Sun Quan tries to wrestle some territory away from Cao Cao, while at the same time playing peacemaker between two of his own officers.

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Welcome to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms Podcast. This is episode 86.

Last time, Cao Cao had taken the Eastern Riverlands and was just starting to think about marching on the western half of the region as well. But a little diplomatic play by Liu Bei, who now controlled that western half, convinced Sun Quan to mobilize the troops of the Southlands to attack Cao Cao’s strongholds in the southeast to force him to redeploy his forces.

First up in Sun Quan’s crosshairs was the city of Wancheng (3,2). At the behest of his general Lü Meng, Sun Quan laid siege to the city at first light. His troops were met by a hailstorm of boulders and arrows, but the Dongwu general Gan Ning was not deterred. Wielding an iron chain, Gan Ning climbed up the city wall, braving the onslaught of projectiles. The governor of the city told his archers to take aim at Gan Ning, but Gan Ning swatted aside their arrows, hopped on to the top of the wall, and with one swing of his chain, knocked the governor to the ground. With Lü Meng personally banging the war drums to spur his men on, the Dongwu troops stormed the wall and cut the governor to pieces.

With their leader dead, the soldiers defending the city lost heart, and most of them surrendered. So the city belonged to Sun Quan. Before the battle, Lü Meng had told Sun Quan that if they threw everything they had at the city, it would be taken by noon. It was now early evening, so it didn’t go quite as quickly as Lü Meng predicted, but it was good enough, as the Dongwu forces accomplished their objective: Take the city before enemy reinforcements could get there.

Speaking of those reinforcements, Cao Cao’s general Zhang Liao, who was keeping watch over this region from the city of Hefei, was on his way to Wancheng (3,2) to try to break the siege, but he was only halfway there when his scouts reported back that the city had already been sacked. There was little point in continuing now, so Zhang Liao turned his troops around and went back to Hefei to prepare for the attack that was sure to come.

 

Meanwhile, Sun Quan threw a big party inside his newly conquered city to reward his troops. At this party, which Sun Quan did not attend, the generals Lü Meng and Gan Ning were placed in the seats of honor for their parts in conquering the city. The wine began to flow, but after it had been flowing for a while, trouble began.

Also at the party was the general Ling (2) Tong (3). Some of you may remember from way back in the story that back in the day, Ling Tong’s father had been killed in battle by Gan Ning when they were on opposite sides of a war. Ling Tong, understandably, had been holding a grudge ever since, even after Gan Ning had changed sides and now served the same master as he. Sun Quan had been able to keep this under control for the most part by assigning the two of them to posts that were nowhere near each other to keep them out of each other’s sights and minds. But now, they were all sitting under one roof, and what’s worse, Ling Tong had to listen to praise being heaped on Gan Ning for his valor during that day’s battle. Pretty soon, the slow burn inside Ling Tong had worked itself up to a full-on rage,