home

search

Chapter 50: The Heros Demise

  Chapter Fifty: The Hero's Demise

  (PS: This week's recommendation is too weak, please vote for recommendation and collect support.)

  On the north bank of the Yangtze River, about two miles west of the present Guazhou Ferry Terminal, there is a small unnamed stone mountain that juts out into the river. The mountain is surrounded by the turbulent waters of the Yangtze on three sides, with only a narrow and rugged path leading up to it from the north, making it easy to defend but difficult to attack, where one man can hold off ten thousand men.

  But this rocky mountain is too small, the top area is only a few hundred square meters, and the height is only over 150 meters. It's also relatively far from the ferry route of this era, so it can't even serve as a surveillance point for the route. Therefore, the previous owners of this land did not pay attention to this small rocky mountain, and no barracks were built on the top of the mountain. The top is bare, with only some low shrubs growing.

  Sun Ce's defeated army was trapped on the top of this nameless small stone mountain for a day and a night. The previous night, under Sun Ce's coma, his ambitious army suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of the inferior Xuzhou troops, who were far weaker than their own forces. They were killed in large numbers, and their bodies lay scattered all over the ground. From the city of Guangling, they were chased to this nameless stone mountain by the Yangtze River, where they struggled to survive. Of the more than 6,000 troops that had attacked the city, only less than 700 defeated soldiers remained, almost every one of them wounded, and all their food and supplies had been lost.

  The defeat of Sun Ce's army in this battle can be said to be both pitiful and unjust, because whether it was individual combat strength or large-scale field warfare capabilities, Sun Ce's army was actually above most of the Xuzhou army. Even when the grain and grass were burned and the soldiers' morale was severely damaged, the main force of Sun Ce's army still had the power to fight for a short time, at least it shouldn't have lost so miserably. However, the development of the battle that night played a big joke on Sun Ce's army and also made Tao Yingzi famous.

  In the situation where the grain and grass were burned and the military morale was shaken, if Sun Ce, who had extremely high prestige in the army, could hold on, Sun Ce's army would not have collapsed so quickly. However, at this critical moment, Sun Ce suddenly spat blood and fainted, causing the military morale to become even more unstable, and Sun Ce's army fell into a state of chaos without a leader. Zhou Yu, who took over the command of the entire army, was clever and had excellent leadership skills, but he had joined Sun Ce's army for too short a time and had not yet established his prestige. He hastily commanded the large army composed of former soldiers of Yuan Shu and Sun Jian, which was naturally extremely difficult to manage, and this further accelerated the chaos in Sun Ce's army.

  If it were Taishi Ci or Huang Gai who took over the command of Sun Ce's army that night, things might have turned out better. However, Zhou Yu was a man with strong ambitions and never thought of yielding. He directly took over the command of the army as Sun Ce's deputy. Taishi Ci and Huang Gai were in a hurry and could not compete with Zhou Yu for power and interests. For the sake of the whole army, they had to temporarily accept Zhou Yu's command. Although Taishi Ci and Huang Gai could swallow their pride for the greater good, other generals, especially those from Yuan Shu's camp, would not think so. As a result, Sun Ce's command system naturally fell into semi-paralysis. Therefore, even if Zhou Yu himself did not want to admit it, he was still one of the main culprits responsible for Sun Ce's army's defeat.

  There were two other reasons for the defeat of Sun Ce's army. Firstly, the composition of Sun Ce's army was complex, with only a small portion being the most capable and loyal veterans of Sun Jian's old unit, while the majority were from Yuan Shu's army, which had weaker combat strength and was unwilling to fight to the death for Sun Ce. Such an army would not have problems when things went smoothly, but when the battle turned unfavorable, contradictions and hidden dangers naturally erupted. Secondly, the Xu state army's tactics were excellent, with strong targeting, first using various tricks and new weapons to repeatedly strike at Sun Ce's army's morale, dispersing their soldiers' spirits, further confusing Sun Ce's decision-making, and then luring the tiger away from its lair by burning Sun Ce's grain supplies, pushing Sun Ce's army to the brink of defeat.

