Tiger Owl

Chapter 77 Seizing People
Huang Yuan wasn't stupid either. He also deployed heavy troops above the water gate and arranged for dozens of ships to block the water gate from the inside.

At this moment, Huang Yuan stood on the city wall, watching the enemy fleet approach the shore in the distance. Under the moonlight, he could clearly see the dark mass of people, which made him tremble with fear.

Just then, a rumbling sound came from the surface of the Caohe River, and a soldier ran over to report, "General, there's movement at the water gate!"

Huang Yuan was startled and quickly grabbed his spear and ran towards the water gate.

The twenty-odd dilapidated boats that were originally moored on the Caohe River were all pulled ashore by the Yuzhang Army with ropes. The Caohe River had been cleaned up. A sudden boat was speeding towards the water gate. The soldiers on the city wall were shocked and drew their bows and shot at the boat.

Arrows rained down, and the ship was riddled with arrows, but this did not affect its speed. The ship drew closer and closer, followed by a large number of small boats.

Although Gan Ning's attack on Lujiang involved large warships, each warship carried a small sampan, with three hundred sampans following behind. Each sampan carried twenty soldiers, and Wang Ping was in charge of command.

Huang Yuan stood on the city wall, staring intently at the sudden boat. The more he looked, the more something seemed wrong. There was no wind today, and the boat had no sails. If it was rowing, the two-zhang-wide canal could not possibly allow such a large boat to pass through. What kind of power did the other side have?
The rammed ship had already rushed fifty paces away when the people on the city wall finally saw clearly that it was a rammed ship. Everyone immediately understood the other party's intention: to break open the water gate.

Huang Yuan shouted, "Order the rear guard to assemble at the water gate!"

The rear guard consisted of three thousand new recruits whom Huang Yuan had just recruited ten days ago. After a little training, Huang Yuan knew that if the city fell, the three thousand new recruits would be no match for the ferocious enemy army. But he couldn't care less about that now; he would hold them off for as long as he could.

Arrows rained down from the top of the rammed ship, their speed increasing rapidly. Although this rammed ship was specially made, it was only narrow, very long, and its weight perfectly met the requirements of a rammed ship. The rammed ship was built with high-density oak wood, making it heavy and very suitable for ramming. In addition, it was equipped with a five-foot-long iron ram, making it virtually indestructible on the water.

"Shoot with arrows! Shoot arrows now!" Huang Yuan shouted.

Arrows rained down, but they did nothing to hinder the charge of the assault ship.

Huang Yuan suddenly felt a chill and quickly took a few steps back before disappearing into the darkness.

Thirty paces from the water gate, the ship suddenly accelerated, faster and faster, and with immense force, crashed into the water gate.

"Crack!"

A loud cracking sound rang out, and the already slightly decayed water city gate was smashed open, creating a hole two zhang wide. The entire city gate was reduced to rubble, and the ship rushed straight in.

Dozens of ships were blocked inside the water gate. The ships that suddenly rushed into the water gate gradually slowed down and eventually became unable to move.

Then Wang Ping leaped up, holding a shield in one hand and an iron spear in the other, running from ship to ship, rushing into the city.

Hundreds of soldiers followed Wang Ping and rushed into the city. Arrows rained down from above, and soldiers were constantly hit and fell into the water. However, more and more soldiers used the natural pontoon bridge formed by the boats linked end to end to rush into the city. Even the soldiers on the shore jumped onto the boats and ran into the city.

Wang Ping had already rushed onto the land near the city gate, leading hundreds of soldiers to charge at the enemy. The true role of a fierce general is not in one-on-one combat, but more in leading his troops into battle. Generally, fierce generals are clad in iron armor and helmets, and arrows cannot penetrate their armor, nor can swords or spears cut through them.

A general might use his weapon to deflect arrows, but what about arrows from the back and sides? That's where the power of armor lies; arrows simply can't penetrate it. This is also why generals rarely die in battle. Even Xiahou Dun was only accidentally shot in one eye.

Just like the Iron Pagoda, which the Jin Dynasty built with the strength of the whole country, was a heavily armored cavalry. Before encountering Yue Fei, it was invincible, like a tank group. The Song army had no way to deal with it. In the end, they could only make a move on the legs of the horses that were not covered by its iron armor and broke it in one fell swoop.

