After noon, the weather in Jiangxia was still gloomy.
Later, in the great flood of 1998, heavy rains continued for three months in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.
Although there is no record of how long the Battle of Xiangfan lasted, it was able to cause the Han River to surge by more than 20 meters, so it must not have been much less.
However, this year's rain is actually far inferior to the 1998 floods and the Battle of Xiangfan. It only lasted for more than a month from mid-May to the end of June.
Therefore, although the Yangtze River is also rising now, it has not been exaggerated to the point of flooding the entire middle and lower reaches. The water level has only risen by two to three feet, and the cities along the way are relatively safe.
Chaisang County, later the urban area of Jiujiang City, was called Jiujiang Pavilion at this time, named after Wang Mang's period.
At this moment, to the west of Jiujiang Pavilion and directly north of Chaisang County, there is Bali Lake in later generations. There are hundreds of ships parked on the lake.
Not only Bali Lake, but also Sai Lake, East Lake and even Chi Lake are now full of Jiangxia navy ships.
At that time, Bali Lake was connected to Pengli Lake, including the surrounding Sai Lake, East Lake, Chi Lake, and Longgan Lake, Daguan Lake, Taibai Lake, and Huang Lake to the north, all of which were part of Pengli Ze.
Chihu, Bali Lake, Saihu and other places in the south are swampy lakes washed out by the Yangtze River. They are surrounded by dense forests and backed by mountains, so they have become a natural haven and are used as docks.
Just like Zhu Yuanzhang and Chen Youliang once had a water battle here, as the most important connecting channel between Hubei and Jiangxi, this place has extremely high importance.
It was still raining lightly in the sky, and the gate of Chaisang City had already been opened. The yellow mud road outside the city was full of potholes and yellow water.
Groups of soldiers slowly walked out, jumping over the puddles along the edge of the road or when they encountered them. If there was really no way to jump over, they stepped into the puddles with one foot deep and one shallow, trying to pick up the places they could.
Walk.
Because he did not expect it to rain for such a long time, Huang Zu's army was seriously under-prepared for raincoats. Except for the generals, only middle- and lower-level officers could be assigned a raincoat. Ordinary soldiers could only use a wooden board to protect themselves from the rain, or simply get wet.
rain.
This is also a big blow to military morale and morale.
At this moment, Huang Zu was riding on a horse, wearing a raincoat, and slowly walking towards the riverside surrounded by many personal guards. He was actually a rather rough person, and he was quite stubborn in his own opinions, and he didn't want others to tell him what to do.
Historically, Liu Biao took advantage of Huang Zu's character traits to kill people with a borrowed knife, and asked Huang Zu to help him get rid of Mi Heng, whom he hated.
But just because Huang Zu was rough and stubborn didn't mean he was stupid.
As a navy general whose abilities were still higher than those of Zhang Yun and Cai Mao, he knew very well that what Shen Chen said in the letter was right.
Due to continuous heavy rains, food routes were cut off, and military morale and morale dropped sharply. If Jiangdong took the opportunity to attack at this time, he would definitely be put into a very embarrassing situation.
Therefore, his choice was to adopt Shen Chen's suggestion.
In the direction of Bali Lake in the northeast, Su Fei, who was stationed at Jiujiang Pavilion, had already boarded the ship. He led 5,000 people, nearly a hundred large and small ships, and twenty or thirty warships of various types, and sailed north toward the Yangtze River.
Huang Zu looked at the howling wind and rolling waves of Pengli Ze in the distance. There was a thin layer of fog on the river. Su Fei's team headed towards Huangmeiting on the other side of the river.
"Get aboard!"
He gave the order, and more than 20,000 Jingzhou navymen slowly began to board the ships.
The rolling waves of Pengli Ze were like a vast ocean at this time, because the heavy rain washed away the sediment in the upper reaches, and the lake water and the river water were mixed together, becoming extremely turbid.
About half an hour after Su Fei's fleet left, the main force of Jiangxia Navy also began to set sail and headed towards the north bank.
When the fleet entered the Yangtze River, you could instantly feel the difference from the one in Bali Lake.
Bali Lake is a U-shaped port that was washed out. After the water rushes in, it will be much smoother. But after entering the Yangtze River, the water in the upper reaches is rolling and it is flood tide. The ships are bumpy and surging, making it difficult to sail on the river.
Huang Zu stood at the head of the river and watched. After a while, he saw some small black figures vaguely appearing in the faint mist on the east side of the vast Pengli River in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.
Peng Lize's field of vision is like the sea. Although the weather is gloomy, the fog is very thin and does not particularly hinder the field of vision.
He could see those small black shadows, but in fact those black shadows were probably several kilometers away from them, and it would take at least half an hour to drive there, so there was no need to worry.
The fleet was still sailing on the river despite the wind and waves.
Penglize in the Han Dynasty not only included Longgan Lake, but also included Konglong Town and Xinkai Town in the south of Huangmei County, Hubei Province in later generations. This area was still in Penglize at that time, and it was not until the Southern Song Dynasty.
become land.
