Huainan, Yingkou.

Yingshui originates from the Funiu Mountains in the east of Yingchuan County, goes down to the east, passes through Linying, Ruyang, Ruyin counties, crosses almost the entire Yuzhou, and joins the Huai River at Yingkou in the south.

Xudu is located not far east of Yingshui, and Yingchuan County, where Xudu is located, is connected to the hinterland of Henan where Luoyang is located. It can be said that Yingshui is the most important water system connecting Huainan and the Central Plains.

In the past, when Cao Ying sent troops to Hefei and conquered Eastern Wu in the south, the army often started from Xudu, entered Huai through Yingshui, transferred to Shaobei, and then entered the outpost Hefei through Feishui.

Because of the existence of the Yingshui waterway, the transportation of Cao's army's grain and the mobilization of soldiers are quite convenient.

Half a month ago, Sun Quan used Zhou Yu's strategy to raise an army of 70,000 in Jiangdong, starting from Hefei and entering Huainan in the north.

At this time, on the Shouchun side, Zhang Liao was seriously ill, Li Dian died in battle, and the responsibility of guarding the important town of Shouchun fell on the shoulders of Lejin.

In order to prevent Eastern Wu from taking advantage of the situation, Cao Ying specially increased the army of Shouchun to 50,000 before leaving Huainan.

This also means that the Wu army attacked with 70,000 men, and Lejin defended the city with 50,000 men.

Although the grain output of Huainan Tuntian District was greatly reduced due to the Shaobi execution, in order to ensure the supply of grain and grass in Shouchun, Cao Ying had earlier ordered a large amount of grain and grass to be transferred from several Tuntian districts such as Xudu and Liangguo, so that the grain accumulated in Shouchun would last for several years.

In addition, Lejin also learned the lesson of Hefei's defeat and made sufficient precautions against the possible "yin tricks" of Soochow.

However, just when Lejin was full of confidence and was ready to fight a battle to defend Shouchun, the latest movements of the Wu army surprised Lejin.

After the Eastern Wu army arrived in Huainan, it did not follow Lejin's plan to go straight to Shouchun City by water, blockading and encircling Shouchun City, but seized Yangquan County fifty miles west of Shouchun with a large army.

The city of Yangquan is located on the south bank of the Huaishui, opposite Yingkou is the confluence of the Yingshui and Huai rivers, that is, the Wu people control the most important water communication line between Shouchun and Xudu.

At first, although Zhou Yu's move seemed to have the intention of cutting off the connection between Shouchun and Xu Du, the effect it had made Le Jin quite unimpressed.

Because although the Yingshui waterway is important, it is not the only communication line from Shouchun to the north, a hundred miles east of Shouchun, there is still a Qianshui, through the county, Chen county, Chen Liuguo, and then through dozens of miles of land and Xudu connection, although the distance is hundreds of miles farther than the Yingshui waterway, but because it is a waterway boat, the voyage of a few hundred miles more is nothing.

This means that even if the Wu people control Yingkou, they will not pose any mortal threat to the capture of Shouchun.

Zhou Yu's method of using troops seems to be suspected of having time to work with military strength.

However, just when Le Jin was suspicious of this, the information from Jingzhou surprised Le Jin.

The intelligence claimed that after Liu Feng's army surrounded Xinye, he had the intention of avoiding Wanye Avenue and attacking Xudu by a bypass from Runan.

Originally, the front line of Jingzhou was not in Lejin's defense area, and after Lejin received this information, even if he was worried, it would be useless, but thinking of Wu Jun's strange behavior before, he couldn't help but be worried about Lejin.

On the day he received the information from Jingzhou, Le Jin sent a wide range of cavalry to closely monitor the Wu army stationed in Yangquan, and the latest information he received immediately made Le Jin greatly frightened.

A large number of Soochow warships arrived at Yangquan via Shaobi, and a large amount of grain and grass from Hefei were all piled up in the Ancheng area south of Yangquan, and many reconnaissance ships were sent to the north of Yingshui to investigate.

All kinds of signs show that the Wu army had the intention of going north along the Yingshui River and attacking Xudu.

Traveling thousands of miles to cross the entire Yuzhou to capture Xudu in the hinterland of the Central Plains, such a risky and radical military plan, if it was placed in peacetime, Lejin would only laugh.

But now, combined with the intelligence of Jingzhou, Le Jin immediately determined that this was an agreement between the Sun and Liu families, and they wanted to attack Xudu from the east and west.

Now Prime Minister Cao's army in Tongguan, after the separation of Sun and Liu's two soldiers, is not much, but if the army is together, there are 150,000 or 60,000 people, and the situation will be extremely unfavorable to their own side if they attack Xu Du together.

Considering this section, Le Jin could not sit idly by and ignore the use of troops in Soochow, and he had to take action.

........................Ahem~~" Zhou Yu on the bow of the boat had an itchy throat, and couldn't help coughing a few times.

The wind in the evening was not strong, but perhaps because this place was close to the Central Plains, there seemed to be a chill from the north in the wind, and Zhou Yu instinctively wrapped his cloak tighter.

Looking at the battleships going north against the current, the vast blueprint in his heart seemed to appear in front of Zhou Yu's eyes.

He recalled the passionate years when he fought side by side with Sun Ce and expanded his territory, when the two of them worked together almost invincible.

