pappabearbooks Chapter 108 Moling Changes Hands
Chapter 108 Moling Changes Hands
Seeing the outer city change hands in a very short time, and seeing the densely packed army outside, Zhou Yu felt despair.
The disparity in troop strength was too great, and most of their own side consisted of local militia with little fighting ability.
Even with the most brilliant schemes, he can't cook without rice.
All he can do now is to delay as much as possible so that his lord can return as soon as possible.
He glanced at the surrounding local militia, who also looked ashen-faced and were in extremely low spirits.
He thought he had to provoke these people to fight to the death.
For the safety of Bo Fu's family, we have no choice but to drag you all down with us.
Having made up his mind, Zhou Yu turned to the bewildered defenders and civilians within the city and shouted:
"Fellow villagers! Don't listen to this thief's nonsense! This is a common trick used by bandits. They pretend to be government soldiers to trick us into opening the city gates, and then they burn, kill, rape, and plunder! Think about your families and your property! Once the city falls, who can escape unscathed?"
Sun Ce, the traitor, has fought bravely for the country, shedding blood on the front lines. We have a duty to defend our land; how can we allow our homeland to fall into the hands of bandits? Hold the inner city, await reinforcements, and Sun Ce will surely return in triumph soon, annihilating these barbarians!
Zhou Yu's words were sharp, directly labeling Yan Liang a bandit, which inspired the defenders' simple feelings of protecting their homeland, and also depicted the terrible scene after the city fell.
His words managed to pull the morale back from the brink of collapse, and the defenders gripped their simple weapons tightly, their eyes regaining their resolve.
Yan Liang, standing below the city, was furious when he heard Zhou Yu twist the truth. He was enraged, especially when Zhou Yu called him a "water bandit," which brought up some old memories from his time in Hebei. His face turned bright red.
He was not good with words to begin with, and after being rebuked by Zhou Yu and then accused of upholding the moral high ground of defending the territory, he was momentarily speechless.
Zhou Yu's question, "Using a pretext," hit the nail on the head: Whose orders are you following?
He opened his mouth, but swallowed the words back down.
He couldn't very well say that he was acting on orders from Yuan Tan, the governor of Qingzhou, could he?
The governor of Qingzhou has no jurisdiction over the area east of the Yangtze River.
In his desperation, Yan Liang blurted out:
"Sun Ce is a traitor; everyone in the world has the right to kill him! Why should he obey anyone's orders?!"
While these words were certainly grand and inspiring, they also confirmed the suspicion of an anonymous army, and even sounded like the rhetoric of a江湖 (jianghu, a term referring to the martial arts world) acting on behalf of Heaven. Compared with the righteous cause of restoring the Han Dynasty just now, they immediately fell short.
Zhou Yu would not let this opportunity slip by; he immediately seized it and laughed loudly:
"Look! Speechless now?! Truly, they are bandits without ruler or father, lawless and unruly! My men, for our homes, for our parents, wives, and children, fight to the death to defend the city! Let these traitors see the blood and guts of the men of Jiangdong!"
"Fight to the death! Fight to the death!"
The defenders on the city wall were inspired and roared.
Yan Liang was so angry he almost vomited blood. He yanked the reins hard, and his warhorse reared up. He brandished his eyebrow-tipped dagger, ready to order a full-scale attack regardless of the consequences.
Even if the casualties are heavy, we must tear that smooth-talking pretty boy on the city wall to shreds!
Just as war was about to break out,
A loud bang and the sound of hinges turning suddenly came from the direction of the west gate of the inner city!
The inner city gates have been opened too!
Suddenly, the drawbridge at the west gate slowly lowered, and the city gate opened wide!
Dozens of men dressed in short blue robes, armed with sharp blades, were fighting a small number of guards inside the city gate. The leader of them was none other than Li Cheng, Xu Gong's trusted retainer!
His face was covered in blood, and he screamed hoarsely:
"General Yan! Quickly! The city gates are open! Charge in!"
Zhou Yu saw this from afar atop the city wall, and his face instantly turned deathly pale, as if he had been struck by a heavy blow!
