Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1171 Helping in the Battle
The three men rode their horses to a high place and saw boats from Huang Zhong’s water stronghold in the distance sailing eastward. They looked at each other in confusion. Was the Jiangxia army going to withdraw?

Guan Yu was puzzled and asked, "I sent someone over yesterday, and they clearly said that although the military rations were tight, they would still have enough to support them for a few days. Why are they retreating now?"

Pang Tong pondered and said, "Maybe something happened in Jiangxia. Seeing him in such a hurry, there must be some reason, otherwise he would never leave without saying goodbye when facing the enemy."

Liu Bei thought for a moment and said, "Since we are here, we must find out. Let's go and take a look!"

The three of them led their troops all the way to Huang Zhong's water stronghold. When the gatekeeper saw that it was Liu Bei who came in person, he did not dare to be negligent and hurried in to inform him.

After a while, Deputy General Huang Zhong came out and said, "King Hannan came at an unfortunate time. My general received a message early in the morning that seemed very urgent, so he led the troops out personally."

"As for what to do, I don't know. Before the general left, he only told us to guard the camp well."

The three of them were puzzled after hearing this, so they could only say, "Then we will go back to the city and wait until General Huang comes back, and then we will visit him again."

Not to mention that Liu Bei and his men came to nothing, on the river, Huang Zhong was leading the fleet hurriedly, and at the same time he felt a little uneasy, because he had been ordered to garrison in Ba Qiu before, and when he was patrolling the river, he found that Liu Bei's army and the coalition forces of Liu Cong and Cao Cao were fighting fiercely, so he sent troops to help.

But this decision was actually made without Huang Zu's consent. It was purely Huang Zhong's personal act. Although Huang Zu had given him the right to make his own decision before, arbitrarily using force was a sensitive matter after all. He had been worried about how to explain to Huang Zu when he returned.

But at this moment, someone from Xiling came, and he was the kind that he couldn't afford to offend!
He saw more than a hundred large ships coming towards him on the opposite side of the river, so he had no choice but to meet them.

Two light fighting ships had already arrived. After asking about Huang Zhong's identity, they led Huang Zhong all the way to the center of the fleet until they encountered an extremely large flagship.

The flagship hoisted a flag, signaling to move forward. Huang Zhong saw it and moved the ship closer, closely following the huge flagship. He raised his head and saw that he was still two meters away from the opposite side of the ship. He wondered if they would throw a rope for him to climb up.

However, an iron pulley extended from the opposite side of the ship and a square iron frame basket was lowered down. Huang Zhong understood and walked in immediately. The soldiers on top turned the wheel, and the basket slowly rose and took Huang Zhong up.

As soon as Huang Zhong stepped onto the side of the ship, several people came steadily towards him. The person in front was dressed in extraordinary attire. The soldier next to him whispered to him, "This is the King of Jin."

Huang Zhong heard this and immediately bowed and said, "I am Huang Zhong, the humble general, and I greet the king."

Yuan Xi took a few quick steps, supported Huang Zhong's arm, and said, "General, you have worked hard."

He looked at Huang Zhong carefully and saw that his hair and beard were all white, and his face looked quite weathered. He said, "I have heard of your name for a long time. It is a great honor to meet you today."

Huang Zhong said in fear: "I am ashamed, Your Majesty, you are too kind to praise me."

He felt puzzled, thinking that he had wasted quite a lot of time these years and thus had little reputation. How did the King of Jin know about him?

Yuan Xi was extremely delighted when he saw Huang Zhong. Although Huang Zhong looked quite old at this time, he was still in peak condition with his agile movements, flexible steps and strong arms. With his help, they would be more confident of defeating Liu Cong.

He took Huang Zhong's hand and asked, "General, have you ever received a letter from Envoy Huang?"

Huang Zhong said quickly: "I got it. The envoy asked me to listen to the king's orders, but I was still at the front at that time, so I didn't have time to reply."

He was also worried because he was not sure whether Huang Zu knew that he had sent troops without authorization. Was the King of Jin coming to question him?

