Traveling back in time to Liu Feng, starting with rescuing soldier Guan Yu.

Chapter 127 A Great Victory

When Zhu Huan was dragged up from the riverbank by several Fengzi Battalion cavalrymen, he was covered in mud, his left leg was twisted when he fell from his horse, and he was trembling slightly when he stood up, but he still gritted his teeth and straightened his back.

His helmet had fallen off in the chaos of battle, his hair was disheveled, and his face was covered in blood and sand, but his eyes still shone brightly, showing no fear. Several iron knights tried to bind his arms behind his back, but he struggled free and shouted, "I can walk by myself!"

Liu Feng reined in his horse and stood on a high point on the riverbank, looking down at him for a moment before waving for his soldiers to step back. Zhu Huan was limped to Liu Feng's horse and brought before him. He looked up and met Liu Feng's gaze, his lips pressed tightly together, and he remained silent.

"Zhu Xiumu".

Liu Feng dismounted, handed his spear to his guard, and walked up to Zhu Huan. "The Zhu family of Wu Commandery has been a prominent family for generations. You are also a figure of some importance in Jiangdong. Now that you have been defeated and captured, do you have anything to say?"

Zhu Huan sneered, "Defeat is nothing, death is nothing. Liu Feng, you don't need to waste your breath. I, Zhu Huan, was born a subject of Wu, and I will die a ghost of Wu. I will never be a slave to three masters." As he said this, his gaze intentionally or unintentionally swept over Yu Jin, who was directing the surrendered soldiers to count their numbers not far away, and a hint of undisguised sarcasm appeared on the corner of his mouth.

Yu Jin was holding a bamboo scroll recording the names of surrendered soldiers. Upon hearing this, his fingers paused slightly, his white beard trembled in the wind, and he continued writing as if he had not heard.

Liu Feng observed Zhu Huan's expression closely but remained calm, saying, "Zhu Xiumu, I don't compare you to Yu Jin. General Yu surrendered to save the lives of over ten thousand soldiers in the north; this is a matter of righteousness. You, Zhu Huan, refuse to surrender today to preserve the honor of your Wu Commandery Zhu family; this is also a matter of righteousness. Righteousness differs from righteousness; there's no need to humiliate each other." His words thus exonerated Yu Jin.

The encirclement also gave Zhu Huan a way out, demonstrating a perfect sense of proportion.

Zhu Huan was slightly taken aback, then snorted coldly and turned his head away.

Liu Feng took a step forward, his tone softening and becoming more sincere: "Xiu Mu, look at this riverbank. Where are Sun Quan's 100,000 troops now? Does he deserve your loyalty?"

Zhu Huan turned to look at Liu Feng and suddenly smiled. There was no mockery or anger in that smile, only a calm acceptance of life and death: "Liu Feng, you're absolutely right. The Zhu family has received great favors from the Sun family for three generations, from Sun the Destroyer to Sun the Rebel General, and even now. The plaque bestowed by the Sun family is enshrined in my family's ancestral hall. If I surrender to you today, the Zhu family of Wu Commandery will be unable to hold their heads high in Jiangdong tomorrow. You can kill me, but you cannot subdue me."

His voice wasn't loud, but every word was firm and resonant, like iron nails driven into wood.

Liu Feng remained silent for a moment. Looking into Zhu Huan's open and proud eyes, he suddenly thought of someone—Lü Chang.

The Cao Wei general who committed suicide facing north in Xiangyang City uttered eight words before his death: "My lord is in the north; I cannot be allowed to die facing south."

Zhu Huan is not Lü Chang, but his eyes are exactly the same as Lü Chang's. This kind of person cannot be subdued, and killing him would be of no use.

"Alright." Liu Feng nodded, then turned to his personal guards and said, "Send General Zhu Huan back to Linxiang City, place him in a clean courtyard alone, and assign reliable guards to watch over him. He must not be bound or humiliated, and his food and clothing should be the same as those of a Han army colonel. After the war, I will take care of his fate." He looked at Zhu Huan again, clasped his hands in a salute, and said, "Xiu Mu, I apologize."

Zhu Huan was stunned for a moment.

He had expected Liu Feng to kill him to establish his authority after failing to persuade him to surrender, but instead, he was met with a fist and palm salute. He opened his mouth, but ultimately said nothing, only nodding slightly. Several guards stepped forward and led him to a prepared warhorse.

When Zhu Huan mounted his horse, his left leg was in so much pain that the veins on his forehead bulged, but he gritted his teeth and didn't utter a sound. He turned his horse around and slowly rode towards Linxiang.

The smoke of battle at the Laodao River ferry gradually dissipated in the morning breeze. The riverbank was littered with abandoned supplies and corpses of the Wu army. Broken banners were trampled beyond recognition in the mud. Several ownerless warhorses snorted aimlessly by the rice paddies.

Kou Wei led the Wancheng camp to clear out the remaining enemy on the south bank. Han Dang was dragged across the pontoon bridge by his personal guards in the chaos. The supporting troops on the north bank were scattered by Liu Feng's iron cavalry and were no longer able to organize an effective resistance.

Sun Quan's central banner had long since disappeared into the misty depths of the lower reaches of the Xiang River, but the scattered remnants of defeated soldiers, supplies, and wounded along the way all indicated how wretchedly this ruler of Jiangdong had fled.

Liu Feng did not continue the pursuit, not because he couldn't catch up, but because further pursuit would have brought him into the control of the Eastern Wu navy. Although Zhu Ran's navy was being attacked from both sides by Deng Ai and Guan Ping, Dongting Lake and the Yangtze River waterway were still in the hands of the Wu army. On land, he could crush any opponent, but on the water, it was a different story.

