In the battle of Echeng, in the end, because of the fall of night, the two sides had to withdraw their troops to end.

As soon as Chen returned to Shuizhai, Zhang Xi went there in person and praised Chen.

"General Chen really deserves to be a famous general in Jingzhou, this time he commanded well, repelled the enemy from Jiangdong, after he retired from Jiangdong on the other day, this governor should be a personal secretary and guard, and ask for credit for General Chen!"

What Zhang Xi said is a bit of a half-truth.

Chen just won, Zhang Xi knows in his heart.

In addition to the fact that the defense system left by Huang Zu can indeed play a part of the role, Chen Zheng's command today is indeed not problematic, and he steadily blocked the offensive of the Jiangdong naval army.

In this regard, Zhang Xi's praise of Chen is really not a compliment.

Again, now that the guards of Exian and Yi counties have asked Zhang Xi to send out to take over the defense of the city along the river, to resist the invasion of Jiangdong, they must rely on the naval army commanded by Chen Zhi.

It's just that Chen Zuo's face is not very good.

"Zhang Duyou has won the award!" Chen sank his face and said to Zhang Xi, "This time it's just a fluke, tomorrow the Jiangdong Navy will come again. The superintendent of the post still needs to prepare early, explain the reason to Mrs. Liu, and send reinforcements to rescue as soon as possible! ”

Zhang Xi was surprised at the time.

There's something about this Chen.

Originally, Zhang Xi thought that a trick like Chen, who was unknown in history and didn't even have a chance to appear in the romance, was probably an arrogant fool like Xing Daorong.

But I didn't expect this Chen to see the situation very clearly, his mind was also very calm, and he commanded the navy in a good way. Could it really be that he was an excellent naval general who unfortunately died young?!

Chen didn't want to say such soft words to Zhang Xi, it was really because during the day today, the losses of the Jiangxia Navy were a bit big.

In the half-day battle, more than 300 people were killed, nearly 1,000 wounded, and the navy army was less than 20,000 people in total.

Don't look at Chen, he repelled the frontal attack of the Jiangdong army, but Chen, as Huang Zu's old subordinate, of course knew what he relied on to repel his opponent.

In the past battles against Jiangdong, although the Jiangxia naval army suffered many defeats, relying on this defense line along the river and its familiarity with the local hydrology, the Jiangxia naval army has never been wounded.

But today, Chen used the Shuangmeng Chong warship to form a defensive formation, and also had a strategy to defend the line along the river, but he still fought extremely hard.

The reason is that Chen, as the commander of the navy, is of course very clear, the Jiangxia navy has not practiced for a long time, and its combat effectiveness has been much weaker than before.

Chen was the commander of the naval army in the Huangzu period, and this kind of thing is not good to say in front of Zhang Xi, an official appointed by Liu Qi, that Chen will be the first to be held accountable.

But he can't boast that the Jiangxia Navy is powerful, after all, today's losses Chen knew in his heart that if Jiangdong really attacked like this again, he would not be able to hold it out because of the heavy casualties of the Navy a few more times.

Chen didn't want to die, and there was nowhere to escape when he fought on the river, so he could only tell Zhang Xi euphemistically that the situation was not optimistic now, and asked Xiling County to send reinforcements quickly.

Zhang Xi didn't want to send reinforcements, but it had been more than ten days since his first letter asking for help was sent, and it had been three days since the second letter for help and the war report from Jiangdong had been sent, and there was still no response.

The distance from Xiling to Exian County, if it is from the waterway, it will take five days, and if it is by land, it will only take about ten days Zhang Xi does not know what the situation in Xiling County is now, why there have been no reinforcements.

Before getting a clear reply from Xiling County, Zhang Xi really couldn't leave Exian County, firstly, it was his duty, as the post supervisor, he had to command the enemy in the same place when he encountered the enemy's attack.

Otherwise, even if he escapes back to Xiling County, he will lose his head according to military law.

Two comes. The Jiangxia navy is in Exian County, Zhang Xi can't retreat, once he retreats, God knows if these sailors will directly surrender to the enemy.

Once the naval army surrenders to the enemy, Jiangdong can follow the Yangtze River all the way to attack the belly of Jiangxia County, and the next place is Xiling County, where Liu Qi is located.

It's okay if Liu Qi escapes, but if he is killed by Jiangdong like Huang Zu in history. The game of chess planned by Zhang Xi, Zhuge Liang, Xu Shu and others was completely abandoned.

Therefore, Zhang Xi could only comfort Chen Zhuo with his life, and promised him that reinforcements were already on the way, and they would arrive in three or five days. In fact, where does Zhang Xi know when the reinforcements will arrive, it is just a comforting statement.

Chen is not stupid, but he can only believe that what Zhang Xi said is true now. Before the real end of the mountain, Chen would not have the idea of surrendering so easily.

In order to reassure Chen Zuo, Zhang Xi also specially called Wei Yan and asked Wei Yan to lead three soldiers as Chen Zuo's guards and obey Chen Zuo's command.

You see, I've even sent you personal guards, why should you give me a little more heart and work together to destroy the enemy, right?!

What can Chen say about this? Just thank you.

Zhang Xi asked Wei Yan to follow Chen Zuo, not without the intention of monitoring nearby, but the original intention was indeed to protect Chen Zuo's safety.

