Ji Han Grand Commander

Chapter 78 74. Wuling War (610)
In Wuling County.

Zhang Fei had been confronting Gan Ning for almost a month, but had made no progress, which made Zhang Fei a little anxious.

The opponent on the opposite side was Gan Ning, a famous brave general of the Eastern Wu. He had fought with him several times. Although he was not his opponent, he was still capable of holding him back. Neither side could do anything to the other. In addition, the terrain was dangerous, so he really couldn't do anything to him.

"That damned little thief Jinfan is so difficult to deal with... I don't know how big brother is doing."

Zhang Fei was also very anxious in his tent. The occasional battle reports from Zigui area also showed that the Han army was making rapid progress. Zhang Fei even knew the news that Feng Xi had completely wiped out Sun Huan's vanguard very early on.

"Hey... this kid Feng has won every battle, but why is he stuck here with Old Zhang and has no success? This won't do..."

Zhang Fei was walking around in circles in the camp, feeling worried, when suddenly the curtain of the tent was lifted and a bearded man with a strange look on his face and half-naked clothes rushed in.

"Third General, I found a small path!"

"Oh?! Chief Sha, you finally found it? Where can you find it?"

Zhang Fei was overjoyed when he heard the words of Shamoke who rushed in hurriedly.

In order to make the best use of his resources, Liu Bei sent Shamoke's 50,000 soldiers to assist Zhang Fei in fighting back to Wuling County. However, the road was narrow. Even though Zhang Fei and Shamoke had nearly 70,000 men together, they were unable to do anything to the more than 10,000 Wu troops.

In addition, Gan Ning is also a famous general, but if he is not listed, no one can do anything to him.

"We have explored it, General Three. Although the road is narrow, we can go around to the place six or seven miles behind Gan Ning's army. In addition, our scouts on the mountain have also found something unusual."

"What's abnormal?"

"Your Han army scouts said that something seems to be wrong with the Wu general's camp these days. Gan Ning hasn't been seen for a long time, and there are often Wu soldiers busy around their tent."

As soon as Shamoke told Zhang Fei about this situation, he began to think about it.

It just so happened that Gan Ning had been exempted from fighting these days, and in the previous few battles, Gan Ning only fought with him for a dozen rounds before retreating back to the camp. He didn't look very energetic.

Although Zhang Fei was rather reckless, he was very thoughtful and guessed it immediately. Gan Ning must have been in poor health these days, so he was unable to get out of bed and could only hang up a banner to avoid fighting.

"Captain Shamoke, there is no time to lose. Tonight, take as many brothers as possible and take a small path to Gan Ning's rear camp. We will attack from both sides. Gan Ning must be in poor health right now, and it will be difficult for Wu's army to command him. We will surely capture him in one fell swoop if we attack from both sides!"

Shamoke nodded and was about to leave when a soldier outside the door suddenly announced loudly:

"Third General, there is a messenger coming from His Majesty's side!"

"Hmm?! It seems like there has been some progress from Big Brother's side. Report it quickly! Chief Sha, please stay and listen together."

Shamoke nodded and stood aside, wanting to hear the latest news.

"Three generals! Since Wu Jun appointed Lu Xun as the Grand Commander, he has led the Wu army to confront our army for more than ten days. The day before yesterday, the Wu army wanted to take advantage of the southeast wind to set fire to our camp, but fortunately, the Grand Commander Feng Xi was well prepared and the Wu army was completely wiped out in the counterattack. Except for Zhou Tai and Ding Feng who escaped, all other Wu generals, including the Grand Commander Lu Xun of the Eastern Wu, were captured alive or beheaded in battle. Our army won a great victory!"

The messenger excitedly reported the news to Zhang Fei, but Zhang Fei was quite annoyed.

"You go down first. Alas..."

"Why are the three generals sighing? Isn't this a good thing? If the Wu army in front of us knew about this, I'm afraid the morale of the army would be greatly disrupted."

Although Shamoke was a Wuling barbarian, he was quite fond of Han culture, so he was very clear about these things.

"Alas, I am sad that Feng has made another great contribution. I am still trapped in this remote mountain area with you, staring at Gan Ning. Chief Sha, you continue to act according to the plan. I have other ideas."

Shamoke didn't know what tricks Zhang Fei was going to play, but he was only responsible for attacking the Wu army from behind, so Shamoke didn't think much about it and took more than 10,000 Wuling barbarians to take a small road and go around the rear.

Zhang Fei ordered the clerk in the army to write a letter of surrender immediately, which only stated that Lu Xun's army was annihilated in the Yiling battle, and now Gan Ning and his troops were isolated. After writing it, he also asked the clerk to copy it as soon as possible and be ready for use at any time.

At dusk, a hundred Han cavalrymen arrived outside Gan Ning's camp. Several of the knights took out large wooden loudspeakers. Zhang Fei had seen Feng Xi use them before and found them very convenient, so he put them to use at this moment.

