Chapter 230: Pressing forward step by step, Zhou Yu vs. Zhuge Liang In early September of the third year of Jian'an, more than half a month after Liu Biao decided to help Liu Bei seize Jingzhou, the Jingzhou navy suddenly underwent a dramatic change. Huang Zu, who originally had absolute control over Jiangxia, was suddenly stabbed in the back by Liu Biao and had to replace his generals at the last minute. The ownership of the navy was also transferred from Jiangxia to Huang She, the prefect of Zhangling. This drastic change not only changed the political situation in Jingzhou, but also changed the overall strategy of the navy. The original strategic defense was changed to an active offense, and the defense line was continuously pushed forward from E County to Xiazhi, a small town on the border between Jiangxia and Yuzhang. This strategy was naturally not decided by Huang She. In fact, Huang Zu left angrily the day after he stepped down. The military power was officially handed over from Huang Zu to Cai Mao. Although Cai Mao held a civilian position, he was actually an expert in naval battles. After gaining military power, he and Qin Zhen discussed it and found that Huang Zu seemed radical but was actually extremely conservative.

Faced with Liu Biao's military order, Huang Zu, as the commander of the navy, did not think of advancing the front line, but of preserving his strength. This forced Huang Zu to retreat to Jiangxia, using the long waterways as a buffer zone. Although it strengthened the defense line in a sense, it also gave Zhou Yu an opportunity to take advantage. After all, Jiangxia has a special geographical location. Huang Zu withdrew his troops within Jiangxia. Although he was able to detect Zhou Yu's movements in advance, he lost the important frontline. If we meet an ordinary naval commander, we may be able to continue to hold our ground. But now facing a general like Zhou Yu who took the initiative to attack, he could only passively take the beating. After a discussion, Cai Mao decided to push the battle line forward and confront Zhou Yu within a hundred miles between Xiazhi and Pengze. When Zhou Yu first heard about this, he was delighted for a long time, thinking that Huang Zu, the coward, had finally shown his face. But after seeing the water fort set up by Cai Mao, he felt depressed. It was seen that the naval camp arranged by Cai Mao was different from the previous ones. He used large ships as the city walls outside, connected them with cables, and deployed archers on them for defense. The main force of the army is stationed inside in small boats and can be mobilized to attack at any time. After looking around the layout, Zhou Yu was surprised and said: "Isn't this a replacement of generals? This formation has quite a bit of naval tactics!" In his opinion, although Huang Zu had lived in Jiangxia for a long time, he was only a third-rate player in naval battles. Such a formation cannot be arranged by an ordinary naval commander. Therefore, the first thing he did when he returned to the camp was to send someone to investigate what had happened in the direction of Jingzhou. This investigation revealed that Huang Zu had been replaced by Huang She, and the one who actually commanded the Jingzhou navy now was Cai Mao, the prefect of Nanjun and military advisor to the General Zhennan. Upon hearing this, all the generals were surprised and asked: "The Jiangxia navy has not been defeated, so why did Liu Biao want to change his general and send Cai Mao to fight against our army?"

