Survival Three Kingdoms

Chapter 470

Although Cao Cao couldn't see clearly from a distance, the warships of both sides could still be distinguished clearly. It was obvious that his side had fewer warships, and there were still a few ships fleeing back.

"Wen Ze, who is the fighter?"

"Back to the Prime Minister, it is Zhong Jin and Zhong Shen. The two brothers tried their best to invite the battle, so I ordered them to fight." Cao Cao thought carefully, and then remembered that it was the two surrendered generals from Jizhou.How could Yu Jin send these two people to fight? "You quickly order the brigade ships to go to meet them."

This errand naturally fell to Cai Zhong and Cai He, and the two ordered a hundred warships to go to the battlefield.

At this time, there was an overwhelming massacre on the surface of the river.Cao Jun hates it, flees, there is no way to escape; fighting, he is the target.

Another incense stick of time passed, and several ships escaped by chance, and Cao Jun lost seven or eight out of ten.Tai Shici looked from afar, and there was a large group of ships approaching from Jiang Ling, and the order was sent: "Ming Jin withdraws troops."

When the gong sounded, the Jiangdong navy retreated in a single team.Cai Zhong and Cai He had no intention of fighting, let alone chasing, and ordered the ships to be gathered and the soldiers who fell into the water to be salvaged.

Cao Cao withdrew Jiangdong's army, his face was ashen, and then his expression changed and he laughed loudly: "Although this battle has suffered a little damage, I know Jiangdong's falsehood and reality, and it will be broken in the future."

After returning to the camp, Yu Jin submitted the battle report. Forty warships were lost and [-] soldiers were lost. Zhong Jin and Zhong Shen were killed in battle, and their bodies did not exist. "Prime Minister, although the Zhong brothers underestimated the enemy and advanced aggressively in this battle, the general failed to command in the end. Please punish me, Prime Minister."

Yu Jin seemed to have the courage to take responsibility and said. "Victory and defeat are commonplace in military affairs, so don't blame yourself for writing."

Cao Cao said magnanimously that the defeat in the first battle should have been punished heavily, but the most important thing is to find out the gaps and make up for the omissions. This loss is just a drop in the bucket. "Wen Ze thought, what about the Jiangdong Navy?"

"I heard from the soldiers who came back that Jiangdong's army is more skillful in fighting on board than they are on horseback, and the formation is neat, and there is no chaos in advance and retreat. Its general Tai Shi is brave, and his arrow skills are superb. It seems that Jiangdong has a lot of arrows. .”

Yu Jin summed it up pretty well.Cao Cao continued to ask: "So Wen thinks how to defeat the enemy?"

Yu Jin glanced at Cai Mao and said: "Our soldiers in the north still need to practice more in water warfare, and we can fight against Jiangdong after they are trained well. If the Jiangdong navy comes to harass again, the Jingzhou navy can be sent to fight."

Cao Cao looked at Cai Mao: "Degui has practiced navy for a long time, what do you think?"

"Prime Minister, naval drills can't be accomplished overnight." How could Cai Mao be willing to be used as a gun by Yu Jin. "Fighting against Jiangdong still needs to maximize strengths and avoid weaknesses."

"Tell me how to maximize your strengths and avoid your weaknesses?" Cao Cao became interested.

"Although the prime minister's soldiers and horses are not familiar with water warfare, but there are many and huge ships, many soldiers and plenty of arrows, to fight Jiangdong, you only need to attack them in groups, and you must not send only a small group of troops to meet the enemy because of the small number of soldiers. "

Cai Mao's meaning is very clear. It is impossible to achieve results without training the navy for three to five years. People in the south of the Yangtze River use boats as tools. Sun Ce has occupied Jiangdong for eight years. The Jiangdong navy has been training for eight years. It is impossible to surpass Jiangdong.I'm not as well-trained or agile as you, but I'm big and strong.If I don't fight with you, no matter how flexible you are, it's useless to me. I just use my advantage to overwhelm you with the momentum of Mount Tai, and I will crush you to death.