"Wu army, listen up! Your new military commander Lu Xun and Lu Boyan have been captured alive by our Han emperor! Only one in ten Wu troops in Yiling are left! Han Dang, Pan Zhang and others have all surrendered! You'd better surrender early and save your lives. Otherwise, you will be crushed to pieces!"

The knights kept shouting with their trumpets, which had already made many Wu soldiers panic and doubtful. After all, they knew that they were at a disadvantage in the Yiling battlefield, so it would not be surprising even if the whole army was wiped out.

"Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh-"

As the Han army shouted, countless arrows shot into the Wu camp.

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"

The Wu army shouted, but found that there was no arrowhead on the arrow, only a blunt wooden arrow used for balance, with various kinds of cloth tied to it to persuade them to surrender, which contained the details of the Battle of Yiling, vividly described as if it were a real event.

Many literate soldiers of the Wu army also whispered to others, and for a time the Wu army was in panic.

After the hundred Han cavalrymen scattered around and delivered thousands of letters of persuasion to surrender, they rode away, leaving behind a few cavalrymen to continue loudly persuading the enemy to surrender.

"General! General! Something bad has happened!"

Gan Ning fell into a deep sleep on the couch, and was suddenly awakened by the noisy deputy general.

"Ahem...what...happened?"

Gan Ning didn't know whether it was because his time was up or he was not used to the climate or the local climate. He had caught a cold before the expedition and had been seriously ill in recent days, even getting out of bed was difficult.

Hearing the deputy general rushing into the tent in a hurry, he knew that something big must be happening, so he turned slightly to look at the deputy general.

"General Gan, the Shu army across the way said... that the Grand Commander was defeated in the Battle of Yiling and the entire army was wiped out. We are now isolated!"

"Wha...what? Ahem...how did you know?"

"General, the Han army shot countless letters in from the opposite side, all of which described our army's defeat in Yiling. They were so vivid that they didn't seem fake!"

“How many people… have seen it?”

Upon hearing this, Gan Ning, who was already feeling quite uncomfortable, broke out in a cold sweat and hurriedly asked his deputy general.

"Almost... all of them. Many soldiers have spread the news by word of mouth. Now the morale of the army is unsettled and they are all ready to make a move..." "Ahem... the situation is hopeless... the situation is hopeless. Pack up and prepare to withdraw tomorrow. If we retreat to Jiangling, we can still rely on the city's strength to resist a few more attacks."

Gan Ning sighed, waved his hand, and asked his deputy general to prepare for the withdrawal, but he didn't know that he might not be able to wait until tomorrow.

That night, in the Wu army camp, the news of the new commander-in-chief's defeat in Yiling swept through the entire camp like a hurricane. Gan Ning had been ill in bed for a long time and was unable to control the rumors in the first place. So he simply gave up and prepared to retreat.

"My strength is as great as the mountains and my courage is as great as the world..."

The Gaixia Song was actually played in the Han army camp at night. The melody was gentle and sad, which made all the generals very angry.

"Damn it, who do you think we are? Are you still trying to make us feel like we're being attacked from all sides?"

The deputy general was furious. Why did Zhang Fei on the opposite side suddenly start to use such tactics? However, thinking that he could retreat tomorrow, the deputy general decided to just endure it.

At the second watch, although there were few people walking around in the Wu army camp, many soldiers still couldn't sleep. They were just ordinary soldiers, so they didn't care about those macro things. They only thought about whether they could return home safely.

"kill--!"

The deputy general woke up immediately and organized soldiers to prepare to counterattack Zhang Fei's night attack. Although Gan Ning was bedridden, the deputy general couldn't even defend a large camp in a strategic location, right? Besides, it was not like Zhang Fei had never done this before. Unfortunately, Wuling County had too many mountains and jungles, and the army could not deploy and it was difficult to capture the Wu army's camp.

"Zhang Fei is attacking our camp again? Brothers! Fight back Zhang Fei! We will retreat tomorrow!"

The deputy general's encouragement boosted the morale of the Wu army. Everyone cheered up and prepared to fight one last battle with Zhang Fei before withdrawing.

Zhang Fei's troops crashed into the Wu army's main camp like a wave, but the main camp was as immovable as a reef, and no matter how hard Zhang Fei's vanguard attacked, it could not be shaken in the slightest.

"What time is it? Hasn't Chief Sha arrived yet?"

Zhang Fei was a little anxious when he saw that his offensive had been thwarted. After all, the soldiers here were his elite warriors who had fought in many battles. He would definitely feel sad if too many of them were killed.

"kill!"

Suddenly, the rear army of Wu army, which had never been prepared, was attacked. Countless soldiers wearing strange clothes and masks rushed directly into the rear camp of Wu army which did not even have walls.

After all, normally, this back camp leads to the main road to Wuling County and Jiangling, and those coming from this direction are all friendly troops. If the enemy can come from here, it means that the situation is over, so what difference does it make whether the back camp is defended or not?
I didn't expect that tonight there would be a group of soldiers like forest ghosts rushing in from here.

