Chapter 697-Chaos
Translator: ryangohsf
Editor: Nora
Across the vast Zhan River, the current flowed ferociously like a dragon covering the south land. The fast currents splashed at ever sharp turn.
On the two sides of the river, the trees and grass were a withered yellow; the rare few farmers seemed to be struggling.
On the Yunmeng Lake toward the east, a vast and fertile wilderness spread out for thousands of miles. During this winter season, it was also dead silent. Among the tall yellow bushes, wolves lurked while eagles circled the skies.
During the winter season, even the strongest and healthiest leopards and wolves would have times where they were hungry.
Hunger was the best description of the final years of the East Han period.
Even humans were getting hungry, much less leopards and wolves.
The voyage squadron spread out over hundreds of meters travelled along with the cold winter wind. The white sails were struck by the cold wind and sounded out, pushing the enormous warships forward.
On Dragon Head, Ouyang Shuo frowned.
Four days!
The voyage squadron had rushed day and night for four days, but the water surface revealed nothing but the occasional one or two fishing boats.
It was like the Lu Su Army had disappeared into thin air.
“That’s not possible!” Ouyang Shuo muttered.
Thanks to the traveling speed of the voyage squadron, they had traveled a thousand miles from the Han River into the opening of Changjiang. Even like this, they still had not caught up to Lu Su’s Army.
“Let’s just wait more patiently, there’s no way they are that fast.” Jia Xu consoled.
After a few days of interacting with one another, Jia Xu’s opinion of Ouyang Shuo had changed. This young man was truly different, be it terms of knowledge, magnanimity, or skills, he was exceptional.
Jia Xu could not help but compare him to Cao Cao many times.
Such thinking was truly dangerous, and Jia Xu knew it.
“Mister is right, this is a battle of determination, we cannot give up.”
Ouyang Shuo looked forward, his eyes resolute.
……
On the 5th day of the battle map, the scouts at the front finally sent news back.
“Monarch, there are traces of the enemy 100 miles ahead,” the scout reported.
“100 miles, which means they are about to enter Changjiang?”
“Yes.”
Ouyang Shuo immediately made a decision and ordered, “Order the squadron to increase the speed forward, do not let them get away.” The moment they entered Changjiang, there was a chance that the voyage squadron would lose them.
Who knows whether the Lu Su Army would travel up Changjiang or go downward. If they split up and moved in formations, that would be far worse.
Ouyang Shuo wanted to settle them all.
“Yes, my Monarch!”
Zheng He also noticed the severity of the situation and started to command the squadron.
At the same time, the battle orders were given.
The soldiers entered a level 1 state of alert, and the cannoneers started to adjust their cannons and prepare for the battle. As they swiftly proceeded forward, the entire formation of the squadron changed.
Such technique, such execution, only the voyage squadron could do this. Through the entire voyage, their biggest gain was the development of experienced sailors and navy.
The voyage squadron was like an arrow that surged forward through the river.
At 3 PM, they finally saw the enemy squadron on the river.
“Strike the drums!” Zheng He ordered.
Hong! Hong! Honghong!
The war drum sounded, booming out with a unique tempo.
Along with the war drums, the morale of the soldiers started to gather up.
The current voyage squadron had completed their change in formation. The 20 giant turreted ships at the front were lined up in twos; their mission was to use their sharp and sturdy horns to break through the enemy formation.
The three Man O’ Wars followed in single file. They were the river killers, the moment they started firing, no one could block them.
After them were 20 more turreted warships; they would cover the battleships and two provided cover fire. Finally, there were the numerous Mengchong Warships and Cima Boats.
Their mission was to clean up the battlefield and remove the remaining forces.
The river surface was narrow. They only thought of such a formation after a few days of discussions.
……
On the river surface not far away, Lu Su stood on deck, his expression solemn.
As the second most important person in the Jiangdong Army, the true Lu Su in history was ambitious, and he possessed both incredible foresight and intelligence. He was not the dumb and honest fellow as described in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
200 A.D., Lu Su analyzed the world situation and came up with suggestions that pointed the direction for the Jiangdong Regime.
During the Battle of Red Cliff, he was a crucial person who did even more than Zhuge Liang.
At that moment, he was the first to stand out to suggest that Sun Quran work with Liu Bei to go against Cao Cao. He was also the first to suggest that they called Zhou Yu back to discuss matters.
The situation was that Jiangdong was strong and Liu Bei was weak. Jiangdong was the main and Liu Bei followed them. Not to mention that Zhuge Liang was a young man without fame or position.
