Being in the army, thousands or tens of thousands of soldiers who obey orders can bring great satisfaction and spiritual enjoyment to those who are new to the battlefield.
This was the case with Sun Deng, the crown prince of Wu.
The commander of the Wu army outside Xiangyang was Zhuge Jin, who, as a close friend of Sun Quan for many years, attached great importance to Sun Deng's arrival. Zhuge Jin not only spent a whole day accompanying Sun Deng to inspect the military camp and comfort the soldiers, but also took Sun Deng to observe how to set up camp and build deer horns.
As the old man coaxed a young prince, Sun Deng's already good impression of Zhuge Jin became better and better. Zhuge Ke, who had been following behind Sun Deng, had no idea that his father was so patient in the army.
The King of Wu is the present, and the Crown Prince is the future.
If he could accumulate more affection with the prince today, the Zhuge family would have more confidence in the future of Wu. And his eldest son, who was a little arrogant, might have a smoother road in the future.
With such a flattering attitude, Zhuge Jin arranged Sun Deng's residence at the northernmost dock of the camp, which was also the place closest to the Han River. His idea was self-evident:
War is dangerous and swords are merciless. Although the Wei army in the city has been lying motionless like a dead dog for the past few days, Zhuge Jin dare not gamble. If anything goes wrong, Sun Deng can always board the ship and retreat to Yuliangzhou, without having to worry about what happens outside Xiangyang.
Sun Deng also acquiesced to this arrangement. After all, in his twenty years of life, as the son of Sun Quan, it had become normal for him to be treated preferentially in Jiangdong.
Yesterday evening, Lieutenant General Niu Jin had already selected 800 elite soldiers from the various camps in the city. After promising them a reward and boosting their morale, Niu Jin ordered them to go to bed early.
At three quarters past the hour of the Chou Emperor, the Simas of various tribes woke up these brave men and led them to the east gate of Xiangyang to assemble and stand in line.
"Let them all sit down and have their meal first, then pour each of them a bowl of warm wine."
Niu Jinding, wearing a helmet and armor, gave an order to the soldier beside him, then walked back and forth in front of the soldiers with his hands on his waist, using the light of the torches on the roadside.
Having been in Jingzhou for more than 20 years, Niu Jin recognized most of these faces.
"Zhou Li, are you afraid?" Niu Jin stepped hard on the ground with his heels, walked up to Du Bo, who had followed him for more than ten years, and pretended to hit his chest.
"General, please be gentle." Zhou Li shrank his neck, smiled bitterly and looked at his general, and said vaguely: "The food has just entered my stomach and has not been digested yet. With such a blow from the general, I am about to vomit."
"You?" Niu Jin laughed twice. "It's not the first day I've known you. You have a better appetite than animals. You can eat the food of three people. Can you still vomit it out?"
"Hehe, General, you know me." Zhou Li pulled open the collar of his armor and showed it to Niu Jin, "General, look, it's a double-layer armor, iron armor on the outside and leather armor on the inside. There are also two layers of linen lining in the middle of the armor. It's very thick, enough to protect us when we charge into the camp and chop down Wu Gou."
Niu Jin nodded in approval and said, "If someone else was wearing such thick clothes, I would definitely not allow it. They can't even run, so how can they charge the camp? But with your physique, let alone double-layer armor, you can even carry two sandbags. This time you are my main force charging the formation, and I will let Xi Liu and Zhang Tong each lead a hundred people to follow you, and the three hundred people will charge the camp."
Zhou Li asked in surprise: "Aren't there 800 men? Why did the general lead 300 men to charge?"
Niu Jin said, "It's hard to see at night, and too many people will make things difficult. It's hard to advance or retreat. I will let the 500 people go to the small camp south of the dock to make noise, but I won't really attack. You come with me to attack the dock occupied by Wu Gou by the Han River."
Zhou Li was not afraid of the stage either, and nodded heavily in response: "We will go wherever the general points, no further ado!"
Although it was night, there were still Wu army ships with lights on the Han River, patrolling in the inky darkness. Cutting off the Han River not only cut off the dispatch of troops, but also the exchange of messages.
The distance between Xiangyang and Fancheng is only one and a half miles. The Wu army was so cautious to prevent the Wei army from communicating with each other from north to south. Zhao Yan in Xiangyang and Lu Shi in Fancheng to the north tried several times, but each time ended in failure.
It can only be said that Wu Jun’s navy took this matter very seriously.
"Uncle Cai, have they all been assigned?" The carriage slowly moved in front of the soldiers. Zhao Yan got off and walked to Niu Jin and asked quietly.