  After pushing Sun Ce's army to the edge of the cliff, the Xuzhou army couldn't wait to start kicking their butts, and they were extremely vicious, only kicking the butts of Sun Ce's core strength, the old subordinates of Sun Jian. All the way, they tightly bit the central army of Sun Ce's army, which was composed of Sun Jian's old subordinates, and didn't let go. As for the more numerous Yuan Shu's army, they didn't care at all, letting them escape with their lives. Most of Yuan Shu's soldiers also had no intention of dying with Sun Ce, and they fled in all directions, leaving Sun Ce's army, causing Sun Ce's army to become smaller and weaker as they retreated. The Xuzhou army firmly grasped the tactic of "catching the king first" and bit down on the core strength of Sun Ce's army without letting go, using their numerical superiority to defeat the dwindling central army of Sun Ce.

  As a result, after most of Yuan Shu's soldiers fled from Sun Ce's side, Zhou Yu and Cheng Pu would not be able to turn the tide even if they had the ability to communicate with heaven. They could only fight to the death to protect the unconscious Sun Ce all the way south, being chased by Xu State troops like a flock of ducks to the banks of the Yangtze River. Along the way, they lost their helmets and armor, horses and men rushed about in confusion, trampling each other, corpses littered the ground, and casualties were extremely heavy. After escaping to the Yangtze River ferry terminal, the ships on the dock had already been driven away by Xu State's naval forces, unable to find a boat to cross the river. The Xu State army behind them was coming in an endless stream, and soon they would be surrounded.

  The situation was urgent, and Zhou Yu and Cheng Pu had no choice but to lead the remaining soldiers along the riverbank westward, hoping to find a boat to cross the river and escape. However, the thousand or so naval forces that Tao Vice Director had recruited from the rebel army were not good at fighting, but they were experts at bullying unarmed civilians and civilian ships. The nearby boats had been driven away and confiscated, leaving Zhou Yu and Cheng Pu unable to find even a small boat. Furthermore, Tao Ying led the Junzi Army in a detour to the front of Sun Ce's defeated soldiers, forming a pincer movement with Zhang Ying's pursuing army. With no other choice, Zhou Yu and Cheng Pu led the remaining army to escape up a nameless stone mountain surrounded by water on three sides. The Xuzhou army showed no mercy and immediately attacked the mountain, setting up a vicious formation that aimed to annihilate Sun Ce's remaining soldiers.

  It's okay, the terrain of this unnamed stone mountain helped Sun Ce's remaining soldiers a lot. The remaining army of Sun Ce, mainly composed of old members of Sun Jian, was stationed on high ground and repelled three attacks by the Xuzhou army one after another. At the same time, the height of the unnamed stone mountain was not too high or too low, just enough to prevent the arrows of the Junzi army from covering the top of the mountain. After several attempts to attack the mountain were repelled by Sun Ce's remaining soldiers, the Xuzhou army, which had been clamoring for a long time, also temporarily gave up its plan to attack the mountain and switched to blocking it instead. They quickly built temporary fortifications to block the breakout roads of Sun Ce's remaining soldiers, and at the same time ordered the Xuzhou navy to strictly seal off the nearby river surface, not giving Sun Ce's army any chance to escape.

  The sun rose again, and the dazzling sunlight gradually covered the top of the unnamed stone mountain without any grass or trees. Sun Ce, who had been unconscious for a long time, finally woke up again. Zhou Yu and Huang Gai, who had been worried for a long time, finally breathed a sigh of relief and even showed a rare smile. Unfortunately, whether it was Zhou Yu, Cheng Pu, or Huang Gai, they all looked disheveled and their clothes were in disarray at this moment, making their happy smiles almost as unsightly as crying.

  "How long have I been unconscious again?" Sun Ce, who was lying on the four-wheeled cart, asked in a hoarse and weak voice: "Has there been any news from the people sent to Jiang for help?"

  Zhou Yu and Cheng Pu's smiles on their faces instantly disappeared, and after a long time, Cheng Pu replied weakly: "General Cao, you fainted for only one night, but our soldiers who crossed the river overnight were shot dead by Tao Ying's naval forces in the middle of the Yangtze River. Not one person reached the southern shore."

  Sun Ce's face turned even paler, and he didn't blame Cheng Pu and Zhou Yu for being incompetent. He just hoarsely ordered: "Gongjin, push me around the mountain to see if there's a chance to break through." Zhou Yu smiled bitterly, but couldn't bear to hurt Sun Ce's heart again, so he could only cover him with a torn flag on the carriage to block out the dazzling light. Then, with Huang Gai and Cheng Pu's help, he pushed Sun Ce around to survey the enemy situation with one arm.

