Chapter 233: Extreme Push, the Army of the Underdog Will Win Zhou Yu naturally didn't know the movements of the Jingzhou navy. In fact, his decision to dispatch troops this time was still due to Lu Su's actions in the east. Lu Su's original intention was to move westward and attack Zhou Yu together with the navy of Jingzhou, but Zhuge Liang's reminder made him change his strategy. In Lu Su's opinion, he would definitely not be able to defeat Zhou Yu by force, so he needed to think of a way to go around him. So, based on the current situation, he came up with a plan to lure the tiger away from the mountain. Simply put, Zhou Yu’s goal was not simply to defeat their navy, but to prevent their troops from moving south. In this case, he can directly avoid fighting and transport troops first! Anyway, the autumn harvest has not yet ended. Once their troops move south, they can harvest wheat on the spot and gain a foothold, making the Jiangdong troops busy and exhausted. When Zhou Yu saw this, in order to prevent them from gaining the upper hand, he would most likely send troops to chase them. If Zhou Yu did not come, he would lead the navy eastward directly, plundering along the way, and strategically force Zhou Yu to move the front line eastward.

It can be said that no matter what, Zhou Yu would not fail to react. This is also Lu Su's advantage. He may not be Zhou Yu's opponent in tactics, but his strategy is exactly the same. Following his arrangements, Zhao Yun and Xu Sheng prepared their troops and arrived in Tongyang. After Lu Su traveled all the way to this place, he first deployed scouts thirty miles to the west, pretending to be taking a rest, and then ordered the tower ships to start picking up Zhao Yun and others to cross the river. In order to let Zhou Yu discover anything unusual, he stopped in the evening. As soon as night fell, he sent more than 2,000 people under Zhao Yun's command to the east bank. The first thing Zhou Yu received was naturally the news from the water, saying that Lu Su stopped at Tongyang. Faced with this news, Lu Meng and others were shocked, wondering if Lu Su had discovered their ambush. When Zhou Yu heard this, he firmly stated that it was impossible for Lu Su to discover it! After all, he sent his troops north very early. At that time, the navy of Jingzhou had just suffered a great defeat, and beacon towers had not yet been erected along the banks of Lujiang River. He sent a troop to ambush on the north bank of Chaohu Lake overnight, making it impossible for Lu Su to detect it. He naturally didn't know that Qin Zhen had sent Zhuge Liang to carry out this secret move, he just felt that Lu Su had ulterior motives in doing this. Zhou Yu then sent out a large number of scout ships to investigate, and found that Lu Su's scout ships were far inferior to Lu Su's main force! Upon hearing this news, Zhou Yu's face darkened and he said: "Hurry up and send someone ashore to investigate on the southern shore of Congyang!" "Send another 300 soldiers to drive back the enemy scouts. We must find out what the enemy is doing!" After the scouts left, he paced back and forth in the tent in a restless manner. Now, as he fought more and more with Liu Bei's army, he felt more and more exhausted. In the past, it was only Qin Zhen who was plotting against him. Although Qin Zhen was a man of deep thoughts, there were at least clues to follow. Now, in addition to Qin Zhen, he also has to deal with Lu Su and a mysterious man. Three people are plotting against him at the same time, which really makes him feel extremely depressed! Seeing this, the generals knew that Zhou Yu was under great pressure, so they advised him: "Commander-in-chief, the current situation is so difficult, why don't we retreat and wait for the right opportunity in Dantu?" "Since Liu Bei's main force has not arrived yet, our army can conserve its strength and fight again when Liu Bei arrives!"

