The day after the reinforcement of troops in Guangling was finalized, Xuzhou General Chen Dao led 5,000 Xuzhou troops who were already ready to go south and rushed to Guangling via Xiapi. This was a reorganized team with the old leading the new. Some of the members

The ace Danyang soldiers of the Xuzhou army at that time were partly veterans recruited and trained by Cao Bao in Xuzhou, and more were Yellow Turban soldiers recruited and surrendered by Tao Ying in Yuzhou and Xuzhou soldiers who had just been recruited and trained. They had qualified equipment and average overall combat effectiveness. However, in

The Xuzhou team, whose combat effectiveness is generally second-rate, can be regarded as the main force in combat.

It is worth mentioning that this team was also built by Xuzhou General Chen Dao. From formation to training, Chen Dao was responsible for it, and Chen Dao's military management philosophy coincided with Tao Ying's, that is

Emphasis on discipline and collective cooperation. Due to time constraints, the individual combat effectiveness of this team may still be weak, but in terms of discipline, it has given people a refreshing feeling. During the march, the team was strict, advanced and retreated, and deployed well, which was very good.

This intimidated many princes and secretaries lurking in Xuzhou. In addition, Chen Dao was Tao Ying's trusted general. Therefore, when reporting to the bosses, all the secretaries would inevitably add one sentence -

The team reinforcing Guangling is the main force of Xuzhou!

Here again, I would like to emphasize the difference between the main combatants and ordinary soldiers. The army in cold weapon warfare is composed of three parts. The first is the main combatants, the second is the auxiliary soldiers, and the third is the civilians. These are the so-called three armies in ancient times.

Among them, civilian husbands are responsible for transportation work such as moving, carrying burdens, and pushing carts. They are the largest number. When there is a shortage of manpower, young and strong women are often asked to do these chores; the number of auxiliary soldiers is second. They are responsible for boat bridges, escorts, engineering, and cleaning battlefields.

For auxiliary work, the ratio of auxiliary soldiers to main soldiers is usually three to one, that is, three auxiliary soldiers assist one main force in combat.

The main force has the smallest number of soldiers, but it is the absolute main force in charging and frontal combat. It is also the core and backbone of an army. Once the main force of soldiers collapses on the battlefield, the remaining auxiliary soldiers and civilians are basically lambs to be slaughtered. So cold weapons

In wars, it often happens that thousands of casualties lead to the collapse of ten thousand people, and this situation was even more obvious in the Three Kingdoms era. Therefore, the Xuzhou army dispatched five thousand main soldiers at once. Naturally, it is destined to cause everyone

The surrounding princes were alert and attentive.

After confirming that the news of Tao Ying's reinforcements in Guangling was correct, the nearest Marquis Lu Wen reacted first, that is, he immediately called back Hou Cheng and Song Xian's troops who had been robbing grain in Lu State and Rencheng. On the pretext of protecting those who were in contact with Xuzhou

The grain road allowed Hou and Song's second army to be stationed in Hulu County, which is close to Xiaopei. At the same time, they paid close attention to every move of the Xuzhou army, and were ready to steal chickens at any time and raid the five counties of Xuzhou, which were far richer and more prosperous than Yanzhou.

After receiving this news, Boss Cao made a decisive decision and immediately gave up the plan of concentrating the main force to attack Changyi, and changed the main attack target to the northern part of Chenliu County. The main force went to attack Zhang Miao's troops entrenched in that area, while the partial division continued to contain the troops guarding Dingtao.

The main force of Zhang Miao's army deliberately ignored the main force of Lu Bu's army in Changyi, allowing the capricious Marquis Lu Wen to have the opportunity and strength to sneak attack Xuzhou. And Marquis Lu Wen did not disappoint Boss Cao. When Zhang Miao was frequently in emergency, he only sent out

A partial division went to Dingtao for reinforcements, while the main force remained stationary in Changyi, waiting for news from Xuzhou.

In addition, our uncle Liu Huang also sensed the opportunity to make a comeback. In front of the new boss Kong Rong, he used the pretext of suppressing the bandits and couldn't wait to lead more than 2,000 troops who had been pieced together again. They took advantage of the situation to rob and stationed in Zhu County at the junction of Langya and Beihai.

The small town suddenly choked the trade between Xuzhou and its ally Gongsun Zan. Then Liu Huangshu acquiesced in Zhang Fei's disguise as a bandit and snatched away more than 300 war horses that Tao Ying had bought from Gongsun Zan at a high price. Yin Li, the general of Langya of the Xuzhou Army, was shocked when he heard the news.