  The result of the tour was that Sun Ce was heartbroken. From the departure from Shouchun, the eight thousand tiger wolf troops who were dragon and tiger-like, now only had less than seven hundred people left, most of whom were injured, with worn-out clothes and armor, incomplete weapons, and low morale. They could only rely on slaughtering war horses to eat raw horse meat to fill their hunger. The scene was desolate and unbearable to look at. In the mountains below, the land roads had long been blocked by deer horns and trenches, while the river surface was filled with large and small boats from the Xu state's water army. Large groups of Xu state soldiers were showing off their military prowess on the mountain slopes and the warship decks, waiting in formation. Not to mention that Sun Ce's army remnants had lost all their grain and supplies, even a fly couldn't fly out.

  As they reached the end of their tour, Sun Ce had Zhou Yu stop the carriage on the north side of Stone Mountain and gazed out at the distant banner of the noble lord for a moment before finally speaking up to ask: "When I was unconscious, what did Tao Ying's child do?"

  "When dawn broke, Tao sent a messenger to persuade us to surrender, but we shot him back with random arrows. Since then, there has been no other movement." Zhou Yu replied.

  "Surrender?" Sun Ce smiled wryly and fell silent for a moment, before asking with difficulty: "Tao Ying's child, how did you persuade him to surrender?"

  "It's all just empty words." Zhou Yu also gazed out at the distant banner of the noble gentleman fluttering in the wind, and sneered: "What nonsense that Tao Ying is very fond of our talents for bravery and martial arts, as long as we lay down our arms and surrender, we will surely be reused, enjoy wealth and glory, money and beautiful women, and never tire of it."

  Sun Ce fell silent again, and after a long while, he spoke with difficulty: "Gongjin, Cheng Old General, Huang Old General, actually you can accept Tao Yingxiao's surrender, relying on your literary and military talents, no matter where you go, you will definitely be reused. Tao Yingxiao is not an ordinary person, if you surrender to him, he will also reuse you even more."

  "General!" Cheng Pu and Huang Gai exclaimed in unison, then knelt down on one knee together, clasped their fists and said in the same voice: "General, we have long received great kindness from our former lord. Even if we were to be torn limb from limb, it would be hard to repay a fraction of it. How could we do such a thing as betraying our lord and forgetting his kindness? We are willing to swear to die following you, General, through a thousand difficulties and ten thousand dangers, with unwavering determination!"

  "Is this what you said, Bo Fu?" Zhou Yu also said discontentedly: "I am as close to you as hands and feet, sworn to live and die together. How can I scheme for wealth and honor while betraying old friendships? If you say another word, I will immediately cut my throat in front of you to prove my integrity!"

  "Two old generals, please get up quickly." Sun Ce said with difficulty: "Gongjin, I'm not joking with you either. You also see the current situation, we are already in a desperate situation, no way out, no food or support, even if we kill our horses to eat, we can't hold on for a few more days. In a few days, it will be a complete defeat, and there is no escape. All of you have the talent of kings, unfortunately following me, suffering with me until now, why must you accompany me in vain to die? Why not surrender to another lord, to gain merit and fame?"

  "We would rather die than surrender!" Zhang Liao and Huang Gai roared in anger, "We are all willing to continue following General Zhou, to go through fire and water, to be torn apart and crushed, never to regret it!"

  "Since ancient times, who has not died? Leave behind a red heart to shine on the green moss." Zhou Yu said calmly: "I heard that this poem was recited by Tao Yingxiao in Cao Mengde's camp. If even a hypocrite like Tao Yingxiao can have such ambition, what about us? Besides, we may not be completely out of options yet, there is still a chance to rise again from the east and start anew."

  "Gong Jin, you don't have to comfort me with these words anymore." Sun Ce said gloomily: "In this situation now, what way out do we still have? What chance?"

