liu Yao, who had threatened to surrender, looked much better.

Gu Cheng advised, “My lord, now that Zhou Shu is dead, our army only needs to hold firm and await reinforcements. Within ten days, a turning point will surely appear. In my opinion, the cities of Quan and Yuting can only hold off the enemy for a maximum of ten days. The most urgent task is to take advantage of the fact that these two cities have not yet fallen and abandon the surrounding cities of Shazhong and Louxian, and gather all their troops back to Wuxian. Wuxian is a well-fortified city. If it is heavily fortified, it will surely be able to remain safe and wait for the opportune moment.”

Xu Gong nodded slightly in agreement.

Currently, the troops of Wu Commandery are stationed in various cities, each with only a few thousand soldiers, making them like a disorganized mess. They are indeed easily defeated one by one by the enemy. It would be better to take advantage of the fact that the enemy has not yet broken through the defenses of Youquan and Yuting, and quickly summon the garrison troops scattered in the outer cities to Wu County to strengthen its defenses.

“Sir, what you say makes sense. We will do as you say.” Xu Gong’s gaze swept over a secretary in the hall: “Draft an imperial edict immediately, ordering the garrison troops of each city to arrive in Wu County within ten days, or five days.”

At the hour of Shen (3-5 PM) that afternoon, messengers sped out of the city gates of Wu County and headed to various cities.

At the same time, Yan Yi, who was personally in charge of the front line of the battle, stared at the map on the table and set the final time for the siege.

According to the plan, the northern and southern armies will launch a simultaneous attack on Youquan and Yuting at 9:00 AM the day after Sun Ce's troops arrive at Yuting.

This message was written in secret in letters urging surrender and then shot into the city.

Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin, who were patrolling the city, quickly obtained this information and began to make intensive preparations for the uprising.

Zhou Tai stationed a total of 8,000 troops in Youquan City, of which 3,000 were commanded by Zhou Tai and the other 5,000 were controlled by Lu Jun, a core member of the Lu family of Wu County.

Lu Jun, courtesy name Jicai, was quite knowledgeable in military strategy. He once served as the Commandant of Jiujiang and was the father of Lu Xun.

Although this person was not absolutely loyal to Xu Gong, he did not dare to easily betray Xu Gong since most of his clansmen were in Wu County.

Although the Lu family is one of the four great aristocratic families of Wu County, who knows what hysterical things Xu Gong might do in his madness.

Besides Lu Jun, who was quite loyal to Xu Gong, Li Yi, Xu Gong's confidant, also served as the military supervisor in Youquan.

With Lu Jun and Li Yi hindering and supervising him, Zhou Tai's uprising faced considerable difficulties. However, he remained confident, simply because he understood the inner desire of his soldiers: to escape Youquan alive!

Now, anyone who isn't a fool can clearly sense that Yan Yi's capture of Wu Commandery is only a matter of time. Anyone or anything that stands in the way will be crushed by the merciless war machine.

Zhou Tai believed that his soldiers would make the right choice that met his expectations.

According to his plan, he only needed to win the support of most of the soldiers and briefly control one of the city gates when Yan Yi's army attacked the city, which would easily complete the task assigned by Yan Yi. That afternoon, Zhou Tai went to inspect the west city and stayed on the city wall for half an hour, passing on the information to the scouts outside the city to attack the west gate before returning to his residence. Under the pretext of discussing the details of defending the city, he summoned his five military commanders for a meeting.

Four of them arrived quickly, but one military officer named Ma Kui was late in arriving.

Zhou Tai waited a moment, then summoned a trusted guard: "Go and check on Cheng Nian."

Since Ma Kui had not yet gained his complete trust, he planted several spies around Ma Kui to monitor him, and Cheng Nian was one of them.

Before the guards had even left the residence, Cheng Nian rushed in with news that made Zhou Tai uneasy: 'Li Yi summoned Ma Kui to inquire about defenses, but Ma Kui has been inside the government office for an hour now.'

At this moment, Zhou Tai was on edge, and was about to go to the official temple to find out what was going on. After taking two steps, he stopped and asked, "Has Ma Kui done anything unusual these past two days?"

"Last night I drank too much and lost my composure, saying a few drunken words about the city falling at any moment," the guard replied.

Zhou Tai seemed to be deep in thought. Now that Yan Yi was personally leading a large army to besiege the city, there were quite a few officers in the city who held a pessimistic attitude. Ma Kui's drunken complaints should not arouse any suspicion from Li Yi.

However, Li Yi bypassed him and summoned Ma Kui for questioning, which was somewhat unusual.

Although Ma Kui was unaware of his plans, he might have noticed some of his unusual behavior through his constant observation and interaction.

Zhou Tai pondered for a moment, then ordered his men to summon the four military officers waiting in the mansion. He instructed them, "You shall proceed to the military camp in the west of the city immediately. Without my order, no one is to leave the camp, including the four of you."

Of the four military commanders, Zhao Zhi had previously received favors from Sheng Xian, while Wang Peng and Li Bao had only recently joined Xu Gong and had both been successfully won over by Zhou Tai. Upon hearing the implied meaning in the song, their expressions immediately became serious. They subtly surrounded the unsuspecting Zhou Miao in the center and hastily accepted their orders.

