Chapter 162 Zhou Yu's plan again, Lu Su sets an ambush The impression Liu Bei left on Sun Ce's mind can be said to be extremely complicated. Before they met, Liu Bei was just a small vassal from a distant place, and Sun Ce only knew of this person. They claim to be relatives of the Han royal family, but in fact no one knows which branch they belong to. He entered Xuzhou with several thousand soldiers and horses, fought against Cao Cao and Lu Bu, but was defeated every time. In fact, in Sun Ce's opinion, Liu Bei had no ability at all. If he were to take over Xuzhou, he would have to punch Lu Bu and kick Cao Cao. But after meeting the person later, he found that although this person appeared honest, he was actually very cunning. In addition, there was a strange Qin Zhen beside him, who left a deep impression on him when they first met. But it was only profound. For him, Liu Bei's victory in the Battle of Shouchun was also due to conspiracy and he borrowed the power of Lu Bu. But as he returned to Jiangdong, he found that Liu Bei's power was growing stronger and stronger, like a snowball. First he killed Zheng Bao, then took Hefei, and in a blink of an eye he became his number one enemy!

Now, it has been only three months since Liu Bei captured Huainan, and he has already started to attack Lujiang. Now listening to Zhou Yu's judgment, it seems that Lujiang will soon fall into Liu Bei's hands! This gave him a very strange feeling, as if Liu Bei was supposed to be a hero, but he just didn't see it before! While thinking, Sun Ce looked at the vast river and asked a similar question to Yuan Shu that day: "How can Liu Bei, the old villain, have such a great power?" In just a few months, he jumped from an unknown person to this point. What exactly went wrong? When Zhou Yu saw Sun Ce asking questions, he sighed and said: "If it were Liu Bei alone, he would not be able to do this." "But Qin Zhen has this power!" "I heard that Liu Bei was governing the people in Huainan, so I appointed Qin Zhen as his assistant. In just a few months, Huainan has been transformed!" "It can be seen that the previous comments on Qin Zhen's talent were not false. This person deserves the title of the world's genius!" As he said this, he secretly sighed to himself. When he had heard of Qin Zhen's reputation before, he always felt that it was a bit too much. But now it seems that Qin Zhen’s talent is not only not exaggerated, but also suppressed by Cao Cao’s brilliance! Because Cao Cao's development was too smooth and he had many talented people, Qin Zhen's performance was greatly restricted. Even with rapid development, it would be difficult to demonstrate Qin Zhen's full capabilities. But Liu Bei was different. Because he was poor, he gave Qin Zhen the opportunity to fully display his talents. All the current situations are not something that is incomprehensible, but Qin Zhen is fully exerting his abilities to force Liu Bei to take off. Train soldiers, raise military supplies, plan wars, recruit talents, manage people's livelihood, and expand territory. Qin Zhen can take care of almost everything needed for the fight for hegemony! Not to mention Liu Bei, any other prince would be able to dominate the world in no time as long as they did not interfere too much. What's more, Liu Bei himself is also a hero, and he and Qin Zhen are a perfect match. Thinking of this, he said to Sun Ce: "Liu Bei is a great hero, and Qin Zhen is a rare talent. The two complement each other and have achieved the current situation!"

