Peace is undoubtedly the most desirable thing for the people in troubled times. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 With the signing of the peace treaty between Cao Cao and Liu Biao in the eighth year of Jian'an, the peace of the past was once again restored in all parts of the world except Hebei. Of course, small-scale wars, such as Liu Zhang's crusade against Zhang Lu and Sun Quan's crusade against Shanyue, still occurred once or twice from time to time, but large-scale wars no longer appeared. If it weren't for the fact that the world was still divided by a few powerful forces, and no one would pay attention to the orders of the imperial court, otherwise the people of the world would think that this day had been unified.

Of course, for those who are insightful, the essence of the peace treaty is clear. They all clearly knew that this peace treaty was just a mutual compromise, a blank sheet of paper that had no effect on anyone: Cao Cao had lost some important strongholds in Wancheng and its surroundings before the peace treaty was signed, but in fact, these points had been captured by Liu Bei before the peace treaty was signed. In the battle of Wancheng launched by Liu Bei, Cao Cao was the loser, and Liu Biao did not get any benefits, only Liu Bei was the winner. What you can't get on the battlefield, you can't get in negotiations. Cao Cao understood this very well, so he no longer dwelled on this. The reason why he wanted to sign a peace treaty with Liu Biao was nothing more than to extricate himself from the instability of the southern front and go all out to get rid of Hebei.

"Peace...... to what extent can peace be maintained in Jingzhou? Lord Liu Biao asked Liu Bei to attack Wancheng, which in itself had already angered Cao Cao, and when Cao Cao solved Hebei, I think our Jingzhou would become his next target. "People who can see the world clearly understand that Jingzhou's peace is only a few years." Only before Cao Cao pacified Hebei was safe, and after Cao Cao pacified Hebei, the war would come. Lord Liu Biao is not enough to keep Jingzhou safe, so we must make a decision early. ”

The small actions that Liu Biao made to Liu Bei after the war were originally a very secret thing, but under the propaganda of some well-intentioned people, they made a lot of noise all over the world. As a result, Liu Biao's reputation plummeted, and more and more people saw Liu Biao's face clearly and understood Liu Biao's personality of being wide on the outside and taboo on the inside. They sealed up their own calculations, or left Jingzhou and went south, or went to the South China Sea, or went to Bashu, and continued to live a life yearning for peace; or take refuge in local forces like Liu Bei and Li Sheng, who seem to be stronger than Liu Biao, in order to ensure the glory and wealth of their side one day; Or he sent people to contact Cao Cao in Jiangbei and used the information of Jingzhou to obtain funds for his family. After all, Cao Cao, who defeated Yuan Shao, is the most powerful force today.

The battle to pacify Hebei lasted for three years, and in the first month of the eleventh year of Jian'an, Cao Cao finally took all the four counties that originally belonged to Yuan Shao into his arms. Just when everyone in the world thought that Cao Cao would either stop fighting and let Xuchang recuperate, or turn around and go south to eliminate Liu Biao and Jiangdong in Jingzhou as soon as possible, Cao Cao unexpectedly went north again to expedition to Wuhuan.

Since this was a war against foreign races, those people in Jingzhou, those who did not feel Cao Cao's terrible recognition, breathed a sigh of relief and continued to enjoy peace, while also trumpeting Cao Cao's martial arts. Although Cao Cao has not yet entered Jingzhou, there are already people secretly making propaganda for Cao Cao's entry. These people were supported by the officials in Jingzhou who were willing to defect to Cao Cao, and Liu Biao was helpless about this.

He aged more and more, and by the first month of the thirteenth year of Jian'an, he was unable to walk and could only be sick in bed. He was very powerless for his body, which he didn't know how long he could last, but even at this point, he never gave up. On the couch, he still insisted on asking about the trends of major events in the world every day, especially Cao Cao's side, he kept asking. How could he not understand what the so-called wise people understand. He cared about Cao Cao's movements because he was afraid of when Cao Cao would go south. Although he thought that Cao Cao, who had only pacified Wuhuan last year, could not launch a southern expedition all at once, he also knew that Cao Cao was a guy who liked to surprise people, so it was better to pay careful attention to his heartbeat.

