Tiger Owl

Chapter 188 Advance Planning
Jin Xuan had no answer to Huang Zhong. His son had just gone to Cao Ren to surrender, and now he was surrendering to the Yuzhang army. What would happen to his son?
Jin Xuan expressed his attitude through silence.

Pang Tong squinted as he surveyed Linyuan County. He had lived there for a few months many years ago and knew the county well. The city walls were low and the city was dilapidated, having not been repaired for at least a hundred years, and it still looked the same now.

Pang Tong summoned Zhao Yun and said to him with a smile, "General Zilong can use a battering ram to directly strike the southwest section of the city wall!"

Zhao Yun asked, puzzled, "Strategist, why are we attacking the southwest section?"

Pang Tong smiled slightly and said, "The city wall of Wuling County has not been repaired for nearly a hundred years and is already extremely fragile. The southwest section is the most vulnerable. Those bricks can be crushed by hand and will collapse with a single blow. More importantly, heavy objects such as logs and stones cannot be piled on the city wall."

At this point, Pang Tong glanced at the sky again; it was already dusk. Pang Tong smiled and said, "Under the cover of night, General, try sending your armored soldiers. Our lord's orders are: surrender and you will be spared; those who resist will be killed without mercy!"

This is what they call knowing yourself and your enemy, and you will never be defeated. Zhao Yun was overjoyed, "This subordinate will arrange it immediately!"

Pang Tong had already figured out how to break through the city when he asked for orders. He also brought a heavy battering ram. This was not a battering ram that was hastily made by cutting down a big tree. It was carefully made by the crossbow workshop over a year. The base was made of a thousand-year-old green oak tree, which was repeatedly soaked in oil and dried. The front end was fitted with a cast iron battering head. The entire battering ram was eight zhang long, with a chest diameter that required two people to hug it. It weighed 8,500 jin and required 150 people to operate.

The force of a single impact can reach tens of thousands of pounds. Not to mention a decaying city wall, even a newly built city wall cannot withstand the power of its hammer blow.

The Yuzhang Army had extensive experience using battering rams to attack cities. They used armored soldiers to operate them, which made them resistant to arrows, but they were still vulnerable to rolling logs and stones overhead, or Molotov cocktails.

Pang Tong had also thought of this problem. He wasn't afraid of rolling logs and stones, and he dared not pile them up on the city wall, but he had to guard against Molotov cocktails.

At the first watch of the night, Zhao Yun led 15,000 troops to ambush a mile outside the city. The night was quite dark, and they could no longer see anything beyond that mile.

Pang Tong's plan was based on a time difference. The Yuzhang Army was stationed outside the East City, and the Huoyou Battalion soldiers on night duty would also be defending the East City. If something happened on the Southwest City Wall, it would take the Huoyou Army some time to get there. This was exactly the time Pang Tong needed.

Of course, this was also thanks to prior intelligence gathering, which allowed Pang Tong to know that not every soldier in the Jin Xuan army was equipped with a bottle of fire oil, but rather that they had established a fire oil battalion with five hundred soldiers. With such a small number of soldiers, and even fewer on night duty, they were definitely prioritized for deployment on the east side of the city facing the enemy camp, and the possibility of sending some of them to defend the west city wall was too small.

A dozen soldiers quietly stepped forward and laid planks across the moat, which was three zhang wide. Each plank had three large nails at each end, which needed to be driven into the mud on both sides of the moat.

Just as the soldiers were installing the bridge planks, they were spotted by the patrolling soldiers on the city wall, who shouted, "Enemy situation! Enemy situation!"

"Dong! Dong! Dong! Dong!" The alarm bell on the west city tower rang urgently, followed by alarm bells ringing throughout the city.

Hundreds of soldiers stationed in the western city rushed to the scene and drew their bows and arrows, shooting at the armored soldiers who were carrying battering rams and appearing by the moat. The arrows hit the armor but fell to the ground, unable to penetrate the soldiers' armor at all.

Iron armor was a symbol of national power. Each suit of iron armor required hundreds of strings of cash and a great deal of craftsmanship. Hundreds of suits of iron armor were not something any small lord could afford. For example, only Jin Xuan and his generals of the rank of captain or above had the means to wear the armor.

