Chapter 235: Zhou Yu Repents and Chases the Enemy While the Battle of Pengli Lake was taking place, Zhou Yu was pursuing Lu Su's troops. At this time on the river, Lu Su had the advantage in military strength, but was still moving eastward. Although Zhou Yu had few soldiers, he kept chasing Lu Su relentlessly. The two armies fired at each other along the way, and the shouts of killing echoed across the river, spreading for hundreds of miles. To be honest, under such pressure, if someone else were to lead the army, he would probably turn the ship around and fight Zhou Yu in anger. But Lu Su was different. The long period of recuperation not only strengthened the soldiers' fighting power, but also strengthened his will. He knows very well which battles can be fought and which battles cannot be fought! After making up his mind to seduce Zhou Yu, he headed eastward, urging his soldiers to row quickly, using rain of arrows and speed to wrestle with Zhou Yu's pursuing troops. On the other side, Zhou Yu led the navy to chase Lu Su, chasing him for nearly a hundred miles. But after chasing for a long time, he suddenly realized that something was wrong.

As a commander, in addition to comprehensive qualities in all aspects, battlefield sense is also a crucial factor. Zhou Yu just happens to be the kind of person with an extremely keen sense of smell on the battlefield! That is why he was able to help Sun Ce gain a foothold in Jiangdong with his own strength. As Lu Su continued to advance eastward, he sensed a sense of conspiracy. Because he knew Lu Su very well and knew that he was a man who would not make mistakes easily! Therefore, he designed this time very carefully and divided his troops almost as soon as the war began. In this way, even if Lu Su knew something was wrong, he could only come to test it. As long as Lu Su dares to test it, he will fall into his calculations! Sitting on such a strategic location as Pengli Lake, there are many changes, whether using Lu Su as bait to attack the Jingzhou army or using the Jingzhou army as bait. But this time, Lu Su made an unexpected choice. Instead of advancing, he left his troops on the eastern front? Is there a problem with this? After all, it is not a big problem! To put it bluntly, as a wise man and Liu Bei's naval commander, it would not be excessive for Lu Su to be cautious in testing him! The real problem is that Lu Su was so careful in the early stages, but the moment he heard that he was leading the troops, he did not choose to run away immediately, but waited until he came before retreating! This action was as if they knew he was coming and were waiting here on purpose. Thinking of this, Zhou Yu's heart sank, and he began to wonder what Lu Su's purpose was in doing this. Is he using me as bait to lure his navy eastward? This possibility certainly exists, but he is not worried. After all, the defenses of his water fort were quite tight. If the Jingzhou navy wanted to break through the camp, it would first provoke the reactions of Jiang Qin and Dong Xi. If these two generals can hold back the Jingzhou navy for a moment, then once his ambush troops come out from the north, the Jingzhou navy will be badly defeated! So he was not worried about the Jingzhou navy attacking his retreat route. But this would lead to another problem. Lu Su had just left Chaohu Lake and had to be so careful all the way! Why is such a bold strategy suddenly being used? Didn’t Lu Su know that if he was caught up by him, the overall strategy would fail? It can be said that there are many doubts here, making it difficult to understand what went wrong. After chasing for a hundred miles, Zhou Yu suddenly made a decision and shouted: "Pass on my military order, slow down immediately and don't chase me anymore!"