In how many sleepless nights, Sun Ce had a long talk with him, outlining the ambition to take the Central Plains in the north and dominate the world.

Zhou Yu once believed that the person who ended the troubled times was in front of him.

It's just that an unpredictable accident overturned Zhou Yu's entire blueprint.

Sun Ce's dream, Zhou Yu is determined to realize it for him.

It's just that what makes him feel helpless is that the successor of Jiangdong Foundation is far inferior to his brother in terms of vision and courage.

Once upon a time, Zhou Yu almost thought that the great cause he and Sun Ce had set would never be realized in this life.

But now, Mei Zhoulang's heart has once again ignited a strong hope.

He had a premonition that could not be described in words, as if Sun Ce's spirit in the sky was helping him, and the hands in the dark were pushing this deviated future back on the right track.

"Dudu, there is news from Yangquan, Lejin really can't bear the loneliness, and there is movement in Shouchun City."

Behind him, the one who rushed to the bow of the ship was Zhou Yu's most important general, Ling Tong.

Zhou Yu turned around, the expression on his face was not surprised, as if he had expected this.

He just asked: "If I guessed correctly, the army of Shouchun should be along the south bank of Huaishui, towards Yangquan." ”

Ling Tong couldn't help but look at him with a strange look: "How does the Governor know? ”

"Le Jin wants to stop us from attacking Xudu, so he naturally wants to take back Yangquan and capture Yingkou. In this way, it not only relieved the danger of Xudu, but also trapped our fleet in Huaibei. And if you want to seize Yangquan, where can you go without taking the South Bank Avenue. ”

Zhou Yu understated it, anticipated the enemy's opportunity, and easily saw through Lejin's attempt.

Ling Tong showed admiration on his face, and then said: "We marched into Xudu with great fanfare, in order to force Le Jin to go out of the city to fight, since Le Jin has been led out now, then should we immediately return to Junyangquan and fight Le Jin there." ”

Ling Tong was already eager to try.

Zhou Yu shook his head and smiled: "Lejin's infantry and cavalry are all the elite of the north, and our number of soldiers and horses does not have an absolute advantage, and if we land and force a decisive battle with the enemy on land, we may not have a full chance of winning, and ......"

Zhou Yu said "and", which was not said below, but there was a little weirdness in his tone.

"Dudu, do you think that Lejin's entry into Yangquan is not as simple as in the intelligence?" Ling Tong immediately sensed Zhou Yu's extraneous tone.

Zhou Yu faced the direction of Shouchun and said meaningfully: "Lejin this person has a lot of strategy, Cao Ying dares to use this person to control Shouchun alone, there must be something outstanding." Think about it, since we can guess Lejin's intentions, with this person's strategy, will he not expect it? ”

Ling Tong's expression became solemn, and he hurriedly said: "What does the Governor mean, could it be that Fei Le's attack on the Yang Spring is just a feint, but there are other intentions in secret?" ”

Zhou Yu smiled but did not speak, and there was a little weird and sneer on his slightly pale face.

………………………… The night was deep, and the bright moon sailed like a ship in the vast sky and the vast ocean.

Under the moonlight, a silent army was hurrying along the muddy road.

Le Jin glanced up at the bright moon in the sky, and said in a low voice: "Pass the order, and the whole army will speed up a little faster." ”

This area, located between Huaishui and Shaobei, was originally a fertile and flat tuntian area.

During the Battle of Hefei last year, the Wu people dug the embankment of Shaobi and submerged all this fertile field. Later, although the levee was repaired, most of the fields had not yet been restored, and it was still muddy.

More than 20,000 foot riders, under the cover of night, quietly walked in this uninhabited muddy place, marching rapidly in the direction of Shaobi.

A few hours later, Le Jin and his soldiers and horses arrived north of Ancheng.

Ancheng is just a small town in Yangquan County, located in the north of the Shaobi embankment, and it is just an inconspicuous town with less than 1,000 people.

But just half a month ago, this small city suddenly became lively.

The transport ships of the Wu people, after entering Shaobi from the fertilizer water, unloaded the grain and grass here, and then transported them to the Yangquan front line through transit.

A few days ago, Le Jin had scouted An Chengjing, and when he found out that hundreds of thousands of stones of grain and grass had been accumulated here, he decisively drew up a battle plan for tonight.

The Wu people's grain and grass supply capacity is not strong, as long as he can burn down the grain and grass in Ancheng, not only can he shatter Zhou Yu's plan to attack Xudu, but the entire Wu army located on the Huaishui line will have to withdraw its troops and return south.

In order to confuse the eyes and ears of the Wu people, Le Jin specially sent a team of feints to take the avenue on the south bank of Huaishui, creating the illusion of equipment attacking Yangquan.

But now, Le Jin led the main force through this muddy place far from the waterfront, and unexpectedly launched a surprise attack on An Cheng.

Burning grain is what they Cao Jun is best at.

Ancheng, not far away, was silent, and the firelight flickered. Several teams of scouts reported that the Wu army in the Ancheng area was only more than 5,000 people, and they were not aware of the enemy's approach at all.

It's a godsend.

Le Jin's blood was boiling, and immediately an order was given, and more than 20,000 Cao Jun horsemen with dry firewood in their arms shouted like a devil from hell and killed the quiet city from the darkness.

(To be continued)