700 War on Red Cliff (1/2)
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.