Chapter 700-War on Red Cliff
Translator: ryangohsf
Editor: Nora
The clear Han River flowed like a fierce tiger into the Changjiang. The river water and the freshwater did not mix together, forming a very obvious divide.
The voyage squadron that had obtained a huge victory went down the river and entered the Changjiang.
The splashing river continued to flow.
Ouyang Shuo stood at the front of the ship, looking out and thinking of a thousand year poem.
……
East flows the mighty Yangtze River,
Its rolling waves have washed away all the heroes.
In the blink of an eye,
Our rights, wrongs, gains, and losses are all in vain.
However, green hills still remain here as ever.
How often have we enjoyed the rosy setting sun?
A gray-haired man stands on this fishing bank alone,
He is so used to the spring wind and autumn moon.
It’s a real joy of reunion over a pot of nice wine,
All the things past and present,
Are retold with nothing but peals of laughter!
……
All of a sudden, he was filled with emotion.
His current state was like that of the Changjiang, splashing like the waves, but sometimes really calm. The Changjiang had given birth to many Chinese civilizations.
Jia Xu stood behind Ouyang Shuo with a deep and unreadable expression. Jia Xu’s eyes showed that he was deep in thought.
The shock that the voyage squadron had given him slowly faded. However, Jia Xu did not understand the actions of Ouyang Shuo in these few days.
After capturing Lu Su, Lu Meng, Gan Ning, and Zhou Tai, Ouyang Shuo did not even meet them even once, which was weird to Jia Xu. Instead, Ouyang Shuo asked the soldiers to take good care of them.
Such a course of action was just too weird.
Jia Xu saw through how much Ouyang Shuo wanted talents and how much he needed these generals. If not, he would not have ordered the troops to sweep the battlefield.
Since that was the case, why not meet them and make them surrender?
Jia Xu did not get it.
Ouyang Shuo noticed Jia Xu’s doubts, but he was not going to explain. It was easy to capture them but hard to recruit them. Earning their loyalty was difficult.
At this juncture, the battle had just started, so how could Ouyang Shuo hope that Lu Su and the rest would surrender. If that was the case, Ouyang Shuo would not dare to accept it.
Rather than wasting his breath, why not just wait for the right time?
Ouyang Shuo was considering how to attack Red Cliff.
Crushing the Lu Su Army was not to really kill them all, and they had captured two thousand prisoners. In these past few days, the intel officer had obtained some intel through the interrogation.
Notably, Lu Su had received an emergency order to immediately return to Red Cliff.
Ouyang Shuo could not predict if Huang Gai and Liu Bei had received similar orders. However, they could be sure that Red Cliff was prepared for them.
Especially after the Lu Su Army fell, the enemy would have been alerted.
Hence, Ouyang Shuo needed to be even more careful.
When he first entered the Changjiang, he thought about going up and destroying the Huang Gai army first.
However, Jia Xu disagreed.
"There's a high chance that Huang Gai has gathered with Liu Bei to strike. If we fail to crush them and instead get ourselves into trouble, that would affect the Red Cliff plan. On the contrary, if we take down Red Cliff and cut off all their communications, Huang Gai will have no choice but to come. At that time, we can just lay in wait at Red Cliff."
When Ouyang Shuo heard this analysis, he could not help but exclaim.
……
Battle map 7th day, Dragon Head.
Two days away from Red Cliff, Ouyang Shuo ordered them to slow down. At the same time, hundreds of Cima Boats broke away and brought hundreds of frogmen to scout.
The squadron slowly proceeded forward as they awaited intel.
On the night of the 8th day, the first batch of frogmen brought the newest intel.
Based on what they described, the enemy had built a large fortress at Red Cliff and Wulin that contained hundreds of warships lying in wait. The exterior of the fortress was purposely camouflaged and hidden.
Especially the fortress on the Wulin side; it was surrounded by charge wood. One could not see clearly into it, so they naturally would not be able to see the warships.
Some of the bigger warships were purposely disguised.
If the navy went in without preparation, it was not hard to imagine what trap laid in wait for them.
The motive of the enemy was obvious.
Apart from that, the frogmen also brought back another piece of important intel.
Based on what the special force frogmen that dived into the fortress at night had seen, the enemy similarly had turreted ships and Mengchong Warships. Their turreted ships were also equipped with cannons.
Upon initial estimation, they had no less than 300 cannons.
When Ouyang Shuo heard this news, a light shone in his eyes. Without a doubt, Xiong Ba and the others had grasped cannon making technology; otherwise, there was no way they could obtain so many cannons.
"They truly did a good job of keeping it a secret!"
