Chapter 431 The Final Battle

"General, how should we respond?"

After learning that Lu Bu wanted to attack Jiangdong, Wei Yan knew that the last battle in the world was about to begin. He looked at Zhang Liao impatiently. This was the last battle. Whether he could be granted a title or not would depend on it.

"Map!" Zhang Liao nodded and immediately asked someone to hang up the map. He came to the map and said: "I, Gongming, and Wen Chang are not good at water battles, so this battle still needs General Huang to preside over. This is The letters sent by the princes officially appointed General Huang, General Wen, General Liu and General Wang to the military positions. The old general was in charge of the naval warfare and led the Jingzhou Navy down the river to wait for opportunities to defeat the enemy navy. "

Although Zhang Liaojue's appointment was a bit risky, after all, not long after Huang Zhong and Wenpin surrendered, Lu Bu asked them to lead the army alone. If they were instigated by the enemy, it would be no small matter for them. Therefore, Zhang Liao secretly asked Jiang Xu to As the governor of Nanjun, he presided over the affairs of Nanjun and allowed a large number of Shu troops to enter Jingzhou by water.

In this way, even if Jingzhou Navy rebels, Nan County can be protected.

"General Huang leads an army alone?" Wei Yan and Xu Huang looked at Zhang Liao in shock. They had the same doubts as Zhang Liao.

"Exactly." Zhang Liao nodded seriously, looked at Huang Zhong and said, "Old General, you will be in charge of this battle on the water."

"The lieutenant is so trusting of me?" Huang Zhong stood up, took over the appointment and looked at Zhang Liao in surprise.

"My lord has made it clear in his letter that he does not trust those he employs and does not trust those he suspects. He has heard the deeds of the old general and believes that the old general is definitely not that kind of treacherous person!" Zhang Liaosurong said.

However, based on his understanding of Lu Bu, I am afraid that Lu Bu's side is not afraid of the Jingzhou Navy's surrender and rebellion, so they would be so bold as to hand over the Navy directly to a newly surrendered general.

Huang Zhong said with emotion: "Since the Taiwei dares to believe it, then the general will be shattered to pieces. He must achieve this feat to live up to the Taiwei's trust!"

"General, what should we do?" Wei Yan looked at Zhang Liao and asked.

"Take the land route!" Zhang Liao pointed to the direction of Guiyang and said: "We will get here by boat and enter the Ganjiang River via Yichun. Then we will attack by both land and water. Even though the navy in the east of the Yangtze River is powerful, if it is a land battle, it will definitely not be our army. adversary!"

The most convenient thing about fighting in the south is that the crisscrossing waterways can greatly save manpower. Even if there are no railroad tracks here, they can still transport supplies by water and land, which is much more convenient than in the north.

Of course, another point of fighting in the south is that the land south of Jing is full of miasma, especially for generals born in the north like Zhang Liao and Xu Huang.

However, Zhang Liao came out of Shu this time and brought with him 20,000 soldiers trained by various ethnic groups in southern Xinjiang. These people were no strangers to this environment, and they were also the main force in this battle.

As for the Nanyang army brought by Wei Yan, they will stay in Jingzhou. Wei Yan and Xu Huang will follow Zhang Liao and go straight to Yuzhang by land. Of course, this distance is a bit far. If they start from Guiyang and go all the way to Chaisang by land, they will not consider other things. Factors, the distance alone is 800 miles, while the water route is only 300 miles, and it is downstream. If the wind is in the right direction, they can reach Chaisang in one day. And if they take the land route, based on the terrain there, it is conservatively estimated that they will not be able to reach Chaisang. We have to go for a month, this is the gap!

In addition, it is almost impossible to avoid causing trouble in the four prefectures, so Zhang Liao's journey is much more difficult than Huang Zhong's. Of course, the premise is that Huang Zhong can break through the obstruction of the Jiangdong Navy.

