When Zhao Zhixian and Tan Yuliang detected an ambush ahead, their natural instinct was to retreat along the original route. But at that moment, a column of black smoke rose from the direction of Zhugong Creek, leaving them both alarmed and puzzled.
Tan Yuliang spurred his horse back to the ridge heights, only to discover over a dozen tribal soldiers on the bamboo bridge piling firewood transported by several mules onto the narrow bridge—wide enough for only a single horse to pass—and setting it ablaze.
Even if the bamboo bridge weren’t destroyed, with over a dozen tribal soldiers holding bows to defend one end of the bridge, they would have little chance of forcing their way through.
Currently pressed against Zhongfang Mountain, the road was narrow and rugged, unfavorable for horses to gallop. Seeing over a hundred tribal soldiers emerging from the forest in a swarm with swords, bows, and rattan shields, Zhao Zhixian and Tan Yuliang lacked the courage to remain in place questioning why these tribal soldiers had ambushed them. They immediately led their horses eastward into the mountain hollow, hoping Zhongfang City’s garrison would quickly notice the abnormality here and send troops to rescue them.
When the smoke column rose from Zhugong Creek, it already attracted the attention of Zhongfang City’s garrison. After being informed, commander Tan Tie hastily climbed the southern tower to observe.
The forest where the tribal soldiers were ambushed was less than ten li from Zhongfang City’s southern tower. Though he couldn’t see clearly, he could vaguely make out over a hundred soldiers split into two groups pursuing someone into the mountains. Calculating the time, he guessed Zhao Zhixian and Tan Yuliang had been ambushed halfway.
At this moment, Tan Tie suddenly realized that on the Yuan River surface east of Zhongfang City, the number of awning sailboats gathered was unusually numerous.
The Han father and son’s forces in Qianyang City and Wuliu Creek (Longya City) showed no abnormalities. The troops currently gathering on the Yuan River and those ambushed at the mountain’s foot pursuing his clan uncle Tan Yuliang and Xuzhou Administrator Zhao Zhixian could only be forces of the Four Great Clans.
Regardless of what schemes the Four Great Clans harbored against them, Tan Tie couldn’t allow Tan Yuliang and Zhao Zhixian to be captured or killed by the Four Great Clans. He dispatched scouts to confirm no other ambushes remained at the southeastern foot, then sent out the city’s only three hundred cavalry, leaving the city toward the southeastern foot to pursue the ambushers and rescue Tan Yuliang and Zhao Zhixian from the tiger’s jaws.
At this time, Feng Changyu and Xi Zhen, wearing silver-scaled armor, hid in an awning boat’s cabin, watching every movement of Zhongfang City several li away. Seeing the three hundred cavalry lured seven to eight li from the city, they didn’t hesitate to signal, notifying the thirty-six awning boats gathered left and right to shoot like arrows toward the mouth of Luojiao Creek on Zhongfang City’s southern side.
Four fishing boats were closest to Luojiao Creek’s mouth. They immediately rushed beneath a newly built wooden bridge downstream of Luojiao Creek. Dozens of tribal soldiers secretly packed in the narrow cabins of the four fishing boats jumped off and quickly circled to the bridge, using hooked ropes to hoist several simple horse barriers from the fishing boats onto the bridge head, preventing the three hundred Tanzhou cavalry already lured to Luojiao Creek’s southern bank from turning back to Zhongfang City at any time.
Although over the past year Tanzhou had sent over a thousand elite troops and more than two thousand dependents into Xuzhou, even to deceive oneself and avoid the court’s inquiry after detection, they couldn’t openly arm all thousand-plus elites and deploy them on Zhongfang Fort’s city walls.
Therefore, Zhongfang City maintained only about four hundred armed guards as standing forces. More able-bodied men resembled refugees they had gathered at Zhongfang Mountain’s foot.
Even after Han Qian fled to Xuzhou, the instructions Tan Tie, Tan Yuliang, and Zhao Zhixian received from Tanzhou were merely to remain secretly vigilant without rash movements. They were convinced the Han father and son would ultimately need Tanzhou.
