Under the control of more than 30 sailors, the building boat slowly approached Niu Zhuji. The river is getting more and more urgent, the helmsman pushes the rudder hard, the oarsmen shout the trumpet and paddle hard, the oars fly over, dialing the turbulent current, the snow-white waves of the rushing water, the water droplets splash everywhere, drifting with the wind, falling on the face and body, everyone is wet, Sun Ce's big coat is stained with water, and it hangs heavily on his body, which makes his mood a little heavy.

From a distance, Niu Zhu Rock is not high, like a cow sticking out its head to the river to drink water, occupying nearly half of the river. When I got closer, I looked up at the battle flag and the figure on Nagisa, and then I felt the precipitousness of Niu Zhuji. In winter, the water is shallow, and the rocks in the lower half of the Niuzhu Rock are exposed, which contrasts sharply with the upper half of the rock walls covered with green trees. The whole rock wall almost goes straight up and down, as high as fifty or sixty zhang, and no matter how high the ladder is, it can't go up.

Seeing that the warship was approaching, some arrows were shot from the rock, but most of them fell into the river, and only three or two arrows hit the boat, and they lost their strength. Despite this, the ship rose and fell with the waves, and did not stop for a moment. Sun Ce and the others were used to sitting on the boat, but they didn't think there was any problem, but Ma Chao, Yan Xing and others from Xiliang were very nervous, not only did they stand with their feet apart and stand in a horse step, but they didn't dare to let go of the railing with their hands, and they didn't even dare to look out, the river was too urgent, and they were dizzy. Ma Chao's originally white face was even whiter, and even his lips lost their blood, looking quite pitiful.

"General, you can't get any closer." Gan Ning reminded: "If there is a falling rock on it, it is very dangerous. ”

Sun Ce agreed. There's no point in going any further, it's impossible to land from here anyway. The landing pier was on the east side of Niuzhu Rock, where there was a mountain shelter and the current was slower, so that ships could be berthed, but there must have been heavy defenses there, and there would be heavy casualties if they attacked by force. In contrast, the large battalion of Niuzhu Mountain was more suitable for attacking.

The boat slowly approached the shore, the current gradually slowed down, and the boat was not so bumpy, Ma Chao and Yan Xing quietly breathed a sigh of relief, and they were finally able to stand firm.

Zhou Xin's defense line was pushed all the way to the river, not only erected a camp fence, but also arranged a large number of crossbowmen. The righteous servants stood in a row, raised a small round steel shield to block the rain of arrows, and the arrows shot on the shield, which was crisp and pleasant, and it was good to hear. Gan Ning waved his hand and directed the two battleships to circle in front of the flagship, and the crossbowmen stood in a row, pulled out their crossbows, and fired suppressively.

The arrows on both sides were crossed, and they shot happily.

Sun Ce stood on the flying house, looked at the big camp by the river, and smacked his lips. He told Cheng Pu that he would feint and defeat, but after seeing this big camp, he felt that he really didn't need to be so troublesome, even if he wanted to attack strongly, he might not be able to succeed. Zhou Xin arranged at least five or six thousand people here, half of them were crossbowmen, less than a hundred steps from the shore was the position of the crossbowmen, from the beginning of the warship docking, it was within the range of the crossbowmen, and the attacking side could not spread out even if they wanted to arrange the crossbowmen to cover, and the effect of the cover was very limited. The landed warriors could only brave the rain of arrows to advance and pay a considerable price. Even if some people rush up, facing several times the number of defenders, it will be difficult to shake the opponent's defense.

If you can't put enough troops at once, using the tactic of refueling, it is to send you to death, even if there are tens of thousands of people.

In a word, easy to defend but difficult to attack. Although it is better than Niu Zhuji, it is not much better.

If you really want to attack, unless you let the righteous battalion go into battle. The Righteous Servant Battalion has special heavy armor, which can counteract the power of some of the bows and crossbows and force a breakthrough. But then the losses will be very large. Even heavy armor could not withstand a strong crossbow shot from a melee range. Sun Ce didn't want to use the well-trained righteous camp in this kind of place.

It's not that far.

"Which of you wants to fight first?" Sun Ce asked the generals.

No one spoke. After looking at this terrain, as long as you have a little common sense, you know that it is a drudgery. If Sun Ce really wants to fight, even if the cost is a little bigger, it is worth it to take the first credit. But Sun Ce obviously didn't plan to attack, the task of the first battle was not to win, but to defeat, and no one wanted to do this kind of thankless work.

"Defeating a battle is a technical job, which is more difficult than winning a battle, and ordinary people really can't do it." Sun Ce turned around and looked at the generals with a smile. "Not only must we lose, but we must also lose like were, and the losses must not be too large, and the size must be grasped to the advantage, which is a great test of the command ability of the generals."

Still no one spoke.

"Looks like I'm the only one here." Sun Ce patted the railing. "I'm really experienced in this matter."

The guard general Guo Jun smiled bitterly: "General, how can this kind of thing let you go into battle in person, or I'll come." I will arrange a battalion to attack, and Captain Gandu will cooperate with us. Except for the general's volunteer battalion, that is, the personal guard battalion, which can take on this task, the others are either cavalry or newly reorganized men and horses, and they can't fight at all. ”

Yang Xiu laughed and turned his face away.

Gan Ning raised his eyebrows slightly and coughed. He is not stupid, of course he knows who Guo Jun is talking about, except for the personal guard battalion and the Yicong battalion under Sun Ce, he and the two hundred Xiliang cavalry are new to join, in this case, it is impossible to let the cavalry go into battle, and the rest is him. The newcomer, he admitted, said he couldn't fight, he didn't admit it.

"General, it's better for us to bear the water war. Don't dare to say anything else, we're good at this. ”

Sun Ce looked at Gan Ning. "Xingba, I know you can fight, but this mission is a fraud, are you good at this? It's not okay if the loss is big, I'm still counting on these people under your command to be the backbone of the sailor. ”

Gan Ning was very happy and arched his hand. "General, don't worry, I know what to do."

Sun Ce nodded and didn't say anything more. Gan Ning is a newcomer, and he really needs a chance to perform. As the saying goes, where there are people, there are rivers and lakes, Guo Jun and others have followed him all the way, and now they are just captains and captains, Gan Ning has not made an inch, he promised him a Fubo captain, and in the future, if there is really a sailor, he will become a captain, how to serve the public without any credit. If he favors Gan Ning too much, other generals will have opinions, and Gan Ning will not be able to deal with himself.

After the reconnaissance was completed, Sun Ce retreated to the camp and immediately arranged the mission. With Gan Ning as the vanguard, he was responsible for tentative attacks and deceitful defeats, and maintained pressure on Niuzhuji and Niuzhu's camp, holding the river, cutting off Zhou Xin's connection with Jiangbei, and the other ships retreated, preparing to meet Cheng Pu to cross the river and outflank Zhou Xin's back road.

The generals took orders and went away, each ready to go.

When night falls, the moon rises tomorrow, and the water and land camps are lit up, reflecting in the silver river water, like stars. Sun Ce sat on the boat, looking at Niu Zhuji who blended with the night in the distance, and suddenly remembered one thing, the poet immortal Li Bai seemed to have died here, and he also wrote a poem "Looking at Tianmen Mountain", and Tianmen Mountain was behind him, that is, Dongliang Mountain and Xiliang Mountain.

"Dezu, in this situation, do you have any interest in composing poetry?"