Chapter 225: The first battle is unfavorable, Huang She seeks advice The great battle ended completely with Huang Zu's defeated retreat. Because of Gan Ning's bravery, he shot and killed Ling Cao with one arrow, thus breaking Zhou Yu's tactical deployment to encircle and annihilate the Jingzhou navy. Seeing that his own general had been lost and Huang Zu's main force had escaped, Zhou Yu had no choice but to gather up the ships and retreat eastward. This battle was the first time Zhou Yu independently commanded a major war after joining Sun Ce's army, and it was also the first time that the Jiangdong navy fought against Jingzhou since its establishment many years ago. As a result, Huang Zu was taught a lesson in the first battle and was defeated so badly that he fled in disarray. Of the more than 7,000 naval troops dispatched, nearly 2,000 were lost, including more than six or seven main ships such as tower ships and fighting ships, and hundreds of the remaining small boats. The great general Chen Ju jumped into the river before the battle and his whereabouts disappeared. The vanguard Deng Long, who suffered several wounds, managed to return. After escaping, Huang Zu was still afraid and retreated towards Shaxian. He didn't feel relieved until the Chima boat came to report that the Jiangdong navy had retreated.

After counting the casualties of his troops, he became furious again and quickly called all the generals together and shouted angrily: "I usually ask you to train your troops well, but you just keep boasting all day long." "Now the Jiangdong army is small, yet it is defeated. Why is that?" When the generals heard this, they looked ashamed and did not dare to refute at all. In fact, everyone knew that the main reason for today’s defeat was Huang Zu’s command. If Huang Zu had not underestimated the enemy and advanced rashly, they would not have suffered such a terrible defeat. But the problem is that Huang Zu has never taken the blame on himself, so they dare not shirk responsibility at this time. Only Su Fei sighed when he saw everyone like this: "My lord, the reason for today's defeat is that we did not recognize the power of the Jiangdong navy and were not prepared in time." "But now is not the time to hold us accountable. The envoy ordered us to lead the army eastward, but we were defeated before we even left Jiangxia." "I see that Zhou Yu is coming with great force, so we must be on guard." "Order our scouts to quickly find the location of Zhou Yu's water stronghold, set up defenses first, and lock the river mouth!" "Otherwise, if Zhou Yu were to go this far again, we would have a hard time explaining to you, Lord!" In his opinion, today's defeat was indeed painful, but they should consider the impact of this battle more. After all, the reason why Liu Biao kept compromising with Huang Zu was because Jiangxia’s geographical location was very important, and it was almost the gateway to the entire Jingzhou. The navy under Huang Zu's command is the absolute main force of the Jingzhou navy. Today's battle is very special, as Xiakou is the entrance from the Yangtze River to the Han River. If they had not withdrawn, Zhou Yu's navy could have directly attacked the city of Xiangyang. In other words, the defeat in today's battle was enough to make Liu Biao question whether Huang Zu was still capable of guarding the gateway to Jingzhou. If they don't quickly move the front line eastward now, Liu Biao will probably be the first one to get restless.

