In the original history, Zhou Yu also took advantage of the sudden southeast wind in winter, sent Huang Gai to surrender, and burned Cao Cao's warship, and then the fire spread to the river bank due to the wind, and most of Cao's land camps were burned, and Cao Cao was forced to retreat - it was the "Battle of Red Cliffs".

However, in this timeline, the sailors of Jiangdong and Jiangxia completely controlled the river, and Cao Cao did not get Liu Cong's surrender, nor did he receive the Jingzhou navy of Cai Mao, Zhang Yun and others, so there was no ship to burn. But it doesn't matter, Zhou Gongjin can burn your Lu Ying directly.

The southern army is 70,000 to 80,000, of which only 50,000 are stationed in Jiangling, but the Cao army has nearly 200,000 people, even if Cao Ren brings 40,000 to Jingling, there are still 150,000, which is three times that of the southern army. It is extremely unrealistic to rely on the usual methods to greatly kill and injure the enemy and force them to retreat, and the most clever way is to set fire to it.

As long as the fire burns the camp of Cao's army, burns its baggage, and demoralizes it, will Cao Cao dare to continue to attack Jiangling and fortify the city?

However, there are two prerequisites for arson: first, the wind direction is appropriate, and arson because of the wind can make meritorious contributions; The second is that you have to have a chance to get close to the enemy camp. Okay, the soldiers on your side rushed out of Jiangling City, or landed on the boat, and were exposed in front of the Cao army without cover, even if it was just shooting rockets from a distance, then the other side could either shoot at each other or send cavalry to rush out, and they could trample you in an instant. Even if a few rockets fall into the enemy camp, what can be done at the level of ignition powder burned in these years?

Fire prevention in the army is a major priority, as long as the fire is not big, Cao Bing can quickly extinguish it, and it is not harmful. Zhou Yu also stole the Cao family's gunpowder recipe - that year and month could not keep it secret at all - but unfortunately the raw materials were insufficient. The amount of preparation is small. Plus the humidity of the south. Gunpowder is also prone to failure, so it is difficult to improve the efficiency of ignition.

But even if he had enough gunpowder, he had reached the high level of preparation of Cao Jun, and if he couldn't get close to Cao Ying, this fire still couldn't be put out.

Zhou Yu has been in Jiangnan for a long time, and he is a Jingzhou person next to him, so he is very familiar with the riverside climate, and he did predict that there will be a sudden southerly wind in the next few days. So prepare in advance. In the romance, it is said that "everything is ready, only the east wind is owed", and the situation is the same today. The difference is that the time is relatively tight, unlike the original history, the two armies confronted each other across the river, Cao Cao only had to rely on water warfare if he wanted to come over, but the naval army in Jingzhou could not defeat the Eastern Wu naval army - there was the defeat of the Sanjiangkou first - so Zhou Yu sent Huang Gai to offer a deception plan and then he could wait with peace of mind, when the wind rose, and when he set fire again.

Nowadays, time is relatively short, because the plan to confuse the enemy can only be delayed for a while. It is impossible to hide from the other party for a lifetime, and it is impossible for Cao Cao to keep tempting all the time. Sooner or later, he would still send troops to Jiangxia. If you wait until that time, even if the wind direction is right and Cao Ying is burned, Cao Cao will still be a draw if Cao Cao wins Jiangxia over there.

Fortunately, Zhou Yu was lucky, and after only two or three days, there was a sudden south wind. As soon as he felt that the direction of the wind had changed, he immediately sent troops to land, and at night he moved northward, wading through Nanzhangshui from the west of Jiangling to approach Cao Ying.

The best time to get close to the enemy camp is at night, that is, to launch a night attack. Because most of the soldiers in those years were also malnourished, unable to fight at night, and there were no bright enough lighting facilities, they would generally try to calm down at night, and try not to move as much as possible. Without careful planning in advance, hasty action can cause chaos – as evidenced by the fact that the so-called "roar" is mostly at night.