"Just wait and see, Lord Zhao." Niu Jin pointed to the east and said, "I've thought about it and decided that instead of attacking Wu Gou's camp, we should attack the small camp near the dock. Isn't Wu Gou relying on the strength of the navy to run rampant? I must stop them from thinking of this! If the dock can be attacked, where else can they be safe? They must be scared!"
"You are the commander of the army, I have no right to care about these trivial matters." Zhao Yan looked at Niu Jin with a serious expression: "No matter what, don't fight to the death. I can't go to save you in person like Cao Zixiao did!" "Relax, Lord Zhao." Niu Jin raised his hand and clasped his fists: "I will go now."
"Okay." Zhao Yan nodded and said, "I'll watch you succeed from the top of the city wall!"
The suspension bridge over the moat slowly lowered. The wooden axle had long been soaked with tung oil, so the sound was not loud. Eight hundred soldiers, all holding copper coins in their mouths, led by eight dubos, walked out of the dark east gate in order and lined up neatly from north to south outside the city.
"General, let's go to the dock. When will those 500 people move?" Zhou Li put the copper coin to one side of his mouth and asked carefully in a vague tone.
Although Niu Jin knew that Wu soldiers could not hear such a long distance, he still lowered his voice and said, "This place is only one mile away from the Wu army camp. When we are more than halfway there, the five hundred people will leave. Also, hold the copper coin in your mouth. If you say another word, I will chop off your ear."
Zhou Li responded and said nothing more.
"go!"
Following a low roar from Niu Jin, three hundred elite Wei soldiers followed him and moved forward lightly towards the direction of the Wu army's dock in the northeast.
The darkness before dawn was like thick ink that could not be dissolved, and it was difficult to see the five fingers clearly. The soldiers of the Wu army who were on duty at night were extremely tired at this time. Standing on the watchtower for this military meal was also the most difficult job in the camp.
Who doesn't want to be lazy?
Two hundred steps, one hundred and eighty steps, one hundred and fifty steps...
As they got closer and closer to the camp of the Wu army at the dock, when they were about a hundred steps away, Niu Jin suddenly shouted, as if a huge rock pressing on his chest had exploded:
"Break the camp!"
With their own general right beside them and taking advantage of the Wu army's unpreparedness late at night, the Wei soldiers became bolder and spat out the copper coins in their mouths. They rushed towards the Lujiao outside the camp, shouting and clamoring loudly.
The five hundred Wei soldiers near the city gate behind him received Niu Jin's signal and also attacked the second small camp from the north, south of the pier.
This was Niu Jin's strategy: 300 people charged the dock, and 500 people charged the camp in the south. Most of the Wu army was in the south, and if the Wu army organized a counterattack at night, the reinforcements would also gather in the south, ignoring the dock further north.
It won’t take too long, just give Niu Jin a quarter of an hour.
Although it is a bit simple, it can indeed be called a strategy.
Niu Jin has been in the army for more than 30 years, and this kind of strategy is enough for use on the battlefield. If it is more difficult and trivial, and the soldiers themselves cannot execute it well, how can it be effective?
The wharf is only six miles away from Yuliangzhou. If it were during the day, the Wu army camp could come to help at any time, but this was at night!
"Enemy attack!"
On the watchtower of the Wu army, the night watchmen shouted in long and sharp tones and blew sharp and shrill horns. Niu Jin looked eastward among the crowd and saw flashes of fire in the Wu army camp not far away, followed by a chaotic buzzing.
About half of the well-trained Wei army soldiers were holding various axes, long hooks and other tools.
Zhou Li stood in front of Niu Jin, and used the short axe in his hand to cut a rope between the deer horns. He and more than a dozen soldiers beside him held up the deer horns with their arms at the same time, shouting slogans, and moved the deer horns blocking the camp to make a path outwards. The Wei soldiers following behind him rushed inward under the leadership of Niu Jin.
Soldiers holding long hooks stepped forward and lined up on both sides, with the sharp iron hooks firmly grasping the wooden fence outside the camp, and multiple long ropes were thrown back at the same time. Soldiers further behind grabbed the long ropes and pulled them back with all their strength as if they were playing tug-of-war.
"Break the camp! Break the camp! Break the camp!"
The Wei army was shouting slogans outside the camp, completely ignoring the sparse arrows shot from the camp by the improvised organization.
The Wu army camp near the pier was in even greater chaos. There were shadows everywhere in the camp, and countless people were running around. (End of this chapter)
