In fact, even if Zhang Song did not send Jiangdong, Sun Ce knew that Luan Yi had already occupied the entire Jiangbei, and if he conquered Yizhou, even if he Sun Ce had the ability to reach the sky, it would be impossible to change the outcome of defeat.

Therefore, when Zhang Song arrived in Jiangdong, Sun Ce was not in Moling, but with his 120,000 Jiangdong naval troops stationed in Baling, where he set up a position to confront Chen Bing's 50,000 Cao Cao army in Jiangling.

After Zhang Song arrived at the Baling camp in Jiangdong, he told Sun Ce about the war in Hanzhong. When it was confirmed from Zhang Song that there were about 400,000 soldiers and horses besieging Yangping Pass, and Luan Yi did personally supervise the battle at Yangping Pass, Sun Ce and Zhou Yu were completely relieved.

The next day, the third watch rebelled, the fifth watch thundered and drummed, and the veteran Huang Gai personally went into battle, led 15,000 pioneers, three bridges, 23 building ships, and more than 200 Yu Huang and Tu Chong (small warships), the number of which covered half of the river and went straight to the direction of Jiangling.

Three hundred and twenty thunderbolts appeared in front of Huang Gai out of thin air. It would be inaccurate to say that it appeared out of thin air, because the thunderbolts were lined up on the banks of the river before. The car was covered with green cloth and sprinkled with countless weeds, and from a distance, it was connected to the turf, and there was no trace of anything unusual. By the time Huang Gai discovered the anomaly, his fleet was within range of the Thunderbolt.

Where did Huang Gai think that Cao Cao would deploy so many thunderbolts here? The reason why he launched a general attack in this direction was because the shore watchman told him that this was the weakest place in Cao Cao's troop deployment, and he saw that the recoiling of the thunderbolt throwing stones kicked up a cloud of dust.

Huang Gai immediately realized that something was not good, and immediately ordered Mingjin.

At the same time, a dense rain of hand melons fell from the sky and burst in the water. The turbulent waves rippled after ripples, the waves were far away, and the smashing Jiangdong warships leaned forward and backwards, and large warships such as bridges and building ships were better and could withstand the wind and waves. But those sudden attacks that could only accommodate fifty people could not withstand it, and more than a dozen sudden attacks capsized in an instant, and the sergeants and soldiers of the ships fell into the water one after another.

Although almost all the Jiangdong soldiers who have lived by the river for a long time have returned to the water, but at this time, in order to fight, they are all wearing heavy armor, flying down the river, stretching their hands and fluttering twice before sinking to the bottom of the river, turning into a sumptuous dinner for the fish that day.

The handmelons are still falling frequently in the fan-like array, and a few handmelons cleverly fall on the deck of several Yu Huang, blowing up the Yu Huang into pieces on the spot, sawdust, human body stumps flying, screams one after another, and the Yangtze River is like a dumpling when it lands.

Huang Gai didn't dare to stay for a long time, and hurriedly ordered the soldiers to speed up the paddling and return quickly.

In the battle, Huang Gai returned in vain, not only failed to land on the northern riverbank, but also lost more than 1,000 soldiers and more than 20 warships in vain. After returning to the camp, he bowed to Sun Ce again and again to apologize.

Sun Ce naturally did not cure Huang Gai's crime, after all, the responsibility for the disadvantage of the division was not Huang Gai, but the Jiangdong Army, up to himself, down to the non-commissioned officers and soldiers, did not expect that gunpowder would have such great power, and that it could attack cities and pull out villages, and it could also play such a great role in water warfare.

Thinking of gunpowder and thunderbolts, Sun Ce couldn't help but feel upset for a while, and said to all the people in the tent: "Cao Cao has this thing in his hand, won't we be able to cross the river, so we can only wait to be killed?" ”

Zhou Yu thought for a moment and said: "It is indeed tricky for Cao Mengde to defend the river with gunpowder, but everything has advantages and disadvantages. ”

"What's the harm?" Sun Ce asked in surprise.

"Something too powerful makes people dependent. Just like a person, he is used to riding in a carriage, and if he is allowed to walk, it will be difficult for him to adapt. At present, Cao Cao is like this, the thunderbolt and gunpowder are infinitely powerful, and he will definitely put the bet of defending the river on these two things, thus ignoring the strategy of the art of war. At this time, if we destroy all the thunderbolts and gunpowder, he will be at a loss, and it will be a matter of time before he loses. ”

"What Gong Jin said is very reasonable." Sun Ce agreed, "But the thunderbolts are all in Jiangbei, how can I burn them!" ”

Zhou Yu said confidently: "Yu has a way to cross the river and burn the car." ”

"How?"

"The public mobilized more than 1,000 elite soldiers, dressed in civilian clothes, or in the name of visiting relatives and friends, or pretending to be the cause of trade, or returning to their hometowns for the funeral of relatives and friends, and set off from Moling, Changsha, and Wuling, and then converged in Jiangling for a generation. Then, find a dark day and a high wind to raid the camp where gunpowder is hoarded. Cao Cao has strong troops and strong horses, and he has a good weapon in his hand, so he definitely never imagined that our army would suddenly carry out a secret attack. The gunpowder exploded in Cao's army, and our army dispatched when it heard the sound, and then ignited the fire outside, and Cao Cao was defeated. Our army can take advantage of this to land and capture Gangneung and Xiangyang in one fell swoop. And take advantage of the situation to go north to take Chang'an. The day of the fall of Chang'an was the time when Luan Yi's catastrophe was coming. Even if Chang'an cannot be captured, after taking Jiangling, Xiangyang, Fancheng and Xinye, the entire territory of Jingzhou falls into public hands, which is also a great help. ”

Sun Ce slapped his thigh violently, "Gongjin's plan is very good!" The matter was left to Gongjin to handle with full authority. ”

As a result, 1,800 Jiangdong soldiers were broken up into dozens of squads, disguised as civilians, and crossed the river offshore at different locations under the guidance of Gan Ning, Lu Meng and other generals.

