My father Liu Xuande

Chapter 139 The Grand Historian Arrives to the Rescue
Sun Ce's visit this time was exactly what Liu Feng had in mind.

He was also worried that things might change if he waited too long, so he wanted to enter Guangling first.

Several days ago, Yuan Shu and Liu Yao secretly reached a truce agreement.

Sun Ce secretly left Liyang City, sailed down the river, and entered Jiangdu, which he had already occupied. After resting for only one day, he led the Sun family army day and night to Guangling.

That evening, Sun's army camped four or five miles outside Guangling City, intending to rest and reorganize the next day before entering the city to defend it as a strong force.

Unexpectedly, at midnight, the city of Guangling in the distance was brightly lit, and the sounds of battle could be faintly heard.

Sun Ce was immediately alarmed and consulted with his uncle Wu Jing, veteran generals Cheng Pu and Huang Gai.

Although it was unknown what exactly happened in Guangling, the generals unanimously agreed that it was not a good thing for troops to move out of the city in the middle of the night.

Therefore, Sun's army broke camp overnight and rushed towards Guangling.

The Han Dynasty was not an era where night blindness was common, especially for professional troops like the Sun family's retainers, who were the apple of the eye of various warlords. How could they be compared to ordinary county soldiers?
These troops usually received salaries, although the salaries were not much and far less than those in the Western Han Dynasty, but at least they were paid regularly. Moreover, they often received food and drink as rewards from the state government and warlords, and they ate meat, seafood, and river fish far more often than ordinary civilians and county soldiers.

Otherwise, there wouldn't have been so many night raids in history.

Are all historical examples of night raids carried out by aristocratic officers?

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the population surge greatly reduced the living conditions of ordinary people and lower-ranking soldiers. With all the land used for growing grain and meat being scarce, the problem of night blindness became particularly prominent in the Ming and Qing dynasties.

This time, Sun Ce brought over a thousand elite veterans from his father's old guard, plus over two thousand elite troops gathered by his uncle and cousin. Each of them was an experienced and skilled veteran, and they received extremely good treatment. Moreover, they were stationed by the river for a long time, with an unlimited supply of fish and shrimp, and were rewarded with pork and mutton every now and then, so naturally they would not suffer from night blindness.

As for the quality of these soldiers, it was quite astonishing.

In the past, when Sun Jian marched north to fight Dong Zhuo, he won more battles than he lost, which made Dong Zhuo's army start to focus their efforts on the southern route.

Dong Zhuo took the initiative to lead his army to garrison at the imperial mausoleum, intending to fight Sun Quan.

In Dong Zhuo's view, his troops were experienced and battle-hardened regular army, while Sun Jian's troops were merely soldiers from Yu and Jing counties. How could they be his match?
As a result, Sun Jian relied on the troops of Yu and Jing prefectures, with his own retainers at the core, to defeat Dong Zhuo and force him to withdraw from Luoyang.

It's easy to imagine how high the quality of this elite force is.

Later, it was with this elite force that Sun Jian first defeated Yuan Yi, the governor of Yu Province sent by Yuan Shao, and the Zhou family's allied forces in the Battle of Yangcheng, forcing Yuan Yi to commit suicide and driving out the Zhou brothers.

Subsequently, he marched south to Jingzhou and repeatedly defeated Liu Biao and Huang Zu.

If he hadn't been ambushed and killed by Huang Zu's troops, Sun Jian might have even captured Xiangyang, allowing Yuan Shu to completely conquer Jingzhou.

After Sun Jian's death in battle, Wu Jing and Sun Ben took their respective portions of the unit, while the portion personally led by Sun Jian was seized by Yuan Shu. Even after Sun Ce came of age, Yuan Shu refused to return it to him, because this unit was quite capable and Yuan Shu was reluctant to let it go.

With such an elite force, and with the moonlight shining brightly and the official road clearly visible, Sun Ce simply ordered his troops to extinguish their torches and proceed along the official road by moonlight alone, silently making their way to the city of Guangling.

At this critical moment, the mutiny in the city was in full swing, and everyone's attention was focused on the city. No one would have thought that someone was approaching the city from the south, let alone that Sun Ce and his men were already in a state of panic after they approached Guangling.

Fortunately, the city gates were tightly closed, and Sun Ce and his men could not break through the city directly. They could only suppress their anxiety and wait outside the south gate of Guangling City to see if anything would change.

For Sun Ce and his men, it would be best to make contact with the city, firstly to gather information about the situation inside, and secondly to coordinate an attack from within and without to seize a city gate and enter the city.

