Gou writes entries in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 104 Steam Ship
"The rats from the east of the Yangtze want to attack Guangling. Lu Bu is here today. Whoever can survive a single move under my hand will be able to board the ship. Otherwise, please stay alive."

Lu Bu stood alone at the dock, behind him were Cheng Pu and Xu Sheng's battleships attacking Guangling.

Shatou Town Port is different from Guangling Port. It is just a small port on the north bank of the river.

The dock could only accommodate one fighting ship, and the Jiangdong fleet that attacked Shatou Town had five fighting ships.

They are all anchored near Shatou Town.

Lu Bu is now guarding the dock, which can be said to be one man in charge.

"Lu Bu?" Cheng Pu and Xu Sheng couldn't help being surprised when they heard the name.

Especially Cheng Pu, he was a veteran who followed Sun Jian. When Sun Jian and Lu Bu fought fiercely in front of Hulao Pass, Cheng Pu was in the army.

Of course he knew Lu Bu's courage.

Only Lu Bu guarding the dock alone could make Cheng Pu feel the momentum of tens of thousands of people.

"We are facing Lu Bu, so we must not be careless."

"A group of ten will attack each other in turn. Those who injure Lu Bu will be promoted to captain of a hundred. Those who kill Lu Bu will be promoted to captain of thousands and rewarded with a hundred gold."

Cheng Pu was worthy of being a veteran. Knowing that Lu Bu was difficult to deal with, he immediately used the wheel tactic.

The pier in Shatou Town is narrow, and a group of ten people is the limit.

There is a strong enemy in front, and there are pursuers behind.

Under the heavy reward, Jiangdong soldiers also burst out with desperate fighting power.

A team of ten people took the lead.

The shield soldiers are in front, the spearmen are behind, and the archers are trailing behind.

This kind of team combination, at first glance, looks like soldiers with considerable combat experience.

In front was Lu Bu. The shield soldiers did not dare to be careless and slowly moved closer to Lu Bu.

"shhhhh"

Two arrows shot out from behind, passed over the heads of the shield soldiers and spearmen, and shot towards Lu Bu.

Lu Bu Fang Tian raised his halberd and blocked the two arrows.
At this moment, the shield soldiers moved.

He jumped forward a few steps, squatted down, nailed the shield to the ground, and hid his body behind the shield.

The spearmen behind him tacitly appeared from the side, and stabbed Lu Bu's various vital points with their spears.

"Hmph, worm-carving trick."

Lu Bu snorted coldly, Fang Tian slapped his halberd on the ground for a moment, raised the halberd in his right hand, and deflected all three spears that came towards him.

Then the horse stepped forward, took back the hand holding the halberd's body, and then swung it out fiercely.

Fang Tian's painted halberd hit the shield horizontally,
The four shield soldiers felt as if their bodies were being charged by bison.
He vomited blood and flew backwards.

The shield soldier was knocked away, revealing the defenseless pike soldier behind him.
Lu Bu grinned, "Die!"

With a slash of the halberd, the four spearmen were cut across by Lu Bu's halberd. They were all disemboweled and fell to the ground dead.

As soon as the two archers at the rear drew their bowstrings, they saw that all eight people in front were killed.

How could the unprotected archers function? The two decisively put away their bows and arrows, turned around and fled back.

Eight of the ten-man team died in one fell swoop, leaving only two archers who were the weakest in melee combat. It was strange that they still had fighting spirit.

Lu Bu hooked his foot, picked up the spear that fell on the ground, and took it in his hand.

He casually threw towards the two archers who were escaping.

The archers with no space behind them were penetrated by the roaring spears through their vests.

One shot tied the two people into a bunch, and they rushed forward several meters and fell in front of Jiangdong's army.

Cheng Pu had a look of disbelief in his eyes,
"This Lu Bu's combat power seems to be much better than what he did in front of Hulao Pass on a single day."

Logically speaking, the physical fitness of a general like Lu Bu has passed its peak, and his personal combat power should have declined as the years have gone by.

A veteran like him relies more on his experience in hundreds of battles to command the enemy. If he really wants to go up and fight on his own, he will be exhausted even if he swings his sword a hundred and eighty times.

But Lu Bu killed ten people with just a few moves, seemingly without any effort at all.

"Move forward!" Cheng Pu did not believe in evil and commanded the soldiers to charge again.

Lu Bu did not refuse anyone who came, and still defeated the ten groups with one force. Fang Tian's painted halberd opened and closed, directly destroying the array of ten people, and then killed the soldiers who fell to the ground.

Ten people working together can't even defeat Lu Bu, let alone one person.

"And then on!"

Cheng Pu had no choice but to let his men risk their lives to clear the way as Lu Bu blocked the way.

Ten groups of soldiers charged, but none of them could hurt Lu Bu.

The blood flowing from the corpses of hundreds of people has turned the Shatou Town Pier red.

Blood dripped from the dock, and the smell of blood attracted large groups of river fish.

"And then on!"

Cheng Pu's eyes were filled with hatred. Seeing hundreds of brothers die one after another in front of Lu Bu, Cheng Pu was extremely anxious.

