The dark night enveloped the Yangtze River, the sky was covered with red clouds, and there were fine and dense snow floating, the north wind was howling, and the weather was particularly cold. The Cao army naval camp at Ruxukou was deserted, and most soldiers hid in the barracks to avoid the cold winter, and half of the soldiers patrolled were less than usual.

This is also normal. At the beginning, the Cao army was particularly vigilant. There were soldiers on the naval patrol day and night, and they did not dare to slack off at all. However, as time gradually progressed, the Cao army's vigilance gradually relaxed. But more importantly, Liu Jing and Cao Cao reached a five-year armistice agreement. The two were in Jianye at this time. The three families temporarily sought peace, so they had no motivation and significance to launch a war. It was precisely this that Cao Cao's naval army's defense was obviously relaxed. Even Zhang Liao believed that Liu Jing's garrison in Wuhu was just a gesture, mainly aimed at Jiangdong, not Cao's army.

Cao Cao's naval army is located in the mouth of the Ruxu River, not above the Yangtze River. There are four beacon towers on both sides of the estuary. Once the enemy is discovered, the beacon fire will be ignited immediately to call the police. But tonight, the stars and moons are covered by thick red clouds, and the river surface is dark. You can only see at most thirty steps away on the mail tower. For the Ruxu River estuary, which is hundreds of feet wide, a blind spot dozens of feet wide appeared.

Zhang Liao also knew that this blind spot was more dangerous, so in this case, he used a mobile sentry boat to supplement the patrol. There were indeed several ships in the mouth of the Ruxu River, but the patrol was not active, but lazily parked in fixed seats. The soldiers on the boat could not resist the cold wind on the river surface, and they wrapped the thick blankets tightly and went into the narrow cabin to sleep. Only one soldier outside observed the movements on the river surface.

The soldier was also extremely distressed, wrapped in a thick blanket. While dozing off, he cursed in a low voice, "I was watching the night before yesterday, and I was me again tonight. Why, you guys will only bully foreigners."

Most of Cao Cao's 20,000 naval troops were from the Jianghuai area, trained by Zhang Liao, but there were also a very small number of northern soldiers. Due to regional discrimination, the Jianghuai soldiers in the army would be looked down upon and humiliated by the northern soldiers. Similarly, the northern soldiers in the navy would be often excluded and retaliated by the Jianghuai soldiers.

This kind of regional discrimination is difficult to avoid in the army, and it has become the root of the military faction. This situation also occurs in the Han army. For example, the soldiers of Jingzhou and Bashu, soldiers of Guanlong and soldiers of the south have certain differences, but the degree is different. Moreover, Liu Jing also attaches great importance to this regional factional differences and tries not to let soldiers from the north and the south be mixed together.

Time has passed, and the soldiers on the surveillance river were gradually falling asleep. At this moment, a piece of wood floated silently from the river, and bypassed the back of the ship, slowly turned around and approached the ship. The wood was close to the ship's side, which was difficult for the soldiers on the ship to find out.

A water ghost wearing black water leaned out his head. He pointed a blow tube at the sleeping surveillance soldier, and blew out a blue poisonous arrow, hitting the sentry's neck. It was extremely poisonous and blood-sealed. The surveillance sentry groaned and fell softly on the board.

The water ghost then jumped onto the ship quietly, and the ship did not shake at all. He used the blow pipe to blow a large amount of drugs into the narrow cabin. After a moment, he pulled out a sharp dagger and touched it into the cabin... As usual, in just one stick of incense, all the seven whistle ships on the Ruxukou were killed by the water ghost, and Cao Cao's navy's outer defense was completely opened.

In the middle of the Yangtze River, hundreds of warships were on high alert, and the Han army's warships were composed of more than 100 sampan fireboats and 300 thousand stone warships.

In addition to 24,000 naval troops from the Qianshi Ship, another 20,000 elite soldiers came, commanded by General Huang Zhong, and the total number of Han troops in Wuhu has actually quietly increased to 50,000.

It is actually reasonable for the Han army to increase its troops in Wuhu at this time. Since Liu Jing used Yuzhang and Poyang counties to exchange for Lujiang County from Sun Quan, then the Han army was bound to win Hefei, the number one city in Lujiang County.

Gan Ning stood on the warship headed, staring at the direction of Ruxukou. Tonight, it started to snow on the river surface and was extremely cold. It was also the weakest moment for Cao Cao's defense, but it was the best opportunity for the Han army. As the commander of the Jingzhou naval army, Gan Ning has always adhered to one principle, that is, Cao Cao cannot have a naval army, and must ensure the absolute advantage of the Han army on the river surface. In fact, this is also the principle explained by Liu Jing, and the consensus of the Han army has been formed.

