Ji Han Da Sima

Chapter 41 Confrontation (Chong Sanjiang for further reading)
Huo Jun stood on the stern, with the river wind blowing on his face. Looking at the north and south banks of the Xiakou Yangtze River, he saw that the river was vast and it was difficult to see the shore. People in the river were as small as ants.

The narrowest point of the Xiakou, later Wuhan section of the Yangtze River is about 1 meters, and the widest point is about 4-5 kilometers.However, in the Han Dynasty 2000 years ago, due to the influence of Yun Mengze, the Yangtze River was much wider, and it was feasible for hundreds of warships to travel side by side.

In later generations, Wuhan was known as the City of Thousand Lakes. Most of it was still under the river. Only Snake Mountain stood out suddenly and was surrounded by rivers on three sides.

As far as the eye could see, around Huang Zu's three-story ship, there were hundreds of various types of ships, fighting ships, and walking boats.These ships protected Huang Zu's warship, the towering masts raised the sails, and the dense canvas covered the sky and the sun. A spectacular scene came towards us.

Looking down from the sky, Jiangxia's fleet turned the corner of the Yangtze River and turned from semi-tailwind to headwind. The fleet traveled southeast, while Jiangdong's fleet sailed northwest toward each other and was at the mouth of the wind.The vanguard troops of both sides are about to face each other tit for tat on the vast Yangtze River.

"Fire arrows!"

After a while, Zhang Shuo, Jiangxia's pioneer, saw Jiangdong's ships entering the range of bows and arrows. He drew his long sword and shouted loudly.

"promise!"

As Zhang Shuo's flagship, he hoisted an order flag to signal his sailors to shoot arrows.

"Whoosh!"

As the bowstring vibrated, hundreds of arrows roared into the air, flying toward the Wu warships in a projectile manner.

Wu Jun's ships also began to fight back. The soldiers on the deck holding bows and arrows, under the cover of the parapet wall, drew their bows and nocked arrows to throw at the opponent.Too far away, the arrows cannot pose a fatal threat and can only serve as a source of harassment.However, there were still unlucky ones who were hit by arrows, screamed, and then were dragged back to the cabin.

For a moment, arrows on the river flew through the air, swaying with the sound of wind, flying into the water, or hitting the hull of the ship.

After a while, Ling Cao, who was holding a shield to shield himself from the rain of arrows, saw that Jiang Xia's ship still had no intention of engaging in battle. He sneered and said, "Send the order, drive the ship close to the enemy's flagship, engage in battle, and see with blood." Blood."

"promise!"

"Full left rudder, heading northwest."

The fighting boat flying the flag of General 'Ling' sailed towards Zhang Shuo's ship.

"Captain, enemy ships are approaching!"

Zhang Shuo looked at Ling Cao's flagship coming towards him through the female wall and sneered without fear.

"accelerate!"

"Crash into me with the force of the water!"

"promise!"

Under the influence of the turbulent Yangtze River water, Zhang Shuo's warship hit Ling Cao, who was also coming, and the boatman shook the oar with all his strength.

Ling Cao, who was holding a shield with one hand, shouted at the top of his lungs: "Hold the sail, stand firm, and resist the bait. Don't let the enemy ship escape."

"promise!"

In the midst of the surge of the river and the roaring waves crashing on the shore.The soldiers on the decks of both sides dismounted their horses and held the ship's rope tightly in their hands, fearing that they would be knocked away.

"Oh!"

The moment the ships collided, both sides lost their footing under the huge impact.Unprepared soldiers fell on the board, making them dizzy; some unlucky ones even fell directly onto the river and were submerged in the surging Yangtze River.

Immediately afterwards, the hull shook for a while, and there was a sound of wood breaking. This was when the two sides crossed each other, and the oars were broken when they were too close.

After the ship was slightly stabilized, Gou Ju on Ling Cao's ship took the lead in hooking Zhang Shuo's ship. The soldiers on the deck hid under the parapet to prevent being hit by arrows, and struggled to pull on the rope to merge the two ships together.

"Boom!"

Two ships in one.

"kill!"

Ling Cao held a shield in one hand and a ring-headed sword in one hand. Wearing leather armor, he took the lead to jump over the enemy ship on the swaying deck as if walking on flat ground.

