Chapter 347
Pang Tong was right. Something had indeed happened at Jiangdong. Initially, they should have been keeping watch of Lu Bu, preventing Lu Bu from setting out. However, they no longer had the leeway to do that. This is because Liu Biao had attacked them.
The reason for that was because Sun Ce attacked first. Liu Biao mobilized his entire army against Sun Ce. If Sun Ce did nothing, he would lose Jiangxia and may even lose Jiangdong. He had no choice but to remove the troops keeping Lu Bu in check to fight back against Liu Biao.
A huge battle went on at Sanjiangkou. Both sides suffered heavy losses in the past few days. The river was dyed red with blood. The victor had not been decided but Sun Ce still had the advantage as he controlled Sanjiangkou. As it was the largest port at Jiangxia, the Jingzhou Navy would have a hard time going down the river to attack Jiangdong. Sanjiangkou was a strategic point. Sun Ce felt regret when Zhou Yu lost it but now, he was not happy even though he got Sanjiangkou back. That is because the price of taking back Sanjiangkou had been too costly.
Sun Ce sat inside the Sanjiangkou main camp, reading the incoming reports. The more he read, the angrier he became. The other generals around him dared not make a sound. In his anger, Sun Ce crumpled the reports and threw them onto the ground.1 Only one handsome man walked up to pick up and clean the reports. He did not need to look at the reports to know what it was about. “Milord. Did Lu Bu already dispatch his troops?”
“Yes!” Sun Ce nodded. “It is not just Lu Bu. Aside from Chen Deng and the Guangling Army, the others such as the Formation Breaker and the Wolf Cavalry had also been dispatched.” Sun Ce would not have been so angry had Lu Bu only dispatch a small group of his forces. However, Lu Bu only left behind a small group and dispatched everyone else. This showed that Lu Bu was looking down on Sun Ce. The Guangling Army only had ten thousand men but they were charged with defending the whole of Lujiang. If they had to include Chen Gong and his defenders, the total would only be about thirty thousand troops at most. Gao Shun, Zhang Liao, Zang Ba and the others had all followed Lu Bu out. This was a provocation to Sun Ce.
This information made Sun Ce jump up in anger. He almost ordered his entire army to attack Lujiang. Fortunately, Zhou Yu stopped him and calmed him down. If they were to attack Lujiang now, they would not only face Lu Bu but also Liu Biao. Even if they could defeat Lu Bu, they would lose Jiangxia. They would have ended up spending a huge amount of time and resources just to weaken Lujiang. This was not in their best interest.
On the other hand, Liu Biao used to only defend passively but this time, he attacked ruthlessly. The reason for this is because he was provoked as a ‘naïve person’. Both parties had arrived at an agreement and mutual understanding. Sun Ce would help Liu Bei and Zhang Xiu get rid of Lu Bu while Liu Biao only needed to watch. However, the Jiangdong Navy suddenly attacked with two thousand navy, killing three thousand of his navy and taking Sanjiangkou. Liu Biao no longer dared to ally with Sun Ce. He was not a pushover and would not let this stand.
Originally, Sun Ce tried to send messengers to Liu Biao to give an explanation. Liu Biao also did not want to start a war like this. Sun Ce could just withdraw from Sanjiangkou and pay reparations to fix this situation. Unfortunately, Zhuge Liang wanted them to go to war and killed all of Sun Ce’s envoy. This was like a slap to Sun Ce’s face. Sun Ce could not endure this and started a war. Sun Ce thought about the situation angrily. He thought about the two culprits that destroyed all of his efforts.
“Han Dang! Huang Gai!” Sun Ce trembled in anger.
Two men immediately fell to their knees. “Your subordinate deserves to die!”
“Haha? Die? Do you think your deaths can save this situation?” Sun Ce looked at the two veterans in front of him. Han Dang and Huang Gai had served his father. These two generals had made plenty of contributions over the years. They remained loyal to the Sun Family even after the death of Sun Jian. However, it was their loyalty that foiled Sun Ce’s plans.