Gan Ning never expected that Zhang Liao would train the navy in Caohu Lake, and finally formed a navy with hundreds of warships and 20,000 people. This brought great pressure to Gan Ning. He had made up his mind to wipe out this Cao Cao navy tonight no matter what.

At this time, the veteran Huang Zhong walked to Gan Ning. He also stared at the distant river and asked in a deep voice for a while: "His Prince of Han has left Jianye?"

Gan Ning nodded, "The warrant given to me by His Highness the King of Han said, "If I send troops overnight, he will leave Jianye at the same time. I guess his fleet should leave Jianye."

Huang Zhong sighed again: "I am very worried that this military operation will be the beginning of a complete breaking of the armistice agreement. Frankly speaking, I think the armistice between the two armies will be more beneficial to us."

Huang Zhong advocated a truce cultivation. He knew very well that the Han army was extremely tired during years of war, and the local financial resources were exhausted and needed to maintain a rest. Therefore, he strongly supported the truce agreement reached by the King of Han and Cao Cao. Seeing that the truce was only a few months after the truce, the King of Han was about to launch a war in the southeast direction again, and he was a little resistant.

Gan Ning understood Huang Zhong's mood and smiled and advised: "The King of Han told me more than once that the reason for signing the armistice agreement was because Cao Cao was more eager for a truce than us. If the situation was beneficial to Cao Cao, he would never truce, but would continue to launch an offensive against us. Therefore, the King of Han believed that as long as both sides restrained, the war tonight would not affect the overall situation."

Huang Zhong sighed and said, "I don't understand why I didn't take Jiangdong in one go, does General Gan know?"

"Frankly speaking, I don't understand it very much, but for generals, you only need to execute commands, and these issues do not need to be investigated."

At this moment, laughter came from behind, "Let me explain it to you two."

Huang Zhong and Gan Ning turned around and saw Pang Tong coming up with a smile. The two of them hurriedly clasped their fists to greet each other. Pang Tong nodded and smiled: "Why don't you take the opportunity to take down Jiangdong? In fact, before His Highness the King of Han arrived in Jingzhou, he had discussed this issue repeatedly on Pingzhangtai, and finally reached a consensus that it would be in our interests to the greatest extent possible to cause a split in Jiangdong and maintain this split."

"But if we take Jiangdong in one fell swoop, what will happen?" Huang Zhong asked in confusion.

"The key lies in the people's hearts. The Sun family has controlled Jiangdong for three generations and has been deeply rooted in Jiangdong. It is easy to take Jiangdong, but it is difficult to fight for the people's hearts. It is not impossible for us to take Jiangdong, but how can we maintain it? Jiangdong has always been strong and unruly. Once Cao Cao's forces make waves in the rise of Jiangdong, the people of Jiangdong will rise up and fight, and we will inevitably raise the banner of supporting the Sun family. We will fall into the quagmire of Jiangdong and be unable to draw the Central Plains in the east."

Speaking of this, Pang Tong looked at Huang Zhong and Gan Ning again. Seeing that they had some understanding, he continued with a smile: "Only by triggering internal strife in the Sun family, causing Jiangdong to fall into internal strife for a long time, making the people of Jiangdong hate the Sun family's rule, and they all rose to resist the Sun family's rule, and cut off the possibility of the Sun family's revival in the future. That is our opportunity. In fact, the King of Han has been buying the hearts of the people in Jiangdong, but this is a long-term process, and it is not necessary to hurry. Establish the general trend first. As long as the general trend of internal strife in the Sun family is formed, as time goes by, Jiangdong tyrants and ordinary people choose us in the end, it will be a natural thing."

Huang Zhong and Gan Ning both nodded silently, and Huang Zhong clasped his fists and said, "Thank you for your inspiration from the military advisor. I understand now. I was indeed a short-sighted person before."

Pang Tong smiled slightly, "Things are done step by step, first interrupt Cao Cao's hand that stretches to Jiangdong."

At this moment, a soldier quickly stepped forward to report to Gan Ning: "Report to General, news came from the outpost that all the sentries on the river have been killed."

Gan Ning glanced at Pang Tong, and Pang Tong smiled and said, "You have decided on the battle, don't ask me."

Gan Ning nodded and said to Huang Zhong: "Old General, let's get started."

