Chapter 121 Spring Water
The five words "the defeat was like a landslide" are indeed very vivid.
The huge military formation that the Wu army had barely maintained collapsed in an instant as the generals and elite troops withdrew.
In the part of the army formation near the hills, the Wu soldiers abandoned their armor and baggage and ran south. From the high ground to the north where the Wei army was, it seemed that the entire hill and plain were filled with scattered Wu soldiers running.
As for the part close to the Wei army, many people knew that there was no hope of escape. In addition, they had been distracted by the momentum of the Wei cavalry. They simply dropped their weapons and sat down where they were, no longer willing to drag their exhausted bodies after days of hard fighting to escape.
Seeing this situation, Sima Yi quickly said to Cao Rui: "Your Majesty, the Wu army's formation has collapsed. Quickly send the cavalry to attack the connection between the Wu army's formation and the southern hills, and leave all the surrendered and hesitant Wu soldiers here."
Sima Yi had just finished speaking when Liu Ye took over and said, "Your Majesty, what Sikong said just now is correct. Quickly send Wang Ling's troops south to the mountains to cut off the north-south roads and trap the fleeing generals of the Wu army!"
Cao Rui asked: "Where should Cao Tai be at this time?"
Sima Yi said anxiously: "Your Majesty, we should not hesitate for a moment. Please give the order quickly. Cao Tai has been gone for more than a day. How can we find him in such a short time? Let Wang Ling and Hu Zhi lead their troops south into the mountains first."
Cao Rui did not hesitate any longer and directly passed the order according to what the two had said. In an instant, tens of thousands of cavalrymen started moving again.
At this time, the sun in the west was gradually setting behind the mountain.
Unlike the tens of thousands of cavalrymen galloping at this time, Cao Rui left the battlefield to Cao Xiu and Cao Zhen who had just arrived with 20,000 central army infantry. He himself led a thousand tiger guards and walked slowly westward, slowly moving into the trailer camp.
It was already night, but Zhuge Jin in the Wu army's Wancheng camp was still awake, and the lights in his tent were still on.
With a burst of hurried horse hoof sounds, the messenger rode directly to Zhuge Jin's military tent, dismounted, hurried into the tent, saluted Zhuge Jin, and then talked about military situation.
"General, general, something bad is going to happen!"
Zhuge Jin frowned, threw the brush in his hand on the table, glared at the messenger and said, "What do you mean by something bad has happened? Tell me quickly."
The messenger was panting for breath, and after a few moments he continued, "When I arrived at the trailer at noon, I found... I found that the Grand Commander's troops had all gone east on the trailer, and the trailer was occupied by the Wei army again!"
"What did you say?!" Zhuge Jin opened his eyes wide. Lu Xun had 80,000 men. If what the messenger said was true, wouldn't they have been isolated to the east of the trailer by now? There was a danger of overturning!
Even though Zhuge Jin had always been well-educated, he suppressed the chaotic thoughts in his mind and said to the messenger, "Don't be anxious. Tell me in detail when you arrived at the trailer and what you saw. Is that clear?"
After listening carefully to what the messenger said, Zhuge Jin hurriedly wrote a military report and called his personal soldiers into the tent: "Send this military report to Wankou and to the Supreme! Send ten people with thirty horses! Take turns riding, and make sure to go as fast as possible!"
The personal soldiers did not dare to neglect it. After receiving the order, they left the tent and immediately led the people to the south. Zhuge Jin said to the messenger: "You will stay next to my tent tonight. You are not allowed to tell anyone what you saw!"
The messenger nodded repeatedly.
Wancheng was fifty-five miles from Qiankou, and Qiankou was eighty miles from Wankou where Sun Quan was stationed. One hundred and thirty-five miles, the ten soldiers marched south at the fastest speed, and when the military report reached Sun Quan at Wankou, it was already the morning of the twelfth.
Of the ten personal soldiers and thirty horses, only four and eight horses were left when they arrived at Wankou. The remaining six had mostly fallen off their horses at night and were forced to stay where they were.
Originally, Sun Quan lived a very leisurely life in Wankou.
Sun Quan was not good at commanding troops. Large-scale defensive battles with Shu Han and Cao Wei were basically commanded by the commander-in-chief, and Sun Quan only sat in the rear to coordinate logistics and troops, which was much more comfortable than the front line.
Of course, this does not include Sun Quan's "military training" in Hefei.
Normally, the military reports from the Wancheng camp would arrive at Wankou in the afternoon. But today the messenger sent the report so urgently, obviously something important had happened.
When Sun Quan heard that the messenger was coming, he walked out of the house. Seeing the messenger's exhausted look, he was shocked for a moment: "What happened in Wancheng? Tell me quickly."
After several messengers arrived at Wankouwu in Wankou, they sat down on the ground exhausted after seeing the King of Wu. They were speechless at this moment. They just took out Zhuge Jin's military report from their arms and handed it to Sun Quan with both hands.
Sun Quan snatched it away eagerly, opened it and his expression changed instantly. He actually jumped on his horse and drove towards the dock.
He Qi was in charge of the navy and lived on a ship in the dock day and night. When He Qi saw Sun Quan rushing towards the dock, he shouted to Sun Quan from the ship without getting off the ship.
"Supreme Lord, what happened?"
Sun Quan raised his head and looked in the direction of He Qi, and shouted hastily: "Gong Miao, quickly lead all the navy to the north with me, full speed north, there is an alarm in Wancheng!"
He Qi realized the seriousness of the situation. The tower ship was originally used for command, so he quickly ordered people to beat drums to signal the navy ships to move out immediately.
Wankouwu was originally a fortress built on the edge of Wankou for defense. After hearing the drums, Sun Quan's daughter Sun Luban, who lived with Sun Quan in the general's mansion at Wankouwu, had just woken up and hurriedly ran out of the house, holding up her skirt.