Therefore, if Huang Zu wanted to go north to Xunyang, he would have to sail at least more than 20 kilometers. If he did not go to Xunyang, he would have to go upstream of the Yangtze River for 60 to 70 kilometers to Xiazhi County.
Therefore, going to Xunyang became the best choice.
However, Xunyang County in the Han Dynasty was not the Huangmei County of later generations, but was located southeast of Huangmei County and northeast of Wuxue City, probably in the area of Wuxue North Station in later generations, close to Taibai Lake.
At this moment, Shen Chen and Liu Qi had also arrived in Xunyang County.
Xunyang and Chaisang are both bridgeheads for attacking Jiangdong. The difference is that Xunyang is north of the Yangtze River and can threaten Lujiang County and Jiujiang County in Yangzhou, while Chaisang is south of the Yangtze River and can threaten Danyang and Wu County in the hinterland of Yangzhou.
key locations.
So to a certain extent, giving up Chai Sang would actually give Jiang Dong a sigh of relief.
But for Huang Zu, as long as his army was still there, he had the confidence to drive the Jiangdong navy from Penglize back to the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Therefore, even if he lost Chaisang, an important strategic location, it didn't matter.
"General, those ships seem to be our ships."
When the ship was halfway through the voyage, geographically around the time of Konglong Town in later generations, Lieutenant General Chen Sheng looked at the ships on Pengli Ze from a distance and reported to Huang Zu.
Huang Zu said in a deep voice: "It should be Su Fei's fleet. I asked them to go to Huangmeiting to guard the entrance of Pengli into the river. It seems that the Jiangdong Navy is coming. Shen Chen is right, and the Jiangdong Navy also knows
When the time comes, we will retreat and we will definitely come to intercept them."
Chen Sheng looked at it and said: "Now we are short of food and grass, and the morale of the soldiers is not high. We will definitely suffer losses if we fight with them in Penglize. If Su Fei retreats, should we immediately send people to Xiaji to mobilize people?"
Of course, not all of the 60,000 Jiangxia naval forces were nestled in Chaisang. There were only 30,000 in Chaisang. Among them, several thousand men and horses were left behind in Xiaji, Xunyang, E County, Qichun, Zhu County and other places. Therefore, Huang Zu's strength at this time
Not concentrated.
Huang Zu shook his head and said: "It's too late to mobilize troops and horses now. It doesn't matter. I told Su Fei before I left and asked him to go south of Penglize and follow the Gan River to Nanchang. Liu Pan's troops and horses are there to support him. This can be regarded as taking advantage of the opportunity.
Lure Jiangdong Navy away."
"Leading south to Nanchang?"
Chen Sheng thought for a while and suddenly realized something. He gave a thumbs up and praised: "The general's ingenious plan is really a miraculous plan. If the Jiangdong Navy is led to Nanchang, can we attack from both front and rear and defeat the Jiangdong Navy?"
Huang Zu raised his head and looked at the weather, shook his head and said: "It's useless. I don't know when the heavy rain will stop now. Although the rain is much lighter today, Liu Pan doesn't have a navy. It's really difficult to survive in this rough river."
If we fight with the Jiangdong navy, I'm afraid we'll both die together."
"Forehead"
Chen Sheng also thought about it. Fighting on the river and fighting on land are completely different things. Especially in this climate with skyrocketing water levels, it is not easy to sail normally, let alone fight with the enemy navy.
Turn together.
So now Huang Zu just watched the wind and rain subside a little, and reluctantly crossed the river back to Jiangxia to resupply. If he really took action, in the rolling waves, the possibility of both sides perishing together was very high.
only.
What Huang Zu couldn't understand was that Jiangdong Navy Commander Zhou Yu was not a fool either.
Knowing that they were already taking a lot of risk by going back, why did they still send a fleet to intercept them? Could it be that the Jiangdong Navy has developed to the point where it is not afraid of the wind and waves of the river and is confident that it can fight to the death with the Jiangxia Navy in this kind of weather?
Already?
It's really hard to understand.
Huang Zu shook his head, raised his head and looked into the distance. He could vaguely see land seven or eight kilometers away to the north.
If Bali Lake is the dock of Chaisang County, then the Taibai Lake area is the dock of Xunyang County. It was called "Xunyang River" at that time. There were many large and small islands on the river. In later generations, it became
Konglong Town and Xinkai Town in the south of Huangmei County.
In the Han Dynasty, it belonged to ancient Jiujiang. For example, "Ti Fengding Temple" written by Li Bai in the Tang Dynasty and "Pipa Xing" written by Bai Juyi were all set in this area. It was not until the Yangtze River moved south in the Song Dynasty that this area became a wilderness plain.
.
The fleet avoided the large and small Jiangxin Islands. From a distance, one could even see many hills and hills on those Jiangxin Islands. It was not known which hill would be where the Fengding Temple would be located hundreds of years later.
After sailing for another half an hour, the fleet finally arrived safely at the U-shaped inland harbor in Jiangbei, which was almost near Taibai Lake in Huangmei County in later generations.
