Chapter 163: Both routes are broken, Liu Xun is defeated The naval generals under Liu Xun were not well-known figures. His name was Geng Qi. He was originally from Jiangxia. He once followed the big thief Huang Rang in a rebellion. After he was pacified by Lu Kang, he served as a county lieutenant under his command. Later, Sun Ce went south and defeated Lu Kang, then joined Yuan Shu and was transferred to the command of Liu Xun. Also, because Sun Ce rose to power in Jiangdong, Yuan Shu was quite wary of him, so he ordered Liu Xun to form a navy to guard against Sun Ce. However, Liu Xun was originally from Langya and was not used to naval battles, so he promoted Geng Qi to lead his navy. In the past, Lu Su once said that Liu Xun had no less than 4,000 naval forces and hundreds of warships, but in fact he underestimated the strength of Liu Xun's navy. In fact, Liu Xun had nearly 5,000 naval forces and nearly 1,000 warships. This time, in order to bring back money and food from Liu Bei's army, almost all of Liu Xun's navy went out, with as many as six or seven hundred warships alone. As night fell, Geng Qi followed Liu Xun's instructions and went up the waterway.

But he had been leading troops for many years after all, and although this was a surprise attack, he was still on guard, so he first used light boats to explore the way, and large ships stayed on the river to provide support. After being divided into two parts, they advanced with large ships to prevent the offensive from being blocked. Under the cover of night, there were no sentries along the road, only dozens of boats on the river moving along the road. Seeing this, Geng Qi thought that the enemy general would not be good at naval battles, so he should set up sentries on both sides of the lake to prevent sudden attacks by the enemy's navy. But now, at a glance, there were no sentries or even patrolling soldiers, so he smiled and said to his subordinates: "I have heard of how great Liu Bei is, but now I see that he is also from the north and does not know how to swim!" "Such a large water fort, but there is not even a sentry post!" "Now that we are coming in, how will the enemy defend themselves?" After laughing for a while, he ordered the warships in front and the light boats behind, and the large ships went into the river one after another. As for Chaohu Lake, one could only see dim lights in the water fort in the distance, but it stood on the shore, and the reeds in two places had not been removed. Geng Qi laughed even louder when he saw this, and pointed at the reeds and said: "If this thing is not removed, if I use fire attack from outside, they will definitely suffer!" When his subordinates saw this, they all laughed, mocking Liu Bei's army for being an amateur. Only one general gave him some advice: "I heard that this camp was Zheng Bao's former camp. They are pirates and do not know how to fight." "Now Liu Bei has stored food and grass here, which is our credit." "Why not order the troops to advance, and use the warships as escort to break through this gate, and then we can open the camp!" Geng Qi heard this and followed his advice happily. He ordered his generals to advance towards the water stronghold. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, warships were divided into fighting ships, walking boats, surprise attacks, battleships, vanguard ships, scouts, and red horse boats according to their sizes and functions. Among them, Tumao is a ship equipped with rams and specially used for ramming. A warship is a long and narrow assault ship with parapets on both sides.

Following this order, all his ships set out and rushed towards the village gate. When they reached the village gate, they heard a loud shout: "Enemy attack, enemy attack, there are enemy troops outside the village!" The shrill cry broke the silence of the night. Geng Qi saw this and no longer concealed his anger, shouting: "Pass the order down, beat the drums, and charge forward!" At a command, the main fleet under his command headed towards the water fort. In an instant, the entire Chaohu Lake was filled with countless shouts and cries of killing. Boom boom, loud noises were heard, and a large number of ships crashed into the gate of the village. With a loud bang, the boat instantly broke through the gate of the village. As soon as the gate was opened, the soldiers scattered in all directions, and the light boats under Liu Xun's command headed into the camp, with shouts of killing non-stop. When Geng Qi saw this, he was overjoyed and quickly ordered his men to row the boats closer. When they got outside the village, they heard someone say loudly: "The enemy is no match for ours and has already abandoned the camp." Hearing this, Geng Qi smiled and said: "Liu Bei's navy is not worth a second thought. Don't pursue them. Go and find out with me whether there is any food or grass in the enemy camp!" As he said this, he ordered someone to send the victory report of the capture of the water fort to Liu Xun. Just after the message was sent, another person came to report: "A large amount of food and fodder was found in the village!" When Geng Qi heard this, he was even more delighted. He hurriedly got out of the warship under the leadership of the soldiers and went straight into the warehouse to take a look. Seeing the food and grass piled up like a mountain, he laughed again: "This battle must be a complete success. Let the rear army enter the lake and move all the food and grass onto the boats!" After his subordinates received the order, he stepped forward and opened a cloth bag. Seeing the food pouring out of it, he no longer had any doubts in his heart. Under his order, the rear troops that were originally there to provide support also moved towards Chaohu Lake. Large ships were sailing in along the river, but suddenly there was a clanging sound, and the huge ships were suddenly shaken and stopped in the river. The commander on board was furious when he saw this, thinking that the ship had probably gone off course and crashed into the shore. He immediately walked out of the cabin, cursing: "You are such a jerk! How can you steer the boat? Why do you stop here?" But when he came out, he saw the soldier on the bow said in panic: "General, it's not that we can't go in, but there's something blocking us on the water!" The general was horrified when he heard this, and suddenly walked towards the side of the boat. When he looked out, he saw shiny iron chains lying across the river. Just as I was about to speak, I heard a loud shout:

"The enemy is trapped here. All soldiers, listen to my order and follow me to kill the enemy!" As soon as the words were spoken, a large number of soldiers and horses rushed out from both sides of the low-lying river banks. A large number of arrows were shot towards the ship. Seeing this, the general turned pale with fright and shouted: "Oh no! There's an ambush! Retreat immediately!" But as soon as he finished speaking, he looked back and saw iron chains rising in the river behind him. A large number of soldiers rushed out from the shore, and many fishermen among them pushed their boats into the water and rowed towards the water fort. At this time, Geng Qi was rejoicing in the village, when he suddenly heard shouts of killing in the distance. He was immediately startled and said: "Where is the commotion outside? What happened?" As he walked out of the warehouse, he saw a general rushing over to report: "General, our rear troops were attacked by the enemy!" "There are enemy troops in our rear?" Geng Qi was surprised when he heard this. He thought, didn't the enemy army collapse without a fight? Why did they launch a surprise attack on him from behind? Since the enemy can launch a surprise attack from the rear, how can the soldiers in the village retreat without a fight? While thinking, his eyes suddenly widened and said: "Not good, withdraw, withdraw quickly, the enemy must have an ambush!" But he was a step too slow to react. He only heard a loud shout outside the village, followed by countless shouts. In an instant, a rain of arrows shot into the village, and as a rocket fell, a fire broke out in the village. At the same time, small boats emerged from the reed marsh outside the village, blocking the way for Liu Xun's navy to escape. Many pirates also emerged from the water and began to board the ship and fight with his subordinates. Seeing this, Geng Qi became greatly disturbed and hurriedly retreated. But at this time, all the large and small ships were stuck in one place, with no way to retreat. In desperation, he could only shout: "Abandon ship and follow me to fight your way out!" He immediately ordered his men to break out of the village. But his troops were navy after all, and they were in disarray and had abandoned their ships, making them no match for the pirates. He finally gathered hundreds of people and rushed out, only to see hundreds of archers lined up outside the village. As soon as they walked out of the village gate, they were met with a burst of shooting and had to retreat back into the village. At this time, a fire broke out in the village, and smoke was everywhere, making it impossible to open your eyes. Geng Qi was so choked that tears started streaming down his face. He regretted it so much that it was too late. He thought to himself that he had fallen into a trap and was afraid that his life would be in danger. At this moment, a loud shout was heard from outside the village; "I am Lu Su, the naval commander under General Liu. You have been trapped in the water stronghold by our army. Surrender and you will be spared!"

"Anyone who resists will be killed without mercy!" As soon as he shouted, everyone under his command began to persuade them to surrender. In order to gain leverage in this battle, Lu Su not only mobilized the navy, but also brought his family members into the battle. Once the shouting started, the entire shore of Chaohu Lake was filled with the sound. Tens of thousands of people shouted in unison, and the sound was quite terrifying. Geng Qi saw this and thought that the troops outside the camp were all Liu Bei's army, so he could only shout: "We are willing to surrender, please stop shooting arrows!" As soon as he offered surrender, the generals under his command began to shout for surrender one by one. Therefore, Lu Su ordered his men to stop shooting, released everyone, confiscated their weapons, and questioned the commander. Geng Qi had no choice but to step forward and bow: "General Geng Qi greets the governor!" Seeing this, Lu Su asked without further ado: "Would you like to help me persuade the tribes to surrender?" Geng Qi heard this and said dejectedly: "I have no wish to do so!" At that moment, Lu Su ordered his men to escort Geng Qi to sail to persuade the various tribes to surrender. At this point, all the navy under Liu Xun surrendered to Liu Bei. After a quick count, Lu Su found that there were more than 4,000 surrendered people, and hundreds of large and small ships. He was naturally very happy, and immediately sent someone to inform Liu Bei of the victory news. At the same time, he ordered Hu Si and others to lead the army to capture the prisoners. He led two thousand soldiers and prepared to march north to cut off Liu Xun's retreat. At the same time, Liu Xun's troops were fighting with Qin Yi in the north of Chaohu Lake. The reason why this happened has to start with the letter Qin Zhen sent to Qin Yi. However, Qin Yi has been stationing his troops in Hefei city since he was persuaded to surrender by Liu Ye in the past. He is a more law-abiding person than other generals under Yuan Shu. Because he had already surrendered to Liu Bei and his family had been taken to Shouchun by Liu Bei, he lost his ambition and just wanted to focus on his work and guard against Sun Ce's march north. So for the past few months, they trained soldiers and helped resettle the refugees every day. As a result, before Sun Ce arrived, he received an order from Qin Zhen, ordering him to go to Jundao and help stop Liu Xun. Faced with this order, Qin Yi did not dare to be negligent, thinking that he had 6,000 soldiers in Hefei, while Liu Xun had more than 10,000 soldiers. If he came out in full force, he could stop Liu Xun, but Hefei was empty and might be taken by Liu Xun.

