"Chasing! Don't let Taishi Ci run away! His tower ship and fighting ship have a wide hull, and the resistance to travel against the current is great, so it is definitely not as fast as our ship. The time that was delayed by the fire ship just now is nothing. We will definitely catch up again in one hour at most!"

Seeing Taishi Ci running away, Zhou Yu still ordered the entire army to pursue after avoiding the fire ship.

Fortunately, the Eastern Wu naval army had just won for a while, seized three fighting ships, captured more than a thousand prisoners, and was in high morale, so even though the generals were tired, they still struggled to pursue them.

Only Dong Xi leaned over and asked for instructions: "Grandmaster, after chasing for another hour, it will be dark. If there is another group of fire ships in the upstream port reeds, it will be difficult to resist. Could it be that Li Suyou cheated, and this is what made Taishi Ci cheat and defeated?"

Zhou Yu Zhizhu made a decision while holding the ground: "Just chase. I can see if Taishi Ci did his best. This is really impossible to defeat. It is not such a fraud. If it is dark, I will withdraw my troops."

The Grand Governor said so, and the Wu army naturally moved forward with all their might.

However, after only over a minute of chasing, they discovered a new situation.

It turned out that not far behind Taishici's fleet, about ten miles upstream, there was a transport fleet moored in a port on the north bank of the Han River.

Judging from the posture of the transport fleet, it seemed that they originally wanted to take advantage of Taishi Ci's defeat or at least defeat Zhou Yu, and then sneak across this section of Hanshui River that night and continue to flow down the river.

But Taishici did not repel or even block Zhou Yu, so as Taishici retreated, the baggage fleet also began to retreat. However, the baggage ship carries more cargo and drives more slowly than the warships, so that after Taishici ran for half an hour, he ran faster than these cargo ships.

But in fact, neither Zhou Yu nor Taishi Ci himself knew that the existence of this transport ship was before the war. Li Su was bypassing Taishi Ci and arranged the task directly, so Taishi Ci left so simply when he was defeated and retreated, and he never thought about covering the "friendly army".

Seeing that Taishi Ci would probably take advantage of the night, and was afraid that it would be a fraud to chase the warships by passing these Han army cargo ships, Zhou Yu let Taishi Ci go and asked the soldiers to catch all the cargo ships that were slowly fleeing in the shallow waters of the north shore.

Zhou Yu ordered: "Beware that these ships carry fire-driven objects and should not be pulled near our main ship at will. Let several ships be surrounded and searched."

Dong Xi squinted his eyes and observed: "Grandmaster, these cargo ships have a deep draft. Could it be that they transported food? Firewood, oil, and fire-induced oil are not that heavy."

Zhou Yu heard his subordinates’ suggestions for the second time and laughed impatiently: “If you use your brain, you don’t have to talk too much. This governor uses your martial arts!

Li Suduo is deceiving. If I were him, the ambush and fire-driven ship seduced the rear, so that the total weight of firewood and stones in the boat would be similar to that of a ship of food. Be careful, there is no big mistake!"

On the other hand, Chen Wu, who was not interested in using his brain, had already decisively executed Zhou Yu's military order and surrounded the Han army's baggage fleet with more than a dozen ships.

Chen Wu personally raided a knife and searched several boats in succession, and found that they were all full of food, without any fraud. There were even some dried meat and dried vegetables, which were all good military food. The personnel on the boat were just necessary sailors who rowed sails, with less than ten people on each boat.

Finally, Chen Wu also captured several trembling grain magistrates and minor officials from a certain boat.

Chen Wu brought several bags of seized materials and the prisoners of officials and the two officials and prisoners to Zhou Yu's flagship.

Zhou Yu took the sword and scabbard one by one to press against the prisoners' chins and gestured on their necks: "Who are you waiting for? What errands are Li Su sending you? Don't want to lie to me. This governor is the best at identifying people who surrender. As long as I can hear a flaw, all the heads will fall to the ground."

The escort officer in charge knelt down and begged for mercy: "General, I am not a military general, I am just a grain transport officer! In Xiangyang, Kuai Qi, who just passed the exam for the Changcai exam in Xiangyang County this year, Li Sikong... Li Su ordered me to serve as the escort officer to transport grain to General Zhou of Hanyang to prepare for a long battle to fight."

Who transported Zhou Tai's grain? Could it be that Zhou Tai was short of food? Could it be that Li Su deliberately used fraud and lured into something wrong in judgment?

Zhou Yu felt instantly alert.

He continued to ask: "Since you are the one who has benefited from the imperial examination, you are naturally Li Su's confidant. He asked you to perform such a dangerous task? He didn't tell you how to ensure safe transportation? How can you withdraw the empty ship when the time comes?"

Unfortunately, Zhou Yu's alertness was useless at all, because Li Su didn't tell Kuai Qi the overall truth about the mission, and Kuai Qi himself didn't know that he was an abandoned son who could be given up at any time.

