After more than ten days of driving and riding, the Erqiao sisters finally returned to Gusu City, and only then did they enter the backyard of the General's Mansion, and saw Mrs. Wu with Sun Shangxiang and Qiong'er waiting in the courtyard.

Da Qiao Sinu was anxious, the closer she got to Gusu, the more anxious she became, and when she came to her, she was a little timid, and she stepped forward to Mrs. Wu, and choked before she spoke: "Ying'er is not filial, which makes her mother suspenseful......"

Mrs. Wu sighed slowly, sighed in her hand, and helped Da Qiao up: "General Qiao is in trouble, if you two sisters don't go back, it will be unfilial, and who can blame you for this filial piety?" In the end, this matter is not good, no matter how much you should not hide such a big thing from you, isn't it for people with intentions to use it and provoke contradictions? Fortunately, there were no bad consequences, and you all came back safely, but Qiong'er, this kid misses you......"

Da Qiao saw Qiong'er at a glance, but he was self-denying and respectful, and suppressed the salute to Mrs. Wu first, at this time, when he heard Mrs. Wu talk about it, he couldn't restrain himself anymore, and bent over to hug the little person, but when he saw Qiong'er making trouble, he pouted and hid behind Sun Shangxiang with a small face.

In more than a month, Da Qiao was about to give birth, and his body was extremely inconvenient, Sun Shangxiang hurriedly squatted down, gently grabbed Qiong'er's little arm, and said slowly: "Didn't grandmother tell you?" Your mother is going back to her ancestral home to keep filial piety for her grandfather, but she doesn't want you anymore? I promised it well yesterday, but why is it awkward today? ”

That day, after Da Qiao coaxed Qiong'er to sleep, he took Xiao Qiao and left Gusu, Qiong'er couldn't find Da Qiao when she woke up, she cried for several days, and she couldn't sleep well for several months. Da Qiao didn't know that Qiong'er would be afraid, but under the circumstances at that time, she had no choice, and she was crying like rain at this time, but because of the bulging lower abdomen, she couldn't take Qiong'er into her arms.

Xiao Qiao saw it in his eyes, stepped forward to help Da Qiao, and picked up Qiong'er again, so that Da Qiao was able to take Qiong'er into his arms and screamed heartily. Qiong'er smelled the aroma of her mother's body, and finally stopped being afraid of recognizing her life, hugged Da Qiao's neck, and couldn't stop crying with a wrinkled face.

Mrs. Wu didn't feel crying, and at the end it was Sun Shangxiang who greeted: "The eldest sister-in-law is pregnant, don't stand outside, my mother has already let people burn the stove in the room, it's cold, go back to the house to rest." ”

Not long after Xiao Qiao left to return to Wu County, Sun Ce led Zhou Yu, Sun Quan and others to lead 22,000 troops into Shaxian.

The terrain of this place is special, surrounded by water on three sides, easy to defend and difficult to attack, Sun Ce's Chen soldiers are in the north of the city, and Cheng Pu Han Dang and others were sent to attack the city in three or two days, but they have not been able to break it.

It was the middle of winter in the lunar month, and the consumption of grain and grass was far better than usual, and the strategists of Huang Zu's lower divisions in the city began to preach, they had 30,000 soldiers and more than 6,000 soldiers, but Sun Ce's men only had 22,000 soldiers, and the number of warships could not compete with Huang Zu. Walking by water is undoubtedly self-defeating; A strong siege has no chance of victory. Seeing that there are large cumulonimbus clouds in the sky, I think that there will be heavy snow in a few days to resist, and then I can surrender without a fight.

Such remarks also spread to Sun Ce's army, causing a lot of discussion among the soldiers, but the generals did not show any panic, and the troops were arrayed, as always. On that day, Sun Ce and Zhou Yu were playing chess in the tent, and the black and white twins killed each other very fiercely, only to see that after Zhou Yu fell a son, the battle situation suddenly changed, Sun Ce hurriedly grabbed his hand: "Hey, hey, I just made a mistake, this time it's not a ......"

