At the end of the Han Dynasty: a stingy husband from his hometown

Chapter 189 Bing invades South County, losing the first battle

Just when Zhou Qi dispatched troops and generals, preparing to repeat the old tricks and annex Jingzhou by using false tactics to attack Guo, he received an envoy from Jingzhou.

This man was young, but he was already serving as a governor under Liu Biao. He was from Liu Biao's hometown.

Speaking of Yi nationality, Zhou Qi, a time traveler, is also very popular.

Although this person did not have any outstanding performance in history, because he was an old minister under Liu Biao, he was the first to make friends with Liu Bei's people, so he was highly regarded by Liu Bei.

Yiji had many arguments and was proficient in laws and regulations. In history, he worked with Zhuge Liang, Fazheng and others to formulate the "Shu Ke".

After seeing the ceremony, Yiji immediately said to Zhou Qi: "Yizhou Shepherd Liu Yan cut off the traffic, killed the court envoys, refused to pay the tribute, and even made the emperor's chariot privately. His heart is to be punished."

"The Marquis of Anfeng County exercised his power as a general of chariots and cavalry, and received an imperial edict, ordering my lord to send troops to assist and attack Liu Yan together."

Speaking of this, Yiji slightly cupped his hands in the direction of Chang'an, and said: "My lord is a clan member of the Han Dynasty, loyal to His Majesty, loyal to the imperial court, and naturally willing to join the rebel army with General Cheqi in order to win over his ministers."

"However, the mountains in Yizhou are high and the roads are dangerous, and food transportation is inconvenient. I sympathize with the people and do not want to waste money and food in the air during the march. I hope that the generals on horseback can march west along the Han River and pass through the Mian River directly into Hanzhong to win over the rebels."

"In this way, it can greatly save the cost of food and grass transportation, and can also speed up the marching speed. It can be described as the best of both worlds. I don't know what the chariot general thinks?"

After Yi Ji's words fell, the Cheqi General's Mansion suddenly became silent.

Zhou Qi and others did not expect that Liu Biao would agree so easily and let Yangzhou soldiers and horses use Jingzhou to attack Liu Yan.

Isn't Liu Biao worried that Zhou Qi will use the false road to attack Guo, attacking Yizhou openly but actually attacking Jingzhou?
But soon, everyone reacted immediately.

Although the Han River passes through Jingzhou, it flows from Nanyang County to the north of Nanjun County, and then enters Jiangxia County.

If the Yangzhou army is allowed to go up from the Han River, although it will pass through Liu Biao's rule, it will only pass through a few cities and will not pass through the hinterland of Jingzhou.

As long as Jingzhou deploys heavy troops in several cities, it can effectively guard against Yangzhou soldiers.

In this way, when Liu Biao agreed to cooperate with Zhou Qi in attacking Liu Yan, there was no excuse to attack Jingzhou.

"With such an exquisite response, Liu Biao must have someone behind him to help him."

Zhou Qi was thinking this in his mind, but his face remained calm. Instead, he smiled and praised Liu Biao for his general knowledge and loyalty to the Han Dynasty.

He asked Yiji to be brought down to entertain him, but he gathered his subordinates and generals to discuss how to deal with it.

Tian Feng, who was always resourceful, couldn't help frowning at this time, saying: "If my prediction is correct, Liu Biao will definitely send generals to deploy heavy troops in cities along the Han River such as Xiangyang and Yicheng to guard against my lord."

"Now Liu Ming is obedient to the imperial edict on the surface, but he is secretly on guard against the lord, trying to decipher our previous plan as much as possible."

"If you still take Jingzhou by force, then you will learn from no one."

Hearing Tian Feng's words, all the civil and military personnel in Yangzhou whispered in private, with solemn faces.

Zhou Qi also frowned, wondering who the hell came up with such a plan for Liu Biao.

Logically speaking, Liu Biao's subordinates at this time should not have such talents.

Seeing that everyone was talking about it, but they still didn't come up with a countermeasure.

Zhou Qi had no choice but to turn his attention to Xi Zhicai again.

Xi Zhicai is very resourceful and fickle, and his subordinates are unparalleled. If even the opponent has no countermeasures, Zhou Qi may have no choice but to attack Jingzhou.

If he had no other choice, he would not want to do this, as it would damage his reputation after all.

Feeling Zhou Qi's gaze, Xi Zhicai pondered for a long time, but finally shook his head with a wry smile, and said, "For the current plan, Liu Biao's response is impeccable. If the lord wants Jingzhou, I'm afraid the only way left is to take it by force."

Zhou Qi frowned when he heard this, and finally turned his attention to Tian Feng.

Tian Feng sighed slightly, and then said: "In today's world, the Han Dynasty is declining, and the princes are rising together. Fame can become the help of the lord, and it can also become the rope that binds the feet."

