Since sending troops from Baqiu on February 14, Li Su and Zhao Yun's troops have been divided into two groups and slowly heading north. The Western Army led by Li Su personally has a journey of nearly 200 miles, and naturally itinerary is also fast.

Four days and three nights later, on the evening of February 17, we had arrived at Jiangjin Port, 400 miles above the Yangtze River, and were about to turn into the Xiashui Channel and go to Jiangjin Port twenty miles northwest, which was Jiangling City, the capital of Nanjun County.

The troops brought by Gao Shun from Yizhou were stationed in Yiling in advance, and made an appointment to meet at Jiangjinkou. This was also a way to avoid the return of Sichuan soldiers to Jiangling and Baqiu.

As Jiangling City got closer, Gao Shun, who was in charge of the land command of this army, was also a little worried about friction. He was usually taciturn, and he was responsible for the tasks given by his superiors. Moreover, Li Su has always been known for his foresight and knowledge, and Gao Shun never doubted it.

It was not until this moment that he asked a question: "General Right, what are the benefits of our army's troops being divided into two groups? Since we are all going to Jingling to gather and then join forces to go north, it is the same? Could it be to thoroughly understand the two routes of Jiangling and Jiangxia, and practice the marching routes to facilitate the future... Our actions are too easy for Liu Biao to be suspicious."

I didn't say this when I was traveling, but now I just said it privately, because I was afraid that Li Su's thoughts would be exposed publicly.

Gao Shun thought that Liu Biao's territory is now only in Nanjun, Jiangxia and Xiangyang. Li Su tried all the routes from Jiangling to Xiangyang and Jiangxia to Xiangyang. No matter how you look, it seems that you are rehearsing and attacking Liu Biao. If Liu Biao sent troops to "escort" and gifts were sent out, you can't blame Liu Biao for being alert, anyone would do this.

In Jiangling City ahead, I don’t know when troops will be sent to "escort" the shore.

Li Su had a more delicate and reasonable answer to Gao Shun's doubts: "Don't think too much, I think we are too far away from Wan and Luo, and the news may not be well-informed. Everyone knows that Yuan Shu's daughter was killed. If we go too late, Yuan Shu might have raised an army and caused a disaster.

When I walked to Jiangling, I was naturally to seize the time, and it was better to arrive three days earlier than the Eastern Army. However, the summer water level between Jiangjin and Hanjin was too shallow to pass the large ship. If Yuan Shu's army suddenly attacked Liu Biao's stronghold in Xinye, Fancheng, in the north of Han, in order to stop the Southern Army from expedition, and then seized the large ship to stop our army.

Our army all went north to Jiangling-Xiashui Channel. If we couldn't bring the tower ship, wouldn't it be unfavorable for the water battle? That's why Zilong and Xingba were allowed to walk slowly with the big ship to make up for the shortcomings of the back-up move."

It turns out that the 30,000 people on Li Su’s west road had one biggest disadvantage, that is, the ships were generally small, and the biggest ones were the turrets that supported two or three hundred people fighting and the 500-man fighting ship, with a draft of only about half a foot.

Who made Li Su unsure of Xia Shui and Xia Ze's ability to pass through? He could only leave some allowance, which was also considered as the first time that Liu Bei's army had accumulated navigation experience through Xia Shui and Xia Ze. Along the way, sailors could measure the water depth, map the waterway, and see which kind of ship they could pass the best next time.

The shipbuilding ability at the end of the Han Dynasty was that it was only a relatively small sea-worthy sea-ship. As mentioned earlier, the largest sea-ship of Mi Zhu and Cao Cao was only more than eight meters long. However, the tonnage of the tower ships used for inland river combat can actually be much larger than that of the sea-ships.

However, building ships generally rely on making the structure square and small in length and width to meet the structural strength requirements. The price is that the ship drives slowly and it is easy to overturn when it reaches a large wave environment.

Nowadays, the main inland warships have been traveling from childhood to large, including boats, ships, fighters and tower ships. Those who have played the "Three Kingdoms" game basically know this.