He said quickly, "I have something to ask the king to forgive me for. When I was patrolling the border, I saw the King of the South attacking Jiangling, so I led troops to support him. I acted without military orders, so I beg the king to forgive me."

Yuan Xi smiled and said, "General, you are not subject to military orders when you are away from home. You have done a great job, General."

He thought that Huang Zhong's action was probably because he admired Liu Bei's personal virtues, so he sent troops to help. If Huang Zu couldn't make it, Huang Zhong would most likely defect to Liu Bei, right?

Huang Zhong was relieved after hearing this. Yuan Xi said, "I have heard of the general's talent and felt that he was underemployed, so I asked Envoy Huang for the general directly, and he has agreed."

"I still have the position of General of the Southern Expedition under my command. I wonder if the old general is willing to take it?"

The current official position of General Zhengnan and Huang Zhong is two levels higher, and since Huang Zu nodded, Huang Zhong immediately bowed and said: "Your Majesty, I am grateful for your appreciation and am willing to do my best!"

Yuan Xi was delighted and took Huang Zhong's hand and said, "With the general's help, this trip will be a success!"

Huang Zhong asked: "My lord, are you going to attack the Wei army in northern Jing?"

Yuan Xi said, "The purpose of my trip is to help Lord Xuande take over Jingxi, and then turn around and open up a passage from Jingzhou to Yuzhou."

"I already have some rough ideas about the plan, and I am just waiting to discuss it with Lord Xuande."

He called Lu Xun over and said, "This is my military advisor Lu Boyan. Ask him to tell you in detail about our attack route this time."

Huang Zhong agreed quickly, but when he glanced over, he saw a heroic woman with two halberds and an official lying on the deck basking in the sun behind Yuan Xi. He couldn't help but feel curious, why is there so many strange people around this legendary King of Jin?
When Lu Xun introduced himself, Huang Zhong was even more surprised. It turned out that the young man opposite him was Lu Xun, who had served as Yuan Xi's military advisor when he was young and later gained such a great reputation. He was also Liu Bei's son-in-law!
Huang Zhong had fought against the Sun family in Jiangxia for more than ten years before, so he was very familiar with the Jiangdong nobles, and naturally heard about the Lu family. He thought that Lu Xun was so young, but he could achieve great things. If it weren't for the King of Jin's insight, it would be hard to say that he could have achieved such success. Liu Bei and others were organizing troops in Gong'an City, preparing to launch another offensive against Jiangling, but a spy came in and said that someone on the river had sent a letter. Liu Bei opened the bamboo slips and read a few lines. He was surprised, but when he saw the rest, he felt a little regretful.

After reading it, he handed the bamboo slips to Pang Tong and said, "Military Advisor, the King of Jin has come to help me personally!"

Pang Tong was also surprised. He took the letter and read it carefully. It said that Yuan Xi heard that Liu Bei was attacking Liu Cong, so he brought more than 10,000 navy soldiers to help. He couldn't help but wonder: "This King of Jin is really acting unexpectedly. He didn't fight Cao Cao in Jizhou, but came to Jianghuai. It's really hard to understand."

When he saw that the letter also said that Yuan Xi had appointed Huang Zhong as the General of the Southern Expedition and made him the commander of this war, he understood why Liu Bei showed a regretful expression and could not help but sighed: "I'm a step too slow. This King of Jin may really know some stargazing skills."

Liu Bei and Guan Yu looked at each other after hearing this, thinking that no matter whether the rumors were true or not, Yuan Xi had such means, and I was afraid that in the future the world would be...

But the two had no time to take care of it. For Liu Bei, the most urgent task was to capture Jiangling as soon as possible, advance to Yiling as soon as possible, and seize Jingzhou. This was the most important thing.

Liu Bei immediately ordered: "Sweep the waters along the river to prevent harassment from the enemy. Follow me out of the city to welcome the fleet of the King of Jin."

Almost at the same time, Hao Zhao in Jiangling City also learned the news that there was a navy coming to support from the east.

Although he didn't know that it was Yuan Xi who came in person, it was obvious that the troops from this direction were not friendly. He immediately sent a letter to Liu Cong's army in the water fort outside the city, and asked the commander Wen Pin to discuss the matter.