Due to the small size of the dozens of Jiangdong squads, their crossing of the river was not discovered by the soldiers and horses of the church in Jiangbei. Even if a few squads were checked by the sentry, they avoided it on the grounds of doing business and visiting relatives.

The group was in danger and converged fifty miles away from Gangneung Ulin Port.

Before coming, Zhou Yu told them. In the autumn on both sides of the river, westerly winds blow more, and the westerly winds are not conducive to this operation, which is easy to ignite. Therefore, it is necessary to wait until the east wind day arrives in mid-October before infiltrating Cao Ying to launch an operation.

According to Zhou Yu's instructions before coming, Gan Ning and Lu Meng avoided the river and did not move closer to Wulin Port, but went into the deep mountains and old forests of Jiangling, enduring the pain of eating and sleeping in the open, while waiting for the day when the wind and clouds changed.

After three days of gnawing cold dry food in the deep mountains and old forests, the expected east wind finally blew. Gan Ning and Lu Meng showed a smile on their faces as if they had been in a drought for a long time and the night of candles in the cave room, and they led their soldiers to rush overnight to the gate of Dongzhai where the Wulin Cao army was hoarding thunderbolt cars and gunpowder, the sky had not yet dawned, and it was the darkest hour before dawn.

Cao Bing, who was stationed in Wulin, obviously did not expect that the Jiangdong Army would sneak into the other side of the river at this time. The guards in Dongzhai were very sparse, and there were only a dozen or so people yawning in front of the door.

Several patrolling teams crossed the open field inside the walled gate, and the next time they arrived was about two pillars of incense. Such a long time is enough for Gan Ning and his party to occupy the gate of the village and break through the camp.

With this calculation, after Gan Ning had explored the structure of the camp, he personally went out, put on black clothes, and led more than 30 capable subordinates to slowly move towards the gate of the village. It wasn't until he came within ten steps of the gatekeepers that more than a dozen gatekeepers discovered their presence. was about to call someone to help, but he heard Gan Ning shouting, "Kill!" Immediately, the three steps became two steps, and the ten steps became three...... Leaping forward, he slashed left and right with his sword, knocking the leader of the church guard to the ground. Turning over a whirlwind leg, he kicked another person more than a foot away, hit the door, and broke his head and bleed.

The thirty-three Jiangdong elite soldiers who followed closely behind Gan Ning were powerful one after another, and they killed the sixteen gatekeepers like hungry tigers. Then he raised the torch and sent a secret signal to Lu Meng and his party in the distance.

Lü Mengyi planned to lead the troops to chase after him, and he joined a team with Gan Ning, rushed into the village and killed people when he saw them, and set fire to the tent when he saw it.

At this time, the church sappers in the camp realized that something was wrong, and when they woke up from their sleep, they panicked, dressed and armored, and rushed out of the big tent to fight.

However, due to the suddenness of the enemy's arrival, and the fact that they had just woken up from their couches and lacked effective command, they resisted as best they could, but the results were not satisfactory.

Gan Ning and Lu Meng galloped back and forth in the camp, and everywhere they passed was corpses and blood.

In just one stick of incense, more than 300 church guards died at their hands, which can be described as heavy casualties.

At this time, Zang Ba, the commander of the Jingzhou military engineers, led his own soldiers to rush over, and when he saw the chaotic guards in the camp, he shouted, "Don't run around." Quick, go and hold the powder magazine. Don't let Sun Ce's people set the gunpowder on fire. ”

Gan Ning and Lu Meng, who were busy arranging for people to burn the thunderbolt car, immediately pricked up their ears when they heard the word "gunpowder". The two of them had just asked their soldiers to look around the camp for most of the time, but they found all the thunderbolts under the cover, but they never found any trace of gunpowder.

At the moment, Zang Ba's shouts calling on the soldiers to guard the powder magazine were tantamount to helping them throw stones and ask for directions—which meant that the place where the most people were taught was where gunpowder was hoarded.

Sure enough, the sparse church guards began to assemble in the northwest direction of the camp, but there were still no large storage buildings in Ganning in that direction. In this regard, Gan Ning was very puzzled, but Lu Meng, who had a deep study of the battle methods of the Holy Mother Sect, was thoughtful, "Xingba, their powder magazine is not on the ground, but underground. ”

Gan Ning suddenly realized, "Then what are you waiting for, rush over and burn it." ”

"Wait!" Lu Meng stopped Gan Ning and said, "It's been a while since we rushed into the camp, and you see, there are already a lot of guards gathered at the powder magazine, so I'm afraid it's hard to get anything from rushing over like this." ”

"So what?" Gan Ning said urgently.

"Let's use it."

Gan Ning looked in the direction of Lu Meng's finger, and a column of thunderbolts was placed in front of him. Probably ready to meet Sun Ce's attack at any time, the magazine next to the thunderbolt car was full of hand melons. Just turn around and you can turn around and bomb the side of the church.

"So what are you waiting for!" Gan Ning was overjoyed and hurriedly stopped his soldiers from burning the thunderbolt cart. The soldier immediately set about turning the Thunderbolt around and putting the gourd into the net pocket on the main shooting stick.