Neo Chapter 256 – Guandu Naval Battle (2) [Yuan Shao’s Retelling]
When Yuan Shao saw his three biggest ships sinking without much effort, he just gritted his tooth and holding his ship’s rail as tight as he can “MRRGGGHHHH!!!!” So, you were able to shot down my ships with those ballistaes eh? No matter, now it is the time for you to reload, it is the time you DIE!!!!! Thought Yuan Shao. While Yuan Shao is still prideful, Ju Shou is more cautious. Ju Shou then reviewed by himself, on the ballistae that Cao Cao used right now. He then frantically searched his archives and found out the intel about battle of Wancheng and Jing Province vs Jiangdong. He had given this to Yuan Shao but Yuan Shao just crumpled that information and dismissed it, even said “LUCK, JUST SHEER LUCK. WHAT ELSE COULD IT BE IF IT ISN’T LUCK!!!” Right now Ju Shou read again in intel summary “The battle Jing Province vs Jiangdong was won by Jing Province with the help of a new weapon. The specification is as follows: It is a ballistae variant, can rapid fire and can sink ships from 300 paces away.” Ju Shou eyes widened when he read the information Oh no, rapid fire and can sink ships!!! However when he is about to tell Yuan Shao, suddenly there is another ship sinking. [TL Notes: Rapid fire is ripple fire in raw. Since when ROTK turned into GRADIUS?!]
When Ju Shou is on deck, he saw another five warships sink in an instant and the last one, he saw the process of its sinking, which is the hull is penetrated, destroying their ships immediately. 8 warships and 3,000 troops sank in almost an instant. Yuan Shao then screamed his order “ALL SHIPS, ADVANCE!!!!!!!!!” Yuan Shao’s expression become gloomier for he is also betting everything in this battle. Ju Shou then said “Milord, proceed carefully. Their ballistae can do rapid fire!!!”
“SILENCE!!!” Yuan Shao screamed toward Ju Shou and he said “I DON’T CARE IF THOSE CAN RAPID FIRE OR NOT!!! AS LONG AS I KEPT MOVING, CAN HE HIT ME?!” And so, Yuan Shao’s fleet advancing in high speed toward Cao Cao. Cao Cao just shook his head, he know that Yuan Shao is impossible to scare just by sinking his 8 ships and ordered again “First row, withdraw and reload, change with second row!!!” With that order, the shift progressed smoothly.
“Second row, SHOOT!!!” Cao Cao ordered again. And because this time the distance is only 200 steps, 12 ships of Yuan Shao’s fleet become a victim. “Third row!!! SHOOT!!!!” Cao Cao calmly commanded. He was the morale of the troops and the director of the fleet. Originally, directing the fleet should be given to the person in charge of the water army. However, this was a matter of great importance and so, Cao Cao is doing it himself.
In this mobile warfare, the Cao Army used all the ballista that could pierce warships. The first wave caused the highest damage. Cao Cao had 30,000 soldiers and over 100 warships. Cao Cao wanted to make full use of them. If Cao Cao only shot once and then fought directly with Yuan Shao, Cao Cao would have been defeated. The reason why Cao Cao could stand at the peak of the world is because he has great learning ability. It was not a problem even if his enemy was stronger than him or if he was defeated by the enemy. As long as Cao Cao had time, Cao Cao would learn from his enemies and use the enemy tactics as reference. Since the ballistae was used the first time, it has already changed how water battles work. Cao Cao’s ballistae was not as good as Lu Bu’s ballistae. The penetrating range of the arrows was inferior. However, this does not prevent Cao Cao from learning how to fight from the Lu Bu’s Navy. Gan Ning defeating the Jiangdong Army was also studied. Gan Ning had used the wind to his advantage.
Cao Cao could not use this strategy. This is because his ballista was not the same. Besides that, Gan Ning only had 7,000 soldiers and 20 warships. On the other hand, Cao Cao had 100 warships. If he had copied the strategy, a single careless mistake would cause his entire army to be annihilated. First of all, the Yellow River was not as wide as the river at Wan Cheng. Second, Gan Ning had spread out his warships. If Cao Cao were to do the same thing, the entire river would be blocked by warships. Cao Cao would have to fight Yuan Shao directly after a single salvo and the power of the ballista could not be maximized.