Hence, Zhuge Liang only helped to rush the forming of the alliance and similar diplomatic matters during the Battle of Red Cliff.
As for battling, it was the contributions of Zhou Yu and Huang Gai, nothing to do with Zhuge Liang.
210 A.D., Zhou Yu recommended Lu Su before he died, “Lu Su is loyal and does things carefully, he can replace me. If general can gain his trust, you can rest easy.”
With that, Sun Quan ordered Lu Su to replace Zhou Yu to lead.
One could see that Lu Su was truly a talent and was not like the man described in Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
……
“They still chased up in the end!”
The moment he received Zhou Yu’s emergency report, Lu Su ordered the squadron to turn and rush back to Red Cliff to work with the player forces at Red Cliff to defend against the enemy.
They did not expect that even after rushing so much, they would still be a step slower in the end.
“Admiral, what should we do?” Lu Meng asked.
Lu Meng was also one of the core members in this Jiangdong organization. After the Battle of Red Cliff ended, Zhou Yu recommended Lu Meng to chase the Cao Cao Navy.
However, Lu Meng rejected the proposal and said that he did not dare snatch credit from Lu Su.
With that, a situation where the two led together appeared.
On the topic of Lu Meng, the most familiar story to everyone should be the story about Lu Meng studying – ‘Wuxia Ahmeng.’
This classic story truly happened to Lu Meng. From his legend, future generations could see his growth from a rash warrior to a famous general.
After Lu Su died, Lu Meng replaced him.
One of the most classical achievements of Lu Meng was going past the river and taking over Jingzhou, killing Guan Yu in the process.
Apart from that, Lu Meng also had an eye for talent.
Gan Ning, Lu Xun, Zhu Ran, and more were recommended by him.
Especially Lu Xun, who became the backbone of East Wu, his position comparable to Zhou Yu.
One could say that East Wu had many talents.
If one really made a comparison, only the Shu Han Regime during the Three Kingdoms Period had as many talents. Amongst which, there was Zhuge Liang’s influence.
……
“What else can we do?” Lu Su frowned, “The enemy caught up to us from such a long distance away, so we cannot escape even if we want to. The river is so narrow, so we have nowhere to go. We can only fight.”
“Understood!” Lu Meng nodded solemnly.
After a short while, the Lu Su Army similarly banged their war drums.
To make matters worse for them, as they were being chased, they had their backs toward the enemy. The river was so narrow, so turning back was impossible.
If they hurried to try and turn, only chaos would ensue.
Hence, under the leadership of Lu Meng, Lin Tong, and the others, the navy just stayed still and waited for the attack.
From their point of view, naval battle was simply shooting at one another. If shooting failed to solve the problem, they could just go over and stab the enemy.
Hence, the direction the boats were facing did not matter.
As the strongest navy during the Three Kingdoms Period, they had never feared anyone. Along with the might they established during the Battle of Red Cliff, even though Zhou Yu mentioned that the enemy was extremely strong, they still did not believe it.
“No matter how strong they are, do you think that they can flip the heavens?” Gan Ning’s words were basically what they all thought.
They were just frogs in a well.
Out of all the generals, only Lu Su and Lu Meng were solemn. First, they trusted Admiral Zhou Yu and knew that he would not randomly spout words.
If he said that they were strong, they were definitely strong.
However, the extent of their strength was something that even Zhou Yu did not know.
Only by facing off would they truly feel the enemy’s strength.
Without mentioning other factors, at the very least, the enemy’s traveling speed was much faster. It was not by just a bit but double theirs.
Hence, how could the two of them be relaxed?
Furthermore, they did not have a numerical advantage, so if they truly fought, they did not have a high chance of winning.
However, they were forced into such a situation, and they had no other choice.
……
20 minutes later, the vanguard forces of the voyage squadron finally entered the eyes of the Lu Su Army.
The five-story high turreted ships spread out across the river, shocking the Lu Su Army soldiers.
Without even the enemy approaching, a massive suppressive feeling engulfed them.
“Heavens, there’s actually such a giant warship in this world!” The soldiers watched on with their mouths agape.
Their morale was unavoidably affected.
“Shoot the arrows!”
Gan Ning and the others were not afraid and led the attack.
The rumbling cannons replied to their actions.
Hong!
Cannons exploded on the river surface, splitting the Lu Su warships apart.
“What is the situation?”
Gan Ning’s eyes widened, not knowing what weapon the enemy was using. The only replied he received was the rushed sounds of the cannons.
“We are finished!”
Lu Su painfully closed his eyes, unable to bear watching the situation in front of him.