However, something unexpected happened to Liu Biao during the illness: the first to attack him was not Cao Cao in the north, but Sun Quan in the east.

In February of the thirteenth year of Jian'an, Sun Quan sent the general Zhou Yu to attack Jiangxia with 30,000 troops. It's a real thing. The strength of the entire Jiangdong is not too much, only about 60,000, and it is already a big deal of Eastern Wu to send 30,000 to attack him.

For this news, Liu Biao, who was sick, was very worried. Although Jingzhou has 100,000 soldiers and horses, the number of troops is far above Jiangdong. But there are many more generals in Jiangdong than himself. Sun Ce, the founder of Jiangdong, is undoubtedly a person who will find military generals, such as Jiang Qin, Zhou Tai and other Jiangdong generals were discovered by him, these people were originally just water thieves on the Yangtze River, Liu Biao didn't think much of them, but after several terrifying attacks, Liu Biao found that they were really much stronger than the so-called generals under his command.

"Maybe you can only rely on Huang Zu's 50,000 soldiers in Jiangxia." Liu Biao thought comfortingly. For Huang Zu Liu Biaoyuan, he should rest assured, after all, Huang Zu, the first-class general under him, has resisted Jiangdong's attacks many times in Jiangxia, and can be regarded as a strongman who has repeatedly broken through Eastern Wu. However, after hearing that Jiangdong's dispatch of troops this time was actually the suggestion of Zhou Yu, who had been training the navy in Poyang, and that Zhou Yu personally led the troops, Liu Biao's confidence in Huang Zu was a little insufficient.

Just as Jiangdong focused its intelligence work on Jingzhou, Jingzhou also focused its intelligence work on Jiangdong. Liu Biao knows a lot about those people in Jiangdong, especially this beautiful Zhou Lang in Jiangdong, his ability is not as soft as his appearance. As for whether Huang Zu can resist the attack of the naval army trained by Zhou Lang for many years, Liu Biao is a little uncertain in his heart. On the one hand, he sent people to inquire about Huang Zu and asked him if he wanted aid from his side, and on the other hand, he ordered the counties of Jingzhou, especially Changsha County, which was under the control of Li Sheng on the south side of the Yangtze River, to prepare for war. Because Changsha is not only one of the most important connections between North Jingzhou and South Jingzhou, but also the most prosperous place outside of Xiangyang in Jingzhou, it is the same as Jiangxia is the existence of the gateway to Jingzhou. Liu Biao understands this very well.

The order was soon passed down, and as a special reminder, Jiangxia Taishou Li Sheng came to summon the messenger in front of the envoy who repeatedly said that he would definitely defend Changsha City and would not disappoint Liu Biao, but at the same time, he still thought that he was really making a fuss about Liu Biao's way of doing this.

"Will Sun Quan's Jiangdong Army attack this Changsha? I don't think there's such a record in history. Li Sheng was sure that he was not mistaken, and his heart was very calm. After the envoy left, he quickly summoned his generals and issued an order: "Set up beacon towers all over the Yangtze River to Dongting Lake, and if there is a fleet from Jiangdong, light cigarettes during the day and set fire at night." At the same time, we will prepare Ganning's fleet for battle, and once we hear the news of the retreat of the Jiangdong Army, we will take the opportunity to chase them. We've been training the army for seven years, and it's time for them to show some of their strength in front of the world. The twenty-eight-year-old young Taishou reversed his indifferent and senseless appearance in other people's rumors, and at this moment he became full of momentum.

For this "major event" in history, although he could not come in person because he was in Changsha, he had already found out that Liu Biao was seriously ill and had been in Jian'an for thirteen years, but he decided to give up his usual Tao Hui and show his strength little by little - he also wanted to gain some benefits in this Jiangxia battle: through a battle with the Jiangdong army, he exercised the actual combat level of his naval army; used Jiangxia's position to settle with Liu Qi, who had always been not too good to him. This is the purpose of Li Sheng's current intervention in this battle.