Jiangdong was able to finally stabilize after Sun Ce's death in battle. In addition to Sun Quan's real power and the support of Sun Ce's team such as Zhou Yu and Taishi Ci, the Jiangdong navy was also an important reason. Yuan Shu wanted to send troops to cross the river, but he couldn't do anything with other people's navy. , the navy is Jiangdong's biggest support, and it is not easy for Huang Zhong to break it.

Although he was coordinating the main attack, just like Wei Yan's bombardment of Xiangyang, Zhang Liao naturally wanted to make more contributions in this final battle. Huang Zhong's men may not be able to break through the defense of the Jiangdong navy. Although Zhang Liao's army is in trouble It took a while, but with the Jingzhou navy, the supplies accumulated in the Yiling area in Shu could be transported continuously by water. Maybe he would have to rely on his team to conquer Yuzhang in the end.

The plan was decided and they immediately split up. Zhang Liao sent an order to Jiang Xu to prepare a supply of grain and grass. He then led his army by boat into Dongting Lake, directly into Guiyang, and then by land to Yuzhang.

Huang Zhong then moved the Jingzhou navy to Jiangxia, hoping to defeat Chaisang and enter Yuzhang first with Zhang Liao to prove that Lu Bu was right.

On the other side, here in Jiangdong, before Lu Bu sent a message to Zhang Liao, he had ordered Pang De to lead his army to capture Hefei. Although Hefei was strong and guarded by Jiangdong generals such as Taishi Ci and Lu Meng, under normal circumstances, it would take a lot of effort to conquer Hefei. cost.

However, this time, in the face of thousands of cannons firing and thunderbolts blasting the walls, the city walls of Hefei were collapsed. Taishi Ci and Lu Meng could only exit Hefei in embarrassment under the rain of arrows.

The battle of Hefei ended in less than three days with the city defeated and fled. Afterwards, the three armies of Hua Xiong, Xu Rong, and Gao Shun attacked in separate directions, with great momentum all the way. Jiangdong Army had no power to fight back on the north bank and was beaten until it retreated. After entering the Yangtze River, they relied on the superiority of the navy to stabilize their position.

There was no way, Gan Ning's fleet had not arrived yet, and Lu Bu did not have the navy to continue the pursuit. He could only set up artillery arrays along the river and build a defense line to prevent the Jiangdong navy from approaching.

Taishi Ci and Lu Meng's disgraced cannon fodder Moling returned to life.

"Is the Vulcan Cannon really that powerful?" Zhou Yu frowned and looked at Tai Shici. It was impossible for these two people to lie to him, but Hefei fell in three days, and the long-standing defense line was defeated by Lu Bu in less than half a month. The fragmentation was really hard for Zhou Yu to accept.

Taishi Ci smiled wryly and nodded, recalling the scene of the destruction of Hefei City, and said with emotion: "The general knew that the governor did not believe it, but the Vulcan cannon attacked the city at least 500 steps away, and a stone bullet fell on the city wall. Those who were hit had their limbs shattered immediately and had no chance of survival. The Hefei city wall collapsed after being bombarded for three days. "

Generally speaking, when attacking a city, the most important thing is to hit the city gate, but the Guanzhong Army attacked the city wall. Hefei had been reinforced by them for many years. If the city wall like this was suddenly demolished, how could we fight this battle?

On the side, Lu Meng added: "We originally wanted to rely on street fighting to hold off the enemy troops until reinforcements were sent. Unexpectedly, the Guanzhong army each wore two armors, and the weapons in their hands were far better than ours. The commander saw that the sword of the general was actually following. A small soldier fought and died!"

As he spoke, Lu Meng pulled out his broken sword. This was a weapon made by a famous Jiangdong craftsman, but it was cut off when he was attacking a small soldier of the opponent!

The weapon held by a small soldier can be called a magic weapon, and the two armors are also quite strong. Unless they hit a place without armor, a knife will not be able to break through the defense at all.