As soon as this order was given, a large number of soldiers passed the order to the entire army, and the offensive of the Jiangdong navy suddenly slowed down! Similarly, this order also caused Han Dang to be puzzled. He hurriedly climbed up the ship and asked: "Commander-in-chief, the enemy is right before our eyes, why should our army slow down?" Even though he was a veteran of battles, he was still confused by Zhou Yu's orders. The enemy had been well prepared before, and he said they could go, but Zhou Yu insisted on ordering the troops to go. Now they had finally caught up with the enemy and were about to catch up with them, but Zhou Yu ordered them to stop. This kind of inconsistent operation really made him a little confused. But when he asked this question, Zhou Yu said with a deep look on his face: "The enemy's move is unusual and seems to be an attempt to lure the enemy. Our army must not pursue them any further and wait and see how the enemy moves!" Faced with the current situation, it would be fruitless for him to continue pursuing the matter. The only way is to stop first and see what Lu Su does. If he stops chasing and Lu Su is still walking east, it proves that Lu Su is not luring him! If he stopped, Lu Su would stop as well, and that would be terrible! This proves that Lu Su was not the prey, but they were the real prey, and their rear had probably been attacked by the enemy. And if he wants to go back, he will have to accept Lu Su's pursuit! If the situation is reversed, he will immediately be put in an extremely disadvantageous position! After explaining this, he ordered the fleet to slow down and sent out scouts to investigate Lu Su's movements. At the same time, as the Jiangdong navy slowed down, Geng Qi informed Lu Su of the news. When Lu Su heard this, he stroked his short beard and smiled: "Zhou Gongjin must have sensed something was wrong and must be thinking of returning to the army." "Hurry up and pass the order down. All troops should speed up and do not stop, otherwise the enemy will take advantage of you!" Geng Qi was surprised when he heard this: "What do you mean, Commander? Our army is trying to lure the enemy troops and slow down their advance, so our army must stop." "Why do we speed up our march when we hear that the enemy is not advancing?" "This is Zhou Gongjin's plan to test our army's movements!" When Lu Su heard this, he smiled and said with confidence: "He must have discovered something strange about our army, so he slowed down to test us!" "If our army slows down accordingly, Zhou Yu will surely notice something unusual and can return." "Therefore, our army must speed up and make Zhou Yu give up this idea!" After listening to this, Geng Qi thought for a while, and then passed down Lu Su's order. The fleet under his command then accelerated again, directly widening the distance between the two armies. Han Dang saw this from behind and immediately slapped the railing: "Alas, the governor was too cautious and missed the opportunity to defeat the enemy!"

"The enemy is intent on escaping and is now pulling away. How can our army catch up?" As he spoke, Zhou Yu stared at the direction where Lu Su left, and his brows knitted together. He couldn't figure out where the problem was. Was he really wrong? But his intuition told him that there must be something wrong with Lu Su today. While thinking, he continued to give orders: "Pass on my military order. Turn around immediately and divide into five patrol boats. If you see the enemy returning, report to me immediately!" As the commander-in-chief, he gave the order and everyone followed it. Only Han Dang saw this and said with dissatisfaction: "What on earth is the commander-in-chief thinking about today that he is deploying troops in such a way!" "The enemy has left now, why do you still need to leave a sentry ship here?" "If the enemy troops are fleeing, why are they marching back here?" Facing Han Dang's question, Zhou Yu shook his head and said: "General Han, you don't know that Lu Zijing is a very cautious man." "Now that he is acting like this, I am worried that he might have a backup plan and join forces with the Jingzhou navy to attack our rear. We must be on guard!" "Although he has escaped now, he is very likely to return." "If we really let this man hide behind our army, we will be defeated if we are not prepared, so we must be so vigilant!" "I hope the general understands my heart and does not harbor any resentment!" Han Dang had no problem with Zhou Yu, but he was a little annoyed by being shaken around tonight. Now seeing Zhou Yu's explanation, he lowered his head and sighed, and said no more. The Jiangdong navy then changed direction and headed upstream again. Unexpectedly, only half an hour later, they saw a patrol boat coming up the waves behind them and shouting: "Commander-in-chief, the enemy has returned and is now chasing us!" Upon hearing this letter, all the generals were shocked, and Zhou Yu was even more terrified, and hurriedly shouted: "Oh no! Our rear may have been attacked. We must return as soon as possible!" At the command, the Jiangdong navy, which had been running for half the night, turned back to the west. After another hour of sailing, the moon was about to set, and a boat came from the west, shouting: "Commander-in-chief, something terrible has happened. The navy of Jingzhou has taken advantage of your absence to raid our water fort!" "Now they are fighting with our army, Beihu's troops have been ambushed by the enemy!" Hearing this, all the generals were horrified. Zhou Yu hurriedly shouted: "Our water stronghold cannot be lost. Follow me immediately to reinforce!" The Jiangdong navy originally had few soldiers and horses, but after defeating Liu Xun, they captured a large number of warships and expanded their forces to more than 8,000 soldiers and horses. When Zhou Yu fought against Huang Zu before, he divided his troops into two groups. He blocked Chungu with two thousand soldiers and defeated Huang Zu with six thousand soldiers. In the following battle, more than 500 soldiers were lost, and half of them were divided into two groups in Beihu Lake. Until the arrival of Chungu's troops, Zhou Yu had only more than 5,000 soldiers at his disposal. In this situation, if the Jingzhou navy only attacked at night, it would be difficult to break through his camp. But if the Jingzhou navy came out in full force, his troops would be hard to resist! If the reinforcements are not timely, once the water fort is breached, his navy will have no place to stand! Under his order, the Jiangdong navy rushed towards Pengli Lake again.

