Within a day, Gan Ning launched seven consecutive attacks. Although he was unable to truly break through Zhou Xin's blockade due to insufficient troops, he went deeper and deeper each time, and once he almost attacked Zhou Xin's original formation. Gan Ning showed his power and killed nearly 100 people. The Danyang soldiers were killed more than 300 times, and countless injured people. The Danyang soldiers, known as the elite, were killed and lost in a mess. If it weren't for the absolute advantage of military strength, Zhou Xin sent his personal guards to suppress them, and maybe Gan Ning would succeed.

Because of proper preparation, Xie Kuan and others carried out long-range suppression, with heavy armor and iron oars defending themselves, Gan Ning's losses were much smaller than expected. One hundred warriors were killed, 17 people were seriously injured, and the rest were slightly injured. Yang Hong's troops were killed, with more than 300 injuries. Gan Ning himself was injured the most, with more than ten wounds of all sizes and sizes, mainly arrow injuries. With golden silk and brocade armor, the arrows could not penetrate deep, and they were all skin and flesh injuries. The golden silk and brocade armor was also destroyed, not only covered with blood, but also completely turned into completeness, which was difficult to repair.

The sun sets in the west, and both sides yell and withdraw their troops. Sun Ce and others slowly retreat. Zhou Xin felt relieved and sat on the stage, but failed to recover for a long time. Although the loss was not particularly large, the difference between the momentum of the two sides was too big. He had a good position and had a ten-fold advantage in military strength. It was completely beyond Zhou Xin's expectations.

The Sun family's father and son are good at fighting and are indeed well-deserved.

Back at the camp, Zhou Xin called his generals Yu Mi, Fan Gai and others to discuss. The crossbowmen suffered serious losses and must be supplemented, otherwise it will be more difficult to fight tomorrow. There are still three hundred crossbowmen on Niuzhuji, but they cannot move. They have to prevent Sun Ce from attacking Niuzhuji. They can only transfer people from Shicheng and then send people to contact Zhang Ying, Fan Neng and others from Jiangbei to see if they can withdraw back to Jiangnan and coordinate their defense. If Chen Wen and Chen Deng can also withdraw, that would be great.

Zhou Xin did not dare to neglect, so he sent people to send orders to various departments overnight, strengthened the riverside positions, built more camps, and prepared large shields. The level gap between the crossbowmen on both sides was relatively large. Although there were many people on his side, the range and accuracy were not enough, and he was completely suppressed by the opponent and failed to fully play the role of strong crossbows to break armor. At the same time, he increased the spearmen. The opponent had heavy armor protection, and the knife used by the Danyang soldiers had no lethality, and the spears had stronger armor-breaking ability.

While Zhou Xin racked his brains to find a solution, Sun Ce was also reviewing the gains and losses of both sides.

Gan Ning, Yang Hong and some captains who participated in the battle attended the meeting, recalling the battle situation at that time as much as possible and summarizing the lessons learned. After careful discussion, they came to a conclusion: if they attacked with a strong force, there would definitely be a chance of winning, but the casualties would be relatively large. Due to the limitations of the terrain, only forty or fifty people could be arranged to attack each time. Without the ability to quickly break through the opponent's defense and expand to a depth, they were suppressed on the shore. If there was no protection of heavy armor and large shields, they would be the living target of the opponent's crossbow. The main reason for Yang Hong's casualties was arrows. They did not have heavy armor or iron oars, only large shields used by infantrymen, and it was not very convenient to carry, which seriously affected their actions.

Not everyone has the strength and martial arts of Gan Ning. They can still wield heavy iron oars to fight in heavy armor.

Sun Ce decided to take Shicheng first as planned and launch an attack from Zhou Xin behind him to minimize unnecessary casualties.

While discussing, Sun Ce received news from Cheng Pu. He was frustrated in attacking Hengjiang and had already withdrawn from the battlefield and prepared to cross the river. However, it was getting late and he could not cross the river today, so it would take until tomorrow. According to the number of troops and ships, it may take one day to complete the cruising.