But this time, when the command was given, the soldiers under his command did not move.

After all, everyone witnessed this battle.

Lu Bu broke through ten groups in a row, every time with ease. Even now, Lu Bu has not used his left hand.

Holding Fang Tian Hua Ji in one hand, he has defeated ten groups of Jiangdong soldiers.

The remaining soldiers were frightened.

"Old General Cheng, we can't do this again. This Lu Bu is obviously a madman."

Xu Sheng behind him whispered,
"The pursuers will be here soon. If we continue to fight with Lu Bu, we have to answer here."

Cheng Pu said in a deep voice: "Don't I know, but Lü Bu is in charge, and we have no way to retreat."

Xu Sheng said solemnly: "For the current plan, we can only let the soldiers enter the water lightly, swim to the river and board the ship. I will lead a team of troops to hold Lu Bu. Old general, you take the brothers away."

"Wen Xiang," Cheng Pu looked at Xu Sheng and said, "I always thought that the young generals in Jiangdong were all weak. But today I learned that there are also bloody men."

"I will fight Lu Bu with you to delay time for the brothers." Xu Sheng's request also inspired Cheng Pu's fighting spirit.

"No, General Cheng, we were ambushed in Shatou Town. Liu Xuan must have made preparations in Guangling. My lord may not be able to succeed in this battle. At this moment, we need the old general to stabilize my lord and make him not be reckless."

Xu Sheng said anxiously: "The pursuers are coming. If we don't leave, no one will be able to leave."

Cheng Pu could only pat Xu Sheng on the shoulder: "Okay, take care."

After that, Cheng Pu ordered the entire army to remove their armor and rushed towards the dock.

At this time, Xu Sheng led his own bodyguards to kill Lu Bu.A team of men and horses fought desperately, and Xu Sheng's own martial arts was not weak, and they were able to block Lu Bu's attack in a short time.

The other soldiers took advantage of Lu Bu's lack of time to pay attention and jumped from both sides of the pier.

The soldiers who took off their armor swam vigorously in the water, and finally swam out of the way before Gao Shun's troops caught up.

Jiangdong soldiers boarded the fighting ship from the water and sailed to the center of the river.

Cheng Pu raised his eyes and looked back, only to see Lu Bu thrust his halberd straight into Xu Sheng's chest.
Lu Bu flicked his halberd and shook off Xu Sheng's body.

Looking back at the fighting ships in the river: "Vulnerable!"

Cheng Pu led his remaining troops to sail back to Guangling, only to meet Sun Ce's fleet in the middle of the river south of Guangling.

After some calculations, it was found that more than 5000 Jiangdong soldiers were killed or injured in this landing battle.

The remaining soldiers were also demoralized by this tragic defeat.

Sun Ce realized at this moment that without the advantage of the navy, the combat power of Jiangdong's soldiers was really difficult to match that of Liu Xuan's soldiers.

Zhou Yu comforted Sun Ce at the right time and said: "My lord, although we have lost troops and generals in this battle, at least we have found out the details of Liu Xuan. In a water battle, Jiangdong is invincible, but in a land battle, we are slightly inferior."

"In this case, in the following battles, our army will use its strengths and avoid its weaknesses. We will not fight with Liu Xuan on land. As long as he dares to enter the water, we can take advantage of the Jiangdong Navy and avoid today's shame."

Cheng Pu also said: "Captain Zhou is right. There is a river in the north of Yangzhou and a sea in the east. If Liu Xuan wants to cross the river, he will have to face our navy. Let's attack the shortcomings with long strength and weaken his energy on the river. .”

"But Guangling County, are you going to let Liu Xuan occupy it like this?" Sun Ce said with a troubled face.

"Besides, in this battle, I promised the Jiangdong family that I would defeat Liu Xuan and drive Liu Xuan out of Guangling."

"It was an unwise move for the general to take Guangling. It was just Cao Cao's plan to make us fight Liu Xuan. Zhou Yu originally did not agree with sending troops, but sooner or later our army will have to fight Liu Xuan. I also want to Take this opportunity to test Liu Xuan’s combat prowess.”

"Now we have come to the conclusion that it does not matter whether Guangling takes it or not."

Zhou Yu analyzed Sun Ce and said,

"The Jiangdong family coerced Brother Bo Fu to attack Guangling because Liu Xuan's grain, silk and other goods were sold to Jiangdong, causing losses to the family's business. To solve this problem, there is no need to attack Guangling."

Zhou Yu looked around and pointed at the tall buildings, ships and battleships around him.

"I, Jiangdong Jian'er, are invincible in water warfare. We only need to leave a fleet to block the river and capture all Liu Xuan's cargo ships in Jiangbei. The goods from Jiangbei will not be able to reach Jiangnan, and the business of the family will naturally improve."

Zhou Yu's analysis finally made Sun Ce feel better.
"Gong Jin's words are reasonable. Although we lost troops and generals in this battle, it is not without gain. At least we must not be careless when facing Liu Xuan in the future."

Sun Ce patted the side of the ship and frowned, "It's just that after we go back, we have to be nagged by those old guys again."

