Chapter 542 – Cheng Yu's End
Yangtze River was wide and long. The great river was the main water source for the local people, including Jiangling townspeople.
South of Jiangling, the Yangtze River route connected this city and Lake Dongting. Then, the river route flowed northeast and passed Chibi.
This was a strategic route from Jiangling toward Jianye that Cao Cao had once used to attack Wu in history. However, Cao Cao in this world backtracked the route to attack Jiangling instead.
They were not simply attacking using an ordinary fleet, but they were using fisher boats, which were carrying several barrels of poison liquid.
Cao Cao detached his troops into three units. The main forces were staying behind to defend Chibi City, acting as a distraction.
The other unit was an envoy, which departed from Chibi to the southern region, where Shanyue Tribe located. Cao Pi took the role of a diplomat on this trip.
Shanyue Tribe lived in a mountain region between South China and Northern Vietnam. They lived on hills in this area for generations, and they were the experts when it came to warfare. However, they made a living by pillaging nearby towns and villages for extra food as their land couldn't produce enough for their people.
Sun Quan, in history, had a hard time subduing this tribe. No matter how he attacked them, they always went into hiding and ambushed them, utilizing guerrilla warfare.
In this world, this tribe had a relationship with Khan and helped him attacking the Han Dynasty. They were unchallenged by the local government, including Sun Jian, and Sun Quan. Thus, they were the largest mountain bandit forces in South China.
Cao Cao wanted to hire them as cannon fodders while his real forces and families would move to Vietnam, then proceeding to Southeast Asia, where China in ancient times mistook them as their vessel states.
But they were not important at the moment.
The last detached force was a group of sailors, traveling west via the Yangtze River. A dozen finish boats were heading toward Jiangling. However, they were carrying barrels of poison liquid, brew by Cheng Yu and Cao Cao.
Their objective was simple. They had to tamper the water source in Jiangling!
Currently, Jiangling was Zhuge Liang's supply headquarters, where provision from other regions was sent here to support the southern campaign.
Since Zhuge Liang's supply was endless because of Li Feihong and Diaochan's system skills, Cao Cao couldn't burn them and hope that their soldiers would starve. Water poisoning or spreading an epidemic would be more effective.
However, these fishing boats were not the only ones with the poison.
…
Zhao Yun and a unit of 1,000 men were hiding north of Lake Dongting, southwest of Chibi Port.
Zhuge Liang had ordered him and his men to wait in this area. Anyone sailed west along the Yangtze River, Zhao Yun and his men had to intercept and seize everything that they were carrying.
"They're here."
A dozen fishing boats reached Lake Dongting area. Zhao Yun's ambush unit rushed in and apprehended the fishermen.
"Freeze! FBI!"
"Drop your weapon!"
The fishermen drew their weapons to resist despite being outnumbered.
Zhao Yun made quick work out of them. His soldiers found the suspicious barrels, reported by Li Feihong and Diaochan.
"Sir, we've found the poison!"
Having the all-seeing eyes was the best advantage in warfare. They could counter against Cao Cao's dirty schemes with ease.
"Good. Take them with us. We'll dispose of these vile weapons."
Zhao Yun's soldiers carried the barrels and retreated back to Wulin Port.
…
"Load the trebuchets!"
On Chibi Port, 100 giant counterweight trebuchets were pushed forward. Cao Cao ordered his men to load the sling with barrels, which contained crude oil.
From the on looker's perspective, Cao Cao was trying to throw the oil at Zhuge Liang's fleets at Wulin Port.
"First trebuchet. Test firing, go!"
One of the weapons hurled an oil barrel across the river. Unfortunately, the wide of this river section was still over 800 meters. A normal trebuchet couldn't throw anything further than that.
Thus, the barrel splashed in the middle of the river water.
"Adjust the aim! Reinforce your trebuchet frames and the counterweight with your lifespan!"
Cultivators with 1 and 2 wings injected their forces in the wooden frames of all trebuchets as instructed.
"Second trebuchet. Testing fire! Release!"
The second trebuchet hurled a crude oil barrel. This time, the barrel flew across the river. The distance of this test fire was almost 2 kilometers, which was much farther than they had expected.
As soon as the first barrel landed on the side of Wulin Port, Zhang Liao, acting as the grand commander of the defenders, retaliated against the provocation.
"Cannons! Catapults! Trebuchets! Remember your training! Adjust your life force to the weapons as you were trained! Aim at the center of Chibi Port!"
*BOOM*
*BOOM*
Over a thousand projectiles flew to Chibi Port and sent carnage to Cao Cao's troops.
Xiahou Yuan, the grand commander of Chibi Port, authorized the grand scale artillery fire.
"All trebuchets, cannons, and catapults units! Empower your weapons and shoot! Fire at will!"
*BOOM*
*BOOM*
Both sides exchanged projectiles. Various kinds of burning barrels, arrows, buckshot, cannonballs, and boulders flew across the river and landed on the opposition forces. Artillery crews from Cao Cao's forces and Zhuge Liang Army shouted and screamed in chaos.
Flame and explosion appeared everywhere. Yet, Xiahou Yuan and Zhang Liao never tried to cross the river.
A group of Cheng Yu men snuck a couple of poison barrels among the ammunition for the trebuchets. During the long exchange fire, the two barrels were hurled to Zhang Liao's side.
The content of the two barrels splashed on the empty ground inside Wulin Port. Zhang Liao's men ignored the green liquid as they thought that they were failed explosive barrels.
However, three 8-wing immortals were observing the battle. Cheng Yu's men's action didn't escape their eyes.
…
Diaochan: "@Sun Shangxiang, I need you at Wulin Port."
