Chapter 356: Attack at the Halfway Point, Death of Liu Pan Liu Pan was the first opponent Qin Zhen encountered in Jingzhou, and the only remaining general under Liu Biao. With Jiangxia and Jiangling being broken, Huang She surrendering, Wen Pin being captured, and Cai Mao escaping, only Liu Pan's army was left in the entire south of Xiangyang! It can be said that as long as Liu Pan was defeated, Qin Zhen would be able to lead his troops north to join Liu Bei and besiege Xiangyang City. However, Liu Pan did not know at this time that Jiangling had been captured by Qin Zhen, and he did not even know that Qin Zhen had quietly headed north. Because he was caught off guard in the past, he was defeated twice by Qin Zhen. After suffering heavy casualties, he was reduced from more than 20,000 soldiers to less than 20,000. In comparison, Qin Zhen brought 40,000 soldiers and horses, and collected more than 10,000 soldiers and horses from Changsha and Wuling, and had Guiyang and Lingling as backup. The gap in strength between the two sides is already so big that Liu Pan cannot ignore it, so he can only hold his ground! Even if Qin Zhen sent Taishi Ci to lead more than 10,000 soldiers and horses to station in Zuo Tang, he did not dare to take the initiative to attack Qin Zhen's detachment. This allowed Qin Zhen to quietly lead his troops northward, but he was completely unaware and only thought that Qin Zhen's main force was still in the south. Unexpectedly, on this day, a letter was received saying that unusual movements were spotted on the river and that a troop of soldiers was sailing from west to east.

This troop was naturally Huo Jun's unit sent by Cai Mao. Liu Pan was startled at first, and then he heard that another troop was coming from east to west. Although both armies were flying their flags, the troops heading west were far less numerous than those returning east. It should be mentioned here that Chanling is located directly south of Jiangling and on the west side of the river bank. Therefore, by setting up a sentry post here, the movements of troops on the river can be easily detected. After receiving this letter, Liu Pan couldn't help but think in his heart that the ships were sailing from west to east, which meant that most of the troops came from Jiangling. But the ships were heading from east to west, so this army was most likely Liu Bei's army. The two armies were facing each other, which meant there was a war on the river. This situation made him terrified, and he hurriedly called Huang Zhong, Pan Jun and others to discuss the matter. However, before the two arrived, he heard from the soldiers that there was a fire on the opposite side of the river to the east. Upon hearing this, Liu Pan hurried to the city wall and saw a raging fire in the east. The fire was burning towards the west along the dense forest on the river bank. This scene just proved that his inference was correct. There was a war in the north and Qin Zhen was probably attacking Jiangling. Huang Zhong and Pan Jun came at this time, and he told them his guess, frowned and said in a deep voice: "It is getting dark now, and our army does not have many ships. If Qin Zhen launches a surprise attack on Jiangling, what should we do?" He originally had a large number of ships under his command, but after being ambushed by Qin Zhen, all of his ships were captured by Qin Zhen, leaving him with insufficient ships to go north. In his opinion, although Qin Zhen had a large number of troops, it would be difficult to capture Jiangling as Chanling had not yet been taken, so he decided to hold on to this place. He didn't expect that Qin Zhen would choose to take Jiangling first, which instantly shattered his idea of ​​staying in Chanling to defend against Qin Zhen. Not only that, because there are not many ships, now seeing the unusual movements in the north, he does not dare to go north to help easily. The two were also surprised when they heard this, but Pan Jun thought for a while and then hurriedly suggested: "Although we don't know what happened in the north, we should send troops to help. Since the fire started in the east, Qin Zhen should be in the east." "Our army may march northward from the west. If Lord Cai is defeated, we can help him. If there is nothing to worry about, we can also help him." Liu Pan listened to his suggestion and wanted to lead his troops out of the city immediately, but when Huang Zhong heard this, he shook his head and said: "Our army doesn't have many soldiers and horses, and it's hard to defend the small city of Chanling. If you leave, what will happen if Qin Zhen attacks this city?" "Since Qin Zhen wants to take Jiangling first, why don't we just cross the river and go to the other side to form a pincer attack with Lord Cai?" In his opinion, now that Qin Zhen has crossed the river and headed north, Chanling has lost its strategic value. Instead of dividing the troops and defending it, it would be better to retreat back to the north of the river.

