On the river, a huge fleet of ships is going upstream, they are all the warships of the Zhou State Jiangnan and West Road, full of sailors and many baggage, grain and grass, and marching to the mouth of Dongting Lake upstream. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

Chen Guo's Bazhou Prefecture Zhibaling, near the mouth of Dongting Lake, and the offensive target of the Jiangnan West Road march is here, they set sail from Ezhou Xiakou, although the current is countercurrent, but it is a tailwind, about ten days later, it can reach the meeting point - Bailuo.

Jianli County of Liang State and Chen Guoba Prefecture across the river, on the river surface located in the mouth of Dongting Lake more than 20 miles downstream, there is a Jiangxinzhou named Bailuozhou, the north bank of Bailuozhou is Bailuo, there will be the Zhou army to attack Ba, Hunan Chen army stronghold.

Yu Wenming, the marshal of the Jiangnan West Road march, has led the main force to go to Bailuo by land with light equipment, while the naval warships carry grain and grass to Bailuo by water, and must arrive within the time limit, if they fail to arrive without reason, they will be dealt with in accordance with military law.

Zhou Fashang, the head of the marching navy in Jiangnan West Road and the assassin of Ezhou, stood on the deck of the ship, looking at the direction of the fleet and fell into deep thought, he had a feeling that the Chen Guoshui army in Bazhou would not sit still, so it was very likely to take the initiative to attack.

Bailuo, from the mouth of Dongting Lake is also more than 20 miles away by waterway, once the Zhou army controls Bailuozhou, it means that the river below Bailuozhou, the Zhou army can be unimpeded.

It is even possible to directly transport soldiers and horses to the south bank, and from there directly attack Bazhou Prefecture Zhibaling by land, the distance is only more than 20 miles!

Zhou Fashang was born in a family of generals, and he was exposed to it since he was a child, so that he had a lot of experience in using soldiers, and whenever the big war came, his favorite thing was to empathize and think about what he would do if he was the enemy's commander.

If he was the military governor of Ba and Hunan Prefectures, and learned that the Zhou army fleet was approaching, he would never sit back and wait for the rabbit at the mouth of Dongting Lake, but would take the initiative to attack and strive to break the main force of the opponent's naval army.

It is not only the Zhou State Navy that can threaten Bazhou, but also the Liang State Navy stationed in Jiangjin in its upper reaches, but this Navy is weak and plays a role in restraining at most, and the Zhou State Navy located in the lower reaches of Bazhou is the henchman of Chen Jun.

If you sit back and watch Liang and Zhou Shuijun converge, it is the way to die.

Therefore, if the Chen army wants to take the initiative to attack, it must attack the Zhou army downstream, the Zhou army was defeated, and the Liang army did not dare to go downstream, so the control of the Yangtze River was still in the hands of the Chen army.

Even if there are more soldiers and horses on land in the Zhou State, it is impossible for the commander to cross the river rashly, otherwise once the war is unfavorable and there is a stalemate after crossing the river, then the transportation of grain and grass will be a big problem.

Ezhou of Zhou, bordering Bazhou of Chen, but the road between them is not very easy to walk, Ezhou Prefecture Zhixiakou and Bazhou Prefecture Zhibaling are at least 400 miles apart, there is no water conservancy, transport grain and grass by land to supply the needs of the army, where can it hold on, the Zhou army that attacked Baling by land can only withdraw to Xiakou in the end.

Therefore, as General Chen, if you want to defuse the attack of the Zhou army, the best way is to win the water battle, and you have to take the initiative.

Baling is located in the upper reaches of Xiakou, at its southwest end, and Xiakou is located at the northeast end of Baling.

Zhou Fashang led the navy to Bailuo to meet the main force, he made corresponding preparations when he set off, the clipper set off in advance as a pathfinder, and the main fleet also paid attention to maintaining the formation after setting sail, and the ships transporting grain and grass and baggage were at the rear, and the Chen army took the initiative to attack downstream.

