June 21, the tenth year of Jian'an.

After noon, the weather in Jiangxia was still gloomy.

In the 98th year of the Great Flood, the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River rained heavily for three months.

Although the battle of Xiangfan has not been recorded for a long time, it can make the Han River soar by more than 20 meters, and it must not be less.

However, this year's rain is far less than the flood of '98 and the Battle of Xiangfan, which lasted for more than a month from mid-May to the end of June.

Therefore, although the Yangtze River is also rising now, it is not exaggerated to the point of submerging the entire middle and lower reaches, but the water level has risen by two or three zhang, and the cities along the way are quite safe.

Chaisang County, the urban area of Jiujiang City in later generations, was called Jiujiang Pavilion at this time, and was named after Wang Mang during the period.

At this moment, to the west of Jiujiang Pavilion, to the north of Chaisang County, to the Bali Lake of later generations, hundreds of ships were parked on the lake.

Not only Bali Lake, but also Saihu Lake, East Lake and even Chihu Lake are now full of Jiangxia naval ships.

At that time, Bali Lake was connected with Peng Lize, including the surrounding Saihu Lake, East Lake, Chihu Lake, and Longgan Lake, Daguan Lake, Taibai Lake, and Yellow Lake in the north, all of which were part of Peng Lize.

To the south, Chihu Lake, Bali Lake, Saihu Lake and other places are swampy lakes washed out by the Yangtze River, surrounded by dense forests and backed by mountains, so they have become a natural haven used as a wharf.

Just as Zhu Yuanzhang and Chen Youliang once had a water war in this area, as the most important connecting passage between Hubei and Jiangxi, this place has extremely high importance.

The sky was still raining lightly, and the gates of Chaisang City had already been opened, and the yellow mud road outside the city was full of potholes and yellow water.

Groups of soldiers slowly walked out, jumping along the edge of the road or when they encountered a puddle, and if they couldn't jump over, they stepped on the puddle as deep and shallow as they could, picking up as much as they could.

Because he didn't expect it to rain for so long, the preparation of the lily clothes in Huang Zu's army was seriously insufficient, except for the generals, only the middle and lower-level officers could get a lily coat, and ordinary soldiers could either take a wooden board to cover the rain, or simply get drenched in the rain.

This is also a big blow to the morale and morale of the army.

At this moment, Huang Zu rode on a horse, shuttled through his clothes, and slowly walked towards the riverside surrounded by many guards, he was actually a relatively rough person, and he was quite stubborn, and he was very reluctant to be criticized by others.

In history, Liu Biao used Huang Zu's personality traits to kill people with a knife, and asked Huang Zu to help him get rid of Youheng, whom he hated.

But Huang Zu is rough and stubborn, which does not mean that he is stupid.

As a naval general whose ability is still above Zhang Yun and Cai Mao, he knows very well that Shen Chen is right in his letter.

Due to the heavy rain for several days, the grain route was cut off, and the morale and morale of the army fell sharply, and if Jiangdong took the opportunity to attack at this time, it would inevitably put him in a very embarrassing situation.

So for Shen Chen's suggestion, his choice was to adopt it.

In the northeast of Bali Lake, Su Fei, who was stationed in Jiujiang Pavilion, had already boarded the ship, and he led 5,000 people, nearly 100 large and small ships, and 20 or 30 ships of various types, and sailed north to the Yangtze River.

Huang Zu looked at Peng Lize with the wind howling in the distance and the waves rolling, there was a thin layer of fog on the river, and Su Fei's team headed towards Huangmei Pavilion on the other side of the river.

"Get on board!"

As soon as he gave the order, more than 20,000 Jingzhou sailors slowly began to board the ship.

The rolling waves of Peng Lize are like a vast sea at this time, because the heavy rain has washed away the sediment upstream, and the lake and river water are mixed together, becoming extremely turbid.

About half an hour after Su Fei's fleet left, the main force of the Jiangxia Navy Division also began to set sail and headed in the direction of the north shore.

When the fleet entered the Yangtze River, it was immediately possible to feel the difference from in Bali Lake.

Bali Lake is a U-shaped port that has been washed out, the water will be much smoother after rushing in, but after entering the Yangtze River, the upstream river water is rolling and flowing, and it is a flood tide, the boats are bumpy and surging, and it is difficult to drive on the river.

Huang Zu stood at the head of the river and watched, and after a while, he saw the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, east of the vast Peng Lize, and some small black shadows faintly appeared in the faint fog.

Peng Lize's vision is like the sea, although the weather is gloomy, but the fog is very thin, and it does not particularly obstruct the vision.

He could see the little black shadows, but in fact they were probably several kilometers away, and it would take at least half an hour to drive over, so he didn't have to worry.

The fleet is still sailing on the river against the wind and waves.

Peng Lize of the Han Dynasty not only included Longgan Lake, but also included the area of Kongyuan Town and Xinkai Town in the south of Huangmei County, Hubei Province in later generations.

