At this time, Li Yan, who had already touched the vicinity of Jiangxia Yunshe (now Jingshan, Hubei Province), had to let the army stop for the time being.

Although Li Yan was close to the age of the Mandate of Heaven at this time, he was marching all the year round, and Li Yan did not look too old.

Li Yan was originally from Nanyang, and when Liu Zhang controlled Shudi, he reused Li Yan. When Liu Bei entered Shudi, the first to surrender to Liu Bei were Li Yan and others.

Li Yan can fight well and manage floods, which is deeply used by Liu Bei. The same is true for governing the army, which is square and sleek, and has no low prestige in the army.

Although Liu Bei first won Jingbei and then Xishu, Liu Bei paid more attention to the development of Xishu. Although Li Yan's official position was slightly lower than Kuailiang's at this time, Li Yan was in charge of most of the military in Jingbei.

Kuai Liang was able to mobilize Li Yan, and Li Yan also obeyed, but at a critical juncture, Li Yan gave an order, and Liu Bei's army in Jingbei would still obey Li Yan's command.

This expedition to Jiangxia was an action decided by Li Yan himself, and he did not tell Kuai Liang.

It was not that Li Yan wanted to fight for power with Kuai Liang, but that after Li Yan learned that Sun Ce was coming to Jiangling with the army, Li Yan had already made a decision to send troops to Jiangxia.

Kuai is good at scheming, Li Yan admits that he is not an opponent. But militarily, Li Yan was not optimistic about Kuailiang's decision-making.

The loss of Jiangling had long been expected by Li Yan, but Li Yan did not expect it to be so soon.

"General, the messenger has sent news that Jiangling has been destroyed, General Kuai Liang has retreated to Yiling, Chen Bingyi said."

"General Kuai has told Sun Ce in his heart about the naval army in the Yangtze River?"

"There are fifty thousand. General Kuai's letter also said that Ling Cao's army may only be an advance force, and Sun Ce's army may still be in Jiangxia, and the purpose is unknown. ”

Li Yan frowned and asked, "What about General Wenpin?" ”

"General Wenpin, has... Already dead in battle! ”

Well?! Li Yanshuang waited with a look, and stood up violently: "How is it possible." General Wenpin is more brave than the general, and he is better at water warfare, how can he die in battle. ”

"General." Li Yan was angry, startled the guards, and said with some apprehension: "Ling Cao waved 50,000 troops and fought a decisive battle with General Wenpin on the Yangtze River, General Wenpin was defeated, and fled ashore to be surrounded and suppressed by Ling Cao. For some reason, General Wen Ping and Ling Cao fought alone in front of the battle and died under Ling Cao's gun. ”

Li Yan was stunned for a moment, then took a step back decadently, and said with a wry smile: "Zhongye, Zhongye!" Why is it so stupid, even if you are captured, it is better than death! ”

Li Yan shouted softly, tears streaming from the corners of his eyes.

"General..."The guards said softly: "I heard that after General Wenping died in battle, General Wenpin's lieutenant dismissed the remnants of the army, and only took a dozen personal guards with him to send General Wenpin's body back to Nanyang. ”

Li Yan was stunned for a moment, and then laughed: "Zhongye, you are really cunning, you are so virtuous!" Li admires! Haha..."

It seemed to be a ridiculous tone, but the guards could hear the remorse and regret in Li Yan's tone.

After a long time, Li Yan finally regained his composure, turned his back to the guards and asked softly, "Is there a reward for the Jiangxia spies?" ”

"General Yu, five days ago, Sun Ce led 100,000 sailors to swim upstream, and at this time it should be about to converge with Ling Cao's army."

"An army of 150,000!" Li Yan sighed and said, "How can General Kuai stop it." ”

"Order the three armies to immediately pull out the camp and capture Yundu City as soon as possible."

"No!"

