Tiger Owl

Chapter 257 The Battle at the Beginning of the Month (Part 2)

On the city wall, six thousand Western Chu soldiers stood, their eyes cold and solemn. They raised their bows and arrows and fired continuously, showing no sign of fear or trepidation. Any army would tremble at the sight of the overwhelming Cao army outside the city.

But this army showed no fear. Their confidence came from the three hundred huge catapults behind them, the various defensive fortifications already in place on the city walls, and the large amount of oil.

Nine thousand soldiers were responsible for pulling the catapults. The huge catapults were about five zhang tall, with stone baskets hanging from the back of the long arms. Thirty people were responsible for pulling them, and they could throw huge stones weighing a hundred jin (approximately 50 kg) five hundred paces away.

Huang Zhong coldly watched the dark mass of enemy troops charging forward. He gritted his teeth, waiting for the best opportunity. One siege ladder after another was hung on the city wall, and Cao Cao's soldiers stood in front of him. Cao Cao's army had begun its siege.

With a deafening roar, debris flew everywhere as the first siege ladder was erected on the city wall. In quick succession, over a hundred more siege ladders were erected. Ten thousand Cao soldiers charged forward like ants, hacking with swords, stabbing with spears, and shooting with arrows, desperately trying to reach the top of the wall. Arrows rained down from the wall, and rolling logs and stones pelted down like hail. Swords slashed and spears pierced, and blood and flesh flew everywhere.

The soldiers of the Western Chu army used long forks to prop up the siege ladder and pushed it outwards. A long siege ladder was pushed out and flipped backwards, accompanied by a series of shrill screams.

The number of Cao army soldiers who had crossed the moat exceeded 15,000. The soldiers below the city began to fight back, and arrows rained down on the city walls. More and more Western Chu soldiers were hit by the arrows and fell from the walls with screams. The casualties gradually increased.

Huang Zhong swung his longsword and finally gave the order, "Counterattack!"

Inside Queyue City, drums thundered, and three hundred giant catapults started up simultaneously. Their long arms swung out, hurling boulders weighing eighty or ninety pounds into the air. The three hundred boulders spun in the air, flew across the moat, and roared as they crashed into the dense crowd. 'Boom!' The boulders crashed down, tumbling through the crowd, and mangled flesh flew into the air. More than a dozen people were smashed into a bloody mess, a gruesome sight. One after another, boulders crashed into the crowd, and screams of agony rose and fell.

At this moment, on the city wall, the soldiers, who had been holding back their anger for so long, smashed countless oil canisters down, and fires broke out on the siege ladders. Countless burning soldiers screamed as they jumped down the siege ladders.

The Western Chu army shifted to a full-scale oil offensive, replacing the boulders with giant earthenware jars filled with oil. In the sky, these burning jars tumbled and roared as they crashed to the ground.
In a short period of time, the giant catapult was launched six times, and more than 1,500 terracotta pots were smashed into the enemy ranks. Everywhere was a raging fire, and countless Cao soldiers cried out and struggled in the flames.

The fire attack had already caused huge casualties, but the Western Chu army did not stop there. Dozens of warships appeared on the surface of the moat, led by a 3,000-stone convoy warship.

Suddenly, the warship sped towards the pontoon bridge with tremendous speed, "Boom!"

The pontoon bridge was smashed in half, and Cao Cao's soldiers fell into the water. Then, a fire broke out on the pontoon bridge, and three pontoon bridges were broken in succession, with flames raging on the river.

The retreat route of 15,000 Cao soldiers was cut off, and flames raged everywhere below the city. Tens of thousands of bundles of rice straw were thrown down, turning the area around the city into a fiery hell.

Countless Cao soldiers, desperate to survive under the scorching flames, jumped into the moat. However, the moat was two zhang deep, and once they jumped in, their heavy leather armor would not float but would sink directly to the bottom of the water.

The eastern bank of the moat was filled with smoke and screams. Countless soldiers turned to flee for their lives, but they were still constantly struck by the flames. When a pottery jar shattered and flew into the air, dozens of soldiers were set ablaze.

Cao Ren was stunned. At this moment, he was filled with despair. He knew that he had made a terrible mistake and had suffered another humiliating defeat.

The battlefield finally quieted down, and Cao's army retreated back to their camp. Corpses littered the battlefield, and the moat was also filled with them; the thirty-zhang-deep moat was a death trap for the northern soldiers who couldn't swim. This battle marked the most humiliating defeat of Cao Ren's life, even more disgraceful than the previous year's crushing defeat. Twenty-five thousand soldiers were killed or wounded, six thousand of whom were almost all burned and rendered incapable of fighting for months. Even Zhang Liao suffered burns to his arm.

Cao Ren was forced to withdraw his troops and retreat to Xiling County. He wrote a letter of apology and sent it to Ye City by express courier.

Cao Cao received a letter from Jia Xu and a negotiation agreement with Jiangdong.

In his letter, Jia Xu repeatedly apologized, saying that his rash marriage proposal was only to appease Jiangdong and to make Jiangdong believe in the authenticity of the agreement.

Cao Cao knew, of course, that the true purpose of this agreement was to break the alliance between Gan Ning and Sun Quan and prevent them from joining forces against Cao Cao.

From this perspective, Jia Xu's strategy of sowing discord was completely successful, utterly shattering the alliance between Gan and Sun.

Cao Cao wouldn't take Jia Xu's rash advice to heart; Cao Cao always only cared about the results, not the process.

Just as Cao Cao was about to sign and stamp the agreement to approve it, an urgent military report delivered by Cao Ren was placed on Cao Cao's long desk.

Rather than a military report, it was more like Cao Ren's letter of apology. In the document, Cao Ren frankly explained why he misjudged the situation and made the wrong decision. He was eager to wash away the shame and recklessly pushed forward with his troops, which resulted in even greater humiliation and the loss of more than 26,000 men.

This enormous loss made Cao Cao restless. He was extremely shocked and furious. Gan Ning had actually set up a stronghold north of the Yangtze River, and in one battle, he had caused them to lose more than half of their troops.

After pondering for a long time, Cao Cao immediately ordered his soldiers to bring over several military advisors. After Guo Jia's death, Cheng Yu, Xun Yu, Xun You, and Jia Xu became his most important strategists.

Inside the hall, three strategists circulated Cao Ren's military report. Cheng Yu spoke first, "Prime Minister, there are actually many strange things in this battle. Didn't you notice them?"

Cao Cao was taken aback. "What's so strange about it?"

Cheng Yu said, "I have read General Cao Ren's report. All the battle decisions he made were related to the intelligence he received. Cao Ren is a general who has been through many battles. He would not usually make such a reckless and low-level mistake unless the intelligence gave him the wrong enemy situation, so he would fight according to the wrong and low-level deployment."

"Zhongde is right!"

Xun You chimed in, “General Cao Ren said in his military report that he thought there were only 6,000 people in the city, no large catapults, and no oil. That’s why he ordered a large army to attack the city, attempting to capture Queyue City with superior forces. That was his tactic. But where did his assumption come from? It must have been intelligence sent from Chaisang. So the problem lies in the intelligence, not in the military.”

Xun Yu also said, "Previously, the Prime Minister sent someone to deliver five hundred taels of gold to the intelligence chief of Chaisang, asking him to bribe the military officer to obtain top-secret intelligence. I estimate that the person who delivered the gold was arrested. Gan Ning cracked the intelligence point, but he turned the tables and sent out a piece of true and false intelligence, causing General Cao Ren to fall into the trap completely."

(End of this chapter)