If that doesn't work, then look for other opportunities, such as waiting until it gets a little brighter and then selecting soldiers who are good at climbing to try to scale the city wall and capture the city gate.

If all else fails, then we will have no choice but to retreat temporarily, secure Jiangdu first, and then consider further advances.

Just as Sun Ce and his men were trying their best to break through the city, the south gate opened by itself.

He could hear voices coming from inside, and Sun Ce quietly crept up to eavesdrop.

Upon hearing that the other side intended to close the city gates again, he decisively decided to take action.

Thus, this surprise attack took place.

After Sun Ce repelled the Li family's troops on the front, Li Zhang and Li Luo's flanks also couldn't hold out and retreated.

“Bo Fu, Chief Clerk Yuan is here.”

Just as Sun Ce was blocked by the fire barrier and could not advance, his uncle Wu Jing shouted loudly to him from behind: "Come and pay a visit to Chief Secretary Yuan."

Sun Ce was shocked to find that the old man was Yuan Sui. He had been torn between Yuan Sui and Geng Zhao for a while, but fortunately he chose Geng Zhao in the end, otherwise he would have shot Yuan Changshi instead.

Suppressing his lingering fear and embarrassment, Sun Ce returned to the city gate, dismounted, and knelt beside Yuan Sui, saying, "Bo Fu greets Chief Secretary Yuan. I was unable to arrive in time, causing you distress."

Yuan Sui examined Sun Ce carefully by the torchlight and nodded, saying, "So you are Sun Wentai's son. How did you arrive so quickly?"

"General Zuo ordered us to be the vanguard, to sneak into Jiangdu from Liyang, and to come to our aid under the cover of night once the matter of Guangling City is settled. Today it is dusk, and we have already stationed ourselves outside Guangling City. We did not want to disturb the people, so we have been stationed outside the city and will enter the city tomorrow."

"Unexpectedly, a fire broke out in the city just now. Ce thought there was a change in the city, so he specially led his troops to come here."

Sun Ce explained his itinerary in detail, and Yuan Sui nodded repeatedly: "Good, you've arrived just in time. The powerful Li family in the city is unwilling to follow the Left General and wants to surrender the entire city to Liu Xuzhou, hence the fighting. Now that you're here, drive them out of the city first."

Yuan Sui, however, still considered the bottom line and their friendship, and instructed Sun Ce not to go too far, saying that driving him out of the city would be enough.

However, Sun Ce sneered inwardly. What was so great about a mere local tyrant? It was a good opportunity to show off his own military strength, so that no fool in the city would rebel one after another in the future, like flies that would annoy people.

However, Sun Ce still had to give Yuan Sui face. On the surface, Sun Ce respectfully obeyed, but in his heart he was disdainful, thinking that Yuan Sui was too old and too soft-hearted.

Liu Ye used the fire barrier to gather the defeated troops, and then sent people to find Li Zhang, Li Luo, and the troops in the prefecture and armory, asking them to bring the weapons they could take with them to the East City to reunite.

Originally, Liu Ye wanted his men to go ahead and set the fire, but firstly, he remembered Yuan Sui's warning and the sudden change, which made him feel a little uneasy. Secondly, he felt that these men were originally locals of Guangling. If they refused to obey his orders to set fire to their hometown, that would be one thing, but if they were forced to rebel on the spot, it would be a huge mistake.

In the end, Liu Ye swallowed his order to set the fire, only telling everyone to hurry up and meet at the East City.

After all, the most important thing right now is not to defend the armory and the prefectural government, but to guard the east gate.

As long as the east gate is held, there is still a glimmer of hope to hold out until reinforcements arrive.

If the East Gate is lost, even if the prefectural government and armory are temporarily held, we will be trapped like turtles in a jar, waiting to die.

At the same time, Liu Ye ordered his men to destroy the east gate of the city and smash the drawbridge hooks outside the city. Meanwhile, he also ordered the construction of defensive fortifications on one side of the city and all the archers to go up to the city walls to prepare for a final resistance.

Even at this point, Liu Ye did not believe that he had done anything wrong.

You must understand that Yuan Sui's prestige in Guangling City was too high; he couldn't be killed, nor could he be driven away.

However, staying in the city would always be a ticking time bomb, ready to explode at any moment.

Given Yuan Sui's prestige and status in Guangling City, most of the gentry stood on his side.

Once the powerful clans and gentry who were close to Yuan Shu unite, and if they suddenly launch an uprising and release Yuan Sui, just like the Li brothers did, the situation in Guangling City will change instantly.

The Li brothers were in the minority; the majority were loyal to Yuan Shu and Yuan Sui. If Liu Ye hadn't risked entering the city to persuade them, even the Li brothers would have tacitly agreed to submit to Yuan Shu.