The boat is an open sentry ship without a cabin. There is nothing to say. There is only a few dozen people in a boat. The craft is a medium-sized charge melee ship with a cabin, but there is no female wall. The full load displacement is about forty or fifty tons, and the maximum number of two or three hundred people on the boat is squeezed.

(Note: This is a temporary crowd of so many people in combat states, not a marching state. At that time, the water war was only on board on the straits when the war was fought, because there was no place for so many people to sleep. The same below. All navy troops needed several times the number of transport ships during long-distance marches, or went ashore to camp when they were going to sleep at night)

The bucket ship can have five or six hundred people, which is wider than the squad, with cabins and hardwood women's wall squats on the side. The tonnage is seventy or eighty tons, usually six feet long and two feet wide and half a meter of water.

The tower ship not only has female walls, but also has multi-story cabins. Each floor has a porthole shooting hole. It can carry 800 people, and the maximum can reach 2,000 people, and the tonnage can also range from more than 100 tons to 3 and 400 tons. The small tower ship is eight zhang long and two and a half feet wide and six feet of water. The largest tower ship can reach twelve zhang long and four zhang wide and eight feet of water.

In the current state where Liu Bei's army has not exposed the epoch-making inland water warship type, the navy on the Yangtze River naturally has the advantage of the larger the ship, so Zhao Yun's reinforcements along the way are with the tower ships are absolutely indispensable.

Li Suke did not want to encounter Yuan Shu who occupied Xinye and sent a tower ship to cut off the Han River, but he could only use a siege to rush the tower ship formation, which would be a loss. The navy is a kind of military service that has an absolute advantage if the ship is good, unlike the land warfare, which can be voluntarily ideology.

The explanations and analysis of these principles by Li Su and Gao Shun are not in vain.

On the one hand, Gao Shun, a northern general who had almost never fought a water war, understood the logic of land and water war between Jiang and Han.

On the other hand, it is naturally because the Jingzhou army in Jiangling will soon react to Li Su's marching. The words that Li Su used to point out Gao Shun can be used directly for diplomatic disputes, so Gao Shun was equivalent to playing the preview of Liu Qi or Liu Pan.

...

At the same time, in Jiangling City, Liu Qi, the prefect of Nanjun and his cousin Liu Pan were also quite worried after receiving an urgent report of an approaching army.

Nowadays, Liu Biao is under the rule of Liu Biao. Liu Biao himself guards Xiangyang. The direct subordinates include Wen Pin and Wang Wei. Wang Wei commanded his personal guards and took charge of the personal troops in Xiangyang. Wen Pin is stationed in Fancheng, which is across the Han Dynasty.

Because of the butterfly effect, Liu Biao did not marry the Cai family, so Cai Mao, Zhang Yun and others have not yet reached the high position of martial arts vocational vocational school.

The other two counties, Jiangxia County, was always Huang Zu's sphere of influence. Huang Zu and his son Huang She were in Jiangxia and Xiakou respectively. Huang Zu directly belonged to Chen Ju, Deng Long and other generals, while Huang She was assisted by Su Fei, a famous navy general under Huang Zu's tent.

The last Nanjun was Liu Qi. Liu Pan's two cousins ​​were in power. Liu Qi was weak and not good at martial arts, so he only managed civil servants in the name of the prefect, and the military preparations were handled by Liu Pan daily. The foreign ministers under the tent included Huang Zhong, and some were also unknown generals such as Yang Ling, Zhang Hu, and Chen Sheng.

The person in charge of patrol guards today was the army Sima Yang Ling. After he found the fleet on the Yangtze River, he immediately came back to report: "Report to the prefect, there are hundreds of warships coming from the south on the river, with no less than tens of thousands of people. The banner he was holding was the right general Li Su. I am afraid he has arrived at Jiangjinkou at this moment. How can I deal with it?"

Liu Qi's heart skipped a beat and asked Liu Pan a little indifferently: "Brother, why did Liu Bei's people suddenly come here? Zhou Tai guarded Yiling and was at peace with us in Jiangjin and the defenders at the mouth of Youjiang. It has been five or six years since Li Su sent troops to invade the territory of Nanjun. Is this kind of thing that is wrong to harm Liu Bei's reputation? What if he does it?"

