The Battle of Red Cliffs (2)
"Halt! The Wu navy will stop where it stands!"
Huang Gai looked at the general shouting from ahead.
He's caught on. But it's already too late.
Naturally, he had not the slightest intention of stopping his ships.
"Full speed ahead!"
One step. Just one more step, and he could turn every last one of Cao Cao's vessels into kindling.
Riding the southeast wind, the ships cleaved the black water to either side with a rushing hiss and charged straight for Cao Cao's fleet.
"This is—"
Wen Ping drew a sharp breath at the Wu navy's movement. Something was wrong!
"I warn you again. The Wu navy will stop at once!"
Wen Ping issued a second warning, but the Wu ships answered by driving forward even faster.
"Damn it! We've been tricked! Sound the alarm and prepare for battle!"
Boom-boom-boom-boom!
Clang-clang-clang-clang!
Over the Yangtze, which moments before had held nothing but the sound of water and wind, the night filled with the thunder of drums and the crash of gongs.
"Send word to the Prime Minister to evacuate! The surrender is a ruse!"
Soldiers scrambled in every direction, and at Wen Ping's frantic order—
"Stop them! Loose the arrows!"
—the archers drew their bows.
Arrows hissed out in a rain, but against those massive hulls they were no better than toothpicks. How could such shafts halt a ship's advance?
"Shoot! Keep shooting!"
Few soldiers remained aboard Huang Gai's lead ships. Once the ramming speed was locked in, most of them had already leapt into the water.
The prows, bristling with countless arrows, smashed one after another into the front of Cao Cao's line.
Crash! Crash!
Cracks spidered through the seemingly solid forward ranks of the fleet. Archers staggered under the impact.
From the rear, Huang Gai bellowed.
"Fire arrows! Loose!"
From Huang Gai's vanguard, hundreds—thousands—of yellow points of light bloomed, then stretched into yellow streaks that streaked into Cao Cao's ships and buried themselves in timber.
In an instant those hundreds and thousands of lines became a single vast fireball that swallowed the fleet.
"Fire! The ships are on fire!"
Already packed with sulfur and saltpeter, the vessels were seized at once by a fire-demon that painted Cao Cao's army in crimson.
"Cut the ships free and put out the flames!"
But Cao Cao's fleet was chained together with iron links; they could not be cast off at once. Soldiers fumbled frantically at the chains, yet the fire spread faster still.
Riding the high wind, the blaze consumed the decks, climbed the masts, and began to devour the sails themselves.
Worse, collisions with Wu's ships kept coming, and the fire-demon grew more savage by the moment—now devouring not only timber but men.
In the midst of Wen Ping's and his soldiers' panic, worse news arrived.
"General! Enemy warships approaching!"
Huang Gai, from the rear, was bringing his proper warships in at last and beginning a full assault on Cao Cao's forces.
"Open fire. Kill every last one of Cao Cao's dogs!"
With flames and a rain of arrows both falling on them, Wen Ping had to decide.
"Abandon this ship. Leave the burning capital ships and take the light craft out to hold them off!"
Before long, light skiffs—swift little attack boats—carrying Wen Ping's men slipped out between the burning hulls and loosed arrows at Huang Gai's line.
The skiffs were fast, but they could carry few soldiers and offered little protection. When Huang Gai's men returned fire, Wu's archers crumpled without resistance, blood streaming from chest or head.
When a warship so vast it was almost embarrassing to compare them rammed home, one skiff split apart as if it had exploded, and its soldiers scattered into the water like gravel flung from a road.
"Don't meet them head-on. Harass them and buy time."
The skiffs put their superior speed and turning radius to full use, darting out from behind the capital ships to shoot, then vanishing again. But they were nowhere near enough to stop Huang Gai's fleet. All they could do was buy a little time.
"Find Cao Cao! A rich reward to the man who takes him!"
Then Wen Ping saw him—an old general at the prow, white beard streaming as he closed in. Huang Gai himself.
So that's Huang Gai. I'll kill that one if no one else.
Huang Gai was driving his ship straight at them. It stood out farther than the others; with luck, a clean shot might be possible.
"Hide behind for now. Attack on my signal."
Wen Ping's skiff slipped its hull behind a burning warship and waited until Huang Gai's vessel was almost on top of them before he gave the order.
"Now! Shoot! Aim for their commander!"
The skiff shot out like a dart, and the archers drew. Whish! Whish!
Several Wu soldiers near the prow went down with arrows in them—
—and Wen Ping himself raised his bow and took aim at Huang Gai, who stood farthest forward.
Twang!
The arrow split the air and buried itself cleanly in Huang Gai's shoulder.
"Ghk—!"
Huang Gai clutched his shoulder, staggered, and toppled over the side into the water.
"General Huang Gai! General Huang Gai!"
Soldiers leaned over the gunwales, calling his name.
"Good. Fall back for now and follow the Prime Minister."
Wen Ping used the chaos to withdraw.
His exploit had checked the Wu navy, if only a little—and a little was all it was. Wu still held many cards, and the shadow of defeat over Cao Cao's army only grew darker.
"Damn it all. What kind of mess is this…"
Yu Jin, aboard a ship some distance from Cao Cao's, was at a loss. The fire attacks he had suffered at Liu Bei's hands more than once before were enough to set his teeth on edge just remembering them.
But this—what was this? The inferno before his eyes was of an entirely different order.
The fire-demon, thrashing as if in a violent dance, raked and shattered the ships, then the water-gates, and now stretched its claws toward the camps on shore.
