Tiger Owl

Chapter 302 The Death of Sun Ben
Seeing that the siege was hopeless, Sun Ben did not linger any longer. He abandoned the thousands of wounded soldiers and led more than 9,000 men away from Yu County, heading west at high speed to find Wei Jing's army.

In the afternoon, Sun Ben found Wei Jing's army in Lianqiao Town, fifty miles west of Yu County.

A bleak and desperate atmosphere enveloped the town; it was deserted and devoid of any food.

Wei Jing said to Sun Ben with a heavy heart, "The Western Chu army has adopted a scorched earth policy. We found more than twenty villages, but they were all empty and had no food. The soldiers could only catch fish and shrimp and pick wild fruits to fill their stomachs."

Sun Ben fell silent, a silence born of despair; he had no intention of even discussing the siege.

In the evening, the soldiers ate their last meal of dry rations, and dozens of horses were slaughtered to make soup for the soldiers. The 30,000-strong army was completely cut off from food.

Night quietly fell, and the winter chill rose from the earth, bringing with it gusts of cold wind that swept across the entire Lianqiao Town.

Every house in the town was filled with soldiers. Despair, collapse, and extreme depression enveloped the 30,000-strong army. Desertion began. At first, there were only a few deserters, dozens or a hundred or so. But desertion was like a dam collapsing. Once a crack appeared, it would grow bigger and bigger until the dam completely collapsed.

By the first watch of the night, the number of deserters had reached several thousand. A soldier rushed to report to Sun Ben, who smiled bitterly and helplessly. What good would it do to stay? By daybreak, he would have no food left for his soldiers.

After a long silence, Sun Ben sighed, "Everyone has their own ambitions, let them be!"

Sun Ben's statement was like the last straw that broke the camel's back. After midnight, the soldiers began to desert en masse. By dawn, more than 20,000 soldiers had deserted. In reality, these soldiers could not escape. The Western Chu army had laid a net, and these soldiers who escaped would become prisoners of the Western Chu army. However, the good thing was that they had food to eat.

Inside a small military tent, Sun Ben's hair and beard turned completely white overnight. He sat blankly on a wooden box for two whole hours. When the faint light of dawn shone in from outside the tent, Sun Ben's hands trembled as he pulled a small bottle from his bosom. His hands shook violently as he unscrewed the cap. Finally, he steeled himself and drank the entire bottle of arsenic in one gulp. The bottle clattered to the ground.

At dawn, Sun Ben's already stiff body was carried out. Wei Jing, Han Dang, and eight thousand soldiers silently watched as Sun Ben's body was wrapped in a blanket and placed in a temporary tomb. His armor and weapons were buried with him. A huge stone was erected next to the tomb as a monument, without a single word on it.

At this moment, a soldier ran up to report, "Reporting to the strategist, tens of thousands of Western Chu troops have appeared all around us, and we are now surrounded."

Wei Jing did not speak. He and his soldiers piled soil into the tomb, and a grave appeared in the wilderness.

Wei Jing stood up, glanced at Han Dang, and asked, "General Han, are you willing to let me make the decision?"

Han Dang nodded silently, and Wei Jing took a deep breath and ordered, "Order the entire army to lay down their weapons and surrender!"

Gan Ning received news of Sun Ben's death in Nanchang City. He was not greatly affected by it. Sun Ben's death was expected. Even if they eventually captured Sun Ben, Gan Ning would definitely order his execution.

Pang Tong then reported, "What does the lord intend to do with the surrendered generals?"

Gan Ning thought for a moment and asked, "Do Wei Jing, Han Dang, and Pan Zhang really want to surrender to me?"

Pang Tong nodded. "They are all willing to surrender to our lord, but Han Dang has one condition: he hopes that our lord will not disturb Sun Ben's eternal rest."

Gan Ning smiled and said, "Han Dang is a loyal man, which is rare. I promise him that you will tell Han Dang that Sun Ben is dead and everything is over."

"I will certainly convey your message!"

After a pause, Pang Tong continued, "According to our latest intelligence, Xiahou Yuan's army has remained stationed in Shexian without making any moves. I estimate that Xiahou Yuan will not send troops out again this year."

