My father Liu Xuande

Chapter 347 Sun Ce's Thoughts

Sun Ce surveyed the entire situation from a watchtower atop a small earthen mound. He had carefully chosen this location, built it with earth, and then erected a simple watchtower on it, all so that he could command from a high vantage point.

Today's decisive battle is truly a stroke of good fortune for Sun Ce.

Sun Ce only had an incomplete Kuaiji Commandery, while Liu Feng, who was only in Jiangdong, had already occupied the two commanderies of Wu and Danyang, and also had the support of Beidi. In terms of a protracted war, Sun Ce had no chance of winning against his opponent.

If Sun Ce were in Liu Feng's position, he would not have launched a large-scale southward campaign. He would have only needed to deploy five or six thousand elite troops in Yuhang, ten thousand troops in Qiantang, and three or four thousand elite naval troops to cut off any attempt by the Kuaiji army to counterattack across the river.

In this way, the Kuaiji Army would be exhausted and out of supplies in just a year or two. At that time, the Kuaiji Army would probably collapse on its own without the need for the troops north of the Qiantang River to march south.

Sun Ce was particularly worried about the rear. Although he had left more than 10,000 troops in Kuaiji, more than 60% of these troops were surrendered soldiers from Kuaiji, and they could not withstand any disturbances.

Therefore, Sun Ce was eager for battle. If he hadn't been so sure of winning, he would have even dared to cross the river to fight.

Now that Liu Feng dares to cross the river for a decisive battle, it's exactly what he's been dreaming of. Naturally, he's making all the preparations to try and turn the tide in one battle.

Sun Ce watched as Gao Shun landed and began to reorganize his troops. Once the ranks were complete, they began to advance towards their own positions.

Sun Ce immediately descended from the watchtower, and the generals on the earthen platform rushed forward and surrounded him.

Sun Ce's gaze swept over everyone, finally settling on Cheng Pu, and he said, "Uncle Cheng, you should lead the cavalry out to attack and try to hinder Gao Shun's advance. If you can disrupt his forces, that would be even better, but you must not take any risks and prioritize your own safety."

Sun Ce's attitude was clear: he wanted to hinder Gao Shun's advance and give the subsequent troops of the Southern Expeditionary Army more room to maneuver.

Cavalry was undoubtedly the best choice for this mission, but this cavalry unit was also Sun Ce's prized possession, so he specifically instructed Cheng Pu not to fight recklessly.

Cheng Pu was an extremely rare cavalry general under Sun Ce. Sun Ce's own cavalry tactics were all learned from Cheng Pu; otherwise, he would not have entrusted such an important force to Cheng Pu.

In this battle, Sun Ce gathered almost all of his resources, totaling more than 1,700 cavalry. He divided them into three teams: Cheng Pu led 700 cavalry in the right team, Han Dang led 700 cavalry in the left team, and the last 300 cavalry were under Sun Ce's direct command.

In addition, Sun Ce also transferred two thousand men back from Chadu Village, and all the troops in Yuji County were emptied out, all for the purpose of fighting Liu Feng.

Cheng Pu clasped his hands in greeting and accepted the order, saying, "Rest assured, I will obey your command!"

After saying this, Cheng Pu immediately accepted the order and returned to his own camp. Then, he led his cavalry out in full force and galloped towards Gao Shun.

Then, Sun Ce ordered Huang Gai and Rui Liang: "Uncle Huang, Wen Luan, you two will be the vanguard in this battle. I have only one request: drive Gao Shun back to the riverbank. Can you do that?"

Rui Liang, courtesy name Wenluan, was the son of Rui Zhi, who, like Zhu Zhi, came from a noble family and was a veteran official during the reign of Sun Jian. Rui Zhi was even more valued by Sun Jian than Zhu Zhi and was appointed as the governor of Jiujiang and the governor of Wu Commandery.

After Rui Liang died in battle, his younger brother Rui Xuan inherited Rui Liang's troops and was enfeoffed as the Marquis of Liyang when Sun Quan became emperor.

The three men, father and sons, were of average ability and did not stand out during the reigns of Sun Ce and Sun Quan. Even so, they still managed to achieve a salary of two thousand shi (a unit of grain) based on their status and reputation.

At this time, the brothers Rui Liang and Rui Xuan were serving under Sun Ce, with a retinue of four thousand men. Because they were quite wealthy, their soldiers were well-equipped.

At this moment, Huang Gai and Rui Liang clasped their hands and bowed, loudly replying, "General, do not worry, we will surely defeat the Gao traitor for you!"

"good!"

Sun Ce encouraged their morale, and then specifically instructed them: "However, both generals, you must not surrender in one battle; it would be best to leave some alive."

Subsequently, Huang Gai and Rui Liang each led four thousand men into battle, following Cheng Pu, and pressed forward against Gao Shun's battle formation.

At this time, Sun Ce still had more than a thousand cavalry and nearly nineteen thousand infantrymen under his command.

