Zhang Fei knew Liu Ze's temperament, and the order must be carried out, so he could only complain a few words, and retreated helplessly, and led the third army to station in Yicheng to wait.

The army that went south to Ulin this time included the 1st and 7th Cavalry Divisions and the 2nd and 7th Infantry Divisions of the First Army Corps, and the 5th and 12th Infantry Divisions and the 2nd Cavalry Division of the Second Army Corps, with a total of more than 60,000 infantry and cavalry.

Chen Deng said Liu Zedao: "This time Jiangdong came to attack, 50,000 sailors, 80,000 foot cavalry, a total of more than 130,000 troops, why did the lord only transfer 50,000 or 60,000 foot cavalry to meet the enemy, the enemy is outnumbered, why fight?" There are still more than 20,000 people in the old department, and Cai Mao has 80,000 foot riders in Nanjun, so why not transfer some to prepare for emergencies. ”

Liu Ze smiled meaningfully and said: "It is not impossible to transfer all the troops of Jingzhou to Wulin, but in this way, the troops are strong, and Zhou Yu is afraid that he will not dare to land on the north bank again." ”

Chen Deng was stunned at first, and then suddenly realized: "It turns out that the lord wants to lure the enemy to the north shore and annihilate him, but he is stupid and ignores the lord's clever plan. ”

Liu Ze smiled and said: "The Jiangdong Navy Committee is too powerful, and I have to make this decision, otherwise even if our army has elite infantry horses, it will be difficult to cross the river to attack, show the enemy weakness, and give Zhou Yu some room for fantasy, it will be difficult for him to take the bait if he doesn't want to." ”

Long-distance and rapid marching was the strength of the Xuzhou army, because there was no need to worry about the enemy's ambush and sneak attack. The march of the Xuzhou army completely abandoned the practice of camping in the village for 50 miles a day, and the daily march was maintained at more than 150 miles, and the total distance from Xiangyang to Wulin was only seven or eight hundred miles.

After arriving in Wulin, the First Army and the Second Army were encamped under the command of Zhao Yun and Guan Yu respectively, and two large camps were set up along the river, east and west, with strong walls and well-organized camp tents. A sight to behold.

The soldiers of the Xuzhou Army followed Liu Ze for many years. They are all people who can recruit and fight habitually, and these things of setting up camps and settling down villages do not need Liu Ze to worry about at all, just arrange them with Zhao Yun, Guan Yu and Gao Shun. Liu Ze was worried that Cai Mao's army had not arrived for a long time. You know, it's on a wide river. No matter how brave Xuzhou's infantry is, it is useless, and it is really if the Jiangdong naval army comes to attack on a large scale. Liu Ze stood by the river, and he could only watch the thousands of sails pass by and was powerless to stop it. The width of the Yangtze River is at least several times that of the Han River, and the catapults that are making a big splash on the Han River can only forget the river and sigh, and no matter how far the pottery bombs are fired, they can't even reach the center of the river, and they can't pose any threat to the warships in Jiangdong at all.

From Jiangling to Wulin, down the river, only four or five hundred miles away, and it is downstream, much faster than taking the dry road of Xiangyang, but the first and second armies arrived in Wulin early, but Cai Mao's Jingzhou naval army did not even see a trace.

Although Liu Ze is very clear about the reason for the speed of soldiers, but this kind of order can only be carried out in his descendant troops, although the Jingzhou naval army is stationed in Jiangling, which is relatively close, it is really not easy for them to reach the Wulin front line quickly, so Liu Ze's order to Cai Mao is ten days, and it is not considered a violation of the order to lead the naval army to Wulin within ten days, and if it does not arrive for more than ten days, it will be dealt with according to military law.

As for whether Cai Mao will disobey the order, Liu Ze is not too worried, after all, Cai Mao has not been in the new landing for a long time, and the two sides are still in the honeymoon period, and it is unlikely that they will turn their faces, not to mention that Jiangdong is coming, and the target is directly to Guijun, which is also a considerable threat to Cai Mao, if Liu Ze cannot successfully stop the westward advance of the Jiangdong Army in Wulin, Nanjun will soon become the target of the Jiangdong Army.

However, the offensive of the Jiangdong Navy could not wait, and after Han Dang Lingtong arrived in Exian, he did not stop at all, and led the vanguard fleet of the Jiangdong Navy to advance west and launch an attack in the direction of Xiakou.

Zang Ba, who was stationed in Xiakou, had only one infantry division, and there was no half of the warship to launch, so he could only hold on to Xiakou City, and there was nothing to do about the invading Jiangdong Naval Division.

Han Dang Lingtong was also ordered by Zhou Yu to ignore Xiakou City at all, and the fleet crossed the Xiakou River, traced the river, and marched westward, heading straight for Baqiu.

Cai Mao's Jingzhou naval army had not arrived for a long time, and Gan Ning's naval division was rushing to advance one step ahead, and Liu Ze ordered Gan Ning to lead the naval division to immediately march in the direction of Xiakou to stop the offensive of the Jiangdong naval army.

After Gan Ning was ordered, he immediately led the fleet down the river to meet the Jiangdong naval army, and on the river near Shaxian, he met the Jiangdong naval army unexpectedly.

This is a real encounter, Ling Tong saw Gan Ning's colorful brocade sails, the enemies saw each other, their eyes were red, and before Han Dang commanded the naval army to complete the formation, Ling Tong had already led the ship to rush out, and rushed directly towards Gan Ning's flagship. When Han Dang saw it, he was afraid that Ling Tong would lose, and he didn't care about the incompleteness of the formation, so he commanded the warships to attack Ganning's sailors.

