Tiger Owl

Chapter 80 The Battle of Queyue (Part 2)

A great fire broke out in Queyue City. Thousands of oil bottles were thrown onto the city walls and inside the city. Flames raged everywhere on the city walls, and thick smoke billowed. Hundreds of houses along the city walls were also set ablaze, and black smoke filled the entire city. The soldiers on the city walls panicked and hid in all directions.

Queyue City is a crescent-shaped city with its arc facing west. It is surrounded by a moat two zhang wide. In front of the city gate, there is a barbican. In fact, there are two city gates: the outer one is the barbican gate, and the inner one is the inner city gate.

The area above the city gate of the barbican was engulfed in flames. A dozen soldiers from the Yuzhang Army climbed onto the drawbridge and began hacking at the front of the bridge with axes. In just a moment, both ends of the drawbridge were shattered. Two iron wedges embedded in the wood suddenly came off the drawbridge, and two long iron chains flew up like snakes. The heavy drawbridge crashed down and slammed heavily onto the pier, raising a cloud of dust.

Two hundred armored soldiers, who had been waiting for a long time, immediately rushed onto the drawbridge carrying the sturdy battering ram. The battering ram was also made of oak wood from the southern part of Yuzhang County, which was actually a thousand-year-old beech tree. This was the wood used to make the pillars of the imperial palace and was also a specialty of Yuzhang County. All the large pillars of the palaces in various parts of the Sui and Tang Dynasties came from Yuzhang County.

The battering ram was eight zhang long, requiring two people to encircle it. It was equipped with a cast iron ram head at the front, and its shape resembled a giant, thick pencil. It weighed eight thousand jin and was densely covered with iron claws. It required two hundred people to lift it from both sides and ram it against the city gate.

The two hundred soldiers were all clad in iron armor and wore iron helmets, so they were not afraid of arrows coming from both sides of the city wall. However, they were afraid of huge rocks hitting their heads, so the soldiers of Yuzhang Army had thrown thousands of oil bottles above the city gate, creating a sea of ​​fire. This made it impossible for the enemy to defend above the city gate, so they could only shoot arrows from both sides, but the arrows could not penetrate the soldiers' iron armor at all.

"One, two, three, ram!"

As the soldiers' shouts rang out, two hundred armored soldiers carried an eight-thousand-pound battering ram and rammed it against the city gate.

"Boom-"

The battering rams of the Yuzhang army pounded heavily on the city gate, causing it to shake violently and dust to fall in a flurry. Inside the city, hundreds of soldiers desperately held the gate up, using wooden planks and their shoulders to brace it, shouting in a tense atmosphere.

"Come again!"

The general leading the charge outside shouted, and the two hundred soldiers, carrying battering rams, retreated a dozen steps before charging toward the city gate once more amidst their shouts.

"Boom-"

The iron battering rammed heavily against the city gate once again, another impact weighing tens of thousands of kilograms. The city gate could not withstand it, and twelve of the fifteen bolts broke instantly, leaving only the top three bolts intact.

"Hold the door shut!"

Inside the city, the general shouted hoarsely, and hundreds of soldiers desperately held the gate shut. Someone yelled, "Quickly move huge stones to block the gate!"

A hundred paces away, thousands of soldiers were carrying dozens of large stone blocks, their last hope.

But it was too late. With another earth-shattering ramming, "Boom!" the bolts broke, and the gate was finally smashed open. Two hundred heavily armored soldiers carrying battering rams rushed into the city.

Chaos erupted at the gate of the barbican, followed by thousands of Yuzhang Army soldiers who charged in with shouts.

The hundreds of guards who had initially intended to fight to the death turned tail and fled when they saw the situation was dire, shouting as they ran, "The barbican has fallen! The barbican has fallen!"

Because of the movement of stone slabs, the inner city gate was opened, and now the Yuzhang army has stormed into the barbican. The soldiers on the city wall are desperately trying to close the inner city gate, but unfortunately, dozens of stone slabs have blocked the gate.

"Move the stones away quickly!" Huang She stamped his feet anxiously.

The five hundred defenders of the barbican fled back first, making it impossible to close the city gate. Behind them were thousands of Yuzhang Army soldiers running, only a few dozen steps away. In the chaos, arrows rained down, and soldiers fell in droves, including Huang Zu's soldiers and Gan Ning's soldiers.

Huang She was nearly hit by several stray arrows. One arrow whizzed past, grazing his face, startling Huang She so much that his face turned pale. "My lord, it's too late! Run!" Seeing the situation was dire, the soldiers grabbed Huang She and fled.