When Zhou Yu heard this, he said with a look of indignation: "This place is far away from Xiangyang. How can Liu Biao know what's going on here?" "Qin Zhen must have seen that Huang Zu was no match for him, so he devised a plan to bring Cai Mao here!" "I see that this man has an extraordinary array of troops and is well versed in naval warfare. He cannot be defeated hastily." "If we can't break this formation, when Liu Bei marches south in the future, our army will be defeated by him!" When the generals heard this, they naturally thought that Qin Zhen was really difficult to deal with, and couldn't help asking Zhou Yu what he was going to do. Zhou Yu thought about it, his brows furrowed and his face looked embarrassed. Now with Qin Zhen's constant pressure, he has fallen into a dilemma! Although he now has a surprise force stationed in the north, the risks are growing. Because Pengli Lake is located between Lujiang and Yuzhang County, in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. Cai Mao and Chaohu navy were located upstream and downstream respectively. In this situation, if the two armies do not fall into the trap, their living space will be continuously squeezed. Until he was surrounded by the two families in Pengli Lake and trapped to death there. But even if he knew this, he could not retreat downstream. The reason was that if Liu Bei wanted to go south to Jiangdong, he would most likely have to go south from Lujiang. Now that he retreats, Cai Mao will continue to advance. Their navy will be safe, but the Yangtze River defense line will be completely opened. After Liu Bei’s main force moves south, he can join forces with Yuzhang Taishi Ci to advance eastward! As long as Liu Bei steadily established a foothold in Jiangdong, they would have no chance to expel Liu Bei. Unless Cao Cao immediately attacks Liu Bei's retreat, Jiangdong will be occupied by Liu Bei sooner or later. After all, Liu Bei's subordinates were densely populated, and Yuzhang County had a population of one million. With only the three counties of Jiujiang, Lujiang and Yuzhang, they had no advantage at all. Thinking of this, he could not help but pace back and forth, thinking about how to break the deadlock. Everyone saw his expression changing from bright to dark, and it took a long time before he stopped and said: "The only way to win now is to defeat Liu Bei's navy as soon as possible." "I wonder if the lord has withdrawn his troops from Chungu now?" If he wants to break the deadlock now, he has to defeat the navy on one side first. Whether it is the Jingzhou army or the Chaohu navy, he can solve the problem. As soon as he finished speaking, everyone shook their heads and said: "It is still unknown, the letter should have reached the lord!" Upon hearing this, Zhou Yu nodded and ordered his troops to continue investigating the movements of the Jingzhou army. As a result, before two hours had passed, a man hurriedly walked into the tent and said: "Report, Commander-in-Chief, the enemy has set up many beacon towers along the banks of the Lu River. Whenever our army passes by, they will light up thick smoke!" "We don't know what the enemy's intentions are, so we come to report!" When Zhou Yu heard this, his expression changed and he immediately led his troops towards the river.

As a result, when they arrived at this place, they saw thick smoke billowing on the opposite bank of the river. As the white smoke here rose, a white smoke also appeared in the distance. Seeing this, Zhou Yu frowned and said to everyone: "There is also a master in Lujiang. He set up this thing here. When our army passes by, smoke will rise." "If we do this, we only need to set up more sentries, and the enemy will know all the movements of our navy!" All the Jiangdong generals who heard this thought it was not good, because their navy relied on this mobility to roam the river. Now that the enemy has set up a beacon tower, their navy is completely within the enemy's sight, which is not a good thing. As Zhou Yu said this, he became a little anxious and uneasy, always feeling that something was wrong! Because according to the information he knew, the wise men under Liu Bei included Qin Zhen, Liu Ye, Xu Shu, Lu Su and others. But now Liu Ye is still in Shouchun, Lu Su and Xu Shu have deployed their troops in Chaohu and Pei respectively, and Qin Zhen is supervising the war in Jiangxia. So who is the person who set up the beacon tower in Lujiang? After all, Jiangdong's intelligence was not as good as Cao's, and they didn't know that Liu Bei had a new subordinate, Zhuge Liang. Faced with this sudden news, Zhou Yu was distracted. It is true that he is proficient in water combat, but he is only one person after all. Now Qin Zhen is pressing forward step by step in the west, and no one knows who is plotting against Lujiang. What should he do if he has to make the decision here alone? After thinking for a moment, he gave an order to report what happened here to Sun Ce. The current situation is no longer something he can control alone, and Sun Ce needs to make the decision. Just as Zhou Yu encountered problems, Sun Ce also encountered trouble. This was because Zhou Yu had previously advised Sun Ce to build a defense line along the Yangtze River in order to prevent Liu Bei's troops from moving south. While stationing troops in Wanling to rest and reorganize the army, he was also on guard against Liu Bei's army moving south. Originally this direction was quite stable, and there was no unusual movement on the banks of the Yangtze River. However, after Zhuge Liang arrived in Lujiang, the situation began to change. First, an urgent report came from the direction of Tongyang, saying that the troops in Lujiang were being mobilized, and seemed to be intending to move south. Then there was an urgent report from Liyang, saying that there were signs that the troops in Jiujiang were being mobilized and that they were collecting a large number of ships. Faced with this news, Sun Ce did not dare to neglect it and hurriedly summoned Zhang Hong and Chen Duan to discuss the matter: "It is the time of autumn harvest now. It is not right for Liu Bei to go south now." "However, there have been reports of unusual movements in recent days, with reports that Liu Bei's army is planning to move south." "I wonder what you two think Liu Bei's intention is? Could it be that he wants to take advantage of the fact that the autumn grain in Jiangdong is ripe and go south to eat in our army's territory?" Taking food from the enemy was also a common military strategy in ancient times. After he said this, Chen Duan and Zhang Hong fell into deep thought. After thinking about it for a while, Zhang Hong analyzed it to Sun Ce: "My lord, this is probably what the enemy is thinking, because our army has already set up a defense line." "If Liu Bei wants to mobilize troops to attack Jiangdong, he must first open up a passage." "Otherwise, if he leads his army south, he will not be able to cross the river in a short time, and will only waste food and fodder." "If we send an army south first, we can open up a base for the advance here. When the main army moves south in the future, we can march directly from here!" "So if the enemy army moves on two fronts at the same time, if our army defends the western front, then the Jiujiang army will move; if our army defends the eastern front, then the Lujiang army will move."

