Battles of Niuzhu and Shenting

「孫郎竟云何！」 "And what do you say of young Master Sun now?" -- shouted at Sun Ce's order by the men around him, below the camp of Ze Rong, where word had spread that he was dead (Jiangbiao Zhuan, quoted in the commentary to the biography of Sun Ce, Records of the Three Kingdoms) The Yangtze at his back, a granary at his feet. The board begins there. The second year of Xingping (AD 195). Sun Ce, to whom Yuan Shu at Shouchun had returned a thousand-odd of his father's old soldiers, gathered five or six thousand men at Liyang, crossed the Yangtze and took the camp at Niuzhu. All the grain and arms in its depot became his. That is the hex named Niuzhu at the western edge of the board. To the east lies the territory of Liu Yao, Inspector of Yang Province. Xue Li, Chancellor of Pengcheng, holds the town of Moling; Ze Rong, Chancellor of Xiapi, is camped on strong ground to its south. There are garrisons at Hushu, Jiangcheng and Jurong. Liu Yao himself is at Qu'e, farthest east. On the hill of Shenting to its south stands one man whom Liu Yao would not employ as a general and sent out only to scout: Taishi Ci. [The side that crossed: Sun Ce's Army] 24 units; 8 may be moved each turn. While you hold the depot at Niuzhu, three are added. The depot scores no points. If it is taken, the addition is lost. [The side that defends: Liu Yao's Army] 28 units. Four of them (Fan Neng, Yu Mi, Zhang Ying and the riverbank levy) begin off the board and appear on Turn 5 at the southern edge, directly behind Niuzhu. 7 may be moved each turn. Liu Yao and the Yang Province troops at Qu'e, five units, are standby troops and do not move until attacked or until an enemy comes adjacent. [Points] The result is decided by a single margin. Margin = (points of objectives you hold - points of objectives the enemy holds) + (losses inflicted - losses suffered). There are seven objectives worth 100 points, and all begin in Liu Yao's hands: Qu'e 30, Moling 20, Ze Rong's Camp 15, Hushu 10, Jiangcheng 10, Jurong 10, Shenting 5. If the margin, seen from Sun Ce's side, ends above the victory line (+6), Sun Ce wins; below it, Liu Yao wins. 9 points beyond the line is a tactical victory, 70 an operational victory, 140 an overwhelming victory. Within 9 points of the line the game is a draw. [Names on the pieces] Sun Ce's Army: Sun Ce; Zhou Yu; Cheng Pu; Lu Fan; Huang Gai, Han Dang and Song Qian (three of the thirteen riders who were with Ce at Shenting); Jiang Qin; Zhou Tai; Chen Wu; Ling Cao; Wu Jing; Sun Ben; Xu Kun; Sun He. Old Guard, his father Sun Jian's old soldiers; Danyang, the men Zhou Yu brought from Danyang; Liyang, the men who gathered at Liyang. Liu Yao's Army: Liu Yao; Taishi Ci; Xue Li; Ze Rong; Yu Zi; Fan Neng; Yu Mi; Zhang Ying. Not on the board: Zhang Zhao and Zhang Hong, Ce's advisers, of whom no record says that they led troops; Zhu Zhi, who was fighting separately in Wu commandery; Xu Shao, Liu Yao's guest, who advised him to flee to Yuzhang. [Decisions to try] First, for Sun Ce: on Turn 5 Fan Neng and the others appear behind Niuzhu. Detach a guard from the advance, or go back once the depot is lost? The historical Ce went back after it was lost, and beat them. Second, for Sun Ce: Ze Rong's camp stands on strong ground and is worth fifteen points. The historical Ce judged the ground too strong, left it, and turned to Hushu and Jiangcheng. Leave it, or break it? Third, for Liu Yao: the five units at Qu'e do not move. With your 7 moves, hold the line at Moling, or press west in step with the four units that appear behind Niuzhu? [What followed] While Ce was attacking Moling, Fan Neng, Yu Mi and the others gathered their men again and retook the post at Niuzhu. Ce came back, beat them and took more than ten thousand men and women. Attacking Ze Rong a second time, he was hit in the thigh by a stray arrow. Unable to ride, he was carried back to Niuzhu in a litter. Someone reported that "young Master Sun was struck by an arrow and is dead"; Ze Rong, delighted, sent out his officer Yu Zi. Ce had a few hundred men challenge him and run before blades met, and cut down more than a thousand among the troops lying in wait. Then he went below the camp and had his men shout. The enemy fled in the night. Hushu and Jiangcheng fell; Liu Yao abandoned his army, ran to Dantu and escaped to Yuzhang. Ce entered Qu'e and proclaimed: "Those who submit will not be questioned. Those who wish to serve may come. Those who do not are not to be forced." Within ten days more than twenty thousand soldiers and a thousand horses had gathered. Taishi Ci was later captured in Jing county; Ce untied him, took his hand, and asked whether he remembered Shenting. Five years later Ce was shot while hunting and died. He was twenty-six. 　　The river behind, the grain at his feet 　　Go forward, and it is retaken behind you 　　An arrow in the thigh, a litter, word that he is dead 　　And what do you say of young Master Sun now? 　　Twenty thousand in ten days 　　Five years To bring Qu'e and Shenting within reach in eleven turns, east-west distances east of Jurong are compressed to six tenths. The feigned retreat that drew out Yu Zi is not written as a rule. The histories give no month or day, and the turn track shows only the year. The position of Shenting, and the direction from which Fan Neng's rallied force appeared, are estimates. 1 hex = 4 km (compressed east of Jurong), 1 turn = about 3 days, 1 CS = about 100 men. T1 = Xingping 2 (after the camp at Niuzhu was taken); T5 = Fan Neng and Yu Mi appear at the southern edge; T11 = end.