In this way, they can support each other with Cai Mao and avoid being defeated by Qin Zhen one by one, which would make them extremely passive like they are now. Liu Pan hesitated for a moment after hearing this, but Huang Zhong saw that he was hesitant and continued to suggest: "General, if you are afraid that Qin Zhen will return to pursue you, just lead your army north. I am willing to guard this place on your behalf." "If he pursues me from the middle, I will attack him from behind. If he does not move, I will follow him after you cross the river!" Seeing that Huang Zhong wanted to stay here to contain the enemy, Liu Pan was moved and immediately left two thousand soldiers and Huang Zhong behind. Seeing the fire in the north, he simply set out at night and marched towards the northwest, intending to cross the river from the west of Jiangling. After marching in this way until daybreak, a soldier came from the north, his body covered in blood. When he saw his troops, he shouted: "May I ask, General Liu Pan has led his troops here, but he must not advance north, as Jiangling has already been taken by Qin Zhen!" When Liu Pan heard that Jiangling fell in just one night, he hurriedly called the soldier forward and asked: "Jiangling Cai Fujun still has more than 15,000 soldiers and horses, and the defense is tight. How could he be captured by Qin Zhen?" When the soldiers heard this, they hurriedly told Cai Mao how he had been tricked and defeated, and handed him a document with a seal, saying: "Because Qin Zhen disguised himself as our army yesterday and attacked the north gate, the Lord of the Mansion could not resist and has withdrawn!" "Before leaving, I was sent here to tell you that you should not go north easily." "If Qin Zhen sends troops to us with a fake letter asking for help, you should not believe it easily." Liu Pan looked at the seal and Cai Mao's handwriting on the document and believed it 80%. Then he listened to the man's warning and frowned for a moment and said: "I have often heard that Qin Zhen is good at forging letters, so I don't believe it easily. But I am worried that Jiangling has been captured. How should we mobilize the troops?" The current situation is a very scary one for his troops. On one hand, Liu Bei is advancing towards Xiangyang, and on the other hand, Qin Zhen is blocking his way. With the fall of Jiangling, his troops were now trapped on the south bank and were almost surrounded on all sides! Faced with this situation, what should he do now to safely lead his troops out of this predicament? However, when he asked this question, the soldier shook his head, indicating that Cai Mao did not give any instructions, but just told him not to go north. Seeing this, Pan Jun at the side could not help but sighed to Liu Pan: "Lord Cai has lost the city, Qin Zhen will definitely pursue him, and it is rare that he can send a messenger to inform us now." "How to retreat with the troops is up to you, General. In my opinion, we should continue to advance westward." "If there is a chance, we can cross the river from the east of Yidao and head north before Qin Zhen reacts." Yidao is the Yidu city in later generations. From here to the east, there are several sandbanks, which are suitable for building a floating bridge to cross the river. Liu Pan heard this and immediately agreed. He thought that if Jiangling fell, Huang Zhong would not be able to continue to defend it, so he sent a message to Huang Zhong to abandon Chanling. He continued to march westward with his troops. However, he did not know that the soldier sent to communicate was not sent by Cai Mao, but by Qin Zhen. The reason for sending troops to inform Liu Pan was, firstly, to obtain Liu Pan's movements, and secondly, to guide Liu Pan to the north. When the soldier saw that Liu Pan intended to go east, he brought the news back to Jiangling and informed Qin Zhen in the city. Upon hearing this, Qin Zhen called Huo Jun to inquire about the ambush locations around Nanjun. Huo Jun was from Zhijiang and was very familiar with the terrain. He hurriedly said: "If we go north from Yidao, we must pass through Zhijiang. The terrain here is flat and there is no place for an ambush."

