webnovelfull Chapter 463 Guan Xing Falls into the Trap
Chapter 463 Guan Xing Falls into the Trap
Everything has two sides, and so does killing. Cruel killing may instill fear in the enemy and make them submit to your tyranny, or it may completely enrage the enemy and make them fight you to the death.
Cao Cao's massacre of Xuzhou and Sun Quan's massacre of Jiangxia both frightened the local gentry and silenced the rebellious forces that were secretly plotting. However, Yu Jin's massacre of Jiangling completely enraged Guan Xing, who was so angry that he wanted to fight Yu Jin to the death. Why?
Why can the same thing lead to two completely different results?
The answer is simple: they targeted different enemies. Cao Cao and Sun Quan's massacres were aimed at the local gentry. These gentry were wealthy and powerful, and they valued their lives. They only wanted to gain benefits and had no intention of fighting to the death. When they encountered a butcher like Cao Cao who didn't care about his reputation, they were truly helpless.
Yu Jin was targeting Guan Xing, but who was Guan Xing? He was a ruthless man who dared to launch a surprise attack on Jianye after being defeated at Maicheng, who dared to lead a small number of troops deep into enemy territory to snatch food from the jaws of death, and who would fight to the death at the slightest provocation. How could Yu Jin possibly scare him with killing?
More importantly, Guan Xing's education was different from that of the Han Dynasty. He was a new-era youth deeply influenced by later generations' ideas, possessing a spirit of dedication. He was someone who could sacrifice his life for the people, even if it meant being a moth drawn to a flame. Trying to suppress him with killing was futile, not even for someone like Yu Jin, let alone the Japanese.
And then there's Wang Hong. Wang Hong was a ruthless man who resisted even when Jiangling fell, preferring to go to jail or be killed rather than surrender. Even Sun Quan couldn't do anything about him, so how could he be intimidated by you, Yu Jin?
Therefore, as soon as Guan Xing finished speaking, Wang Hong volunteered to take on the mission, asking Guan Xing for three hundred elite soldiers to carry out this difficult task.
Note that these are suicide squads, not elites. Suicide squads have the sole objective of completing their missions; they have no regard for life and only care about the mission. Once they go, they have no intention of coming back alive.
Faced with Wang Hong's request to join the battle, Guan Xing hesitated and said, "You've only just returned, you haven't even seen the King yet, let alone reunited with your family..."
Wang Hong firmly replied, "General, you are mistaken. Officials of the Han Dynasty have the responsibility to defend the land and protect the people. As the Sima of Nan Commandery, I should live and die with Jiangling. Moreover, my family is in Chengdu, so I have no worries. I only hope that after my death, the general can take care of my family. My son is only thirteen years old this year."
Seeing his determination, Guan Xing no longer hesitated and grabbed Wang Hong's hand, saying earnestly, "Although this matter is dangerous, even the most dangerous things must be done by someone. Since Sima has made up his mind, I will not try to persuade you anymore. Sima, rest assured, from now on your son will be my own brother. I will never let him go hungry as long as I have food to eat. You and Zhu Yi plan the attack route, and I will go and select men for you."
After speaking, he turned and left the main tent, going to see the three thousand elite garrison leaders he had brought from Jiangdong one by one. He explained the situation to them, emphasized the danger of the mission, and solemnly promised that the parents of the operatives would be his parents, and their children would be his children. If the mission failed and they did not return, he, Guan Xing, would take care of the parents of the fallen operatives until their deaths and raise their children to adulthood. Then he asked the garrison leaders to go and select people to sign up.
Guan Xing did not give a public speech on the drill ground but instead personally notified the troops because he was worried that there were spies from the Military Affairs Department in the army who might leak the information. If the information about a mission of this level were leaked, there would truly be no return.
The three thousand elite soldiers who came to Jiangling with Guan Xing were all warriors selected from tens of thousands of Wu soldiers. None of them were afraid of death at the critical moment, and those who were afraid of death would not have been chosen by Guan Xing.
So in just a quarter of an hour, more than 800 people signed up, including Zhu Chao, the commander of the personal guards, and Li Gousheng, the ace scout.
Guan Xing selected three hundred men and personally handed them over to Wang Hong, asking Wang Hong to get to know them first. He then went to prepare the supplies needed for the operation. In addition to swords and daggers, the most important thing was a fire source, as they were going to set fire to the grain. They couldn't do without a fire source.
To this end, Guan Xing specially prepared three hundred bamboo tubes, each half a foot long, and found many strips of cloth soaked in oil, rolled them into balls, and stuffed them into the bamboo tubes. When they arrived at their destination, they would take out the cloth balls, light them, and throw them into the grain pile to complete the task.