Although Kuai Qi is a beneficiary of this year's imperial examination, he is not very grateful to Li Su for being an official because the Kuai family is the most powerful family in Xiangyang County, and Kuai Qi should have obtained this official.

If he had not caught up with the imperial examination reform, he would have been able to become a leader with Kuai Liang's recommendation and activities. After the imperial examination was held, he would have been surrounded by bidding.

Of course, even so, Li Su didn't really hope that Kuai Qi would die, but said she didn't care about his life or death.

If Kuai Qi comes back alive and further strengthens Li Su's misleading of Zhou Yu, then just promote Kuai Qi. Kuai Liang and Kuai Yue also happened to further attack them to let them know who has the final say in half of the southern part of the Han Dynasty.

If Kuai Qi dies in his country, then he will add a little more grief. If Kuai Liang and Kuai Yue dare to be dissatisfied with something bigger, then Li Su would not have to keep these surrender factions, anyway, they have no military power.

At this moment, Kuai Qi was not a person with backbone, so he naturally didn't dare to hide it. He asked Zhou Yu all the people who should be called on him: "I am not Li Su's confidant. My official position was obtained by my brother who asked someone to take the exam. Li Su was always cruel and suppressed the aristocratic family, so he handed over this dangerous task to me.

He originally ordered me to escort the grain fleet to follow General Taishi. As long as General Taishi uses the benefits of catapults, crossbows and tower ships to suppress the governor's men and block Hanjinkou, my grain fleet can go downstream and steal while the night is in the dark.

As for how to return after stealing, if the governor alerted him later, Li Su had thought of it. But he told me that after the fleet arrived, he would not have to worry about the return journey and stay in Hanyang City to help General Zhou defend the city.

If the Hanyang City cannot be defended in the past, or if the food and grass are not enough for a long time, General Zhou intends to abandon the city and break through the water, and asks me to obey General Zhou's command to ensure the safe return of the troops and horses. I can do it if the lonely city is not allowed."

Zhou Yu had a policeman in his heart: Li Su had thought so far, thinking of "Zhou Tai was alone behind the enemy and threatened Sun Ce's retreat. If Zhou Tai did not have enough food, he would not be able to hold on as long as Sun Cejiu, what should he do?"

How long does it take for the two armies to stand up?

Although the new city was built less than two months before the war started, it was a pure military fortress after all. There were very few people in the city. Most of them provided service labor to the troops. There was no large-scale group of farmers and merchants.

In theory, with Li Su's caution, he must have transported a lot of food to Hanyang when the city was built, so that Zhou Tai could defend it for a long time even in war.

When Zhou Yu thought of this, he immediately drew his sword and put it on Kuai Qi's neck: "Oh, you, Li Su's death room, you actually wanted to pretend that there was a lack of food in Hanyang City and lied to me, saying! What was Li Su's plan! How long does it take to store grain in Hanyang City?"

Kuai Qi's neck was slightly cut by Zhou Yu's sword blade, and blood gushed out of his skin, which scared him, an official:

"What I said is true! I didn't say that there was a lack of food in Hanyang City, but I really don't know how long I could eat it. When Li Su sent me here, he was worried that the battle would be stalemate for too long.

He said that he knew that Zhang Song had not had time to transport the military rations from Jiangling, which was probably enough for General Sun's 100,000 troops to eat for more than a year, and the famine in the next spring. No matter how much food there is in Hanyang City, it will definitely not be as long as the food in Jiangling City. He is prepared for any reason. Anyway... it will be fine if the food in Hanyang will be eaten until the famine in the next spring."

If Kuai Qi said that there was not much food in Hanyang City, Zhou Yu would definitely cut him directly. But he said, "At least you can eat until next spring famine." The probability that that is the truth will be greatly increased, which is also in line with Li Su's consistent steady style.

This is the mental preparation for the protracted war to continue to fight.

For a moment, a historical case flashed through Zhou Yu's mind: two and a half years ago, when Yuan Shao and Cao Cao had a friction, the "Guandu Battle" was in the face of the "Battle of Guandu".

In that battle, they finally fought at the Bian River for more than two months, until Cao Cao caught the opportunity to burn Wuchao’s food and grass, and defeated Lu Bu in a small battle. Then they gave Yuan Shao a face to let Yan Liangchou get some military achievements and take the opportunity to seek peace.

In today's battle, Li Su also knew that he could not win quickly and could not lose quickly, so at least he was ready to fight for a longer period of time than the Battle of Guandu?

But what was Li Su waiting for? During the Battle of Guandu, Cao Cao was waiting for the disunity within Yuan Shao and the flaws within Yuan Shao were exposed. Li Su was not waiting for the Wu army to eat and shop the food in Jiangling City?

