Crossing the Yangtze River for the 113th time

  Chen Liang realized from the beginning of his recruitment in Anzhou that he couldn't rely solely on mercenaries, fearing that when things came to a head, they would scatter like birds and beasts. So, he sent someone back home to send a message, also bringing over brothers and nephews from the Chen family who were close to him to join the army. Now, because Chen Liang had this group of trusted, blood-related mid-to-low-level officers in the army, he dared to take risks and gamble on this move. If he relied solely on those vagrants and hoodlums recruited with money, it wouldn't be surprising if they scattered halfway; worse still, some individuals with malicious intentions might even think of directly capturing Chen Liang and sending him to the authorities for a reward.

  Hearing the inquiry from his clansman, Chen Liang smiled and turned to look at this shy fifteen or sixteen year old boy, saying:

  "I think it's definitely going to work. San Er, are you scared?"

  "Uncle, I'm not afraid."

  Hearing this, Chen Liang shook his head and said:

  "A newborn calf is not afraid of a tiger! You're not afraid, but I'm getting a little scared."

  At this time, young Chen Xin showed an unbelievable expression, he widened his eyes and said:

  "Uncle, how can you be so afraid?"

  Chen Liang paused for a moment, smiled and said:

  "Uncle is not afraid of death, but I am afraid of implicating you all, and possibly our entire clan."

  Treason and rebellion, the ten evils are unforgivable. Those in power, in order to consolidate their rule, punish those who plot against them with the utmost severity and bloodshed. The punishment of the nine clans is not an empty phrase, but rather a rolling wave of several hundred heads.

  Although the Luoyang imperial court is now a phoenix that has lost its feathers and is not as good as a chicken, the bigwigs in the imperial court have never relaxed their grip. They are determined to suppress the righteous armies across the country, claiming that they must first stabilize the internal situation before dealing with external threats. Heaven knows what will happen to Chen Liang's family members back home after his uprising in Jiangling fails. It is likely that they will not meet a good end. Rebellion has always been a business of putting one's head on the line, and those who are afraid of death should not think about rebelling.

  Young Chen Xin was quite displeased with this and immediately retorted:

  "Uncle, what you said is wrong, since we've come here, we're not afraid of being implicated."

  It seemed like his own people had already put life and death out of consideration, so Chen Liang could only force a smile and say:

  "Alright! When Uncle becomes a big deal, I'll make each of you a king."

  Living in seclusion in the southern corner, Jingzhou has been at peace for a long time. The biggest real threat to Jiangling and its surroundings is nothing more than several gangs of water bandits who have been robbing passing merchant ships. For Jiangling with 20,000 troops stationed there, this can only be considered a minor problem, not worth paying attention to. It's just as the old saying goes: "Born in hardship, died in comfort." The prolonged peaceful life has made the Jiangling garrison feel that all is well under heaven, and Chen Liang's over 1,000 men have almost reached their bedside, yet they are still unaware of this.

  After searching for a forest far away from the road and water, Chen Liang sent several groups of scouts to disguise themselves as woodcutters and hunters, etc., and enter the city of Jiangling in batches. They returned to the camp before the city gate closed at dusk to report on the situation.

  "Have you found out?"

  Chen Liang asked urgently, and his nephew Chen Xin took out a map from the bamboo hat, which was rolled up with willow branches. After reassembling it, he pointed to Chen Liang and said:

  "Ah, uncle, look, this is the Taiwei Mansion. The street in front of it is all government offices. Turning right leads to the armory, and further ahead is the barracks."

  While staring intently at the map, Chen Liang said:

  "Where is the granary?"

  "Oh, in the north of Taishou's mansion."

  Chen Liang nodded slightly and said:

  "Let's not worry about the others for now, after we take down the city gate, we'll immediately go to the prefecture and capture that corrupt official, don't let him escape. Shoot the horse before shooting the person, capture the king before capturing the bandit."

  Everyone in the Chen family laughed when they heard what Chen Liang had to say. Chen Da Niu, a cousin of Chen Liang's who was about ten years older and originally named Chen Da Niu but whom Chen Liang had given the nickname "Chen Zhong" (Loyal Chen), chuckled and said:

  "I say Second Dog, you little scamp can actually recite poetry now, it's been years since we last met, you've really made great progress!"

  Chen Zhong's words dissipated the tense atmosphere, Chen Liang looked at these people with a mixture of tears and laughter, saying:

  "We'll talk about this later, tonight at the third watch we'll take action, everyone go rest now, get up at the second watch to cook, let's disperse quickly!"

  No matter in what era, the army as a violent machine is a group that worships the strong. Those leaders who are not strong enough themselves or have a personality that is not tough enough will be unable to make their subordinates truly believe in them in an environment where only power is believed.

  In times of peace, to avoid trouble from these hot-headed and aggressive individuals, the civil government likes to promote the idea of "detaching military power and promoting culture", transforming fierce bloodthirsty tigers into peaceful little white rabbits. However, the inherent nature of the military as a violent machine that constantly devours money and lives remains unchanged. Once war breaks out, propaganda slogans become worthless. A true army is one that can emerge victorious against its opponents; all the talk about "military might" and "civilization" is just nonsense.

  Chen Liang himself was highly skilled in archery, able to hit a copper coin hung from a silk thread at a distance of one hundred paces. He also had the extraordinary skill of shooting through a willow leaf at a hundred paces, and his physical strength was far beyond that of ordinary people.

  Normally, the heaviest 500-jin stone lock used for training can be lifted over his head with one arm by Chen Liang, and both arms have a strength of 1,000 jin. If not, he would not be able to subdue these bandits, rascals, and soldiers under him.

