Tiger Owl

Chapter 124 Wei Yan's Extraordinary Achievements
Wei Yan, as a subordinate general of Ding Feng, also participated in the battle, leading one fighting ship and ten warships.

Wei Yan was also eager to make a name for himself. He saw that Taishi Ci, who had arrived later than him, had been appointed as a colonel and become the leader of the Fifth Army. Then, Zhao Yun, who came from the north, was also appointed as a colonel and became the leader of the Sixth Army.

Wei Yan was getting anxious. He admitted that Taishi Ci and Zhao Yun were highly skilled in martial arts, which he could not match. But seeing one great general after another arriving and being given high positions, when would he be able to turn his life around?
Wei Yan knew that what he lacked was military merit, especially great military merit. This time, he was eager to fight in the campaign against Changsha County and was determined to make a big splash.

Wei Yan followed Ding Feng and was assigned to the left army. When the battle started, he was not very interested in killing the enemy. He was focused on finding the enemy's flagship. His efforts paid off, and he finally found the enemy's flagship, a three-thousand-stone warship, behind the enemy's rear.

He immediately led his warships and ten Hongmeng warships around the enemy ships and secretly approached the enemy's flagship. At this time, Wei Yan's ships had all changed to the battle flags of the Jingzhou army, which successfully lulled the enemy into a false sense of security. Many Jingzhou warships sailed past him without intercepting him.

When they were three hundred paces away from the flagship, Wei Yan suddenly noticed an even larger warship about a mile behind them, with a capacity of about ten thousand shi (a unit of weight), and five warships with a capacity of two thousand shi each guarding it.

After considering for a moment, Wei Yan made up his mind and ordered, "Go to the largest warship at the back!"

His warship quickly turned around and headed toward the large ship a mile behind.

The warship that Wei Yan was eyeing was the main ship of the Jingzhou army. This was because Liu Cong was present, so they had to ride the largest ship to show their prestige, which was the system in Jingzhou.

At this moment, Cai Yan saw a fighting warship and ten large warships passing through the countless warships and heading towards his large ship. He thought they were coming to report on the battle situation.

Cai Yan misjudged the situation for two reasons: first, the enemy was flying the battle flag of the Jingzhou army; second, the enemy passed through her numerous warships with ease, and not a single ship intercepted them.

Cai Yan naturally assumed that the other ship was her own warship, and that it was coming to report the battle situation by approaching her large ship.

He walked to the ship's side, and the two of them held onto the railing, waiting for the other to come forward. Unexpectedly, a black dot suddenly appeared. By the time he reacted, the arrow was already in front of him. Cai Yan was shocked and instinctively turned to the side. "Thud!" The arrow hit his left shoulder. Cai Yan screamed and fell backward. He had been careless today and hadn't worn his armor, which resulted in a great loss.

The guards rushed forward to help their commander. At that moment, Wei Yan's warship came rushing in like an arrow. With a muffled thud, the warship crashed heavily into the enemy ship. The enemy ship shook violently, and everyone on board lost their footing and fell to the ground.

Although this warship was a 10,000-stone warship, its height was similar to Wei Yan's 3,000-stone fighting ship. Its main feature was its large size, with four floors built on it.

Wei Yan leaped onto the large ship, brandishing his broadsword with extremely fierce swordsmanship, killing more than twenty of his personal guards in succession. He placed the broadsword against Cai Yan's neck and shouted, "Cai Yan, you've finally met your match!"

Cai Yan recognized Wei Yan at a glance, and her expression changed drastically. "So it was you!"

Cai Yan certainly knew Wei Yan. Wei Yan had originally been one of his subordinates. However, Wei Yan had mocked Cai Yan behind his back for being incompetent, which angered Cai Yan. Cai Yan demoted Wei Yan to a garrison commander and sent him to Deng Long's army.

Cai Yan's expression shifted between anger and uncertainty. Suddenly, he straightened his neck and shouted, "Kill me if you want! If I even flinch, I'm no hero!"

Wei Yan chuckled, "You want to die, but I really don't want to kill you."

He withdrew his sword and ordered his men to tie Cai Yan up.

Wei Yan killed more than a dozen more people and rushed upstairs to catch the big fish. Wei Yan came from the Jingzhou army, so he knew the rules of the Jingzhou army. He discovered that the big ship was flying a royal flag with silver trim, which meant that Liu Biao's son was on board.

If Liu Biao himself was present, the royal flag would be edged with gold; if his son was present, the flag would be edged with silver; if the flag was not edged, it meant that Liu Biao's special envoy was present to carry out the king's orders.