Sun Shangxiang: "What for?"
Diaochan: "Someone is using chemical warfare. I need your medical skill."
Diaochan: "I'll have the non-combatant officers contribute some more lifespan into the pool. I'll transfer them to you."
Sun Shangxiang: "Are those f.u.c.kers spreading Ebola or what?"
Diaochan: "From our intel, I think it might be some sort of fecal bacteria disease type since they're playing with human feces. They're also using snake venom and poison mushroom into the mix."
Sun Shangxiang: "They want to make it more potent, but most of the bacteria will probably be dead before they can spread."
Diaochan: "They're cursed poison. The bacteria might mutate into something else. For now, move to Wulin and help Zhuge Liang boy."
Sun Shangxiang: "Give me a few hours. I have to cross half of the f.u.c.k.i.n.g country."
Diaochan: "You'd better hurry. The disease is spreading."
…
"Oh? They're using the same tactic that I thought."
Guo Jia received the relayed message from Diaochan and Zhuge Liang, which reported the current situation at Wulin Port.
He was amused that Cheng Yu used the bio-warfare tactic before he did.
During the preparation against Sun Ce Army, Guo Jia ordered his men to construct a thousand catapults to be used as a backup plan in the case that Dong Bai and others failed to kill Sun Ce.
He discarded this plan since Dong Bai and her officers flawlessly completed the objectives, but he never expected that Cheng Yu would employ this tactic as well.
Since that was the case, Guo Jia had an idea.
<<Ding>>
Guo Jia: "@Li Feihong. Could I ask you for a favor?"
Li Feihong: "Depends. I'm in the middle of self-healing. My souls are still not stable."
Guo Jia: "Don't worry. It's just a simple task."
Li Feihong: "What is it, then?"
Guo Jia: "I have several thousand jars of Gu poison that I need you to transport them."
Li Feihong: "Gu Poison? You're playing with poison?"
Guo Jia: "I planned to, but I didn't have a chance. Anyway, I don't need you to poison anyone. I just need you to drop some of those in Cao Cao's food supply."
Li Feihong: "You said you didn't want to poison anyone, but you want me to sabotage Cao Cao's food supply!? That's the same thing!"
Guo Jia: "No, no. They won't have a chance to consume the sabotaged provision since it will rot before they could get their hands on it. You can rest assured."
Li Feihong: "…"
Guo Jia: "And do us a favor. Abduct Cao Cao and Cheng Yu if you can. Open your portals below their feet and set the gates in your world as high as you can. Let them fall to their death."
Li Feihong: "My soul injuries won't heal at this rate."
Guo Jia: "Please, just a few more pushes, and you can enjoy your retirement. Not gonna lie, this entire war should have ended if you simply use your gate abilities wisely. We're already wasting too much time."
Li Feihong: "…"
…
The artillery bombardment stopped at night. Both sides stopped shooting and cleaned their camps.
Since Zhuge Liang and Cheng Yu didn't plan to launch an all-out attack or use the infantry, only a few thousand artillery crews died in this exchange.
However, wooden weaponry and fortification, such as catapults, trebuchets, fences, and arrows were burned to ash. White smoke and black smoke fumed from the ruined camps.
Yet, Cheng Yu and Cao Cao were smiling. They gazed at their half-destroyed fortification, looking forward to their scheme to take effect.
"How many?"
"20."
Those were the number of poison barrels that Cheng Yu snuck into the fight.
"I expected 200. Well, it's good enough. Pour the rest in the river and the local farmland. Prepare to migrate south."
"Got it."
After relaying their new orders, everyone returned to their tents and rest.
Cao Cao's generals didn't bother guarding Cao Cao or Cheng Yu today since there were movements in the night sky.
Zhang Liao, Zhao Yun, Gao Shun, and Huang Zhong floated in the sky over their base, watching Cao Cao's camp in Chibi City.
Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan, Xu Chu, and Dian Wei had to stay awake and competed with the four men at a staring contest. They didn't know when their opponent would strike, but they didn't dare to take the first move either.
After all, Xu Huang, Sun Shangxiang, Zhang He, and many other generals were not here. They were afraid if Zhang Liao and the company might just be a distraction while other generals sneaked in their camps.
Their prediction wasn't wrong. Someone indeed infiltrated Cao Cao's camp.
…
"Ouch! It hurts!"
Li Feihong's soul injuries relapsed the moment he was about to open a portal under Cheng Yu's bed.
"Owowow! My back," Li Feihong complained as he cried, "I need a vacation."
*VHOOM*
Despite the torture, he activated his skill.
Cheng Yu, who was sleeping, fell into Li Feihong's gate and appeared in his dimension. The clueless strategist was sent a kilometer above the ground and fell at a rapid speed.
Cheng Yu thought that he was dreaming, so he didn't pay attention to his surroundings. By the time that this man realized that everything was real, his head already smashed on the floor.
Unfortunately, Cheng Yu was still Tong's clan member. Li Feihong's skill could not harm him, even if it was an indirect attack.
But Ma Chao was there. He immediately swung his halberd at Cheng Yu's head.
*BOOM*
Skull cracked, and his brain splattered. Unable to react, the last of Cao Cao's strategists got his head shattered like a watermelon.
Ma Chao, who was always by Li Feihong's side, cackled as he enjoyed the sweet revenge. He couldn't kill any of Cao Cao's elite officers in the other timeline, but he was more than happy to kill a few of them under Li Feihong's command.
As for Li Feihong, he mumbled as he circulated his life force to heal his physical wounds and mend his soul injuries.
"Next… Cao Cao. Eh, after I kill Cao Cao, do I really need to sabotage their supply?"
