Tiger Owl

Chapter 48 Seizing Yuzhang
Almost at the same moment that Nanchang fell, Han Dang encountered He Qi, who was retreating in disarray, on the way. He Qi's horse was shot in the leg and collapsed after only a few miles. He Qi had no choice but to walk with a dozen personal guards. Halfway there, they were starving and ran to a nearby village to steal food, but were chased and beaten by hundreds of villagers, leaving them in a very sorry state.

The soldiers brought He Qi before Han Dang, who asked in astonishment, "What happened? Haihun County was lost so quickly?"

He Qi sighed deeply, "Xu Sheng secretly surrendered to Gan Ning, and together with him, surrendered Haihun County. My entire army was wiped out."

"No way! Xu Sheng is a member of the Xu family, how could he surrender to Gan Ning?"

"Human hearts are unpredictable, how could I know what he's thinking? Perhaps he feels that General Sun has mistreated him and is resentful!"

Han Dang was speechless. The personal feud between Sun Ben and the Xu family had actually led to the fall of Haihun County. Now that Haihun County had fallen, and they had no siege weapons, how could they possibly retake the city?

Left with no other option, Han Dang had to order: "The entire army must turn back to Nanchang County!"

The 5,000-strong army turned back to Nanchang County. By noon the next day, the army was still 20 li away from Nanchang County. If it were Cheng Pu, he would have stopped at this point and sent soldiers to scout ahead.

But Han Dang was burdened by a sense of responsibility, which made him extremely anxious. He wished he could grow wings and fly into Nanchang City. He kept urging the soldiers to hurry up, as they would be in Nanchang City soon.

On the official road, the 5,000-strong column had gradually stretched to three miles. Having not slept all night and having walked for half a day, the soldiers were exhausted and complained, barely able to walk any further.

Just then, a series of rapid clapping sounds rang out from the woods to the east, "Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Immediately afterwards, a barrage of arrows rained down on the soldiers on the official road. Caught off guard, the soldiers were hit by arrows and fell to the ground, screaming in agony. Those who were not hit screamed in terror and lay sprawled on the ground.

"Woo——"

As the bugle sounded, ten thousand troops charged out of the woods, led by General Gan Ning.

The 5,000-strong force was cut into several pieces by the Chaisang army. Unable to defend itself, it crumbled instantly. The soldiers were exhausted and powerless to resist. The Chaisang army shouted, "Those who surrender will not be killed! Those who surrender will not be killed!"

Seeing that they could not escape and hearing the shouts, the soldiers immediately knelt down and surrendered. They put up almost no effective resistance and surrendered in large numbers.

Han Dang and He Qi were at the front of the column when suddenly the Chaisang army attacked. Han Dang was shocked and shouted, "General He, follow me back to rescue them!"

He Qi gave him a cold look, then spurred his horse and fled. Going back now would only lead to his own demise. Han Dang was crazy, but he wasn't.

Han Dang was furious and cursed loudly, but he had no choice but to shout, "Brothers, follow me back to save them!"

Han Dang led 2,000 vanguard troops back to rescue, but Gan Ning and Xu Sheng each led 3,000 troops to surround Han Dang's army. The two sides were outnumbered, and Han Dang's army was soon unable to resist. They tried to retreat but were blocked from all sides and had nowhere to go.

Han Dang suddenly saw Xu Sheng and shouted, "Xu Sheng, my head is here. This fortune is yours."

Xu Sheng sighed, remembering how well Han Dang had treated him, and ordered his men, "Make way!"

The soldiers parted to make way, and Han Dang seized the opportunity to lead hundreds of soldiers out.

Seeing that Han Dang had left, Xu Sheng roared at the remaining soldiers, "Aren't you going to surrender? Do you all want to die?"

Xu Sheng's voice was like thunder, frightening the remaining thousand-plus soldiers into kneeling and surrendering.

Han Dang led several hundred remnants of his army to the walls of Nanchang. Seeing that the banners had been changed, he knew that the situation was hopeless. He had no choice but to bypass Nanchang and flee to Poyang County.

Xu Sheng, filled with shame, apologized to Gan Ning, explaining that he had released Han Dang to repay a debt of gratitude.

Gan Ning said calmly, "Humans are not plants or trees, how can they be without feelings? If you let him go this time, you won't owe him anything in the future."

"I guarantee this will not happen again!"

..........
Poyang County is about 150 li away from Nanchang County. The Po River flows around the city and connects directly to the Gan River.