……
Battle room.
"Wen He, do you have any good plan?" Ouyang Shuo asked Jia Xu.
Even Zheng He turned around and looked toward Jia Xu, his eyes filled with eagerness. After a few days of dealing with one another, Zheng He had started to respect and worship Jia Xu more and more.
Jia Xu did not decline out of humbleness. After all, the role of a strategist was exactly that, so he asked, “Admiral, if we force the attack, no matter what ambush the enemy has to attack both shores, what are our chances of winning?"
When Zheng He heard this question, his expression froze. He stood up and moved to the middle of the sand board.
Five meters long and three meters wide; based on the intel from the frogmen, the enemy formations and arrangements in Red Cliff were all perfectly replicated on the sand board through many warship models.
Zheng He placed the models that represented the voyage squadron onto the river surface between the two strongholds. After he placed the models there, he slowly contemplated.
Obviously, Zheng He was modeling and visualizing the battle in his mind to deduce the formation and firepower arrangement he should use.
Half an hour had passed and the models were all placed down. Hundreds of warships were placed into the narrow river, filling it to the brim.
Even Ouyang Shuo could not see what was special about this formation.
After placing everything down, Zheng He did not stop and started to move the warships on both sides. One by one, he shifted them to pincer the voyage squadron from left and right.
Seeing his serious expression, Ouyang Shuo's intuition told him that the battle on the sand board was underway, cannons blazing and a massacre was happening.
Ouyang Shuo and Jia Xu held their breaths; they did not dare to disturb Zheng He.
As time went on, the warships were lit up in flames by Zheng He, representing the fall of the warship. Small fires encapsulated an indescribable killing.
More and more warships were set on fire as time went on.
At the same time, Zheng He continued to change the formation of both his troops and the enemy.
Trying to deduce the fighting methods of both sides at once was a huge test of brain power and strategic ability.
Ouyang Shuo could clearly see beads of sweat appearing on Zheng He's forehead.
Zheng He himself did not notice that as he was still simulating the battlefield. More warships caught on fire. Even the voyage squadron could not avoid it as one after another caught fire.
A full half an hour later, the simulation was finally completed.
The huge sand board became exceedingly empty. The lit model ships had turned to ash. Only tens of warships floated on the river, and some of them were still smoking.
Ouyang Shuo looked at Jia Xu, his eyes extremely serious.
The results could not be more obvious. Even if they went all in, they could only achieve a tough victory.
Such an outcome was not something Ouyang Shuo wanted.
The goal of the voyage squadron was not only to crush the troops defending Red Cliff; they needed to defend this strategic choke point. If they squeezed out a victory, the remaining troops would not be able to block the attacks of Huang Gai and Liu Bei. If that was the case, it would undoubtedly be a failure.
Hence, the voyage squadron needed to win beautifully.
At this juncture, Zhang He had already regained his senses and bowed, “Monarch, mister, as you can see, we only have a 60% chance of winning. I still have not considered what would happen if Huang Gai and Liu Bei rushed back."
"In a battle, if just one arrives, it would be catastrophic." Zheng He's expression was solemn.
When Ouyang Shuo heard this analysis, he was totally silent.
Red Cliff was a strategic chokepoint; now, it was in the hands of the enemy.
In a case where numbers and equipment were not too different, without having an advantage in geography, cleanly destroying the enemy was truly difficult.
Only a genius could come up with a plan for this.
Ouyang Shuo raised his head and looked at Jia Xu with eyes filled with expectancy
Jia Xu stared at the sand board with his brows locked tight; obviously, he had not thought of a way.
"Monarch, should we use the frogmen method?" Zheng He interrupted.
"You mean to send them to chisel the boats?"
"That's right." Zheng He nodded, “Sneakily destroy their warships. Without their ships, what else can they do?"
The first time this strategy was used, the whole Spanish Invincible Squadron was wiped out, bringing Ouyang Shuo massive riches. That shocking scene truly had a massive impact on Zheng He, and he remembered that moment clearly till date.
Ouyang Shuo thought about it and rejected the proposal, “That's not feasible. We are on a river, not the ocean. It's narrow and our warships cannot get close to Red Cliff. Currently, their warships are docked in the stronghold. Even if they are chiseled, they will just return to shore."
"With that, we would have only destroyed their ships, but they would be fine. Even if we take over Red Cliff, we will be attacked by a huge army."
There was one more point that Ouyang Shuo did not voice.
Not totally destroying the troops defending Red Cliff was detrimental to his following plan.
"So, this can only be the worst-case scenario. If possible, I want an even better plan.”