At the beginning of July, Dong Zhuo in Luoyang City had received the news that Liu Biao had sent reinforcements, and he was overjoyed, and the opportunity had finally arrived, so he hurriedly sent people to invite Li Ru and Niu Fu and others to negotiate.

At the end of June, the imperial court received half a year's tax from Gao Shun, Dong Zhuo was happy at the same time, but had to worry about the money and food after that, if there was no new source of money and food before the money and grain were exhausted, his power would be self-defeating, so attacking Jingzhou was a last resort.

What made them happy was that Gao Shun's forces did not cut off trade with them, and the price of trade was much lower than that in the Central Plains, which was regarded as Gao Shun's reward for Dong Zhuo to destroy the scholars and local tyrants in the three counties of Yanzhou.

After reading the information, Li Ru said that he could send troops immediately, no matter who wins or loses after that, the two families must have consumed a lot of troops, and Liu Biao's side is at a disadvantage, otherwise he would not have to transfer reinforcements from Xiangyang and Fancheng.

Under Dong Zhuo's order, the army that had been prepared set off one after another and went straight to Nanyang.

The southward army was commanded by Niu Fu, and the officers and soldiers under its jurisdiction included Guo Yan, Chang Xuan, Zhang Ji, Cheng Lian and others, with a total of 120,000 horse infantry officers and soldiers; Nanyang County Taishou Yang Cheng was also controlled by Niu Fu.

Everyone was very excited, the Liangzhou Iron Cavalry fought against the Jingzhou soldiers who had no cavalry, wouldn't they be able to capture it? And Jingzhou is rich, it is a good opportunity for them to make a fortune, even if they are not allowed to plunder, they can get a lot of rewards by relying on their military exploits.

The purpose of letting Cheng Lian participate in the southward movement was to weaken Lu Bu's power in the capital, which was one of the measures to prevent Lu Bu.

Dong Zhuo and Li Ru's protection of Luoyang has not been relaxed, and the defense is very tight; However, Dong Zhuo still felt overstretched, fortunately withdrawing the army from the three counties of Yanzhou, even so, in the face of the strong enemy Gao Shun, they still felt that Luoyang was in danger.

Zhonglang's generals Dong Yue and the lieutenant Li Dao, as well as Dong Cheng and others, were stationed in Luoyang, and these generals and troops were trusted by Dong Zhuo to protect the safety of the capital while guarding against Lü Bu and Liu Bei, as well as the ministers of the court and China; The Flying Bear Army led by Li Dao is not only his starting force, but also his most trusted descendant unit, with the strongest combat effectiveness, and only by keeping it by his side can he have a sense of security.

Zhonglang stationed Duan Xuan at Hangu Pass, and Captain Fan Chou stationed at Hujiao Pass, and the two were intended to prevent Gaoshun forces from attacking from the east and west.

For Zhonglang General Duan Xuan, he is the representative of the Kansai Shi clan, and looks down on the rude Dong Zhuo from the heart; And Dong Zhuo is also very uneasy about it, very contradictory, he doesn't dare to use it if he wants to, he wastes it if he doesn't use it, and the money and food spent every month makes him very distressed, but he can't respond to the benefits he has; Let him be stationed in Hangu Pass, Dong Zhuo was not worried about him surrendering to Gao Shun's forces, because Gao Shun did not wait to see the people of the Shi clan.

Yingchuan County was too guarded by Wei Xu to continue to guard against Cao Cao and other princes in Yuzhou.

Zhonglang stationed Hu Zhen in the southern passes of Luoyang, and supported Wei Xu, Niu Fu or returned to the capital at any time, with the heaviest task; Hu Zhen is one of Dong Zhuo's most trusted people.

According to Li Ru's plan, Niu Fu's first task was to go south to occupy Xiangyang and Fancheng, and then send an army straight to Jiangling, first occupying the empty but very rich Nanjun, and Niu Fu led the main force to go straight to Xiling, killing the Jingzhou soldiers and Yangzhou soldiers in one fell swoop, occupying the Jiangbei region of Jingzhou in one fell swoop, and establishing a dominant position in Jingzhou.

At this time, Huang Zu fell into a passive situation, the troops did not dare to act during the day, tens of thousands of troops, together with baggage, the team was more than ten miles long, and he would be attacked by the Yangzhou cavalry anytime and anywhere, and he could not organize the defense in time, even if he was prepared, the enemy cavalry saw that there was no opportunity to take advantage of it, so they would withdraw and look for other places to attack.