This was also a main reason why, besides being misled by Supervisory Commissioner Zhang Ping and Gao Bao, Feng Changyu and the other three clan chieftains believed Tanzhou had only about four hundred troops in Zhongfang City.
Now seeing over three hundred cavalry lured to Luojiao Creek’s southern bank, Feng Changyu and his group naturally believed that even gathering a thousand troops to land from Luojiao Creek’s mouth, they could storm Zhongfang City before the Han father and son could react.
Seeing forty to fifty awning sailboats and fishing boats rush into Luojiao Creek’s mouth three to four li south of the city, with over a thousand tribal soldiers swarming off boats to land and assemble on the newly built thoroughfare north of the creek beach connecting to the wooden bridge, Zhongfang City commander Tan Tie had different thoughts.
Tan Tie had considered the possibility that the Four Clans might concentrate forces to directly attack the city. After all, if the Four Clans’ settlement soldiers assembled in the open area between Luojiao Creek and Zhongfang City, they might more likely assume Zhongfang City’s defenses were weak. But he couldn’t risk having the three hundred-plus cavalry and Tan Yuliang and Zhao Zhixian completely blockaded on Luojiao Creek’s southern bank.
Once the assembled Four Clans’ settlement soldiers didn’t attack the city but crossed the wooden bridge to Luojiao Creek’s southern bank, they only needed to hold the bridge to concentrate superior forces to surround and attack the three hundred-plus cavalry sent to rescue Tan Yuliang and Zhao Zhixian.
Tan Tie didn’t even know whether over the past ten-plus days, the Four Clans had scattered more ambushes deep in Zhongfang Mountain.
Seeing no more vessels approaching from left and right on the river, and scouts watching Wuliu Creek (Longya City) and Qianyang City sending no abnormal signals, Tan Tie naturally summoned over six hundred armored soldiers urgently donning armor in the city to attack the Four Clans’ settlement soldiers assembled on Luojiao Creek’s northern bank.
Watching armored soldiers filing out from Zhongfang City’s gate tunnel in orderly fashion, Feng Changyu’s face paled somewhat. Suppressing his voice, he asked his son Feng Jin, who was wearing heavy armor and ordering settlement soldiers to form ranks: “How did you scout the enemy? How could Yingyu Fort have only four hundred troops?”
“Did the Han father and son secretly send troops hidden into Zhongfang City waiting for us to fall into their trap?”
Feng Jin still hadn’t realized they had misjudged Tanzhou’s actual forces secretly dispatched to Xuzhou from beginning to end. He still thought all this before him was a trap jointly set by Tanzhou and the Han father and son, waiting for the Four Clans to stumble in.
Indeed, how could they possibly realize the Han father and son weren’t allied with Tanzhou? How could they realize Han Qian’s flight to Xuzhou was a deception and trap personally arranged by Emperor Tianyou to deal with Tanzhou?
The back of Feng Jin’s head tightened repeatedly. Turning to look for Gao Bao, he saw a fishing boat silently heading out from the creek mouth. Besides several oarsmen, wasn’t the figure standing at the bow Gao Bao?
When the Han father and son first entered Xuzhou, they had forced the Four Clans to organize a fleet for trade with Jinling. At that time, they dispatched Feng Zhang and Gao Bao leading Feng clan members to escort ships, while also having Feng Zhang and Gao Bao watch Feng Xuan’s every move.
All vessels of the Four Clans’ fleet were destroyed by Liang forces during the Jingxiang campaign. Though Han Daoxun and Han Qian paid compensation, after the Jingxiang campaign they didn’t reorganize the Four Clans’ fleet, merely using the Xuzhou Boatmen’s Guild headed by Yang Qin to maintain trade between Xuzhou and Jinling and Junzhou.
After that, except for Feng Xuan who continued leading some people to assist the Xuzhou Boatmen’s Guild in transporting goods, Feng Zhang and Gao Bao both returned to tribal settlements.
The Feng Changyu and Feng Jin father-son pair had always worried Feng Xuan might be bought by the Han father and son, even specifically having Feng Zhang lead a troop to garrison a settlement near Feng Xuan to watch his every move. But they never imagined Gao Bao would be the problem?