"Yes!" The men left in a hurry, and they were quickly busy.

Although building a beacon tower is not as difficult as others think, it is not an easy task to complete in a limited time. Fortunately, Li Sheng had prepared enough materials for setting off the beacon fire in the treasury of the counties along the Yangtze River in advance, so that this matter could finally be completed on time. It was already the third day after Liu Biao sent someone to arraignment. Zhou Yu's fleet had already arrived in Jiangxia and had already begun to face Huang Zu's Hengjiang Iron Cable.

The Hengjiang Iron Rope is a simple and effective defensive weapon for water warfare. Since both sides of the Yangtze River were in the hands of Liu Biaojun, Huang Zu took advantage of the news that Zhou Yu was leading his troops to attack in advance, and ordered the busrope boats to come and go on the river for several nights, laying down this large iron cable with 20 lines. The iron cable was straightened over the river, forming a strong line of defense on the river at regular intervals, extending the distance between the two armies, so that both sides could only attack with original weapons such as ballistas. Because the fleet of the Jiangdong Army was only equipped with such weapons and there were not many of them, but Huang Zu was able to rely on the city wall and embankment to attack Zhou Yu's army, and for a time it was also on both sides of the Jiangxia River, fighting each other vividly and happily, and finally had to confront each other.

"A long-term standoff is really not a good deal for us. We have to deal with the problem quickly. Zhou Yu said to his men. He spoke very calmly, and there was not much inquiry between his words, obviously he was already confident.

"Governor, what do you think we should do?" Lu Meng, the general under Zhou Yu's account, asked curiously.

"Although the barrage is a dead thing, as long as we work hard, we can eventually destroy it. I don't really care about this arrangement of Huang Zu. In fact, in the past two days, we have not been simply stopped here by iron cables, but because of the cooperation of bed crossbows and iron cables all over the shore. If it weren't for the restraint of the bed crossbow, Huang Zu wouldn't have been able to stop us at all. Zhou Yu smiled and analyzed the situation in front of him.

"That's too." Everyone in the tent, except for the deputy governor Cheng Pu and a few veterans who had joined the Soochow camp since Sun Jian's time, all nodded at Zhou Yu's words.

"Then ......," the crowd probed.

"I will give the order: Sixty fire-burning ships are to be carried at noon tonight, and they will be secretly under the iron cable; The warships of each building marched along the riverbank, and with the momentum of a long snake formation, they used their bed crossbows to suppress the other party's destruction of our fire-burning boats; In addition, Governor Cheng Pudu, General Huang Gai, and General Zhou Tai led 6,000 troops to land nearby with lightning speed, destroying as much as possible the enemy's bed crossbow platform on the shore, and cooperating with the actions of our army's fleet of ships. Zhou Yu showed a very confident smile on his face, which made the generals who heard it involuntarily infected with an inexplicable impulse.

"This fight will definitely be successful." As soon as they saw the calm smile on Zhou Yu's delicate face, this thought never disappeared in their minds.

The generals were quickly prepared. Under the order of Zhou Yu, the governor of the capital, Jiangdong's soldiers and horses were quickly mobilized: those who should go ashore should go ashore, those who should prepare fire ships should prepare fire ships, and those who should command building ships should command building ships. Perhaps because most of the generals of the Jiangdong Army came from both sides of the Yangtze River, their own military level was not too high, but their knowledge of water warfare was not comparable to many people in the world. They all conscientiously followed the plan of Zhou Yu, the Grand Governor, and carried out a night attack on Huang Zu's army that night.

Sixty fireships were burning on the river with a full load of oil, and because they had already laid down the iron anchor, they were like a large torch rooted in the bottom of the river, constantly rising hot flames, licking and burning thick iron cables merrily.

