Ji Han Da Sima

Chapter 122 Balance Weights
The vast Yangtze River rushes from west to east.Penglize spans the north and south of the river, in the center of Sangluozhou, with Leichi in the north and Pengze in the south.

The Jiangdong Navy commanded by Sun Yu came up the Shuojiang River, and more than a hundred fighting boats, walking boats, and stern boats crossed the river. The summer wind blew by, and the flags were rolled, looking murderous.However, when they reached the waters of Sangluozhou, Jiangdong Navy stopped, wondering whether they should move forward.

I saw the gorge between Sangluozhou and the south bank of the Yangtze River, with the river flowing continuously, and there was an iron lock across the river, directly blocking the narrow mouth of the river.Although there is no iron chain across the river on the north bank of Nasang Luozhou, there are a large number of boats and warships gathered, and flags such as "Gan", "Li" and "Gao" are flying in the wind.

On the Jiangdong Navy flagship, Sun Yu looked at the enemy situation on the river with a troubled expression on his face, thinking deeply about the current advance and retreat.

Sun Yu was not known for his military strategy. In the army, he was good at comforting people.Now Sun Quan and Zhou Yu have entrusted him with important responsibilities. They value Sun Yu's conservative use of troops, not radicalism, and his ability to appease people's hearts.

Sun Shao took a small boat and arrived at Sun Yu's flagship. He said: "Huo Jun is guarding Sangluo Island. He has already made preparations to lock the river with iron and build a fort on the island. If our army wants to defeat the enemy, it needs to go up to Shuo from the north of the island. , counterattack the Jingzhou Navy, I wonder if the general wants to fight?"

Sun Yu looked at the narrow estuary between Sangluozhou and the north bank of the Yangtze River, and at the Jingzhou navy that was gathering. Seeing that its warships were mainly small boats, he wanted to retreat.

Holding on to the ship wall, Sun Yu said: "Although there is no iron lock across the river at the mouth of the Zhoubei River, the water area is narrow. Most of our troops are large ships, while most of the enemies are small boats. Moreover, Huo Jun is a famous general in Jingzhou and has many capable generals under his command."

As he spoke, Sun Yu pointed to the "Gan" and "Gao" flags flying in the air and said: "Gan Ning was a brave general under Huang Zu at the beginning. In the battle of Xiakou, he defeated Ling Cao; Gao Xiang followed Huo Jun to guard Pengze City and used weak troops. Guard Hao Mountain and defeat our army."

Thinking that before he went on the expedition, Zhou Yu told him that he had no hope of victory, not to fight Huo Jun, to protect the Lujiang River strictly, and not to allow the enemy to enter Kou Moling.

Sun Yu loosened his frown and said: "Huo Jun crossed the Nanjiang River with an iron chain and deployed his navy in the Beijiang River. He clearly wanted to take advantage of the terrain to lure our army into a trap and take the opportunity to defeat our army. Our army must not fight lightly with the enemy. We must meet him The troops retreated to Wankou, occupied a dangerous position, and faced off against the enemy."

Although Sun Shao was only 17 years old, Sun Quan admired his military abilities during the Danyang Rebellion.Nowadays, due to the national calamity and the death of many members of his clan, Sun Quan had no choice but to promote him as a general and follow Sun Yu.

Sun Shao was eight feet long, with good facial features and acceptable appearance.At this time, he looked in the direction pointed by Sun Yu and said: "General, it is a good idea to retreat to Wankou. Now my subordinate Xiu Shu has asked Cao Cao to borrow troops for food. If Cao Cao agrees, reinforcements will go south and the two armies will join forces. One, you can fight Huo Jun."

"Okay!" Sun Yu ordered the people around him and shouted, "Send the whole army to withdraw to Wankou and station troops."

"promise!"

As Sun Yu's military order was issued, the Jiangdong Navy changed its direction and walked along the river instead of fighting the Jingzhou Navy stationed in the north of the island.

