My father Liu Xuande

Chapter 449 Slaying Chen Jiu
"Why don't you dare!"

Huang Gai responded loudly and led his personal guards to charge towards Chen Jiu.

Jiang Qin chuckled, selected a new target, and charged forward again.

Chen was less than ten ships away from them, standing on a warship.

The smoke was so thick that Chen couldn't see Jiang Qin at all; he could only hear screams of impending death from the dark smoke.

He had sent out all his fierce generals, but none of them were able to defeat Jiang Qin. Instead, they became the enemy's heroes.

Chen Jiu's personal guards had asked him to step back more than once, but he refused.

Chen was not unafraid of death, but he knew he could not retreat; if he did, the front line would collapse.

Although Chen couldn't guess what other tricks the Yangzhou army had up their sleeve, he was certain that once the front lines collapsed, their ultimate move would be revealed. After all, smoke alone could at most give them the initiative and an advantage on the battlefield, but it couldn't completely defeat the Jingzhou navy.

Based on the current situation, the probability that the Jingzhou navy can withstand the enemy's deadly attack is estimated to be no more than 30%.

Therefore, Chen knew he could not back down.

If I retreat, the Jingzhou navy will be defeated. However, if I can hold on, the Jingzhou navy will still have a chance.

Recalling the orders he had just received, Chen Jiu wanted to give a bitter smile.

It's already a stroke of luck that we can hold the front lines and prevent them from collapsing. To expect to obey orders and annihilate the enemy is nothing short of wishful thinking.

If I were to actually carry out this order, the front line would probably collapse even faster.

With black smoke billowing everywhere and visibility limited to only a dozen meters, stabilizing the situation and ensuring each unit stays in its own territory is the best course of action. However, if they act recklessly, a single miscommunication could hand the enemy an opportunity.

Moreover, Chen Jiu had never heard of Jiang Qin's bravery.

Recalling how the other party had jumped ship seven times in a row and was invincible, Chen couldn't help but think that such bravery could probably only be matched by Sun Jian and Sun Wentai in the past.
Unfortunately, the other party was very cautious. He wanted to use a powerful bow and crossbow to defeat the other party, but Jiang Qin never left the protection of his personal guards. He also had a small round shield tied to his wrist, making it really difficult to ambush him.

Chen looked back at the city of ships behind him, a complex of massive vessels linked by iron chains, but it was now completely obscured by the thick smoke.

Chen Jiu knew very well that his lord, Huang Zu, was on the warship. He could only hope that Huang Zu could come up with a way to reverse the situation as soon as possible, otherwise, this battle... was likely in dire straits.

Huang Zu, whom Chen Jiu was so concerned about, was indeed on the ship city at this moment. Thick smoke billowed and black smoke filled the sky, so even if Huang Zu stretched his neck, he could not see the commotion in front of him.

Fortunately, a quarter of an hour earlier, he had already sent Huang Yao and Fu Xing to lead their troops to reinforce him. If it were now, it would be difficult to even send reinforcements.

“My lord, please step back for a moment. You can leave this place to Boyun and me.”

Su Fei, courtesy name Boyun.

Deng Long was trying to persuade Huang Zu to step back.

At this moment, all the generals on the warship could see that the situation was not good, especially on the ship city. Iron chains stretched across the river, and even without the black smoke, it would be quite difficult to break the chains and scatter. Not to mention now that thick smoke was billowing and the sky was dark.

If we were to try to dismantle the chains and disperse now, it would only lead to the collapse of the fleet. If we were to fight amongst ourselves, our casualties would likely be even higher than those inflicted by the enemy.

Therefore, the city must be defended.

"Get out of here!"

Huang Zu waved his hand, his face mask revealing a chilling murderous aura. Huang Zu was now truly enraged: "I'll stand right here and see if Liu Zisheng has the ability to take my head."

Deng Long, Su Fei, and Zhang Hu looked at each other in bewilderment. At this moment, the entire Jingzhou naval formation was completely shrouded in black smoke.

In this situation, there's no way to make any adjustments; instead, holding on becomes the best strategy.

Therefore, Huang Zu's personal command of the army no longer had an advantage; it was safer to retreat quietly.

Su Fei, Deng Long, and Zhang Hu are all veterans who have fought many battles; having them stay to command is sufficient.

But Huang Zu was determined and no amount of persuasion could change his mind; he resolutely refused to leave.

Helpless, Deng Long quietly said to Zhang Hu, "Draw some elite soldiers from afar and place them around the flagship, so that they can provide support to this ship at any time."

Zhang Hu nodded immediately and turned to make the arrangements.

Huang Zu's side, from top to bottom, was hoping that Chen could hold the front line, at least until the Yangzhou army revealed its true colors.

But before long, a sudden roar erupted from ahead.

"Chen Jiu is beheaded!"

"Chen Jiu is dead!"

"Surrender without killing!"