In order to arrange the tactics of blocking the river, Huang Zu divided his 50,000 soldiers and horses into two camps, Jiangbei and Jiangnan. The Jiangbei battalion was personally commanded by Huang Zu, with a strength of 30,000, while the Jiangnan battalion was commanded by Su Fei, a general under Huang Zu, with a strength of 20,000.

That night, Su Fei saw the fire on the river, and he understood that Zhou Yu had planned to burn the iron cable, and wanted to break through Huang Zu's Jiangbei camp overnight. At that time, he ordered his subordinate generals Deng Long and Chen Zuo to take up more than 400 Nanzhai naval warships to rescue. Thinking that the warships on this side were only halfway through, they saw more than 200 warships on the other side intercepting themselves. Although the quantity is less than half of that on Su Fei's side, the quality is much better than that on Su Fei's side: Su Fei's side only has 30 building ships, 100 ships and 270 ships, while the Jiangdong Army side has 50 ships and 150 ships. The difference in quality largely determined the gap in combat strength between the two sides, and in the face of the rain-like crossbow attacks on the side of the Jiangdong Army, the boats without much defense were suddenly dealt a devastating blow, with all the casualties of the soldiers and the people whose ships were completely overturned by the crossbows. Although the soldiers under Su Fei also showed their courage to sacrifice their lives and fight forward, such courage seemed so pale in front of the Jiangdong Army's arrows and crossbows.

After nearly an hour of fierce fighting, Su Fei's fleet was completely defeated. With even Su Fei himself being hit by three arrows, he had to order the withdrawal of his troops and return to the camp on the south bank. He retreated quickly, and the other party didn't know why, so he didn't chase him directly. Looking at the distance between the two sides getting longer and longer, Su Fei looked into the distance, but he tried very hard to record the name of the enemy general who made him suffer a defeat in his heart: "On the top of the fleet, there is a big flag with the word 'Jiang', could it be that the leader of this detachment is Jiang Qin, the general of the Jiangdong Navy?" It's really a difficult character to deal with. The bow and crossbow of the water battle are the first, and Jiangdong has undoubtedly brought this point into full play, and at this point, our Jingzhou is really losing. ”

After a little bit of gathering his remaining ships, Su Fei confirmed that he still had the power in his hands: twenty-five ships, seventy ships, and sixty ships - the big ships did not seem to have suffered any losses in such a battle, but the small ships had been completely destroyed. Looking at the soldiers who were dejected and had empty eyes, Su Fei understood that they had completely lost their momentum, the fierceness of the Jiangdong Army, and the ruthlessness of the Jiangdong Army had already made them feel afraid. If he didn't have a time to cultivate and win a few battles thoroughly, these people under his command could suffer from a fear of the Jiangdong Army.

"That's a nuisance." Su Fei sighed, knowing how much he was capable of, but he missed that tall and bold figure in his heart. In his opinion, to block the fleet of the Jiangdong Army and win the water battle, only that person can do it.

"Gan Ning, what are you doing?" Su Fei muttered to his friend's name.

When Su Fei was defeated and frustratedly called the name of his former friend, Huang Zu in Jiangbei was already in defeat and fleeing. Facing the rain of iron arrows and arrows constantly shot down by the Jiangdong building boat, and facing the hard work of the three fierce generals on the ground, Huang Zu's army finally changed from the initial confusion to the sincere fear behind. After all, they were not the elites of Jiangdong who were trained by Zhou Yu himself, and their commanders and generals were not capable people like the Jiangdong Army.

Huang Zujun, who had never thought that the enemy would use this attack method, simply arranged the bed crossbow on the river bank, and did not send more soldiers and horses to protect it. This gives them the ability to counter attacks from afar, and have little to do with attacks from close range. Although there were also some bed crossbows that attacked Cheng Pu and them before they were close, things like bed crossbows were only effective if they were used in a large and concentrated manner, so how could they rely on a single attack to make Cheng Pu and them retreat. Soon after, these people who dared to resist were also defeated by the Jiangdong Army.

