Li Jing and Di Qing trained as many as 50,000 soldiers in Chaisang, and constantly transferred soldiers from Yuzhang and Jiangdong, especially as many as 20,000 Shanyue soldiers.

Zhang Yi handed over the attack on the southern route to Li Jing and Di Qing, and he appointed Li Jing as the governor and Di Qing as the deputy governor, in charge of all military affairs in Yuzhang.

Fan Zhongyan had been doing logistical work for Li Jing's army, transporting surplus grain from Yuzhang and Jiangdong and Lujiang to Chaisang, where he hoarded it for the attack on Jingzhou.

Li Jing did not drop Fu Youde over, but took Li Bao and Zhang Shun as the pioneers, went up the river and went straight to the pheasant.

The pheasant is in the south of the river, guarding the waterway leading to Yuzhang. Therefore, Li Jing was divided into two routes, land and water, and Li Bao's army directly crossed the pheasant and cut off possible reinforcements. And Li Jing and Di Qing led an army of 50,000 and directly attacked Xiapheasant.

And in order to prevent Liu Qi and Huang Zhong from supporting, Li Jing asked Fu Youde to send troops from Haiduan to attack Ai County to contain them.

Li Jing's army was mighty, and it was soon discovered by the defenders of the pheasant. Huang Zu can be said to have been paying attention to the movements of Yuzhang, Yuzhang has been training troops on a large scale, tens of thousands of people, and often comes out to march, he can't even think about it!

Therefore, Huang Zu strengthened the defense of the pheasant, but he did not increase the army for the pheasant. Because the pheasant is too close to Chaisang, it is not worth the loss to put too many soldiers and horses, because Huang Zu's supply line is too long.

Therefore, Huang Zu directly stationed a large army in Qi County, Xiling, and the Jiangxia Navy was also stationed in the area of Qi County. Huang Zu wanted to prevent Jiangxia's defense line in Qi County, and the opposite bank of Qi County was Exian County, Huang Zu wanted to fight with Yuzhang across the river, and relied on the naval army to block Yuzhang's army from crossing the river.

The strategy designed by Huang Zu is still very reliable, because only Qichun can be attacked by Jiangbei to Qi County, and Qichun is too far away from Qi County. Therefore, if Li Jing wants to attack the heavily guarded Qi County, he can't be in Qichun, but only in Exian.

This is also a conspiracy, Li Jing has no choice, he can only attack Exian and Qi counties and look at the river. He is also doing this, and after he captures the pheasant, he will attack Exian.

Pheasant is just a small town, and there are not many soldiers and horses. Its role is to report to Huang Zu, so that Huang Zu has time to prepare.

Li Jing easily conquered the pheasant, and after a little trimming for a day, Li Jing set out again to attack Exian.

However, Li Jing did not take all the troops, but divided his troops with Di Qing, and Di Qing crossed the river to attack Qichun. The location of Qichun County is too mysterious, and it is a threat to Li Jing's grain route.

In order to ensure the safety of the grain road and for the next strategy, Li Jing arranged for Di Qing to attack Qichun.

After Di Qing crossed the river, he quickly captured Qichun, and then did not move his troops to deliver the news to Li Jing.

Li Jing also easily captured Exian County and waited for the arrival of grain and grass again.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Li Jing also conducted an investigation into Jiangbei. After checking for a few days, Li Jing found that Qi County's defense was very tight! There are about 30,000 troops in the army, and there are hundreds of warships in the navy. Every day, the riverside patrols are continuous, and there are also a large number of boats on the river to reconnoitre.

Seeing this situation, Li Jing laughed instead, he called Li Bao and Zhang Shun of the navy over and asked, "Do you know who the guard of Qi County is?" Who is the general of the Jiangxia Naval Army? ”

Li Bao said: "Qi County was personally defended by Huang Zu, and the naval army was led by Su Fei. ”

"Su Fei?" Li Jing thought for a moment, "Su Fei seems to have a good relationship with Gan Xingba!" Can you find a way to persuade Su Fei to surrender? ”

Li Bao and Zhang Shun glanced at each other, and Zhang Shun said: "Actually, we have already passed a letter with Su Fei and are ready to persuade him to surrender." ”

"You've already done it?" Li Jing was stunned for a moment.

Zhang Shun said: "Governor, you also know the information rafters of the lord. The lord plans to make a move on Jingzhou, and he has been preparing for several years, and he has also investigated a lot of people in Jingzhou. And our navy can be said to have few generals, and we all hope to be able to increase the number of naval generals. Su Fei is a good general of the navy, and we want to get him. ”

Li Jing nodded, he could understand why the two of them did this. To tell the truth, the navy, including the good generals of the navy, did not have ten together, but the army led by them was twenty or thirty thousand people. The establishment of the navy is different from that of the army, which is divided according to ships.

Therefore, the navy actually needs more generals than the army, because every ship of the navy can become an army and needs a commander.

It is understandable that the navy wants to recruit Su Fei, they want to go over when they see a person who can only command the navy. They targeted many generals, and they all asked Zhang Yi for it, such as Lu Meng, Lu Xun and others were all begged for by the navy.

But Zhang Yi disagreed, because the navy was not Zhang Yi's focus on development. Because the navy has basically reached the top of this period, Zhang Yi wants to develop the navy more. The water army is basically useful in the river and Huai water, and it is useless when it enters the river.

Not to mention the turbulence of the river itself, its embankment is also 200 years old, and it has accidentally burst the embankment. Be extra careful when sailing on the river, as if the boat loses control and hits the levee, it may cause the river to burst.

Over the years, there have been many battles near the river, but there have never been water fights. On the one hand, it is because the northerners are not good at water warfare, and on the other hand, it is also because the river is not suitable for water warfare.

In this case, Zhang Yi will definitely choose coastal operations, and coastal operations have also been successful, proving that Zhang Yi has chosen the right direction.

After Li Jing thought about it, he asked the two, "Did your persuasion fail?" ”

Li Bao nodded and said: "It was not a complete failure, although Su Fei refused, he didn't say anything mean, and asked about Gan Xingba's situation." ”

Li Jing asked: "In other words, it's not that he doesn't want to surrender, but he doesn't want to surrender without explanation." ”

"We think so too." Li Bao said: "I think as long as we defeat him and then capture him, he will have the steps to surrender." ”

Li Jing nodded, "Then defeat the Jiangxia Water Army!" We need to cross the river, we have to defeat the Jiangxia Navy, you want to recruit Su Fei, and you also have to defeat the Navy, just killing two birds with one stone. ”

Li Bao nodded, "The strength of the Jiangxia Navy is not strong, we can achieve victory in a few days." ”

"You have to do it as soon as possible, once Cai Mao's army comes to reinforce it, it will be impossible for you to defeat Su Fei in a short time." Li Jing reminded.

Li Bao said: "Then we will start attacking tomorrow." ”

The next day, Li Bao and Zhang Shun led troops to attack the Jiangxia naval army. The Jiangxia navy was very vigilant, they saw Li Bao and Zhang Shun's navy, and immediately defended.

However, the size of the ships on both sides was very different, and as soon as the battle began, they lost the upper hand.