He had planned everything meticulously, boosted morale, and even temporarily refuted Yan Liang, but he never expected that there would be an inside accomplice within the inner city!
And it was at this critical juncture, when morale was about to rise but had not yet risen, and the enemy was about to attack but had not yet attacked!
"Heaven has forsaken me... Bo Fu..."
Zhou Yu felt a chill in his heart.
Just now, in an attempt to boost morale, I thoroughly enraged the enemy.
The enemy shouldn't make things difficult for the people, otherwise my sins would be too heavy.
Alas! Was attacking Huainan a mistake all along?
Yan Liang was stunned at first, then overjoyed:
"Heaven is on our side! My men, follow me and charge in! Leave no one alive!"
"kill--!"
The Qingzhou elite troops, who had been preparing for a long time, surged into the wide-open west gate like tigers released from their dams!
The morale that Zhou Yu had just managed to muster was instantly shattered in the face of absolute power.
The inner city was declared to have changed hands.
……
"Form ranks! Head southeast, into the sparse woods, and retreat!"
From the moment Jia Xu appeared, Sun Ce had already planned to retreat.
Upon seeing Gan Ning leading his troops to surround them again, they immediately ordered a retreat.
Cheng Pu, Zhou Tai, and the others seemed to wake from a dream and immediately roared to urge their soldiers on.
The remaining Jiangdong soldiers desperately surged towards the rear, even at the cost of injury.
Gan Ning's archers kept firing arrows from the flanks and high in the forest, each volley taking several lives, but the Jiangdong soldiers were like a wounded herd of beasts, only knowing to advance, paving their way with the corpses of their comrades.
Suddenly, a group of about two or three hundred people emerged from behind the earthen slope to the side. The leader of them was none other than Jiang Qin, who had escaped death!
"My lord!" Jiang Qin was overjoyed when he saw Sun Ce.
"Gongyi!" Sun Ce was both surprised and delighted. He had thought that Jiang Qin had perished in Eagle Sorrow Gorge.
"There's an ambush in the woods ahead. We're surrounded. Our only option is to run back. Only by crushing Yuan Tan's pursuers can we survive."
At this moment, Jia Xu and Gan Ning had already arrived with their pursuers.
Behind them, there were at least five hundred cavalrymen.
"Form ranks! Quickly!"
Sun Ce and Jiang Qin roared almost simultaneously.
They were all seasoned veterans who knew the consequences of being pursued by cavalry in open terrain.
The surviving veterans from Jiangdong demonstrated astonishing military skills.
Under Sun Ce's command, the surviving spearmen were quickly gathered in the outer front line, leaning against each other, their spears and halberds forming a forest, pointing diagonally forward, creating a chilling wall of spears and halberds.
The shield-wielding swordsmen immediately filled the gaps in the gun formation, slamming their shields heavily on the ground and bracing them with their shoulders to provide cover for their comrades behind them.
The remaining hundred or so archers, barely protected by shields and spear formations, hastily drew their bows and nocked them. Although their quivers were half empty, the arrows were still aimed at the direction from which the pursuers were coming.
The entire formation was barely formed in a very short time. Although it was shaky, it also had a kind of courage to fight to the death.
Jia Xu and Gan Ning led their cavalry out of the woods and were greeted by this scene.
Gan Ning grinned maliciously: "A death throes!"
Then they would lead their troops into battle.
"slow!"
Jia Xu raised his hand to stop him, squinting as he examined the army formation, especially the forest of spear tips.
"The most ferocious fight is that of a cornered beast. Sun Ce is brave and his remaining troops are mostly veterans who have fought a hundred battles. If the cavalry charges head-on into the spear formation, even if they break through, the losses will be heavy, which is not worthwhile."
Are you kidding me? How many cavalrymen does Qingzhou even have?
The lord has entrusted me with almost all of the cavalry. If I mess them all up, won't the lord twist my head off?
Besides, horses are in short supply right now, and it's very difficult to replace them if one is lost.
If you charge directly into someone else's sea of spears, what's the difference between that and feeding them a kill?
He hesitated for a moment, then ordered, "The cavalry will spread out, patrol and shoot from their positions, exhausting their strength and disrupting their formation. Take javelins!"