Currently, Poyang County has only two thousand troops stationed there, under the command of General Zhou Tai. On the second day of the Lunar New Year, He Qi and Han Dang fled to Poyang County one after the other, bringing news of the fall of Haihun County and Nanchang County. This really made Zhou Tai nervous. The fall of the cities was a minor matter; the real problem was that the fate of the commander-in-chief, Sun Fu, was unknown. How could they explain this to Lord Wu?
In the lobby, Han Dang glared fiercely at He Qi, who coldly replied, "The army is all yours. The soldiers will protect you as you escape, but who cares about my life or death? If I don't leave first, do you think Xu Sheng will spare my life and let me go?"

"Bah! You fled the battlefield, what explanation do you have?"

"I won't explain to you; I will explain to Lord Wu myself."

Although Han Dang's position was higher than He Qi's, they were not subordinate to each other, and He Qi was not afraid of him.

Zhou Tai waved his hand, "Alright! You two stop arguing. Now let's figure out how to rescue General Sun Er, otherwise we won't be able to explain to Lord Wu!"

Just then, a soldier reported from below the hall, "Reporting to General Zhou, Magistrate Zhang of Nanchang County has arrived!"

"Quickly! Please come in."

Zhou Tai immediately realized that the arrival of Magistrate Zhang from Nanchang must be related to Sun Fu.

Soon, Magistrate Zhang Miao was brought into the main hall, and the three men hurriedly stepped forward and asked, "May I ask, Your Excellency, how is General Sun?"

"General Sun is well, and General Cheng is well too. I saw General Sun before I left and gave him two letters!"

Zhang Miao took out two letters and handed them to Zhou Tai. "One is a letter from General Sun, and the other is a letter from Gan Ning. General Zhou, please take a look."

Zhou Tai quickly opened Sun Fu's letter. The letter contained very simple information, requiring them to implement Gan Ning's conditions without any compromise.

Zhou Tai then opened Gan Ning's letter. In the letter, Gan Ning made three demands. First, he demanded that they evacuate Yuzhang County within three days. They could leave by boat, but the number of boats could not exceed twenty.
Second, the government treasury was sealed off, and no money, grain, or supplies from Poyang County were allowed to be taken away.
Third, send envoys to Chaisang County to negotiate. Once an agreement is reached, they will be sent back to Sun Fu immediately.

These three rules must be strictly followed; if even one is violated, Sun Fu's life cannot be guaranteed.

After reading the letter, Zhou Tai paused for a moment before asking, "Is there any other message?"

Zhang Miao nodded. "General Gan said that if you don't leave within three days, you'll never be able to leave."

Zhou Tai handed the letter to Han Dang and He Qi, saying, "Take a look!"

After reading the letter, He Qi said without hesitation, "For General Sun's safety, we must evacuate immediately. I fully agree to the conditions in the letter."

Zhou Tai then looked at Han Dang, who had to admit that Gan Ning was absolutely right. Panyang County only had two thousand troops. If Gan Ning led a large army to attack, none of them would be able to escape.

However, Han Dang was unwilling to side with someone like He Qi, and after a long pause, he slowly said, "I have no objection. General Zhou, you can make the decision yourself!"

Zhou Tai nodded. "Gan Ning's demands are not high. We can accept the first two. As for the envoy's negotiations, let Lord Wu decide when we get back!"

Zhou Tai immediately ordered the government treasury to be sealed. The more than 2,400 troops carried only 20 days' worth of dry rations. That afternoon, the troops boarded 20 large ships and left Poyang County for the Gan River.

On the fifth day of the first lunar month, Wang Ping led three thousand troops to occupy Poyang County.

At this point, Sun Ben's army completely withdrew from Yuzhang Commandery, which was then occupied by Gan Ning. In less than half a year, from July to December, Gan Ning's army grew from 300 men to more than 30,000, and his territory expanded from the small Chaisang County to the entire Yuzhang Commandery.

Of course, at this point we can only say that he has snatched the prize of Yuzhang County first, but whether he can truly take it over and turn it into his own territory is still too early to say.

There are many other forces eyeing Yuzhang Commandery, such as Tongzhi of Luling Commandery, Liu Xin of Changsha Commandery, and Huang Zu of Jiangxia Commandery, not to mention Sun Ce's army, which could return at any time.

Fortunately, it is winter now, not the season for war, so Gan Ning has two months to catch his breath.

He must make the most of these two months to quickly integrate resources, train the army, deploy defenses, and build an army that can rival other forces before spring.

(End of this chapter)