Sun Ce had a headache. If he could not launch an attack on Shicheng tomorrow, he would have to continue to attack Zhou Xin's position, which would increase a lot of casualties. However, crossing the river at night was indeed dangerous. If he accidentally overturned the ship, there would be nearly a hundred people.

Yang Xiu sneered: "What's the difficulty? There are not enough warships, merchant ships come to get together. When fighting here, do you know how many merchant ships are unpassable? They are all moored in the Tianmen Mountain area, waiting for the end of the war. According to the situation I saw in the past few days, at least three or four hundred ships were stranded in the past two days, and all of them were recruited. Together with the existing warships, the commander Cheng's headquarters could be sent to Jiangnan in half a day."

Sun Ce thought it was a solution, but he didn't believe there would be so many ships. The Yangtze River is an important waterway, and many people do business, but it is still a bit exaggerated to stay in three to four hundred ships in two days.

Chen Duan supported Yang Xiu's view. He was from Guangling, an important city in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and the location where the Zhongdu River flows into the river that communicates with the Jianghuai River. Because merchant ships are usually inland river boats, their ability to resist wind and waves is limited and they are not suitable to enter the sea, most of them choose to enter the Zhongdu River in Guangling, turn to Huaiyin, go up the Huai River, and then go up the Huai River, and arrive in Pengcheng area via Sishui. He is very clear about how many ships there are on this waterway. Now the New Year is approaching, and the number is more than twice as many as usual. There are often a lot of ships outside Guangling City, and it is entirely possible to stay three or four hundred ships in two days. Merchant ships have to hurry to do business. If the war can end it early, they will definitely be willing to help.

Sun Ce was overjoyed and immediately sent Cai Mao and Xiang Lang to contact him.

The meeting came to an end, and Sun Ce arranged for everyone to have a working meal. The meal was very simple, slightly better than ordinary soldiers, two more meat dishes and a little wine. It was not rich, so he could only take care of his fullness. Gan Ning and others were still unsatisfied. After a few bites, they discussed military affairs. The sound was not small, almost like a quarrel. Yang Xiu lowered his head to eat. After a while, he couldn't stand the noise of Gan Ning and others, so he got up and walked out.

Seeing this, Sun Ce stood up and left the seat and left the tent. He saw Yang Xiu standing more than ten steps away. He walked over.

"Are you not full? Let's go, go to your account and reopen a seat."

Yang Xiu looked at Sun Ce and his face calmed down a little. "General, you don't have to do this. I don't mean to despise them, it just doesn't match my habits."

"I know, I can't speak." Sun Ce expressed his understanding, pulled Yang Xiu's arm and walked towards Yang Xiu's tent. Yang Xiu and Yuan Yao lived in a tent, which was an ordinary marching tent. Apart from two beds, he could only place a small bamboo bookshelves and put some stationery and books. Although it was cramped, it was very neat and looked very comfortable.

Sun Ce asked Liu Bin to take Yang Xiu's food case, but Yang Xiu didn't refuse and sat down to eat. Sun Ce sat aside and looked at a book that Yuan Yao placed in a wooden pillow with a few ancient characters on it. He looked at it, and it looked like the word "Lunheng". When he opened it, he found that it was written by official script, which was Yang Xiu's handwriting. Yang Xiu's calligraphy was very good, with every word being tidy, graceful, and a strong bookish spirit, which was a bit more beautiful than the common Han Li.

After Yang Xiu finished eating, he put down the bowls and chopsticks, wiped his mouth and cleaned his hands, and was meticulous.

"The works of Wang Zhongren, a native of Kuaiji, were obtained from Cai Boyi. It's a pity that Cai Zizhen refused to be inherited. This time I went to Kuaiji, I wanted to find the complete version and see the details. I didn't expect that there were such talents in Kuaiji, which was beyond my expectations."

Sun Ce smiled and put down the book. "Even Chu is not in the eyes of you Central Plains people, let alone Wu Yue. Dezu, thank you for reminding you today, otherwise you would have been wasted time and I don't know how many people would die."

Yang Xiu's eyes flashed and he was silent for a long time. "General, I'm not helping you, I'm helping the court."
Chapter completed!