Tiger Owl

Chapter 144 The Battle of Xiling (Part 1)

Two thousand cavalrymen from the Yuzhang Army were in pursuit, and Su Fei's soldiers had no chance of escape. If it weren't for Gan Ning's order that those who surrendered would not be killed, who knows how many people would have been killed by now.

Of the 10,000 soldiers, more than 1,000 were killed, and the remaining 8,700 were all taken prisoner; not a single one escaped.

The Yuzhang army began to land, and Gan Ning also came ashore. The soldiers pushed Su Fei up, and Su Fei shouted, "General Gan, I am willing to surrender. Please spare my life!"

Gan Ning nodded. Historically, this Su Fei had an excellent relationship with his predecessor. Even if he didn't care about the monk, he had to consider the Buddha's feelings. So Gan Ning nodded and said, "Untie him!"

Su Fei was overjoyed to be untied and stepped forward, clasping his hands in a fist salute, saying, "This humble servant no longer wishes to serve Huang Zu. Thank you for accepting me as your subordinate, General!"

"Huang Zu treated you well, why don't you want to work here anymore?"

"Huang Zu is old and muddleheaded. He doesn't listen to his generals' advice, listens to slander and arbitrarily increases taxes, cruelly exploiting the people. Many generals are dissatisfied. We are all locals, and we feel uncomfortable seeing our fellow villagers and clansmen suffer."

Gan Ning also knew that Huang Zu's tax increase was out of necessity, but it's normal for everyone to kick someone when they're down.

Gan Ning laughed and said, "I will let you go back. If you can perform meritorious service and help me take Xiling County, I will appoint you as a captain."

Su Fei was overjoyed. He immediately packed up his armor, changed horses, and fled back to Xiling County with a dozen personal guards.

Su Fei fled all the way back to Xiling County. Huang Zu had also heard the news of the Yuzhang Army's attack, which made him extremely nervous. His son had been in Xiangyang for less than ten days and there had been no news of him. Now Gan Ning was leading a large army to attack. What should he do?
Upon hearing that Su Fei had returned, Huang Zu exclaimed, "Bring him to see me quickly!"

Before long, Su Fei was brought to the main hall. Upon seeing Huang Zu, Su Fei prostrated himself and wept bitterly.

"do not Cry!"

Huang Zu felt a surge of irritation and slammed his dragon-headed cane on the ground. "Tell me what happened!"

Su Fei wiped away his tears and said, "As you know, Zhu County is not a military city and is difficult to defend. Therefore, I have decided to lead the army to attack the Yuzhang army while they are crossing the river."

“That’s a good idea, so what’s next?” Huang Zu also agreed with attacking while the enemy was crossing the river.

“We intended to launch a surprise attack, but they anticipated our attack while we were crossing the river, so they laid an ambush beforehand. Just as we were about to make our move, they suddenly attacked, catching us completely off guard. We couldn’t hold out for long before we collapsed. I was able to ride a fast warhorse, but I don’t know the situation of the other soldiers.”

Huang Zu was speechless for a long time. The other side was a master! They had actually anticipated their intentions and turned the tables on them.

After a while, Huang Zu waved his hand and said, "You can go now! I happen to be short of generals, I'll arrange another army for you later."

Su Fei was overjoyed and thanked him repeatedly.

At this moment, Huang Zu's strategist Chen Jiu said, "Su Fei's entire army was wiped out, yet he managed to escape back. This is a bit suspicious. I suggest that our lord not use him for the time being."

Huang Zu shook his head and said, "Su Fei is my right-hand man and has always been loyal to me. The strategist is too suspicious."

Chen Jiu repeatedly tried to persuade Huang Zu, but Huang Zu refused to listen. Helpless, Chen Jiu had no choice but to send someone to secretly monitor Su Fei.