Zhou Yu ignored his play, put it away, threw it into the bamboo basket on the side one by one, raised his eyebrows and smiled: "The lord's mind is not on the chessboard, no matter how bad it is, it is useless." ”

What Zhou Yu said was reasonable, Sun Ce simply put down the chess pieces in his hand, leaned on the wooden case, raised the curtain, looked at the rolling Yangtze River not far away, and there was a hint of a ruffian smile on the corner of his mouth: "Dare to ask Zhou Dudu, this Shaxian City is surrounded by water on three sides, what is the best strategy for attacking the city, and what is the strategy for attacking the city." ”

"The waters here are all big rivers, although the water flow in winter is not as turbulent in summer, but the undercurrent is quite deep, so it is common to see, since the land siege is the top, the lake siege is second, the most bottom policy, I am afraid that it is from the Yangtze River moat to attack the city."

"Not bad", Sun Ce's eyes were full of decisive and profound meaning, like a silver bottle bursting, and the cold light was everywhere, "Mediocre people will be like this, and my generation will never be vulgar!" If you don't kill Huang Zu tonight, my grandson will not be a man! ”

In the middle of the night, the Yangtze River was foggy, and it was almost difficult to distinguish between clear water and sky.

The soldiers were staggering on the boat, not knowing the impending danger at all, only one of them was leaning on the railing of the boat, carrying a longbow, still awake, but seeing him half-squinting at the hazy river, holding a straw in his mouth and slightly upturned up and down with his breath, looking at the face turned out to be familiar, it turned out to be the leader of the Jinfan thieves who robbed Erqiao on the outskirts of Juchao County in the spring five years ago - Gan Ning.

Since that day by the strange bird and Sun Ce forced to retreat, Gan Ning was injured, had to return to the home of Bajun Linjiang, his family is well-off, his ancestor Gan Mao was the prime minister of Qin during the Warring States period, and is still enshrined in the ancestral hall. Seeing that Gan Ning was seriously injured, his parents hurriedly asked why, but Gan Ning did not hide it and answered truthfully, but his father was furious, angrily accusing him of "being disloyal and unfilial, sorry for the ancestors of the Gan family". However, blessings and misfortunes depend on each other, after this incident, Gan Ning seems to have a real epiphany, no longer messing around, learning literature and martial arts all day long, but like a changed person, less than two years, under the recommendation of his father, he went to take refuge in Liu Biao in Jingzhou, wanting to establish a reputation.

However, doing things under Liu Biao was not as smooth as Gan Ning imagined: although this person had skills, he valued literature over martial arts, sold his reputation and fished for fame, and he invited several Confucians in the Jingzhou territory to talk in the hall, but the military and political affairs were handed over to a few generals under his command; And the generals under Liu Biao are not fuel-efficient lamps, and Huang Zu is the worst of them. He was originally a Shaxian person, a famous minister of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and a descendant of Huangxiang, one of the "Twenty-four Filial Piety", but he had a tyrannical temperament and was self-serving. Last year, because he did not speculate at the night banquet, he drew a knife and killed the envoy You Heng sent by Cao Cao to Liu Biao, which almost caused the Cao Liu War, and the streets and alleys of Jingzhou are still discussed.

To this day, Gan Ning has been a pawn commander under Huang Zu for nearly two years, several times in front of the battle, shot and killed enemy generals, and also saved Huang Zu's life, but Huang Zu has never rewarded meritorious deeds, and even did not give a captain, which made Gan Ning depressed, borrowed wine to drown his sorrows, looked at the river and sighed, not knowing when he would be able to do it like his ancestor Gan Mao, glorifying the lintel of Gan's house.

Just when Gan Ning was still in the river, the waves on the side of the boat suddenly splashed and hit him in the face, he raised his hand to wipe the river water on his face, raised his eyes and looked intently, only to see a huge shadow faintly emerging between the dense fog on the river, Gan Ning immediately noticed that something was wrong, and immediately shouted three times with his throat: "The enemy is coming!" ”

As Gan Ning noticed, a thousand large and small ships, carrying 20,000 Sun Ce's army, silently sailed towards the Xia port, led by a hundred zhang tall ship, Zhou Yu was dressed in silver helmet and silver armor, as bright as a jade tree in the wind, commanding the archers to release rockets to the shore, with a wave of the long sword, the rockets in the sky flew towards the Huangzu fleet on the shore along the sword, and thousands of boats suddenly fell into a sea of fire.

The two thousand soldiers of the Shujiang River who had just been woken up by Gan Ning's loud voice were as anxious as ants on a hot pot, and countless people jumped ship and fled for their lives. Even if a few soldiers resisted stubbornly and fired arrows at Zhou Yu's fleet, it was just a grasshopper shaking the tree, and it was difficult to break the heart and lungs.