Gan Ning agreed with Pang Tong's assessment. "Indeed, Sun Ben's complete annihilation will make Xiahou Yuan more cautious. He must thoroughly understand the reasons for Sun Ben's crushing defeat before making an assessment. In fact, Xiahou Yuan's attack route is more difficult than Sun Ben's. Their army came from Danyang Commandery, and it would take them more than twenty days to reach the first county, Poyang County. There is also Jingdezhen in between, but Jingdezhen only appeared during the Eastern Jin Dynasty and is still a wasteland. More than twenty days of marching without supplies is a nightmare for any army. Unless they can capture Poyang County ahead of time like Sun Ben captured Yu County, they will also face a life-or-death dilemma. They cannot retreat, and without food supplies, Xiahou Yuan's fate will be the same as Sun Ben's."

Pang Tong pondered for a moment and said, "They have another way, which is to build a supply city in Yuzhang County themselves."

Gan Ning strode to the sand table. Pang Tong had said a lot, that building a supply city was Xiahou Yuan's only option.

"here!"

Gan Ning pointed with a wooden pole to a basin on the south bank of the Changshui River, saying, "The Changshui River flows through this area, and the terrain is flat, making it very suitable for building a city."

The place that Gan Ning pointed to was the later Jingdezhen, less than a hundred miles from Danyang County. With the Changshui River providing convenient transportation, it was definitely the best place for Cao Cao's army to establish a bridgehead.

"Then what do we do?"

Pang Tong asked, "Should we start building the city ahead of schedule?"

Building a city ahead of time is undoubtedly the wisest move. Although it gives the opponent a target to attack, it is still better than the opponent building a city first.

Gan Ning nodded, "The city can be built ahead of schedule!"

Gan Ning entrusted the task of building the city ahead of schedule to Pang Tong and Shi Tao, the prefect of Yuzhang County. He also ordered Sima Buzhi to arrange for all kinds of building materials to be transported to the city site by waterway. The Chang River flows into the Gan River, so the waterway can reach the site directly.

The most important material here is the city bricks. They are indeed preparing to rebuild Pengze County and have specially fired a large number of city bricks. Now Pengze County can only be temporarily suspended. All the fired city bricks are transported to the construction site. Ten thousand engineering battalion soldiers and thirty thousand troops also rushed to the construction site. They will take two months to build the new city.

After arranging the city's construction, Gan Ning took Xiao Qiao and returned to Chaisang by boat, probably more than half a month ahead of schedule.

News of Sun Ben's complete annihilation had indeed reached Shexian County. He Qi rushed to Shexian County to report the intelligence to the commander-in-chief Xiahou Yuan and the strategist Xun You.

This news made Xiahou Yuan and strategist Xun You both look solemn. Although the Prime Minister's killing of Sun Ben was a case of using someone else to do the dirty work, the fact that Sun Ben's entire army was wiped out so quickly was truly unexpected for the two of them.

"Reporting to General Xiahou and Military Advisor Xun, the enemy had long anticipated that Sun Ben would seize Yu County as a springboard. They set a trap and planted an inside agent in the county. As soon as Sun Ben sent out his troops, they took back Yu County. This is why Sun Ben's army lost its foothold, eventually ran out of food, and was completely wiped out."

He Qi's report was rather brief; he didn't know the details, but it was generally correct.

Xiahou Yuan frowned. "Didn't you bring any supplies or provisions?"

"We did manage to escort them, with 10,000 soldiers under my command. However, we were ambushed by Zhao Yun's tens of thousands of troops. The disparity in troop strength was too great, and we were unable to withstand them. Their supplies and logistics were stolen, and I managed to escape with just over 2,000 men."

Xiahou Yuan then looked at Xun You, "Strategist, what should we do?"

Xun You slowly said, "The battle situation we face is exactly the same as Sun Ben's. First, we must thoroughly investigate the details of Sun Ben's complete annihilation. Details determine success or failure. We must understand the details thoroughly in order to avoid repeating the same mistakes. Then we can study what to do next. The western expedition is a matter of life and death and must not be rushed."

Pang Tong had completely anticipated Xun You's opinion.

(End of this chapter)