Huang Zu marched eastward this time, and the troops he brought were all elites who had followed him for many years, and they were not only good at water warfare, but also land warfare. After Zongyang went ashore, Huang Zu learned that Ji Ling had given up Anhui County and retreated to Juchao, so he wanted to attack Juchao directly and force Ji Ling to Tongxiang. The deputy general Huang Zhong felt that the gains of storming Juchao outweighed the losses, so he suggested that Huang Zuzu occupy Anhui County, open up the land passage from Xunyang to Anhui County, and then wait for Sun Jian and his son to cross the river, and then launch an attack on Ji Ling at the same time.

Huang Zu has always been arrogant and arrogant in Jingzhou, and he heard Huang Zhong say that he would attack together after the Jiangdong Tiger Sun Jian crossed the river, so he assigned 5,000 soldiers and horses to Huang Zhong and let him enter Anhui County to guard the grain and grass, and he himself led 40,000 main forces with his eldest son Huang Jian to attack the nest.

Although Huang Zhong and Huang Zu are yellow characters written in one stroke, they have no relationship with Huang Zu at all, and he can get to this position today by relying on his own hard work. Huang Zhong was over forty years old at this time, and he was not as arrogant as Huang Zu, and he was cautious and cautious about attacking the nest. Although Huang Zu let Huang Zhong sit on the cold bench, Huang Zhong did not resent in his heart, and after entering Anhui County, he contacted Liu Pan stationed in Xunyang in time and reminded Liu Pan to ensure the safety of the land grain route and not to rush into the army.

Huang Zhong and Liu Pan stayed in Xunyang and Anhui counties with peace of mind, and gave the opportunity to make great contributions to Huang's grandfather and son, but what they were waiting for was the bad news that Huang Zu was foiled by Ji Ling in Juchao. It turned out that Huang Zu's arrogant troops rushed forward and were careless to Ji Ling, who was guarding the nest, but Ji Ling did not retreat from Anhui County last time, but relied on the city to hold on. Although the overall combat strength of the soldiers under Ji Ling's command was not as good as the Jingzhou soldiers brought by Huang Zu, these soldiers were fighting on the mainland after all, and Ji Ling still had a slight advantage in terms of troops, so they withstood several rounds of attacks by Huang Zu.

Huang Zu couldn't attack Juchao for a long time, and seeing the increase in casualties among the troops, he had no choice but to temporarily retreat to Anhui County. Huang Zu was narrow-minded and didn't want Huang Zhong to look at his gray appearance. Before he arrived in Anhui County, he gave an order to Huang Zhong in Anhui County, asking him to lead the army to Zongyang to guard the Jiangbei ferry and wait for Sun Jian and his son to come.

Jiangdong Sun Jian and Sun Cebing divided into two routes, and had cleared the remnants of Yuan's army on the south bank of the Yangtze River, and the next thing was to concentrate on dealing with Lu Mian, who was stationed in Wuhu. After Sun Ce captured Peng Ze before, he wanted to cross Peng Li Lake to attack Xunyang, but was stopped by the military advisor Zhou Yu. Zhou Yu said to Sun Ce: "Xunyang and Chaisang are guarding the Yangtze River waterway, and if Bo Fu sends troops to Xunyang, it is equivalent to stopping in front of Huang Zu." He will definitely use this to criticize him, and if things get bigger, it will not be good for both families. ”

Although Sun Ce was brave in battle, he was not stunned, he understood the meaning of Zhou Yu's words. Now that the three families are fighting against Yuan, if Sun Ce controls the Yangtze River waterway, it is tantamount to destroying the overall situation and affecting Sun Jian's layout in Jiangdong.