Dantu is located in Wu County, which is not only the estuary of the Yangtze River, but also the former stationing place of the Jiangdong navy. According to the generals, even if the navy could not stop Liu Bei from going south, they could return to Dantu and wait for an opportunity. After Liu Bei's troops move south, we can cut off Liu Bei's supply lines and support the battle on the road. However, Zhou Yu shook his head solemnly when he heard this. "How could I not know this? But I am worried that if our army is not prepared now, the enemy will send troops to eat in our territory!" "In this way, our army's food supply will not increase, and the enemy's food supply will not decrease." "If Liu Biao continues to support Liu Bei with military rations, it will be useless even if our army cuts off the enemy's supply!" The best thing about the Yangtze River defense line is that, apart from making it difficult for the enemy to move south, it can also lengthen the enemy's supply line. In the original course of events, the reason why Cao Wei could not conquer Jiangdong was because it had no foothold after moving south. But the situation is different now. Liu Bei has Yuzhang as his foothold. Now with Liu Biao as his backing, Liu Bei will basically not be at risk of food shortage, which is why he is now staying along the Pengze line. If we can't defend here, then there's nowhere to defend against Liu Bei! But as he was thinking this, his body suddenly shook, and he slammed the table and said: "Oh no! Lu Zijing might be transporting troops south!" "Send my military order immediately, bring your troops and follow me to attack them quickly!" When the generals heard this, they were all stunned. Then they reacted and were very surprised. They hurriedly said: "The governor is saying that Lu Zijing no longer wants to advance, but wants to occupy the eastern front first?" When Zhou Yu heard this, he stopped moving and said in a deep voice: "Whether he comes here or not, if he is transporting troops, our army will attack him!" The problem now is not whether Lu Su will come or not, but once Liu Bei’s army lands, the counties west of Wanling will immediately fall under Liu Bei’s military attack! As soon as Liu Bei gained a firm foothold, just joining forces with Taishi Ci to advance would be enough to give them a hard time! Faced with this situation, he no longer hesitated. He left more than a thousand soldiers and horses with Dong Xi and Jiang Qin for defense, and headed east with Lu Meng and others. Under the cover of night, as the army reached the river bank, they heard the scout report: "Commander-in-chief, something terrible has happened. Our spies have discovered a large number of enemy troops on the south bank of Congyang, and they are currently resting on the shore." When Lu Meng and others heard that Lu Su was really transporting troops, they were shocked. Zhou Yu came directly to the side of the boat, raised his hand and shouted: "Pass on my military order. All troops, speed up and follow me to Zongyang to defeat the enemy!" At the command, the soldiers began to row faster and headed towards Zongyang. He had been marching for a long time when a soldier came to report to Lu Su: "Commander-in-chief, Zhou Yu has already led his troops to Pengze and is heading towards our army." "There are a lot of enemy ships. They will arrive here in about half an hour!" At this time, Lu Su had already transported most of the troops, and only the rear troops led by Xu Sheng were still boarding the ship. Hearing that Zhou Yu was leading his troops, Xu Sheng said worriedly:

"General Lu, our army has not yet moved south, and Zhou Yu has arrived here. What should we do?" Although Xu Sheng would become one of Jiangdong's bravest ministers in the future, he was still untrained in naval warfare. Seeing Zhou Yu coming, he was very worried. Hearing this, Lu Su stroked his beard and smiled, saying to Xu Sheng: "Don't worry, Wen Xiang. Even though Zhou Yu is here, he will lead his troops to follow me on board. After you go south, I will leave!" Xu Sheng was surprised to see him so calm, and thought to himself that this Governor Lu had the demeanor of a great general. He was already very brave, so he said nothing more when he heard it, but urged the soldiers to get on board quickly. Because they did not have much baggage with them on their journey south this time, they did not need carriages and horses. Apart from a small number of scouts who brought horses, only two generals rode horses. The speed was not slow at this rate. As the last wave boarded the ship, the tower ship transported the troops towards the south bank. At the same time, Chimazhou was constantly reporting Zhou Yu's movements: "Commander-in-chief, the enemy is still thirty miles away!" When Lu Su heard this, he remained calm and kept the boat on the shore, allowing the soldiers to disembark. Seeing this, Xu Sheng thought that Lu Su was really brave, and immediately urged the troops to disembark. When half of the troops had marched, the Red Horse Boat sent another person to shout: "Commander-in-chief, the enemy still has 15 miles to go from here!" When Xu Sheng heard this, he saw that Lu Su had no intention of returning to the army, so he hurriedly said: "Commander-in-chief, why don't you come here first? We will wait here and the rest of us can get off the ship another day!" When Lu Su heard this, he shook his head and said: "General, you are heading south to capture cities and territories. How can you delay here?" "Get off the boat quickly, and don't worry about my navy!" Seeing him like this, Xu Sheng led his horse off the boat and shouted: "All soldiers, listen up! Get off the ship immediately! Anyone who delays will be punished with 20 strokes of the cane after getting off the ship!" After a shout, the soldiers immediately accelerated again and ran towards the bottom of the boat. After a while, everyone finally crossed the river to the south. But before Xu Sheng and the others could be happy, they heard the report from the Red Horse Boat: "Commander-in-chief, the enemy is five miles away from our army. If we don't turn back, the enemy will kill us here!" Lu Su listened, then turned around and shouted to everyone: "Pass on my military order, sail away from the south bank and prepare to set off!" Under his command, large ships began to sail into the water. Zhao Yun and Xu Sheng were both extremely worried when they saw this. They forgot to evacuate for a moment and just watched the battle on the shore. At the same time, Zhou Yu finally arrived with his troops in the distance, but heard a shout: "Commander-in-chief, the enemy has deployed its troops on the south bank and is leaving!" When Zhou Yu heard that Liu Bei's vanguard had already moved south, his face darkened and he shouted: "Pass on my military order. Charge forward suddenly, with the warships following behind. Once they get close, shoot immediately. Make sure to keep the enemy here!" He used Lu Meng as the vanguard, and a large number of speedboats formed the military formation and charged towards Lu Su. When Lu Su saw this, he also shouted loudly into the distance: "The speedboat is in front, the big ship is behind, get out of here quickly!" Under his command, a large number of speedboats escaped first, and only a few ships had not yet hoisted sails and were moving slowly. As soon as the two armies moved towards each other, Zhou Yu's troops were about to charge forward.