Angry, he planned to personally lead his troops north to fight Liu Bei, but was held down by Tao Ying. Under the current circumstances, Tao Ying said he was unwilling to add Kong Rong as an enemy. But even so, northern Xuzhou

The situation is still getting worse, with undercurrents surging, and a crisis could break out at any time.

"Brother Lu, we all depend on you, you must live up to your expectations." This is the common wish in the hearts of all the enemies of Deputy Director Tao.

Well, Boss Cao, Marquis Lu Wen and Uncle Liu cannot be disappointed. Finally, let us take a look at the reaction of Little Yuan Sangong. In fact, the distance from Pengcheng to Guangling City in the southernmost part of Xuzhou is much farther than Pengcheng to Jiujiang.

So when the 5,000 troops led by Chen Dao were still rushing to Guangling day and night, the news that Tao Ying had finally taken action had already been delivered by fast horse to Dangtu and sent to the final officer under Xiao Yuan Sangong.

General Ji Ling, who can fight hard, was also presented to Xiao Yuan Sangong's son-in-law, Zhou Yu, who joined the army and Zhou Gongjin...

"Okay!" After hearing the news that Tao Ying had finally increased his troops to Guangling, Zhou Gongjin, who hated Deputy Director Tao so much that his balls hurt, was so excited that he slapped the table with his palm and said with a laugh: "Traitor Tao Ying, you too have today,

This time, I will take back everything you owe me!"

"Gong Jin, can we send out troops?" Ji Ling was also eager to try, and said impatiently: "My lord has sent us several letters urging us to send troops. If we don't do it, we will find a way to tell the lord. Someone, give it to me.

Blow the trumpet and raise the tent to summon the generals to discuss matters."

"Wait a minute, General, don't be impatient. We have to wait for a few more days." Zhou Yu quickly stopped Ji Ling's impulse and explained: "General, if our army wants to close the door and kill the dogs and eat Tao Ying's five thousand main force, then

We must wait for this army to cross the Huaihe River. Calculated from the distance, Tao Ying's supporting army can only pass the Xiangxiang at most. Our army must wait patiently for another four or five days before sending troops. Otherwise, not only will it be impossible to close the door and beat the dogs.

, there is also the possibility of encountering Tao Ying's reinforcements in Xutai or Huaiyin. If so, then our army will have wasted all its efforts."

Fortunately, Ji Ling was still a person who could listen to advice, and he was very close to Zhou Yu, so he had the patience to accept Zhou Yu's suggestion and decided to wait patiently for a few more days. Zhou Yu also advised Ji Ling to send a miscellaneous army.

Crossing the Yellow River, he served as a pioneer to attack Pei State's Guyang, attracting the attention of the Xuzhou army. The combination of falsehood and reality made Tao Ying unable to judge the real main direction of Yuan Shu's army's attack. He also suggested that Ji Ling send more troops to carefully monitor the movements in the lower reaches of the Huaihe River. Ji Ling

You should also adopt it and act accordingly.

Speaking of it, although Xiao Yuan Sangong is not the most elite soldier among the heroes of the Three Kingdoms, he is definitely the one with the most soldiers - although most of them are third-rate soldiers who are not paid military pay and often don't even have enough to eat, so

Even if it was just a feint attack, Ji Ling sent tens of thousands of troops in one go and crossed the river in a mighty way to the north. They entered Peiguo County, which was honorably Xuzhou's territory. Xuzhou's scouts in Peiguo County did not dare to neglect their work.

, and quickly delivered the news to Tao Ying. Tao Ying once again used his strategy and divided three thousand troops to defend Zhuyi, deliberately pretending that he could not discern the true direction of Yuan Shu's army's attack. Zhou Yu was overjoyed when he heard the news, and kept laughing and saying

Tao Ying has fallen into his own trap, and revenge for his friends is just around the corner.

But then again, although our Mizhouro made a risky move this time, he was also sure of the risky move he would make again. Xuzhou has experienced wars many times, and most of its population and economy have been concentrated around a few counties and cities, with elite soldiers and strong forces.

The generals all gathered near the county towns such as Pengcheng, Xiapi and Guangling. They did not pay enough attention to the county towns, and Tao Ying's enemies all prioritized attacking the important towns in the five counties that had money and food, and did not attack the shabby county towns.