Under these circumstances, keeping Yuan Sui in the city would be far too dangerous.

Especially since the other party was willing to leave, Liu Ye couldn't be happier.

Once Yuan Sui is no longer in the city, the group will be leaderless. No one has Yuan Sui's high reputation and status and can unite the pro-Yuan Shu forces.

This is not something that can be readjusted in a few days. By the time they re-elect a leader, the main force of the Xuzhou army will have already entered Guangling City.

Therefore, Liu Ye was naturally overjoyed to hear that Yuan Sui wanted to leave, as if he were sending away a plague god. Otherwise, whether he forced Yuan Sui to his death or imprisoned him, it would only make the situation in Guangling more unpredictable.

Moreover, in Liu Ye's understanding, Yuan Shu's main force was still in Liyang, and Sun Ce's troops were in Jiangdu, dozens of miles away. There were several thousand Li family troops inside the city, and no enemies outside. Opening the gates to let them out would only take a short while, but it could bring peace to Guangling City. Why not do it?
Even if Liu Ye and the Li brothers racked their brains, they would never have imagined that in the middle of the night, a contingent of Sun Ce's army would actually have infiltrated outside the city and be lying in ambush at the city gate, waiting for their chance to strike.

This was also due to a lack of intelligence. The intelligence Liu Ye received was that Yuan Shu was reinforcing Liyang. However, what Liu Ye did not know was that Yuan Shu and Liu Yao had already reached a tacit truce. As early as when Qiao Rui led 20,000 troops to Liyang, Sun Ce and Wu Jing had secretly led 4,000 troops down the Yangtze River and infiltrated Jiangdu City, which had already surrendered to Yuan Shu.

Originally, according to Yuan Shu's orders, Sun Ce should have been waiting for news from Guangling in Jiangdu.

After Yuan Sui persuaded the people of Guangling, he sent a message to Jiangdu, and Sun Ce led his troops to garrison Guangling.

The Li family was aware of this, so they didn't take Sun Ce's troops seriously at all.

But no one expected that Sun Ce, eager to make a name for himself, arrived in Jiangdu ahead of time. After only one day of rest, he continued his journey and headed straight for Guangling.

In his view, since Guangling has clearly tilted in his favor, they cannot delay, otherwise things may change.

The way to the king is to occupy the city first.

As long as we can enter the city first, even if the local people complain or are dissatisfied, those are minor matters and not worth worrying about.

Therefore, he did not wait for Yuan Sui to send a message, but instead took the initiative to set off.

As it turned out, Sun Ce made the right move.

Before long, Li Zhang and Li Luo arrived with their remaining troops.

At this point, most of the soldiers from Guangling County either fled in the chaos or defected to Yuan Sui's side and became enemies.

Liu Ye's side only had the Li family's more than a thousand followers, hundreds of relatives and family friends who were determined to stick to their path, and seven or eight hundred loyal soldiers from the county army.

All in all, there are only a little over two thousand, less than three thousand people.

On the other side, there were four thousand of Sun's troops and nearly two thousand of Guangling County soldiers, which already outnumbered Li's troops by a factor of two, making the situation extremely critical.

Although Liu Ye still wanted to hold the city gates and wait for reinforcements.

But the Li family and their allies no longer wanted to hold out.

Having just seized the advantages of timing, location, and popular support, they still couldn't hold the south gate. Now all the advantages have gone to the other side. How can they possibly continue to defend it?
Liu Ye tried to persuade Li Zhang and Li Luo with earnest words, but the two were terrified and ignored whatever Liu Ye said, just shaking their heads frantically.

After the Sun family army took control of key departments such as the prefectural government, armory, and granary, the Guangling County soldiers who had defected gradually approached and surrounded the east gate from afar.

Fortunately, Liu Ye had just gathered more supplies and set up a fire barrier, which bought them some more time.

Just as the Li family was preparing to retreat, and Liu Ye was filled with regret for losing such a good opportunity, the sound of rapid hoofbeats rang out outside the east gate of the city.

Everyone was immediately alarmed, and Li Zhang almost blurted out the order to close the city gates.

"Don't turn it off!"

Liu Ye's spirits lifted, and he shouted, "This is the East Gate. Those coming must be reinforcements from Xuzhou. How can we close the gate to welcome them?"

In truth, Liu Ye wasn't entirely certain that these were reinforcements.

But if this wasn't reinforcements, but rather Sun Ce's cavalry force that had bypassed the city, then closing the city gates would be useless; the Li family would only choose to surrender rather than fight to the death.

Since that's the case, why not take a gamble?