"How to decide, let the Lord decide for himself."

Zhou Qi waved away the crowd, pondered for a long time in the room alone, and finally made up his mind.

Now the two neighboring princes, Yuan Shu and Tao Qian, are fighting Cao Cao in Yanzhou. Zhou Qi has no worries, and it is the best time to seize Jingzhou.

Once this opportunity is missed due to scruples about reputation, it will not be so easy to capture Jingzhou in the future.

Moreover, the battle in the north is now becoming more intense, and it shouldn't take long for Yuan Shao to defeat Gongsun Zan and set the tripod in the north.

If Zhou Qi can't win Jingzhou, he will have no way to compete with the northern princes in the future.

With this in mind, Zhou Qi immediately stopped hesitating and began recruiting soldiers from all walks of life in Yangzhou.

Except for Xu Huang and Xu Zhu, who are implementing the strategy of defending Shanyue and cannot escape in a short time.

The remaining soldiers, horses and generals from various places were all recruited by Zhou Qi to prepare a large army to conquer Jingzhou in one battle.

On the Han River, eight thousand sailors marched from Jiangxia County to Nan County, and arrived at the crossing of the two——Lankouju.

Among them are the three thousand Jiangxia navy led by Zhou Tai, and the five thousand nine river navy led by Zhou Jin and Jiang Qin.

In this battle, the importance of the navy is self-evident.

Whether it is to seize the ferry, control the waterway, or transport grain and grass, soldiers marching on the water cannot do without the protection of the water army.

If Zhou Qi cannot control the surface of the Han River, there will be major problems in logistics, transportation and supplies.

It is for this reason that he will use up his navy.

Lankouju is an important large-scale ferry connecting the two counties. There are many shops nearby. It is usually busy with traffic and there is an endless stream of transport teams from various places.

However, during this period of time, because Li Yan led a thousand soldiers from Jingzhou to Lankouju and sealed off the traffic, the originally bustling ferry became a military fortress.

When the three navy generals Zhou Tai, Zhou Jin, and Jiang Qin led [-] sailors to Lankouju, Li Yan refused to enter the ferry village.

Zhou Jin was so angry that he immediately drove his boat to the outside of Lankou Shuishui Village and shouted: "Why are you blocking the water village and not letting me in?"

Li Yan, however, was wearing a military uniform. He gave a slight salute to Zhou Jin and said apologetically: "I received the order from the Jingzhou Mu to ensure the smooth flow of the waterway, so that when the Yangzhou soldiers and horses were marching in the Han River, they were not allowed to march. Encounter any obstacles and water bandits."

"The water stronghold is an important military location. No outsiders are allowed to enter without the permission of the envoy."

Li Yan seemed humble and respectful, but in fact his attitude was tough, and what he said was reasonable, so Zhou Jin had nothing to say.

Zhou Jin had no choice but to sail back to discuss countermeasures with Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin.

"Now Li Yan has led a thousand soldiers and horses to garrison at Lankou Ju and guard the water stronghold. If we continue to advance westward and they cut off our food route, what can we do?"

Zhou Tai said: "Before leaving, the Lord granted us the right to make decisions on the fly."

"How can we let the nail of Lan Kouju be nailed here?"

But Jiang Qin hesitated and said: "Lankouju only has a thousand soldiers and horses, so it is not difficult to achieve success."

"However, on our trip, we planned to take Xiangyang by surprise. If we get together in Lankou and tear ourselves apart with Jingzhou, Xiangyang will definitely take precautions."

Zhou Tai shook his head and said: "From the perspective of the current situation, I am afraid that Jingzhou is already on guard against the lord. It is expected that Xiangyang must have a heavy army now, and the strategy of surprise attack is no longer advisable."

"For today's plan, we, as the vanguard and the first battle of the navy under the lord's command, should open the way when we encounter mountains and build bridges when encountering water."

"Since Li Yan is stationed in Lankou, we must pull out this nail and use this place as a transit point."

"Only in this way can the follow-up army continue to advance."

When Zhou Jin and Jiang Qinpei heard these words, they both deeply agreed.

They made a plan to sneak attack Jushui military camp at Lankou at night.

Never thought about it, but Li Yan was already prepared.

When Zhou Tai led his army into the water village, he found that there was no one there.

"No, it's a trick!"

Zhou Tai suddenly took a few deep breaths, but he smelled a smell of oil, and couldn't help being shocked.

"Retreat, retreat quickly!"

As soon as Zhou Tai finished speaking, rockets shot up everywhere, and Lankou Jushui Village was quickly engulfed in flames.

Fortunately, the wind was not strong tonight, otherwise Zhou Tai and his troops might have been burned to the ground.

Even so, the Jiangxia navy also lost in the first battle, losing hundreds of people.