Zhang Shuo's subordinates also reacted and fought back with weapons in hand.The distance on the deck is limited, and the two sides can only compete in close combat to see who dares to trade their lives for their lives.

The bloody boarding battle begins!

Ling Cao used his shield to deflect the spear, then jumped down from the height of the ship wall and slashed the faces of the Jiangxia soldiers with his sword.While Jiangxia soldiers were wailing, he stabbed Jiangxia soldiers in the abdomen with another knife, killing him.

"call!"

A flash of cold light flashed, and a knife struck Ling Cao's arm.

Ling Cao retreated with vigorous steps, and then used his shield to block his sweep. He pushed hard and took advantage of the enemy's unsteadiness to stab the Jiangxia soldier in the belly, finishing him off.

At the same time, as Ling Cao rushed into the enemy ship, there were also many of his subordinates.The Ling clan's tribe advanced and retreated rapidly, colliding and fighting. The two sides fought fiercely, with densely interlaced blades, spraying blood, and the messy fighting scene. From time to time, screams could be heard.

Under Ling Cao's bravery, Zhang Shuo's headquarters were killed and retreated steadily.Perhaps feeling the difficulty of Zhang Shuo's battleship, a small boat from Shaoqing Jiangxia boarded the other side of Zhang Shuo's battleship and joined the battlefield, helping Zhang Shuo try to suppress Ling Cao.

With the help from outside, Zhang Shuo's headquarters and Ling Cao's tribe also fought back and forth.However, Ling Cao's bravery was extraordinary. In this one-on-one battlefield, he maximized his effectiveness. He then stepped forward and stabbed several times with his sword, breaking several pieces of the enemy's chest and abdomen. Big mouth.The enemy's wound gushed blood like a fountain. After a while, he twitched twice and stopped moving.

Ling Cao, who killed another person, finally found Zhang Shuo.The two began to fight at close range. Ling Cao moved his shield forward to block Zhang Shuo's long knife. He continued to move forward without stopping, waving the Huanshou knife in his hand, trying to cut into Zhang Shuo's body.

Zhang Shuo also blocked it with his shield, but Ling Cao used so much force that his arm went numb and left a mark on the shield.Ling Cao then slammed Zhang Shuo with his shield. Zhang Shuo couldn't bear the strength and turned around to pass the ship's pole to avoid the attack.

However, how could Ling Cao let Zhang Shuo run away? He held the long knife and slashed, and the knife hit the femoral artery.Suddenly Zhang Shuo's eyes bulged and he fell to the ground with a strange scream.Ling Cao stepped forward to catch up and cut his throat with a knife.

Ling Cao cut off Zhang Shuo's head, held up the bleeding head, and shouted: "Your pioneer is dead!"

Zhang Shuo's soldiers, who were still fighting, instantly lost their fighting spirit. They either knelt down and surrendered, or were taken advantage of by Ling Cao's troops to deal with them.

In one breath, Ling Cao captured two warships and killed Zhang Shuo, Jiangxia's pioneer, which was extremely brave.

"mighty!"

"mighty!"

Amid everyone's celebrations, Zhang Shuo's warship hoisted the 'Sun' flag, which meant that his warship had been captured by Jiangdong.

On the fiercely fought Yangtze River, almost all the ships connected to the line were fighting. Whenever there was a gap, there were ships to fill it.The bloody boarding battle tested the courage of the infantry more than the battle on the ground. The news that Zhang Shuo was killed and the flagship was captured was comparable to killing a general and seizing the flag. The morale of Jiangxia's front troops was shaken sharply.

Zhang Shuo's death was like a domino. His men were either captured or fled backwards.Ling Cao also boarded his own flagship again and headed towards the Jiangxia warship.

On the stern of Wu Jun's forward flagship, Xu Kun excitedly slapped the ship wall with his hands when he learned the good news from Ling Cao.

"Sign up and let Huang Gai lead the front warships to attack!" Xu Kun shouted: "The flagship is also going to attack, and speed up, so that all our warships can see me, so as to encourage them to fight."

"promise!"