Not to mention that the Guanzhong Army's crossbows were so arrogant when they fired. Their crossbows didn't dare to fire more. They didn't stop from the beginning to the end. How can this cause trouble?

The process of retreating this way is almost like a race against life. If you run slowly, you will basically have no chance of survival.

Of the eight thousand defenders of Hefei, less than a thousand came back alive. It was not that the soldiers fought desperately, but that they were killed by the overwhelming rain of arrows before they could even escape.

Zhou Yu clasped his hands and looked solemnly. He thought that after Lu Bu defeated Cao Cao, he would stop fighting for a while, but he didn't expect it to come so fast, and most importantly, it would come so violently.

I thought it was a bit exaggerated to see Cao Cao defeated so simply. Could it be that Cao Cao was old? Now it seems that it is not that Cao Cao is weak, but that Lu Bu is too strong. In less than a month, both Jiujiang and Lujiang counties were lost. If it were not blocked by the river, even Jiangdong would be difficult to defend.

"Captain, although this battle is lost, Lu Bu has no navy. Our army is stationed in the east of the Yangtze River. Even Lu Bu can't attack him. We can fight with him across the river." Lu Meng said quickly when he saw Zhou Yu didn't speak.

Lu Su on the side heard this and shook his head with a wry smile: "Zi Ming doesn't know. Cai Mao has sent a letter before, and Nanjun has been defeated by the Nanyang army. Now Liu Cong and Jingzhou civil and military forces have retreated to Jingnan. If Lu Bu is allowed to cross the river in Jingzhou, , they can completely avoid the navy and attack our Jiangdong via Yuzhang. How will we defend it then?"

"So fast!?" Lu Meng looked at Lu Su in astonishment. Seeing Lu Su nodding affirmatively, his heart became a little heavy. Jingzhou must be just a side force, but it actually defeated the Jingzhou army so badly?

But thinking about the Battle of Hefei, if the Nanyang Army also had weapons such as the Vulcan Cannon, it would not be surprising that Jingzhou would fall.

"Zijing, I need to trouble you to go to Jingzhou and discuss with Cai Mao to jointly blockade the river!" Zhou Yu looked at Lu Su and said, there was some friction between Jiangdong and Jingzhou. After all, Sun Ce had been plotting against Jingzhou when he was alive. After Sun Quan came to power, he actually coveted Jingzhou, but no matter what, with the current situation, he could only firmly control Dajiang first.

Even if they want to annex Jingzhou now, it's too late. It's better to cooperate first and wait until Lu Bu retreats.

"Lord..." Lu Su nodded and looked at Zhou Yu worriedly.

Sun Quan was a little hesitant about confronting Lu Bu this time. Some people in Jiangdong suggested surrendering. After all, the world was fighting here, and Jiangdong would only be safe in a small corner at best, and would have to endure the pain of war. Now if Jiangbei is so quick to hear that Being completely occupied by Lu Bu, I am afraid that Sun Quan's resistance will be even more shaken.

"I will discuss with the lord and advise him not to give up. After all, although Lu Bu has succeeded, we still have the upper hand on this river. As long as we can defeat Lu Bu in one battle, we can do it in one battle." Ten years of stability!" Zhou Yu said solemnly.

Lu Su nodded silently when he heard this. Since Zhou Yu already had a plan in mind, he didn't need to say more.

At that moment, Lu Su got up and went to Jingnan to discuss joining forces with Cai Mao and others.

After Zhou Yu appeased Taishi Ci and Lu Meng, he asked Lu Meng to go to Chaisang to assist in the garrison. Although He Qi was already there, An was prepared for the worst. If Jingnan was breached by Zhang Liao, Yuzhang's defense would be insufficient and must be strengthened. Just send troops. After all these arrangements are made, Taishi Ci will be left to garrison the camp while he goes to see Sun Quan. In any case, Sun Quan's will needs to be firm at this time!

－－－－－－Digression－－－－－

I don’t know what’s wrong, there’s no internet here today.