Chapter 232: Fighting on the River, Opportunity to Defeat the Enemy However, when Zhou Yu heard that Lu Su was going into battle, he was afraid that the navy of Jingzhou would notice something was wrong, so he ordered his general Dong Xi to challenge first. The Jingzhou navy sent out a little-known young general named Huo Du. In fact, although Huo Du's name is unfamiliar, he is not an unknown person. His younger brother Huo Jun is one of the famous generals of Shu Han. Before Huo Jun became independent, the troops were all led by Huo Du, who was also extremely brave and strong. After Huo Du received the order, he divided his troops and rushed out from the water fort to meet Dong Xi's ship. When the two armies were close to each other, Dong Xi was seen standing on the bow of the ship with a gun in his hand. Before his troops approached, he ordered his men to shoot indiscriminately. When Huo Du saw this, he hurriedly ordered his men to raise their shields to resist. Unexpectedly, as the boat approached, Dong Xi leaped up and jumped onto the boat. All at once, his warriors rushed forward with shields and spears in hand, and the two armies began to fight on the river. Seeing the enemy's bravery, Huo Du hurriedly fought with Dong Xi, trying to force him to retreat. He suddenly stabbed out with his spear, but was grabbed by Dong Xi.

The biggest difference between naval warfare and land warfare is that land warfare relies on horsepower, while naval warfare relies on ship power. When Dong Xi grabbed Huo Du's spear, Huo Du suddenly turned his body to the side, trying to throw Dong Xi into the river. Unexpectedly, just as he turned his body to the side, he saw Dong Xi's body suddenly tilted and threw him directly into the river. Without waiting for Huo Du to surface, Dong Xi thrust his spear down again. In an instant, the river water turned red. When his subordinates saw it, they were all horrified. Upon seeing this, the Jiangdong navy shouted "General, you are mighty" and charged forward, forcing the Jingzhou army to flee in disarray. Cai Mao and others standing on the water fort were all shocked when they saw this. Only Qin Zhen hurriedly ordered Gan Ning to say: "This battle is difficult to win. Go quickly to support them and don't let General Huo Du get hurt!" Upon hearing this, Gan Ning led five patrol boats to meet them, shouting as he advanced: "Gan Ning and Gan Xingba are here, do the enemy dare to fight me?" When Dong Xi heard that Gan Ning was coming, he wanted to step forward to fight, but before he could move, he heard Zhou Yu sounding the horn to call back his troops in the distance. In desperation, he had to lead his troops back towards the direction of the fleet. Seeing the enemy retreat, Gan Ning did not want to fight any longer. He stepped forward to reorganize his troops, picked up Huo Du, and then headed towards the water stronghold. Dong Xian returned to the army and said to Zhou Yu in a somewhat indignant tone: "I just won a victory and was about to fight Gan Ning to the death. Why did the commander-in-chief call off the troops?" When Zhou Yu heard this, he comforted him and said: "Our army will have its time to defeat the enemy. We are here today to weaken their spirit. We will defeat the Chaohu troops tomorrow and then come here to defeat them!" Although he said this, he was actually afraid that Dong Xian was no match for Gan Ning. After all, Ling Cao died at the hands of Gan Ning last time because he underestimated the enemy. Although Dong Xian is brave and strong, he may not be able to defeat Gan Ning. Now they are just making a feint. If Gan Ning kills another general, they will suffer a great loss! After feeling relieved, he saw Gan Ning and others enter the water fort, and then led his troops along the river bank towards the east. On the other side, Gan Ning rescued Huo Du and returned to the village, only to find that Huo Du's chest had been pierced by a spear, with blood gushing out and difficult to stop.