  A surprise attack requires specialized equipment. In the basement of Anzhou's mansion, Chen Liang found a device used for surprise attacks - a flying hook rope ladder. Although its technical content is not high, it's not easy to make it just right. At the front end of the rope ladder are two iron claws that serve as a fixed anchor, similar in shape to a four-clawed boat anchor. As long as they are thrown onto the city wall, subsequent soldiers can climb up effortlessly. The problem is how to prevent the clear and crisp sound of the metal hook hitting the city wall from being detected by the guards on a quiet night. Solving this problem indeed has some difficulty.

  Advancing under the moonlight, they stumbled and fell many times in the dark. Chen Liang led his private army to the east wall of Jiangling City. They temporarily wrapped several layers of fine hemp cloth around the flying hook, and a few soldiers who were specially trained to throw this thing worked together to set up the rope ladder on the city wall over ten meters high.

  He pulled the rope ladder twice with his own hands, Chen Liang was sure it was fixed firmly, and with a wave of his hand to the back, he said:

  "Follow me."

  Having said that, Chen Liang drew his sword out of its scabbard, bit the back of the blade with his mouth, and grabbed the rope ladder with both hands, quickly alternating to climb up.

  "Pffft!"

  As he leaped onto the city wall, Chen Liang caught sight of a black shadow not far away with the corner of his eye. Without saying a word, he crept forward stealthily and stabbed one knife into the waist of the sentinel who had just yawned, while covering the other's mouth with his hand.

  Chen Liang habitually twisted his wrists, and the unlucky soldier soon stopped struggling. In Chen Liang's view, hunting and killing were almost the same; wild beasts were harder to ambush than humans, who didn't have such keen senses of smell, and he didn't need to worry about things like wind direction before making a move.

  With one move, Chen Liang settled the most likely problematic step of ascending the city, and he beckoned to his subordinates who were following closely behind.

  "Keep quiet and follow me."

  Before long, the drawbridge was lowered and the city gate, which had been quietly opened in the hazy night, swung wide open. Chen Liang's private army, waiting outside the city, poured in immediately, except for the slightly chaotic footsteps, everything seemed normal. At the same time, Nanjun Governor Ying Long, who had difficulty falling asleep, was reading by candlelight in his study. Just now, he sat alone under the moon, sipping a little wine, and now put down the cup to pick up a black-glazed tea bowl from Min, flipping through books while drinking tea and tasting a few small pastries, this day passed quite comfortably.

  Although that was the case, the county governor suddenly put down his book and stroked his small mustache with his hand. He got up and came to the window, gazing at the clear moon and sparse stars in the night sky, letting out a sigh.

  As for Jiangling, it is indeed a rich and prosperous place. When Yong served as the governor of South Commandery for three years, his pockets were naturally filled to the brim. Such comfortable days are so wonderful! Unfortunately, heaven has unpredictable winds and clouds, and those barbarians stirred up trouble.

  In Nangong, Ying Long was originally a man who said one thing and did another. However, with the 85th Emperor of Qin abandoning the city and fleeing to Luoyang under the fierce attack of the Tiele people, the authority of the central government was greatly diminished. As a result, local powers that had previously been obedient began to disobey imperial orders, and the attitude of Situ Ya, the naval commander of Nangong, also underwent a subtle change, often coming to Ying Long with a deliberately arrogant demeanor.

  Although he had a million-strong infantry in his hands, compared to the Jiangling Great Camp's water army held by Sutu Ya, the infantry of Jiangling was not significantly superior in either number or quality. For this reason, Yinglong couldn't help but start speculating whether this water army commander from Guanzhong had already harbored the intention of replacing him.

  Worrying about the safety of his family and life, let alone comforting himself with a small drink on a moonlit night, even if he were to drink a bucket of medicinal wine for treating knife wounds, it would be hard to cure his fragile heart that has accumulated so many scars.

  Just then, a hurried footsteps came from outside, and the door of Ying Long's study was kicked open by someone. In an instant, more than a dozen burly men with swords in hand rushed in.

  Feeling that something was amiss, Ying Long hastily drew the long sword hanging on the wall and vigilantly sized up these people. Seeing that they were all wearing helmets and armor, unlike ordinary bandits, he said in surprise:

  "Who are you people, daring to threaten me with weapons? Don't you fear being exterminated along with your three clans?"

  The unremarkable young man who was the leader of the group raised his hand and pointed at Ying Long with a horizontal knife that still had bloodstains on it, saying coldly:

  "Of course, I'm here to kill you."

  Upon hearing this, Ying Long's face suddenly turned deathly pale, with no hint of blood color, and he struggled to calm his mind, his voice trembling as he spoke:

  "Are you a group of reckless thugs sent by Situ Yanan?"

  Now that things have come to this, taking advantage of the night to sneak into the city and prepare to put on a show of swallowing an elephant, Chen Liang no longer had the patience to grind his teeth with this dying person. He waved his hand to signal his subordinates to start acting and said:

  "We are righteous warriors, you corrupt officials should stop your nonsense and accept your fate!"

  "Wait a minute, hero! Ben Taigong, no, we have no past grievances and no recent feud, please spare my life!"

  "Wooo—pffft! Hsss—"

  At this time, Chen Liang's hand rose and fell with a swift slash, accompanied by a shrill breaking sound. This quick and lightning-fast horizontal slash went down, and in the flash of the snow-bright blade, Nanguo Taishou Ying Long's head flew high into the air.

  In an instant, the blood spray from the carotid artery splattered out, dyeing the snow-white walls of the study room with a mottled red and white color, which at first glance seemed to be the scattered plum blossoms in the snowy ground. On that severed head, one could still see Ying Long's astonished and terrified expression when facing death in his final moment. Probably until his death, he didn't understand who had made up their mind to kill him, not even leaving any room for bargaining, what a pitiful end!