Xu Kun led the elite troops to the front and engaged in head-on contact with the Jiangxia warships.As for Sun Quan, as the lord, he sat in charge of the central army and watched how Xu Kun commanded the warships to fight.

The vanguard Zhang Shuo was beheaded, which was extremely shocking news to Chen Jiu, who was leading the front.Zhang Shuo was a very brave captain in the Jiangxia Army. He was killed like this. The enemy was too fierce.

"General, the enemy's vanguard has broken through our front line and is heading towards our warship!"

Chen gritted his teeth and shouted: "The strength of the vanguard has declined. I ordered Chen Li and Yu Shi to lead their troops to pick up the enemy. We must stop the enemy."

"promise!"

Under the command flag, the front part of the Jiangxia fleet and the front part of the Jiangdong fleet were completely in hands.

At this time, on the deputy flagship of the Chinese army, Huang She looked not very good. Looking at the chaotic battlefield ahead, he said: "The front has already taken over. It seems that our army is being attacked by Jiangdong battleships."

Huo Jun put his hand on the hilt of his sword and said: "Young General, the naval battle is a brave one! Our vanguard has been defeated and our morale has been lost. Now I am ordering brave men to rush forward with a light boat to defeat the enemy's vanguard and regain their morale."

Huang She frowned and said, "Colonel Zhang is already a warrior in our army, and there is no one left in our army today."

Huo Jun pointed to the 'Gan' flag fighting ship not far away and said: "Colonel Gan Ning is an enemy of ten thousand people. If he is ordered to fight now, he can kill the enemy's vanguard."

Huang She turned to look at the 'Gan' flag fighting ship, shook his head and said: "Gan Ning is murderous and vulgar, and cannot be reused."

Huo Jun almost rolled his eyes when he heard Huang She's rejection. He really couldn't understand why Huang Zu, Huang She and his son hated Gan Ning so much.

Taking a deep breath, Huo Jun said patiently: "Young General, although Gan Xingba is vulgar and has the intention of being inferior to others, he would rather be brave. Today's war is difficult and brave generals are rare, so we should tolerate it."

Huang She was quite interested. He pondered for a while and then said: "The war is difficult. Governor Chen must have a plan. It's better to wait and see."

Huo Jun lowered his head and sighed. It was just like what later generations said, if you are not afraid of opponents who are like gods, you are afraid of teammates who are like pigs.Nowadays, he feels like watching the newbies of future generations playing games, and he can't wait to operate it for him!

Huo Jun exhaled and stared at the situation on the battlefield. He had no good solution at the moment.

In his eyes, it is normal for Jiangdong to behave like this. Historically, Jiangdong's ability to occupy one-third of the world was not just a boast, but something that was actually achieved.Jiangdong's water warfare is far more powerful than the other two countries.It's just that their excessive water combat capabilities have inhibited their land combat capabilities.

Water battles during the Three Kingdoms period were mainly side battles. This kind of battle was a stage for individual heroes. At the same time, in this environment, they relied on crossbows, light armor, and bloody bravery.

But if they were placed on land, they were accustomed to relying on individual bravery to fight and lacked the concept of teamwork. These things were not enough for them.In a military formation with tens of thousands of people, if one does not know how to fight on horseback, individual bravery in an infantry battle will not be enough.

In Huo Jun's view, Wu Qiqi's comment on Chu's army can also be applied to the soldiers of Jiangdong with slight modifications.

The people in Jiangdong are weak-tempered, the land is vast, and they belong to different officials.Although their military formations were strict and some of their soldiers were spirited, they could not last long.The way to deal with Jiangdong's army is to blunt its edge, and then confront it, sometimes attacking and sometimes retreating. Jiangdong's soldiers are tired of dealing with it, and naturally their weaknesses will be exposed.

Seize his energy first, advance lightly and retreat quickly, and work hard for the disadvantages. Don't fight, otherwise you can defeat him. This is also one of the ideological basis for his suggestion that Huang Zu fight against Sun Quan.

While pondering, Huo Jun suddenly felt that the southeast wind had become slightly stronger.

"The wind is getting stronger!"

Huo Jun looked up at the flapping flag on the bow of the ship and whispered, "It's going to be difficult!"

(End of this chapter)