Note that only Zhou Yu was creative and pointed his sword at the two county towns of Xuzhou, Xutai and Huaiyin. Once these two cities were captured by Yuan Shu's army, the five counties of Xuzhou would be cut off in the middle, the north and south of the Huaihe River would lose contact, and Guangling City, the important town of money and food, would be cut off.

It will be isolated and helpless, and it is a foregone conclusion that it will be captured by Yuan Shu's army.

At the same time, as long as Yuan Shu's army, which has an absolute advantage in the navy, controls the Huaihe River and accounts for 50% of Xuzhou's grain and grain output and 80% of its pig iron output, the hinterland of Xiapi will be completely exposed to Yuan Shu's saber, and Yuan Shu's army can attack.

They can retreat and defend and remain in an invincible position. The Xuzhou army with all its naval forces in Guangling has no danger to defend on the Huaihe River line. It is completely passive and defenseless. In addition, Huaiyin and Xutai are all on the south bank of the Huaihe River, and Yuan Shu

As long as the army controls the crossing of the Huaihe River, Tao Ying's ace gentleman army will be useless if it cannot cross the Huaihe River no matter how good it is.

Mizhouro's hard work and humiliation finally paid off. Five days later, good news came from the lower reaches of the Huaihe River. The Xuzhou army led by Chen Dao had crossed the Huaihe River in Huaiyin. They only rested for one night in Huaiyin and returned the next day.

Before dawn, they went south to Guangling. After receiving the news, Mizhouro laughed and without hesitation, he immediately told Ji Ling: "General, you can take action. First, take Xutai, then go to Huaiyin, and cut off the five counties of Xuzhou.

North-South relations, close the door and beat the dog!”

"Okay." Ji Ling was also overjoyed and shouted without thinking: "Come here, call those bastards and get ready to take action!"

The order was conveyed, and the main force of Yuan Shu's army, which had been dormant in the Dangtu area for more than a month, moved into action. Forty built boats and nearly a hundred stern boats were driven out from the nearby Shaipi Lake, and another force was taken from the civilian population.

More than 200 large and small ships came, so densely packed that the Huaihe River, which was not too wide, almost filled up. More than 15,000 elite soldiers boarded the ships - this was also the most capable 15,000-strong army under Xiao Yuan Sangong.

Under the leadership of Ji Ling and Zhou Yu, they set sail and headed for the lower reaches of the Huaihe River. In addition, Chen Ji, Lei Bo and Chen Lan led an army of 60,000 people to go eastward by land and rushed to the battlefield via Huailing to cooperate with Ji Ling in the battle.

At the same time, when Xuzhou Xizuo, who was lurking in Dangtu, discovered that he had been deceived, it was already too late. Yuan Shujun had not only tightly blocked the roads from Dangtu to Pengcheng, delaying Tao Ying's reaction as much as possible,

They also blocked the Huaihe River waterway in the Zhongli area, so ships were not allowed to get off, and Xuzhou Xizuo was not given any chance to report the news! - And to say the least, even if Xuzhou Xizuo had the opportunity to go north back to Pengcheng to report the news, no matter how fast he was,

Soon, Tao Ying, whose main force was all in the north of Xuzhou, had no time to adjust and react.

It was early summer, with strong southeasterly winds, abundant rain, and a large increase in the flow of the Huaihe River. Ji Ling's fleet, which had already prepared guides who were familiar with the hydrology and geography of the Huaihe River, marched even faster. On the night of departure, they had already left Jiujiang and entered the country with great momentum.

Xuzhou land. It only took a little more than a day for Ji Ling's army to reach its first target and attack Xutai City.

It was at this time that Zhou Yu, who came to the lower reaches of the Huaihe River for the first time, discovered with horror that the situation in the lower reaches of the Huaihe River was completely different from the lower reaches of the Yangtze River that he was familiar with. The lower reaches of the Huaihe River were all open plains, with low-lying terrain on both sides of the river - because

This was originally the current Hongze Lake! At the same time, the flow of water in the river was relatively slow and the ability to wash away sand was not strong, resulting in a serious sand inclusion in the river water, making the water level of the river much higher than the ground. It was only thanks to the dams to contain the water that there would be no flooding.

——What does this mean, Zhou Yu, a natural expert in water fighting, knows better than anyone else!

There was no turning back after he fired his bow. When things got to this point, it was too late to turn back. He could only pray that the river conditions on the Huaiyin side would be better, while quickly attacking the city, but Yuan Shu's army came too suddenly.