Sun Ce complained to Zhou Yu and said, "If you sit back and watch Huang Zu's army go down the Yangtze River, wait for me and my father to gather troops." I'm afraid that Huang Zu will fight until Shouchun. ”

"Hehe, is Bo Fu worried that Yuan Shu's territory will be taken by Huang Zudu? You don't have to worry about this, in my opinion, Huang Zudong may not be able to get back much benefit this time. Bo Fu waited in Pengze for a while, sat back and watched Huang Zu attack Ji Ling, and waited until Huang Zu suffered a loss, and then crossed the river. ”

Sun Ce's words to Zhou Yu. Basically, they are all obedient, and they have cooperated very well with each other in recent years, and they can be called the best pair of partners in Jiangdong. Since Zhou Yu suggested that Sun Ce stay in Peng Ze and sit back and watch Huang Zu pass by. Sun Ce stayed in Pengze until he received news from his father from Wanling, and then led his troops to Spring Valley in the upper reaches of Wuhu.

After Huang Zhong stationed in Zongyang, he waited left and right, and did not see anyone in Jiangdong coming to contact, and suddenly one day he saw hundreds of boats competing on the river, but it was Sun Ce who led the troops to Hulala from Zongyang and went straight downstream.

The expected Jiangdong reinforcements did not come to Zongyang, which made Huang Zhong very depressed. He quickly reported the situation to Huang Zu in Anhui County, who was very annoyed when he heard about it, reprimanded Huang Zhong fiercely, and then ordered Huang Zhong to lead the army to attack Ji Ling. Huang Zhong's army at this time was only 5,000 people, and if he went to fight Juchao, it would be tantamount to suicide, but he could not disobey Huang Zu's order. In desperation, Huang Zhong asked Liu Pan for help, and asked Liu Pan to quickly pass on his situation back to Xiangyang, so that Huang Zu would not push the black cauldron of ineffective combat on his head in the future.

Liu Pan is Liu Biao's nephew, and he can help Huang Zhong talk in front of Liu Biao, he is a little worried about Huang Zhong's situation, so he sent 3,000 soldiers and horses under his command to Zongyang, and then asked his own soldiers to return to Xiangyang overnight to report Huang Zu's exclusion of Huang Zhong to Liu Biao.

Huang Zhong got the 3,000 soldiers sent by Liu Pan, and he had 8,000 men under his command, but he still refused to risk attacking Ji Ling. In order to block Huang Zu's mouth, Huang Zhong led his troops to feint to attack Shu County next to the nest, and after Ji Ling found out, he immediately sent 20,000 soldiers and horses to reinforce Shu County. If Huang Zu was good at grasping the fighter, then he should immediately send troops from Anhui County to attack Ji Ling at this time, but Huang Zu did not move, because he wanted to see what tricks Huang Zhong could play next.

Huang Zhong found that Ji Ling had sent troops to reinforce Shu County, so he changed the direction of the march and turned to Linhu Lake to the east of Shu County. Ji Ling was worried that Huang Zu, who was stationed in Anhui County, would attack him, so he transferred the 20,000 soldiers and horses sent out back to Juchao. Huang Zhong learned that Ji Ling had withdrawn his troops to Juchao, so he turned around and attacked Shu County again, and Ji Ling was tired of sending another 20,000 soldiers and horses to reinforce Shu County. Huang Zhong saw that Ji Ling sent soldiers and horses to reinforce Shu County, so he turned east to attack Shu County.

Huang Zhong was hiding from Ji Ling near the nest, Huang Zu sent someone to urge him to hurry up and attack the city, Huang Zhong used the lack of troops as an excuse to excuse himself, and after about half a month, Huang Zhong suddenly changed his routine.

Just after Ji Ling sent reinforcements to Shu County for the third time, Huang Zhong did not turn around and retreat to the east this time, but faced the 20,000 soldiers and horses sent by Ji Ling straight up. The two armies met in the field, Huang Zhong took the lead in rushing forward, 8,000 Jingzhou soldiers who were full of strength killed 20,000 Yuan troops, after a battle, 20,000 Yuan troops were defeated, and Huang Zhong won the first victory after entering Yangzhou.