Before Sun Luban reached the dock, He Qi's fleet had already begun to advance.
Song Qian, who was Sun Quan's personal guard, stopped Sun Luban and said, "My princess, the emperor has received military news from Wancheng and is heading towards Wancheng. Before leaving, he ordered me to guard the entrance of Wan and protect you, my princess." Sun Luban stamped her feet in anxiety, but there was nothing she could do.
……
The morning of the 12th.
Except for Cao Xiu who led 20,000 central army cavalry and 20,000 central army infantry, a total of 40,000 people, who marched westward towards Wancheng first, the remaining troops at the trailer were almost all doing the work of cleaning up the battlefield.
After several days of fierce fighting, the Wei army still suffered heavy casualties.
The Right General Zhu Gai's cavalry unit, which fought throughout the entire battle and was the first to enter the trailer, suffered nearly 2,000 casualties among its 10,000-strong cavalry unit.
The 15,000 infantrymen of Man Chong's army, which were driven eastward by the Wu army yesterday and finally fled in disarray, were reduced to less than 10,000. The 15,000 troops of the foreign troops led by Le Chen and Xu Shu who arrived later also lost nearly 3,000.
All I can say is that although they were actually defeated and fled, if they could meet reinforcements in time, the defeated troops on the battlefield would have nowhere to go and most of them could still return to their original organization, but it would take time to fight again.
The 30,000 cavalrymen led by Cao Xiu fought fiercely for a whole day yesterday, driving back the Wu army's formation and facing the Wu army's arrows, but they suffered nearly eleven casualties, with a total loss of about 3,000 people.
Jia Kui's 6,000 infantrymen first built a camp at Wuqiangkou, and then blocked the Wu army on the road, and suffered nearly 1,000 casualties.
Only the 20,000 central infantrymen led by General Cao Zhen who arrived at the battlefield later were intact. At this moment, under the command of Cao Xiu, they were heading westward towards Wancheng.
As for Wang Ling and other troops who were blocking Wu's army in the mountains, the damage they suffered had not yet been reported to the emperor.
It can only be said that although the Wei army won, it also suffered at least about 5,000 cavalry and 10,000 infantry casualties, which was indeed quite tragic.
But compared with the Wei army, the Wu army was in a much worse situation.
Yesterday evening, after the Wu army generals rushed into the hills in the south to escape, nearly 40,000 Wu soldiers were blocked by cavalry and then surrendered on the spot.
There were about 20,000 Wu soldiers who fled into the hills in the south, and another 20,000 of them were killed in the battle.
It is no exaggeration to say that the 80,000 troops that Wu Jun brought out from the Wancheng camp this time can almost be considered to have been wiped out.
However, there were two generals in the Wu army who made people look at them with admiration. They were Zhu Huan, who led 20,000 troops to attack the trailer, and Pan Zhang, who led more than a thousand troops to charge northward alone after the Wu army was defeated.
Zhu Huan died in the charge of Xiahou Ru's cavalry. However, judging from the direction of Zhu Huan's death, Zhu Huan should not have tried to escape. Instead, he launched a counterattack against the Wei cavalry.
Pan Zhang was killed by the cavalry of General Cao Hong. Dying on the battlefield was part of a general's job.
It can only be said that Zhu Huan and Pan Zhang got what they wanted. Cao Rui also ordered their bodies to be brought back to Shouchun and then buried with honor.
The rest of the Wu army's generals should still be traveling through the mountains at this time.
Guache was ninety miles from Wancheng and nearly a hundred miles from Wankou. In winter, there was no baggage, so I wondered how long these people could stay in the mountains. From Wuqiangkou to Guache, and then to Wancheng, there were also teams of Wei cavalry patrolling.
What's more, the 40,000 Wei troops were already heading towards Wancheng. How long could the 20,000 troops hiding in the mountains from the Eastern Wu hide?
Cao Rui and other important officials were naturally discussing the next military deployment in the trailer camp.
Sima Yi cupped his hands and said, "Yesterday, it was already dark, and the cavalry of each unit surrounded the Wu army on the spot, and ordered the Wu army to disarm and sit down on the spot. After dawn today, they were detained on the designated land."
Cao Rui nodded. He had learned from the captured Wu army that there were only 10,000 soldiers guarding Wancheng, and Sun Quan had no more than 10,000 soldiers at Wankou.
Cao Rui said: "Guess what, everyone. Since the Grand Marshal is going to Wancheng, will Sun Quan also go to Wancheng?" If Cao Xiu's 40,000 people go to Wancheng again, they will definitely not be ambushed as in the original history, but will definitely easily relieve and recapture Wancheng.
Even Xin Pi, who was always serious, smiled and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, do you still remember the letter Sun Quan wrote to Emperor Wu in January of the 18th year of Jian'an when Emperor Wu was traveling south of Chao Lake and saw Sun Quan's army across the river?"
Cao Rui had read all the books of Cao Cao and Cao Pi, so he knew it. Cao Rui smiled and said, "But what about the sentence 'Spring water is just flowing, you should leave quickly, I will not be at peace until you die?'"
Xin Pi nodded in agreement.
Cao Rui stood up, put his hands behind his back and paced for a while, then turned around and said with a smile: "Minister Xin, you will write for me. This time, you don't have to write sixteen words, just eight."
Xin Pi bowed and asked, "Your Majesty, may I ask what you want to write?"
"Spring water is just beginning to flow, you should leave quickly." Cao Rui said slowly with his hands behind his back, "Today, I will return these eight words to Sun Quan on behalf of Emperor Wu."
All the ministers present clapped their hands and laughed.
(End of this chapter)