Sun Ce personally led 6,300 men, while his officers Chen Wu and Yuan Xiong each led 2,000 infantrymen, and there were also more than 300 cavalrymen serving as Sun Ce's personal guards.

In addition, Han Dang led 700 cavalry, Sun Jingfu and four others led 4,000 soldiers of the Fuchun tribe, Zhu Zhi led 4,000 soldiers of the Guzhang tribe, and Sun Xiu led 2,000 men, half of whom were his troops who had escaped the disaster after crossing the river.

In addition, Song Qian and Lü Dai each led 4,000 troops.

Sun Ce immediately dispatched 9,000 troops, including Cheng Pu's 700 iron cavalry. Huang Gai was also known for his bravery and skill in battle. Although Rui Liang was not as skilled in battle as Huang Gai, the equipment of his soldiers was superior.

Given the width of the battlefield, Sun Ce could actually deploy another four thousand men, which would allow him to flank Gao Shun from both sides and even surround him.

But Sun Ce's goal was not to eliminate Gao Shun in one fell swoop. Regardless of whether he could succeed, Sun Ce was more worried that it would lead to Liu Feng withdrawing his troops.

Although Liu Feng was young, he was extremely famous. Sun Ce was also a young hero, but compared to Liu Feng, he was far inferior.

Sun Ce suffered greatly at Liu Feng's hands. Leaving aside Guangling, Liu Feng's constant oppression over the years made Sun Ce's expansion in Jiangdong extremely difficult, as if a dark hand was twisting him and dragging him into a quagmire from which he could not escape.

Heaven knows how he felt when he received the news that Zhang Hong had been recruited by Liu Bei. He had spent four whole years pleading and cajoling with Zhang Hong before he finally got the other party to agree and give him some extremely useful advice.

He wanted to strike while the iron was hot and invite Zhang Hong across the river once he had achieved some success in Jiangdong. However, Zhang Hong was directly recruited by Liu Bei.

His campaigns in Wu and even the entire Jiangdong region were extremely unsuccessful, especially as Zhou Yu's attitude towards him also changed.

Sun Ce never denied that his friendship with Zhou Yu was genuine; the two were indeed kindred spirits and shared similar interests.

But Sun Ce knew that the Zhou family's attempt to win him over was quite despicable, no different from Yuan Shu's.

Initially, the Zhou family hoped that he would act as their lackey, fighting for their reputation, status, and wealth.

It wasn't until he captured Lujiang in one battle that the Zhou family's attitude changed somewhat.

The problem is, I, Sun Ce, am the son of Sun Wentai. How can a tiger father have a dog son?

Moreover, the deeper their relationship, the more Sun Ce could see Zhou Yu's talent and ambition.

Zhou Yu possessed ambition and talent no less than his own, which is why Sun Ce both feared and admired him. However, Sun Ce originally thought that Zhou Yu could be deceived by his methods and wanted Zhou Yu to help him persuade Zhou Shang to betray Liu Yao and help him take Niuzhu.

Zhou Yu had clearly agreed to his request and even traveled from Shuxian to Wanling in person, but there was no further news for a full six months, which was truly puzzling. Later, he even stopped sending letters as often as possible.

It wasn't until he heard that Zhou Yu was already serving under Liu Feng that Sun Ce realized what was happening.

Sun Ce now considers Liu Feng his greatest enemy. And now, his opponent is acting recklessly, daring to cross the river to attack.

Sun Ce wanted to deliver a fatal blow to Liu Feng, or at the very least, inflict a severe injury.

Gao Shun only had four thousand troops. Even if he were to be completely annihilated, what would be the point?
Does Liu Feng have fewer than four thousand men?

If these four thousand men were enough to frighten Liu Feng into stopping his rampage across the river, then I would be a loser.

That's why Sun Ce issued such a strange order: to defeat Gao Shun and force him to retreat to the riverbank, but not to completely eliminate him.

Sun Ce's goal was to entice Liu Feng to continuously send troops to rescue Gao Shun, allowing him to divide and conquer him, and then continue to force Liu Feng to send in new soldiers.

Only in this way can we deal a heavy blow to the opponent.

Liu Feng had only occupied Wu Commandery for a few months, and once he lost his numerical advantage, Sun Ce felt that he could only recover the lost territory more quickly.

Upon receiving the order, Cheng Pu took the lead, guiding his cavalry at a moderate pace, rapidly approaching Gao Shun's forces with the sound of their hooves. This speed allowed them to maintain a speed of 13 kilometers per hour while conserving a significant amount of horsepower.

The so-called double hoof sound is the sound of only two hooves hitting the ground when a horse is running.

In just over the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Cheng Pu's cavalry had already charged to within a mile of Gao Shun.

Gao Shun immediately issued the order, and the soldiers stopped without hesitation. After slightly tidying up the slightly disordered formation, the soldiers in the first row spread out a certain distance, then raised the tower shields that were as tall as a person, and inserted the pointed bottoms into the ground as stable support points.