Zhou Tai was furious, he reorganized his troops, and then led his troops ashore to pursue Li Yan, only to find that Li Yan had already retreated.

Above the Han River, Zhou Tai looked at the Lankou Jushui Village that had been burned into ruins, feeling extremely annoyed.He originally wanted to capture this water village so that it could become a transit point for food and fodder for the Yangzhou army.

But I didn't expect that it would be burned like this.

If we want to rebuild it to its previous scale, I don’t know how much manpower, material resources and time it will take.

"The defeat in the first battle is my fault. When the lord arrives with the army, I will take the blame myself."

Zhou Jin frowned and said: "It seems that Jingzhou has been prepared for a long time. The thousand Jingzhou soldiers and horses gathered in Lankou are probably just bait, let me reveal the real purpose of entering Jingzhou this time."

"After this battle, the cities along the Hanshui River, Yicheng and Xiangyang, must all be under martial law, and the strategy of surprise attack cannot be successful."

"Since Jingzhou has made preparations in advance, we cannot continue to advance lightly. We should first repair Lankou Shuishui Village and wait for the arrival of the lord's army before discussing countermeasures."

Neither Zhou Tai nor Jiang Qin raised any objections.

In this way, Zhou Jin sent people to report the war to Zhou Qi, and at the same time asked Zhou Tai to lead troops ashore, control the nearby villages, and send troops to garrison.

Not only that, he also asked Jiang Qin to lead [-] sailors, drive the latest invention and manufacture of fast boats, let them patrol the Hanshui River, and go to the direction of Yicheng to spy on the military situation.

Before leaving, Zhou Jin warned: "Your mission is to spy on the military situation, not to fight the enemy."

"If you encounter the Jingzhou navy, don't love to fight, just rely on the speed of the warship to escape."

Jiang Qin agreed and left immediately with three hundred sailors.

However, Zhou Qi led an army of tens of thousands and sailed all the way west by boat. Before reaching the territory of Nanjun, he had already received Zhou Jin's battle report, and could not help but frown slightly.

Even before he had enough time to summon his subordinates to discuss matters, the envoys sent by Li Yan arrived almost at the same time.

The envoy brought a letter from Li Yan, in which he angrily reprimanded Zhou Qi's generals for attacking Jushui Village in Lankou without reason, and destroying the friendship between Jingzhou and Yangzhou.

Li Yan spoke sharply and rebuked Zhou Qi for disobeying the imperial edict. Instead of raising troops to attack Liu Yan, he instead attacked Liu Biao, the Jingzhou pastor who was loyal to the Han Dynasty.

After reading the letter, Zhou Qi couldn't help being furious, and shouted: "If Liu Biao writes a letter to confront Gu, then that's fine."

"Who is Li Yan, how dare he point fingers in front of Gu?"

"Come here, push out the envoy sent by Li Yan and kill him. Send a message to the three armies with their heads. The army will march day and night to station in Nanjun!"

Now that things have come to this, Zhou Qi put aside the burden of fame, directly and completely broke up with Liu Biao, and raised troops to take Jingzhou by force.

He also wrote a letter and sent it to Hanshou Liu Biao. In the letter, he angrily accused Liu Biao of being lax in his imperial duties. He not only wrote to insult himself, but also burned Lankou Jushui Village, intending to frame the Yangzhou soldiers and horses.

Li Yan's move seriously hurt the relationship between Yangzhou and Jingzhou. If Liu Biao could not hand over Li Yan and punish him severely, Yangzhou soldiers and horses would never give up.

But Liu Biao first received a letter from Li Yan, and learned that Yangzhou soldiers and horses really attacked Lankouju.

The soldiers and horses assembled by Lankou were not intended to stop Zhou Qi, but to force the opponent out of his feet so that Jingzhou could take over the morality.

Even though Liu Biao had expected it in his heart, when the facts were in front of him, he still felt unbelievable, and fear inevitably arose in his heart.

Not long after, Zhou Qi's aggressive letter was also sent over.

After Liu Biao read the contents of the letter, he couldn't help trembling and scolded: "Zhou Qi, you are too deceptive!"

After reading the content, Wen and Wu of Jingzhou also burst into anger, feeling that Zhou Qi was confusing black and white.

It's just that although Liu Biao was angry, he was afraid of Zhou Qi's army, and he didn't dare to kill the messenger who came to deliver the letter like Zhou Qi did.

Instead, he wrote a letter, in which he tried his best to explain that this was a misunderstanding, and hoped that the two sides could strike a truce and not invade each other.

This letter will ultimately have no effect on Zhou Qi, who is determined to capture Jingzhou.

However, after Zhou Qi received the battle report, he immediately led his troops to travel day and night, and arrived at Lankouju by boat.

He saw Zhou Jin and immediately asked about the details of the war.

No matter how detailed the letter is, it would be better to meet and ask in person.