"Disarm and kneel down; those who surrender will not be killed!"

In fact, Chen was not executed at this time. It was Jiang Qin who had a sudden inspiration and came up with a plan.

At this time, smoke enveloped the battlefield, greatly obscuring visibility. If you were lucky, you could see things 20 or 30 meters away; if you were unlucky, you could only see things within 10 meters.

Therefore, Jiang Qin ordered his personal guards to shout together, intending to provoke Chen Jiu into showing himself, preferably to rush over and fight him.

Even he himself did not expect that as soon as he shouted, the morale of the Jingzhou navy at the front line wavered. Many of the outer ships turned around and began to flee, and those that could not escape even had Jingzhou soldiers begin to surrender.

Although Chen Jiu couldn't see what was happening in the distance, when he heard the Yangzhou navy shouting like that from top to bottom, his heart skipped a beat and he immediately realized that something terrible was going to happen.

Jiang Qin's unexpected move put Chen in a dilemma, leaving him with no choice but to hold out.

Now, Chen's only chance to turn the tide of the war is to kill Jiang Qin.

"Bring me my spear!"

Chen shouted loudly, and his personal guards immediately presented him with a long spear.

This type of spear is a unique weapon of the Jingchu region. Unlike ordinary spears, it has a small fork at the base of the spearhead, from which a secondary spear emerges, somewhat similar to a hook-and-sickle spear. It can be considered the primitive form of the hook-and-sickle spear.

This type of spear was extremely useful in naval warfare and could be considered a divine weapon.

The wielder can use the secondary spearhead to hook the enemy's ship, while also using the primary spearhead to assassinate the enemy, allowing for free movement in both directions.

The spearmen established by Liu Biao were all equipped with these spears. In fact, this elite spearmen were not land-based elites, but rather true naval warfare aces.

The Jiangxia navy was also equipped with a lot of these hook-and-sickle spears. Although Huang Zu did not form a large-scale, organized spear unit like Liu Biao, most of his officers and soldiers loved this weapon. They and their personal guards were equipped with this weapon. Chen Jiu was a master at using this spear.

After obtaining the spear, Chen took the lead and began a counterattack with his personal guards.

At the same time, Chen Jiu's personal guards also shouted loudly, "Chen Jiu is here!"

Chen Jiu's shouts did indeed stabilize the morale of the Jingzhou army, which was on the verge of collapse, but they also attracted the attention of Jiang Qin and Huang Gai.

Especially Jiang Qin, who was almost face to face with Chen Jiu, and the distance between them quickly closed. After dealing with the enemy in front of him, Jiang Qin no longer boarded the ship, but instead ordered his soldiers to maneuver the boat slightly to the side.

This was not because Chiang Chin was afraid of fighting, but rather a wise move.

Chen Jiu was riding a warship, while Jiang Qin boarded a mere red horse. The two were not even in the same tonnage class. Although Jiang Qin was not afraid, he would not be foolish enough to collide with the warship.

With this sideways movement, he dodged behind three or five ships of the Jingzhou army. If Chen insisted on ramming him, he would undoubtedly have to capsize the ships in front of him first.

Even if Chen were to deliberately ram the ship, the momentum of the naval vessel would be exhausted, and Jiang Qin would still be unharmed.

As expected, Chen Jiu eventually slowed down the ship, jumped off the warship with his personal guards, and charged towards Jiang Qin.

"on!"

Jiang Qin had recovered a lot of strength by this time, and immediately raised his arm and shouted to meet him.

The two sides clashed immediately, entering a fierce battle. Both sides fielded elite personal guards, fighting a life-or-death struggle from the outset. Within just a few breaths, more than ten men had fallen; the rate of casualties was terrifying, leaving everyone speechless.

Jiang Qin naturally faced Chen Jiu, who thrust his spear straight at Jiang Qin's face.

Jiang Qin was surrounded by people and had no way to dodge, so he could only raise his left hand to block with a shield.

Unexpectedly, this played right into Chen Jiu's hands. The opponent feigned an attack, and the spear, seemingly unaffected, slid away from the round shield. But as the spear reached the edge of the shield, Chen Jiu suddenly twisted his wrist, and the second tip of the spear hooked onto the shield. He then exerted a sudden force, pulling Jiang Qin towards himself.

Caught off guard, Jiang Qin actually stumbled and fell.

Chen was overjoyed and tried to pull back his spear to stab Jiang Qin, but found that the small spearhead of the spear was pressed down by the shield.

Chen didn't think much of it, only feeling that the opportunity was rare. He immediately abandoned his spear, drew his longsword, and stepped forward to chop down on Jiang Qin's head, intending to end Jiang Qin's life.

Unexpectedly, Jiang Qin suddenly raised his shield, leaped up, and charged towards Chen Jiu.