"Fortunately, from here to the east, there is a river that flows into the Chu River, which is formed by the confluence of the upper reaches of the Zhang River and the Ju River." "If Liu Pan advances eastward, we can attack him halfway across the river, but the governor has already captured Jiangling, so Liu Pan will not dare to pass through Zhijiang." After hearing this, Qin Zhen took a look at the topographic map, shook his head, pointed at the map and said with a smile: "Since we cannot ambush them here, I can set up an ambush upstream. I will use Cai Mao to lead them to Dangyang, and they will have to pass through the river!" Having said this, he did not say much and directly ordered Taishi Ci to go west to seize Zhijiang River, and ordered Bao Long to lead the army to build a dam upstream. After he captured Zhijiang, he sent someone south to inform Liu Pan to go to Dangyang to join forces with him. Dangyang is also a famous scenic spot during the Three Kingdoms period. Historically, it was here that Liu Bei was caught up by Cao Cao. In the chaos, Zhao Yun, A Dou and Madam Gan broke out from here and joined Liu Bei's main force. But in this timeline, it became the tomb that Qin Zhen personally chose to bury Liu Pan. Liu Pan, Huang Zhong and others arrived at Yidao and had just crossed the river when they saw the messenger "Cai Mao" coming again. He told Liu Pan directly that Zhijiang had fallen and Cai Mao was leading the remaining troops in Dangyang to resist Qin Zhen, and asked him to go and join the troops. Upon hearing this news, Liu Pan was ready to bypass Zhijiang River directly, but Pan Jun said: "Qin Zhen has already taken Jiangling, Zhijiang and other places. We must guard against our army going north and passing through Zhijiang. If Qin Zhen finds out, he will send troops to stop us!" "Why not go north and cross the Ju River first, then go straight to the west of Dangyang and cross the Zhang River again, so that the enemy can hardly pursue us!" Liu Pan followed his strategy and headed straight north, bypassed Zhijiang River with his troops, and swam across Ju River. After three days of marching, they finally arrived west of Danyang. Seeing Dangyang right in front of them, Liu Pan ordered the soldiers to build a pontoon bridge. Because the river water was very low and the river bank was exposed, the soldiers built a simple floating bridge in a short time. Liu Pan was overjoyed when he saw this, and hurriedly ordered his men to cross the river. However, Huang Zhong, upon seeing this, hurriedly grabbed Liu Pan and said: "Wait a minute, General. When we crossed the Ju River last time, the water was small but the flow was large. This river is even wider, how could the water be so shallow?" "I'm afraid there is something wrong upstream. The water level is low here. General, don't cross it easily. Be careful of the enemy's tricks!" Liu Pan saw that Dangyang was right in front of him and was in a hurry to cross the river. He didn't care about much and said unhappily: "It is winter and spring now, the rainy season has not yet arrived, so it is normal that there is little water. Besides, how could Lord Cai not know that the enemy army is heading north?" "Now that we have crossed this river, we will reach Dangyang, and the Lord of the Prefecture will be right before our eyes. Are you trying to stop me from joining the army?" After these words, he ignored Huang Zhong's dissuasion and directly ordered his soldiers to cross the river via the pontoon bridge. Huang Zhong saw that he could not dissuade Liu Pan, so he had to follow Liu Pan closely and be alert to the surrounding environment at all times. But at this moment, he suddenly saw a cloud of dust flying in the distance. Liu Pan thought that Cai Mao had sent troops to reinforce him, so he hurriedly sent people to welcome them. But a second later, he saw a large flag with the word Qin written on it appear in the dust. Qin Zhen was seen riding a horse, with Taishi Ci and Xu Sheng on his left and right. When they arrived in front of the army, they stopped and shouted: "General Liu, your army has been surrounded by ours. Cai Mao has returned to Xiangyang. You are the only one left here." "Why not lead your soldiers to surrender early? Not only can you avoid being killed, but you can also avoid being captured and humiliated. Isn't that wonderful?" Seeing Qin Zhen suddenly appear, the generals were shocked. Huang Zhong and Pan Jun were both pale, but Liu Pan was furious and said: "My lord has entrusted me with an important mission, how can I surrender to you? All the generals, listen to my orders, follow me and capture Qin Zhen alive!"

Having said this, he was about to lead his troops to charge forward. Seeing this, Qin Zhen couldn't help but sigh and raised his hand slightly. Then, a large number of archers stood up on both sides of the river and shot at Liu Pan's troops. Liu Pan's men hurriedly raised their shields to block them. However, only half of his troops had arrived and had not yet formed a battle formation. After Qin Zhen fired a burst of shots, his troops fell into chaos. When Taishi Ci and Xu Sheng saw this, they quickly led their troops forward to attack Liu Pan. When Huang Zhong saw this, he quickly led his troops to stop the two generals. Seeing that the crowd was coming in full force, Liu Pan hurriedly ordered his troops to retreat. However, the pontoon bridge was so narrow and short, how could they retreat? Liu Pancai arrived at the bridge and saw the traffic ahead, so he started to curse. At this moment, there was a sudden thunderclap in the upstream direction. When Liu Pan looked up, he saw a huge stream of water carrying a large amount of quicksand pouring down from upstream, with unstoppable force. Seeing the flood water flowing down, Liu Pan suddenly panicked and hurriedly ordered his guards to push the surrounding soldiers into the river so that they could cross the river quickly. But suddenly a flood came with great force, and the soldiers on the bridge were in a panic, pushing and shoving each other, unable to move a single step. Suddenly, the flood peak passed by. When Liu Pan saw it, he shouted loudly and was swept into the water and sent to the underworld. With Liu Pan's death, Huang Zhong was unable to hold on alone and was captured on the spot by the two generals, leaving him without the strength to resist. At this point, all the generals stationed outside Liu Biao's command had been defeated, and only Liu Biao was still lingering in Xiangyang. (End of this chapter)