The blaze was bright enough to steal a man's soul, but Yu Jin forced himself to keep his wits.
Commanding the light craft, he managed at last to make landfall.
"The Prime Minister? What of the Prime Minister? He put out by ship—"
But the soldiers in the main camp were so frantic putting out fires that none of them knew where Cao Cao had gone.
Then a familiar bulk filled Yu Jin's sight.
"General Xu Chu?"
If anyone would know Cao Cao's whereabouts, it was Xu Chu, who guarded the Prime Minister's person. Yu Jin ran straight to him. Sure enough, behind Xu Chu he found Cao Cao.
"Prime Minister. You are unharmed."
"…"
Cao Cao said nothing. He only looked at the proud army he had raised.
The view from shore was nothing short of catastrophic. Everywhere he looked: fire. Fire. Fire.
As if a sun had fallen into this dark night sea, the flames rose as though they meant to swallow the water itself.
And yet, in that world where everything was being wrapped in heat and reduced to ash, there was one man alone who felt a chill crawl over his whole body. Cao Cao stood rigid, frozen in place as if a killing frost had invaded him.
Black smoke choked the sky, and the sea was dyed a solid, seething red. A soldier whose clothes had caught fire could not bear the pain and leapt into the water; the crimson surface shattered around him.
The man screamed for help. Several soldiers jumped in after him—not to save him. They, too, could think of nothing but their own lives, and only screamed to be saved.
The great navy Cao Cao had boasted of was now little better than firewood.
Who summoned this hell? Was it me—or Zhou Yu?
Strangely, his head did not ache. Or perhaps there was simply no room left to feel the pain.
Cao Cao forced the words from a dry throat.
"Put out the fires at once and restore order. The main camp, at least, must be held. And send to Cao Ren at Jiangling for relief."
"Yes, my lord!"
But they were not even granted time to restore order.
Boom-boom-boom-boom!
Boom-boom-boom-boom!
"Hm? That can't be—"
From both flanks of the main camp, drums rolled with a deep, rolling roar.
"Wu's army! Wu has landed!"
Seizing the chaos, forces under Gan Ning, Ling Tong, and the other generals had crossed the Yangtze. From both sides they came pouring toward Cao Cao's main camp.
"Choose how you die—by Gan Ning's blade, by drowning, or burned alive! Livin' through this ain't on the menu, so don't even think it!"
"Advance! Annihilate the enemy!"
"Hold them! Stop the enemy!"
The landed Wu troops set fire to the main camp itself as they smashed their way in.
"Prime Minister, I regret to say we can hold no longer. You must withdraw from here."
"Damn it…"
At Cheng Yu's words, Cao Cao clenched his teeth. How could he have been so careless?
Zhang Liao, Xu Huang, Zhang Pae, Yue Jin, and the other generals fought desperately to hold the line, but his army's morale had already hit rock bottom; there was no will left to fight.
"No choice. Abandon the main camp and fall back to Jiangling, where Cao Ren is."
"Yes, my lord!"
"Retreat! Retreat! Protect the Prime Minister and withdraw to Jiangling!"
It was a retreat order that rendered the entire lightning advance from Jingzhou to Red Cliffs utterly meaningless.
Yu Jin took the van; Xu Chu the rear. Presently the other generals came running to escort Cao Cao as the withdrawal toward Jiangling began.
It was a defeat that cut to the bone.
Wu's army came after them in high spirits, but by the generals' desperate fighting they managed at last to shake the pursuit and clear Red Cliffs.
Behind them remained only Cao Cao's camp and fleet—burned to nothing.
Cao Cao felt the headache only later. He had escaped Red Cliffs and put the fire-demon behind him, but the thought of how to clean up this aftermath made his skull throb.
Along the way Cao Hong, Wen Ping, and others joined him with remnants of their forces, but more than half the army he had commanded was already broken.
"Prime Minister, rest here a little before we go on. The men are all exhausted."
"Very well…"
Yu Jin, following behind, spoke. Cao Cao looked around. Every man was spent, gasping for breath.
"Then we will stop he—"
"No. Wait!"
Cao Cao surveyed the surrounding terrain once more. The road was rough, the undergrowth thick. If I were the enemy, I would certainly set an ambush he—
The thought reached that far, and a chill ran through his gut.
"Hurry! Get out of this place at once!"
"My lord…?"
"Anyone who does not move immediately will be dealt with under military law! If you do not want to die, move—now!"
Only then did the generals sense something and begin to drive their men hard.
The soldiers tried to pick up the pace, but some, strength gone, simply collapsed. Even then the column did not stop, and some were trampled to death by their own comrades.
Even so, they could not escape every danger.
"Fire!"
Flames leapt up from the brush on every side. With a roar of war cries, ambushers burst out and struck.
"Damn it. Has Zhou Yu chased us this far?"
"No, my lord. Those are Liu Bei's banners."
"Liu Bei as well…"
It was a force led by Liu Bei himself.
"General Xu Chu—take the Prime Minister and get him clear!"
Yu Jin gathered the soldiers, formed ranks, and held the enemy.
"Steady! If we break here, the whole army breaks with us!"
True to his reputation as a stern and seasoned commander, he rallied the men around him and held off the oncoming enemy. Seeing Yu Jin's stand, Wen Ping, Yue Jin, and the other generals recovered their wits and took command of their troops.
But even here the enemy's fire was merciless, and their blades were sharp.
In the middle of their retreat, Cao Cao's army was struck once more by fire and ambush.