Gan Ning stood on the stern and looked at the retreating Jiangdong Navy. He waved his hands gloomily and ordered: "Jiangdong Navy withdraws its troops and arranges the fire materials on the small boats to avoid catching fire."

"promise!"

As Sun Yu guessed, Huo Jun was indeed waiting for them to join the trap.The mouth of the river is narrow, and it is advantageous to advance but not to retreat. If Sun Yu and Sun Shao relied on the strength of the Jiangdong navy and the tall ships, they entered the river mouth.At that time, Gan Ning, Gao Xiang and others will light the boats filled with sulfur and ointment, take advantage of the smooth flow, send them into the Jiangdong Navy, and burn them down.

If Sun Yu's navy is defeated, Huo Jun will directly give up the attack on the four northern counties of Lujiang, and will lead the navy to land in the Jingkou and Moling areas, cutting off the retreat of Sun Quan's army, and attack Sun Quan front and back with the army led by Liu Bei.

Today, Sun Yu's conservative attitude towards using troops has lived up to the expectations of Sun Quan and Zhou Yu. He retreated with his troops to defend the dangerous Wankou, waiting for Huo Jun's attack or the troops sent by Cao Cao.

Sangluozhou, Jingzhou camp.

In the big tent, Huo Jun was calmly playing with the sand table in the Leichi waters. It seemed that the invading Jiangdong Navy could not attract his attention.

After being given the post of controlling various ministries and commanding the navy by Liu Qi and Liu Bei, Huo Jun recruited [-] new soldiers into the army. Together with the previous nearly [-] troops, the strength reached about [-].However, it seems that there are many troops, but the only ones who can really fight are Gan Ning, Huo Du, Gao Xiang and other tribesmen.

Therefore, after returning from Nanchang, Huo Jun led seven soldiers including Gan Ning, Huo Du, Gao Xiang, Chen Yue, Zhong Lifei, Xu Sheng, and Shi Ren to move to guard Sangluo Island and set up Sangluo garrison on the island to train their troops and horses. , carry out large-scale construction and build forts.

After Sun Quan withdrew his troops from Yuzhang, Xu Sheng, who had sold his labor as a war criminal, seemed to have figured it out and surrendered to Huo Jun.He was appointed as a school captain by Huo Jun, leading thousands of troops and commanding the old army.

Based on the mountains and terrain he recorded, the scout pointed to the sand table and said: "General, there should be mountains on this side, and we need to raise the starting point."

"But that's the case?"

"Correct!"

After referring to the Lujiang map and the corrections made by the scouts, Huo Jun finally successfully made a sand table of the Leichi water area and its surrounding mountains and rivers.

When Huo Jun washed his hands and called it a day, Gan Ning and Gao Xiang led the captain into the camp.Gan Ning looked depressed and said: "Zhongmiao, Sun Yu retreated without a fight. According to what the scouts said, he may have stationed troops at Wankou."

Gan Ning and Huo Jun have long been called each other by names. Now that Huo Jun has restrained them, Gan Ning is still called by names.Huo Jun was well aware of Gan Ning's habits and didn't care about it.

Huo Jun wiped his hands with a towel, picked up a small flag symbolizing Sun Yu and placed it at the mouth of the Yangtze River where the Wanshui River empties and said, "But here?"

Gan Ning looked at the flags on the sand table and pointed out: "Exactly, Wankou is surrounded by mountains and rivers, with Baizi Mountain to the north and the river to the south. It is a dangerous place that is easy to defend but difficult to attack. From Wankou, you can go up the river to Wancheng. Wancheng was massacred by Sun Quan, and another 3 people moved to Jiangdong. Now the city is empty."

After Sun Ce unified Jiangdong, he appointed Li Shu as the prefect of Lujiang and gave him three thousand soldiers.However, Li Shu became the governor of Lujiang, thinking that he was alone in the north of the Yangtze River, and Sun Ce had difficulty controlling him, so he surrendered and accepted rebellion.After Sun Ce's death, Li Shu rebelled against Sun Quan.