The pressure from Liu Biao is their main problem now. With his reminder, Huang Zu naturally reacted. After pondering for a moment, he said in a deep voice: "I also know about this, but because I was angry just now, I didn't give the order." "Although our army has been defeated, we should not treat Zhou Yu as a child and act recklessly!" "Pass on my military order and quickly send scouts eastward to find out where the enemy's water fort is." "Also, you can prepare food and ships. Tomorrow our army will go to Xiling first, find out the enemy's water fort, and immediately mobilize troops to station at the fort. We must not let the Jiangdong navy set foot into Jiangxia again!" After he gave the order, all the generals breathed a sigh of relief and retreated one after another. Only Su Fei stayed behind, and waited until everyone left before he stepped forward and asked Huang Zu: "My lord, our army suffered such a great defeat today. The reason we were able to retreat safely was all thanks to Gan Ning's bravery in battle!" "Should we give him some wine and meat to reward him properly, so as not to disappoint the general?" In the original story, Su Fei was Gan Ning's mentor and also Gan Ning's only friend in Jingzhou. But on this timeline, the two have not had any substantial intersection. However, after seeing Gan Ning's bravery today, he became interested and wanted to ask Huang Zu to reward Gan Ning well. But as soon as he said this, Huang Zu said with contempt: "He is just a bandit. We have already shown our gratitude by taking him in. Why should we reward him?" "Besides, this man is now willing to join Liu Bei's army and is involved with Qin Zhen all day long. He is not a general of our army." "Qin Zhen will take care of the reward, why should I bother?" Having said this, he pondered for a while, and then asked in a deep voice: "Before today's battle, you advised me to divide my troops to support you. Whose idea was that?" Su Fei heard this and quickly lowered his head and replied: "This is Qin Zhen's plan. He has dealt with Jiangdong before and knows that Zhou Yu is not an ordinary person." "So before the troops go out, I ask to join the army to fight." "Thanks to this man's advice, otherwise our army would have been hard to escape from the enemy today!" Now he was quite grateful for Qin Zhen's advice and wanted Huang Zu to pay attention to Qin Zhen's advice. However, Huang Zu stroked his beard and said, "I heard that this man and my son are very close friends. Even if Qin Zhen had a plan, it was She'er who brought him to see you." "Go and write a military report about today's battle, saying that our army encountered a surprise attack by Zhou Yu, and it was only thanks to She'er's efforts that we were able to hold off the enemy's troops." "Our army has already found out where the enemy is and is about to attack them. Tell Liu Mu not to worry about the situation here!" "All my words must be written into the military report, and I will review them before reporting them to you." After saying this, he walked out of the tent with his hands behind his back, leaving Su Fei standing there alone, sighing uncontrollably. On the other side, a banquet was taking place in Qin Zhen’s military tent.

Compared to the gloomy mood in Huang Zu's tent, Qin Zhen was actually much happier here. Although they did not win this battle, they saved the Jingzhou navy from the crisis of defeat. Therefore, Qin Zhen paid out of his own pocket to kill pigs and sheep and reward Gan Ning and his men in the camp. Of course, they were defeated after all, so they couldn't appear too happy. So each soldier was only given two pounds of meat and a pot of wine. Only Gan Ning and others were gathered in the tent for a feast. Gan Ning was holding a wine bowl and said to Qin Zhen with a look of joy: "Since I left Shu and entered Jing, I have never had such a happy life as I have in the past few days!" "It is fortunate that you asked for the boat today, otherwise we would have been defeated here." "Come, come, everyone, fill your glasses with wine and congratulate the master with me." After Zhuge Liang and others left, only Wei Yan, Pei Qian and others were left in the tent. But after hearing this, they both raised their glasses to toast Qin Zhen. Qin Zhen saw this and quickly shook his head, raised his glass and said with a smile: "The reason why we are here today is entirely due to Xingba's achievements. What does it have to do with me?" "I will drink this wine, but Xingba must drink first. I drink one cup, and Xingba must drink three cups!" When Wei Yan and Pei Qian heard this, they both laughed and said: "Since what you said is true, General Gan should drink first!" When Gan Ning saw several people urging him to drink, he smiled generously, raised his glass and drank the wine. When everyone saw this, they all praised Gan Ning for his magnanimity. While they were enjoying themselves, they heard a loud shout from outside: "How dare you, Qin Zixuan, as a military advisor, you know that alcohol is prohibited in the army, how dare you have a feast here?" As they were talking, Huang She walked towards them with a bad look on his face. Everyone was surprised when they saw this, except Qin Zhen who pointed at Huang She and said with a smile: "Great Huang Gongli, we saved Mr. Huang's life today, why don't you come to thank him? Why are you making so much noise?" "Come here, help me get out!" When he said this, everyone was stunned, and Huang She instantly turned from anger to laughter, and hurriedly begged for mercy: "Wait, wait, sir, wait a minute, I am not here to inspect, I heard there is wine here, so I came to ask for a glass!" "If I get kicked out, not only will I lose face, but I won't be able to drink wine, which is not good at all!" When everyone saw this, they finally understood Huang She's intention. He said he was here to investigate, but they didn't expect that he was here to ask for wine. They all laughed. Seeing him laughing, Qin Zhen stood up and said to everyone: "This man is cunning, he must be trying to trick us into leaving so that he can take all the wine in the tent for himself!" As he spoke, he poured a cup for Huang She, handed it to Huang She and said: "I don't have any good wine, but only a glass of muddy wine. I wonder if you would be so kind as to honor me?"