In addition, Zhou Yu played a trick and deliberately let the soldiers advance with torches, so in Cao Cao's opinion, this will confuse me, or disturb my strategy, and he will only order the battalions to defend tightly, and will not rashly go out of the camp to fight a counterattack. Zhou Yu took advantage of this opportunity to take advantage of the wind to approach Cao Ying, and then did not attack, but set fire on all sides.

The fire was first set off from the western camp, initially by rockets to confuse the enemy, and then the infantry used long hooks to knock over the fence and rush into the camp, throwing torches everywhere. Most of the timber in the standing stone is freshly felled, and it is still damp and light and incombustible, but the tents are mostly made of cloth or leather, which is much easier to burn. With the fire in the west, it was estimated that Cao Cao would have to send troops to help, so almost at the same time, the north gate of Jiangling City was also opened, and countless southern troops came out with torches - Cao Cao, what should you do? To save or not to save?

Cao Cao had no choice but to abandon the western camp and refuse to rescue, and ordered the sergeants to gather in front of the fence to fire arrows and not to let the enemy approach. If it were another day, Cao Cao's response would be quite effective, and it would definitely be effective, at most the western camp would be burned, and he would not suffer much damage. At this moment, the south wind is blowing strongly, and the southern army can shoot arrows because of the wind, and they can reach far, and the camps on all sides have also ignited the fire one after another.

I saw the wind helping the fire, vigorously rising, and the smoke and flames blocked the sky. Most of Cao's soldiers were still asleep, and they were hastily called up to defend, and as soon as they put on their armor and weapons, their own camp tents were set on fire, and they were busy fighting fires, and they were ordered by the sentry officer to go to the fence to release arrows, or the whole column was ready to counterattack, and it immediately became a mess. In a panic, the fire could not be extinguished, and gradually burned, Cao Bing and wolf rushed to the pig, crying father and mother, and the noise drowned out the shouts of the herald.

Cao Cao had no choice but to order the generals to push away the deer and rush out to disperse the southern army. This move was in Zhou Yu's arms -- the Cao army was in a hurry to respond to the battle, and the array was not in order, while the southern army came prepared, occupied the upper hand, each with spears, and everyone fought bravely, and as soon as they made contact, Cao's army immediately fell behind. After nearly an hour of fierce fighting, Cao Cao saw that the fires were getting bigger and bigger on all sides, and he knew that the general trend had gone, so he had to order the camp to abandon and retreat.

However, after all, the northern army was huge, and Cao Cao could completely withstand the number of casualties that were surging up, restraining the various troops to retreat one after another, retreating to the battalion and then reorganizing the ranks, and then going up to replace the defeated soldiers. In this way, they walked alternately, and after about another hour, they finally gradually stopped the trend of defeat.

As soon as Zhou Yu saw that the victory or defeat was about to change, he secretly praised Cao Cao for his ability to use troops, and hurriedly ordered a retreat, slowly retreating to Jiangling City and the boats moored on the Yangtze River.

He was busy until dawn, and Cao Cao counted some casualties -- it was so miserable, more than 2,000 soldiers were killed or burned to death by the Southern Army, and the wounded were several times, and eleven of the generals below Gao Qian were not in the battle.

It stands to reason that a few thousand dead in an army of 150,000 are nothing--if the fortifications of Gangneung had been stormed without casualties, and in a day or two, they would have made up enough of that -- the morale of the camps was greatly damaged, and the morale of the troops was greatly damaged. If we want to force the city to camp again, I am afraid that we will not be able to stand up in three or five days, and if we want to regain morale, and then attack Gangneung, we will have to prepare for another ten days and half a month -- if we really survive by then, it is estimated that the grain and grass will not be able to keep up.

You can't wait until all the food is eaten up and then retreat temporarily.

Simply, Cao Cao Jiangling didn't stay in the city, retreated to Dangyang County, and then sought a future.