It cannot be cut by a knife, nor pierced by a spear, and ordinary crossbow bolts are useless against it. Only a heavy crossbow can penetrate the iron armor at short distances.

The garrison troops deployed on other city walls rushed towards the west city wall, but it was too late. The heavy battering ram, gathering tens of thousands of kilograms of force, slammed into the decaying city wall with a muffled thud. Thousands of city wall sections were reduced to dust, and the city wall collapsed like dominoes. Hundreds of soldiers on the city walls were unable to escape and were trapped in the collapsed wall, wailing in agony.

As the alarm bell rang on the city wall, Zhao Yun had already led his troops towards it. He could see clearly that the wall had collapsed, and he shouted, "Charge into the city!"

Fifteen thousand soldiers of the Yuzhang Army charged into the city with shouts. Jin Xuan, leading several thousand soldiers on horseback, returned to the west of the city, only to encounter Zhao Yun and his army head-on. Jin Xuan brandished his sword and shouted, "Traitor, take my blade!"

He swung his sword and slashed upwards, but before the sword was even fully in the air, he was already frozen in place. Zhao Yun's spear technique had only one characteristic: speed, speed beyond reason. The sharp spear tip pierced Jin Xuan's throat, and all his strength vanished instantly. 'Thump!' He fell off his horse.

Life vanished from his sight; he landed as a corpse.

Zhao Yun shouted, "Those who surrender will be spared; those who resist will be killed without mercy!"

The 15,000-strong army charged toward the thousands of enemy soldiers with shouts. Seeing that their lord was dead, the soldiers had no will to fight and scattered in all directions. Those who did not have time to surrender could only kneel down and beg for their lives.

..........
With the capture of Linyuan County, the entire Wuling Commandery was essentially under the control of the Yuzhang Army; the rest could only...
Pang Tong then divided his troops into nine routes to capture various counties. Pang Tong himself stayed in Linyuan County to await news from various places. Ten days later, Shi Tao and Lou Fa led three thousand troops to Linyuan County. Shi Tao was appointed by Gan Ning as the governor of Wuling County, while Lou Fa was appointed as the military commander of Wuling County, leading six thousand troops to guard Wuling County.

At this time, the nine armies also returned one after another, and the counties surrendered without resistance. Pang Tong handed over power to Shi Tao, and then led his army away from Wuling County and headed towards Changsha County. His next target was Lingling County.

..........
Gan Ning had been keeping a close eye on the situation in Nan Commandery. He soon received news that Cao Ren was launching a full-scale attack on Yiling, but his supply lines were destroyed by Liu Bei's army. Cao Ren was forced to retreat from Yiling County.

Cao Ren appointed Zhang Yun as the commander-in-chief of Jiangling and shipbuilding commissioner, leading 20,000 troops to build ships in Jiangling. Only then did Cao Ren lead his more than 100,000 troops back to Xiangyang.

Gan Ning was reviewing official documents in his office when Ma Liang called out from the doorway, "General, Master Craftsman Lin has arrived!"

"Please let him in."
Before long, a tall, thin middle-aged man walked in. His name was Lin Jia, a famous shipbuilder in Changsha County, and currently one of the chief shipbuilders of the Yuzhang Army.

"This humble servant greets the General!"

Gan Ning put down his pen and smiled, "Please sit down!"

Lin Jia sat down, and Gan Ning said, "I've asked you to come here today because I have an important task for you!"

"Please give your orders, General!"

"Don't be so nervous, it's not too difficult."

Gan Ning pondered for a moment and said, "Zhang Yun has been appointed as the shipbuilding commissioner, in charge of building warships in Jiangling. They must be in dire need of skilled craftsmen. I think you should go to Jiangling to apply for a shipbuilding job."

Lin Jia's mind raced, and she immediately understood, "General, you want me to go undercover?"

Gan Ning nodded. "I need to know the progress of their shipbuilding. He will take a few apprentices with him and give a verbal report every month. We have an intelligence point in Jiangling County. You can just tell the intelligence point directly. This infiltration is estimated to take one to two years. After you complete the mission, I will promote you to shipbuilding supervisor."

Lin Jia prostrated himself in salute, "This humble servant will certainly live up to the General's trust!"

(End of this chapter)