Zhou Yu thought about it again and again, and a thought came to his mind: Perhaps, Li Su is still waiting for the northern battlefield, and Liu Bei's main force and Yuan Shao's main force will decide the outcome!

Li Su was fantasizing that Liu Bei could repel Yuan Shao, or after temporarily damaging the enemy, he could free up more troops to support the southern battlefield, so that the Han army could have an overwhelming advantage over the Eastern Wu in Jingzhou!

"Then Li Su is really arrogant. He actually felt that Liu Bei could defeat Yuan Shao by using two-thirds of his strength to fight against Yuan Shao? Even if he could, how long would it take? Yuan Shu's lonely city of Shouchun would definitely not be able to survive next year's spring famine under Cao Cao's attack.

After Cao Cao completely took over Shouchun and passed the season when the winter in the north is not suitable for expedition, Yuan Shao would definitely be forced to send troops from Kunyang-Ye County to Wancheng in early summer next year. By then, the total strength of Liu Bei's camp will definitely become increasingly stretched.

As long as Liu Bei fails to hit Yuan Shao hard before the summer next year, this protracted war will definitely be more beneficial to us. When Cao Cao enters the market, the food in Hanyang City will be eaten up before Jiangling, and Zhou Tai has to break through. Li Su is waiting to die!"

Since Li Su is waiting for death, Zhou Yu is of course happy to wait with him, and then take the last blow when he is about to die!

With this prejudice, Zhou Yu cleaned the battlefield that night and took all the fighting ships seized from Taishici and more than 1,000 prisoners of war back to Hanjinkou. The grain fleet also moved all to Hanjin, and unloaded the materials to enrich his military supplies.

At the same time, Zhou Yu also raised the priority of "breaking the Zhoutai Grain Road". He asked the navy who were on small boats to continue to strengthen the defense of Hanjinkou and quit the Han River route.

In addition, Zhou Yu's main naval army, which was originally stationed in Jiangjinkou, also scored a vanguard and went to the north of Dongting Lake mouth, opposite Baqiu, to establish a new water camp to monitor Ganning in Jingnan.

Because Zhou Yu had to prevent Li Su from attempting to transport grain from Xiangyang, Nanjun to Hanyang from Jingbei, remotely control Ganning from Xiangjiang River and Dongting Lake to go to the main road of the Yangtze River, and send the surplus grain from the four counties in Jingnan to support Zhou Tai. Only when the entrance of Dongting Lake was completely blocked, Zhou Yu was completely relieved.

As Zhou Yu invested more and more sunken costs on the route of "fighting a protracted war, consuming Zhou Tai first, and ensuring the Wu army's retreat", his tactical direction became increasingly firmer and he became more reluctant to persuade Sun Ce to change his route.

...

Two days later, Zhou Yu personally returned to Jiangling City and told Sun Ce about the good news that the Hanjin battle was a great victory and the annihilation of more than 2,000 enemy naval troops in person, and praised his own large-scale seizures.

Sun Ce was in a stalemate with the Han army opposite Dangyang in Jiangling, and was originally immersed in the depressed despair of the land battle one after another. After listening to the good news reported by Zhou Yu, he was finally excited and immediately informed the entire army to boost the morale of the low point after two consecutive defeats.

Sun Ce was so excited that he took out aged wine toast Zhou Yu in person: "Gongjin is still reliable, he is worthy of being the giant in Jiangdong. Zhao Yunsheng, a battle against Changban field, and Zhou Lang was fighting against the river.

We have the Yangtze River, Han River, Xia River, and the place surrounded by three rivers is solid. No matter how strong Zhao Yun's cavalry battles are, the Han army will never be able to surpass Xia River from then on! My Jiangdong has been invincible since ancient times, and it has been verified again... But Li Su has always been cunning, so there will be no fraud in it?"

In the past two days after Zhou Yu returned, he had already thought about all the details on the way: "Don't worry, will I not see whether Taishi Ci was really defeated or fake? I have reviewed the details.

After all, Li Su didn't expect that our army would use new weapons from Liu Bei's camp, such as crossbows and catapults, so easily. At the same time, he did not expect that our army would be able to fight against tower ships and ships with these new weapons. "

Sun Ce nodded frequently: "That's good, that's good."

Zhou Yu followed the trend and told Sun Ce about the new long-term war ideas he had thought of on the way. Sun Ce also felt doubtful at first, thinking that "will there be other risks when staying in Nanjun for a long time stalemate?"

But Zhou Yu deduced those details, analyzed all aspects of "time is beneficial to us and unfavorable to Liu Bei's camp", and also quoted Xun Yu's advice to Cao Cao during the Battle of Guandu.

Sun Ce understood all these, and naturally fully supported Zhou Yu: "Gongjin is also the talent of Wang Zuo. If you want to govern politics and the people, you may not be as good as Xun Ruo. But you have to be more intelligent than military strategy, war and decision-making. Gongjin is much better than Xun Ruo."
Chapter completed!