"See the king!" Jiangxia, north of Xiakou, Zhang Liao took a cadre of soldiers to greet Chen Mo.

"Wen Yuan, don't be polite, get up." Chen Mo jumped down from the horse, stretched out his hand to help Zhang Liao and said with a smile: "Wenyuan's ability is really extraordinary, it's only been a long time, and he has already won the land of Jiangxia!" ”

"The Lord is fallacious [www.bequge.xyz] praise." Zhang Liao got up, shook his head and said: "It's not that the last general is powerful, but the Jiangdong Army took the initiative to retreat, and now except for Xiakou, all the cities on the north bank of Jiangxia County have taken the initiative to give up." ”

"That's Natsuguchi over there?" Chen Mo looked in the direction of the lower mouth and said.

"Exactly." Zhang Liao asked people to take out the map, unfold it in front of the two of them, and pointed to the map: "Look, the location of this Xiakou is not dangerous, but it is also the main landing ferry here. ”

Chibi? Ullin?

Chen Mo looked at the position drawn by Zhang Liao and shook his head slightly, this position is not bad, but in the case of already occupying most of Jiangxia, this position is a little behind, and it is difficult to take care of Jiangxia.

There are a lot of advantages of occupying the riverbank ferry, as long as the river can be blocked, the grain and grass transportation can go downstream, which is many times faster than the transportation on land, if he camps on the red cliff, Jiangxia will be difficult to take care of, or will be taken by Jiangdong!

Chen Mo looked in Xia Kou's direction and said, "Difficult to overcome? ”

"Around Xiakou, the waterways are vertical and horizontal, and the enemy army has also dug a few ditches to introduce the river, Xiakou itself is not a strong city, but our army's siege equipment is also difficult to reach, and can only be attacked by soldiers and horses." Zhang Liao nodded, then shook his head and said: "But if it is difficult to conquer, it is not enough, but if there is a naval army, it is not difficult to attack here?" If you attack purely on foot? These dozen or so waterways and ditches are difficult to penetrate. ”

Chen Mo was able to capture fortified cities such as Xiangfan and Jiangling so quickly, relying on powerful ballistas? But this terrain in Xiakou? Don't you say that the new catapult with its huge size is difficult to find a suitable place for even a stone tool? And the city wall of Xiakou itself is only one or two zhang high, if it is placed nearby? Then it's better to attack the city directly? The Jiangdong army opened a few more canals here, obviously to guard against Chen Mo's siege equipment.

Of course, if Chen Mo could have a naval army in his hands to attack from the river, the effect would be different.

"Your Majesty? Can the iron cable boat used by our army in the attack on Gangneung be used again? "Chen Mo's side? Ma Chao said on a whim.

Last time, the iron cable was connected, not only was it not uncomfortable, but it was also able to run a horse, Ma Chao felt that if that was the case, this water battle was actually not as troublesome as written in Chen Mo's naval strategy.

"That thing has to measure the direction of the wind? In today's wind direction, if you really use this method? All it takes is a fire to burn us to death. Chen Mo shook his head, although the iron cable boat can solve the shortcomings of the Ming army's lack of water warfare? But it's also easy to crack, even in winter? Chen Mo can't use it? What are the benefits? But the disadvantages are even greater, the wind direction on this river is unpredictable, even in winter, the east wind may blow, Chen Mo doesn't want to pin his hopes on this kind of thing, he just needs to guard the gate of Jingzhou.

Ma Chao didn't speak when he heard this, he attacked Jiangling that day, even if the wind direction was favorable, after the war, nearly half of the iron cable and boat were burned, if the wind direction was facing north at that time, it might have been directly burned by a fire.

"Lone this time, I brought a batch of Yuan Rong crossbows!" Chen Mo looked at Zhang Liao and said with a smile: "Since the city wall of Xiakou is not high, then this time I will not fake foreign objects, and let the soldiers bring this Yuanrong crossbow to attack Xiakou, so that the people of Jiangdong know that even if there is no siege equipment, our army is still invincible in the world!" ”

"Whoa!" When Zhang Liao heard this, he immediately nodded and agreed, although the strong attack cost troops, but as Chen Mo said, Xiakou was already weak, and with the advantage of the Ming army, Xiakou could not stop it.

Accompanied Chen Mo back to the camp at the moment, early the next morning, Zhang Liao began to command the soldiers and horses to attack the city, lay pontoon bridges, carry simple ladders to climb the city, and launch an attack on Xiakou.

This is probably the first time the Ming army has stormed a city since it went south, although the waterway blocked the Ming army's marching speed, but watching a group of Ming troops cooperate tacitly across the canal and attack towards Xiakou, the Jiangdong Army truly realized the horror of the Ming army for the first time.

The rain of arrows is not dense because of the waterway, but it is continuous, always able to suppress their counterattack, the seemingly scattered Ming army cooperates with each other tacitly, in the process of shooting at both sides, they are not afraid of death to rush to the city wall, some still need ladders, and some directly three people cooperate with one, and climb up.

At the head of Xiakou City, Cao Zhen roared and commanded the soldiers to kill the Ming troops who climbed up to the city, but the Ming army was attacking in all directions, which made Cao Zhen feel breathless, and the Ming army today seems to be more terrible than when Cao Cao was still there.

Cao Zhen killed a Ming army with a sword, but there was a roar in the distance, Cao Zhen hurriedly turned his head to look, and saw dozens of Ming army shield men holding their shields high, kneeling on the ground to form a ladder composed of shields, the Ming soldiers in the rear quickly stepped on the ladder composed of people and shields and rushed up, the Yuan Rong crossbow shot out a dense rain of arrows to shoot the defenders at the head of the city continuously, and the Ming army took the opportunity to pounce and has occupied a section of the city wall.