  "Bo Fu, you're wrong again." Zhou Yu shook his head and said confidently: "I'm not just comforting you, we really still have a chance! Bo Fu, do you remember the news that Zhu Junli (Zhu Zhi) brought? Yuan Shu sent Ji Ling to lead an army of 30,000 eastward, coming to capture you. Judging by the route, in at most six or seven days, Ji Ling's army will arrive at the Guangling battlefield. At that time, Ji Ling will certainly fight with Tao Yingxiao, and we can take advantage of the situation to break through. If not, we can go before Yuan Shu, explain a few words, and then hide under his command for a few years. When you've recovered from your injuries and reorganized your troops, it won't be too late to rise again."

  "Yes, General, Gong Ji is right." Cheng Pu chimed in: "Yuan Shu ordered you to retreat because of Tao Ying's treacherous scheme. You refused to retreat just to take advantage of the opportunity for battle, and as a general on the outside, you don't have to obey orders. In reality, there was no sign of rebellion. If you return to Yuan Shu's side and strongly defend yourself in front of him, dispelling his doubts, it's not impossible that you'll get another chance."

  "It's reasonable." Zhu Zhi also echoed: "General, please don't forget that you still have Qiao Rui and Zhang Huan who are on good terms with you under Yuan Shu. They are all trusted by Yuan Shu. As long as we ask them to persuade him, it's not necessarily impossible to move Yuan Shu. Moreover, there are several of Yuan Shu's confidants, Yang Hong and Yuan Yin, whom we can also bribe with gold, silver, and jewels to help mediate, and they will definitely make Yuan Shu believe that you have not betrayed him!"

  "Although it makes sense......" Sun Ce's heart began to move, and he calculated and asked: "But can Ji Ling arrive so quickly?"

  "Absolutely!" Zhou Yu said resolutely: "Jiujiang is surrounded by enemies on all sides, and the military preparations have never been lax. Moreover, the autumn harvest has just ended, and the military grain in Jiujiang is very abundant. With a single order from Yuan Shu, Ji Ling can immediately lead his troops to set out, and they will arrive at the Guangling battlefield within more than ten days. And Zhu Junli had already investigated that after Tao Ying's messenger posted a notice in Shouchun on September 2nd, Yuan Shu began to prepare for the eastern expedition. Ji Ling also sent out his vanguard on September 6th. Calculating the distance, at the latest within seven days, Ji Ling's vanguard will arrive under the city of Guangling!"

  At this point, Zhou Yu paused for a moment and smiled: "If Ji Ling's little ones are divided into two routes, advancing by land and water at the same time, it would be even better. Yuan Su's little ones have been stationed with heavy troops at Liyang Ferry to prevent Liu Bei from crossing the river and attacking northward, facing off against Liu Bei's army at Niuzhu for a year now. If Yuan Su's little ones send troops eastward from here, then our great army will take advantage of the current to sail down the river, and the speed will surely be even faster. If things are really as they seem, perhaps within one or two days, we can reach this place!"

  "General, Gong Jing's words are correct, we still have a chance." Cheng Pu and Huang Gai etc. repeatedly advised: "As long as we hold on for a few more days, Yuan Shu's large army will arrive, at that time Tao Ying's small army will surely retreat, General, you can also take the opportunity to escape and live."

  Sun Ce certainly did not want to die, and the arrogant little overlord was even less willing to surrender to the hypocritical Tao Deputy Director with poor moral character. So after listening to these words of advice, Sun Ce's chest also reignited a glimmer of hope, gritting his teeth and saying: "Well, then we'll hold on, hold on until Yuan Shu's great army arrives! Please comfort the three armies, General, and persevere to the end!"

  "We obey General Zhou's order!" Cheng Pu and Huang Gai bowed their fists and responded solemnly. Zhou Yu also bowed in response, but after responding, he turned his gaze to the distant north, his eyes filled with worry...

  "Heaven bless us!" Zhou Yu muttered to himself, "I hope Tao Ying's little trick hasn't thought of that mountain-attacking method, or else we won't even last a day."

  In his heart, he was still muttering to himself when Zhou Yu's clear and beautiful eyes suddenly widened in an instant, and his heart also stopped beating at the same time. This was because Zhou Yu had already seen that on the road to the north, there were five huge wooden carts slowly approaching this way under the push and pull of Xu State soldiers! Seeing these five wooden carts, Zhou Yu was completely desperate, secretly thinking: "I really thought too beautifully, that kind of catapult originally appeared in Tao Ying's hands, how could Tao Ying not know that catapults can be used to attack mountains?"