From Yingyu Fort’s (Zhongfang City’s) southern gate, only about three li remained before reaching the bridge. Over such a short distance, Feng Changyu and Feng Jin couldn’t withdraw settlement soldiers from the bridge to board ships from the creek beach and escape. Moreover, the three hundred-plus cavalry that had entered Luojiao Creek’s southern bank had now stopped and could counterattack at greater speed at any moment.
They could only steel themselves to inspire the soldiers, contracting their formation more tightly at the bridge head to respond to the first wave of assault by Tanzhou’s elite armored soldiers.
“What’s happening? Wasn’t it said Tanzhou only had four hundred troops in Yingyu Fort?” Former Xuzhou Administrative Commissioner Xi Zhen walked over with a panicked expression. His fat, short body stretched the scale armor bulging as if an iron-armored ball rolling on the ground, anxiously questioning Feng Changyu.
“Didn’t your Xi clan also confirm earlier that Yingyu Fort had only four hundred Tanzhou troops?” Feng Jin asked back somewhat frantically.
“Though Tanzhou’s forces secretly hidden in Yingyu Fort exceed our imagination, they’re not undefeatable!” Feng Changyu said in a somber tone. On one hand, he couldn’t let military morale collapse before battle. On the other hand, standing before an earthen mound, they could see that besides the six hundred-plus armored soldiers, no more troops emerged from Zhongfang City, settling his heart considerably. He thought that even if the Han father and son colluded with Tanzhou to set a trap, with Qianyang City having only so many able-bodied men, no matter how cunning the Han father and son were, the elite troops they could hide in Yingyu Fort without flaws were ultimately limited.
At this moment, Feng Changyu remained convinced the Han father and son had colluded with Tanzhou to set a trap targeting them.
For this surprise attack on Yingyu Fort, they had drawn five hundred elite settlement soldiers from Jingyun Fort, while the Xiang, Yang, and Xi clans together contributed eight hundred elite settlement soldiers for this operation.
Excluding over a hundred settlement soldiers serving as bait, they currently had nearly twelve hundred elite settlement soldiers gathered on Luojiao Creek’s northern bank. As long as they held the wooden bridge to prevent the three hundred-plus cavalry from having the opportunity to strike their rear, facing six hundred-plus Tanzhou armored soldiers head-on, they should have at least an eighty percent chance of victory!
Of course, they had to rout Tanzhou’s forces and capture Yingyu Fort before the Han father and son led troops over. The time left to them was very limited. Otherwise, they could only flee deep into Zhongfang Mountain to avoid the Han father and son’s sharp edge.
An incense stick later, Tan Tie led over six hundred armored soldiers advancing to before the Four Clans’ settlement soldiers’ formation. Like the Four Clans’ settlement soldiers, they all wanted to end this suddenly erupted decisive battle before the Han father and son led troops to arrive, retreating to defend Zhongfang City.
Under dense arrow rain, Tanzhou’s armored soldiers raised shields high, charging forward fearlessly.
The Four Clans’ settlement soldiers carried small wooden bows convenient for hunting through forests, but the arrows they shot had limited force. In comparison, Tanzhou’s armored soldiers’ equipment was much superior. Braving the arrow rain to charge forward, wielding swords and shields, they clashed with Four Clans’ settlement soldiers wielding spears in the front ranks. Archers in the rear launched wave after wave of iron arrows into the Four Clans’ settlement soldiers’ formation. Sprays of blood flew up. Neither side probed, nor were there even the simplest battle implements like horse barriers or caltrops to separate both sides—they directly entered the most brutal close-quarters combat.
Though the Four Clans’ settlement soldiers’ equipment was much inferior, they had numerical advantage. Moreover, all tribal people were fierce and warlike, showing no fear before the bloody battlefield.
This was also the main reason why, despite sparse tribal populations in Chenzhou, Xuzhou, Shaozhou, and Hengzhou, and despite having great rivers like the Yuan River connecting to the Dongting Lake heartland, they had never been thoroughly assimilated by the central government over hundreds of years.
Over nine hundred years ago, Eastern Han general Ma Yuan led over forty thousand elite troops in southern campaigns against the Wuling tribes, ultimately being blocked at Yuan River’s Hutou and dying of illness with regret…