"Right now, the chaos in Jiangdong is still unsettled. If Liu Bei were to occupy Lujiang and march south to Yuzhang, our army would never be able to make a breakthrough!" "Make a quick decision and seize the opportunity to have a chance of victory!" When Sun Ce heard this, his face turned bitter and he said with difficulty: "That being said, Liu Xun has already dispatched his troops, and it only takes one day to travel from Congyang Water Fort to Jiujiang!" "Our army is now far away in Dantu, and we have to go upstream. It is winter now, and there is no east wind. It will take three or four days to go." "I'm afraid that by the time our army arrives, Liu Xun may have already been defeated by Liu Bei!" Their current situation is that the journey is too long, and they don’t even have time to give Liu Xun some water, let alone stop Liu Bei. Zhou Yu was not Zhuge Liang, and he could not borrow the east wind. Upon hearing this, he paced back and forth, thinking carefully. After thinking about it for a while, he said to Sun Ce: "Brother, you must know that the worst thing in this world is to give up when faced with difficulties!" "Now our army still has troubles to deal with, so it is difficult to stop Liu Bei from taking Lujiang." "Although our army cannot stop Liu Bei from defeating Liu Xun, we can stop Liu Bei from marching south." "Although I don't know what Qin Zhen's plan is this time, it is a fact that Liu Bei has no navy." "Since Liu Bei had no navy, how could Liu Xun launch a naval raid?" "It can be seen that Liu Bei is most likely trying to get Liu Xun's navy to march south in the next few days!" "And since they have no navy, if they want to plot against Liu Xun's navy, they must choose a river, set up an ambush, and intercept the ships." "Among all the places in Jiujiang, only Chaohu Lake leads to Chujiang River, where we can set up an ambush!" "So it's the perfect time for our army to move forward and take advantage of the situation!" "If Liu Xun's navy is still intact when our army arrives, we can find an opportunity to annex it." "If Liu Xun's navy is defeated, our army can station in Chungu, block the entrance to the river, and trap Liu Bei's navy!" "Even if Liu Bei gets his warships, he won't be able to use them. All we need to do is block the river with our navy to stop Liu Bei from going south. Even if he has an army of 100,000, it will be difficult for him to go east of the Yangtze River!" "Once this is accomplished, our army can then quell the rebellion and recover the territory." "After the autumn harvest this year, we will march out of Yuzhang and drive Hua Xin away, and then we can unify the four counties of Jiangdong." "By that time, from Xunyang to Guangling, the thousand-mile waterfront along the road was controlled by our army." "There is no need to send out a large army. Just use a small group of soldiers to raid various places. Within two years, Lujiang and Jiujiang will be taken back by our army!" It was also because Zhou Yu was very wise that he made a rough guess about Qin Zhen's plan based on Liu Xun's temporary dispatch of troops and proposed countermeasures. Sun Ce heard these words and laughed: "It is useless for us to go away according to your foolish words. Now that I have heard your words, I feel enlightened!" "I think that even though Liu Bei has a large force and no navy, he will still be unable to defeat our army!" The more he thought about this, the more he felt that it was just as Zhou Yu had said, so he ordered his troops to march westward.

After walking for half a day, we were about to reach Jiangcheng when we heard someone report: "Chun Valley has been occupied by Taishi Ci!" Upon hearing this, Sun Ce glared and said: "How did Taishi Ci know that our army wanted to go to Chungu?" As he spoke, he looked towards Zhou Yu, who thought for a moment and said: "If Taishi Ci did this, it must be Qin Zhen's trick. He wants him to cut off Liu Xun's way home and protect the place where his ships can pass!" Sun Ce heard this and said in a deep voice: "I wanted to recruit Taishi Ci to serve me, but I didn't expect that he had already contacted Liu Bei. What should I do now given the current situation?" Zhou Yu heard this and said with a smile: "If Qin Zhen were here, I would still be a little afraid of him, but Taishi Ci, although he has strategies, has no ability to adapt to changes!" "Wait for me to use a little trick to defeat him. Not only will we be able to occupy Chungu, but we will also be able to take Wanling back to our army!" After saying that, he whispered a few words in Sun Ce's ear, which made Sun Ce nod repeatedly. He then ordered his troops to continue advancing, preparing to take advantage of the chaos. At this time, Liu Xun's troops had just arrived in Wuhu. Because he wanted to catch Liu Bei by surprise during this expedition, he ordered his men to say after leaving Congyang Water Stronghold: "Although our army is advancing by sea and land in this battle, the navy is different from the land army. You march very fast, and the road is short, so you must arrive later." "One day is enough. After I get off the boat, I will kill Jun Dao directly!" "You should advance eastward first, pretending to go to Wujun, and then return to Liyang, so that the enemy will not know what we want." "Tomorrow night, you will send out your troops from here, and head to Chaohu Lake via the waterway to attack the enemy's water stronghold!" "After we break through the water stronghold, you wait here. I will dredge the road and transport the supplies back, and then we will return to the army together!" After hearing his arrangements, the naval commander nodded in agreement. At this point, his troops were divided into two groups, one advancing towards the northeast of Xiang'an, while the navy continued to move eastward. But Liu Xun didn't know that his actions did not escape the supervision of Liu Bei's army. As soon as he divided his troops, a boat went upstream and arrived at Chaohu Water Fort, and reported the news to Lu Su. At this time, there were nearly 7,000 naval troops in the Chaohu water fort. These people were all Zheng Bao's former subordinates. After Lu Su was ordered to go south, he integrated them. Although they had no training in large ships, these people had lived in Chaohu Lake all year round and were very good at swimming. Therefore, after being trained by Lu Su, they had already begun to take on the appearance of a naval force. At this time, the scout returned and went back to the water fort, reporting to Lu Su: "Commander-in-chief, our army has already detected the enemy's movements. Liu Xun is currently dispatching troops to Wuhu!" "An army is heading towards our army, while the navy is continuing to move eastwards, not northwards!" The title of commander-in-chief is also Lu Su's current position. He is the commander-in-chief of the navy under Liu Bei and is fully responsible for naval affairs. Hearing this, he glanced at the map and said in a deep voice: "Go and explore again, don't let the enemy know!"