Now, Cao Cao was maximizing the power of the ballista. There were ten rows to expand the attack surface. The warships are scattered at the Yellow River. A row would retreat after firing and then the next row would repeat the same thing. Once all the rows have fired the ballistae, then only would it be time to fight a decisive battle with Yuan Shao. Otherwise he would immediately be defeated by Yuan Shao’s superior numbers.
“CAO AMAN,!!!!” Yuan Shao screamed with anger but he calmed down almost quickly for he is Yuan Shao, one of 3 lords of Yuan clan’s 4th generation and Yuan Shao who pacify 4 provinces of Hebei.
“Continue shooting!!! 4th row!!!” Exclaimed Cao Cao and it goes continuously until 7th row where it is no longer feasible to shot anymore and Yuan Shao army lost 32 more ships, making it total of 40 ships and 15,000 personnel. At this juncture, Yuan Shao exclaimed “Those who kill Cao Army’s officer will get 100 taels of gold and official titles!!!!” And it successfully raised the morale of whole Yuan Army.
“Bump! Bump!!!” Finally Yuan Army’s ships managed to close in to do melee. All of Yuan Army naval soldiers quickly unleashed their anger that they have been hiding in their belly. It is at this time, Yuan Shao dishes out more rewards “KILL ALL OF THEM, ANNIHILATE EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM!!!! I RAISED THE REWARD, THOSE WHO KILL CAO ARMY’S PERSONNEL WILL GET 100 TAELS OF GOLD, WHILST AN OFFICER REWARDED 1,000 TAELS OF GOLD!!!” Goddamn you, Cao Aman. 40 of my ships gone in this Yangtze River like nothing. You force me to do this!!! Thought Yuan Shao after dishing out the rewards.
“SHAAAA!!!!!” Screamed Yuan Shao army vigorously. They quickly clamping their ships with Cao Army’s ships with iron claw and start swinging toward them. The nearby company commander reported to Cao Cao “Milord, we cannot move 7th row to the back!!! I request for Milord, to fire!!!” However Cao Cao just gritted his tooth, for he knew that shooting the rest of them will resulted in friendly fire. Yuan Shao just smiled and thought Now, I want to know how you are going to do in a predicament like this!!! While Cao Cao is still pondering, more and more Yuan Shao army were swarming their ships and since each row only numbered 3,000 soldiers, they all fall in face of sheer numbers.
“Milord, please fire!!! They are reaching for us!!!” Asked Cao army sergeant impatiently and finally, he had it and pulled out his sword and kill one of Yuan Shao’s sergeant and said “Brothers, rush with me. For our lord, for Xu Du, for our families!!!” However the enemy are too many and soon he fall as well, stabbed with three swords from his back.
The arrows struck. The corpse crashed in the Yellow River.
“Shoots, Fire the arrows!”Cao Cao the hand pinched to be in a cold sweat came, these may be his Cao Cao soldiers, he was not cruel enough to like mad to put the arrow for oneself soldiers, but for general situation, can go on living for other people, for these in Xu your family members, sorry. Cao Cao fierce geostatic pressure tooth almost with whooshing the cry shouted.
“Puts the arrow!”The eighth row, under the respective captain’s direction, projected two groups of arrow rain not to aim directly, because now the opposite is a battleship, was their Cao Jun own battleship, was away from quite near does not need to aim. Finally Cao Cao steeled himself and said “ALL TROOPS, SHOOT AGAIN!!!!” And thought Forgive me!!! I will make sure that your family is taken care of and your name will not be forgotten in my personal annals, for I will pray for each of you every year to come.
Yuan Shao then really surprised and thought What? Cao Aman so ruthless? While he still thinking of that, all of 7th row of Cao Army’s fleet sank into the bottom of the river with their hull shot. Taking 3,000 of Cao troops along with 10,000 Yuan troops.
“ALL FLEETS, START PURSUIT!!!!” Yuan Shao exclaimed, he is truly angry now. With their retreat, Cao Cao ordered for his last rows to shoot and made Yuan Shao thought Hehehe, now you are out of ammo. Now I can kill all of you, not a single one will leave Yangtze River ALIVE!!!!