If Cao Ying wants to rescue Hefei, he must go south to the Huai River, and then enter Shaobi through the Huai River, and then transfer from Shaobi to Feishui, and then go south to Hefei.

It was the height of summer, and the water systems in the north and south of the river all soared, and the water of Shaobi also increased sharply recently. At this time, if the Shao steep embankment is broken, the Huainan Plain between Shouchun and Yingkou will be flooded into a Ze country.

In this way, Cao Ying's southward route will be flooded, and the army will not be able to march by land, so he can only take the waterway, which is in the hands of the Wu army.

In the months from summer to autumn, the rainfall was much higher than usual, so Cao Ying had to wait for the rainy season to pass before repairing the levee before driving south.

Zhou Yu's purpose was to use this strategy to drag Cao Ying's army on the front line of Shouchun for several months, and in these few months, he had enough time and confidence to break through the fortified city of Hefei. As long as Hefei City is broken, even if Cao Ying's army arrives, it will be too late.

As Zhou Yu expected, after Ling Tong's fleet entered Shaobei, Shouchun reacted quickly, the city gates were closed, and the whole city was mobilized, making a posture of preparing to defend to the death.

At the same time, other cities near Shaobi also drove people into the city, fortified the walls and cleared the wilderness, and according to the emergency plan in advance, the Wu people were not allowed to have the opportunity to get food on the spot.

The enemy's defensive posture just gave Ling Tong an opportunity to take advantage of. So, according to Zhou Yu's plan, he divided 1,000 soldiers and horses, and pretended to attack Shouchun with great fanfare, while he himself led most of his men and horses to reach the embankment north of Shaobi overnight, and on the embankment of more than 200 miles, he divided his troops to dig more than a dozen passes.

Soon after the summer, a rainstorm suddenly came, and the water was several feet deep.

In the evening of this day, with the surging rising water, more than a dozen gaps were dug at the same time, each mouth was nearly dozens of zhang wide, and the embankment that stretched for more than 200 miles collapsed everywhere, and the surging water rushed straight into the Huainan Plain along the expanding gaps, like a fierce beast coming out of the cage.

Within a few days, the Huainan Plain with a radius of several hundred miles was transformed into a vast ocean.

Ruyin County is more than 300 miles away from Yingkou.

Since the withdrawal of troops from Xiangyang, a full ten days have passed, and in these ten days, Cao Ying and his hundreds of thousands of troops have been on the road day and night.

First return to Xudu from Nanyang, and then take a boat from Xudu to the south along Yingshui, which is the fastest and most convenient route for the army to rush to Huainan.

At this moment, Cao Ying's face in the cabin was heavy, and his face was gloomy like a cold winter day, which made people feel the bone-chilling chill just by glancing at it.

Just a day ago, he had just received the bad news that Hefei had been defeated and Li Dian had been killed.

This news was like a thunderbolt, and it hit Cao Ying's aging heart hard.

Although Li Dian was not a general of Yuan Cong, and he only surrendered to himself when Yanzhou had become a climate, Cao Ying has always been grateful to this general who joined his command in a different way than others.

Back then, Chen Gong and others greeted Lu Bu and betrayed him in groups, and the powerful people of the Yanzhou Shi family betrayed him almost overnight.

And in the most difficult situation, almost to the point of having to eat human flesh to satisfy hunger, the Li family, as a local hero, stood firmly on their side.

In order to force the Li family to submit, Lu Bu even killed Li Gan, the head of the Li family, such a threat, but the Li family did not succumb, Li Dian inherited the Li family's suzerain, but led more than a thousand family members to go straight to Cao Ying.

In that moment when everyone rebelled and the wind and rain were in turmoil, Li Dian's defection was tantamount to sending charcoal in the snow for Cao Ying, over the years, although Li Dian did not make any great achievements, but Cao Ying's gratitude and trust in Li Dian has never changed.

But now, the person who gave charcoal to himself died like this, in the hands of Wu Ren, in the hands of Zhou Yu.

The pain in Cao Ying's heart was no less heavy than when he heard the news of Cao Ren's capture.

"Zhou Yu, Liu Feng, the heads of you two boys, I will take them off sooner or later!"

Cao Ying's fist slammed heavily on the desk, and the ink in the inkstone splashed out a few drops.

The voice fell, and the strategist Liu Ye entered, looking at the expression, he wanted to say something, but seeing Cao Ying's angry face, he didn't dare to say the words when he came to his mouth.

Liu Ye's expression, Cao Ying saw through it at a glance, and couldn't help but feel a trace of coolness in his heart, expecting that there would be bad news.

He took a deep breath, his expression suddenly returned to calm, took a sip of the tea that had been spilled for half a cup, and asked lightly: "What happened again?" ”

Only then did Liu Ye dare to step forward, present a scroll of silk books with both hands, and said cautiously: "Prime Minister, Huainan is in an emergency, the Wu people have dug the embankment of Shaobi, and now the south of Shouchun is already an ocean, I am afraid that our army will have to stop at Yingkou." ”

Although it was the height of summer, Cao Ying felt an extremely cold wind penetrate his bones in an instant, making his whole person shiver.