It's a revenge war. Although Zhou Yu, the commander of the Jiangdong Army, did not directly define the battle in this way, almost everyone thought so. As a result, those who dared to resist were all regarded as the targets of the Jiangdong Army's revenge, and they were brutally and bloodily killed on the spot. This is the only thing that could not be more true for the veterans who have fought with Sun Jian. They are already in the revenge game, and they are getting a certain amount of pleasure through such slaughter.

The brutal battle is something you can tremble in, and when they found that their side could not resist the attack of the Jiangdong Army at all, and the so-called resistance was only in vain, they collapsed all at once. Fleeing in panic became the only thing they could do, and even with Huang Zu's personal order, they couldn't stop it from happening.

The fierce battle reached dawn, and Huang Zu's strategy of blocking the river was completely shattered: the naval army of Dazhai in the south of the Yangtze River was demoralized by Jiang Qin's interception, and could only retreat in the water village; Jiangbei Dazhai was broken by Zhou Yu and Cheng Pu's land and water cooperation, 30,000 soldiers fled, and Huang Zu integrated the rest of the men and horses to retreat to Jiangxia to hold on; Twenty iron cables that lay horizontally on the river were completely burned off, and they were unwilling to fall and roll into the river with their heavy bodies. Now that the road to Jiangxia has been opened, Zhou Yu led the navy to continue northward and set up his own temporary water village between Jiangling and Jiangxia, forcing Jiangxia to look at Jiangling.

When the news of the defeat reached Xiangyang, Liu Biao couldn't help but be shocked, and urgently ordered Cai Mao and Zhang Yun, the governors of the Jiangling Naval Army, to lead the Jiangling Naval Army to Jiangxia to support. However, Cai and Zhang heard that the Jiangdong Army was brave and did not dare to send troops, and the fleet was only held on the line from Jiangxia to Jiangling, and did not engage the Jiangdong Army.

As a result, Zhou Yu divided his fleet into three parts: a main force under his own command approached Jiangxia City; One was commanded by Cheng Pu and other veterans to monitor the movements of Jiangling near the temporary Dazhai; The last one, led by Jiang Qin, led a blocking fleet of 30 ships and 50 warships, entered Dongting Lake from the Yangtze River, peeped into Changsha, and cut off shipping from Jingnan to Jingbei -- and the Battle of Jiangxia entered the second stage.

The calm waters of Dongting Lake are far less navigable than those of the Yangtze River. Jiang Qin, who left the battlefield on the Yangtze River, took this fleet and entered here, and as soon as he really felt the quiet and distant peace. The land of Changsha, which has not been baptized by war, seems to be very peaceful, and you can only see the smoke of the people's cooking along the lake, but you can't see the kind of gunpowder smoke that belongs to the Yangtze River.

"Another peaceful place. It seems that the legendary monk Taishou has managed this place very well. It's a pity that it is going to be broken by us. Jiang Qin said with some gloom. This is also a kind of helplessness, after all, if the world is not one family, then peace cannot last for a long time.

"Doesn't the general want to get military merit?" Standing next to Jiang Qin was the deputy general Lu Meng. This is a very young man with a lot of city. It was the first time for him to participate in such a large-scale battle, and his heart was full of yearning for military exploits. Therefore, he could not understand why his superiors would let out such a decadent sigh at this moment of battle. "Soldiers belong to the battlefield, and peace can only wear down the will and strength of soldiers, so that they can slowly become an existence like scrap metal. I don't want to be scrap metal, so I just keep fighting. "Lü Meng's idea is so simple.

"Hehe, I really want to do military merit. Promoted to the rank of soldier, who doesn't want to be a general and fight with thousands of troops? It's just that for us, military merit shouldn't be all we have. As a soldier, we should not simply fight for military merit. Protecting the people under his rule, maintaining peace in the world, and working hard for the Lord's expansion of the territory is the purpose of our existence. If we can trade our fight for the peace of the people behind us, then we should fight for this peace. This is true for us, and it is the same for the enemy on the opposite side. Both sides have the same reasons to fight. Jiang Qin glanced at Lu Meng, who seemed happy because of his simplicity, but retracted the words that were almost in his throat. He looked up at the sky, and then stood on tiptoe and looked into the distance, where no one dared to die on the calm waters.