"Quick! Splash water with a helmet! Gan Ning shouted, immediately took off his helmet, filled it with river water, and threw it at the place where the boat was on fire. The soldiers followed suit, and the fire was gradually brought under control.

Zhou Yu stood on the tall ship, witnessing all this, there was no accident, after all, in actual combat, rockets are only to disturb the enemy, the purpose is not to destroy the enemy warship, but to make the enemy busy to fight the fire. Zhou Yu turned sideways with his hands and said in a deep voice to a pair of father and son soldiers on his opponent's side: "It's time for you to play." ”

This father and son do have a background, the father's name is Ling Cao, he used to be the chief of Yongping, and he is brave and courageous, especially good at water warfare. When Sun Ce exterminated Yan Baihu, this person once personally commanded a team of men and horses to raid the rear of the enemy's formation with a light boat, and the opponent's position was in chaos, and after the war, Sun Ce was named "Captain of the Thief". And his son Ling Tong is even more blue, although he is only ten years old, he is a young talent, with a hundred steps through Yang's archery, flexibly shuttling in front of the battle, and his father is very tacit.

Ling Cao comprehended, waved at Zhou Yu, jumped off the big boat with Ling Tong, and landed steadily on the small boat that was already ready to go. With a whistle, the Twelve-Leaf Boat rushed to the shore like an arrow off the string, intending to land on the river bank and attack Huang Zu's camp from land. Ling Tong, on the other hand, stayed on the light boat, using the speed of the boat to quickly shuttle to avoid the enemy ships, and used his archery skills to support his father's charge on the shore with arrows.

Huang Zu has always been negligent in training, and his soldiers have been absent from the battle formation for a long time, and they don't know how to fight against the fierce and agile combination of water and land tactics of the father and son, and they fell into passivity for a while, with countless casualties.

Seeing that a gap had been opened in the defensive line of the warships in Xiakou by the Ling father and son and their soldiers, Zhou Yu seized the opportunity and ordered the soldiers to blow the horn of the general attack. At this moment, the curtain of the dock room behind him was lifted, and I saw Sun Ce wearing red gold armor and hanging a red cloak, striding out: "I've been waiting for this trumpet for a long time, and you are late to let people blow it." ”

Zhou Yu said with a smile: "The lord is a general who owns the entire Jiangdong, and his prestige is enough to shock the world, where is the use of going into battle in person every charge?" ”

"I don't care, I will definitely break Huang Zu in this battle and take his head to comfort my father's soul in the sky!" Sun Ce said, walked to the bow of the boat, jumped down, and immediately merged into a firelight.

On the shore of Xiakou, Huang Zujun and the advance troops sent by Zhou Yu were in a melee, and when they saw that the big ship had arrived on the shore, there was a brave and invincible figure like Sun Ce, who was even more frightened and frightened. At the same time, Cheng Pu and Huang Gai landed on Sun Ce's left and right flanks to protect the safety of Sun Ce's army; Tai Shi Ci commanded a cavalry all the way and opened another front at the bridgehead downstream, so that Huang Zu's army could not take care of each other, and the defense of Xiakou soon showed a rout.

Sun Ce rode a thousand, rushed left and right in the fleeing Huang Zu chaotic army, and even beheaded several generals in Huang Zu's army, but none of them were Huang Zu, he could not hide the disappointment on his face, while chasing the Huang Zu army who fled westward, he shouted: "Where is the rat Huang Zu!" Fight to the death with Lonely! ”

"Tell the general, someone just saw Huang Zu appear at the ferry, as if he was about to get on the boat and escape!" When Sun Ce heard this, he turned the horse's head with a silver gun in his hand and immediately rushed to the ferry.

The north wind is Xiao Xiao, the fire is dark, the ground is full of corpses of soldiers, and Huang Zu is missing. Just as Sun Ce was looking around, he suddenly heard the sound of hitting the water on the river, and he looked intently, only to see Huang Zu lose his armor, and he was very embarrassed to shake a small boat, and fled against the current in a hurry.

"Where is the old thief fleeing!"