Huang Gai and Xu Kun have both followed Sun Jian to fight for so many years, and they have very rich combat experience, especially good at cavalry combat, whether it is against cavalry or infantry, they all have corresponding tactics.

They divided the army into eight divisions, each with five hundred cavalry; Sometimes one department attacks alone, and the other departments monitor from a distance and support at any time; Sometimes several departments launched attacks on several places at the same time, making Huang Zu embarrassed.

In the middle of the march, the troops were defenseless, as long as they were approached by the cavalry, either they would attract a rain of arrows, causing countless casualties to the Jingzhou soldiers, or the cavalry would directly rush into a fierce killing in the ranks, and Huang Zu's marching formation would immediately be in chaos.

When the enemy cavalry had departed, and had just regrouped their formation, another cavalry attacked, and the cavalry attacks continued; Sometimes Huang Zu made a good defense, but the cavalry turned away after a glance from a distance, or chose other places to attack, so angry that Huang Zu jumped and abused.

Moreover, the cavalry liked to attack Huang Zu's baggage troops the most, not only because the combat effectiveness of the baggage troops was low, but also easy to destroy, as long as Huang Zu's military rations were burned, tens of thousands of soldiers would be scattered.

was attacked continuously, and a large number of Jingzhou soldiers took advantage of the chaos to flee, but those who did not flee were also demoralized.

The Yangzhou cavalry came and went like the wind, and Huang Zu was powerless.

Huang Zu had to choose to camp during the day to rest and march at night, to avoid the hot sun during the day, and to avoid being attacked by the Yangzhou cavalry, the soldiers had no complaints, but they were often hindered by traps, etc., broken roads, etc., and the marching speed was very slow, and the daily march was only about ten miles; There is a distance of 100 miles from Xiakou to Xiling City, and at the current speed, it will take nearly ten days to reach it, which makes Huang Zu anxious.

After Zu Mao received Sun Jian's order, he first drew a thousand people who were good at water from the infantry, and ordered them to cut down trees first, hide in the south of the city, and when Zhang Yun's three scout boats came to patrol, push the trees down the river, because of the traction of the ropes, the trees could not be floated away, and all of them were across the water, because of the large number, blocking the retreat of the warships.

At the same time, a large number of canopies were thrown from the small bridge in the west of the city, and the canopy went down the river, gradually compressing the space for the movement of enemy ships.

The Jingzhou soldiers on the scout ship saw that the warship was trapped and could not move, and there were Yangzhou officers and soldiers waiting for them in the east and west, and there was no escape, so they had to surrender.

Zu Mao easily captured three scout ships for the first time, and he was very happy in his heart, if only there were more enemy ships, but although the water was wide, the depth was insufficient, and the big ships could not come, which made him a little regretful.

Zu Mao immediately ordered his soldiers to clear the trees and canopy of the river, hoping to capture a group of scout boats that had come to patrol again; Thirty soldiers were sent to take over three scout boats and go to the water northwest of the city for training.

Two times in a row, Zu Mao captured six search scout ships, and Zhang Yun did not dare to send warships to harass him again; Although there are not many, Sun Jian, Zu Mao and others are still very happy, a good start is half the success, so, at Zu Mao's suggestion, Sun Jian mobilized craftsmen and others in the army to build scout ships on the spot to meet the needs of the front.

Sun Jian thought to himself, for the time being, it was impossible to build a large warship, and if there were a large number of small scout ships, it could also play a huge role.

Through the Zheng Bao incident, Sun Jian noticed the importance of the navy, there must be a navy in his hands, even if the strength is very small, it is stronger than nothing, and he attaches more importance to Zu Mao in his heart, and all the affairs of the navy are entrusted to Zu Mao.

After such a long time, the reinforcements have not arrived, and Sun Jian kept sending people outside the city to shout, claiming that the Jingzhou reinforcements have been defeated, and hoping that the defenders in the city will surrender, otherwise they will kill a chicken and dog on the day the city is broken.

The patriarch of the Huang family and others also had a bad premonition in their hearts, Sun Jian loosened the siege strength, but they did not dare to relax, and even thought that this was Sun Jian's tactic, not afraid of thieves stealing, afraid of thieves, if the defense was relaxed, Sun Jian suddenly exerted force, Xiling City would be conquered in one fell swoop, which also caused the defenders to be more nervous.