Chapter 401
Chapter 401 – Battle of Luoyang, Revisited – Part 2
Yuan Shu, in his golden emperor robe, sat on his throne, looking smug .
On the table in front of him, a scroll was being written by Yuan Shu .
It was his first imperial edict .
In the decree, Yuan Shu commanded Liu Biao, Liu Yan, and Cao Cao to side with him, or they would become traitors of his Zhong Dynasty . Had any good advisor stood on his side, he would have reprimanded Yuan Shu for his useless idea .
At the moment, Liu Biao, Cao Cao, and Zhang He"s Ghost Legion had already closed in on their borders, and their intention was apparent .
They wanted to demolish Yuan Shu"s new kingdom!
All officers, who had protested him, had been expelled from his ranks, leaving only his supporters and his generals .
His grand general, Ji Ling, had no experience in politics, so he could not offer a better solution than Yuan Shu"s decree .
Yuan Shu"s current strategist, Han Yin, was a bootlicker who never envisioned the big picture of the country . As such, he only praised Yuan Shu for his ideas .
There were seven other generals beside Ji Ling, but they were also useless at this moment .
In the end, Yuan Shu finished his decree .
"Pa.s.s this to Liu Biao, Cao Cao, and Liu Yan! I want them on my side, so I can triumph over Zhang Tong!"
"Yes, your majesty . However, you need to write two more scrolls of the same content . We"ll take this one to Cao Cao first . "
"Eh, what a pain . Okay, you go and give this to Cao Cao! Make him submit to me!"
"Of course . "
Han Yin took the imperial edict and pa.s.sed it to his subordinates . They would be the ones delivering the decree since he was too busy kissing Yuan Shu"s boots .
After the subordinate had left, a guard came in with a piece of news .
"Our ally forces has brought his army to a.s.sist us . They are waiting outside of the city right now . "
Yuan Shu laughed, "Good! Let"s meet them!"
.
Yuan Shu met with Li Ru Army and Guan Yu Army in front of their city .
"Welcome to my empire! Thank you for joining us! As for Hongnong reinforcement, you"ve come at good timing . "
Guan Yu cupped his fist and bowed, "It is my duty . "
Li Ru snorted, "We"re friends . Of course, we will send help!"
"Come, come! Let"s enter the city, so we can discuss our future plans . We can have a party while we"re at it!"
.
.
.
August, 191 AD .
Without a proper defensive organization and troop, Cao Cao took down Hulao Gate without much trouble, using cannons . They bombarded the famous gate to the point that it became a ruined site . All garrison soldiers, which numbered 15,000 men, surrendered to Cao Cao Army .
The initial 40,000 increased to 55,000 men!
Without waiting for the reinforcement from Zhang He, Cao Cao marched forth, heading to Luoyang next .
Along the way, they encountered a eunuch messenger from Yuan Shu . He came with Yuan Shu"s first decree .
Cao Cao refused to kneel before the edict scroll as he did not serve the Zhong Dynasty .
"What kind of blasphemy is this?"
The eunuch pointed his finger at Cao Cao and everyone"s face, "All of you are the blasphemers! Kneel before the presence of the emperor, or you shall be branded as rebels forever! The punishment for all rebels is 9-generation execution!"
Cao Cao rolled his eyes and waved his hand, "Get this idiot out of my sight . "
Xu Chu and Dian Wei dragged the eunuch way . Yuan Shu"s men tried to resist, but both Cao Cao"s bodyguards killed all of them with ease .
Cao Cao picked the edict to inspect . As he read it, he laughed .
"What an idiot . He never changes no matter wherever he is in . "
He threw the edict scroll away, "Don"t wait for Zhang Tong"s reinforcement . We"ll bombard the wall of Luoyang and seize the city before Zhang Tong"s forces arrive . We"ll s.n.a.t.c.h Luoyang under his nose!"
Cheng Yu, who was standing behind Cao Cao, sighed, "He can always order us to give him the city, though . "
"Then, his ranks will be flooded with our spies . We"ll plant more spies into his minor official since his counter-intelligence agents are weeding out our agents . Our roots are getting weak inside . "
"… Of course . We have that move . "
Cao Cao"s forces continued approaching Luoyang .
.
Days after Cao Cao had crossed the gate, Zhang He still had not crossed the river despite the lack of defense at the opposite side of the river . Instead, tower s.h.i.+ps, square s.h.i.+ps, and small s.h.i.+ps gathered on the northern sh.o.r.e .
Yuan Shu and Li Ru were baffled by Zhang He"s action . As they had lost their patience, Yuan Shu ordered Ji Ling and the other seven generals to probe this army with 20,000 men .
Since Zhang He had not crossed the river, his army was not a threat to Luoyang, so Yuan Shu and Li Ru ignored them .
Li Ru took his army, 30,000 Xiliang cavalry and 20,000 cataphracts to intercept Cao Cao Army in the east . Guan Yu and his 30,000 men also followed after Li Ru eastward, planning to fight Cao Cao together .
.
At the south sh.o.r.e of Yellow River, north of Luoyang,
Ji Ling observed the fortress s.h.i.+ps in the river . He grimaced .
"One of those s.h.i.+ps alone can easily cross the river . What are they waiting for?"
