In late September, the Yangtze River front.

After a period of confrontation and temptation, a major battle between the Liangzhou army and the Jiangnan coalition army finally broke out.

The first battle was still fierce, and the warships of both sides poured out their strength and launched repeated collisions and battles on the river that stretched for dozens of miles.

Every day, dozens of warships are damaged and sunk, and thousands of soldiers are buried underwater.

But this obviously could not stop the fighting spirit of the two sides, and under the encouragement and urging of the sound of drums and trumpets, the collision and fighting of boats and horses on both sides was still endless.

Arrows pierce the air, soldiers jump gangs, fight near and far, always kill from the sunrise to the east to the sunset, and the water of this section of the Yangtze River is red, and the sinking ships cut off the flow of the Yangtze River......

This water battle around the Yangtze River is not only a test of the water warfare ability of the soldiers of both sides, but also a test of the determination of the generals of both sides, depending on how many chips they can come up with.

From the current point of view, the Jiangnan coalition army is indeed determined to seize the important land in Huainan upstream, so their determination is stronger and their investment is greater.

After more than ten days of death-to-death battles resulted in 5,000 or 6,000 casualties, and 6,700 large and small ships were destroyed, they did not hesitate to transfer more ships, soldiers and horses from the rear again, and threw them into the battlefield again.

However, Guo Yan, after listening to the battle damage figures reported by his subordinates, was a little distressed: "How many ships are left that we can still fight?" ”

"Less than three hundred...... But even fewer are soldiers and horses who are good at water warfare, after all, we are good at land warfare, and sailors are trained temporarily. His subordinate Huang Zhen replied with a bitter face: "Dashuai, it's better to retreat for the time being, let the Yangtze River out, and wait for them to go ashore and then fight with them before it is too late." ”

This proposal really won the approval of many other generals: "Yes, Marshal, water warfare is not my forte, why use my shortcomings to attack the enemy's strengths?" It's better to retreat a little, lead them to the north shore, and then attack halfway! ”

This is exactly what Guo Yan was thinking about, and nodded unconsciously when he heard this: "Then let the rear army take advantage of the night to retreat a hundred miles first, and rebuild fortifications in the city there, and then our Chinese army is looking for an opportunity to retreat and lead the enemy ashore!" ”

But at this time, the voice of opposition also came, but it was not Guo Yan's cronies, but a slightly thin scholar Yang Huaidu: "Handsome, don't." If we retreat at this time, we will inevitably greatly increase the momentum of the enemy army and weaken the morale of our entire army.

"And what if they don't pursue them on the north shore, what if they are stationed there? Won't we be even more passive? ”

This is nominally only a military counselor, but in fact, his status is not under Guo Yan, the commander, but the supervisor sent by the Zongheng Society.

And as he spoke, the generals of the Huaibei side, who had not been able to make up their minds and remained silent, quickly followed: "Guo Shuai, it is indeed not good for us to retreat at this time. Now that the two sides are only at a stalemate, we can still fight, so why back down? ”

"Guo Shuai, there is a way to meet on a narrow road, the brave wins, this is the time to test the fighting spirit and tenacity of our army, and we must not retreat."

"The Jiangnan Army is not known for being good at fighting, I'm afraid they have already reached the end of the crossbow now, as long as we continue to persevere, the enemy is already in sight. You can't let your previous efforts be wasted because you're afraid of casualties! ”

Suddenly, Guo Yan's Liangzhou lineage and the Huaibei cronies of the Zonghenghui were divided into two distinct factions.

This made Guo Yan hesitate for a short time, although he didn't want to fight to the death on the river anymore, but the attitude of the Zonghenghui was something he couldn't help but consider.

After a long time, he said with difficulty: "Let's fight again tomorrow and see ......" After all, he made a compromise to the side of the Zonghenghui, which also made the face of the generals of the Liangzhou Army who was his descendant a little annoyed.

It wasn't until the end of this pre-military meeting that half of the Thai people dispersed, and Huang Zhen, as one of the henchmen, came to Guo Yan and whispered: "Handsome...... You can't let the pressure of them disregard the lives of the soldiers.

"These guys are speaking lightly, that's because it is our Liangzhou army's siblings who are fighting to the death on the river now, but their soldiers and horses have hardly moved."

"I know, I know......" Guo Yan nodded with a wry smile, his eyes were also full of anxiety.

He originally thought that even if he couldn't win all of this battle, it wouldn't be too difficult to fight the other side and not dare to play again, after all, how could the soldiers and horses in the rich land of Jiangnan be compared with the Liangzhou army that he had built single-handedly?

Therefore, in line with the idea of being able to make more contributions, he incorporated his descendants into the division of water warfare early on, and made the Huaibei Army a reserve on the shore.

But the current war has completely failed his plan, and he has lost all his money, and he has not received much credit, but the casualties are shocking.

And it has fallen to the point where it is now in a dilemma, so I can only grit my teeth and let the soldiers continue to work hard.

"Marshal, they are obviously doing this to weaken our strength, once my Liangzhou army is really seriously damaged, then we may not even be able to hold a foothold like Liangzhou." Huang Zhen was really anxious this time, and he didn't care about any taboos, so he told the truth.

Guo Yan's expression changed again, and his relationship with the Zonghenghui was known to many of his cronies and subordinates as early as Sun Ning's power seizure chaos a few years ago.

Over the years, everyone has complained in private, and even instigated himself to simply get rid of the Zongheng Society and stand on his own, but he couldn't make up his mind after all.

Unexpectedly, this contradiction was mentioned by his subordinates again today, at the critical juncture of this crucial battle.

Seeing that he showed a tangled look, the hope in Huang Zhen's eyes was even stronger, and he stared at the other party: "Handsome ......"

"I'm ......" Guo Yan's eyes flickered, as if he wanted to make up his mind, but he was a little timid.

The pressure and impression on him at the beginning was too deep for him to this day. But he also knew that this might be his last chance.

To do, or not to do?

At this moment, the tent door suddenly moved, and a voice came in clearly: "Marshal, there is an urgent military situation from the rear, and there is a change in Huainan!" ”

"Huh? Get it in! Guo Yan was suddenly moved, and he couldn't make up for the problem at hand, so he immediately spoke.

Huainan Ke was behind him, responsible for the transportation of materials and food for the army, and once there was really chaos there, the damage to the entire army would be devastating. Compared to this, the current dispute over whether to abandon water warfare is completely unmentionable.

Even Huang Zhen quickly became serious after hearing this, and when Guo Yan looked at the emergency report in his hand, he also looked at his handsome for a moment: "Dashuai, what happened?" ”