At the same time, a second rank of soldiers emerged from between these soldiers, each holding a crossbow. They stepped out of the ranks five paces, stopped, half-squatted down, raised their crossbows, and aimed at Cheng Pu's troops.

Finally, another line of soldiers followed the archers and walked in front of the shield bearers, holding longbows in their hands.

These soldiers did not rush to draw their bows. Instead, they first drew arrows from their quivers, planted five of them in the ground in front of them, held the bow in their left hand, and held it loosely with their right hand. They kept their eyes on the cavalrymen, but focused their attention on the officers, waiting for them to give orders.

The changes in the military formation took only a few moments, and during the process, there were only the commands of the officers, without any other noise, which shows Gao Shun's ability to train troops.

In fact, Liu Feng had a large number of ships, and with full force, it would not have been difficult for him to transport more than 10,000 troops ashore in one go.

However, due to other reasons, Liu Feng can only send a maximum of six thousand people at present.

Before the war began, Liu Feng had discussed it in detail with Gao Shun.

Gao Shun felt that instead of bringing two thousand more men, it would be better to replenish him with a large number of shields, polearms, and crossbow bolts.

With ample bows and arrows, he was confident he could hold out for more than an hour on his own, while Liu Feng's army would only need three-quarters of an hour from boarding the ship to landing on the opposite shore.

When Liu Feng confirmed the agreement, Gao Shun was even willing to sign a military pledge, so Liu Feng chose to trust him. Not only did he allocate an extra 300 crossbows and 200 powerful bows to him, but he also specially assigned an additional 200 archers to him.

In addition, they were given 500 tower shields as tall as a person, 1,500 halberds, 50,000 arrows of various kinds, and 300 sets of iron armor.

Gao Shun was extremely grateful for Liu Feng's strong support and was full of confidence in the mission.

Under Gao Shun's command, the military formation was completed. Cheng Pu, who was in the distance, was planning to observe the situation before launching a probing attack from the side.

At this time, cavalry charges were not common in combat. Most of the time, they would raid enemies who were not in formation or sweep away enemies who had lost their formation.

Charging directly into enemy formations with arrayed infantry is usually only done in extremely urgent situations, either to decide the outcome of a battle or to turn the tide of a desperate situation. These are tactics that are used only when absolutely necessary and out of necessity.

At this moment, Cheng Pu was thinking about harassment.

Because Gao Shun maintained a complete formation while marching, and was ready to switch to battle at any time.

After all, this was a direct confrontation, not an ordinary march. Moreover, the chosen battlefield was spacious enough that Gao Shun could march in battle formation.

Looking at Gao Shun's battle formation, Cheng Pu frowned, not expecting the enemy to change tactics so quickly, clearly anticipating the cavalry harassment. What worried Cheng Pu even more was the large number of crossbows, obviously indicating that they were prepared for Cheng Pu and his men.

Most cavalry bows, whether in terms of power or range, cannot compare to infantry bows. If they were to force their way in at this point, they would surely be taught a lesson by the many crossbowmen.

Cheng Pu frowned, hesitating to give the order for a flanking attack.

The cavalry flanking tactic mainly involves using high-speed thrusts to launch arrows at infantry formations in order to harass and inflict damage.

But now that they've already got their crossbows pointed at our faces, it wouldn't be worth going over there now.

Let alone the exchange ratio, even if it's a one-to-one exchange ratio, with only cavalry and pawns on our side, we'd still be at a huge disadvantage.

However, Cheng Pu was also a veteran and very steady. When he saw that there were no more opportunities to fight, he did not take any forceful action, but retreated to the side.

As long as he doesn't move, at least the task given to him by Sun Ce has been completed.

With Cheng Pu's cavalry unit watching them intently, Gao Shun dared not retreat any further.

Gao Shun has only traveled a little over a mile. This position is still quite awkward. It's not that there's no space, but the space is really not much.

Gao Shun, standing in the middle of the formation, glanced coldly at Cheng Pu, then turned his gaze to the battle formation of Huang Gai and Rui Liang approaching him in the distance. Knowing that they could no longer advance, he simply gave another order, changing the square formation into a circular formation.

The archers returned to their positions, and another squad of shield bearers emerged from within, forming a circle with the original shield bearers. It seemed they were determined to hold their ground and await reinforcements.

Huang Gai soon received a messenger from Cheng Pu who, upon learning of Gao Shun's response, instead held back and slowed his advance.

The forced march was actually very physically demanding for the soldiers, since both sides were already facing each other and the soldiers were fully armored before setting off.

The reason for this is that they are worried that Gao Shun's advance is too fast.

Now that Gao Shun has been pinned down by Cheng Pu, there's no need for Rui Liang and me to rush. It's a good opportunity to give the soldiers a breather.

Although Cheng Pu had pinned down the enemy, he had also lost the opportunity to attack. The fierce battle to come would have to rely on their infantry.

(End of this chapter)