While Fei Qian and Pang Tong were discussing the issue of Liu Pan and the scepter he brought, Cao's army had converged in Jingzhou, and the forwards Cao Hong and Xiahou Dun were approaching Xiangyang again.

However, because they were afraid of the Gan-Ning navy, Cao Hong and Xiahou Dun did not set up camp close to Xiangyang. Instead, they placed their main forces in Fancheng, and then naturally discussed how to solve the current situation in Xiangyang.

Xiahou Dun said: "Although the Liu family has occupied Xiangyang for a long time and has a solid foundation, which cannot be defeated in a hurry, it cannot conquer Xiangyang quickly, and it will inevitably delay the Lord's important affairs. Now the Xiangyang navy is displayed in front, which is really worrying. If it cannot be cut off, it may not be possible.

Enter."

Xiahou Dun's words are also the current difficulty. Gan Ning's navy has now become an obstacle in front of Xiahou Dun. If it cannot be pulled out, it will be impossible for the horse to set foot in Jingzhou...

As he said that, Xiahou Dun and Cao Hong both looked at Cai Mao.

In land battles, Xiahou Dun and Cao Hong had no problems, but in the battle mode on the water, neither of them was as good as Cai Mao.

Before this, neither Xiahou Dun, Cao Hong, nor Cao Cao felt how important the navy was, or even felt that it was necessary to form a navy. But now, after being frustrated, they suddenly realized

It seems that I am short of a piece.

"If you want to conquer Xiangyang, you must first defeat the navy. Otherwise, you will have troubles in the future..." Cao Hong also said, "Furthermore, if we really conquer Xiangyang and Jiangdong... if we let them come and go, what will happen?"

Can it be done?』

Cai Mao was a little helpless. Are there any of you who only come here to trick me when shit is about to happen?

But in fact, this is also the case in history. After Cao Cao conquered Jingzhou, he was even more anxious when facing Chibi than he is now...

From the Spring and Autumn Period to the Warring States Period, and then to the Qin and Han Dynasties, the status of the navy has always been low. Of course, it cannot laugh at a hundred steps. After all, the feudal dynasties of later generations have also seen how much they attach great importance to the Chinese navy. After the Ming Dynasty was short-lived, they

Self-destruction of martial arts...

Cai Mao did have some methods, but these methods were originally reserved for use against Cao Cao when the time was right, so that he could finally gain control of Xiangyang in Jingzhou, but what he didn't expect was that he would now be

He was forced to show his methods, because it was obvious that apart from him, neither Xiahou Dun nor Cao Hong had anything good to do against the Jingzhou navy...

After intense preparations, General Cao Jun left Fancheng, went down the Han River, and marched to Xiangyang again.

Gan Ning's scouts who stayed in the Han River quickly discovered Cao Jun's movements and immediately reported it to Gan Ning Wenpin and others. Although the Xiangyang Bridge had been destroyed, if Cao Jun controlled both sides of the Han River, it would not be easy to build a pontoon bridge.

A difficult thing.

Wenpin felt that the arrival of Cao Jun was a bit strange. After all, Cao Jun was defeated recently and did not have enough naval force. Wenpin was a little confused by Cao Jun's actions this time. But Gan Ning didn't understand if he didn't understand. He certainly didn't understand it anyway.

Maybe if the stalemate continues like this, there will eventually be a fight. Since Cao's army is dispatched, let's fight.

Cao Jun took his time and walked thirty miles a day. The baggage ships carrying food were in the Han River, accompanying the troops on land. Every day when the sun just turned west, Cao Jun would set up camp and rest early.

This attitude confused Scout Gan Ning.

Cao's army's marching speed was neither too fast nor too slow. It was quite satisfactory and there was nothing wrong with it. However, the baggage ships in the Han River looked like living baits no matter how you looked at them. More than a dozen warships were filled with food and grass.

The ship didn't have any decent naval escort, so this was obviously a flaw deliberately exposed.

However, the obvious flaw made Gan Ning hesitate, so that the Jingzhou navy did not attack for a long time. Both Cao Hong and Xiahou Dun were veterans of many years of fighting. It is impossible not to know the importance of food and grass.