But at this time, Lu Su ordered his troops to shoot, and his advantage of having more soldiers was immediately revealed. Tower ships can carry a large number of soldiers and horses. He has a total of seven tower ships, with nearly two thousand archers. At this time, from a high position, a large number of arrows fell towards Zhou Yu's vanguard. In a short period of time, the front line of the Jiangdong navy suffered hundreds of casualties and the offensive was immediately thwarted. Seeing this, Han Dang's heart was bleeding, and he hurriedly advised Zhou Yu: "Commander-in-chief, a small boat cannot defeat a large ship. Now that we have no large ships to protect us, we should not advance so recklessly." When Zhou Yu saw this, his face turned cold and full of murderous intent, he said: "Now that things have come to this, we have no choice but to advance. Go and select the best soldiers and leave the enemy here!" Han Dang had no choice but to follow the order and select the best soldiers under his command, and charge forward with shields raised. At this time, Lu Su's ship had already hoisted sails, and under the control of a large number of soldiers, its speed gradually increased, and it headed eastward while shooting arrows. Zhou Yu naturally refused to accept this and directly ordered a pursuit, hoisting the sail and closely following Lu Su. The two armies marched one after the other from Congyang southwards and headed eastwards. At this moment, on the river bank, a huge navy was marching. After hearing Qin Zhen's letter, Cai Mao and others learned in advance that Zhou Yu had left, so they attacked Zhou Yu's water stronghold with the intention of winning in one battle. But when they reached the river, Cai Mao seemed to remember something and said to Huang She and Qin Zhen: "Although Zhou Yu is gone now, the enemy has many scouts. If our army approaches, it will inevitably be discovered by the enemy!" "We should send out a scout team to break through the enemy's outer defenses before launching a surprise attack!" These words were spoken to the two of them, but actually meant for Qin Zhen to hear, hinting him to transfer Gan Ning. When Qin Zhen heard this, he knew what they meant, so he smiled and said to the two of them: "The only one among us who is proficient in this method is Gan Xingba. You can order Xingba to send out twenty ships and attack them first!" Upon hearing this, Huang She and others ordered Gan Ning to be summoned for questioning. When Gan Ning heard that they were going to surround and kill the enemy scouts, he smiled and said: "I am the only one who can take on this task, but please let someone accompany you!" When everyone asked who it was, Gan Ning said it was Huo Jun and Huo Zhongmiao. It turned out that since Huo Du's death that day, Huo Jun had been filled with hatred towards the Jiangdong navy and wanted to kill Dong Xi with his own hands to avenge his brother. But he was just one of a hundred generals and had no chance to ask for orders from Huang She and others. So he set his sights on Qin Zhen, and repeatedly asked Gan Ning to take him along if he went into battle. Gan Ning valued righteousness over profit, and seeing his sincerity, he agreed to his request. Seeing that Cai Mao and others asked him to be the vanguard, he intended to take Huo Jun with them. Hearing that Huo Jun was going to seek revenge, Qin Zhen said to Cai Mao and others: "As the saying goes, the army of the underdog will win. Huo Du is highly respected among his troops."

"Now that Huo Zhongmiao intends to seek revenge, we can mobilize Huo Du's troops to follow him, and it will surely be effective." When Cai Mao and others saw this, they had no objection and then asked Huo Jun to take his brother's troops to follow Gan Ning to fight. Taking advantage of the cover of night, the two men led more than a thousand soldiers and horses to attack towards the east. (End of this chapter)