In this era, such serious injuries can basically be regarded as death, and everyone is sad to see it. As everyone was watching, they suddenly saw a young man of about eighteen or nineteen years old rushing out of the crowd, throwing himself on Huo Du and bursting into tears. After Huang She asked, he found out that the man's name was Huo Jun, and he was Huo Du's brother. He was not as ruthless as Huang Zu. Upon seeing this, he ordered people to carry Huo Du to seek medical treatment. After everyone carried Huo Du away, he looked at Zhou Yu's troops going away and sighed: "In the past, I only thought that my Jingzhou navy was strong, but now that I have seen the Jiangdong navy, I know what a strong army is!" "Although the enemy has few soldiers and horses, their generals are brave, and Zhou Yu is both wise and brave. How can we defeat them?" Upon hearing this, all the generals were silent. Zhou Yu was like a piece of iron. They had lost both battles, so how could they have the will to fight! Only Cai Mao stroked his beard and pondered for a long time, then suggested to Qin Zhen: "Now that Zhou Yu is here, it will be difficult for our army to defeat him. What plans do you have, my dear brother?" When Qin Zhen heard this, he knew that Cai Mao was really hinting at him to find a solution from the east, and he immediately laughed and said: "As for strategies to defeat the enemy, we do have them. Zhou Yu may seem strong, but he can't do it alone!" "If you want to defeat the enemy, you should coordinate with the east and west. Otherwise, your army should continue to hold this place." "Zhen will go east first and find a way to defeat Chungu's troops, then lead the navy to help!" "But the river route is blocked by the enemy right now. If we try to go there by land, it will take a long time." "It would be best to borrow some boats and head directly across the river to Spring Valley, which would be the most convenient way!" In fact, with the arrival of Cai Mao, he also intended to return to the east, but the war situation had not yet stabilized and he could not go east. Now that the battle was over, he could see that Zhou Yu did not dare to attack easily. The two families have reached a stalemate. If we want to break this situation, we have to start from their side. Hearing Qin Zhen's request for a ship, Cai Mao nodded and said: "My dear brother, what you said is not wrong. Since our two families are allies, let's not talk about borrowing." "Our army can directly dispatch some ships to Liu Yuzhou, as long as we can defeat Zhou Yu!" He also knew that Liu Bei's army was short of ships, so he took this opportunity to do Qin Zhen a favor. As he said this, he looked at Huang She. Huang She didn't have much objection to this. To him, these ships and soldiers were public property, so giving some to Qin Zhen was just a matter of convenience. However, he was a little worried about Qin Zhen's idea of ​​forcing a breakthrough: "Sir, do you really want to cross the river? You must know that Zhou Yu is an extraordinary commander of the army. It may be difficult to break through his army!" Qin Zhen saw this and was about to speak when he saw Gan Ning pat his chest and said: "Your Excellency, do not need to worry about this matter. Just give me a ship and twenty to thirty speedboats, and even if Zhou Yu comes in person, I can still take you across the river!" After he made this statement, Qin Zhen patted Gan Ning on the shoulder and said with a smile: "I have Xingba's guards, even Zhou Yu can't stop me from going forward!" Seeing the two of them like this and thinking of Gan Ning's bravery, Huang She stopped trying to persuade them. Then he dispatched a tower ship, ten warships, and thirty speedboats to command Gan Ning. After arriving at the camp, Gan Ning excitedly asked Qin Zhen when he thought about heading east: "Sir, the situation here has stabilized now, and we have obtained a warship. I wonder when we will set off?"

Seeing him so excited, Qin Zhen shook his head and smiled: "This is not urgent. Zhou Yu is an extraordinary warrior. He has not made any moves in the past few days. I don't know what he is planning." "I have sent Kong Ming to Lujiang to observe the enemy's movements. If you want to go there, you must get intelligence from the east." "Let's send a trusted person across the river first to find out what Zhou Yu did before we can act!" When Gan Ning heard this, he said indifferently: "Sir, you are indeed too cautious. I think Zhou Yu may not be very capable!" "Since there is a plan, we can find out after we cross the river. Why delay here?" Seeing his arrogant look, Qin Zhen shook his head and smiled: "Xingba, that's not true. You should know that it's better to be safe than sorry!" "Zhou Yu's military prowess is extraordinary. We should never underestimate him. We can never be too careful!" Perhaps in the eyes of Gan Ning and others, Zhou Yu's use of troops was mediocre and there was nothing special about it. But Qin Zhen knew that Zhou Yu's level was far beyond that, and he had to be extremely careful when facing Zhou Yu. Having said this, he sent people to cross the river from