Two hours later, the Changsha troops rushed into the capital of Gong’an County. In less than an hour, the county-level government manor laid down their arms and surrendered. They had no way to fight back against thousands of Changsha soldiers. The troops took over all the horses and weapons in the city and retreated to the pier.
The sky was faintly growing brighter, turning the river gray. A dense fog rose off the surface of the river, cloaking it, and it was impossible to see more than a few feet away. In the distance came the sound of water, and Zhou Yu, wrapped in a long, dark blue robe, his feet bare, stood on the pier, blowing into a whistle. The sound of the whistle echoed into the fog.
Zhou Yu watched quietly.
Lu Su was not here.
“General Huang, General Zhu Zhi,” Sun Ce said from atop his horse, riding past the troops, “you two are in charge of preparing strongholds outside the pier and setting up stakes for defense!
“General Cheng,” Sun Ce continued, “bring one thousand men and scatter them through the city. Arm them with bows, and have them lie in wait on the rooftops! Prepare for a dogfight in the streets!”
“Wait a little longer,” Zhou Yu said.
The entire pier was filled with a deathly silence while Zhou Yu held the bamboo whistle in his hand, facing the rushing waters of the river.
The sun rose, and the dense fog dissipated like ghosts swirling in a long night, revealing the light of the golden-red sun coating the river. Faint shadows appeared amid the shadows of the mountains in the distance.
Zhou Yu blew the bamboo whistle with all his might, its sound piercing the heavens. The whistle carried in it an undisguisable waver of agitation.
A bird screech resounded through the air in response!
Fei Yu spread its wings and soared across the sky. The beat of drums rose up all along the river, and some forty-odd new ships, draped in the light of the dawn, approached the pier.
The Changsha troops cheered thunderously. Zhou Yu almost slumped over onto the pier. They were finally here.
“Lu Zijing!” Zhou Yu shouted angrily. “If you hadn’t come today, I would have lost my life!”
Lu Su called back from a distance, “We ran into a flood on the way, but we held out! We aren’t late, are we?”
Sun Ce smiled as he yelled, “You’re here now. All is well!”
The large boats anchored along the shore in twos and threes, and the moment the Changsha troops retreated onto them, they raised their sails and left Gong’an. Just as they did, hundreds of warships appeared, floating after them, and drums beat loudly, instantly turning the center of the river into a battleground.
Damn! Zhou Yu’s heart pounded. He thought he’d accounted for the heavens and the earth, but he hadn’t considered this!
“Return to shore, quickly!” The drumbeats thundered, and Zhou Yu immediately ordered, “Line up in formation!”
The flag bearers raised the flags and the forty-two ships turned, without even the slightest intention to retreat.
“We’re not leaving?” Sun Ce asked.
“We can’t leave now!” Zhou Yu roared back. “Lu Zijing! You control the left wing! Bofu, you go to the right wing! Use the flags as signals!”
Sun Ce sprang into action and leaped up, swinging across on a rope fixed to the mast toward another ship.
Liu Biao had sent his general Cai Mao to swoop in and kill them. After he raised his flags and declared his intentions, only to see the enemy was not surrendering, their arrows came pouring down like rain.
The Changsha troops’ warships turned, shifting into two wings that outflanked the enemy. Cai Mao’s large army was like a huge fish, while Zhou Yu’s water troops moved like a flying eagle, spreading its wings in flight as they shifted to engage!
“Central division, break through!” Zhou Yu shouted.
He stood at the prow while slings of arrows rushed toward him in a torrential storm. The guards raised their shields and rushed forward. Zhou Yu couldn’t spare time for flag signals, so he placed his bamboo whistle at his lips and blew it.
“Break through!”
“Master Zhou!” the commander of the water troops shouted. “The warships have yet to be tested for direct collision…”
“Break through!” Zhou Yu shouted. “All consequences will be mine to bear!”
The central division raised their paddles fiercely, letting out earthshaking shouts, before charging right into Cai Mao’s vanguard!
There was an explosive crash, and Zhou Yu called out, “Left and right, close in!”
The left and right wings folded in, closing in doggedly on Cai Mao’s vanguard. The Jing Province naval troops had been taken off guard and tried to retreat, but as soon as the warships collided, gangplanks landed, bridging the ships. The Changsha troops, weapons in hand, rushed onto the enemy ships, slaughtering as they went. Every single one of their soldiers was as good as ten.
Zhou Yu had been waiting for this exact moment. With his long robes fluttering, the Chijun Sword in hand, he charged ahead of the soldiers across the gangplank!
“I’ll assist you!” Sun Ce roared.
Sun Ce held his Panlong Staff and rushed over, raising it and sweeping in a broad arc. The mast of the ship broke under the blow and came crashing down.
Zhou Yu, the bamboo whistle dangling from his lips, was winded. Once he caught his breath, he blew it, and when Lu Su heard the signal, he beat the gong.
The ships on the battleground tangled together. Cai Mao’s large forces were stuck in the center of the river, unable to make it through. From the rear, Cheng Pu’s fire arrows flew haphazardly through the air like red clouds storming toward them.
At the very last moment, the ships of the Changsha troops retreated swiftly, and the Jing Province warships, damaged and split from their battering, sank in the water. Zhou Yu gave his orders. The river was narrow around the Gong’an pier, and the center of the channel was blocked by several ships. Cai Mao would be unable to follow. Gongs sounded all around them. The entire army disengaged and retreated, not losing even a single ship.
A brisk wind rose, filling the sails of the ships, and ten thousand oars rose and fell in unison as they put a good few miles between them and their enemy. They’d lost Cai Mao behind them. Huang Zu’s army filled the Gong’an pier, while Sun Ce, Zhou Yu, and Lu Su stood shoulder to shoulder at the head of the ship.
Sun Ce raised his voice. “Huang Zu! You and I have a blood debt; we cannot coexist under the same sky. The day will come when Sun Bofu will cut your head from your neck, as an offering to my father’s spirit!”
The black mass of troops on the pier of Gong’an slowly grew distant before vanishing on the horizon. The forty-two large ships, carrying over four thousand Changsha troops, rode the wind and the waves down the Yangtze, returning to Jiangnan.