Huang She listened and couldn't help but smile. He took the wine and said to everyone: "She is an uninvited guest. I want to drink this cup. I would like to toast you first. I wonder if you would allow me to attend the banquet?" A society based on human relationships is a tradition passed down through the ages. Although it existed during the Eastern Han Dynasty, it is not much different from the interactions in later generations. Seeing Huang She take the initiative to toast, everyone stood up and drank a glass with him. As a result, Huang She was able to sit down and after drinking three cups with everyone, he raised his cup to Qin Zhen and said: "I met you in the past because I admired your talent." "But today, you saved my father's life with a plan. I hope you can drink this cup to the full!" Of course, he didn't come here to drink this time, but to express his gratitude. Although he was not good at fighting, he could see that today's battle was thanks to Qin Zhen and Gan Ning. As Huang Zu's son, he knew that Huang Zu would not come, so he came to express his gratitude on behalf of his father. Seeing this, Qin Zhen secretly thought that Huang She was much better at dealing with people than Huang Zu, and that he was indeed worthy of friendship. He immediately said with a smile: "If you want to thank someone, then thank me. This battle was the result of Xingba's contribution. Brother Gongli should thank Xingba first!" "Of course I should thank you, but the thanks should be expressed in order!" Huang She smiled, then turned back to Gan Ning and said seriously: "To be honest, I don't have much contact with Xingba. It's only because you came that I got to know Xingba." "I heard rumors before, so I thought Xingba was not a good person. But after seeing him today, I know that Xingba is brave and courageous!" "If I have been disrespectful in the past, I hope Xingba will forgive me. Could you please drink this cup and forgive She's disrespect?" Originally, Gan Ning didn't have much of a good impression of Huang She, and even felt a little disgusted with him. But after Qin Zhen's guidance, he had figured out a lot of things and no longer had any bad feelings towards Huang She. Seeing Huang She so devoted to him, he immediately raised his cup and said: "Your Majesty, there is no need to do this. If we consider the previous conflict, I was the one who made the mistake first." "You are a respected one, and I have not yet done anything wrong. How can I ask for forgiveness from you?" "I will drink this cup first. I hope you will not blame me for my past sins!" As he said this, he picked up the cup and drank the wine. Huang She saw this and sighed: "What a hero! I didn't recognize a hero before, so I deserve to be blamed this time!" As he spoke, he naturally picked up the glass and drank the wine. The two of them drank wine and forgot their grudges. Qin Zhen nodded and smiled, then said with a smile: "Don't both of you come here to blame each other. You just drink and let us wait here?" When the two heard this, they were both stunned. Then Huang She reacted and pointed at Qin Zhen and said with a smile: "He really has a sharp tongue. Everyone, please don't be idle. Get him drunk first, otherwise we will have trouble in peace!" Upon hearing this, Wei Yan, Pei Qian and the others naturally burst into laughter again, and then they all picked up their cups to drink again. The already joyful atmosphere became even more harmonious after Huang She's interruption.

It was not until everyone was drunk that Huang She put down his cup and sighed: "It's too late to regret now. I have long heard that Wenxing has great talents, but you have failed to use them." "Now that Xingba is leaving, the talents of Jingzhou will be dwindling!" "If I had known this, I wouldn't have agreed to let Xingba go with you!" He seemed to be a little bored while speaking. Everyone was silent for a while after hearing what he said, not knowing what he meant. Only Qin Zhen saw this and drank his wine by himself and said: "You can't recognize people, and even if you can recognize people, you don't know how to use them. Why do you blame me?" Upon hearing this, Huang She suddenly looked at Qin Zhen, seemingly angry. But when he looked at Qin Zhen, he saw that Qin Zhen's expression was calm and there was no strange expression. After watching for a long time, he lowered his head and sighed: "Sir, you are truly a wise man of the time. With your assistance, Liu Yuzhou will have no worries about not accomplishing his great cause!" "Well, as you said, Xingba is very hard to find in Jingzhou. Wenxing is also a talented person, and he is not someone that Envoy Liu can command." "You two are going to Huainan, and Sheyi cannot stop you." "But please agree to one thing, sir. Otherwise, I will never let this matter go to waste!" Seeing him like this, Qin Zhen had already guessed what he wanted, so he simply put down the cup and said with a smile: "Brother Gongli, please don't be like this. We are friends now. There is nothing I can't do for you. Just tell me!" As soon as he finished speaking, Huang She grabbed his hand and said: "I hope you can save Huang and my father!" (End of this chapter)