  ……………

  As the five Xiangyang cannons slowly approached, the Xu state army, which had been confronting the remnants of Sun Ce's army for a day and night, also cheered up. Many soldiers even took the initiative to run forward to help push and pull, striving to get the Xiangyang cannons onto the battlefield as soon as possible to heavily bombard the remnants of Sun Ce's army, who were hiding on top of the rocky mountain like a turtle with its head shrunk in. Tao Ying also hastily dispatched infantry to clear the area three hundred steps outside the rocky mountain, making it convenient for the Xiangyang cannons to deploy.

  In the midst of busyness, Lu Su ran to Tao Ying's front with a big sweat on his head, cupped his hands and saluted: "Young master please don't be offended, yesterday evening after Zhang Old General returned to the city, Su immediately led the army to escort the trebuchet southward, but this trebuchet is too heavy, and it has high requirements for the road, so it only arrived at the front of the army now, hoping not to delay young master's military plan.

  "It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter." Tao Ying laughed loudly and waved his hand, saying with satisfaction: "Even if they are sent now, it's not too late. By this evening at the latest, we can return to the city triumphantly with Sun Ce's little son's head in our hands."

  "Actually, Sun Ce is also a rare and fierce general. If the young master can recruit him, that would be for the best." Lu Su reminded with a smile.

  "We've tried to persuade them to surrender, but they were shot back with arrows." Tao Ying smiled and said: "Wait until Xiangyang is bombarded with a few more rounds of cannon fire, shattering Sun Ce's last beautiful dream, then we'll send someone to try to persuade them to surrender again."

  Before he could finish speaking, Tao Ying's eyes suddenly lit up and he rushed towards a soldier behind Lu Su, opening his arms wide and exclaiming: "Lin Xiongdi, you're here too? Long time no see! Come on, let me give you a hug!"

  Lin Qing, dressed in military attire, quickly retreated a few steps, dodging Tao Ying's embrace with ill intentions. She said viciously: "Get out! Don't try this again! If you touch me once more, I'll make you regret it!" Meanwhile, Lu Su and others like Tao Ji and Xu Sheng also found out that Lin Qing was a woman, and they couldn't help but burst into loud laughter, praising Vice Director Tao for being clever and taking advantage of the situation.

  In the midst of laughter, five Xiangyang cannons had already been transported to within 300 steps of Wuming Stone Mountain, quickly adjusting and preparing stone balls and fireballs. To prevent Sun Ce's remaining troops from making a desperate last stand, Tao Ying also swiftly arranged more strong bows and crossbows to seal off the mountain roads, not giving Sun Ce's army any chance to break through. Although the Xiangyang cannons had not yet fired a single shot, countless despairing cries had already erupted on top of Wuming Stone Mountain. It was clear that Sun Ce's army, having tasted the bitter fruit of the Xiangyang cannons before, now understood that their doomsday was at hand.

  The heavy stone box under the catapult of Xiangyang was finally filled with stones. More than a dozen soldiers strained to pull down the throwing arm, tied it with hemp rope, loaded the round stone bullet into the spoon, and then cut off the fixed hemp rope with an axe. The 150-jin heavy stone bullet whizzed out and hit the front end of the unnamed stone mountain, slightly lower than the top. Although the stone bullet did not hit Sun Ce's soldiers, it bounced back immediately after colliding with the hard stone mountain, whizzing forward, two soldiers of Sun Ce's army failed to dodge, were crushed to death on the spot, and their flesh and blood flew everywhere.

  At this scene, the Xuzhou army under the mountain was naturally cheering and shouting. Tao Ying ordered the soldiers to adjust the Xiangyang cannon to re-aim, but on the top of the mountain, it was a cry of surprise. Sun Ce was even more powerless, punching the armrest of the four-wheeled cart with a fist, his pale face, which made people's hearts ache, was also full of despair.

  "All catapults, advance ten paces and re-aim." Tao Ying waved his whip and shouted the order: "Also prepare all stone projectiles for me. First bombard that little brat Sun Ce with several dozen cannons..."

  "Report!" A messenger suddenly rushed to the front, interrupting Tao Ying's loud shouting. After kneeling on one knee in front of Tao Ying, the messenger panted and reported: "I beg to report to you, sir, that our naval scouts' fast boat has discovered warships of Yuan Shu's army from Jiujiang 45 miles upstream!"

