In October, the Yangtze River Fleet of the Central Navy stationed in Jiangzhou was established, and the first batch of building ships, fighting ships, and Mengchong built by the Jiangzhou Shipyard were launched one after another, and on the original basis, they were modified in combination with actual combat.

The ship was redesigned, the trebuchet and the slap rod were eliminated, the height of the building above the waterline was appropriately reduced, and the aspect ratio was adjusted.

A five-inch caliber gun was installed in the bow and stern, and it was possible to carry out 270-degree fire, and it was a semi-closed structure with an upper cover to protect against crossbow and trebuchet.

On the second deck, two mortars remained at the top of the cabin, and the crossbows were replaced with flintlock muskets.

The newly formed 16th and 17th Divisions have been secretly transferred to Yizhou to prepare for the next stage of combat missions, as well as the 5th Division stationed in Hanzhong.

Lu Bu has set the next unified goal in Jingzhou, for which the navy exercises day and night, and all army units are also familiar with the water and learn to swim.

On the Nanyang side, the main standing forces of the Special Operations Division, the Rong 1st Division, and the 2nd Garrison Division also quietly arrived and remained secretive, and even had special personnel operating in their Guanzhong garrisons in order to deceive the spy personnel of the hostile forces.

They entered the Nanyang area so early in order to adapt to the weather in Jingzhou, fighting in the south, and the water and soil adaptation and weather were important factors.

This time against Jingzhou, Lü Bu will still sit in Fangling to command, but because the troops are divided into two routes, the command in the direction of Yizhou is commanded by Xu Shu, and the attack in the direction of Nanyang is commanded by Zhang Liao and Zhuge Liang, and Lü Bu does not go to the first line.

In April 205, the Jiaozhou Bay side once again received good news, and the Yellow Sea Fleet of the Central Navy, after expanding the size of the fleet, carried out an expedition to the mouth of the Yangtze River.

The expeditionary fleet consisted of ten ships, three small sailing ships of 300 tons, which were reconnaissance ships equipped with only two five-inch guns in the bow and stern, and the speed was relatively high.

Five Chang'an-class 500-ton galleons that Lu Bu once sat on, and two 800-ton Huashan-class galleons that had recently been launched.

This 800-ton galleon was also double-decked, with seven guns on each side and each floor, seven for each of the five and six inches, for a total of thirty guns per ship.

Of course, the increase in tonnage is not only an increase in artillery, it can also carry two companies of marines.

That is, this expeditionary fleet can carry nine companies of marines, the strength of a whole regiment.

At the mouth of the Yangtze River, they really encountered the Soochow naval army that had been fortified here all year round.

The Soochow Navy once again stationed three building ships, ten fighting ships and more than a dozen walking boats, Mengchong.

In this battle, the Central Navy, which was familiar with it, continued to give full play to its own artillery superiority and completely defeated the Soochow naval army at an appropriate distance.

Not long after the battle began, all three ships were destroyed by concentrated fire, especially the upper deck, which was almost flattened by solid shells.

Although the Eastern Wu Navy learned from the defeat reported by Lü Meng, it wanted to create opportunities through hand-to-hand combat and fire attacks.

However, at the critical moment, Lu Su, who had become a trainee captain, commanded the small sailing ship, relying on his agility and speed advantage, desperately stopped between the Wu army Mengchong and the galleon, and used artillery and flintlock pistols to defeat several Mengchong ships of the Eastern Wu navy, preventing the attempt to come up and carry out a cross-port battle.

After the victory in the naval battle, the bold Gan Ning did not stop there, but sent all the marines he was carrying ashore.

With the cooperation of both land and water, they conquered the Dongwu Naval Army Dazhai in Dantu in one fell swoop, and destroyed all the ships and buildings at berth in the Dazhai with explosives and fire, especially the docks and repair workshops that could repair warships.

Then before the land and water army of Soochow came to the rescue, he turned around and went away in a dashing manner.

In May, Liu Bei, who deeply felt the tremendous pressure exerted on him by Lü Bu, took the initiative to hand an olive branch to the alliance of Cao Cao and Sun Quan at the suggestion of Pang Tong, and asked to join their alliance.

Chen Gong served as a special envoy and personally went to Xiaopei and Jianye to lobby Cao Cao and Sun Quan.

Seeing Cao Cao, both of them were embarrassed, Cao Cao, as a hero in the world, naturally has the courage to tolerate people, and he and Chen Gong gave up their previous suspicions.

Based on the truth that the enemy of the enemy is a friend, Cao Cao was willing to unite all forces that could unite against Lu Bu.

When he met Sun Quan and Zhou Yu, Chen Gong said on behalf of Liu Bei that Jingzhou would no longer meddle in the affairs of Jiaozhou, and would remove the stone throwers on both sides of the Yangtze River and lower the iron cables to show sincerity.

Since all three parties have a common enemy and the will of an alliance, this alliance can easily be formed.

In June, Cao Cao, Sun Quan, and Liu Bei met in Shouchun to formally form a new anti-Lü Bu alliance.

Cao Cao was elected as the leader of the alliance, and this was the second anti-Lü Bu alliance, but this time there were only three princes.

And this time the alliance is relatively loose, for the time being, they are just defending their respective borders, and they have to lend a helping hand when one side is attacked by Lu Bu.

When this news reached Chang'an, it caused a lot of shock in the government and the opposition, but within the Central Army, it was expected.

This is one of the major events that may occur that has long been deduced by the General Staff, and there is already a plan for dealing with this situation.

This is the benefit of the staff system of the General Staff Headquarters and the group of staff officers, who can calculate and formulate various plans through Professor Lu Bu's war games and paper exercises.

At present, the General Staff of the Central Army, with the continuous replenishment of so many outstanding graduates of the Central Military Academy and the Army University, has long been equipped with all departments and a clear division of labor.

The main department is the War Department, which is responsible for formulating the grand strategic plan and the specific guiding plan for the specific enemy.

They had already formulated different battle plans for all the potential enemies of the Central Army, even Goguryeo and the Anxi Empire.

Moreover, these operational plans are still being adjusted according to the latest intelligence and changes in the enemy situation, as well as changes in the Central Army itself.

This department is now in charge of Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi, and Lu Bu found that the two of them can complement each other's shortcomings well and formulate a perfect plan.

The Intelligence Department is still in charge of Li Su, and the huge spy network covers the entire territory of Dahan, and the shadow team is becoming more and more professional.

Moreover, the current intelligence department is particularly keen on developing undercover agents, buying informants, and carrying out rebellion and infiltration.

A newcomer has recently emerged in the Ministry of Intelligence, that is, Jia Xu's son Jia Ji, who has expertise in intelligence processing, classification, and research and judgment, and was selected by Li Su when he was in the military academy.

Because the intelligence courses of the military academy were all taught by Li Su, after graduation, he spent a lot of effort to dig Jia Ji into the intelligence department.

The Ministry of Strategic Communications, which is also very important in the Central Army, has always been in charge of Jia Kui, responsible for the construction and maintenance of post roads and official roads throughout the country, and this department is also the department with the greatest demand for slaves.

The logistics department is still in charge of Lu Bu's old brother Song Xian, in fact, his work is done very well, Lu Bu's previous wars are rarely delayed because of logistics, and it is not easy to do this.

The Ministry of Military Technology is still in charge of Ma Jun, of course, the following specific projects have their own responsible persons, unlike in the past, Ma Jun was busy alone, and now Ma Jun uses his energy in several highest-end projects.

(End of chapter)