Cao Zhen was in a hurry to see it, and hurriedly shouted: "Use rolling wood and fire oil!" ”

But apparently it was too late, more and more Ming troops followed this method, more Ming troops rushed up from everywhere, the city wall of Xiakou was completely lost less than half an hour after the battle, Cao Zhen wanted to recapture the city wall several times, but after all, he failed to block it, but he was hit by two knives and three arrows, and he had no choice but to retreat into the water village under the cover of the guards, and retreated into the river with a cute pet.

"Good!" Chen Mo, who was watching the battle, couldn't help but praise when he looked at this scene: "This method is good, Wen Yuan is worthy of the name of a wise general!" ”

"The king praised falsely, this method was not created by the last general, but it was actually used when Liu Bei attacked Nanyang, and the last general just imitated it." Zhang Liao shook his head and smiled.

"Liu Bei?" Chen Mo nodded when he heard this, and didn't say anything more.

The battle of Xiakou from the siege to the breaking of the city, before and after adding up to only an hour, the strength of the Ming army in this situation without any auxiliary siege equipment to show the vividly, Cao Zhen led the remnants to retreat to Fankou, and at the same time transmitted the news of the destruction of Xiakou back to Jiangdong, so that Jiangdong, which was already unstable, was even more chaotic.

The Ming army captured Xiakou, so will the next step be to cross the river directly?

Chai Sang, in the lobby of the government office, watching everyone arguing, Sun Quan was a little annoyed, waved his hand and said: "Don't quarrel with the princess, what kind of system will it be?" ”

"Princess!" Zhang Zhao came out of the ranks, frowned and said: "The Ming army occupies Xiakou, if you cross the river at this time, you can easily cut off the four counties of Changsha, Guiyang, Lingling, and Wuling, and then you can attack my Jiangdong without borrowing the waterway. ”

The voice of peace became higher and higher as Chen Mo occupied Xiakou.

Sun Quan couldn't see any expression on his face, at his start, Zhou Yu smiled and said: "Mr. Zibu doesn't need to worry, although the Ming army is strong, but its strength is in the foot, above this river, our army should be the most, but it is not unreasonable to send an envoy to explore, as far as I know, the Ming army has sent a large number of soldiers and horses to Shu to besiege Liu Bei, and now this Jingzhou army is not as good as the day to attack Xiangfan Guangsheng, the lord, the minister thinks, can send a messenger to Xiakou, to explore the truth." ”

Sun Quan nodded, looked at the ministers and said, "It's okay, I don't know who wants to go?" ”

"Lord, this matter is willing to go to Xiakou in person!" Zhang Zhao got up and smiled.

"Zibu is old, this ......" Sun Quan looked at Zhang Zhao and frowned.

"Lord, Cao Ang is willing to go!" In the hall, Zhang Zhao was about to speak, but Cao Ang, who rarely spoke, got up and saluted Sun Quan.

"Zixiu has a family feud with that Chen Mo, if you go, I am afraid of persecution!" Sun Quan hurriedly shook his head, he still liked Cao Ang very much, he didn't fight or grab, and he had enough ability.

"Lord, although Ang and Fame have a family feud and national hatred, but the minister studied under the Ming King when he was young, and he knows that this person is quite arrogant, the two armies are at war, Ang went to see each other with a national gift, even if he wants to kill me, he will never disdain to use this method to cause harm, and I hope that the public will be fair!" Cao Ang bowed.

The veteran Han Dang frowned and said, "Zi Xiu seems to have a lot of respect for that Chen Mo. ”

Cao Ang bowed his head slightly and said: "It is very respected, what Ang has learned, most of it has been learned from King Ming, but please rest assured that Ang Ding will not hide his selfishness because of this!" ”

Sun Quan said with a smile: "Zixiu doesn't have to worry too much, General Han is also worried about Zixiu, since this is the case, Zixiu will go to Xiakou, I will write a letter, Zixiu will bring it with you, be careful." ”

Family hatred and national hatred, in fact, Sun Quan also has it, Sun Jian died in the hands of Chen Mo's general Dian Wei, and even Sun Quan suspected that his brother's death had something to do with Chen Mo, but there was no evidence, this kind of thing can't be said nonsense, especially now that Chen Mo has the Central Plains and looks down on the world, if it is not necessary, Sun Quan does not want to provoke Chen Mo in these things, it is meaningless.

"Thank you, lord!" Cao Ang bowed.

Zhang Zhao frowned, this Cao Ang is a family member of Zhou Yu, and he has a family hatred with Chen Mo, he is not worried about Cao Ang's surrender, he is more worried about whether Cao Ang will carry the communiqué and deliberately provoke a war between the two families?

Now Sun Quan intends to fight Chen Mo, and Zhou Yu is also actively preparing for the war, which makes Zhang Zhao very dissatisfied.

After thinking about it, Zhang Zhao got up and said: "Lord, the old minister thinks that Zixiu is inexperienced after all, and the old minister wants to go with Zixiu, so it is good to help one or two, please ask the lord to agree." ”

Sun Quan frowned, but looked at everyone in the hall, and finally nodded and said, "It's okay, there is Zibu Gong here, I can rest assured." ”

Cao Ang is considered to be the main battle faction, but the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty are mostly dominated by the Lord and the military, if Zhang Zhao is not allowed to go, I am afraid that these people are not willing, so they can only agree.

"Thank you, lord!"