Han Dang had lost Sanjiangkou because he had underestimated his enemy. Han Dang’s fleet was completely wiped out. Everyone had thought that Han Dang had perished. Sun Ce even attended Han Dang’s funeral personally. He even wanted to get the Han Emperor to give Han Dang a posthumous title. Nobody expected Han Dang to be lucky enough to survive and reappear at Sanjiangkou. If he had just returned to Jiangdong, everyone would have been happy. A veteran general returning to Sun Ce was a happy occasion. Unfortunately, Han Dang had been too ashamed for losing Sanjiangkou and plotted to take it back. He ended up conspiring with Huang Gai to take back Sanjiangkou, foiling Sun Ce’s plans.
“Milord. I am the one at fault. Please punish just me! Yigong did not know anything about this matter!” Huang Gai spoke out and placed his head on the ground. Han Dang did not know about Sun Ce’s plans and so, he was not at fault. Han Dang had good intentions but he did not know that both sides have already allied themselves with each other. On the other hand, Huang Gai violated the military order knowingly to save Han Dang. Han Dang only had a hundred men with him when he attacked Sanjiangkou while his enemies had about three thousand men. He was severely outnumbered. Huang Gai would have done the same thing again if it meant saving his friend.
“No. This is not Gongfu’s fault but mine. I was greedy for merits and started this without first reporting to Milord. Gongfu only did this to save me. If Milord needs to execute someone, execute me!” Han Dang also tried to assume responsibility. His friend had violated a military order just for him. He could not allow that friend to become a scapegoat.
“This is my fault!” ”It is my fault!”
“This is my fault, not yours!”
“Mine!” “Mine!” The two friends argued like children. As their voices grew louder, Sun Ce also became angrier. He then screamed, “Enough! Shut up!”
Han Dang and Huang Gai quickly turned quiet. Sun Ce looked at the both of them coldly and said, “Since the both of you want to die, I will grant your wish! Men! Drag these two out and execute them!”
“Milord! Please reconsider!” Zhou Yu quickly knelt down the moment he heard Sun Ce’s order. “General Han Dang and General Huang Gai have made mistakes but they do not need to die! General Han Dang made his mistake because he cherished Milord and wanted to expand your territory! His good intentions became his mistake! On the other hand, General Huang Gai had to do this because he needed to save his good friend’s life! Milord, please reconsider!”
“Milord! Please reconsider!” Seeing that Zhou Yu has already knelt down, the other generals around them followed. Han Dang and Huang Gai also had good reputation in the army so these generals were willing to plead for them.
“How do I appease the others if I do not kill these two? How am I supposed to clear the hatred in my heart?” Sun Ce asked.
“Milord, right now the navy is fighting against the enemy! We need to push them back instead of executing our own generals! This action would only harm ourselves!” Regardless of what was said, Huang Gai was the general of the navy. His death would mean a sharp decrease in the navy’s strength. “Milord. These two generals have been serving your family loyally. Even if they do not have merits, they have worked hard for you! Please withdraw your order!”
“Please withdraw the order!” All the other generals knelt as well.
“Phew.” Sun Ce took a deep breath and breathed out. He also did not truly want to execute Han Dang and Huang Gai. Zhou Yu was correct in that Han Dang did all this for him. Sun Ce could still remember that after his father’s death, amongst the veteran generals, only Huang Gai and Han Dang remained with him and helped him. He was protected by these two generals. It would be a lie if Sun Ce said that he had no feelings for them. He even calls them uncle when dealing with them privately. He had to stage all this or else others would say that he is not strict and promotes favouritism. That was why Sun Ce needed someone to give him a reason not to execute the two generals. Zhou Yu was that person.
“Since all of the generals said so, the two of you can be excused from death but you cannot escape from the crime!” Sun Ce followed the path Zhou Yu made for him. “Huang Gai. Hand over your governor’s seal. From now onwards, you are going to command your troops as Zhou Yu’s subordinate.”