After all, Liu Pan is a military general, with better psychological quality than Liu Qi. He said in a negotiated tone: "If you are uneasy, I will ask Huang Zhong to lead thousands of troops to garrison along the north bank of Jiangjin, inspect and investigate, and then you will know."

Liu Qi nodded repeatedly and asked Liu Pan to make arrangements immediately, saying, "If Li Su does not act hostilely, our army must not act rashly first and give the population a solid foundation."

Liu Pan then sent an order, and soon Huang Zhong led a small number of cavalry in Jiangling City to go first, with many bows and crossbows, and monitored the fleet along the north shore of Xiashui.

Jingzhou was short of horses. Liu Biao had been here for more than six years, and the entire Jingzhou army had only six or seven thousand cavalry. There were only two thousand cavalrymen in Jiangling City. Except for the necessary horses left for officers and scouts for reconnaissance, Huang Zhong took them away.

When Huang Zhong rushed to the edge of Xia Shui, Li Su's fleet had already been in full swing for ten miles, and entered the Xia Shui in a long snake formation and walked slowly. Huang Zhong rode his horse to the head of the fleet and shouted loudly:

"Huang Zhong, the commander of Nanjun, is here. How dare you ask the right general what happened when his troops crossed the border? My lord, Liu Qi, the prefect of Nanjun, was appointed as the emperor. The two armies were harmonious for six years and did not invade each other. Why did they suddenly cross the border?"

Li Su was originally very cool when she was shaking the folding fan on the boat. When she heard Huang Zhong shouting from afar, he returned to the cabin without hesitation and asked Zhou Tai to greet a few giant shield hands around.

When you meet a guy like Huang Zhong and Lu Bu who are good at archery skills, it is better to be more steady. The reply was left to Zhou Tai to solve the problem, and he told Zhou Tai himself to pay attention to the shield. The main reason is that Li Su also knew that Gao Shun was not good at speaking, and even if he heard it just now, he might not have answered it carefully.

"Our army heard that the general died and his harem was in chaos again. I was afraid that Yuan Shu would cause chaos under the name of Qing dynasty. Cao Cao was willing to station troops in the Han River to observe the changes and wait for an opportunity to protect the enemy. Please ask the Huang Duwei to tell the Liu Mansion to not be suspicious. Our army is only transiting the border and will not go ashore to invade the land of your army."

Huang Zhong was stunned when he heard this: "I have never heard of Yuan Shu and Cao's chaos. You are raising troops for no reason to pass through the border. Isn't that too much?"

Zhou Tai shouted according to Li Su's instructions: "Huang Duwei, you are a martial artist and don't understand the general trend of the world. The right general won't blame you. Anyway, our army has not come ashore, so you should repay Liu Fujun and let him decide on it yourself.

If you insist on taking the initiative to open a border quarrel, the mistakes of the two armies' encounters will be considered to you. As a Han minister, if you see the opportunity and delay, you will be ashamed at that time."

Huang Zhong couldn't help but be angry when he heard this, but he didn't have much force to use directly at the moment. Liu Qi was weak and repeatedly told him not to use force casually. He had to hold his breath and ask someone to go back to report the message and tell him. He continued to slowly travel east with the cavalry.

The messenger returned to Jiangling City near the middle of the night. Liu Qi was always addicted to alcohol, pornography and body deficiency. He had already rested at this point, but tonight, because he heard that tens of thousands of enemy troops came to Jiangling, he couldn't sleep. He reminded him to wait until Huang Zhong's reply.

Huang Zhong was also quite reliable. After this close-up investigation, he at least found out how many enemy troops were. It was said that Li Su's troops were about 30,000 to 50,000, and did not exceed the defenders that could be mobilized in the Nanjun area.

Except for Jiangxia, the three counties in Jingbei have only 600,000 households and 300,000 people, which is relatively barren and mountainous. The other county has more than 190,000 households and 800,000 households and 260,000 households and more than 1 million people in Nanjun, so there are naturally many troops that can mobilize.