Ji Wei, the garrison of Xutai City, was not prepared for the war at all. He was caught off guard and did not even have time to close the city gate. The elite soldiers of Yuan Shu's army had already entered Xutai City. Ji Wei, who only had a few hundred second-line soldiers in his hands, was forced to attack.

He had no choice but to lead the defenders to surrender and was quickly taken to Ji Ling and Zhou Yu for face-to-face interrogation by Zhou Yu.

"Have you received any orders from Xuzhou in the past few days?" Zhou Yu asked Ji Weihe: "How many defenders are there in Huaiyin City on the lower reaches of the Huaihe River? Who are the defenders?"

"Reporting to General, I haven't received any orders from Xuzhou for almost half a month." In order to survive, Ji Wei replied honestly: "Huaiyin is the throat connecting the north and south of Xuzhou, and is much more important than Xutai, so General Zhang lied

There are two thousand troops stationed there, and the guard is Zhang Ji's subordinate Xie Yan."

"How is your relationship with Xie Yan?" Zhou Yu asked again, "Are you familiar with him?"

"The villain is General Xie's subordinate, and he is very familiar with General Xie." Ji Wei answered truthfully.

"Very good." Zhou Yu was overjoyed and ordered: "Do you want to live? If you want, take twenty or thirty soldiers with me on the ship, go to Huaiyin, defraud me of the city, and capture Huaiyin, the gold and silver beauties.

Take your pick!”

Ji Wei didn't even have the courage to escape from Xutai to report the news, so he was not a loyal and brave person. So he immediately agreed. At that time, Zhou Yu immediately asked people to arrange for Ji Wei and his cronies to board the ship, and suggested to Ji Ling: "General

, the troops are very fast, the distance from Xutai to Huaiyin is only 160 miles, it is noon now, we still have time. I hope the general will not spare his efforts and immediately order the departure, and strive to reach Huaiyin before the sky is bright tomorrow, so as to attack him unprepared

, take Huaiyin City in one go and take the initiative on the battlefield. As for Xutai, just leave a few troops to guard and wait for the rear team led by General Chen Ji and others."

Ji Ling, who was a little seasick, originally wanted to rest for the night before leaving, but could not withstand Zhou Yu's repeated persuasion, so he had no choice but to nod his head and agreed, ordering the army to continue sailing south to capture Huaiyin overnight, leaving a thousand troops to guard the remote place in this era.

The small town of Xutai was waiting for the rear army led by Chen Ji, Lei Bo and others.

After reboarding the ship and walking for dozens of miles, it was already dark. Ji Ling, who was seasick, saw that nothing happened all the way, so he left all matters to Zhou Yu, and went to the cabin to rest with two beautiful maids in his arms. Zhou Yu

After arranging for the scout speedboat to conduct reconnaissance first, it was already close to the third watch. It was also at this time that General Cheng Pu and Huang Gai, who had been demoted to the rank of Cavalry Commander for meritorious service, sneaked onto the flagship and met Zhou Yu on the

We met on the deck.

"Gong Jin, should the plan to raid Huaiyin be adjusted?" Cheng Pu warned Zhou Yu: "I wonder if Gong Jin has noticed that the hydrological conditions in the lower reaches of the Huai River are very unfavorable to us? The river water is sandy and slow, and the river channel is higher than

The ground is maintained entirely by dikes. If the sneak attack fails, the enemy will dig dikes upstream to release water. Even if we don't land, we will be on the boat to avoid being flooded. Most of the boats will be stranded on the downstream river, unable to advance or retreat.

Put the fish on the chopping block."

Zhou Yu was silent, and after a long time he replied: "I have never been to the lower reaches of the Huaihe River, and I don't know the hydrology and geography of this area. If I had been here before, I would definitely not use this risky strategy, but now we have no way back."

If we turn around at this time, Yuan Shu will definitely be furious, and I will immediately fall out of favor, and all our previous efforts to avenge Bo Fu will be completely wasted."

Cheng Pu and Huang Gai, who had also never been to the lower reaches of the Huaihe River, also fell silent. They were both admired and moved by Zhou Yu's endurance and perseverance. After another long while, Huang Gai forced a smile and said: "Gong Jin's clever plan, no ghosts or gods.

No matter how cunning Tao Ying'er is, he would never have imagined that Yuan Shu's main attack direction would be the two small counties in the lower reaches of the Huaihe River. He would not take any precautions. As long as we capture the small town of Huaiyin, we will have a sure chance of winning this battle.

.”
To be continued...