Three days later, Gan Ning's army arrived at Xiling County. Zhu County was not far from Xiling County; it would have taken only two days to reach it. The reason for the delay was that the people along the way warmly welcomed Gan Ning's army. In each place they arrived, the people offered food and drink to reward the royal army, and many young men were eager to join the army. Originally, the army numbered 30,000, but by the time they arrived at Xiling County, there were more than 15,000 more soldiers.

At this time, Huang Zhong's army also arrived. After capturing Qichun County, he marched westward and encountered Gan Ning's army. The two armies joined forces and set up a large camp outside the south city. Attacking Xiling County was not easy, and Gan Ning had already arranged for intelligence agents to lie in ambush. Xiling County was three zhang high and two zhang wide, built of blue bricks, and its moat was more than twenty zhang wide, but it was far from the city wall and could not be attacked by boat.

It was with this in mind that Gan Ning released Su Fei back to serve as an inside agent.

At this moment, Huang Zu, also clad in armor and helmet, stood on the city wall, coldly staring at the enemy army below. He gritted his teeth and said, "Gan Ning is too much. I have already ceded half of Jiangxia County to him, but he still won't let it go and is trying to kill me. Then come on! Even if I die in battle, I will make him pay a terrible price."

The strategist Chen Jiu said, "My lord, we still have a chance. As long as we hold the city and wait for Liu Biao's reinforcements to arrive, we will have hope."

Huang Zu sighed, "Will Liu Biao's reinforcements come?"

"My lord, Liu Biao is also unwilling to lose Jiangxia. I believe he will definitely send a large army to rescue us."

Huang Zu looked northwest and nodded. "Hopefully they can catch up!"

Jingling County was an important city on the west bank of the Han River. It was a key ferry crossing for crossing the Han River. The official road from Xiangyang to Jingling County was wide and flat. After crossing the Han River, one could continue along the wide official road to Xiling County.

Crossing the Han River doesn't mean you can cross it anywhere; the key is having a road, especially for the army. Without an official road, supplies and provisions can't follow.

At this time, 50,000 reinforcements arrived in Jingling County. There was originally a pontoon bridge there, but it was destroyed by Wei Yan's warships. The 50,000 troops gathered in Jingling County, and thousands of craftsmen and laborers were busy building the pontoon bridge.

Just as the construction was halfway complete, Wei Yan's fleet arrived, unleashing a hail of arrows. The craftsmen and laborers were all struck and fell into the water, while the remaining craftsmen and laborers turned and ran frantically towards the shore to escape.

Wei Yan's army did not pursue them. Instead, they threw cans of oil onto the pontoon bridge. In a short while, the bridge burst into flames and was soon engulfed in fire.

The blockade on the Han River prevented the reinforcements from crossing, forcing them to halt in Jingling County and await further instructions.

Having no other choice, Huang She, who was accompanying the army, had to secretly cross the Han River in a small boat and rush back to Xiling County.

Inside the Xiling County camp, Su Fei was secretly discussing the surrender of the city with three generals in a large tent. The three generals were all captains, each commanding two thousand men, and had known Su Fei for over a decade, maintaining a close relationship.

But friendship aside, the key issue was that Huang Zu's military was in decline, he had lost the support of the people, and the tide had turned. The generals all understood this, and at this point, everyone was thinking about their own future, and no one was willing to follow Huang Zu's ship into the abyss.

"I'll find a way to send the message out tonight, and we'll act together at noon tomorrow."

General Zhang Lou said worriedly, "None of us are on duty tonight, so it will be difficult to send a message out of the city."

Su Fei waved his hand and laughed, "Don't worry, I have a way!"

In fact, Su Fei had contacted more than just the three of them in the past two days. He also had several of his old subordinates, each with several hundred men, though they did not lead many troops.

One of his old subordinates is on duty in a corner of West City tonight; he will deliver the letter for him.

As night fell, in a corner of the western city, a dark figure was slowly descending, pulling a long spear. The spearheads of the two spears were tightly bound together with a leather strap. The figure was still eight feet above the ground when he let go and jumped down. Below was soft soil, so there was no problem.

The dark figure then slipped into the moat and swam to the other side.
(End of this chapter)