Tiger Owl

Chapter 16 Encircling Wei and rescuing Zhao
Gan Ning stared intently in the direction of Chaisang, and after a long while said, "We're not going to Chaisang!"

Wang Ping and Ding Feng were shocked. "General, Chaisang urgently needs our rescue!"

Gan Ning turned to Zhang Xi, who had brought the news, and asked, "Did they begin their attack on the city when you left?"

"I went down into the city in the middle of the night. Chief Clerk Lu said that the enemy was building a makeshift siege ladder and would attack the city the next day!"

"Did it take you three days to find us?"

"Exactly!"

Gan Ning slowly said, "Three days have passed. If Zhang Ying could capture Chaisang City, he already has. Instead of going to Chaisang for now, we should attack Haihun County and take down Zhang Ying's stronghold. This is called 'besieging Wei to rescue Zhao,' and it's also our chance to eliminate Zhang Ying!"

“But what if Chief Secretary Lu…” Wang Ping and Ding Feng both looked worried.

Gan Ning smiled and said, "Prefect Lu is a man of great talent in Jiangdong. I firmly believe that he can defend Chaisang!"

The fleet turned around and headed towards Haihun County.

..........
Haihun County was the third largest county in Yuzhang Commandery, after Nanchang County and Poyang County. It was also Zhang Ying's old stronghold. The Xiushui River, which originated from Mufu Mountain, flowed through Haihun County and eventually emptied into the Gan River.

In the evening, Wang Ping and several of his men brought in Li Dai, a clerk in charge of household affairs, from Haihun County.

Li Dai was terrified and immediately knelt down to beg for mercy when he saw Gan Ning. "My children are still young and need me to support them. Please spare my life, General!"

"I'll only ask you a few questions. If you answer truthfully, I'll release you. But if you dare to lie to me, not only will you die, but your children won't live either!"

"I will certainly report the truth!"

Gan Ning asked, "Where did Zhang Ying go?"

"I heard he led the army to recapture Chaisang County."

How many troops did you take?

"I estimate there are around three thousand people."

"How many troops are still in Haihun County?" Gan Ning asked again.

"There are still a thousand men left, so I deduce that Zhang Ying took three thousand men to Chaisang, and he has four thousand troops."

"So all his troops are in Haihun County? What about the other counties? For example, are there any troops in Jianling County?"

Li Dai shook his head. "Zhang Ying originally had 6,000 troops, but he was defeated in a fierce battle with Taishi Ci. If Liu Xin hadn't led his troops to his rescue, his entire army would have been wiped out. He still has 4,000 troops left, all of whom are in Haihun County."

Gan Ning frowned. "Where did Liu Xin come from to provide assistance?"

"From Changsha Prefecture!"

"Are there still Liu Xin's troops around Haihun County?"

Li Dai quickly shook his head, "Liu Xin's army has already retreated, but he has stationed a thousand troops in Ai County, the westernmost part of Yuzhang Prefecture. Zhang Ying gave Ai County to him in order to repay Liu Xin for his military assistance."

Gan Ning pondered for a moment and then asked, "Where are the thousand troops inside the city stationed?"

“There are military camps inside the city, but Zhang Ying’s army is very undisciplined. They gamble and sleep during the day and visit brothels at night. They are only responsible for guarding the two city gates, but there are not many soldiers actually guarding the gates.”

"Not much, how much?"

"At most fifty or sixty people!"

When will they gather at the military camp?

"Only when eating and sleeping."

Gan Ning nodded. "After this is done, do one more thing for me, and I'll promote you to Assistant Magistrate of Haihun County!"

...........
As evening approached, the garrison troops of Haihun County returned to their camps for dinner. Only thirty soldiers remained to guard the north gate, while five soldiers stood outside the city to conduct checks.

At this moment, three oxcarts loaded with river sand arrived, and Li Dai sat in the first oxcart.

The soldiers guarding the city recognized Li Dai and laughed, "What are you doing transporting so much sand, Li Dai?"

Li Dai awkwardly explained, "We need river sand to repair our house!" The city guard waved his hand and let them pass. Three oxcarts entered the city, but just as the first oxcart reached the city gate, there was a 'crack!' sound. The axle broke, and both wheels were crushed.

"Wait a moment, I'll go find a repair shop!"

