Ji Han Grand Commander

Chapter 105 99. Before the War
Feng Xi frowned as he looked at the several cells in front of him. The Cao army surrendered soldiers inside had either lifeless eyes, as if they were dead, or had red eyes, as if they had an excess of prions.

"Take out those who behave normally, and execute those who behave wildly and cannot communicate."

Feng Xi observed for a long time and waved to the jailer.

"Ah?! Uh... yes, sir."

The jailer was shocked, but nodded. Those who had turned into animals would be a threat to society even if they were released, so they might as well be killed. Those who still had reason could at least communicate, so Feng Xi naturally had other uses for them.

"Hmm? Who is imprisoned here?"

Feng Xi walked in and found a small single room deep inside. There was only one person locked up in it. This person's clothes were obviously not those of an ordinary soldier, so he hurriedly asked the jailer.

"Ah, Grand Commander, this man is a general of Cao Wei and is imprisoned here."

The jailer saw this and quickly responded.

"General of Cao Wei...? Who are you?"

Feng Xi came to the cell door with great interest. The jailer seemed to be able to distinguish priorities. At least he did not starve the general to death, but he was starving to the point of being skin and bones.

Hearing Feng Xi's question, the man raised his head and looked at Feng Xi. His throat moved a few times, and his speech was a little halting because he had not spoken for a long time.

"The defeated general..."

"hiss……"

Feng Xi gasped. So this guy is here now? It seems that he was later exchanged by the Eastern Wu in history.

Thinking of this, Feng Xi couldn't help but reveal a sly smile.

...Less than an hour later, many Cao army surrendered soldiers came out of the prison in an orderly manner. Feng Xi would let these people recover for a while, and then they would be escorted by the Han army and sent to Jiaozhou in batches to assist Zhang Fei in maintaining local public order.

Firstly, these Cao army surrendered soldiers have been well trained. As long as they spend some time doing rehabilitation training, they can recover to their previous level. Even according to Feng Xi's method, they may become even more elite.

Secondly, if they were placed in Jingzhou, some of them would inevitably feel homesick and do something that would be detrimental to Ji Han. It would then be too late to regret. It would be better to send them to Jiaozhou to compete with the Shanyue natives.

Thirdly, the degree of Hanization in Jiaozhou was not high, and these people used to stand on behalf of the local Han people as a deterrent. After all, Zhang Fei's army could not be stationed there forever.

Feng Xi was followed by the man who had been in the dungeon before. He had been in the dungeon for almost a year and had to adapt to the light. Now he could open his eyes and see clearly what was happening outside.

Feng Xi took them to Wang Fu and asked him to train the Cao army carefully and make them do rehabilitation training. When Feng Xi finished his work on the front line, he would come back to make arrangements.

Back to the present, facing Zhang Nan's question, Feng Xi smiled faintly. "Nothing, just saving a poor man who should have died of depression. Maybe he can give us some surprises in the future."

Seeing Feng Xi keeping the secret, Zhang Nan couldn't help but sigh. He grabbed a bottle of distilled liquor from Feng Xi's desk and ran away.

After a day's rest in Gong'an, Feng Xi's army continued its mighty march south along the Yangtze River. There were no big cities or counties along the way, only small gathering communities, such as villages, forts, etc., which naturally lined the streets to welcome the Han army.

After marching for a few days, Feng Xi's army was less than 80 kilometers away from Dongting Lake. At this moment, Yunmeng Lake was to the north of the river, and Wuling and Changsha counties were not far to the south of the river. This was also the last section of the east-west waterway before Dongting Lake.

Feng Xi will separate from Zhang Nan here, because Zhang Nan's navy must go straight to the end and then head south to reach Dongting Lake, while Feng Xi's troops only need to go in a straight line. From a mathematical point of view, Zhang Nan needs to walk the two right-angled sides of a right triangle, while Feng Xi only needs to walk the hypotenuse.

Zhang Nan will arrive at the Dongting Lake in advance to scout the enemy situation, set up camp in advance, and prepare some materials for making mysterious props to face the second wave of troops from the Eastern Wu who tightened their belts.

After Lao Liu left, Feng Xi sent a team to central Sichuan, asking them to bring some of the people he had left in Chengdu to develop gunpowder to Jiangling. Otherwise, there would be no supply to replenish their gunpowder, and if they used some, they would have less, which would have a great impact on the upcoming decisive battle.

Three days later, Feng Xi's troops slowly arrived at the edge of Dongting Lake, while Zhang Nan and Zhao Lei's navy had arrived early and had set up a large naval camp.

Since the beginning of this Eastern Expedition, Zhang Nan has been frantically learning about naval warfare through actual combat. Now, with the assistance of Zhao Lei, the former naval commander of Jingxiang, the camp looks quite organized. In addition, many places have referred to Feng Xi's ideas and have taken fire prevention measures to avoid repeating the mistakes of the Battle of Red Cliff.

According to Feng Xi's previous request, Zhang Nan specially prepared a lot of beef tendons and wood. These were the materials Feng Xi required. Although Zhang Nan didn't know what Feng Xi was doing, he still prepared them honestly.

After Feng Xi's army arrived, Feng Xi counted the materials with satisfaction, and then asked the craftsmen accompanying the army to get busy, preparing to make some new and novel gadgets that they had never tried before according to his prior requirements.

"My great commander Feng, you have been preparing for so long, are you planning to make some bows on the spur of the moment?"

Zhang Nan was speechless as he watched the craftsmen busy making things that looked like crossbow parts. Although the naval battles at this time were mainly close combat, some long-range firepower was not a problem.

"Haha, all the good stuff I'm making now will end up in your hands. These are all things we prepared for the war on Dongting Lake. Some of them will even change the situation of future wars."

Feng Xi just smiled mysteriously, leaving Zhang Nan confused.

According to Feng Xi's idea, Jiangdong would have to bring out all its resources in this naval battle, such as... building ships. Although building ships have various disadvantages in later generations, such as high center of gravity, poor defense, and low cost performance, it does not prevent building ships from becoming a big enemy of Feng Xi's Eastern Expedition Army at this moment.

Feng Xi had been prepared for this. As a man with a vision of the future, if he couldn't get anything out, he might as well crash to death. The previous grappling hooks and Molotov cocktails were just minor fights. This water battle was the time when technology truly prevailed.

Two hundred miles away, the Jiangdong navy had already passed through Zhouling County and continued to move up the river. The overwhelming number of ships were carrying the flags of various generals, and there were even a few huge ships as tall as mountains, guarded by warships and small boats like stars surrounding the moon.

Zhou Tai, Xu Sheng, Ding Feng, Ling Tong, Quan Cong... almost all the remaining generals of Eastern Wu are here, leaving only Lu Dai to defend against Cao Wei and He Qi to guard Jianye. This naval and land army also has more than 30,000 people, which is already the only remaining asset of Eastern Wu.

If they lose this battle again, I'm afraid that Dongwu will not even have the military strength to resist the enemy by relying on the Xiang River and the Yangtze River.

(End of this chapter)