The wind and the sun were beautiful, and the sun was shining, Liu Qi took Huang Zhong and Gan Ning to leave Xiangyang and go straight to Jiangling.

Although the area of Jingzhou is not as large as Yangzhou, it occupies the two provinces of Hunan and Hubei in the later generations, plus Nanyang, Henan, it seems that there is only one place, but in fact, the territory is not smaller than the entire Central Plains.

On the whole, Jingzhou is divided into three major plates, the Nanyang Basin, the Jianghan Plain and the Xiangjiang Plain, which are basically independent of each other.

In this era, the water and land were separated, the transportation was inconvenient, and the soldiers and horses could not reach directly, so it was impossible to form effective control, which was also the main reason why Liu Biao only had high authority in Nanjun, but could not control the two important lands of Nanyang and Jingnan.

As an important town in Nanjun, Jiangling guards the Yangtze River like Jiangxia, with Chibi in the east, Yizhou in the west, and Dongting Lake in the south, and its geographical location is especially important than Jiangxia.

Jiangling Taishou was originally a member of the Cai Mao clan, and after the family was liquidated, Liu Qi appointed Du Ji as Jiangling Taishou, Yu Ban as Sima, and Xi Zhen as the main book, all of which were replaced with new officials to take office and thoroughly govern Jiangling.

In order to enter Xichuan, Zhou Yu once clashed with Cao Ren and Liu Bei here, just to open the road to the west of Eastern Wu and take the entire Yangtze River defense line.

In the later period, Dongwu blocked Xiling Gorge with iron cables, wanting to stop the soldiers and horses of Yizhou, but when he encountered the famous general Wang Jun, the naval army went all the way east to Jianye, which was overwhelming.

The advantage of occupying the upper reaches of the Yangtze River is very obvious, and now Zhou Yu is training the naval army in Poyang Lake, and Liu Qi is setting up the Jingzhou naval army base in Dongting Lake, which is to deter Jiangdong and plot Xichuan to prepare.

Guan Yu guarded Jiangxia, or mainly infantry, and the naval army was only strengthened on the basis of Huang Zu's department, and it was enough to control the waters of Xiakou!

Jingzhou's real water army will be fully formed in Dongting Lake, and the commander is Gan Ning of the Jinfan Army, the strongest man in water warfare!

After a day of rest, everyone set off from Wulin Water Village to Changsha, where the headquarters of the Jingzhou Water Army was located, and after screening and reorganization, 8,000 elites were selected from the 20,000 Water Army to go to Dongting to rebuild the Water Village.

Hundreds of warships sailed out of the harbor and sailed across the wide river, with cool breezes and fluttering flags.

Gan Ning stood on the bow of the boat with a knife, looking at the rolling waves, his eyes were deep, more than ten years of wandering, he finally waited for the master, and he would show his ambitions.

"Xingba, you will become the freest man on the sea!"

Gan Ning looked back at Liu Qi and laughed: "The sea? That is still outside the country, a certain can help the general take the entire Sanjiang defense line, as far as the Yangtze River goes, let me gallop, it is enough! ”

"Hey, this pattern is still small!" Liu Qi shook his head slightly.

Holding the side of the boat, he pointed to the mouth of Dongting Lake in the distance, and said slowly: "Dongting, the Yangtze River, but the place where fish and shrimp play, Xingba is the generation of Jiaolong, since when he swims in the sea, from the South China Sea to the East China Sea, the blue waves are vast, and the fairy mountains and islands are the places where good men gallop!" ”

"The ...... of the sea" Gan Ning's eyes were slightly cold, and he couldn't imagine that what Liu Qi said was not a joke, so he said angrily: "I can't hide it, although I, Gan Xingba, am like walking on the water, I can fight tigers on the mountain, and I can catch dragons when I go down to the sea, but I have never been to the sea, I am ashamed!" ”

Liu Qi said with a smile: "In less than ten years, you and I will gallop on the sea and enjoy its magnificent scenery!" ”

"Hahaha, strong!" Gan Ning looked up to the sky and laughed, stretched out his arms and shouted: "The sea, Gan is here!" ”

At this moment, Gan Ning suddenly felt that Zhou Yu's training of 100,000 sailors in Chaisang was not enough.