Sun Quan and Xu Kun besieged Wancheng, but Li Shu was defeated and died because he ran out of food.Sun Quan and Xu Kun massacred the city of Anhui, and more than [-] people migrated to the east of the Yangtze River, leaving Wancheng sparsely populated.After Sun He succeeded as the governor of Lujiang, he abandoned Wancheng as the county government and moved it to Liyang in the south of the Yangtze River.

Gan Ning led his troops eastward to explore the terrain of the Lujiang River, and then said: "The road to the Lujiang River is steep, with hills and ravines, and dense streams. Going eastward from Wancheng, there are places such as Shiting, Jiashi, and Trailer. The road is narrow and difficult. If you go west, you will find Qianyang, Songzi, and Longfeng. There are many rivers and it is difficult to fight."

Huo Jun looked thoughtful and said: "Sun Yu retreated to Wankou and occupied a dangerous position with the intention of protecting himself. Our soldiers are not easy to attack in a hurry. They should focus on protecting Yuzhang, build deep fortresses and garrison at Sangluo, and train their troops. Horse, take your time and figure it out."

"Fenglu!" Huo Jun shouted.

"exist!"

Huo Jun pointed at Songzi and said: "Leichi is vast and the waterways are complicated. However, if we want to defeat Sun Yu's army, it is the place our army must pass through. Songzi is located to the north of Leichi and is close to Qianshan, which is a dangerous place. Now I order you to He and Feidu led his troops to occupy Songzi as an outpost to explore the enemy's situation."

"promise!"

"Xingba led the navy to patrol the river and be alert to Sun Yu's movements. Do not engage in battle with him without military orders." Huo Jun ordered.

As he spoke, Huo Jun rested his hands on the table and said in a deep voice: "The rest of the army is still manning their troops and building forts, waiting for military orders. I also ordered people to urge Xu Yuanzhi to build the iron lock connecting the thunder pool as soon as possible. Go out and cross the wide river, thinking of it as a barrier."

"promise!"

Huo Jun is not in a hurry about the war. He needs to reduce the risk of defeat before going deep into Lujiang to fight.The purpose of building a fortress at Sangluo was to prevent him from having no way to retreat after his defeat; to block the river was to prevent Sun Yu from entering Yuzhang easily.

After the generals exited the camp, Liu Zhong presented a letter and said: "Your Majesty, this is a letter from Yishan."

"Ok!"

Huo Jun opened the battle report sent by Liu Bei and read it carefully.

In his letter, Liu Bei complained about the rugged terrain of Yishan Mountain, making it difficult for cavalry to use it.The road he took into the mountains was too long, causing him to be blocked in a dangerous place by the armies led by Sun Quan and Zhou Yu.He considered that Sun Quan had more troops than he did and that he was in a disadvantageous position, so he took Zhuge Liang's suggestion, built the fortress in depth, confronted the enemy, looked for the enemy's weaknesses, and waited for opportunities to fight.

In the letter, Liu Bei asked about Huo Jun's health and asked about the progress of the war.

Huo Jun thought for a while and wrote back a letter. In the letter, he said that the road was rugged and it was located in a deep mountain. Special attention should be paid to the problem of food roads. He could not go deep easily because the enemy would cut off the food and grass.

Then Huo Jun said that the war on his side was going smoothly and forced back the Jiangdong Navy who tried to harass Yuzhang.Now that he has not led his troops deep into Lujiang, he is mainly worried about Sun's alliance with Cao Cao and does not know the depth of the enemy's aggressors. He wants to wait until the situation becomes clear and the rear is stabilized.When the time is right, he will lead his troops deep into the Lujiang River to look for an opportunity to fight Sun Yu.

After drying the ink, Huo Jun handed the letter to the attendant and said, "Send this letter to General Zuo."

"promise!"

Huo Jun leaned on his back, looked at the sand table, and frowned slightly.

This battle is very crucial. The decisive battle between Liu Bei and Sun Quan will determine the winner and the ownership of Jiangzuo.His duel with Sun Yu will be the deciding factor between Sun and Liu.

Will Cao Cao take action?

(End of this chapter)