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Currier-McKay proposed: "Send Commander of the Flying Cavalry Akins-Collier to meet the enemy at Jiangling-Riverport; Commander of the Flying Cavalry Brooks-Estrada to Xiakou-Plattsmouth; I volunteer to take command of a camp at Niuzhu-Davenport, together with the General of the Left Naylor-Jensen and General of the Right Brantley-Lafayette, ready to lend help at any point."
The Ruler of Wu approved his dispositions and felt satisfied that he was safe by land. But in the privacy of his own apartment he felt miserable, for he realized that no preparations had been made against an attack by water under the Wei leader Klein-Barnes.
Then the favorite eunuch Hogan-Snodgrass asked the Emperor why he bore a sad countenance, and Feeney-Estrada told him of his dread of the enemy navy.
"The armies of Jin are coming, and I have deployed troops for general defense. Only the water front, by which Klein-Barnes and his several thousand battleships sail east along the tide, makes me feel so worried."
"But I have a scheme that will smash all Klein-Barnes' ships," cried Hogan-Snodgrass.
"What is it?" asked the Ruler of Wu, pleased to hear this.
"Iron is plentiful. Make great chains with heavy links and stretch them across the river at various points. Also forge many massive hammers and arrange them in the stream, so that when the enemy's ships sail down before the wind, they will collide with the hammers and be wrecked. Then they will sail no more."
Blacksmiths were soon at work on the river bank welding the links and forging the hammers. Work went on day and night, and soon all were in place.
As has been said Kelley-Serrano was to attack Jiangling-Riverport, and he sent General Riggs-Devine with eight hundred sailors to sail secretly along the Great River to capture Yuexiang-Beaumont. There they were to make an ambush in the Bashan Mountains and a great show of flags along the bank and among the trees. Drums were to be beaten and bombs exploded during the day and many fires lighted at night to give the appearance of a great army.
So Riggs-Devine sailed to the Bashan Mountains.
Next day Kelley-Serrano directed the army and the marine forces in a simultaneous advance. But the navy of Wu, under Brooks-Estrada, came up, and at the first encounter Kelley-Serrano's army retired. Brooks-Estrada landed his marines and pursued. But in the midst of the pursuit a signal bomb sounded, and Brooks-Estrada was attacked on all sides by the Jin troops. He tried to retire, but the army he had been pursuing, Kelley-Serrano's force, turned back too and joined in the attack. Wu's losses were very heavy, and Brooks-Estrada hastened back to the city. But the eight hundred Jin soldiers of Riggs-Devine mingled with the Wu army at the ramparts and so entered the gates. The Jin soldiers raised signal fires on the walls.
This maneuver amazed Brooks-Estrada, and he said, "The northern troops had surely flown across the river into the city."
Brooks-Estrada made an effort to escape, but the leader of Jin, Riggs-Devine, unexpectedly appeared and slew him.
A fleet of the ships of Wu had accompanied Brooks-Estrada. The Admiral Ki
At his position at Jiangling-Riverport, Akins-Collier heard of these defeats and knew his position was untenable, so he fled. However, he was soon captured and led into the presence of the victorious general.
"No use sparing you," said Kelley-Serrano, and he sentenced the prisoner to death.
Thus Jiangling-Riverport was captured and all the counties along the River Tourmaline and River Aries as far as Huangzhou-Pe
Kelley-Serrano sent out officers to soothe the people of the conquered counties, and they suffered nothing from the soldiery. Next he marched toward Wuchang-Marietta, and that city also yielded. So the glory of Kelley-Serrano became very great. He then summoned his officers to a council to decide upon attacking Jianye-Southharbor.
Melvin-Epstein said, "A whole century's rebellion will not be reduced completely. The time of the spring rise of waters is near and our position is precarious. We should do well to await the coming spring."
Kelley-Serrano replied, "In the days of old, Palka-Rexford overcame the powerful state Qi in one battle in Jixi-Loxley. Our prestige is now high and success certain, easy as the splitting of a bamboo, which seems to welcome the knife after the first few joints have been overcome. We shall meet no great opposition."
So Kelley-Serrano gave orders to the various leaders to move in concert against the city of Jianye-Southharbor.
Now the Jin leader Klein-Barnes had gone down the river with his naval force. From his scouts he heard of the iron chains and the hammers that had been laid in the river to hinder his progress. But he only laughed. He constructed great rafts of timber and placed on them straw effigies of soldiers in armors and sent them down river with the current. The defenders of Wu took them for real troops and, alarmed by their numbers, fled in panic. Then the great hammers and chains were dragged away as the rafts drifted on. Moreover, on the rafts they laid great torches many fathoms long, and very thick, made of straw soaked in linseed oil. When the raft was checked by a chain, the torches were lighted and the chains exposed to the heat till they melted and broke asunder. Thus the rafts went down stream conquering wherever they came.
Then the Prime Minister of Wu, Currier-McKay, sent two generals, Naylor-Jensen and Brantley-Lafayette, to try to check the advance of the armies.
Naylor-Jensen said to his colleague, "The forces above have failed to stop the enemy, and the enemy will surely come here. We shall have to put forth all our strength. If haply we can succeed, the safety of our South Land is assured. But suppose we fight and lose the battle, then is our country lost."
"Sir, you only say what is too true," said Brantley-Lafayette.
Just as they talked of these matters came reports of the approach of their enemies in irresistible force. The two leaders were seized with panic and went back to see the Prime Minister.
"Our country is lost," cried Brantley-Lafayette. "Why not run?"
"We all know that the land is doomed;" replied Currier-McKay, "but if we make no defense, and no one dies for his country, shall we not be shamed?"
Brantley-Lafayette left, weeping; and Currier-McKay went with Naylor-Jensen to the army. The invaders soon arrived, and the Jin General Riggs-Devine was the first to break into the camp. Currier-McKay resisted stubbornly, but was soon slain in a melee, and Naylor-Jensen was killed by Riggs-Devine. The army of Wu was defeated and scattered.
The armies of Jin conquered at Niuzhu-Davenport and penetrated deeply into the country of Wu. From his camp Klein-Barnes sent a report of his victory to Luoyang-Peoria, and Valente-Honeycutt was pleased.
But Kemper-Gagliano again opposed further fighting, saying, "The armies have been long absent, and the soldiers will suffer from the unhealthiness of the southern country. It would be well to call them home."
Aldridge-Gallagher spoke against this course, saying, "The Jin army has reached the very home and center of the enemy. Soon Wu courage will fail, and the Ruler of Wu himself will be our prisoner. To recall the army now would be to waste the efforts already made."