“I accept the order!” Huang Gai was no longer the governor of Wuchang and a general. He was not content with this but it was better than being executed.
“As for Han Dang, I have no jobs for you! For now, I will just make you my bodyguard!” Sun Ce coldly said to Han Dang. Han Dang had already lost his troops at Sanjiangkou. He also would not be able reform the army in time. Sun Ce could only make Han Dang his bodyguard.
“I accept the order!” Han Dang felt relieved. Initially, he had nothing. Now, he get to keep his life and become a bodyguard. This was very good for him.
“Alright. Now is the time we discuss about how to deal with the Jingzhou Navy!” Sun Ce put out the main topic. The Jingzhou Navy was no longer the same as before. The navy changed generals, raising their quality. The Jiangdong Navy was no longer able to benefit from the Jingzhou Navy because of Zhuge Liang. Sun Ce was forced to take note of this individual as even Zhou Yu praised the man’s talent while frowning.
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Sun Ce could no longer hold Lu Bu back. At the very least, he would not be able to capture Lujiang. At the same time, Lu Bu was also not able to take Jiangdong as he lacked a navy. However, it was different for Zhang Xiu. It was because of the two of them that Lu Bu was not able to move. When Zhang Xiu arrived, what he saw was not the half defeated Wolf Cavalry but Lu Bu’s entire army.
The Formation Breaker, the Taishan Army and the Wolf Cavalry were present. Lu Bu’s entire army aside from the Guangling Army was present.
“General! We cannot hold out much longer!” A 1000-man Xiliang Cavalry commander said to Zhang Xiu.
“We must hold out! Tell the others that we would be able to survive if we could rush out! If we cannot rush out of here, we would all die!” Zhang Xiu shouted with a vicious face. He wiped off the blood from his face. He had been ambushed and was trying to break out of encirclement. The only ones he could command now were his three thousand troops. The others were already engaged.
“Kill! Kill our way out!” Zhang Xiu shouted as he swung his spear, killing the enemies obstructing his path.
Gao Shun roared out the slogan of the Formation Breaker. The five thousand Formation Breaker troops moved in an orderly manner. Their formidable strength was different from Liu Mang’s Tortoise Formation. The Tortoise Formation was to stop the Xiliang Cavalry’s charge. It was a passive defense. On the other hand, the Formation Breaker attacked. Their Tortoise Formation was like a tortoise opening its big mouth to swallow the Xiliang Cavalry. The Xiliang Cavalry that got swallowed up could not escape. They were trapped and were slowly killed off as though the tortoise was chewing.
The three thousand Xiliang Cavalry could have easily been captured and defeated by Gao Shun and the Formation Breaker as well but for some reason, Gao Shun did not act from the start until the end. He allowed the Xiliang Cavalry to charge out.
“The men of Taishan are hundreds each! Fight! Fight!” Zang Ba roared out. The Taishan Army were light infantries but this does not matter during an ambush. If the Formation Breaker were seen as orderly, the Taishan Army would be seen as fierce. They were fierce not just to their enemies but also to themselves. They were like death soldiers. When the Xiliang Cavalry was ambushed, their formation quickly crumbled when they were attacked by lunatics. Five thousand of the Taishan Army fought against two thousand of the Xiliang Cavalry. They also had the leeway to stop Zhang Xiu’s troops but had let them pass by without effort. The reason for this is because Zang Ba and Gao Shun knew that once Zhang Xiu escaped from the encirclement, he would not obtain salvation. Instead, he would simply enter the gates of hell.
Zhang Xiu and his three thousand Xiliang Cavalry escaped the encirclement. Even then, they did not stop and continued through the forest and up the hills. At that time, Zhang Xiu heard an indifferent voice. “General Yang Wu. I still have not greeted you for entering my Yangzhou!”
This voice made the Zhang Xiu’s hair stand. His facial expression warped into an unnatural look as he replied. “Lu Bu. Lu Fengxian!”
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1. This is followed his generals being afraid to speak because of his anger. Kind of skipped this because speaking without making a sound makes absolutely zero sense.