If Gan Ning hadn't beaten him before, this kind of mistake might have occurred, but now that Cao Jun is doing this, it's probably a trap...

However, just after such a hesitation, Cao Jun had already advanced to Xiangyang's attack circle.

Can't delay it any longer. As soon as Gan Ning and his navy tried to make contact, Cao's army immediately stopped advancing and set up camp on the spot. They also connected the land and water villages to echo each other. Although the Jingzhou navy was still confused,

However, after Gan Ning sent out a large number of scouts for detection, no specific ambush was discovered by Cao Jun. So after weighing the situation, Gan Ning could no longer restrain his impulse and launched a tentative attack.

Cao Jun relied on the military stronghold on the land to defend, dragged all the baggage ships to the shore, and then set up crossbow positions on the land, facing Gan Ning's navy to counterattack in full. Facing numerous crossbows

, Gan Ning's navy did not dare to be careless, and tested step by step, looking for flaws.

Cao Hong set up a command post on the high ground on the shore. Looking at the fighting soldiers on both sides, his mind went to other places. Cao Hong knew very well that in the face of these grains and grass, even if Gan Ning's side was tempted, there was a limit.

The battle has not yet begun, but once the real battle begins, it will be thrilling.

The two sides fought fiercely for most of the day, each suffering injuries, but none of them were fatal.

Gan Ning's navy tried to set fire to Cao Jun's baggage ship several times, but it was obvious that Cao Jun had made a lot of preparations. Whenever there was a fire, Cao Jun covered it with wet sand, and there was no chance for it to continue burning. Gan Ning's side

The same is true. Most of the casualties on both sides were caused by flowing arrows, and there were not many direct physical injuries...

After nightfall, Gan Ning's navy withdrew to a safe distance and maintained surveillance on Cao's army.

For Gan Ning, it is not necessarily necessary to defeat Cao Hong immediately. As long as Cao Jun cannot approach Xiangyang easily, it is also considered a victory. As for Cao Jun's baggage ships, he can burn them if they can. If they can't, they can block them.

It doesn't make much sense to rush in and burn it with heavy casualties.

At midnight, Cao Hong closed his eyes and lay down with his clothes on.

Suddenly there were footsteps outside the big tent. As soon as Cao Hong opened his eyes, he immediately turned over and sat up. In fact, he had not slept all this time, he was just dozing off. "What's the matter?"

"General, there is news..." the guard outside the tent whispered.

Cao Hong opened the curtain of the big tent, walked out, and said in a deep voice: "What's going on?"

"Everything is ready..."

Cao Hong did not speak immediately, but stood outside the tent. After thinking for a while, he waved his hand vigorously: "Pass an order from a certain general and act according to plan!"

Gan Ning soon received a report from the scouts, saying that Cao Jun was making moves, and then followed Cao Jun to detect, and found that Cao Jun secretly built a pontoon bridge upstream...

"So that's it!" Gan Ning sneered, "Are you using this camp to attract someone, and then trying to go around and raid Xiangyang? Come, send a message to Xiangyang!"

The messengers left in a hurry, telling the Xiangyang defenders to be more vigilant.

Gan Ning, with his hands behind his back, circled twice. Now he had two choices. One was to retreat and defend with Xiangyang City, and the other was to march forward to destroy the pontoon bridge and defeat Cao Jun's plan.

After a while, Gan Ning ordered the attack.

The reason is very simple. Gan Ning doesn't like to retreat and defend.

Gan Ning left a small part of the navy to monitor Cao Hong's part of Cao's army, and took most of it up the Han River and rushed to the place where Cao's army built the pontoon bridge. After all, Cao Hong's army was mainly based on the army, and the water was just

They were just some baggage ships, so Gan Ning naturally didn't think that Cao Hong would pose any threat to his navy, so he could just monitor it from a distance.

The place where Cao Jun built the pontoon bridge was naturally a relatively narrow area on both sides of the Han River.

Cao Jun cut down some trees, and it seems that he first used the wood to form rafts, and then connected the rafts to form a pontoon bridge. This is also a commonly used method of building pontoon bridges.