So if Huang Zu wanted to go north to Xunyang, then he would have to sail at least more than 20 kilometers. If you don't go to find the sun, you will have to swim 60 or 70 kilometers against the Yangtze River to Xia Pheasant County.

Therefore, it has become the best choice to seek the sun.

However, Xunyang County in the Han Dynasty was not Huangmei County in later generations, but in the southeast of Huangmei County, northeast of Wuxue City, probably in the area of Wuxue North Station in later generations, close to Taibai Lake.

At this moment, Shen Chen and Liu Qi have also arrived in Xunyang County.

Xunyang and Chaisang are both bridgeheads for attacking Jiangdong, the difference is that Xunyang is north of the Yangtze River and can threaten Lujiang County and Jiujiang County in Yangzhou, while Chaisang is south of the Yangtze River and is a key location that can threaten Danyang and Wu County in the hinterland of Yangzhou.

So to a certain extent, giving up Chaisang will actually make Jiangdong breathe a sigh of relief.

It's just that for Huang Zu, as long as his army is still there, he has the confidence to drive the Jiangdong Sailor back to the lower reaches of the Yangtze River from Peng Lize, so even if he loses the important strategic place of Chaisang, it doesn't matter.

"General, those ships seem to be our ships."

Halfway through the voyage, geographically it was almost in the area of Kongyuan Town in the later generations, and the deputy general Chen Sheng looked at the ships on Peng Lize and reported to Huang Zu.

Huang Zu said in a deep voice: "It should be Su Fei's fleet, I asked them to go to Huangmei Pavilion to guard Peng Li's estuary, it seems that the Jiangdong Navy is coming, Shen Chen is right, the Jiangdong Navy also expected that we would retreat, and they will inevitably come to intercept it." ”

Chen Sheng looked at it and said, "Now that we are short of food and grass, and the morale of the soldiers is not high, we will definitely suffer a loss in fighting with them in Peng Lize." If Su Fei retreats, shouldn't we immediately send someone to the pheasant to mobilize people over? ”

Of course, not all of the 60,000 Jiangxia sailors were nested in Chaisang, there were only 30,000 in Chaisang, of which Xiapheasant, Xunyang, Exian, Qichun, Yixian and other places each left thousands of people and horses, so at this time, Huangzu's strength was not concentrated.

Huang Zu shook his head and said: "It's too late to mobilize people and horses now, it's okay, I told Su Fei before I left, let him go to the south of Peng Lize, and go to Nanchang along the Ganshui, where Liu Pan's soldiers and horses will respond, which can be regarded as taking the opportunity to lure the Jiangdong Naval Division away." ”

"To the south to Nanchang?"

Chen Sheng thought about it, and suddenly realized, and gave a thumbs up and exclaimed: "The general's clever plan, it is really a divine plan, if the Jiangdong Navy Division is led to Nanchang, can we attack back and forth and defeat the Jiangdong Navy Army?" ”

Huang Zu raised his head and looked at the weather, shook his head and said: "It's useless, now I don't know when this heavy rain will stop, although the rain is much smaller today, but Liu Pan doesn't have a water master, if you really fight with the Jiangdong water in this wave of the river, I'm afraid that you will die together." ”

"Amount"

Chen Sheng thought about it, fighting on the river and fighting on land are completely different things, especially in this kind of climate where the water level is soaring, it is not easy to sail normally, let alone fight with the enemy's sailors, and it is not good for everyone's ships to capsize together.

So now Huang Zu is just watching the wind and rain a little lesser, and he barely crosses the river to return to Jiangxia to replenish supplies. If you really make a move, in the rolling waves, it is very likely that both sides will die together.

It's just that.

What made Huang Zu a little puzzled was that Zhou Yu, the commander of the Jiangdong Water Division, was not a fool.

Knowing that they were already taking a big risk when they went back, why did they have to send a fleet to intercept them? Could it be that the Jiangdong Sailor has developed to the point where he is not afraid of the wind and waves of the river, and is confident that he can fight to the death with the Jiangxia Sailor in this weather?

It's really incomprehensible.

Huang Zu shook his head, raised his head and looked into the distance, seven or eight kilometers to the north, he could already faintly see the land.

If Bali Lake is the wharf of Chaisang County, then the Taibai Lake area is the wharf point of Xunyang County, which was called "Xunyang River" at that time, and there are many large and small continents on the river, and in later generations, it became Kongyuan Town and Xinkai Town in the south of Huangmei County.

In the Han Dynasty, it belonged to the ancient Jiujiang, like the "Title Peak Temple" written by Li Bai in the Tang Dynasty, and the "Pipa Xing" written by Bai Juyi, the story location is in this area, until the Yangtze River in the Song Dynasty moved south, and this place became a wilderness plain.

The fleet avoided large and small Jiangxinzhou, and from a distance, you could even see that there were many hills and hills on those Jiangxinzhou, and I didn't know which one was the hill where the peak temple was located hundreds of years later.

After sailing for another half an hour, the fleet finally arrived safely at the U-shaped inland harbor in Jiangbei, which was almost near Taibai Lake in Huangmei County.