This battle is very similar to the Battle of Chibi in the original history, but the result is not the same. In fact, the number of losses of the Cao army in the battle of Chibi is also not very large, and the real burned and killed are only a few thousand people, the key Cao Cao later escaped through Huarong, the place is at the northern end of Yunmengze, densely covered with swamps, the history books say: "In the mud, the road is not passable, the sky is windy, and the soldiers are burdened with grass to fill it, and the riding is passable." The soldiers were swept away by the men and horses, and they were trapped in the mud, and many died. "Why are you so panicked, it's because the defeated soldiers can't be restrained, and they are chased by the Sun and Liu coalition forces biting their tails, and they don't dare not escape.

And it is estimated that the northern army is still enough, even if the Jingzhou troops are lucky to escape, they can't be retracted, and they must all go back to their respective homes, so Cao Cao had to be forced to retreat to the Central Plains, leaving Cao Ren to guard Jiangling.

And in this timeline, without the defeat of Huarong Dao, Cao Cao's situation is relatively much better, and even if he retreats, he will definitely be much calmer. It's just that we should quit the army?

Liu Fang counted the remaining materials, and Cao Cao should retreat from the army-"If you wait for the food to run out and retreat, it will be taken advantage of by Zhou Yu." "At most, it will only support for more than half a month, are you really sure that you can capture Gangneung City in this little time? For battles that have no chance of winning, it is better not to fight.

Jia Xu said: "Jiangling must not go down, but if you retreat, then Xiangyang will not be able to stay for a long time...... "Then isn't our trip almost in vain?" In particular, "Now that the Jiangling army is in the hands of Zhou Yu and Liu Pan, Jing Yang will become a longitudinal force, and I am afraid that it will be difficult to plan in the future." "Look at the two goods are quite cooperative, the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River are united, once the troops are withdrawn, we may not be able to kill them in a short time.

Cao Cao slapped the table: "How can you allow Zhou Yu's juniors to be rampant?" I should go to attack Xiling! ”

I don't want this Jiangling for the time being, but in order to protect Xiangyang, I must take Xiling down. Now my soldiers and horses are still alive, but their morale is a little low--it doesn't matter, don't you still have Cao Ren's intact 40,000 soldiers and horses? There is also a shortage of food and grass -- if I cut the number of people, I will definitely be able to eat for three or five more days. If you can't beat Jiangling in a month, it may not be difficult to fight Xiling.

So he ordered that the wounded soldiers and the scattered battalion leaders should be returned to the north one after another, and 50,000 elites were selected, and they would stay in Jingzhou for a few more days. Cao Ren immediately waded across the Han River and took Xiling directly, Cao Cao left Gao Shun to garrison Dangyang, and personally led the army to the east.

I'm going to compete with Zhou Yu now to see who moves fast! From Jiangling to Xiling, the Yangtze River meanders, nearly twice the distance longer than the land route, even if Zhou Yu you have a boat to carry troops and horses, but as long as the reaction is a beat slower, I will definitely arrive before you. As for Huang Zu's more than 20,000 people, I have fought hard to suffer many deaths and injuries, and I will completely defeat them!

But Zhou Gongjin's reaction was not slow at all, he burned Cao Ying on his side and retreated back to Jiangling City, Ma Liang and other scribes were already preparing a banquet and planning to celebrate. Zhou Yu said that although Cao's army has suffered heavy setbacks, it has not yet withdrawn from the army, what is there to celebrate? Ma Liang said with a smile: "Although there are not many kills and injuries today, I see that Cao Cao's camp is mostly burned, and I am afraid that Cao Cao will not dare to attack Jiangling again." Zhou Yu said that he didn't dare to attack Jiangling again, but he could still go to Xiling!

Let's rest for one night, tomorrow morning I will board the boat and go to Jiangxia to rescue Huang Zu.

Before the words fell, Liu Qi hurriedly waved his hand: "No, no." (To be continued......)