Zhou Tai then dispatched his personal guards to the official temple to summon Ma Kui. At the same time, he ordered his men to ascend the Moon Gazing Tower, which was the tallest tavern in the vicinity, over five zhang high. From the top floor of the Moon Gazing Tower, one could have a clear view of the surrounding streets and alleys.

Half an hour later, the guards who were supposed to summon Ma Kui had not returned. Instead, the men who had gone to Wangyue Tower hurriedly returned to report: "General, a group of about five hundred men has arrived on West Street and stopped in Liumo Lane."

Zhou Tai looked solemn. He hurriedly put on his inner armor after returning to his room. Just as he hung his sword at his waist, a guard strode over and said, "Li Wei, the military commander under Li Yi, requests an audience."

"Lead the horses to the back gate and wait there," Zhou Tai instructed, then strode towards the gate.

Li Wei, dressed in dark brown leather armor and with a long sword at his waist, paced back and forth in front of the schoolhouse in the front yard, with ten burly, armored soldiers standing solemnly behind him.

Upon seeing Zhou Tai approaching, the sinister look between his brows vanished, replaced by a gentle smile. He stepped forward, clasped his hands in a respectful bow, and said, "This humble general is unworthy of such honor as to have troubled the general to personally welcome me. I am truly ashamed and do not deserve it."

Zhou Tai returned the greeting with clasped hands, his face still bearing a stern and unsmiling expression: "I was just on my way to the military camp. What brings you here today, Mr. Li?"

Li Wei's gaze swept over the sword at his waist, and he smiled, "This humble general has come on the orders of the military supervisor. Please go to the official temple to attend the military council."

Zhou Tai frowned slightly and walked towards the gate of the mansion: "Go and report to the military supervisor. I will go there immediately after I have finished dealing with the garrison duties tonight."

Li Wei looked troubled and followed closely beside him: "This military meeting is of great importance. The supervising officer has repeatedly urged you to go there immediately, General."

Zhou Tai stopped on the steps, his gaze sweeping across the empty street. Suddenly, he grabbed Li Wei's wrist and dragged him away without a word: "The enemy may attack the city at any time. What could be more important than tonight's troop rotation? Since you're here, Mr. Li, why don't you come with me? I will explain the reason to the supervising officer."

Li Wei stumbled and nearly fell. He tried to pull his left hand away but failed. His right hand instinctively reached for his sword: "General, what do you mean by this? Are you disobeying the supervisor's orders?"

The ten soldiers who had come with him were terrified and hurried after him, but were stopped by several of Zhou Tai's personal guards.

Zhou Tai moved with lightning speed, ignoring Li Wei's struggles, and in the blink of an eye dragged him to the alley entrance on the left.

Li Wei caught sight of more than twenty armored soldiers holding reins and leading horses in the alley. He instantly realized what was happening and, without hesitation, drew his sword and thrust it at Zhou Tai, shouting, "Zhou Tai has rebelled! Quickly capture and kill this traitor!"

As soon as the words were spoken, dark figures suddenly appeared at both ends of the previously deserted street. The front row had menacing ring-bladed swords, while the back row had bows fully drawn, rapidly approaching the alley entrance like a black tide.

Zhou Tai easily dodged the incoming sword light, then smashed his fist, the size of a sandbag, into Li Wei's temple, knocking him unconscious on the spot. He then grabbed Li Wei's armor and tossed him onto his horse. He then mounted his horse, yanked the reins, and galloped down the alley towards another street.

There were fewer ambushes on this street, only about a hundred men.

Zhou Tai lifted Li Wei as if he were a child, placing him in front of him as a shield. He then led twenty or thirty riders at breakneck speed to the street corner, his voice booming like thunder: "Li Wei is here! Anyone who blocks my way shall die!"

The soldiers lying in ambush at the street corner were hesitant to fire arrows at him, so all twenty-odd arrows were aimed at the knight beside him.

At the same time, more than ten soldiers hurriedly stepped forward with their long spears, the tips of which were pointed diagonally forward, attempting to intercept them.

An experienced garrison commander knew that with only a dozen or so spears, it would be impossible to stop the demonic Zhou Tai. In desperation, he shouted, "Shoot the horse!"

The archers, as if waking from a dream, reloaded their arrows and fired six or seven arrows at Zhou Tai's warhorse.

With a roar, Zhou Tai hurled Li Wei forward like a sandbag, deflecting several arrows. He then drew his spear, flicked it, and parried three more arrows.

The knights beside him did not possess such astonishing martial skills; amidst the neighing of their warhorses, six or seven men screamed and fell from their horses.

Amidst the chaos of men and horses, Zhou Tai had already rushed to the street corner like lightning. With a flick of his right hand to his waist, his sword was drawn with a clang, transforming into a cold gleam as it flew out of his hand.

With immense force, the blade pierced through the chest of a soldier who stood in its way, the tip penetrating more than three inches into his back. This horrifying scene turned the surrounding soldiers pale with shock.

Zhou Tai raised his twelve-foot-long spear, its momentum growing ever more fierce as his warhorse charged forward. The warhorse, under the chilling shadow of the spear, gained even more ferocity, and charged unstoppably out of the street. Behind him, only three corpses with holes pierced through their chests and abdomens remained on the street.

The commander was so mighty that all the knights were filled with excitement. More than ten riders broke through the enemy lines and followed their war god away.

(End of this chapter)