"Order all units to withdraw." Liu Feng slammed his spear on the ground and said to his personal guards, "Order Kou Wei to lead the Wancheng camp to count the prisoners and spoils, and order Yu Jin to lead his surrendered soldiers to assist in cleaning up the battlefield. All wounded Wu soldiers should be treated equally by physicians. The dead should be buried on the spot and marked with tombstones." He paused and added, "Sun Huan's body should be placed separately and sent back to Jiangdong after the war."

The guards obeyed and left.

Liu Feng dismounted and sat down on a large rock by the ferry. He took out a water bag from his pocket and drank a few mouthfuls. The morning light shone on his tired face, and the blood and smoke of days of battle etched a touch of vicissitude onto his young face, but his eyes were still surprisingly bright.

Around noon, battle reports from various units began to arrive. Commander Kou counted the prisoners; nearly 20,000 Wu soldiers had surrendered in this battle, mostly infantrymen brought by Sun Quan from Jiangdong and former troops of Yu Jin. The captured supplies were piled up like mountains, including dozens of intact and usable battering rams, and countless amounts of grain, fodder, and weapons.

Yu Jin led the newly surrendered soldiers to line up on the riverbank to count their numbers. He had changed into a black battle robe in the style of Shu Han, but still wore the ring-pommel sword that had been with him for half his life. His white beard fluttered slightly in the wind.

The surrendered soldiers were reorganized into groups of ten and five. Although they still looked tired and bewildered, the ranks were much more orderly than when they surrendered.

In the afternoon, two reports of good news arrived one after another.

The first group, led by Deng Ai from Yiyang, took a small path along the northern foothills of Mufu Mountain and arrived outside Yiyang City two days ago.

Zhu Ran's navy had besieged Yiyang for nearly half a month, and the soldiers were exhausted. Unexpectedly, Deng Ai suddenly attacked from behind, and Guan Ping simultaneously launched an attack from within the city. Under the combined attack from inside and outside, Zhu Ran's navy was thrown into chaos. More than thirty warships were burned, and thousands of men were lost. The remnants retreated in panic towards Dongting Lake. Guan Ping and Deng Ai had already joined forces in Yiyang.

The second force came from Mufu Mountain—Shamoke led his barbarian troops out of the mountains and intercepted several ferry crossings along the shore of Dongting Lake. When Zhu Ran's remaining troops retreated to the lakeside, they found that the ferry crossings had fallen into the hands of the barbarian soldiers. Unable to advance or retreat, they had no choice but to flee north along the lake shore, suffering further losses.

Shamoke seized countless provisions and arrows, and the barbarian soldiers were swaggering around on the lake in the captured Wu warships.

After reading the two military reports, Liu Feng smiled slightly. He handed the silk scroll to Kou Wei beside him and stood up: "The siege of Yiyang has been lifted, Zhu Ran has been defeated, and the Mufu Mountain ferry is now in our hands. Sun Quan's southward campaign has resulted in the loss of Sun Jiao's Jie Fan army first, followed by the deaths of Sun Huan and Yu Jin, and even Pan Zhang died in Wuling. Of the 100,000 troops, I'm afraid less than half will be able to bring back to Baqiu."

He paused, looked towards the Xiang River to the north, and his voice became deep.

"Although Sun Quan has been defeated, Lü Meng is still in Jiangling, and Lu Xun is still in Yiling. If these two are not eliminated, Jingzhou will remain unstable. Order all units to rest for a day, and set off back to Linxiang tomorrow. Although the four southern commanderies of Jingzhou have been pacified, there are still many tough battles to fight to gain a firm foothold."

The next morning, the army broke camp and returned south.

The large banner bearing the character "Han" fluttered in the autumn wind atop Linxiang City. Traces of gunpowder remained on the city walls, but the city had regained its former vitality. The marketplace bustled once more, with vendors carrying their wares and hawking their wares along the streets. Several young men from the Kou and Liu families were posting new public notices at the street corner.

Bu Zhi was organizing household registers at the prefectural temple, while Ma Liang was busy selecting strong and capable soldiers from the newly surrendered troops to supplement the various camps.

Deng Ai and Guan Ping also returned to Linxiang. They led their troops to stand in neat formation outside the city gate, where Ma Liang and Bu Zhi personally came out to welcome them. Guan Ping and his sister Guan Yinping reunited at the city gate. Guan Yinping held onto her brother's sleeve, her eyes red but she stubbornly refused to shed tears. Guan Ping patted her shoulder and grinned.

Shamoke was among the last to return to the city. He rode a captured Wu army warhorse, with the heads of seven or eight Wu army captains hanging from the saddle, followed by a long caravan of mules and horses laden with grain, fodder, and arrows. As soon as he entered the city, he began shouting and searching for Liu Feng, saying that when he ambushed a Wu army supply convoy in the Mufu Mountains, he had discovered a very well-hidden cave containing gold and silver left behind by bandits many years ago, and asked Liu Feng if he could share one-tenth of it with him.

The main hall of the Linxiang Prefectural Government was brightly lit.

Liu Feng summoned his generals for a meeting, including Ma Liang, Kou Wei, Guan Ping, Deng Ai, Sha Moke, and Yu Jin. The map showed that all four commanderies of Jingnan were marked with crimson markers, stretching from Wuling to Changsha, and from Lingling to Guiyang, forming a complete protective barrier.

Liu Feng's finger slowly traced across the map, from Linxiang to Jiangling, from Jiangling to Yiling, finally stopping at Xiangyang. He paused for a moment, then looked up: "The four southern commanderies of Jingzhou are now secured. Next, we'll deal with the entirety of Jingzhou."