Xiazhi and head north to Lujiang by land to gather intelligence. He took Gan Ning back to the camp to visit Huo Du who had just been seriously injured. He said he was visiting Huo Du, but actually he wanted to communicate more with Huo Jun. After all, Huo Jun was also one of the generals who died young in the Shu Han camp. In the original history, Huo Jun followed Liu Bei into Shu. When Liu Bei returned to attack Liu Zhang, it was Huo Jun who helped Liu Bei guard the Jiameng Pass as his retreat route. With only a few hundred soldiers and horses, they resisted the attack of Fu Jin and Xiang Cun's army of more than ten thousand under Liu Zhang. Not only did he hold on, he also led his troops to attack and beheaded Xiang Cun. Such a great general died at the age of only thirty-nine. It can be said that if Huo Jun had not died early, it would probably not have been Wei Yan's turn to serve as the prefect of Hanzhong. Such talents must be won over in advance no matter what, so as to avoid them joining someone else's team in the future. With this thought in mind, he went to Huo Du's tent to visit. When Huo Jun saw that it was Qin Zhen who had just rescued his brother, he hurried forward to thank him. When Qin Zhen saw this, he said with a righteous look: "Zhong Miao, there is no need to do this. General Huo was seriously injured because of our army. Seeing that he is in danger, we should do our best to save him!" "But I don't know what the general's condition is. Can he be treated?" When Huo Jun heard this, tears filled his eyes and he said: "The doctor came to see me just now and said that my brother's condition was hopeless. He bandaged him and left immediately." "My brother is unconscious now, I think he will die soon!" Seeing this, Qin Zhen hurried into the tent to take a look at Huo Du, and sighed in his heart.

To be honest, Huo Du was also a brave general, and it was a pity that he died in this way. But in this era, even penetrating wounds from bows and arrows are difficult to treat, let alone penetrating wounds from spears! After looking at it for a while, he comforted Huo Jun for a while, and then returned to the camp with Gan Ning. It was night before Huo Du breathed his last. After the news spread, everyone in the camp was filled with grief. When Qin Zhen heard this, he also sighed for a while. It had been many years since the end of the Han Dynasty. Although he was accustomed to separation and death, he still felt sad. He then wrote an elegy and sent it to Huo Jun overnight. Another two days passed, and news from Lujiang finally arrived. But this time, it was not a question of Zhou Yu's movements, but a handwritten letter from Zhuge Liang. It is said that Zhou Yu deployed special forces on the north bank of Pengli Lake and withdrew the defensive troops from Chungu, most likely to lure their troops to come and annihilate them. Now Lu Su proposed a plan, preparing to lure Zhou Yu downstream and suggesting that the Jingzhou army launch a surprise attack on Zhou Yu's rear. After reading the letter, Qin Zhen's sadness turned into joy, just like Zhou Yu who found the east wind on the battlefield. He smiled and said to everyone: "Kong Ming is very capable. Now that we have received this letter, it is time for our army to defeat the enemy!" Having said this, and without receiving any response from the crowd, he went to the military tent and called Cai Mao and Huang She and said: "Now the enemy is about to withdraw its troops from Chungu, and they want to lure our army and annihilate it." "Now that our army has discovered this, we are ready to use the same trick to lure Zhou Yu's troops out." "If we want to defeat Zhou Yu, this is the time. Please quickly organize your troops and don't miss this God-given opportunity!" When Cai Mao and Huang She heard this, they were both excited and asked Qin Zhen how he knew about this. Qin Zhen then handed Zhuge Liang's letter to the two of them for them to read. Originally, according to Zhuge Liang's idea, he was planning to trap the Jingzhou army. But after finding out Zhou Yu's intention, he discovered that the other party's target was not the Jingzhou army but them. In this case, the best option is to tell the truth. It was clearly written in his letter, and when the two of them read it, they were both surprised and delighted. What shocked people was that Zhou Yu had secretly ambushed troops on the north bank of Pengli Lake. The good news is that with the arrival of this letter, the ambush is no longer a threat. The two of them no longer hesitated. On the one hand, they prepared their troops, and on the other hand, they sent spies to the west bank of Pengli Lake to observe the movements of Zhou Yu's troops. After waiting for a whole day, until the next night, they finally saw Zhou Yu's troops marching out. Seeing this, Huang She, following Cai Mao's advice, divided his troops into three groups: one for the surprise attack, one for the rear guard, and one for the rest of the group to provide support in the rear. After the decision was made, the Jingzhou navy set out again and marched towards the east in a mighty force. (End of this chapter)