So when the night was late at night, Wang Hong led his army out, entering the city directly from the south gate and sneaking towards the north gate, preparing to launch a surprise attack on the barbican and burn the grain and fodder.
After the Wei army drove away the civilians at noon, Guan Xing completely opened the two southeast gates guarded by the Wu army and did not close them at night.
He was so bold because opening and closing the city gates would have no impact on the current situation. The city gates were not steps; even if the Wei army rushed through the city gates, they would not pose any threat to the Wu army on the city walls. Therefore, Guan Xing simply opened the city gates to allow the Wei army and civilians to enter and exit freely, providing an escape route for the civilians who had been massacred by the Wei army.
As for why the Wei army didn't come to block the gate, you try blocking it yourself. Do you really think the Wu army on the city wall is dead?
Moreover, Yu Jin was also afraid that the Wei army would desert after leaving the city, so a strange scene occurred: the city gates were opened, but Yu Jin dared not let the Wei army approach.
Late at night, the Wei army, exhausted from a day of attack, returned to their camp to rest. Wang Hong led three hundred elite soldiers dressed in Wei army uniforms and sneaked into the city under the cover of darkness. Led by Li, a carpenter from the woodworking workshop in the east of the city, they stealthily made their way to the north gate.
Where did the Wei army's uniforms come from? They were naturally seized by Sun Quan in the past few days.
Carpenter Li was one of the secret agents left behind by Guan Yu. He met up with Deng Hong when Deng Hong first entered the city. These days, he has been actively running around the city and has now basically figured out the deployment and patrol patterns of the Wei army in the city. He can help Wang Hong avoid the Wei army patrols.
Wang Hong was familiar with the city's terrain, and Li the carpenter was familiar with the Wei army's deployment. Isn't that a coincidence?
Wang Hong led three hundred elite soldiers through a maze of twists and turns, finally reaching the vicinity of the North Gate around dawn. After observing from behind a house for a while, Li the carpenter said, "The barbican gate of the North City is just ahead. Although there are guards at the gate, the defense is not strong. After all, this area is considered the rear for the Wei army."
Wang Hong said, "Since that's the case, what are you worried about? Come with me."
After speaking, he got up and walked towards the city gate, with the other assassins standing in several rows behind him, swaggering towards the barbican disguised as a Wei army patrol.
Previously, when they encountered unavoidable Wei army patrols, they had gotten by in this way. Under the watchful eyes of the city gate guards, Wang Hong walked to within five meters of the city gate and spoke first: "Seize Jiangling and destroy Guan Xing, report back."
The army needed to exchange secret codes during night patrols. If the codes didn't match, they would take action immediately. Wang Hong's code was obtained by Li the carpenter from a familiar Wei soldier at great expense. After all, this group of Wei soldiers had lived in Jiangling as surrendered soldiers and had dealt with Li the carpenter before, so they had a trading channel.
An hour ago, they had tricked a patrol of Wei soldiers with a code. This time, Wang Hong tried the same trick again, but the guards immediately raised their guns and shouted when they heard the password: "The password was changed 25 minutes ago. Who are you people?"
To prevent leaks, passwords are changed frequently, meaning Wang Hong's password has expired.
As a veteran, Wang Hong was well aware of this and was not surprised. He charged forward the moment the defenders raised their guns, and the others quickly followed.
The two sides were only five meters apart. Wang Hong quickly rushed to the guards and swung his sword down. The guards at the gate, numbering only a few dozen, could not withstand Wang Hong's sudden attack. However, the commotion alerted the nearby Wei army. Before the battle was over, Wang Hong heard the shouts of battle behind him and hurriedly shouted, "Don't dawdle, open the gate quickly!"
Zhu Chao and Li Gousheng attacked simultaneously, quickly breaking through the blockade to reach the gate, removing the bolt, and opening the city gate.
They're inside the city now. It's not easy to break down the city gates from the outside, but it's not difficult to pull them open from the inside.
The city gates opened, and three hundred assassins rushed in. As they entered, they pulled out bamboo tubes, bit out oil-soaked cloth balls with their teeth, lit them, and then charged forward to the tents to set them ablaze.
To prevent rain damage, the food and fodder were piled up inside tents rather than stored in the open air.
With limited fire resources, Wang Hong dared not waste them and planned to throw away the grain only after seeing it inside the tent. Unexpectedly, as soon as the fire was lit, countless Wei soldiers rushed out of the tent and attacked. At the same time, someone on the city wall shouted excitedly, "General Yu really guessed right! You bunch of fools actually came to burn the grain! It's a pity that General Yu moved the grain away long ago. Surprised? Unexpected!"