"I heard that there is a general named Gan Xingba under this Li Taishou's account, and he is extremely brave. He commanded the naval army of Changsha County. Although the scale is far less than that of our current fleet, it is still better than nothing. I don't think it will be boring to come to Changsha this time. There will definitely be military merits. Jiang Qin thought about it, but he explained Lu Meng like this. He knew that his fleet had penetrated deep into the enemy's territory, and he could not tell when he would have to confront the enemy, so he could not suppress the interest of his men in seeking war too much.

"Let's wait until the battle is over." Jiang Qin thought secretly, looking at Lu Meng's gaze, but it was so soft. He took a fancy to Lu Meng very much, and always thought that this young man had a lot of potential to be tapped, and his future achievements would definitely be much higher than his own.

"This is the lord's blessing." For those who are stronger than himself, Jiang Qin only has praise and no jealousy. He was a general above board.

"Gan Ning? Is he in Changsha? A young voice with gritted teeth sounded behind Jiang Qin, but it was not Lu Meng.

"Gongji, can't you still let it go?" Jiang Qin didn't look at it, but he could tell the identity of the person from the voice of the comer-it was not someone else, it was the son of the late Jiangdong general Ling Cao, Ling Tong, Ling Gongji. Because Sun Quan attacked Jiangxia in the past, Ling Cao entered the canoe lightly, and was shot into the water by Gan Ning with an arrow and died, Ling Tong took Gan Ning as his enemy, and hated him deeply.

"The hatred of killing the father is the hatred of the heavens, how can a person who is the son of man give up casually?" Ling Tong took a deep breath, gritted his teeth and turned his face back to calm, burying the hatred that was deeper than ever before to the bottom of his heart. As a person who wants revenge, he knows deeply that revenge really can't be impulsive.

That's right. It's just that have you ever thought that the lord really wants to accept this general? Compared to the north, we still have too few people. Jiang Qin said earnestly, and the meaning of the exhortation was already obvious.

“…… To subdue Gan Ning. When he came to Changsha, Zhou Yu, the governor of the capital, once mentioned to himself, although he himself was very brief, but Jiang Qin didn't understand that behind this simple sentence was actually the meaning of the lord Sun Quan.

"The will of the sovereign cannot be violated, and although this is a bit harsh on the public merit, there is nothing that can be done. In fact, Ling Cao's death is no wonder for Gan Ning. After all, at that time, each was his own master. Jiang Qin is also very satisfied with Gan Ning. Although Gan Ning has not yet joined Jiangdong's side, he has already begun to relieve Gan Ning. In his opinion, it is not a difficult thing to get Gan Ning to take refuge on his side, and today only his lord Sun Quan can provide the best opportunity for a person like Gan Ning who is good at water warfare to display his talents.

"Isn't that much better than staying under a little guard?" Jiang Qin was more than 80 percent sure that Gan Ning would surrender to him. He heard about the fact that Gan Ning originally came with a fleet led by Bashu, and originally wanted to come to the late General Bofu, but because he was stopped by Huang Zu in Jiangxia, he had to commit himself to Jingzhou.

"In this way, Gan Ning has already had an idea about us. As long as we can defeat him once and capture him, we will naturally be able to easily subdue him. Perhaps, you can use him to capture Changsha. Thinking about it, the corners of Jiang Qin's mouth curled slightly, showing a faint smile. He still didn't turn around, he didn't see the look on Ling Tong's face, and there was incomparably sad heartache hidden under the calm.

The fleet moved silently, and only the sound of running water resounded clearly in people's ears. For the people who are really confident in this battle, the natural sound of flowing water has undoubtedly become a kind of inspiring war drum, constantly telling people: "Forward, forward!" ”

The boat was gone, sliding past a village by the water's edge. When everyone on the boat focused on the water in front of them, no one knew that in the village behind them, a yellow wolf smoke was rising into the sky.