Three Kingdoms: I am not Cao Rui

January 7, Shiyang.

The cities on both sides of the Yangtze River were built according to the natural terrain and were not absolutely symmetrical. For example, Huan Fan's troops gathered at Wankou and then crossed the river by boat, while Shiyang, the closest Wu city to Wankou, was still about forty miles downstream from Wankou.

Of course, the Wu Kingdom had outposts on the opposite bank of the Wankou Pass. However, the Wei army had been planning this for a long time. Nearly 10,000 infantrymen poured out of the Wankou Pass by boat and went straight to the opposite bank. The Wu army on the opposite bank had just managed to send a messenger to Shiyang City, which was 40 miles away, when the Wei army, which was rushing south, sneaked ashore and captured the outpost.

This tactic was rare during the Taihe era, but during the Huangchu era of Cao Pi, both Wei and Wu briefly used it to send a small army across the river to burn, kill, or plunder, then return quickly and boast of their achievement. After Cao Rui ascended the throne, he banned such meaningless military actions and prohibited provoking border conflicts, so Wu had not seen this tactic for many years.

Under normal circumstances, the Great Wei would not send an army of five thousand men to cross the Yangtze River by boat.

The main reason was that the enemy situation was unclear. We did not know how many enemy troops were stationed nearby, nor how long it would take for the Wu navy to arrive. If we were blocked by the Wu navy and trapped in Jiangnan, unable to return, then we would truly be helpless.

But this expedition was different. With multiple routes supporting them, Huan Fan's 25,000 men were like iron spears thrown out. His mission was simply to cross the river, head south, and draw the enemy's attention.

To put it more bluntly, Cao Rui sent three baits southward from Xiangyang, Jiangxia, and Wancheng, waiting for Sun Quan to lead his troops to devour them. However, these baits were somewhat too large, and Sun Quan could not swallow them whole.

Therefore, Cao Rui appointed Huan Fan, who had previously served as Commander of the Central Army and whom he trusted greatly, to this position. Only someone as trusted as Huan Fan, or a relative of the imperial family like Xiahou Ru, could be entrusted with this task.

Sun Quan arrived at Shiyang at noon on January 7th.

When Sun Quan arrived in Shiyang, there was only one military officer named Zhou Ling stationed there. Upon hearing that Emperor Sun Quan had arrived in person, Zhou Ling hurriedly opened the city gates and knelt down to greet him at the dock.

Sun Quan, dressed in thick clothes, stepped off the boat with Hu Zong's help, walked straight to Zhou Ling who was kneeling to greet him, and coldly asked:
"Who are you?"

"This humble general, Zhou Ling, is a Thousand-Stone Sima under General Ding Chengyuan (Ding Feng)," Zhou Ling replied repeatedly.

“Raise your head,” Sun Quan said again.

Zhou Ling knelt and looked up, but still dared not meet Sun Quan's gaze. After recognizing the man's face, Sun Quan nodded and said, "I remember your appearance. Where are Gan Tong and Ding Feng?"

Zhou Ling carefully replied, "After the Wei bandits crossed the river, there were no boats near Shiyang, and General Ding had few troops. He tried to attack once but failed again, and for the time being, he could do nothing against the Wei bandits. He could only wait until all the Wei bandits had crossed the river and moved westward before leading his own 3,000 men to follow behind them and head west along the south bank of the river towards Chaisang."

"Did Gan Tong go too?" Sun Quan asked repeatedly.

"After General Gan arrived at Shiyang by boat, he inquired about the situation and joined forces with General Ding, also following behind the Wei traitors."

Hu Zong whispered from the side, "Your Majesty, eight or nine days have passed. I estimate that the vanguard of the Wei rebels should have already reached Chaisang."

"Do you need to tell me?" Sun Quan was furious and turned to walk towards his own warship.

"What is Your Majesty doing?" Hu Zong asked hurriedly from the side.

"Go to Chaisang!" Sun Quan walked forward with unsteady steps, but his voice was extremely loud.