Cao Cao thought the same way, and after this battle he became more determined.He also looked at Xun You, Cheng Yu and other counselors, and they all nodded slightly to Cao Cao, indicating that it was feasible.The Zhong brothers died, the Jingzhou soldiers felt a little bit of schadenfreude in their bones, and the Hebei soldiers were somewhat war-weary. "Since Zhou Yu is here, we don't have to stay in Jiangling anymore. Order to raise [-] troops, with big boats in front and small boats in the rear, and the troops will go to Chibi!"

In mid-October of the 13th year of Jian'an, Cao Cao sent Zhang Liao and Li Dian to collect Hefei, Le Jin and Wenpin to collect Jiangxia, Cao Ren and Cao Chun stayed behind in Jiangling, and personally led an army of 5000 on the north bank of Chibi, and formed a large camp east of Wulin. , As for the [-] people and farmers sent by Liu Zhang in Yizhou, they were all used as coolies to open the land passage from Jiangling to Wulin.

Cao Cao ordered again that the big boats should be outside to protect the water stronghold. If the Jiangdong water army comes again to harass them, they are not allowed to fight without authorization. If they make a strong attack, they will retreat with bows and arrows.Cao Cao is accumulating strength, ready to launch a fatal blow to Jiangdong.Tai Shici and Lu Meng returned to the Chibi camp after victory, and Zhou Yu was overjoyed to record the first victory for them.He ordered to report to Sun Quan the results of winning the battle, beheading two generals of the Cao army, and killing thousands of enemies, and spread it to Jiangdong and Jingzhou.Sun Quan was overjoyed with the news, sent someone to reward him, and told Zhou Yu to be careful with his troops.

November was the day when Cao Cao was preparing to launch a general offensive, but all kinds of unfavorable news flooded in.First of all, the plague broke out in various places. Some infected people had fever and weakness, some had persistent diarrhea, and some had bloated belly. The medicine offered against the plague did not work.

Cao Cao was shocked, and summoned a doctor for consultation, and finally concluded that it was caused by water gu, and it was impossible to find the root cause. However, most of the people sent by Yizhou were infected, so Cao Cao immediately ordered that all the people from Yizhou be gathered and burned regardless of whether they were alive or dead. Deep buried, road dredging work was put on hold.However, the epidemic was still uncontrollable and it spread in the Jingzhou area. Kuai Liang, who was weak, died of the disease, and there were also several cases of tiger and leopard riders. Cao Cao felt distressed.

Fortunately, his camp was far away from the epidemic area, and there were few sick people. Cao Cao dared not continue to increase troops to Chibi.If the plague is a natural disaster, then what follows is a man-made disaster.When Cao Cao got the report, rumors spread in Jingzhou and people panicked.

Some people say that it is against the law of heaven that Cao Cao launched an army to conquer Jingzhou, and that the plague was a punishment from God, and the Kuai family was a surrender faction, and the death of Kuai Liang was a punishment from heaven, so Jingzhou people could no longer follow Cao Cao, otherwise they would be punished by God. implicated.The defeat in the battle was quickly spread, and the loss was magnified several times. It was said that Cao Jun lost hundreds of warships and thousands of soldiers in the First World War.It is also said that Cao Cao sent troops to the outside and the rear was empty, Ma Teng and Han Sui from Xiliang had already entered Guanzhong, and Zhou Cang's troops from Xuzhou were divided into two groups, one was from Jinzhou to attack Youzhou, and the other was that Zhou Cang personally led the troops to Xudu.

In the end, the son Liu Qi issued an order calling on the soldiers and civilians of Jingzhou to rise up and resist, and wanted to drive Cao Cao out of Jingzhou.Each of the rumors is so true that it is difficult to tell the truth from the false. "My lord, this must be Zhou Yu's conspiracy."

Cheng Yu said bitterly: "I thought Zhou Yu would fight to the death with me, but he is doing these tricks behind his back."

Xun You said: "Nowadays, people's hearts are fluctuating. It should be based on the undecided military spirit, and it is not suitable to march. My lord, I should clean up the troubles as soon as possible."

(End of this chapter)