When the soldier heard this, he hurriedly took the order and left. After the soldier left, a man came forward and said to Lu Su: "Commander-in-chief, the enemy has arrived. Should we start preparing?" The person who was speaking was called Hu Si. He was originally a military advisor under Zheng Bao. Later, because of his merit in surrendering, he was appointed as a general of a thousand men. Later, when Lu Su went south, he saw that he was quite smart and appointed him as his deputy. Seeing that Liu Xun had already started to move, he naturally couldn't hold back. But when Lu Su heard this, he shook his head slightly and said: "Don't worry about this. Have we prepared all the food and fodder for our army?" Upon hearing this, Hu Si nodded hurriedly and said: "It's all ready and piled up in the village!" When Lu Su heard this, he immediately said: "Take me to see it!" As he spoke, he, under the leadership of Hu Si, headed towards the place where the food and fodder were stored in the water fort. As soon as we arrived at the warehouse, we saw food and fodder piled up like mountains. But apart from the food on the surface, the things piled up inside are all sand and gravel. These grains and fodder were the old grains that Mi Zhu had ordered from Jingzhou in the past. After December, they began to be transported towards Jiujiang. With the cooperation of Qin Zhen and Lu Su, a large amount of grain and grass were stored here. Although they are all inferior products, they are extremely important strategic materials at this time of scarcity. Lu Su would not pile up real grain here, so he quietly moved most of the grain to Hefei City. Only tens of thousands of stones were piled up in the water fort. At this time, he came to the grain bag, raised his sword and lightly slashed it, and saw wheat pouring out continuously. After checking it out, he nodded again and thought for a long time before saying: "Everything is ready, we can start now!" As he spoke, he gave Hu Si an order: "Now that the enemy has divided its forces here, it is clear that the enemy wants to split its forces into two groups and seize both the Jundao and our water stronghold!" "Go and tell General Qin Yi that Liu Xun is cunning and may not attack Jundao first. He will wait until our army succeeds before taking action!" "Otherwise, Liu Xun might withdraw his troops directly, causing our army to fail." "We must wait until our army has subdued the enemy's navy before we can attack their troops!" "Also tell your men to set up chains at the river mouth tonight and ambush at various locations." "When the enemy enters Chaohu Lake, we will block the river with iron chains to cut off their way back!" "When a major battle begins, first attack the camp with fire, then seize the boats and warships, and force the enemy to abandon their ships and flee, only then can we persuade the enemy troops to surrender!"

"After this battle, our navy will have ships and we can form an army. When we go south to Jiangdong in the future, it will all be thanks to you!" When Hu Si heard this, he became excited and hurriedly took the order and left. That night, under Lu Su's arrangement, his navy laid several iron chains blocking the river at the mouth of Chaohu Lake. The entire Chaohu Lake has been turned into a huge trap. Liu Xun naturally didn't know about this. After heading north, he lay in wait for a while and only marched forward at night. We went around Chaohu Lake and arrived at the southern suburbs of Jundao City. After learning that Liu Bei's army often transported supplies south, he was overjoyed. I thought that just as Mei Cheng said, this was exactly where Liu Bei stored his supplies. He then sent orders to his navy, urging them to wait until nightfall and advance in two directions in order to seize all the supplies from Liu Bei's army. In the blink of an eye, another night had arrived, and the navy under Liu Xun's command also marched towards Chaohu Lake in a mighty manner. (End of this chapter)