At the same time, in Pengli Lake, a great battle was coming to an end. Although the Jiangdong navy was powerful, it eventually began to retreat due to the numerical suppression of the Jingzhou navy. The two armies fought fiercely on the banks of the Chu River, with hands beating drums, bows and crossbows firing, arrows raining down, and the balance of the war gradually tilted. Under the double-sided attack from Su Fei and Gan Ning, a large number of Jiangdong navy soldiers began to jump into the river to survive, and countless people drowned. Only Deng Dang and Chen Bao got off the big ship, boarded a light boat, and fought hard before they broke through. Seeing this, Huang Shepai ​​Lan, who was watching the fight from a distance, laughed and said: "Thankfully, your army lured us away, and Zhou Yu's main force was driven away. Now that we have broken the enemy's water stronghold, our army no longer has to worry about anything on the river!" Originally, he was quite nervous about taking on the role of naval general. But now that the Pengli Lake Water Fort had been breached, he instantly became the biggest beneficiary. He didn't fight the battle, but the credit goes to him. Although he felt a little sorry for his father, he proved with actions that his father's approach wouldn't work. Therefore, it goes without saying that he was very happy at this moment, and he was really very happy. But Qin Zhen narrowed his eyes and looked at the situation on the river, then pointed to the east and said: "Brother Gongli, don't be too happy yet. Although we have won, the enemy still has troops escaping!" "Zhou Yu is still in the east. If he finds anything unusual, he will rush over to reinforce from the east." "We must immediately clean up the battlefield and pursue this army until Zhou Yu's troops are completely defeated!" Although Huang She was happy at this time, he frowned when he heard this: "The Art of War says, 'Don't pursue an enemy who is desperate.' If you do this, aren't you forcing Zhou Yu to fight back desperately?" "Our army has already broken into the enemy camp tonight. The soldiers are exhausted. How can we pursue them so easily?" Qin Zhen heard this, but shook his head with a firm look on his face and said: "That's wrong. In my opinion, we should chase down desperate enemies!" "You must know that Zhou Yu is an extraordinary warrior. Now he still has three to four thousand naval forces. If the evil is not completely eliminated, chaos will surely occur." "Although our soldiers are tired now, Zhou Yu was lured by our army for hundreds of miles, running back and forth, how could he not be tired?" "If we don't pursue him now, Zhou Yu will surely come back again when he has recovered his breath!" It is precisely when you are ill that he wants to kill you. If there is no chance, he would not say more. But now that he has seen the opportunity, he must fight to the death and will never give Zhou Yu another chance to turn the tables! Huang She listened to his suggestion, thought about it for a while, and then nodded. In fact, he was also a little nervous after being beaten by Zhou Yu, so when he saw Qin Zhen's persuasion, he naturally agreed. After this agreement, he continued to give orders, asking Cai Mao to lead Gan Ning, Huo Jun, Su Fei and others to quickly clean up the battlefield and form a battle array to pursue Deng Dang and others. Following his order, half an hour later, the Jingzhou army sent out hundreds of ships and chased towards the east.

(End of this chapter)