Even Jiangdong Zhou Lang is only looking at the Yangtze River, but Liu Qi has already taken his ambition to the sea, what kind of mind is this?

Just as he was imagining the sea, suddenly a sentinel ship flew in, and in a blink of an eye, it went under the big boat, turned around twice in the water, and came to a steady stop.

A sailor pole said: "Don't drive Liu to see the general!" ”

"Bring the two of you aboard!" Liu Qi didn't expect that Liu Xian would personally drive a boat to chase after him, but there was Xu Shu who came with him, and he didn't know what happened.

This command ship has two floors, much higher than the small boat, throwing a cable and a soft ladder, and the defenders are all hands and feet before they take Liu Xian to the plank, and seeing that he is pale and distracted, he obviously chased all the way.

There was a bump on the water just now, Liu Xian was dizzy, and he couldn't get up while sitting on the board, but Xu Shu looked calm, and he really deserved to run through the rivers and lakes.

Without waiting for Liu Qi to ask, Xu Shu said: "Liu Beijia received a letter yesterday that his nephew and his party were robbed by thieves in Dongting Lake, so they chased after him overnight and asked the general to save him." ”

"There are water thieves in Dongting Lake?" Liu Qi frowned and said, "How come you have never heard the two counties of Changsha and Wuling?" ”

Xu Shu said: "These water thieves gather on the islands in the lake, most of them make a living from fishing, and occasionally go out to plunder, similar to the powerful bandits, they have been around for a long time, and the government is powerless. ”

"Hmph, with me Gan Xingba, which water thief dares to be arrogant?" Gan Ning crossed his arms on the side and sneered: "When my navy first arrived in Dongting, I was worried that I had nowhere to train, so I just took this thief sacrifice flag." ”

Liu Qi nodded and smiled: "Any water thief, when he encounters Xingba, isn't it a class with an axe?" This gang of thieves seems to have been entrenched for a long time, and may still have a lot of savings, which are just used as military funds, and if they are not incorporated into the army, they can also be the main force of the naval army. ”

"General, no...... Don't underestimate these water thieves! Liu Xian drank water and rested for a while, then got up and said: "This thief has been entrenched in Dongting for decades, and it is the remnants of the stars in the Changsha Thief District back then, who are powerful and have tens of thousands of people under his command. ”

Xu Shu said: "This must be that after Ou Xing was defeated by Sun Jian, the remaining thieves fled into the cave, and the roar gathered into a momentum, and gradually became a climate. ”

Liu Qi was taken aback, he didn't expect that there was such a big force in Dongting Lake, and then he smiled and said, "Isn't this a heaven-sent navy for me?" ”

Gan Ning also smiled: "Don't worry, the more water thieves, the better, Gan is worried about the lack of strength of the water army, so he will surrender and surrender, and the Jingzhou water army will begin to take shape." ”

Liu Xian sighed: "The general doesn't know, this Dongting water thief is not comparable to ordinary thieves, known as the Dongting Shuangjiao, the boss makes trouble with Haijiao's martial arts, and the second double-headed Jiao is quite wise, I heard that he is not only good at training, but also can transform the warship, and come and go freely on the water. ”

"Is there such a talent?" Liu Qi frowned slightly, the person who can transform the warship is not an ordinary thief.

If this gang of thieves can really build a new type of ship, there must be many craftsmen, others only see the harm, but Liu Qi takes a fancy to these talents, which is the core of the formation of a naval army.

Gan Ning was puzzled: "Don't drive overnight to ask for help, but now you emphasize that the thief is powerful, wouldn't it increase the ambition of others and destroy your own prestige?" Aren't you afraid that you won't be able to save your nephew? ”

Liu Xian smiled and said: "I know that the general is rebuilding the naval army in Dongting, and there will be a battle with this thief. My nephew has been smart and shrewd since he was a child, and he must have a way to protect himself. ”

Liu Qi saw that Liu Xian was not worried about his nephew, but was a little curious: "I don't know how old my nephew is, and what is his surname?" ”

Liu Xian's face showed pride: "The boy's surname is Zhou, and this year has just passed the year of bundling. ”