Sun Ce roared angrily and was about to jump into the river, but someone grabbed his waist from behind, only to hear Cheng Pu shouting behind him: "Think twice, lord!" ”

As he spoke, Huang Zu had fled farther and farther, leaving only a small black dot in the distance under the moonlight. Cheng Pu let go of his hand, only to see Sun Ce slam the silver spear halberd on the ground in a dejected manner, hammering it heavily on the sand, and his hands were bloody and blurry in a moment.

After waiting for so many years, it finally came to this day, but he still saw Qiu Yun fleeing, and Cheng Pu was also full of resentment, but if he didn't stop Sun Ce and let him jump into the Yangtze River with heroic spirit, the consequences would be unimaginable, and Cheng Pu couldn't help but hide his face and choked: "The lord is angry, if you want to blame, blame Cheng someone!" ”

On the other side, Ling Cao was like a flying swallow, killing more than ten enemy troops at the landing gate, and he was about to join forces with Huang Gai, but he was suddenly hit by an arrow and fell to the ground. Zhou Yu on the big boat happened to see this scene, he immediately lay on the bow of the boat and looked in the direction where the arrows were flying, only to see that it was Gan Ning who put away his bow and arrows, stepped on his horse and fled westward.

"Is it him?" Zhou Yu saw Gan Ning's fleeing back, and remembered the Jinfan thief who was driven away by himself and Sun Ce outside the nest five years ago. But in an instant, Gan Ning had already escaped into the ranks of deserters and disappeared. Zhou Yu didn't care about anything else, jumped off the boat in stride, and beckoned: "Quick, military doctor!" ”

"Father! Father! Ling Tong also rushed forward, calling Ling Cao in a childish voice, his hands constantly shaking the majestic man in front of him who had never shown fatigue. With life at stake, Zhou Yu pulled away Ling Tong and personally stepped forward to check the injury.

"How is General Ling?" Sun Ce suppressed the resentment in his heart, rushed back here with Cheng Pu, and hurriedly came to visit when he saw Ling Cao being hit by an arrow.

Zhou Yu didn't say a word, stood up, and shook his head. Sun Ce immediately stepped forward, only to see that the arrow had been inserted into the heart by an inch, and the blood was flowing like a pour, and he was already powerless.

Everyone couldn't help sighing, Ling Tong, who couldn't accept all this, even cried on his father. Sun Ce touched the scene, and remembered the scene when his father died eight years ago, new hatred and old hatred were intertwined, his hands were clenched into fists, and he only hated that he couldn't tear Huang Zu with his own hands.

After this battle, almost all the tens of thousands of people under Huang Zu were annihilated, and more than 10,000 died by drowning, and Huang Zu's wives and children, all of whom were captured, and the biggest result was the capture of 6,000 warships in Xiakou, which was almost all the naval ships under Liu Biao. As a result, Jingzhou's Liu Biao's forces were greatly hit, and it was impossible to go down the river within a few years, threatening the safety of Wancheng and Jiangdong.

Despite this, Sun Ce was still angry, and wanted to send troops to attack Jiangling several times, but fortunately the generals dissuaded him before giving up, he chiseled a fist on the case, gritted his teeth and said: "This Wang Ba Lao'er, he actually left his wife and children and his subordinates and fled without fighting, it is really despicable and shameless!" Such a person is still alive today, but General Ling, who is loyal and courageous, died under the secret arrow! Why is God always so unfair to the martyrs, and what face does Lone have to go to the Ling family and explain to Lone's father! ”

Seeing Sun Ce's grief and indignation, the generals came to comfort him, and Zhang Zhao arched his hand and said: "It is inevitable to shed blood and sacrifice on the battlefield. Although Huang Zu fled alone, he experienced such a big defeat and would be severely punished by Liu Biao. Please calm your anger, and don't be angry. ”

"Please calm the wrath of the Lord!" All the generals agreed.

At this moment, a guard shouted outside the tent: "Report! Lord, Wu County is urgent! ”

No matter how important the military affairs were, the news of Wu Jun always worried Sun Ce, and he immediately replied loudly: "Submit it!" ”

The guard stepped forward, held a roll of bamboo tube above his head, and then presented it by the paperwork, Sun Ce cut the leather rope with a short knife, took out the letterhead and read it in a hurry, his expression changed suddenly, as if the first ray of sunlight in spring broke through the ice, and a faint mist rose in his eyes, he forced a very excited voice, and said in a low voice: "The lonely Sun Shao was finally born......"