Chen Jiu's blade struck the opponent's round shield, but the force was deflected by it, and Jiang Qin took the opportunity to crash into Chen Jiu's arms.

Chen Jiu felt a sharp pain in his lower back and tried to push Jiang Qin away with both hands, but Jiang Qin twisted his hand hard, causing Chen Jiu to lose all strength.

Immediately afterwards, Jiang Qin slammed his shield into Chen Jiu's face with his left hand, leaving him dazed and confused.

Before Chen could react, Jiang Qin had already thrown away the long sword, drawn a short blade from his waist, and slit his throat.

Blood spurted into the sky, but Jiang Qin didn't care. He simply stepped forward, knelt on Chen Jiu's chest, and used the long knife he had picked up to chop off the man's head.

Then, Jiang Qin lifted him high and shouted, "Chen Jiu has been killed by me! Why don't you surrender now!"

With Chen Jiu's death, the morale of the Jingzhou soldiers around him plummeted, and even Chen Jiu's personal guards lost their will to fight.

Soon, the soldiers of Jingzhou began to throw down their weapons and kneel down to surrender.

At this time, Huang Gai's troops on the periphery also let the fleeing Jingzhou army go, but continued to fiercely attack the soldiers who were still holding on.

With Chen Jiu dead, the Yangzhou army kept shouting that no one could stand up and turn the tide in this rout.

While directing the Yangzhou soldiers to escort the enemy away, along with their ships, to disperse in all directions, Jiang Qin sent messengers back to report that Liu Feng, Zhou Tai, and others had broken through the Jingzhou army's front lines.

The news quickly reached the flagship.

Upon hearing this, Liu Feng was overjoyed and exclaimed, "Gongyi is truly a valiant warrior. In this battle, Gongyi deserves the greatest credit."

Immediately, Liu Feng said to Zhou Tai, "Youping, it's time to move!"

"Here!"

Zhou Tai responded loudly, then turned around and changed boats.

The flagship now belonged to Liu Feng, and Zhou Tai was about to lead the main fleet in a charge, so naturally he couldn't let Liu Feng risk his life along with him.

Therefore, Zhou Tai made the decision to change ships.

After Zhou Tai left, Liu Feng climbed to the top of the ship and then vigorously beat the war drum.

The melodious sound of drums drifted through the air.

Upon hearing the drumbeats, the morale of the Jingzhou army soared once again.

Led by Zhou Tai, eleven massive warships lined up in a row, followed by dozens of newly built warships, and began to sail towards the enemy's fleet city.

Upon receiving reports from the front lines and the Yangzhou army's policy of not killing those who surrendered, Huang Zu felt fear for the first time.

Chen Jiu is dead, the front line has been broken, and in the distance, the sound of thunderous drums can still be heard, and the sound of a large fleet of ships cutting through the waves can be faintly heard.

Huang Zu understood that the Yangzhou navy's all-out attack had begun, and the enemy's hidden trump card had been unleashed, with his target being none other than himself.

The thought of this made Huang Zu tremble involuntarily.

Seemingly sensing Huang Zu's fear, Su Fei immediately said, "My lord, the Yangzhou army is about to launch an attack. You can't stay here any longer. You should leave first!"

After saying that, Su Fei ignored Huang Zu's reaction and directly called over Huang Zu's personal guards to pull people away.

This time, Huang Zu did not reprimand Su Fei harshly. Instead, he silently allowed his personal guards to persuade him to board the small boat under Su Fei's guidance.

Just before changing ships, Huang Zu finally spoke.

"Boyun, I'm leaving this place in your care with Deng Long and Zhang Hu."

Su Fei quickly replied, "My lord, rest assured, I will fight to the death!"

Huang Zu gave a bitter smile and shook his head: "Boyun, if things don't go well, you should prioritize your own safety. Liu Zisheng... sigh, what a young hero."

After saying this, Huang Zu seemed to age ten years in an instant. After dismounting from his red horse, he closed his eyes, as if he could not bear to see the scene before him.

Su Fei stood at the bow of the boat, watching Huang Zu's red horse sail away to the rear under the protection of other red horses and small boats.

Only then did Su Fei, Deng Long, and the others breathe a sigh of relief.

Before leaving, Huang Zu entrusted everything to Su Fei.

Deng Long and Zhang Hu naturally followed Su Fei's lead at the moment.

After Su Fei withdrew his gaze, Deng Long asked, "Bo Yun, what should we do now?"

After a moment of contemplation, Su Fei replied, "The great formation cannot be left in place any longer. The front line has been broken, and the Yangzhou army is clearing the obstacles. Once we lose the protection of the front line, Yangzhou only needs a few dozen fire ships, and we will all be doomed."

Deng Long and Zhang Hu nodded in unison. Su Fei's words made perfect sense and were exactly what they were thinking.

Zhang Hu immediately replied, "The Governor is absolutely right. I will send someone to deliver the order right away."

(End of this chapter)