But what Gan Ning didn't expect was that Cao Jun would target him from the beginning...

Xiahou Dun and Cao Hong didn't understand Gan Ning's temper very well, but Cai Hao did. Cai Hao had always observed and carefully studied these generals in Jingzhou, especially Gan Ning under Liu Biao, so Gan Ning's every move was almost always under the influence of Liu Biao.

Cai Mao's deduction!

An ordinary person might have retreated to Xiangyang, but Gan Ning would probably choose to attack the pontoon!

On the battlefield, you can make a bet with a 50% chance, let alone an 80% certainty?

If you want to defeat Gan Ning's navy, you must create favorable geographical conditions so that Gan Ning cannot escape in a short period of time and severely damage his navy. The small water area at the pontoon just meets such conditions. This is carefulness.

Choose a good battlefield.

Gan Ning initially thought that Cao's army on land was moving slowly anyway. If he could not make a single attack, it would not be a big problem to go down the river to Xiangyang. Even if Cao's army retreated by then, Cao's army would not have ships, so he could not even think of pursuing him.

Besides, on the water, who else can defeat him?

So Gan Ning thought there was nothing wrong with him.

However, Cao Jun's goal this time was not to engage in a water battle with Gan Ning. Instead, he focused his attack on Gan Ning's ships.

No matter how powerful Gan Ning is, it is impossible to protect all the ships under his command from harm. Once these ships are destroyed, Gan Ning, no matter how powerful his water warfare ability is, will be useless...

So, when Gan Ning led his navy to attack Cao's army who was pretending to build a pontoon bridge, Xiahou Dun gave the order to attack in an orderly manner.

As the battle progressed, Gan Ning, who had just come ashore and was about to destroy the pontoon, soon discovered that something was wrong...

These guys don't care about the Boardwalk!

Cao Jun obviously came prepared. The rafts that originally looked like they were tied up to build a pontoon were actually used to destroy ships! Large iron nails were installed on the front of the rafts. Once they hit the ships, they would easily get stuck.

It was on the side of the ship, and the raft was piled with fire starters, which were quickly ignited by the rockets fired by the archers on the shore!

There were rafts and wooden piles constantly thrown out along the current in front of him. Gan Ning originally set up a formation to land and destroy the pontoon bridge. Now he wanted to retract the anchor and turn around, but because he was in a small water area, it was difficult to turn around for a while.

.

The iron chains that were originally hidden on the river bed were twisted up, cutting across the surface of the Han River. At the same time, more and more rafts were thrown out, and there were even half-cut branches and branches, tumbling messily in the current.

Colliding and getting caught between Gan Ning's ships.

The Jingzhou navy soldiers struggled to push away these debris. However, the barbs and nails mixed in the debris were not easy to deal with once they were nailed to the side of the ship. More and more wooden piles and rafts were entangled.

Then the boats became slower and slower, and they were jammed together...

The greater the congestion, the more things gathered together, and the flames began to spread from the raft to the ship!

"Kill! Kill out!"

Gan Ning drew his sword, roared fiercely, fought hard, and broke through the siege of Cao Jun on the shore. He led his men back to the ship and ordered the ship to turn around. He knew very well that if he could not quickly open a breakthrough, he would be blocked by Cao Jun.

If they live in waterways, these Jingzhou ships on the water will sooner or later turn into torches, and they will not be able to escape even if they want to.

Every Jingzhou navy also understood this. They followed Gan Ning and fought hard to break out of the encirclement, pushing away the rafts and even their own boats blocking the way. Flames rose and thick smoke billowed. From time to time, some people were so smoked by the fireworks that they fell headlong from the boats.

Entered the Han River!

Xiahou Dun was not idle either. Although he failed to leave Gan Ning directly on the land, he still continued to give orders amidst the sound of war drums. Under the cover of the shield soldiers, the crossbowmen continued to shoot arrows from the shore.

The crossbow arrows were mixed with rockets, making Gan Ning's Jingzhou Navy more and more confused and at a loss to deal with it.
To be continued...