This place is still some distance from Xunyang County. There are hundreds of ships parked on the pier. There is a Xiangting Village Village nearby. Huang Zu stood on the board and saw only a few hundred soldiers standing sparsely near the pier.
, and suddenly frowned.
Since the evacuation of the ship depends on the weather and can only leave when the rain is light, Huang Zu and Liu Qi were unable to agree on a time.
But Liu Qi said in his letter that if the rain was less severe, he would send someone to respond.
But seeing the soldiers on the dock, Huang Zu knew that Liu Qi had not sent anyone here at all. These people should probably be soldiers stationed at the dock to guard the ships.
But it doesn’t matter if no one responds.
Huang Zu thought that since the Jiangdong naval forces had been transferred away by Su Fei, no one from the Jiangdong army would come to attack him.
Now ships began to enter the port one after another, and Huang Zu's flagship was parked in the port.
After he got off the ship, a Qu Junhou stationed here immediately came up to him and saluted him: "General!"
"Where's the eldest son?"
Huang Zu asked.
Qu Junhou scratched his head and said: "The eldest son sent someone to tell Bei Shi that the general might take advantage of the light rain today to leave Chaisang and return to Xunyang, so Ling Bei has been waiting here, but he himself doesn't know where he has gone.
"
"oh?"
Huang Zu felt confused. Since Liu Qi knew that he might come back today, he sent hundreds of soldiers to wait for him instead of bringing people over to meet him. What did this mean?
Could it be that he was setting up a reception banquet in the city?
strangeness.
Huang Zu didn't know why, but it was getting dark now. It was already three o'clock in the afternoon. We were still more than twenty miles away from Xunyang, so we probably couldn't go back before dark.
Therefore, Huang Zu did not think deeply, but ordered the lieutenants on his left and right: "Send the order, let Zhang Hu lead 3,000 people as the vanguard, Chen Sheng will leave 3,000 people stationed here to look after the ships and baggage, and the rest will follow me into the city!"
"only!"
Everyone took orders one after another.
At that time, everyone followed Huang Zu's order. Zhang Hu first led 3,000 men to the north as a vanguard. Chen Sheng was stationed at the Xiangting Pavilion here. The remaining 15,000 troops and horses, led by Huang Zu, followed Zhang Hu in a mighty manner.
Heading towards Xun Yang.
The roads north of the Yangtze River were also muddy, with rice fields on both sides, all submerged by water at this time. There were countless hills and jungles, and wild grasses half as tall as a man, basil, were blowing in the wind in the wild.
The people of Xunyang had long been moved to Jiangxia, and dozens of kilometers around were deserted without any human habitation.
Follow the muddy path that can barely be regarded as a road, all the way to Xunyang County. Looking to the right side of the road, you can see the fields are deserted and the villages are abandoned. This protracted war is a huge disaster for the people on the north and south sides of Penglize.
disaster.
"General!"
When Huang Zu's army left the dock for about seven or eight miles, and still had more than ten miles to reach Xunyang City, in the drizzle, someone shouted to Huang Zu: "Look over there."
Huang Zu was riding on horseback and looking to the northeast, he saw more than ten horses galloping towards him on the northeast road.
It does take courage to run a horse in the mud on a rainy day, but there is nothing you can do about it.
Especially when it is necessary to send a signal, and when the weather is suddenly windy and rainy, you cannot use smoke to convey the signal, so you have to use the method of "urgent message, everyone rushes around".
The horses looked very anxious and came running quickly. Suddenly, the sound of the horn sounded from the front and filled half of the sky.
"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!"
"Where did the horn sound come from?"
Huang Zu was shocked.
Looking further into the distance, I saw that there were densely packed black spots on the northeastern horizon.
"Report!"
The horses came near, and after Huang Zu's personal guards verified their identities, a scout came to Huang Zu and said: "General, the eldest son is afraid that Jiangdong's army will attack from the land, so he has led Xunyang's garrison to Shilian Mountain to garrison. Unexpectedly, the enemy is so powerful.
The young master has no choice but to avoid the spotlight temporarily and sends us to inform the general!"
"I see."
Huang Zu took a deep breath and suddenly looked south.
Obviously, his plan was discovered by that Zhou Yu. It was obvious that the Jiangdong Navy who flew to Nanchang after Su was probably just pretending. The real main force of the Jiangdong Army came by land.
"General, what should we do?"
The deputy general beside him asked quickly: "At this time, it is already too late to return to Xunyang or the dock."
Huang Zu looked around and shouted angrily: "Welcome the enemy!"
"Meet the enemy!"
The sharp whistle rang through the sky, and the entire Jiangxia Navy began to form a formation in panic!
These chapters are the first confrontation between Shen Chen and Zhou Yu, but to be honest, I don’t even know what I am writing nonsense. The cold is better, but my stomach is still uncomfortable. I am stressed every day and get angry easily. , I have a lot of diseases and am overweight. I want to go for a physical check-up in a while. I hope there is nothing serious about my health.