After Zhou Jin finished narrating, Zhou Tai knelt down on the ground and said: "I will underestimate the enemy and rush forward so easily that I will lose hundreds of my men. Please punish me, my lord."

Although Zhou Qi knew that Jingzhou had planned this in advance, Zhou Tai could not be blamed at all.

However, the army clashed and lost the first battle, after all, it damaged morale.

If Zhou Tai is not punished, it may not be enough to establish an army.

After all, the importance of the first battle is self-evident. Even if only a few hundred soldiers were lost, it is not a small mistake.

His face darkened, and he shouted: "You are the commander of the Jiangxia navy, and without knowing the enemy's situation, you actually underestimated the enemy and rushed forward, killing hundreds of soldiers and horses, damaging my morale, and deserve a heavy punishment!"

When Zhou Jin and Jiang Qin heard this, they were all filled with awe.

They did not expect that the Chariot General, who has always been quite generous to his generals, would actually plan to severely punish the commander of a navy for such a small defeat.

Although the two were frightened, they also hurriedly interceded for Zhou Tai and said: "Jingzhou's soldiers and horses have been prepared for a long time. Although Zhou Tai lost the first battle, he also commanded well and did not lose too many soldiers and horses."

"Furthermore, the two armies are at war, and it is the occasion for employing people. If the lord severely punishes the general of the navy before the battle, it may damage the morale. Please think again, the lord."

When Zhou Qi heard this, he pondered for a while on purpose, and then said to Zhou Tai in a deep voice: "Gu Nian and the two pleaded for you, so first write down this heavy responsibility and punish them with three months' salary, do you have any objection?"

Zhou Tai hurriedly said: "Thank you, Lord, for your kindness."

Zhou Qi, on the other hand, kept a straight face, and said, "Remember your guilt for the time being. You must move forward bravely in this battle, so that you can make meritorious deeds."

"If you lose more troops and horses, make no achievements, and damage my morale, you will be punished for both crimes!"

Zhou Tai's matter quickly spread throughout the three armies.

The generals, who were not paying attention at first, were all awe-inspiring at this moment, knowing that the two armies are fighting is no small matter, and they were a little more cautious.

After dealing with Zhou Tai's affairs, Zhou Qi immediately looked at Jiang Qin and asked, "Zhou Jin sent you to investigate the military situation in Yicheng, but did you find any important information?"

Jiang Qin replied: "My lord, Jingzhou has strong walls and clear fields, and Lankou is gathered on both sides of the Han River in Yicheng. The people have all been moved out in advance, and there is no one in the village."

"On the surface of the Han River, there is no Jingzhou navy wandering around. The last general only led [-] sailors. He has already sailed under Yicheng, but no Jingzhou soldiers and horses came to hunt him down."

"The gates of Yicheng are closed. The general is incompetent and has not heard any news."

Zhou Qi couldn't help frowning: "Who is the guard of Yicheng?"

Jiang Qin smiled wryly and said: "There is no flag flying in the city, and the last general doesn't know about it."

When Zhou Qi heard this, his heart sank slightly.

Jingzhou's actions were too abnormal, but they were quite effective.

The so-called knowing oneself and the enemy will never end in a hundred battles.

Yangzhou soldiers and horses came from afar with great fanfare, and Jingzhou may have already found out the truth.

When Zhou Qi arrived in Nanjun at the beginning, the other party stopped their flags and drums, fortified the walls and cleared the country, but Zhou Qi felt like he was punching the air with his fist full of strength.

He told Jiang Qin: "Lankouju is very important. You will lead two thousand sailors to station here to guard the grain road. Is it possible?"

"If there is a mistake, behead my head!"

However, Zhou Qi led the army and headed northwest along the Han River upstream, heading straight for Yicheng.

No matter what Liu Biao is up to, as soon as the army arrives, they will be able to find out what is real in Yicheng.

Once Yicheng can be conquered, Yangzhou soldiers and horses can travel unimpeded on the Han River and go straight to Xiangyang.

The strategic significance of Xiangyang is self-evident.

As long as Xiangyang falls, the entire South County will be in Zhou Qi's pocket.

However, Zhou Qi led the army to Yicheng, but he was shocked to find that Yicheng, which was originally just a small city with no strategic significance, was built as impregnable as gold, and even the female wall was built outside the city.

"It seems that Liu Biao has long been prepared to guard against me!"

Surprised, Zhou Qi quickly figured out the key.

It must be that Liu Biao saw Zhou Qi occupying Jiangxia and was worried that the opponent would go upstream along the Han River to attack Xiangyang, so he reinforced Yi's city wall in advance so that it could become a barrier to the east of Xiangyang City.

Zhou Qi ordered people to block the siege of Yicheng, and at the same time ordered people to build siege equipment, preparing to take Yicheng by force.

(End of this chapter)