Li Dai took off running, leaving the soldiers helpless. The oxcarts blocked the city gate, and the two oxcarts behind them were stuck on the drawbridge, making it impossible to pull it up.

Just then, three hundred soldiers suddenly appeared not far away, two hundred of whom were wearing iron armor and rushed toward the city gate.

The soldiers guarding the city walls spotted it immediately and shouted, "Something's happening! Close the city gates right away!"

However, the city gate was blocked by large carts and could not be closed, and the drawbridge could not be raised.

The garrison commander shouted, "Push the carts down into the moat!"

Five soldiers outside the city gate tried desperately to push the cart down into the moat, but it was too late. Wang Ping, who was pretending to be a cart driver, and two of his men drew their swords from the sand and charged at the enemy soldiers on the drawbridge.

A series of screams rang out, and three soldiers were killed in an instant. The remaining two soldiers were so frightened that they ran away.

In a short while, Gan Ning led two hundred armored soldiers to rush onto the drawbridge, stormed into the county town, and headed straight for the military camp not far away.

Ding Feng and Wang Ping led the remaining one hundred soldiers in close pursuit.

At this point, the soldiers guarding the city gate were no longer important; eliminating the more than nine hundred soldiers inside the camp was the top priority.

Gan Ning chose dinner time, when more than 900 soldiers in the camp were squatting on the ground having a meal.

Suddenly, the camp gate was smashed open with a loud 'bang!' and two hundred armored soldiers wielding spears rushed in. Everyone stood up and stared in astonishment at the armored soldiers before them.

Gan Ning shouted sternly, "Kneel down, all of you and put your hands up!"

At this moment, Commander Wang Miao and several other generals reacted. Wang Miao shouted, "Brothers, let's fight them!"

He turned and rushed into the room where the weapons were kept. Gan Ning was prepared and launched his attack almost simultaneously. His figure was as fast as a whirlwind, and he intercepted the enemy's commander. Gan Ning swung his halberd horizontally, and "thud!" the commander Wang Miao's head flew off.

A dozen soldiers turned to run, but Ding Feng and his men stabbed them all to death with their spears.

The death of their commander intimidated the other soldiers, and none of them dared to run away again.

Gan Ning shouted, "If you don't kneel down, I'll slaughter you all!"

The soldiers were all pale-faced, and they all knelt down, raising their hands high.

Ding Feng led a hundred soldiers into the armory and confiscated all the weapons. Without weapons, the soldiers were like cats with their claws and teeth pulled out, no longer posing any threat.

At this time, all the soldiers guarding the city gate had also fled.

Haihun County fell into the hands of Gan Ning.

Half an hour later, Li Dai, the clerk in charge of grain storage, rode a horse at full speed to Chaisang to urgently report to Zhang Ying that Haihun County had been attacked by an army of unknown origin.

...........
Zhang Ying's attack on Chaisang suffered a series of major setbacks. The battering ram he prepared to use to strike the city wall was attacked by three thousand loads of wheat straw, resulting in the death of three hundred soldiers and the battering ram being burned to a crisp.

For a moment, Zhang Ying was at a loss. If he had a strong army and sufficient food, he could have used a siege to besiege the city for several months until Chaisang ran out of food and collapsed.

But Zhang Ying couldn't do that. His stronghold was vulnerable, and once Lü Fan discovered it, Lü Fan would definitely take advantage of the situation, and he would really lose everything.

But he was unwilling to give up Chaisang. More than 500 men had died in Chaisang, and there were also a lot of wounded soldiers. He only had 2,000 elite troops left, with nearly 1,000 casualties!

Are we just going to let Chaisang off the hook like that? That's too lenient on them.

At this moment, his subordinate general Yu Yong advised, "My lord, why don't we go back and forge a few dozen iron hooks? Next time, we can bring a carpenter with us and install iron hooks on the siege ladders. Then the defenders on the city walls will have no chance of overturning the ladders."

Another general said, "General Yu is right. The direct reason why we cannot attack the city is that the siege ladders have major defects. The enemy can easily overturn them. Once we have iron hooks to catch the city wall, we will definitely be able to climb up the city wall."

Zhang Ying sneered, "Next time, I won't need to use siege ladders. I'll just send a hundred men to infiltrate the city and open the gates from the inside!"

"My lord's insight is brilliant!"

Feeling slightly relieved, Zhang Ying ordered, "Order the entire army to retreat back to Haihun County!"

(End of this chapter)