Since Nanyang County was divided by Yuan Shu, repeatedly suffered from the Yellow Turban Wars, and was divided into southern half and independent of Xiangyang County, the largest county in the entire Jingzhou County was the largest county in the nine counties.

Especially the Nanjun area is currently in the area, which has not been affected by war since the Yellow Turban Rebellion. It is very wealthy. Many refugees from Nanyang gather here to reclaim wasteland, and the remaining swamps surrounding Yunmengze were converted into paddy fields.

The fields reclaimed from these swamp silt lands have amazing fertility and the grain yield is also huge. Only the Taihu Plain in the world can be compared with the Yunmeng Plain.

In such a territory, even if you draw five households and one soldier, Liu Qi can draw 50,000 or 60,000 combat troops in one county.

He discussed and reviewed Liu Pan for a while, thinking that he could wait and see for the time being: "Since Li Su's entire army has only 30,000 to 40,000 people, he should not be here to attack Jiangling.

Since he was so good at finding excuses, we would not have any problems as long as we strengthen the walls and clear the fields and prevent those broken counties from having too many grain in stocks.

As for the people, let them plow in spring as usual. I hope that Li Su will pass through the summer water and enter the Han water within two days, and that should be fine."

Liu Pan also agreed with his opinion: "As long as Li Su's entire army passes through Jiangjinkou, our army will send Huang Zhong to block Jiangjinkou, so that Li Su will not allow a fleet to transport grain to pass in the future, and there will be no fear that Li Su will cause great waves in the deepest. They have no food channels. If they wander for a long time, they will still have to go down the Han River and return to Baqiu through Xiakou, otherwise they will starve to death."

An army without food channels does not have to worry too much about their sudden attack on siege of a strong city. This is common military knowledge.

Liu Qi thought about it and ordered to do this and monitor it for another day or two. As long as Li Sujun has no new changes and has not taken the land to seize land to guard the important traffic roads, he can temporarily ignore it.

He didn't know that Li Su was also waiting for the news. Every time he delayed it for one more day, and every time he went north, the greater the probability of getting the news.

After a night of silence, Li Su's fleet almost all entered Jiangjinkou. The next day, the fleet continued to advance eastward. The vanguard of about 10,000 or 20,000 people rushed into Xiaze and then headed towards Hanjin.

As a result, on this day, the news that Yuan Shu sent troops north to attack Dong Cheng was spread to Jiangling. Yuan Shu started the army on February 12th, and reached Jiangling on February 18th, which was not fast. As soon as this news arrived, Li Su was more confident in staying. He allowed the vanguard troops to advance quickly along the way, and on the other hand, he divided a small number of troops to guard his food route.ww.

All day on the 18th, most of the fleets entered Xiaze. Huang Zhong saw that Li Su's main force had left, and according to Liu Qi and Liu Pan's order, he brought thousands of people to defend Jiangjinkou.

But when Huang Zhong came, he found that Jiangjinkou had left thousands of Li Su's troops. Huang Zhong couldn't help but be angry:

"Didn't the Right General say that your army is just crossing the border to fight Yuan and mediate Yuan Shu and Dong Cheng? Didn't he say that he would not go ashore to occupy land and seize Nanjun? Why are there still these ships stranded at Jiangjinkou and still set up camp on the ashore!"

A man who left behind complained to Huang Zhong through the camp wall under the cover of the shield: "Emperor Huang is guilty of being a little guilty! We are not familiar with the waterway of Xiashui. We have never been here before. Some of the ships brought this time were too big. A total of five 800-person tower ships were stranded! We can only camp at Jiangjinkou, organize soldiers to dredge and dig deeper the river silt so that the tower ship can pass."

"Stravened?" Huang Zhong was stunned. This reason was very legitimate. Who made Xia Shui and Xia Ze Channel pass through so weak?

This is more legitimate than the car repairman carrying a wrench with him. In addition, Li Su's troops were mediating Yuan Shu and Dong Cheng, which really made people unable to refuse their stationing, nor could they meet directly.

Li Su's army waited for Zhao Yun and Gan Ning, who had taken the big ship to go around the distance, and temporarily set up camps to station troops on the grounds of "stracking".
Chapter completed!