"Wait!" Li Yan summoned his personal guards back, pondered for a moment and said: "In the name of the general Zhengdong, I ordered Mr. Xianhe of the Nanyang Army to send troops to Jiangxia immediately, and after ten days, he must arrive at Anlu, Jiangxia (now the area between Yunmeng and Yingcheng, Hubei) and join forces with the general's army. ”

"No!"

"Also, send a message to General Kuailiang about the deployment of this general, asking General Kuailiang to defend Yiling for a month."

"No!" The guards didn't dare to delay any longer. Li Yan's three military orders came down, and it seemed that he was preparing to take Jiangxia. The guards were even worried that the general would not be punished without informing the lord of such a big military operation.

However, Li Yan's serious expression gave the guards no time to think about it, and hurriedly left the military tent.

Li Yan was not good at water warfare, and since Sun Ce's army was so fierce, Li Yan planned to evade Sun Ce's army and launch a fierce attack on Jiangxia directly by land.

As long as he could capture Anlu and coerce Jiangxia to govern Xiling (now the boundary west of Xinzhou City, Hubei), he would naturally besiege Wei to save Zhao and force Sun Ce's army to retreat. Well, if he can successfully capture Jiangxia, even if Sun Ce takes Nanjun, it will only become Liu Bei's meal.

Under Li Yan's urging, the marching speed of the army was extremely fast, and in less than two days, Yundu was captured. After a little rectification, Li Yan did not stop and directly raided An Lu and left.

In the area from Yundu to Anlu, although there is not much water, the vertical and horizontal water system still allowed Li Yan to walk for ten days.

Jian Yong of Suixian did not resist Li Yan's military order, and sent Liao Hua, the only general in Nanyang County, down the river, and in less than ten days, he rushed to the outside of Anlu City first.

"The last general has seen General Zhengxi!"

Li Yan hurriedly stepped forward to help Liao Hua up, and laughed loudly: "Hahaha... With General Yuanjian coming to help, the general will definitely be able to take Anlu. ”

"The general is false." Liao Hua was a little flattered and clenched his fists and said: "The general gives an order, and the last general must be brave in front." ”

"Good!"

Li Yan applauded loudly, and under the guidance of Liao Hua, he came to the map of the Chinese army's military tent.

"After the last general arrived in Anlu, he sent scouts to investigate the truth of Anlu." Liao Hua pointed to the location of Anlu on the map and said: "The south of Anlu is full of water, coupled with the flooding of summer rain, it is completely impossible for the land of water to be raided by a large army at this time. Needless to say, the east and north sides were cleaned up by the last generals and generals. ”

"Those who can rush to the aid of Anlu are the Jiangxia Zhizhi Xiling City in the east and the naval army that Sun Ce may stay in the Han River."

"The general's military order said that he wanted to raid and attack Anlu, and the last general had no hidden whereabouts. After arriving in Anlu, he sent scouts to cut off the eastern land route of Anlu, so that Anlu could not seek assistance from Xiling. ”

"But in the Han River, how many sailors Sun Ce has, the last general doesn't know."

Li Yan nodded with satisfaction, what he wanted was this effect, so that An Lu would be in chaos and Xiling would not get the news.

"It's okay, Benjiang's purpose is not in Anlu."

"Huh?" Liao Hua was slightly stunned, and said a little puzzled: "Then the general intends to..."

"Encircle the point and send reinforcements! Siege Wei to save Zhao! ”

Li Yan said with a triumphant look: "Since An Lu's scouts have not been dispatched, An Lu's guards will inevitably call for help from the waterway. ”

"We are attacking An Lu with such fanfare, and An Lu guards the way of nature, and neither of us is good at water warfare. In this way, it is very likely that An Lu will relax the defense in the south. Li Yan smiled strangely: "At that time, Ben will ambush the army in the south of Anlu City, what does Yuan Jian think will be the result of the enemy army?" ”

After hearing this, Liao Hua looked at Li Yan excitedly, and said excitedly: "In this way, if the fighter allows, the general can not only solve the danger of Yiling, but also break Sun Ce's army!" ”

"Yes!" Li Yan said firmly: "It is rumored that Jiangdong not only has the tiger Sun Ce, but also the beautiful man Zhou Yu, I will see if Zhou Yu will count the Dao, and Ben will be so dangerous." ”

"That's it! Time does not wait for me, and the three armies are ordered to attack Anlu early tomorrow morning. ”

"No!" Liao Hua excitedly received the order, hurriedly outside the original tent, and arranged military affairs.

