Tiger Owl

Chapter 287 Cao Cao Approves
Although all 1,800 warships were destroyed, the intensity of the battle was nowhere near that of the Battle of Red Cliffs in history. It was merely a sneak attack, similar to Cao Cao's raid on Wuchao. Therefore, for Cao Cao, last night's events were not a crushing defeat, but rather a heavy loss. One important reason was that almost no soldiers were killed, and the camp and supplies were not burned.

Although it wasn't a crushing defeat, the consequences were severe. Without warships, Cao Cao's army could no longer pose a real threat to the south bank of the Yangtze River.

Cao Cao immediately summoned several strategists to discuss countermeasures. Seeing that they hesitated to speak, as if they had some concerns, Cao Cao said, "Victory and defeat are common occurrences in war. The key is to learn from the lessons. If we ourselves are afraid to face failure and dare not speak the truth, then how can we talk about learning from the lessons? You may speak freely. Even if you put the blame on me, I will not be angry."

Cao Cao's words reassured everyone. He glanced at Cheng Yu and said, "Zhongde, you speak first!"

Cheng Yu said with some worry, "This attack by the Western Chu army has completely overturned my understanding. We are all northerners, good at land warfare, but not at naval warfare. Last night, the Western Chu army's sneak attack was somewhat like a land raid, but it was also different. In land warfare, we can quickly deploy strong bows and crossbows to block the enemy, or the army can quickly withdraw. But naval warfare is different. The ships cannot be withdrawn or landed. If there is no way to block them, it is a dead end. But we did not think about how to block the enemy's warships. This is our biggest mistake. We do not have a commander who truly understands naval warfare."

Cao Cao nodded. Although Cheng Yu spoke rather subtly, his meaning was clear: their biggest mistake was using the wrong people, which was actually Cao Cao's responsibility.

Cao Cao remained silent for a long time, then nodded, "The misjudgment in personnel selection is indeed the main reason!"

Chen Qun, standing nearby, said, "Prime Minister, this Gan Ning is indeed a formidable figure. He could have easily annihilated all our warships on the very first day we entered Pengli Marsh, but he patiently endured for nearly two months before suddenly making his move yesterday. Prime Minister, what were they waiting for these past two months?"

Chen Qun's words silenced everyone; they were incisive and hit the nail on the head.

After a long silence, Xun Yu whispered, "He's waiting for an opportunity, an opportunity to seize Jiangdong."

Xun Yu's words broke the silence, tore away the pretense, and revealed the true nature of the entire battle situation.

Cheng Yu also said, "He used Queyue City to restrain us and prevent us from fully committing to Jiangdong. Now that the situation in Jiangdong is about to break through, his sudden move at this time is clearly a gamble on Jiangdong and an attempt to cut off our aid to Jiangdong."

Cao Cao's expression changed, and he blurted out, "The water fortress in Liyang County is their next target."

Everyone understood that Gan Ning was determined to completely eliminate all their ships on the Yangtze River and sever all human and material ties with Jiangdong.

Cao Cao felt a sudden, inexplicable panic. He immediately ordered, "Notify the Liyang County water fortress immediately and order their ships to withdraw into Chaohu Lake!"

Chaohu Lake is different from Poyang Lake. It is a long stretch of waterway away from the Yangtze River, which is sufficient to defend against enemy fleets heading north.

Everyone else withdrew first, but Cao Cao kept Jia Xu behind.

Only the two of them remained inside the tent. Cao Cao stood with his hands behind his back in front of the tent for a moment, then said coldly, "Jiangdong has no time to delay any longer. I approve of the inferior strategy you mentioned yesterday. You must go to Jiangdong immediately."

On the Yangtze River, more than 800 warships were speeding westward. This huge fleet was the warships of Sun Ben stationed in Liyang County, and was commanded by General Wang Kun.

Yesterday, they received an urgent order from Cao Cao via carrier pigeon, commanding the entire fleet to move to Chaohu Lake. Although they did not know the reason, Cao Cao's order was not to be disobeyed, so Wang Kun packed up the camp and led 10,000 troops onto the ships to head west.

The entrance to Chaohu Lake on the Yangtze River is Ruxukou, which is quite far from Liyang County, more than 600 li away. It would take the fleet five or six days to reach Ruxukou. In the afternoon, the fleet sailed on the Yangtze River. This fleet, which belonged to Sun Ben, consisted of only 300 ships, including 200 large warships and 100 medium-sized fighting ships. The other 500 ships were provided by Cao Cao, all of them large warships from the Yellow River.

To command this fleet, each warship would need at least fifty soldiers, but in reality, they only had ten thousand troops. These ten thousand troops were left behind to mislead the Jiangdong army, and each warship had only twelve soldiers assigned to it.

Although they hired some boatmen, twelve soldiers per boat were still a stretch.

Wang Kun could only secretly hope that nothing bad would happen.

But what they feared most came to pass. They were only thirty li away from Xurukou when a fleet of five hundred warships suddenly appeared in front of them.

These are five hundred warships and thirty thousand naval troops commanded by Xu Sheng. Their objective is to destroy or capture Sun Ben's ships.

Xu Sheng led his army to wait for them east of Ruxukou for a long time. This was the strategist Pang Tong's prediction. Once the water fortress and warships of Penglize were destroyed, Cao Cao's army would inevitably have to urgently withdraw from the warships of Liyang County, and most likely retreat back to Chaohu Lake, which is a relatively safe place.

The sudden appearance of the Western Chu army's warships caught Sun Ben's army off guard. Wang Kun hurriedly ordered, "Assemble the warships!"

The eight hundred warships stretched out in a long line, with a distance of seventy or eighty miles between them. It would take at least two hours for them to assemble into battle formation, but Xu Sheng's army was already prepared and would not give the enemy any chance to assemble.

Xu Sheng shouted, "Move closer and seize the ship!"

Xu Sheng certainly had intelligence support. The enemy had 800 warships but only 10,000 troops, averaging 12 or 13 people per ship. Even with boatmen, soldiers were still needed to assist in operating the ships, and the number of soldiers who could actually fight was no more than 10.

This is the enemy's fatal weakness; how could Xu Sheng not seize it?
The Western Chu army's warships charged towards the enemy warships, quickly closing in. Dozens of long hooks were used to attach to the enemy ships' sides, and dozens of soldiers jumped aboard. The overwhelming disparity in troop strength meant that Sun Ben's army was no match for them, and one large ship after another quickly fell into enemy hands.

Wang Kun's warships were also surrounded and captured by Xu Sheng's three warships, and the soldiers of the Western Chu army raised three white flags of surrender on the enemy's flagship.

This asymmetrical naval battle lasted for an hour and a half before it ended. Apart from burning five enemy warships, all 833 other warships were captured. Not a single ship, including the commander-in-chief Wang Kun, was able to escape.

Sun Ben's fleet and 10,000 troops were captured by the Western Chu army and sailed towards Pengze in a grand procession.

In Dantu County, Jiangdong, Cao Cao's army always kept the south gate of Dantu County relatively open, allowing people to leave and enter the city, but not to bring food and supplies into the city. People could only enter the city empty-handed or carry vegetables in baskets.

That morning, Sun Quan came to inspect the city as usual. During this time, they negotiated again and finally entered into substantive negotiations. Cao Cao's army proposed to control military power, while administrative and financial power would belong to Jiangdong, and the Jiangdong regime could continue to exist.

On this point, Sun Quan was absolutely clear: how could he possibly relinquish military power? Without military power, they would be nothing more than fish on a chopping board.

(End of this chapter)