If Heaven intends to kill Liu Ye, then it will be Sun Ce's cavalry that comes, and he should commit suicide to repay Lord Liu's kindness.

If Heaven is on our side, reinforcements from Xuzhou will surely arrive, and there is still a chance to break this predicament.

A majestic and robust cavalry general charged straight into the city, reined in his horse, and shouted: "I am Taishi Ci of Donglai! Where is Envoy Liu? I have been ordered by the young lord to rush to the aid of the city overnight. The army is right behind us and will enter the city soon. I will report your merits truthfully and without any concealment."

"General Taishi! Ye is here!"

Liu Ye was overjoyed, his eyes reddening with excitement. He turned around and pulled Li Luo and his brother out of the crowd, saying, "General Taishi, these two virtuous brothers are my uncles, and they are local scholars who admire you, Lord Xiang. They were dissatisfied with Chief Clerk Yuan Sui's attempt to defect to General Zuo, so they raised an army at night to seize the city, but they failed and allowed the Sun family to enter."

Li Luo and Li Zhang were shocked by Taishi Ci's imposing presence. They bowed tremblingly and said, "Yes, yes, it's just that our troops were incompetent and failed to drive the Sun family's troops out of the city."

"Has the Sun family already entered the city?"

Taishi Ci's face darkened slightly, then he laughed heartily, "I heard from the young master that Sun Ce, the son of Sun Polu, is known for his fierce and brave nature. However, I still have some doubts. Today, I can give him a good test!"

Upon hearing Taishi Ci's hearty laughter, the Li family's troops and the remaining county soldiers gradually quieted down and began to examine the cavalry unit.

Because they were rushing, it was impossible for everyone to be fully armed, but each cavalryman still had a set of leather armor, long and short weapons, and a full range of bows and arrows.

After entering the city, everyone dismounted and let the horses rest. They took out salt, crushed it, mixed it into their food bags, shook it well, and hung it on the horses' heads so the horses could eat on their own. Then they took out brushes to wipe the sweat off the horses.

These knights were all handpicked, each with a strong physique and full of confidence. Although there were only fifty of them, they were exceptionally elite, bringing a great sense of security to the Li family's troops and the county soldiers.

What is the current situation within the city?

Taishi Ci had already dismounted and walked to Liu Ye's side to inquire about the battle situation.

Liu Ye gave a general account of the situation, and Taishi Ci's heart sank. He hadn't expected that there was only one stronghold left at the East Gate.

Fortunately, Liu Ye managed to hold the east gate before he arrived; otherwise, the Xuzhou army would have been the ones refused entry.

"Liu, do not worry. The young master is right behind me. Each department will proceed in turn, and we will arrive in a short while."

Taishi Ci glanced at the Li brothers. From these two trembling fellows, he had naturally noticed quite a bit of what was going on.

However, they still need to work hard right now, so it's not good to scold them. Instead, we should encourage and motivate them.

"Two hundred armored soldiers will arrive shortly. As long as we hold out until they enter the city, victory is assured."

Taishi Ci didn't say "Rushan Camp," but rather "Ironclad Army," naturally because the name "Ironclad Army" was more intuitive and easy for people to understand.

Sure enough, upon hearing that two hundred armored soldiers were about to arrive, the Li brothers' faces lit up with joy.

These days, armored soldiers are a powerful weapon, especially in urban warfare, where they are particularly effective.

After the horses finished their extra meal, the riders hung water bags on the horses and let them drink to their hearts' content. After that, the rest was complete.

As the fire on the fire barrier gradually subsided, Sun Ce's troops on the opposite side became faintly visible.

"Envoy Liu, Chief Clerk Li, Mr. Li, I entrust the city gate to the three of you. I will go and see what Sun Bofu is capable of."

After saying this, Taishi Ci mounted his horse and gave a whistle. All the knights mounted their horses, took out their bows and arrows, and held their horses' heads with one hand.

"Walk."

At a command, the cavalry set off again.

Sun Ce's army, positioned opposite the fire barrier, vaguely saw that Liu Ye's side had gained many more cavalry. They were immediately alarmed, fearing that it was enemy reinforcements, and hurriedly sent someone back to report to Sun Ce.

Sun Ce was handling affairs in the prefectural government at this time.

Because Liu Ye was mindful of the feelings of the county soldiers, the treasury and granaries in Guangling City remained intact, filled with a large amount of wealth and grain. Sun Ce exclaimed that he had struck it rich.

Guangling truly lives up to its reputation as a city untouched by war. Even though it was plundered by the Zuo Rong a few years ago, it remains incredibly wealthy.

(End of this chapter)