There is still some distance from Xunyang County, hundreds of ships have been parked on the dock at this time, and there is a township pavilion village gathering around, Huang Zu stood on the board of the boat, and saw that there were only hundreds of soldiers standing near the dock, and his brows were immediately furrowed.

Since the evacuation of the ship needs to depend on the weather, and the rain will be light on which day, Huang Zu and Liu Qi cannot agree on a time.

But Liu Qi said in the letter that if the rain was lighter, he would send someone to pick it up.

Seeing the soldiers on the dock, Huang Zu knew that Liu Qi hadn't sent anyone over at all, and these people should probably be soldiers stationed at the dock to guard the ships.

But it doesn't matter if no one answers.

Huang Zu thought that anyway, the strength of the Jiangdong Water Division had been transferred by Su Fei, and no one from the Jiangdong soldiers and horses would come to attack him.

At that moment, ships began to enter the port one after another, and Huang Zu's flagship stopped in the port.

As soon as he got off the ship, a Qu military marquis stationed here immediately greeted him and saluted, "General! ”

"What about the eldest son?"

Huang Zu asked.

Qu Junhou scratched his head and said: "The eldest prince sent someone to tell Bei that the general might take advantage of today's rain to evacuate Chaisang and return to Xunyang, so Ling Bei has been waiting here, but he himself doesn't know where to go." ”

"Oh?"

Huang Zu only felt confused, since Liu Qi knew that he might come back today, he didn't bring someone over to answer him, so he actually sent hundreds of soldiers to wait, what did this mean?

Could it be that he set up a reception banquet in the city?

Odd.

Huang Zu didn't know why, but it was not early now, it was already three o'clock in the morning, and there were still more than twenty miles away from Xunyang, and it was estimated that he would be able to go back before dark.

Therefore, Huang Zu did not think deeply, but instructed the left and right deputy generals: "Pass the order, let Zhang Hu lead 3,000 people as the vanguard, Chen Sheng will leave 3,000 people stationed here to take care of the ships and baggage, and the rest will follow me into the city!" ”

"Yui!"

The crowd took orders.

At that moment, according to Huang Zu's order, Zhang Hu first led 3,000 people to the north as the vanguard, Chen Sheng was stationed in this Xiangting, and the remaining 15,000 soldiers and horses were led by Huang Zu, followed behind Zhang Hu, and went towards Xunyang.

The roads in Jiangbei are also muddy, with rice paddies on both sides, all flooded at this time, and countless hills and jungles, with half-man-tall wild grass basil drifting in the wind in the wild.

The people of Xunyang have long been relocated to Jiangxia, and the radius of dozens of kilometers has been barren and uninhabited.

Follow the muddy path that can barely be regarded as a road, all the way to Xunyang County, looking at the right side of the road, the countryside is barren, the village is abandoned, this protracted war is a huge disaster for the people on the north and south banks of Peng Lize.

"General!"

When Huang Zu's army left the dock for about seven or eight miles, and there were still more than ten miles to reach Xunyang City, in the vast drizzle, someone shouted to Huang Zu: "Look over there." ”

Huang Zu rode on horseback, looked at the northeast direction, and saw that on the northeast road, more than a dozen horses were galloping.

It does take courage to run a horse in the mud on a rainy day, but it's also something that can't be helped.

In particular, it is necessary to send signals, and in the sudden stormy weather, it is impossible to use wolf smoke to transmit signals, so it is necessary to use the method of "urgently spreading the message, and people are galloping".

The horses seemed very anxious and galloped quickly, and suddenly the sound of a rapid horn sounded in the sky from the front.

"Woooooooo

"Where's the sound of the trumpet?"

Huang Zu was shocked.

Looking into the distance again, I saw that the horizon in the northeast was actually dense, and countless black spots had appeared.

"Report!"

Those horses came to the front, and after Huang Zu's personal guard verified his identity, a scout came to Huang Zu and said: "General, the eldest son is afraid that the Jiangdong army will attack from the land, so he has led the Xunyang defenders to Shilian Mountain to garrison, but I didn't expect the enemy to be strong, and the eldest son had to temporarily avoid the edge and send me to inform the general!" ”

"I see."

Huang Zu took a deep breath and suddenly looked south.

Obviously, his strategy was seen through by Zhou Yu, and it was obvious that the Jiangdong Navy Division who chased Su to Nanchang was probably just pretending, and the real main force of the Jiangdong Army came by land.

"General, what should I do?"

The deputy general next to him hurriedly asked: "At this time, it is too late to return to Xunyang or to the dock." ”

Huang Zu looked around left and right, and shouted angrily: "Meet the enemy!" ”

"Meet the enemy!"

A sharp whistle broke through the sky, and the entire Jiangxia Sailor began to line up in a panic!

These chapters were the first confrontation between Shen Chen and Zhou Yu, but to be honest, I didn't know what I was writing nonsense. The cold is better, but the stomach is still very uncomfortable, every day is stressful, easy to get angry, a body of illness, weight is also overweight, after a while I want to go to the physical examination to see, I hope the body is nothing serious.

(End of chapter)