As Li Yan expected, Anlu's defenders sent scouts from the lower reaches of the Zhuan River and went up and down the Han River. The next day, Li Yan's frantic attack frightened the defenders in Anlu City, and he sent scouts again to go up and down the Han River.

The departure of the scouts allowed Li Yan to estimate the general direction of Sun Ce's army.

In this way, Sun Ce has a naval army in the Han River and the Yangtze River. Li Yan sighed, feeling more and more interesting.

Li Yan, the sailor of the Han River, knew where it was, and it should have been a ferry near Jingling (near the northwest of present-day Qianjiang in Hubei).

Li Yandu had already found out before the defenders of Jingling, about 10,000 sailors and 10,000 armies.

As for the naval army in the Yangtze River, it is definitely not Sun Ce's main force, it should be the defenders of the cities along the Yangtze River.

Li Yan's plan was not only to attack Jiangxia, but also to find out Sun Ce's troop deployment in the Yangtze River generation.

In this way, the army that remained in Lankouju had a role. Li Yan sent 800 miles of fast horses to order the army of Lankouju to go down the river and raid Jingling, to drag the army of Jingling so that it could not gallop to Anlu. As a result, Sun Ce's army wanted to rush to the aid of Anlu, so it had to send troops from the Yangtze River and Xiling to the east.

Most of the east is by land, Li Yan has put most of the troops on the east side, even if Xiling wants to rush to the aid of Anlu, he will not be able to break through Li Yan's several defense lines in a short time.

Sun Ce wanted to rush to Anlu's aid as soon as possible, so he had to send a large army from Hanshui and Zhuoshui to aid Anlu.

And what Li Yan was waiting for was Sun Ce's army from the waterway.

In Gangneung City, Sun Ce personally led a large army to arrive and took over the entire Gangneung soldiers and horses.

"Lord, Anlu is eight hundred miles away. Liu Bei's general, Li Yan, sent troops to Jiangxia, and the soldiers were devastated. ”

"Withering?" Sun Ce slammed the book with the information on it to the ground, and roared angrily: "What do the guards of An Lu do to eat, and the soldiers only came to the city to ask for help?" ”

"The lord is angry." Zhou Yu stepped forward and comforted Sun Ce: "The lord's 150,000 troops gathered in Jiangling, and Liu Bei is naturally anxious. At this time, most of Liu Bei's soldiers and horses were dragged in Xiliang, and he wanted to relieve the siege of Jiangling, but Liu Bei had to risk besieging Wei to save Zhao. ”

"Wai Wei to save Zhao?" Sun Ce took a hard breath, calmed down, and asked suspiciously: "What does Gong Jin mean is that Li Yan's purpose is not to attack Jiangxia, but to force this king to withdraw his troops?" ”

Zhou Yu nodded thoughtfully: "Liu Bei is now in a tight supply of soldiers and horses on the Western Front, so he naturally has no time to look east. It's good to be able to hold Nanjun, but even if he can't hold Nanjun, Liu Bei will not be stupid enough to send troops to Jiangxia and stretch his battle line. ”

"Besides, Liu Bei doesn't seem to have a reusable navy and navy generals."

Sun Ce nodded suddenly, and then asked, "What does Gong Jin think it should be?" ”

"All you need to do is order the defenders along the Yangtze River to rush to help. Regardless of Li Yan, force Liu Bei's forces out of Nanjun. Zhou Yu chuckled: "As long as the lord's army guards the ferries of the Yangtze River, even if Li Yan captures Jiangxia, won't the lord be able to reflexively recapture Jiangxia again?" ”