  "What?!?" Tao Ying's whip fell to the ground, and his chin almost hit the ground as well. He thought to himself, "It can't be this coincidental, right? At most, it would take just one day to cut down Little Overlord into a little turtle, so why did Yuan Shu's naval forces arrive at this exact moment?"

  "How many ships? How fast?" Lu Su asked hastily.

  "The situation has not been fully investigated." The messenger wiped the sweat from his face and said, "But there are at least thirty large ships, and other small and medium-sized warships, no less than two hundred! When our scout ship discovered the enemy, the river was blowing southeast wind, so the enemy's ships were sailing with the wind and current, and their speed was not very fast."

  Tao Ying didn't know much about naval battles, but Lu Su was a natural-born expert. He looked up at the wind direction, then quickly calculated with his fingers, taking into account the time it would take for the scouting ships to return. With a gloomy face, he said to Tao Ying: "Sir, it seems that heaven is not helping our army. If the wind direction doesn't change, Yuan Shu's naval forces will arrive here in one hour. If the direction changes to northwest, then Yuan Shu's naval forces will arrive here within half an hour! Moreover, the enemy has at least 5,000 troops, far surpassing our thousand-strong naval force!"

  Tao Ying's face was stern and he didn't say a word, but in his heart, he was cursing the 18th generation ancestors of Yuan Shu's naval forces. Why did they have to come at this critical moment? Wasn't it obvious that they were trying to help Xiao Ba Wang eat Wei Guo?

  "Second brother, let our naval forces sail upstream and intercept the enemy!" Beside him, Tao Ji suggested: "As long as we can gain a day's time, we can annihilate Sun Ce's small remaining troops on the mountain top!"

  "Less than forty old ships, can't they be stopped?" Tao Ying scolded in a bad temper, "Moreover, once our navy sails upstream, Sun Ce will immediately understand that he has reinforcements arriving by water and will fight to the death!"

  "What to do?" Tao Ji's face turned gloomy, "Yuan Shu's naval forces arrived too conveniently. Otherwise, we can use the navy to intercept on one side and launch a full-scale attack on the mountain top on the other, trying to annihilate Sun Ce's remaining troops on the mountain top before Yuan Shu's naval forces arrive!"

  Taoying bit his teeth and said nothing, taking two steps forward, looking up at the mountain top. Lu Su then spoke in a low voice to Taoyi: "General, the mountain road is rugged and easy to defend but difficult to attack. Our army's strong attack will be hard to succeed and will result in heavy casualties. Moreover, our army only needs to continuously throw rocks to easily destroy the enemy, yet suddenly gives up the easy way for the difficult one. Sun Ce will certainly understand that a turning point has appeared and will fight to the death until the last soldier!"

  Taoyi didn't say a word, just hung his head and silently cursed his elder brother for being evil and unscrupulous. Lu Su was afraid that Taoyi would do something rash in his anger and anxiety, so he went over and patted Taoyi's shoulder, softly consoling him: "Young master, this is the will of heaven, heaven doesn't want Sun Ce to die here, it's not something that can be forced by human power. Please don't be disheartened, young master, if we can't kill Sun Ce this time, there will be a next time."

  Tao Ying still had a straight face and didn't speak, but suddenly, the corner of his mouth floated up with a familiar smile. "Zi Jing, thank you for reminding me again, I've thought of another clever plan. This time, I won't need to launch a strong attack or waste any soldiers, I can take Sun Ce's little dog's life! Even if he has a strong fate and refuses to die, I can make him vomit three liters of blood and never have a chance to rise again!"

  "What clever plan does the young master have?" Lu Su asked in surprise.

  "It's a secret that cannot be revealed!" Tao Ying shook his head and took big strides forward, shouting as he walked: "Get a team of shield bearers and archers to protect me, I'm going down the mountain to have a word with Sun Ce's kid! Prepare the catapult for me, when you see me turn around and wave my hand, launch one shot immediately!"

  Want to know what other good deeds Vice Director Tao has for the benefit of the country and the people? See next chapter for details. By the way, the unnamed Shishan Mountain with three-ring moat in this chapter really exists. If you're interested, friends can take out satellite photos near Yangzhou to take a look, which can be seen clearly.

Recommended Popular Novels