His strategist laughed, "I heard this young general doesn"t get many achievements in his career . He must have bribed Zhang Tong to get his position, sir . "
"I thought so too . They have many chances to get to the other side, but they chose to sit and wait on the opposite sh.o.r.e . Very well, we shall sink and burn all of their s.h.i.+ps . Prepare lamp oil, lumbers, and s.h.i.+pbuilders . We will face them in the water . "
"Should we build big s.h.i.+ps like them, or should we focus on small s.h.i.+ps?"
"We go with small ones, so we can use them to ram those giant fortresses with our burning s.h.i.+ps!"
"General is wise!"
.
On the other side of the river, Zhang He watched a floating transparent interface screen with a smile .
It was the HUD map skill that Tong had given Zhang He along with angel wing cultivation manual, and cell manipulation technique .
Zhang He"s alter persona, aka his virtuous soul, was floating behind him, watching the radar map as well .
"About time . "
.
At night
Ji Ling confiscated fis.h.i.+ng boats from the local village . His men also built several rafts to carry his fire attack plan .
Since this was a guerrilla tactic, Ji Ling brought only five hundred men with him, boarding boats, which loaded with lamp oil and dried haystacks .
A hundred boats slowly sailed toward the north . None of them lit a torch or use any light as they were sneaking toward the big s.h.i.+ps .
Before the fortress s.h.i.+ps, several small wars.h.i.+ps stationed still as they had dropped their anchors . All of them had torches, which illuminated the surroundings in the dark night .
Still, the night was quiet and eerie . Only the flow of the river could be heard .
The section of the Yellow River that Xun You had chosen to park their wars.h.i.+ps were over one kilometer in width . As a result, many fortress wars.h.i.+ps with the size of 100x100 meters could fit the place along with other smaller vessels .
The flat bottom wars.h.i.+ps were slow vessels, which required a hundred manpower to row the s.h.i.+ps .
To Ji Ling, they were easy targets . He looked at the wars.h.i.+ps with a smile .
"Easy . "
As Ji Ling"s men got closer, they could see Zhang He"s soldiers standing in lines, watching in their direction .
Their distance was 500 meters away, which they should not be able to see his s.h.i.+ps in the dark .
"Odd . Can they see us? I think there is no moonlight tonight . "
Ji Ling tried to search for the moon, but he could not find it . Today was the dark moon day, which was the darkest night of the month .
"There"s no way that they can see us . Those are some disciplined soldiers . "
Ji Ling thought that Zhang He"s soldiers were so disciplined that they kept their guards up 24/7 . Since they were looking at their direction, Ji Ling decided to take a detour around the group .
*BOOM*
*SWOOSH*
A war drum was. .h.i.t, and signal flags fluttered . Captains of every squad turned to the signal flags and whispered his command to his men .
All soldiers suddenly loaded their bows with fire arrows, aiming at Ji Ling"s direction .
"What?"
*BOOM*
*BOOM*
*BOOM*
Thunderous noise came from the fortress wars.h.i.+ps, and whistling sounds of several flying heavy objects traveled to the direction of Ji Ling"s hidden fleet .
*SPLATTER*
*BOOM*
*BOOM*
Two of Ji Ling"s small vessels were sunk!
"Did they see us!? How did they know!?"
*BOOM*
*BOOM*
*BOOM*
More mysterious sounds of loud booms echoed in the night once more . This time, the volley of black b.a.l.l.s missed all targets, which splattered the water, turning each missing shot into a water fountain .
River water rained onto the men of Ji Ling, which began to panic .
Small wars.h.i.+ps the guarded the fortress vessels moved forward toward them .
"f.u.c.k! RETREAT! THEY KNEW WE"RE HERE!"
Ji Ling abandoned his plan to burn Zhang He"s fleet . His men rowed the s.h.i.+ps, turning 180 degrees to get away from the chasing fleet .
Zhang He"s men on the small s.h.i.+ps released their fire arrows into their direction, which gave them a faint view of the intruders .
"They"re really there!"
"Switch to repeating crossbows!"
"Our s.h.i.+p will use fire arrows . Keep shooting into the dark, so the other s.h.i.+ps can see!"
*BOOM*
*BOOM*
*BOOM*
The cannons on the fortress s.h.i.+ps launched their third volley, which sunk five more s.h.i.+ps from Ji Ling"s side .
The chaos lasted only an hour since Ji Ling brought only a few men to test the water . Many soldiers who lost their vessels drowned in the river while the good swimmers were caught by Zhang He"s men .
Zhang He, the commander of this small fight, stood on one of the fortress wars.h.i.+ps . His eyes did not move away from his HUD map .
"This is quite convenient . I can"t see them in the night, but I can see everyone here . "
The radar map gave Zhang He all information about Ji Ling"s movements and positions, which became easier for the former to pinpoint their cannon aim .
After Zhang He had confirmed that all enemies had retreated, he turned around .
"Tell our men to withdraw and rest . I don"t think they will come again tonight . "
.
Ji Ling returned to the sh.o.r.e with a cold sweat . He thought that his night raid was perfect, but the cannon bombardment scared them .
Moreover, it seemed that Zhang He Army could see through the dark!
"What is this army!? How did they know!?"