Although Huang Zhong was a little resistant tonight, he would never resist the order, nor would he send troops passively. What's more, he has been inspired by Pang Tong and no longer confused. He immediately said: "I'll go back and prepare, and I'll send troops in a quarter of an hour."

...........

Zhang Liao was a little restless tonight. The uneasiness in his heart came from years of experience in the war. Tonight, the night was dark and the wind was high, and it snowed again. It was a great opportunity for sneak attack. Although Zhang Liao also knew that Liu Jing and the Prime Minister had signed a five-year armistice agreement, he knew very well that this armistice agreement was not reliable. At that time, the first armistice agreement between Cao and Liu families was torn apart by the Prime Minister in Nanyang.

As the main general of Hefei, Zhang Liao knew that Hefei's strategy was important. To seize Hefei, he could not only control Jiangdong in the south, but also to the north. The Han army would not turn a blind eye to such an important strategic city. Moreover, the Han army sent troops to Hefei the year before yesterday, which had already shown their willingness to Hefei.

After the first update, Zhang Liao couldn't fall asleep, so he simply stood up and went to the military camp to inspect.

The Cao army camp consists of three parts: military city, military camp and water camp. Among them, there are 40,000 troops garrisons in the military city, and there are 40,000 troops garrisons in the military camp. The military camp is located on the east bank of Ruxukou. It is actually a continuation of the water camp on the shore. It stretches for more than ten miles and consists of more than two thousand large tents. It is about one mile closest to the military city.

Zhang Liao did not inspect the military city, but went directly to the military camp. What he was most concerned about was the water camp, which contained his years of hard work. Zhang Liao urged his horse to reach the water camp. As soon as he arrived at the gate, Deputy General Yu Jin stepped forward to see him, "See General Zhang."

Zhang Liao nodded and asked, "What's going on the river?"

"Report to the general, the river surface is very calm and there is nothing unusual."

Zhang Liao walked directly to the Shuizhai Yingzhai platform. Cao Jun Water Village covers an area of ​​3,000 acres, which happened to be an excellent inland river harbor. Fences were deployed on the periphery. Generally, the walls of the Shuizhai were surrounded by large ships. However, because the number of ships was insufficient, Cao Jun built thousands of wooden stakes in the river and nailed two double-layer wooden slabs five feet wide on the wooden stakes. The soldiers could stand directly on the wooden slabs for defense.

Zhang Liao walked to the southwest corner, which was the closest place to the Yangtze River. If it was during the day, you could clearly see the distant river surface, but now you could only see dozens of steps away. Zhang Liao stared at him for a while, but he couldn't see anything. He couldn't help but feel a little worried and turned around and asked, "There are a few patrol boats outside."

Yu Jin hesitated and said, "Usually there are twenty ships."

"What is the general situation? I'm asking now, there are several patrol boats outside now."

Yu Jin was a little afraid of Zhang Liao's severity, so he did not dare to deal with it, so he had to report it truthfully: "At dusk, Beizhi sent twenty patrol ships to return until dawn, but there were several patrol ships outside, so Beizhi was not sure."

Zhang Liao snorted coldly, "I guess you are not sure. You thought it was peaceful and relaxed your vigilance. I guess at most seven or eight ships were patrolling, and the rest were hiding in the corner and sleeping."

Yu Jin was not convinced of Zhang Liao's accusations, and he defended: "I dare not relax my vigilance. There are many defenses of two thousand people every night. If you don't believe it, the general will count it. It seems that there are omissions just because the whistle ship has sailed out and I can't control it."

Zhang Liao looked around and found that there were indeed many defensive soldiers. This is admitted, but Yu Jin had too weak control over the outside patrol ship, which made Zhang Liao not very satisfied. He immediately added: "You can actually control it. You order twenty patrol ships to come back every half an hour to report. If you dare not come, you will have to deal with the military law, or send a military law ship to patrol. General Yu has many ways, it depends on whether you are willing to adopt it."

Yu Jin sighed in his heart and bowed, "I'm going to send a law enforcement ship."

Yu Jin immediately ordered several law enforcement soldiers behind him: "When you go out to patrol by boat, if you dare to sleep in a lazy way, you will immediately catch it and deal with it with the military law."

"Abide by the order"

Several soldiers jumped onto a small boat, and the boat sailed towards the gate of the water village like an arrow. At this moment, a soldier pointed to the river in the distance and shouted: "Look at General, what is that?"

Everyone looked at the river together, and in an instant, everyone was stunned.
Chapter completed!