Chen also somewhat understood Zhang Xi's intentions, but firstly, he had not thought of surrendering, and secondly, he had a lot of his own personal guards, but he would not be afraid of the surveillance of these thirty or so Zhang Xi's guards.

If Chen really wants to join the enemy, a group of landlubbers who don't know how to fight on the river, can they stop a naval commander and his own soldiers?!

The only person injured was Wei Yan.

Wei Yan is not disobedient, the key is that Wei Yan is a landlubber.

Wei Yan is a native of Yiyang, located in Nanyang County, although it also belongs to Jingzhou in terms of administrative division, but Wei Yan, a "Jingzhou" person, really doesn't know water, let alone operate a boat.

Yiyang is closer to the Central Plains, unlike Jingnan, where the water network is developed, and Wei Yan has no chance to learn any swimming skills.

The ships of these years are not too big, if it weren't for a super large warship like the Lou boat, it would be terrible to shake on the water Although Wei Yan is better, he will stay on Meng Chong with Chen, but he will still be spit out by the bitter gall of the shaking.

In this state, Chen can't even say, who is protecting whom.

Fortunately, the guards led by Wei Yan were originally homeless people recruited by Kou Feng in Xinye, and some of them still knew how to water, at least they didn't seem to be as uncomfortable as Wei Yan, which also made Wei Yan feel a little comforted.

Wei Yan has his own ideas, which are not quite the same as Zhang Xi's ideas.

Although Zhang Xi ordered Wei Yan to protect Chen Qi, he didn't say anything else.

But in Wei Yan's view, he was sent by Zhang Xi to protect Chen just an excuse, and the real purpose, on the one hand, was to monitor Chen Zhuo, and on the other hand, it was also to take precautions.

Wei Yan had seen the lazy state of the Jiangxia naval army from the beginning, and he had little hope for relying on these naval forces to retreat from the enemy.

And Wei Yan also knows the predicament of Zhangxi now, the biggest problem in Echeng and Yixian is that the army is insufficient, so he can only rely on the navy.

So Wei Yan was on the boat, and he was preparing with both hands.

If Chen wanted to surrender to the enemy, then of course Wei Yan would control Chen as soon as possible, seize military power, and continue to command the naval army to fight.

If the Jiangxia naval army was unfortunately defeated, Wei Yan could also gather some of the remnants of the army and retreat to Exian County, and increase the number of troops defending the city in Exian.

In this era, the army may not be able to be a navy, but there is no problem at all for the navy to go ashore and use as an army.

But Wei Yan didn't expect that his two-handed preparations had not yet found a chance to play a role, and he did the "nominal work" sent to him by Zhang Xi first.

This is early the next morning, the Jiangdong naval army launched an offensive at dawn, and Chen was not to be outdone to lead the naval army out of the village, according to yesterday's old method, two Meng Chong with a group of small boats formed a hedgehog formation to meet the battle, and along the river cliff on the defensive city also began to shoot arrows and throwing stones.

The two sides fought again for a while, from dawn until noon.

The Jiangxia Navy still suffered heavy losses, so heavy that Chen Zhi's heart was dripping blood.

But no matter what, after a fierce battle in the morning, the Jiangxia Navy still held the defensive line and did not give Jiangdong a gap.

Seeing that the Jiangdong Navy could not attack for a long time, the frequency and rhythm of attacks were declining, and there were even signs of retreat near noon, Chen slowly breathed a sigh of relief.

Chen originally thought that Jiangdong's attack would end here, after all, the Jiangdong army had begun to retreat slowly, but no one expected that at this time, two small boats rushed out of the Jiangdong army's formation.

The target of these two small boats was not large, and the distance between the two ships was quite far, and the speed was quite fast, and they came directly towards the two Mengchong warships commanded by Chen Yu.

And these two small boats don't know what's wrong, luck is very good, in the city along the cliff of the river, whether it is arrows or stones, they can't accurately hit these two boats, so that the two boats rushed through the blocking net of the city along the river almost without damage, and rushed directly in front of the Jiangxia sailors.

If it's just like this, it's nothing, after all, the Jiangxia Navy has two Mengchong battleships as the core, and there are forty or fifty small boat warships on the periphery, what can two small ships do.

But Chen really didn't expect that the Jiangdong soldiers on these two small boats would be so brave and ruthless.

Almost regardless of the damage, they came directly towards the Mengchong big ship, and the Jiangxia sailors along the way, all who stepped forward to intercept them, were actually killed and scattered by the Jiangdong soldiers of the two small boats.

Looking at the Jiangdong boat rushing towards him all the way, Chen was also shocked, and he actually looked at it in a daze, without giving orders at the first time.

As for the other ships of the Jiangxia Navy Army, they are joking, the commander did not give an order, how could they easily change the formation of the Navy to rescue, in case the Jiangdong Navy took advantage of this opportunity to attack on a large scale?!

One more. Didn't you see what happened to the Jiangxia Navy that was intercepted before, how many of those who dared to rush in front of the army were easy to mess with?!

First, there was no commander's military order, and second, he didn't want to die, which led to the Jiangdong Navy approaching Chen Qi's big ship without any obstacles after breaking through the first layer of interception by the navy.

(End of chapter)