Zhou Yu sneered and said: "If the Jiangdong family still dares to make rude remarks, it's time for us to pick one or two to establish our prestige."

"In the past, Yangzhou was stable and there were no major events in Jiangdong. When the Lord gathered strength, many places needed to rely on these aristocratic families."

"Now that we are facing a formidable enemy, and my lord has failed to win a victory, I am afraid that many aristocratic families will have dissent. If they don't take measures at this time, they will think that my lord is a private soldier at their disposal."

Sun Ce thought about it carefully and found out that Zhou Yu's words made sense. To fight against foreign forces, one must first settle the domestic affairs. If he did not take advantage of the approaching foreign enemies to take back all the power in Jiangdong, with the profit-seeking nature of these aristocratic families, there would be endless trouble.

After resting for a day, Sun Ce ordered General Cheng Pu to lead [-] naval troops to block the river.

Among them, one building ship serves as the flagship, and twenty fighting ships serve as the escort fleet.

There are countless stern boats and cargo ships.

This fleet is enough to block the water passage from Guangling to Qu'a.

Sun Ce knew the strength of Guangling's navy. It didn't even have a single ship. Cheng Pu commanded the fleet and it was enough to deal with Liu Xuan.

Guangling County Mansion, meeting hall.

"My lord, Sun Ce's army has returned to Jianye, but he still left a fleet on the river. Now the waterway from Guangling to Qu'a is controlled by Sun Ce."

Jia Xu took the scout battle report and reported to Liu Xuan,
"Once the waterway is blocked, our channel for shipping goods to Jiangdong is completely cut off. Unless we go east to the sea and take the sea route, the current cargo ships in Guangling are not suitable for taking the sea route. So at present, unless the blockade fleet on the river can be solved, otherwise The exchange of goods with Jiangdong can only be put on hold temporarily."

Liu Xuandao: "Now that we have broken up with Sun Ce, our battle with Jiangdong is inevitable. Although Sun Ce has suffered a small loss this time, if the river water is always under his control, we will have to settle for a while."

"The land of Jianghuai has Cao Cao in the north and Liu Bei in the west. It is not a stable place after all. Once the war in the north is determined, whether Cao Cao or Yuan Shao wins, they will definitely send their troops south to unify the north of the river."

Liu Xuan walked to the map and pointed at the river channel.
"We must open a breakthrough to the south and expand our strategic depth before the war in the north ends, so that we can have the power to protect ourselves."

"My lord is very worried. The next major task for us is to conquer Jiangdong. Therefore, the top priority right now is to defeat the Jiangdong navy and regain control of the river." Jia Xu also concluded decisively.

[Notepad opens.]

[In 199 AD, Guangling, Sun Ce led a large-scale Jiangdong navy to attack Guangling. Your warships were defeated and had to hide in the harbor. Sun Ce destroyed your water stronghold.You give up water warfare and defeat Sun Ce's army with land warfare.Sun Ce retreated to the river and blocked the river.In order to find room for development, you decided to defeat Sun Ce's water army and regain control of the river. 】

[Trigger survival mission: open the waterway]

[Mission details: Defeat the Jiangdong navy and regain control of the river. 】

[Task reward: entry*3]

For Liu Xuan, two points are indispensable if he wants to defeat the Jiangdong Navy.

One was to build warships.

The second is to train naval forces, especially generals who are familiar with naval warfare.

At present, the warships available in Guangling are only twenty battleships, and they are all old and junk.

The shipyard is already operating at full capacity, but it is easier to build a battleship. It can be built quickly within a month or two.

As for building a boat, don’t think about it within a year.What's more, there are currently no shipwrights in Guangling Shipyard who can build flat ships.

As for the navy, fortunately, there is currently a Tiger Battalion that knows all kinds of tactics.

But after all, the Tiger Battalion only has [-] troops. Commander Cheng Hu only knows how to charge into battle, and training troops is not his specialty.

Thinking of this, Liu Xuan had a headache, and he was helpless in the face of Sun Ce's navy, which had been blocked for nearly a month.

Until this day, Ma Jun, who stared into the two black panda eyes, came to report that the first batch of steam engine warships had been built.

The time was seven or eight days earlier than the month Ma Jun promised.

Liu Xuan followed Ma Jun to the shipyard and saw that five newly built fighting ships had been launched.
These five fighting ships are different from the original fighting ships. There are no openings for rowing in the cabins on both sides.
Instead, it was wrapped tightly in silver iron.

There is a chimney in the center of the deck, and a rectangular steam engine below.The shape is in perfect harmony with the hull.

Ma Jun excitedly jumped onto a fighting ship and shouted to the sailors below,

"start up."

The whirring sound of the fan came from the cabin.The already hot water in the steam engine boiled again, and the water vapor was continuously compressed into the cylinder. As a whistle sounded, the huge propeller at the rear of the battleship began to rotate.

It stirred the river water and pushed the fighting ship away from the shipyard.

The propeller turned faster and faster, and the fighting ship moved faster and faster. In less than a quarter of an hour, the ship's speed had exceeded the original maximum speed of the fighting ship.

How can human-powered paddling compare to machine power?

The steam engine ship was finally built successfully.

(End of this chapter)