Hu Zong sighed deeply. The current situation was clearly the last thing Wu wanted to see.

After a brief exchange with Sima Zhouling, who was guarding Shiyang, the situation here became crystal clear to Sun Quan and Hu Zong. What was Shiyang compared to Chaisang? The Wei army was eyeing Chaisang!
Of course, Hu Zong still had many guesses in his mind. For example, why Gan Tong abandoned the boats and traveled by land, how Ding Feng was defeated, and how many people and what their strength were in this Wei army...

From a strategic perspective, the central leadership of Wu, comprised of Sun Quan, Shi Yi, Hu Zong, Xu Xiang, Quan Cong, and others, had been completely thrown into chaos by the Wei army. In this critical moment, Sun Quan had no choice but to lift the curfew in Jianye and appoint Gu Yong, the Minister of the Imperial Secretariat, to command the garrison in Jianye and be responsible for the defense of the Wu capital.

Let's return to Huan Fan.

Just as Sun Quan and Quan Cong led the vanguard to Shiyang, the follow-up troops had only just arrived near Jianye. There was no other way; the number of large ships was limited, and the speed of transferring military supplies and provisions from the shore to the ships was also limited. It took two days to transfer them from Jianye. Moving an army and shifting camps was not as simple as just the people leaving.

At this time, Huan Fan had already led his army to the outskirts of Chaisang City.

For Wu Jun, this was a very frightening thing.

Since Sun Quan established his power in Jiangdong, Chaisang, a riverside city, had never suffered any war for more than thirty years. Even when Cao Pi launched his three-pronged attack on Wu and Cao Cao marched south to Chibi, no Wei army ever reached this place.

Speaking of which, Chaisang was once an important military stronghold of the Wu Kingdom. However, in the many battles of the previous years, due to the more important strategic positions of Wuchang upstream and Wuhu and Ruxu downstream, the general Quan Cong and his troops who were originally stationed there moved from Chaisang to Wuhu, opposite Ruxu downstream.

Within the city of Chaisang, there was only a mere thousand troops stationed.

The city's garrison commander was Xi Cheng, a military officer of the Wu Kingdom with a salary of 1,000 shi (a unit of grain). When Xi Cheng saw the Wei army ships sailing upstream on the river from the top of Chaisang City, as well as the Wei cavalry coming from the east in a show of force, he was so frightened that his face turned pale.

Xi Cheng swallowed hard and asked the official beside him, "Am I seeing things? How could Wei troops be outside Chaisang City?"

The middle-aged clerk beside him glanced at the city gates, then at his own commander, and spread his hands, saying, "Commander, I have never seen anything like this before. How many cavalrymen are there outside? They are spreading out from east to west, it's truly terrifying."

Xi Cheng composed himself, looked around, and whispered, "At least three thousand?"

"There should be more than three thousand." The middle-aged clerk sighed. "Sima asked how the Wei army ended up here, and I would like to ask as well. Where are the warships that once roamed the river? Why didn't the other troops stop them, and why didn't anyone inform Sima?"

"How should I know!" Xi Cheng was extremely annoyed and frustrated, and slammed his fist heavily on the battlement.

Huan Fan, among the cavalry, was getting closer and closer to the city wall.

Ultimately, this is still a communication problem within the Wu Kingdom.

Chaisang is located between Wuchang and Wuhu. Since Quan Cong's army went to Wuhu, Chaisang has become an ordinary riverside city in Wuchang County of Wu Kingdom. There is no need to report the Wei army's attack here.

Furthermore, Wuchang Commandery naturally fell under the jurisdiction of Wuchang, but at this time, Crown Prince Sun Deng and Right General Sun Huan of Wuchang already knew that the number of Wei troops in Jiangling upstream was enormous, and they had squeezed 5,000 troops from their own positions to send to Zhuge Jin upstream. At the same time, they also had to deal with the enemy coming from Jiangxia. Where would they have the energy to take care of a small Chaisang? (End of this chapter)