At this moment, Wei Yan led his four hundred men to rush onto the main ship of the Wan Shi ship, and kept throwing oil bottles at the five escort ships around it, which then caught fire.

Wei Yan led a dozen men up to the second floor and found dozens of soldiers guarding a large cabin. Wei Yan brandished his sword and charged forward. The enemy soldiers shouted and rushed to meet him, warning that if their lord were to fall, they would not survive either. Everyone fought desperately. The battle raged, with blood and flesh flying everywhere and heads rolling. Wei Yan was also stabbed several times, but he was unharmed because he was wearing iron armor. He and his dozen men killed all forty-odd guards on the enemy side before kicking open the cabin door and rushing inside.

Standing in the room was a young general, with clear eyes and handsome features, wearing iron armor, carrying a sword, and his face was as pale as paper.

Wei Yan smiled, his eyes narrowing. "So it's the Second Young Master. Long time no see!"

Wei Yan certainly knew Liu Qi and Liu Cong, as well as Liu Biao, but the last time he saw Liu Cong was three years ago.

"Who are you?" Liu Cong vaguely felt that he had seen the person in front of him before.

"I am Wei Yan, Commandant of Xiakou. I once served as a general in the Jingzhou army, but that is in the past. I do not wish to be rude to you, young master. Please come with me!"

He gave a signal, and his men stepped forward, snatched Liu Cong's sword, tied his hands behind his back, and pushed him away.

Although the warship was large, it was too slow and would be surrounded by the enemy. Wei Yan led all his soldiers to retreat to their own warships. Just then, the Jingzhou army also discovered that the commander's ship was in trouble, and more than twenty warships rushed back to rescue it.

The warship rowed frantically, speeding eastward, with more than twenty warships in hot pursuit. The two sides were less than a mile apart, and dozens of warships chased Wei Yan's warship like a pack of wolves.

They sailed for more than twenty miles. Wei Yan's warships had too many soldiers and were not as swift as the enemy's warships. Seeing that the pursuers were getting closer and closer, less than a hundred paces away, the two sides began to exchange arrows. The enemy had formed a pocket formation and was preparing to surround Wei Yan's ships.

At this critical moment, a fleet rushed in from the side, cutting off Wei Yan and his pursuing ships. This fleet was a part of the left wing led by Ding Feng, consisting of five fighting ships, five large warships, and dozens of medium-sized warships.

They surrounded the pursuing ships from the opposite direction, constantly throwing kerosene bottles and cans at them. The enemy's twenty-odd ships couldn't keep up with the fire and eventually succumbed to their blaze.

At this point, the situation on the battlefield had become one-sided. The Yuzhang Army's pole-striking prowess was remarkable, destroying nearly two hundred Jingzhou Army warships. More importantly, as time went on, the mutual attack of fire and oil between the two sides gradually reached a qualitative change. More and more Jingzhou Army warships were unable to be saved because the rescue could not keep up with the burning speed, and the fire eventually engulfed the warships.

More than 300 warships were burned to the ground, while nearly 100 warships of the Yuzhang Army were also burned. The casualty ratio between the two sides was one to three, which can be described as annihilating 3,000 enemies while losing 800 of their own.

However, the battlecruiser did not suffer any casualties. Apart from a dozen or so warships that withdrew from the battle due to damage to their battlecruisers, the remaining thirty or so warships advanced with unstoppable momentum, becoming more and more courageous as they fought, and the enemy gradually began to collapse.

Gan Ning was overjoyed to learn that Wei Yan had captured Liu Cong and Cai Yan, and immediately ordered: "The entire army shall attack and utterly crush the enemy!"

"Boom! Boom! Boom!" The drums rang out again, and three red flags were hoisted aboard the flagship. This was the order for the final battle.

More than 500 warships increased their fighting strength and engaged in a full-scale battle with the enemy. At this time, the enemy had learned that their commander had been captured, so they lost their will to fight. Their flagship hoisted the yellow flag of retreat, and the enemy ships turned around and retreated one after another.

However, Gan Ning issued the order to pursue the fleeing enemy relentlessly. The Yuzhang Army's warships mustered their energy and chased after them, overtaking one enemy warship after another. With nowhere else to go, the Jingzhou Army's warships surrendered one after another, raising white flags.

Soon, hundreds of supply ships behind the enemy lines were also caught up. The Yuzhang Army's warships chased for more than 200 li in one go, all the way into the Yangtze River. Of the more than 1,000 warships of the Jingzhou Army, only more than 30 escaped back to Jiangling.

Thus, the entire 30,000-strong naval force of Jingzhou was annihilated, and its commander-in-chief Liu Cong and deputy commander Cai Yan became prisoners of war.

(End of this chapter)