Although the Jiangdong Navy was scattered, the number of warships was three times that of the Ganning fleet, and it was the first to take the lead, overwhelming the Ganning Navy Division in momentum, so from the very beginning of the water war, it occupied an absolute advantage.

Gan Ning's comprehension of Liu Ze's order was very thorough, and Liu Ze's order to the sailor division was to stop the enemy's offensive, not to fight a decisive battle with the enemy's navy, not only to drag the enemy army, to buy time for his own brigade of sailors to come in, but also to avoid damaging the living forces. So Gan Ning on the river, and Han Dang Lingtong's fleet played a roundabout game, Gan Ning's main ships are Mengchong ships, this kind of warship hull is long and narrow, fast and flexible, in the river back and forth, interspersed with vertical and horizontal, so that there are large buildings in Dongwu are tired, empty strength, and nowhere to show.

After a day of fierce fighting in Shaxian, Ganning's sailors also paid the price of dozens of warships being sunk and retreated slightly, but although Ganning's sailors suffered many casualties, the Jiangdong sailors also paid the same heavy price, and the losses of warships and casualties were not at all as good as Ganning's sailors.

In the following days, Gan Ning repeated his old tricks, fought and retreated, and after several rounds of maneuvering with the Jiangdong naval army, he had retreated to the river of Wulin.

Ling Tong fought fiercely for days, but he never had the opportunity to kill his father's enemy with his own hands, so anxious that his eyes were red, this day he killed the Wulin River, seeing that Gan Ning's warship was dozens of zhang away, Ling Tong's eyes were bloodshot, he shouted, and rushed straight up by boat, crashing into Gan Ning's flagship, which was completely a move that ended in the same end.

Han Dang was horrified when he saw this, and ordered his warship to quickly approach, and the two ships galloped side by side, Han Dang jumped into Ling Tong's warship, and ordered the boatman to stop the boat.

Ling Tong's eyes were red, and he pointed to Gan Ning who was not far away and said, "The enemy who killed my father is right in front of me, does the righteous general want to stop me from taking revenge?" ”

Han Dang pointed to the northwest direction and said, "Captain Ling, look over there, Liu Ze has already been ambushed, we can't fall for his strategy!" ”

Ling Tong looked up at the northwest, and couldn't help but sweat coldly, but he saw that the direction of Wulin was like a cloud, the battleships were dense, and the large river was already covered by countless warships. Ling Tong couldn't help but gasp, although he was hot-headed, he was not reckless, Liu Ze had gathered so many warships in Wulin, he was obviously prepared, and the vanguard led by himself and Han Dang was simply not enough to compete with others. Ling Tong cast a resentful glance at Gan Ning's warship with hatred, and retreated with Han Dang's army, preparing to temporarily camp at the Chibi ferry port downstream of Wulin, waiting for Zhou Yu's follow-up fleet to come.

On the tenth day of Liu Ze's military order, Cai Mao came belatedly and finally intercepted the Jiangdong naval army in Wulin.

Cai Mao received Liu Ze's military order in Jiangling, but he struggled for a few days, and discussed with the deputy governor Zhang Yun and the brothers of the Cai clan repeatedly, and the Cai family brothers led by his younger brother Cai Xun all built yì Cai Mao did not pay attention to Liu Ze's order, and supported the army to defend Nanjun, and now that the Jiangdong army is pressing, Liu Ze does not dare to turn his face at all, the so-called military order is just a bluff, and Cai Mao does not have to buy his account at all.

Zhang Yun had a different opinion, thinking that Liu Ze had no naval army in his hands at all, and could not block the attack of the Jiangdong naval army, once the Jiangdong naval army broke through Baqiu, Jiangling City would be under the direct threat of the Jiangdong army, and without the support of Liu Ze's army, it would be difficult for Jiangling City to hold, and it would be unwise to fight with Liu Ze at this time.

Cai Mao thought about it again and again, and decided to obey Liu Ze's order and lead the naval army to Wulin to help in the battle. Originally, Cai Mao's action was late, coupled with the negligence of the Jingzhou Navy in training, and it took a lot of time to assemble after a long time, but fortunately, it was smooth sailing, otherwise Cai Mao would not have been able to catch up with Wulin in ten days.

As soon as he arrived at the river in Wulin, he saw the scene of the battle between Ganning and the Jiangdong naval army, Ganning was defeated and retreated, Cai Xun relied on the large number of ships and soldiers, and did not take the vanguard naval army of Jiangdong in his eyes, and wanted to fight for this first merit, without waiting for Cai Mao's orders, he immediately led the fleet of his headquarters to rush up.

Han Dang Ling Tong originally saw that the Jing army was strong and didn't want to compete with it, so he led the fleet to retreat in the direction of Chibi, but when he saw Cai Xun chasing after him relentlessly, Ling Tong was furious and said: "Gan Ning is treacherous, he has not been captured in a few battles, and you and other unknown people dare to bully my ship, so I have to take your head to sacrifice the flag today!" ”

At that moment, Ling Tong and Han Dang conspired, and each of them led a fleet to attack Cai Xun's flank. Cai Xun saw that the Jiangdong fleet suddenly turned around and counterattacked, and couldn't help but be afraid, and just as he was about to stop the ship, a feathered arrow shot through the air with the sound of the wind. (To be continued......)