Six thousand soldiers of the Yuzhang Army, led by Xu Sheng, were the first to storm into Queyue City.

Chaos erupted in the city, and Liu Hu was thrown into a panic. A dozen of his personal guards disguised him as a common soldier and led him in a hasty escape.

Liu Hu, Liu Biao's nephew, led 5,000 troops to support Huang Zu, but Huang Zu forbade them to enter Queyue City and only allowed them to stay in the military camp outside the city. However, the military camp outside the city was very humid and stuffy in the summer of June. The soldiers could not stand it and simply slept on the boat to enjoy the river breeze. However, the Yuzhang army set it on fire and almost burned it into a barbecue on the Han River.

Liu Hu moved into Queyue City, but was also attacked by the Yuzhang Army. Liu Hu did not escape far before they were surrounded by hundreds of enemy troops. The soldiers were so frightened that they all squatted down to protect Liu Hu in the middle.

The defending troops inside the city had no way to escape. Wang Ping led 6,000 soldiers into the city through the north gate, shouting in unison, "We are all from the same hometown! Surrender and we will not be killed! Surrender and you can go home!"

The local accents of the Yuzhang Army soldiers were incredibly alluring, quickly eroding the morale of Huang Zu's troops. This wasn't about protecting wives, children, or parents, nor about defending their homes. For ordinary soldiers, as long as they could survive, no one would risk their lives, and the soldiers surrendered without hesitation.

At dawn, Huang Zu's stronghold, Queyue City, completely fell, with more than 8,000 soldiers surrendering, including 5,000 reinforcements from Jingzhou sent by Liu Biao.

Huang She and Huang Zu's wives, concubines, children, and grandchildren were all taken prisoner, and Liu Hu was also betrayed by his subordinates and dragged out.

To boost morale and prepare for the upcoming battle, Gan Ning ordered that half of the Wuzhu coins captured from the warehouse be distributed to the 20,000 soldiers, totaling 100,000 strings of cash. This immediately sparked cheers and raised morale to new heights.

This harvest was enormous, with over 300,000 shi of grain, 200,000 guan of copper coins, and countless other supplies, gold, and silver treasures. Of course, there were also 6,000 warships, 2,000 of which were large warships.

Gan Ning ordered all the spoils of war and prisoners of war to be sent to Shaxian County, leaving 3,000 men to guard the money, food, supplies, prisoners of war, and warships.

He personally led 17,000 troops and hundreds of warships to wait at Xiakou for Huang Zu's returning army.

Interestingly, before Huang Zu's main army arrived, Ding Feng and Wei Yan led 6,000 reinforcements on a rapid journey and arrived at Xiakou ahead of everyone else. They quickly joined the battle formation, bringing Gan Ning's forces to 23,000 men and 1,000 warships.

Gan Ning also rewarded Ding Feng's army, which quickly boosted the morale of their 6,000 troops.

The following morning, Huang Zu's three thousand warships and more than forty thousand troops finally returned, and Gan Ning immediately launched an attack.

This was a complete reenactment of the historical Battle of Shaxian, only with a different protagonist, replacing Sun Ce's army with Gan Ning's army. Gan Ning's army was in high spirits, with soldiers full of enthusiasm and fighting spirit. Combined with a sharp fire attack, the offensive was like a tidal wave. Gan Ning's army set fires to the wind, soldiers rushed into the smoke, and bows and crossbows fired in unison, with arrows raining down. Although their forces were only half the size of the enemy, they routed the enemy.

The Battle of Xiakou lasted from morning until dusk. Huang Zu's army suffered a complete defeat, with hundreds of warships and battleships burned. Huang Zu had no choice but to flee in a small warship. In the end, more than 10,000 enemy soldiers were forced to abandon ship and flee ashore in panic.

After the battle, Gan Ning's army killed over 10,000 enemy soldiers, captured over 20,000, seized over 2,000 warships, and looted mountains of valuables.

This battle also wiped out all of Huang Zu's naval strength accumulated over twenty years. Huang Zu retreated to Xiling County, and his army was transformed into a land force, unable to contend with Gan Ning's army any longer.

After the war, Gan Ning ordered the southern part of Jiangxia Commandery to be renamed Wuchang Commandery, with its capital in Wuchang County. At the same time, he recruited tens of thousands of people to build Xiakou County, Yangxin County, Xianning County, and Jiayu County.

This was certainly not a rash decision by Gan Ning, but rather a strategic plan already devised by his advisors: 'To weaken Huang Zu, secure Wuchang, and plot against Changsha.'

(End of this chapter)