The news of Huang Zhong's defeat of Ji Lingjun came back to Anhui County, Huang Zu suddenly couldn't sit still, and he now had no reason to accuse Huang Zhong of ineffective fighting, so he could only seize the time to attack Ji Ling. After Ji Ling was bitten hard by Huang Zhong, he was a little weak-hearted, and without waiting for Huang Zu's army to attack again, he actually retreated north with his troops and retreated to Hefei in one go.

Ji Ling's retreat was to trap Lu Mian, who was guarding Wuhu alone, and to cheapen Huang Zu. Huang Zu followed behind Ji Ling and took the cities of Juchao, Shuxian, Linhu, Tongxiang and Longshu in one go, which was equivalent to occupying half of the territory of Lujiang.

When Huang Zu was advancing in Lujiang, Sun Jian's father and son also began to attack Lu Mian in Wuhu.

The strategist Zhang Zhao suggested to Sun Jian that he could send someone to sneak into Wuhu City to secretly meet with Lu Mian and persuade Lu Mian to rebel against Yuan Shu. Sun Jian had the idea of giving it a try, so he sent Zhuge Jin, a Langya scholar who had only recently thrown himself into his account, to persuade Lu Mian to surrender. If Zhuge Jin can do this, he will be able to establish his position in Sun Jian's camp in one fell swoop, and if he can't do it, he will most likely become Lu Mian's sword to show his loyalty to Yuan Shu.

Zhuge Jin knew that going to Wuhu was like going to a tiger's den, but he still gave it up for the sake of his two younger brothers who were far away in Jingzhou.

Zhuge Jin was found by the soldiers patrolling the city, and almost killed him directly, at the critical moment Zhuge Jin shouted loudly that he was Lu Mian's old family, Lu Mian's mother was seriously ill in bed, and he specially rushed to Wuhu to report the news. The soldiers who grabbed Zhuge Jin were suspicious, so they took Zhuge Jin to Lu Mian's tent.

In the big tent, Lu Mian was looking at the news from all over the country worriedly, he was completely disappointed in Yuan Shu, and now he could only do his last bit of duty, as for where the future road was, Lu Mian didn't even dare to think about it.

"General Qiyu, I caught a young scholar near the city gate, suspecting that he was a spy sent by the enemy, but this person claimed to be from your hometown and had something important to report to you."

"Someone from my hometown? Bring this man into your account. ”

Zhuge Jin, who had a calm face, was taken into Lu Mian's tent by the guards.

"Who are you? I'm sure I've never seen you before! Lu Mian held the hilt of the sword in his right hand, his eyes narrowed slightly, and he stared at Zhuge Jin tightly.

"Please also ask the general to step back from the left and right." Zhuge Jin's face was calm and not panicked at all.

"Bold, if there is something, why can't you say it openly! I don't care to be with Xiaoxiao! ”

"This matter is at stake for the general's net worth, and the fewer people who know it, the better!"

Lu Mian saw that Zhuge Jin insisted on his opinion, so he signaled to retreat left and right, leaving only the two of them in the tent.

"General, contemptible Langya Zhuge Jin, uncle Zhuge Xuan once served as Yuzhang Taishou. This time, I came alone because I was entrusted by Sun Wentai and his son to persuade you to change camps. ”

"Hmph, Sun Wentai has a good idea, tell me how they want to buy me!"

"Why should General Lu humiliate himself? Sun Wentai and his son didn't mean to buy you, they just wanted to cooperate with you once, which is actually a matter of mutual benefit. ”

"How to cooperate?"

"Sun Wentai provided you with boats and grain and grass, and you took your soldiers and horses down the Yangtze River to Huiji, away from this place of right and wrong, from now on, whether Yuan Shu is dead or alive has nothing to do with you."

"If I leave without a fight, I will betray the master, and even if I go to Huiji, I will feel uneasy about my conscience."

"If someone else were to be the general's lord, I would never risk my life to persuade you today, but Yuan Shu has been abandoned by the world, is such a rebellious minister and traitor still worthy of the general's loyalty? Wouldn't the general consider the lives of his 50,000 brothers? ”

Zhuge Jin persuaded Lu Mian to be silent, but his heart began to waver. (To be continued......)