Volume 1 Jiangdong Fengyun Chapter 55: The End of Zhang Xun
"Bastard! What pirate is so bold? We have 80,000... we still have at least a few thousand people, right?" Zhang Xun wanted to cry.
"I don't know what kind of pirates they are, but it seems... there are all kinds of them! Some with brocade sails, some with cloth sails, some with black tiger sails..." The messenger answered tremblingly under Zhang Xun's red-eyed and fierce gaze.
"They're all here? Damn it! Could it be that these bastards were subdued by Bai Tu?" Zhang Xun was not stupid.
A few months ago, Han Yin had suggested to Yuan Shu that he should recruit the pirates on the Yangtze River. As long as Yuan Shu nodded and approved the money and official positions, he could go to lobby. However... given Yuan Shu's background, he looked down on these people and ignored Han Yin's suggestion.
However, Zhang Xun hadn’t taken it seriously before and never thought that these pirates would dare to fight with them!
I didn't expect that he had already been recruited by Baitu, and met him at this juncture...
"I'll go out and talk to them!" Zhang Xun finally came to his senses at the critical moment.
Standing on the bow, Zhang Xun used the external speaker function of his armor to shout, "My dear heroes! Are you here to join my lord, General Yuan?"
Yuan Shu is now nominally the Left General of the Han Dynasty.
"Hahaha, Zhang Xun, you also call yourself a 'general', can't you even see the current situation?" Gan Ning laughed.
Although Zhang Xun's side had more people, if a fight really broke out on the river, how could their defeated army be a match for these pirates who grew up in the water?
"Is the person coming here the thief Gan Ning from Jinfan? My master has always been fond of talents. You just need to escort me here. Are you worried that I will have no future? My master has three officials for four generations and dominated Huainan. Isn't it better than a white map with only a name?" Zhang Xun shouted.
Beside Gan Ning, a Du Bo who had just changed his profession said with some interest: "General Gan, I think..."
Gan Ning did not answer at first, but then he pulled out a folding bow from the waist of his armor and instantly unfolded it into a bow. Then Gan Ning pulled the bow and drew an arrow, and a bright red laser arrow flew across the river and landed on Zhang Xun's boat.
Zhang Xun quickly took a step back and almost fell down. On the deck where he was standing, the arrow had made a small dent...
"I don't want to know what you feel, I want to know what I feel." After Gan Ning shot, he turned around and said to Du Bo who had just made the "suggestion".
"The Yuan family has three dukes for four generations, and Yuan Shu has always considered himself a noble and powerful family. How could he look down on people like us?" Jiang Qin said, trying to smooth things over.
At the same time, Gan Ning's arrow seemed to be a signal, and soon several troop transport ships began to emit ding-dong sounds from the bottom of the ships...
"Oh no! General, there are some water ghosts from the enemy camp below!" A personal soldier who was good at swimming hurriedly said to Zhang Xun.
"Shoot, shoot! Shoot them to death!" Zhang Xun said angrily.
Apart from shooting arrows, Zhang Xun had no other options. Not only was he unfamiliar with commanding water battles, but the soldiers he led had not been trained in water battles...
Zhang Xun's several thousand defeated soldiers could only shoot arrows while staggering on the water, while Gan Ning's side had too many tricks up their sleeves, from water ghosts to simple ramming on the ships, to the bridge boards for boarding battles and winch hooks for pulling the opponent's ships!
Although they were outnumbered, Zhang Xun and his group of landlubbers were unable to launch an effective counterattack in the face of the bandits.
Normally, in the Jianghuai area, the manpower "recruited" and "trained" in the navy have good talents - this is related to the customs and physique of the people in the source area. The efficiency of naval training for soldiers from the north is very low.
However, Yuan Shu's army had obviously not been trained in naval warfare. Facing the bandits who had been roaring on the Yangtze River for years, they once again felt the same powerlessness they had felt outside Qu'a two days ago...
"General, we can't fight, let's go!" The personal soldiers urged Zhang Xun to escape.
Zhang Xun slumped on the deck, looking hopeless and said, "Leave? Can I get away?"
From a distance, he could only see a dark shadow, rushing towards him like a running bull!
Because they were already in the midst of chaos, even with the gilded armor they could not fly directly, and they could only jump on the ships along the way.
At this time, both sides were sailing on small boats, and when Zhou Tai in black armor stepped on them, everyone else on the deck would sway.
He didn't pay any attention to anyone else, and went straight to Zhang Xun...
I think that when people judge me in the future, they will not remember the general of Huainan, but will clearly remember him... Zhang Xun, who fought outside the city of Qu'a with an army of 10,000 against 4,000, but ended up losing. Not only did he lose, he even set up an ambush. Not only did he set up an ambush, but he also lost even after setting up an ambush!
In the end, he fled to the river like a stray dog, but was killed by pirates...
Such an achievement will surely leave a mark in history, right?
Zhang Xun was overwhelmed with grief for a moment. He struggled to stand up, and felt his chest and abdomen churning. He actually vomited blood...
After shaking off the guards who were trying to pull him away, Zhang Xun drew his sword and placed it across his neck, saying shamefully, "How can I still have the face to do this? How can I still have the face to do this?"
On this side, Zhang Xun committed suicide, while the remaining soldiers of Huainan had already completely collapsed before his death... In fact, there was no formation!
Moreover, because they were on the river, there was little room for them to "disperse" after they "collapsed". Except for some officers who were proficient in water, or were clever and lucky enough to escape in a small boat in the last darkness before dawn, the rest of the soldiers were either captured or fed to the fish...
As the shouts of killing faded, Gan Ning saw the tall Zhou Tai carrying Zhang Xun's body back like a chicken. He couldn't help but frown and said, "It would be enough to just cut off the head. Why did you bring it back whole?"
"I didn't kill him. He committed suicide. Let's bury him on the shore." Zhou Tai curled his lips.
Who made him not fast enough? He bought the chance to kill the general with good wine and Gan Ning...
But taking credit for someone's suicide... Zhou Tai couldn't do such a thing.
"Or you can add two more jars? Then I will say that I saw you kill him with my own eyes!" Gan Ning has no moral integrity in this regard.
Zhou Tai rolled his eyes at him and ignored him.
A day later, Gan Ning and others appeared outside Qu'a City. Bai Tu was surprised to learn that Gan Ning had brought back nearly 3,000 prisoners, but he also went out of the city to welcome him.
When they saw Bai Tu coming out in person, Jiang Qin and Zhou Taixin were already half relieved - before, they both called him "Mr. Bai", unlike the others who, under Gan Ning's kind teaching, had already called him "Lord".
Gan Ning did not say much about this, and he understood that the last hesitation in their hearts was nothing more than Bai Tu's attitude.
"Xingba! Hahaha, I didn't expect that you gave me such a big surprise this time!" Bai Tu came up to him with a smile and patted Gan Ning on the shoulder.
"Hey, Zhang Xun is just unlucky and happened to fall into our hands." Gan Ning said in a seemingly humble but actually boastful tone.
Bai Tu shook his head and said, "Zhang Xun is just a mere figure. If he dies, he dies. If he escapes, he escapes. The surprise I'm talking about is these two generals..."
He had known from the letter before that Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin were also in Gan Ning's surrender sequence, and they were wearing armor at this time. How could Bai Tu not recognize them?
Listening to Bai Tu's obvious attempt to win them over, Gan Ning's eyebrows twitched in discomfort, but he forced himself to hold it in. He looked at Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin again... As expected, they had "fallen"!