"Oh no! Someone is attacking the camp! There are enemies in the rear camp!"

The Wu army was thrown into chaos. Because of Zhang Fei's fierce attack, almost all of them went to the front camp, and the rear camp itself did not have much defense, so for a while these barbarians were like entering an empty land.

"We are here from Jiangling! Jiangling has already fallen, why don't you surrender!"

Shamoke also used Zhang Fei's wooden loudspeaker to shout and persuade them to surrender. Not to mention that when the Wu army saw that the enemy was coming from behind, coupled with the news of the defeat in Yiling heard today, some people actually believed Shamoke's persuasion to surrender and knelt down to beg for mercy.

"General Gan! This is terrible! The enemy attacked from behind our army and said...that Jiangling has been lost. They came from Jiangling!"

The deputy general naturally knew the situation in the village very well. He also knew that this was beyond his ability, so he could only come to ask for a meeting with Gan Ning.

"Ahem...from Jiangling? Never mind whether it's true or not. We are now...ahem...surrounded from front and back."

Gan Ning waved his hand. It didn't matter where Shamoke's troops came from. What mattered was that his own camp might not be able to hold out under the combined force from both inside and outside.

"General Gan, what should we do?"

The deputy general looked at Gan Ning eagerly and could only wait for Gan Ning's opinion.

"Ahem... Wait for me to mount my horse, and we will fight our way back to Wuling County from the rear. The mountain roads are rugged, and the enemy army cannot surround us with a large force. Once we return to Wuling County, we will be able to rest easy."

Gan Ning's idea was very simple. He would use himself as the spearhead and lead the Wu army to counterattack the enemy troops in the rear. Even if Zhang Fei came to chase him, he could still retain a lot of troops by abandoning part of the army and return to Wuling.

Once we return to Wuling City, even if Zhang Fei has 50,000 men, with our own strong fortresses and deep moats, will we still be afraid of Zhang Fei's attack?
Gan Ning endured the discomfort and sat on the warhorse with the help of his deputy general.

“Brothers! Ahem… We are being attacked from both sides at this moment. We can only fight our way out! Ahem… Trust me, then charge with me!”

Gan Ning stood up and waved his arm, and the Wu army immediately found its backbone. Except for the Wu army at the main gate who were still resisting Zhang Fei, most of the Wu army, led by Gan Ning, turned around and killed Shamoke's Wuling barbarians.

With Gan Ning and other generals leading the charge, the Wu army fought more and more courageously, and for a time they actually killed the Wuling barbarians and forced them to retreat step by step.

"Hmm? Could that be an enemy general?"

Amidst the chaos of the army, Shamoke saw a general wearing green armor and holding a long sword with jingling bells hanging on the sword. He knew that this man was definitely not an ordinary person but a great general. He simply took out his bow and arrow, aimed at the opponent, and shot an arrow.

"Whoosh! Puff!"

Gan Ning was seriously ill and his senses were reduced. When he heard the arrow coming, he could only subconsciously block it with his left arm. If his left arm had not been hit by the arrow, the target of the arrow would have been his head.

"Oh no! It's poisonous..."

Gan Ning couldn't help cursing as he looked at the purple-black wound. As a Wuling barbarian, Shamoko didn't use any strong poison, but a nerve paralysis toxin similar to anesthetic. The poisoned person would easily feel soreness in the limbs, the body and brain would be out of sync, and they might even experience hallucinations and auditory hallucinations.

Gan Ning forced himself to cut off the arrow handle so that it would not hinder his actions, and continued to lead his troops to fight. However, the effect of the poison soon showed up. Gan Ning, who was already seriously ill, was almost attacked by a barbarian soldier under the effect of this neurotoxin. If the deputy general had not come to rescue him, he would have been killed by the barbarian soldier.

"Brothers, hold on! The enemy general has been shot by an arrow! We just need to hold on until General Zhang breaks through the front gate!"

Shamoke loudly encouraged his barbarians. Although Gan Ning discovered that Shamoke seemed to be of a high status, he no longer had the ability to rush over and kill him at the moment.

As Gan Ning's speed slowed down, the Wu army was also held back by Shamoke's army, until the front gate of the Wu camp collapsed with a loud "boom".

"Kill! Charge into the camp and capture Gan Ning alive!"

Zhang Fei took the lead. Even though his hair and beard were half white, his voice was still as terrifying as thunder.

Countless Han troops instantly poured into the Wu army camp. Many Wu soldiers surrendered directly, while others fought to the death with the Han army under the leadership of officers.

Zhang Fei led his Yanyun cavalry to kill the Wu army that occasionally blocked their way, and headed straight for the Wu army's rear camp. At a glance, he saw the weak Gan Ning and Shamoke who was struggling to hold on.

(End of this chapter)