"This is a two-pronged approach, a feint to the east and an attack to the west, which allows our army to take care of both the east and the west at the same time!" Sun Ce felt a headache when he heard this. Before, when he heard Zhou Yu's plan to arrange the defense line of the Yangtze River, he felt that it was very beneficial to keep the enemy out. But now, with the Jingzhou navy joining the battlefield, their battle line was instantly lengthened. The long defense line became a fatal flaw. For example, now that Liu Bei's army was moving on two fronts at the same time, he felt a little strenuous. No matter which side you defend, Liu Bei's army may find an opportunity to take advantage of. When Liu Bei could mobilize his navy, crossing the river to the south would be tantamount to seeking death. However, now that his navy was pinned down at Pengze, he felt that this line of defense was full of loopholes. Even though he was an experienced warrior, he was at a loss when faced with such a strategic decision and could not help asking the two how to decide. When he asked this question, Zhang Hong and Chen Duan looked at each other and were also troubled. After hesitating for a moment, he suggested to Sun Ce: "For now, we can only divide our troops and garrison in two places, and not give Liu Bei the opportunity to march south!" "Also, place more spies on land to carefully observe the enemy's movements." "Once we discover that the enemy has crossed the river to the south, we will immediately dispatch troops and defeat the enemy on the south bank!" After hearing this plan, Sun Ce ordered the remaining navy to march towards Tongyang and Liyang respectively. Unexpectedly, just after taking action, they received Zhou Yu's suggestion to withdraw the Chungu navy. After receiving this letter, Sun Ce was surprised and asked Zhang Hong and Chen Duan for their opinions. The two men looked at Zhou Yu's plan to lure the two navies to annihilate them, and said to Sun Ce: "Gongjin, this plan is good. If we can destroy Liu Bei's navy, our army can completely block the river and we don't have to worry about the enemy's southward advance." Upon hearing this, Sun Ce was overjoyed and ordered the navy in the direction of Chungu to withdraw, opening the channel for Chaohu Lake to flow into the river. As Sun Ce ordered the withdrawal, the news was spread from the beacon tower to Lujiang. After learning that Sun Ce had withdrawn the Chungu navy, Qiao Rui and the others were overjoyed and said to Zhuge Liang with a smile: "Kong Ming said that the decisive battle between the navy would take more than a month, but he didn't know that Sun Ce couldn't stand the force of the Jingzhou navy and had already withdrawn the Chungu navy!" "Now that our army's passage has been opened, once the Chaohu navy is out, they can roam the river." But when Zhuge Liang heard this, he was puzzled, thinking that he had seen the character of the Jingzhou navy before! Judging from Huang Zu's arrogant look, he must be thankful to have managed to remain undefeated. With the navy of Jingzhou, how could Zhou Yu be so anxious as to transfer the troops from Chungu? Don’t you know that once the Chaohu navy comes out, it can directly form a pincer attack on the Jiangdong troops together with the Jingzhou navy? Thinking of this, he suddenly remembered the special force that Zhou Yu had transferred to the north bank. After a brief thought, he said to everyone: "Don't be too happy, everyone. In my opinion, this is Zhou Yu's plan to lure our army into a decisive battle!" "If our navy goes to attack them, they will be defeated by the enemy!" By now, he had finally seen through Zhou Yu's thoughts, and it was impossible for him to let Zhou Yu plot against him again. When everyone saw this, they couldn't help but be surprised, thinking that Kong Ming really had learned the essence from Qin Zhen. Their words and actions were really somewhat similar! (End of this chapter)