But if they don't come out in full force, it will be difficult to resist Liu Xun's troops. After much thought, he finally decided to lead 5,000 soldiers and horses to the south to ambush, and at the same time secretly ordered Chen Zhang to lead 2,000 soldiers and return from Liyang to defend Jundao. Unexpectedly, after he had stayed there for a few days, he received a letter from Lu Su. It is said that Liu Xun is cunning and may not attack Jundao first. If they mobilize first, Liu Xun's navy may retreat, resulting in failure. When Qin Yi heard this, he thought about it carefully and felt that it made sense. He also knew Liu Xun. Although he was greedy for money, he also had some abilities. If they find out something is wrong, they will probably withdraw their troops decisively. Therefore, he simply withdrew from the ambush site and went to ambush on the west side of Chaohu Lake. So on the next day, Liu Xun had already arrived outside Jundao City with his troops. But Liu Xun did not move at this point, but just observed secretly. When Qin Yi saw this, he knew that Liu Xun was just as Lu Su had judged, and that Liu Xun was probably waiting for the navy to succeed. He then hid here with peace of mind, and secretly ordered Chen Zhang in Jundao City to guard it tightly to prevent Liu Xun's surprise attack. On the other hand, Liu Xun was determined to launch surprise attacks from two directions, so after arriving outside Jundao City, he did not take any action. He just ordered his soldiers to pretend to be civilians and surround the city and observe secretly. I saw that the gates of Jundao City remained open during the day and were not closed until evening. The defenses on the city walls were not very tight. At night, apart from the patrolling soldiers, there were few people standing guard. Seeing this, Liu Xun was overjoyed, thinking that it was a good thing that Liu Bei stored money here, but he didn't expect that the defense was so lax. He thought about it for a moment, and a plan came to his mind, so he said to his subordinates: "I see that this city has no defenses, so we can take it down in one battle!" "But if our army moves, there is no guarantee that it will be detected by the enemy." "So we need to send someone to sneak into the city first. Wait until the fourth watch tonight, and I will lead the troops to attack the city. You will open the city gate from inside. Only in this way can we take the city with the help of both inside and outside forces!" "But I'm worried that entering the city is very dangerous. Who is willing to do it?" Although he had no counselors, he had many retainers, all of whom were brave and courageous. One of them immediately stood up and said: "I have served you for so long, but I have not accomplished anything. I must now enter the city and die for you!" When Liu Xun heard this, he looked up and saw that the person who spoke was a strong man, one of his followers, named Miao Tong, who was quite brave. Seeing that he took the initiative to ask for a fight, Liu Xun was delighted and said hurriedly: "If you take this city, I will reward you with a hundred gold coins. If you fail, I will take care of your wife and children!" When Miao Tong heard this, he nodded immediately and led a hundred people to disguise themselves as civilians and sneak into the city. Unexpectedly, Chen Zhang found out about this and was ready to take advantage of the situation.

He secretly ordered his men to eliminate Liu Xun's troops and set up an ambush at the city gate. Poor Mu Tong died at the hands of Liu Bei's army before he could show his power. Liu Xun, who was outside the city, naturally didn't know about this. He thought he had succeeded and was very proud of himself. But when night fell, Unexpectedly, before the fourth watch, news of victory came from Geng Qi, saying that they had captured Liu Bei's main camp and obtained a large amount of food and fodder. After hearing this letter, Liu Xun became even more delighted, thinking that this place was not far from Chaohu Lake. Now that Chaohu has been captured, I'm afraid people in the city will also receive the news and order their subordinates to launch an attack. At one time, tens of thousands of soldiers launched a feint attack on Jundao City at the same time. Then we heard shouting and killing coming from inside the city, and soon the city gates were opened. Liu Xun was overjoyed when he saw this, and hurriedly led his men to charge towards the city gate. They killed their way into the city, but found that the city was empty and there was no movement. With a loud shout, Chen Zhang led the ambush troops in the city to attack. Seeing the situation, Liu Xun knew that he had fallen into a trap and quickly ordered his troops to withdraw. But as soon as he turned around, he met Qin Yi leading his troops to attack the rear. They were attacked from two directions at once, and the three sides fought in one place. So when Lu Su ended the battle, Liu Xun had just retreated in defeat. The two sides fought again, and Liu Xun was left with only a few thousand soldiers and horses, who fled to the west. (End of this chapter)