In the cabin, there was a deathly silence for a while, and all I could hear was the sound of boiling water outside the cabin, and the sound of Cao Ying's increasingly heavy and angry breathing.

There was a moment of silence, and a sneer broke the almost suffocating silence.

Cao Ying stood up, stared at the location of Shaobi on the map, and gestured his finger at the distance between the various locations.

"Zhou Yu, this hairy boy, this move is really ruthless." In the annoyed tone, there was a hint of approval.

"Prime Minister, Zhou Yu dug the embankment of Shaobi, obviously trying to prevent our army from aiding Hefei in the south. Now that General Li has died in battle, the heart of the Hefei army has been shaken, and the news has been cut off from the rear, and the situation can be described as in danger and cannot be underestimated. ”

Liu Ye's tone was unusually solemn.

Cao Ying's expression was relaxed at this time, and he smiled and said: "Hefei has stored enough grain for several years, and the city is strong, although Mancheng died in battle, but there are still two Wenyuan, and the Wu people are okay to play water warfare, if you talk about the art of siege, hum!" ”

Cao Ying's tone was very contemptuous, Liu Ye immediately realized what Cao Ying meant, and hurriedly said: "The prime minister doesn't want to plan the plan, use Hefei to drag the Wu people, and when they attack for a long time without fighting and their morale is exhausted, our army will repair the embankment again, wave the army south, wait for work, annihilate the main force of the Wu army in one fell swoop, and take advantage of the situation to enter the south of the Yangtze River." ”

Cao Ying smiled, although he didn't say it explicitly, but the expression was a tacit acquiescence to Liu Ye's speculation.

……………………………… At dawn, the lush canopy of the mountain forest obscures the light of the morning light, giving people a particularly gloomy and gloomy feeling.

The jackdaw in the treetops was awakened by the sound of footsteps, flapping its wings and opening its mouth to scream, but an arrow silently pierced its throat.

"There's broth to drink tonight." A soldier rushed into the woods and picked up the birds that had fallen from the branches, squeezing out a little joy on his tired face.

Huang Zhong glanced at the young subordinate, turned around and continued to climb the mountain road with difficulty.

Almost seven days have passed since the departure of Yidao City.

At first, it was still possible to travel along Yishui by boat, but after passing Shaqu County, Yishui gradually split into several narrow streams, and could no longer carry boats. Since then, Huang Zhong and his 3,000 soldiers can only rely on two meat legs to travel on the rugged mountain roads between the mountains.

3,000 soldiers, silently marching on the gravel-covered mountain road, this thin mountain road is rarely walked, only the mountain villagers, occasionally go to Patong County to sell some oil and salt mountain goods will pass, if you do not carefully distinguish, it is almost difficult to find.

Under the guidance of a native of Shaqu County, they climbed over many dangerous peaks, and at dusk, they finally saw the rolling Yangtze River, like a jade belt winding between the mountains on both sides, and looking far away, Yangqu City was like a gray agate stone inlaid between the jade belts.

It's finally here.

Huang Zhong, who was out of breath, stepped on a boulder, wiped the beads of sweat that fell like rain, and looked at Yangqu County from afar, the tired and almost distorted old face finally showed a little relief at this moment.

The three thousand exhausted and ragged athletes under his command seemed to have seen the dawn of heaven from hell in an instant, and their originally languished and tired expressions were bursting with excitement at this moment, like a long-starved wolf finally finding the sheep they had been looking for for a long time.

Huang Zhong immediately ordered the whole army to eat a full meal, hide in the forest and rest until evening, and then quietly touched the mountains by the color of afterglow.

At nightfall, 3,000 soldiers and horses sneaked to the foot of the mountain and lay in ambush among the jungles, and Yangqu City was like a sleeping lamb, sleeping there in ignorance.

On the top of the city, the torches flickered, and the few soldiers patrolling the city, Huang Zhong judged from experience that Yangqu City was completely unaware of the approach of their surprise army.

Everything was as General Zhennan expected.

The blood in his chest was surging, and the murderous aura had been ignited.

Huang Zhong squinted his eyes and looked at the city again, made a strong move with the knife in his hand, and shouted: "Kill~~"

The three thousand warriors shouted in unison, followed Huang Zhong like a fierce tiger and rushed out of the jungle towards the defenseless Yangqu City.

The sergeant on duty at the head of the city immediately fell into a panic, and the sound of gongs and warnings rang loudly.

With a distance of hundreds of paces approaching in an instant, Huang Zhong believed that when the defenders in the city were under this sudden attack, and it was too late to go to the city to garrison, his 3,000 soldiers and horses would climb to the top of the city first, and with the advantage of numbers, they would take the city gate in one fell swoop.

As long as you successfully enter the city, the entire Yangqu City will be at your fingertips.

The moat was in front of him, and the soldiers who rushed to the front had already raised the dry wood in their hands, ready to throw it into the moat canal, which was not too deep, to pave the way for the follow-up siege team.

One hundred steps, fifty steps, thirty steps.

It seems that victory is just one step away.

At this moment, a cannon was heard, and countless soldiers suddenly appeared in the originally scattered city, and rows of sharp arrows, like the hideous teeth of death, were aimed at the enemy army rushing wildly.

(To be continued)