In just one hour, Wen Pin arrived in the city. After meeting Hao Zhao, he heard the number of ships coming to support him and his face became serious. "Now, even if we join forces, we can only barely stop Liu Bei and Huang Zhong. If more people come, the situation will be bad."

"Guan Yu is not only good at commanding troops, but also extremely brave. If he gives up attacking the city and concentrates on attacking my navy, I'm afraid it will be difficult for me to stop him."

Hao Zhao said, "General, don't worry. He was shot in the arm and will not be able to move freely for at least one or two months."

"What I am worried about now is that the enemy will concentrate their attack on the general's navy. If the general is unable to resist and retreats, they will turn around and surround Jiangling."

"The main forces of Wei State have all gone to Jizhou. We won't be able to get reinforcements for a while. If this continues, we will have to wait for a while."

Wen Pin heard this and said, "I will write to the lord and ask him to send reinforcements as soon as possible."

"If the general can hold out for a month, we will be able to wait for reinforcements to completely repel Liu Bei and his men!"

Hao Zhao hesitated for a moment and said with a smile: "Okay!"

"I have some experience in defending a city, so I'll wait for good news from the general!"

After hearing this, Wen Pin did not delay and immediately left the city to deploy defenses. At the same time, he sent an urgent letter to the Yiling garrison for help.

The next day, Yuan Xi rushed to Gong'an and brought Lu Xun, Huang Zhong and others into the city to meet Liu Bei. After the two sides sat down, Liu Bei asked Pang Tong to tell him about the battle situation. Finally, he sighed: "It's all my fault that the battle went badly. I just troubled the King of Jin to come here in person. I'm really ashamed."

Yuan Xiqian said: "Your Majesty, you are too polite. We are all family members, so we should stick together."

"I have a general understanding of Jiangling's affairs. Both Hao Zhao and Wen Pin are extraordinary people. If it were me, I would not dare to say that I could conquer Jiangling."

"And when I enter the city this time, the other side will know the truth, so they will step up their defense and ask Liu Cong for help."

Pang Tong thought to himself that this is exactly what I wanted to say. According to Pang Tong's idea, Yuan Xi should not have come in such a high-profile manner, but should have sneaked to the nearby area, negotiated with Liu Bei, and then launched a surprise attack on Jiangling, which would give him a great chance of capturing the city.

Yuan Xi seemed to have anticipated Pang Tong's thoughts and said, "Although Hao Zhao is not well-known, he is very good at defending the city. In addition, Jiangling has a good terrain and the city is strong. Even if we attack by surprise, it will not be easy to defeat it."

"Leave the toughest bones for last. Only by dealing with Jing Liucong's navy first can we minimize casualties."

Guan Yu said: "Liu Cong's army commander Wen Pin is no ordinary man. His navy can advance and retreat freely. He can be said to be the most troublesome enemy we have encountered on the water."

Yuan Xi nodded, "Yes, Wen Pin also has the talent of a great general, so I discussed a strategy with Boyan before."

"Bo Yan, tell everyone in detail."

After Lu Xun finished explaining the plan in detail, everyone suddenly realized that Yuan Xi's high-profile entry into the city was just to scare the enemy!

As soon as Yuan Xi's fleet arrives, Hao Zhao will certainly step up the defense, and Wen Pin will also go to Jingxi to ask for reinforcements. After that, the only places where soldiers can be recruited are Maicheng and Yiling. By the time the reinforcements arrive, Yiling's defenses will be empty.

And if an army had arrived at the south bank of the Yiling River in advance, lay in ambush, and waited for the reinforcements to leave, then took the opportunity to attack Yiling, where the internal defense was weak, they would have been able to capture the city and completely cut off the retreat of Wen Pin's fleet. By then, Wen Pin and the reinforcements would have been blocked on the river and unable to escape!
After hearing this, Pang Tong couldn't help but exclaim: "This is a brilliant plan!"

Then he said, "If General Guan leaves, the enemy will surely be suspicious. Why don't I lead the army to launch a surprise attack on Yiling?"

(End of this chapter)