There is only one way to deal with the enemy general: your own general must charge forward and kill the enemy general with a weapon that can penetrate iron armor (such as a lance). Once the commander-in-chief is killed, the morale of the soldiers behind him will drop rapidly, and in most cases they will turn around and run away, resulting in a great defeat for the army.

This is the true significance of the existence of one-on-one duels between generals.

Wang Ping was as fierce as a tiger, and the soldiers behind him naturally followed suit with soaring morale, routing the new recruits defending the city. At this moment, the boats blocking the city gate were towed away, and the rumbling of oars and paddles resumed. Suddenly, the boats sailed into the city, followed by a large number of sampans. More and more Yuzhang troops stormed into the city. The new recruits were terrified and turned tail to flee for their lives, throwing away their weapons and tearing off their armor, running towards their homes.

With no obstacles in sight, the 6,000 naval troops were the first to storm into the city. The south gate slowly opened, and Xu Sheng led 5,000 soldiers into the city as well.

Huang Yuan had already fled. At the same moment the water gate was breached, Huang Yuan knew that the situation was hopeless and led two thousand soldiers to escape to the north of the city.

This wasn't his hometown, Anlu County; it was just a distant, foreign land. What did Wan County have to do with him? He would never live or die with the city.

Huang Yuan had just run a short distance out of the city when suddenly a gong sounded, and a force of three thousand ambushers charged out, led by General Chen Mu.

The ambush came from all directions. Huang Yuan was shocked and led his troops in a desperate breakout. In the end, Huang Yuan only managed to break through the encirclement with a few dozen personal guards. The remaining two thousand soldiers were intercepted and surrendered.

Gan Ning led 6,000 troops into the city and ordered a citywide curfew, strictly prohibiting the army from looting civilian property. The city's supplies were quickly inventoried, totaling 100,000 shi of military rations, 70,000 guan of cash, and countless other supplies.

In addition, there were more than 4,000 surrendered soldiers.

Gan Ning immediately ordered 50,000 strings of cash to be distributed as a reward to the three armies, which was met with thunderous cheers.

But taking Wan County was only the first step. The second step was for Gan Ning to take away enough resources. He couldn't take away the land resources, but he wanted to take away the population resources.

This also highlights the difference between the warlord rivalry in the south and the north during the late Eastern Han Dynasty, where plundering, killing, and massacres were common occurrences in the north.

However, massacres of entire cities were rare in the south; instead, they plundered people and relocated the inhabitants of other cities to their own territory.

Sun Ce and Sun Quan often did this: after a major battle, they would immediately relocate the population north of the Yangtze River to the south. The population of Lujiang County and Jiujiang County had been relocated countless times.

When the Jiangdong army relocated a group of people, people from the north would immediately come to fill the void, and then they would be relocated again, like leeks, being harvested one crop after another.

The following day at noon, three thousand ships from Yuzhang arrived in Wan County, and the army began to forcibly relocate the people.

Forced relocation meant that if you cooperated, the army would allow you to pack up your belongings and food and move with your family; if you didn't cooperate, they would just arrest you, and you wouldn't have the chance to pack up your money and food.

Soon, everyone realized that military orders could not be disobeyed, and they all began to gather their money, food, and property.

Ship after ship, laden with people, left Wan County and headed towards Yuzhang Prefecture. Of course, it wasn't just the people in the county town; people from within a radius of a hundred miles were also relocated. A total of 32,000 households and more than 100,000 people were moved away.

Yuzhang County has a vast alluvial plain, and a large amount of fertile land has been designated as government land, but no one cultivates it. These 32,000 households will be organized into garrison households and put in charge of the garrison colony, Yang Xuan, who will be responsible for cultivating land for the government and supporting their families.

A few days later, news came that Zhou Yu had led a large army to capture Shuxian, where the defending general Xie Hui was killed in battle and the entire army of 6,000 was wiped out.

Thus, Huang Zu's dream of occupying Lujiang County was completely shattered. Gan Ning sent someone to hand over the seal of Wan County to Zhou Yu, while he himself led the army to retreat to Wankou.

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(End of this chapter)