This point was highlighted by Zhou Fashang when he went to Anlu and reported to Marshal Yu Wenming, so the time limit for going to Bailuokou this time was specially added to the word "no reason" in "if it is not overdue, it will be dealt with in accordance with military law".

As the Assassin of Ezhou, Zhou Fashang was supposed to accompany his direct superior, Yuwenwen, the governor of Huangzhou, on the expedition, but he was appointed by Yuwenwen as the Assassin of Ezhou, but he was responsible for the use of troops in Chen Guobazhou on the west side.

He is proficient in land warfare and water warfare, and he has the trust of Yu Wenwen, so he was recommended by him this time, and was entrusted with an important task again, becoming the commander of the navy marching on the west road south of the Yangtze River, leading the navy to attack Ba and Hunan by water.

The responsibility is heavy, Zhou Fa still does not dare to take it lightly, and the ships are lined up in combat formations for several days in a row, just in case.

There is a small city on the south bank of the Dajiang River in front, that city Zhou Fashang has come, of course, it was only in the suburbs at that time, this is a small city in Shayang under the rule of Shangjun County, Ezhou, and now under the control of the Chen army, it is the front line of confrontation between the Zhou army of Ezhou and the Chen army of Bazhou.

This city is along the river, there are green mountains on the bank of the river, one side of the river is steep like a wall, and across the river on the other side and the north bank, it is the boundary of Zhou Guochuzhou, which was called Wulin in ancient times.

It is said that at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the battle of Chibi broke out on this section of the river, Jiangbei Wulin was the water camp of Cao Cao, the minister of power, and the south bank of the Yangtze River was the water camp of Sun and Liu's joint army, and later the coalition army burned Cao Ying, and the fire reflected the red mountain wall in the south of the Yangtze River, so it was named Chibi.

"How far is it from the white snail?"

"Back to the manager, there are still a hundred miles."

"In other words, this place is about one hundred and twenty miles away from the mouth of Dongting Lake?"

"Yes."

Zhou Fashang looked at the sky, it was still morning, he 'empathized' again, and felt that there was a lot of danger here: this place was not far from the mouth of Dongting Lake, which could be described as the best distance for a surprise attack.

The closer to the white conch, the higher the vigilance of the Zhou navy, and too far away from the white conch, the Bazhou Chen army warship will have a feeling of the end of the strong crossbow if it wants to raid, and if the attack distance is too far, the return voyage will take too much time, and it is very likely that the Zhou army on the opposite side of the Dongting Lake will have an opportunity.

Chen Guo must have endless detailed work in Xiakou, so the dynamics of Zhou Jun, the other party probably has the ability to understand something, so... Now this distance is just right!

"Order, blow the horn, the whole army is on alert, beware of changes upstream!"

The order issued by Zhou Fashang was a little abrupt, but the generals did not question it, and everyone saw Zhou Fashang's achievements in water warfare in the past few years, so there was no need to ask, they all felt that it was "reasonable".

As soon as the horn sounded, the lookout on the mast noticed that there was something unusual on the river ahead with the help of a clairvoyant mirror, and after carefully observing it for a while, he shouted at the top of his voice: "There is a fleet ahead!" It was our vanguard fleet, and they turned around and came back! ”

The fleet that was serving as the vanguard suddenly turned back, which indicated that there was a serious enemy situation ahead, and sure enough, after a while, the lookout observed a new situation again: "They released smoke to warn, Chen Guo's naval army is coming!" ”

When Zhou Fashang heard this, he was like a tiger seeing his prey, and his spirit instantly rose: "Order!" The baggage boat immediately retracted its sails, did not turn around, and retreated directly downstream with the current! ”

"Chief, do you need to send a warship to escort you?"

"Nope! All ships are in formation, and prepare their equipment immediately! ”

"Those who leave without an order will be punished as escaping!"

"Beat the drums, get ready for battle!!"