Although it is said that the situation is urgent and the troops are deployed quickly, Chang'an and Xiangyang are thousands of miles apart after all, especially the area from Shangluo to Danshui. The mountain roads and rugged areas are dangerous, so the troops in Guanzhong have to move slowly, while Wu and Shu take advantage of the spring.
When the Xia tide rose, the swells struck continuously. Therefore, Chen Chong hurriedly hurried and traveled slowly, day and night, but in the end he was one step behind Liu Fan and Sun Ce.
By the time the Westerners arrived at Fancheng, it was already May 11th. It was the rainy season at this time, with dark clouds in the sky and heavy rains for days, making the roads soft and muddy, and there were puddles with yellow water everywhere. Han Dynasty
The water level has also skyrocketed. The mighty river heading towards Japan is now more than four miles wide. The two banks face each other from a distance, as if they are divided between north and south, not wanting to allow mortals to fly across.
Compared with the surging rivers, Westerners are more amazed by the tall ships anchored on the south bank. Most of them were born in the solid and broad land of Guanlong. The largest river they see is naturally the Yellow River. Except for the cold flood period, the Yellow River has many rivers.
The current is still smooth and gentle, and floating boats can come and go at will. Therefore, the largest ships I have ever seen are just grain-carrying cannons, or sterns that can carry a hundred people.
But from a distance, the height of the building boat on the other side is about four feet, which is no less than the city walls of some military towns. They are all made of high-quality fir wood from Badong or Yuzhang. It is said that they are invulnerable. And the building boat has no rowers.
There were hundreds of people, and several floors of battle towers were built on the deck. There were crenels on each floor, and they were equipped with countless crossbowmen and spearmen, suitable for fighting from both distance and distance. Once they got close to the arrow range, the crossbowmen would condescendingly shoot, which was impossible for ordinary small boats to resist. Not to mention there are two specially-made building ships, which are said to be the flagships of Sun Ce and Liu Fan. Sun Ce's flagship is called "Feiyun", which has six floors and is more than 100 feet long. The ship can accommodate more than 3,000 people.
.The momentum of Liu Fan's flagship is even more impressive. It has as many as nine floors, and the entire ship is painted red. There are brocades on the parapets, so it is called "Lin Pavilion".
Chen Chong and Liu Biao arrived at the shore of the Han River. From a distance, they saw these warships lined up on the south bank, like a natural moat. Then they sincerely sighed: "The ships of Wu and Shu are so huge. It's really an eye-opener, but I don't know where your Royal Highness's navy is?"<
/p>
King Chu Liu Biao just shook his head and smiled bitterly, with a look of desolation on his face. He said slowly: "Why should Ting Jian be sarcastic? I have no intention of denying the defeat. It was just my inability to run the army and lax defense against the enemy, which is why we are here today."
After being established in Jianghan for twenty years, just recruiting famous people is nothing more than deceiving oneself and others in the end. If you don't sink to the bottom of the river and play with the fish and shrimps, you are lucky in life."
What Liu Biao was talking about was the battle of Yuliangzhou that happened at the end of last month.
After the Wu-Shu coalition camped in Liqiu, they marched northward with both land and water armies, aiming directly at Xiangyang City. At this time, the Chu army still had 20,000 naval troops, led by Cai Mao, stationed on Yuliang Island in the southeast outside the city.
Yuliangzhou is located in the middle of the river. There are more than a hundred watchtowers on it and thousands of fine crossbows, echoing the navy in the river. As a precaution, Cai Mao took a few boats upstream on the Mian River, planning to
When the enemy is defeated, setting fire to the ship as a deterrent will be enough to force the coalition forces to retreat.
Unexpectedly, the Wu-Shu allied forces were also prepared. Liu Fan sent Gan Ning and twenty battleships as the vanguard to break through the blockade at night and boarded Yuliang Island with 600 people. They then set fire to the island, and the wooden buildings on the island were as bright as fire.
The lamp successfully pointed the way for the coalition forces to search for the enemy. The Chu navy was therefore panicked. One part went ashore to put out the fire, and the other part faced the enemy head-on. As a result, the coalition forces took advantage of the situation and rushed into Dongjin, dividing the Chu army into two. Then they moved eastward and westward.
The attack flew away like a locust, and the Chu people did not dare to raise their heads, let alone go upstream to lower the fire ship.
When it was daytime, Liu Biao looked far away from the top of the wall of Fan City. He saw only smoke and birds on the river. The island was in a mess. Among the ships still rising and falling in the waves, there were all the flags of the Wu and Shu armies, and the blue bird flag of the Chu army.
He also fell to the bottom of the river silently, completely submerged in the surging river water.
After the fiasco at Yuliangzhou, Liu Biao's naval forces were all wiped out. Among the more than 100,000 troops in Jingzhou, there were now less than 10,000 who listened to his orders. Of the seven counties in Jingzhou, only Nanyang in the north of Han Dynasty was in his hands. In the south,
When the government troops were stationed, although Chen Chong did not say it explicitly, both of them knew it well: Liu Biao had actually lost his independence, and Nanyang County would also be taken back by the state, making his state capital completely reduced to the Western Dynasty.
Vassal.
Since the death of Liu Yu, Liu Biaogui has been the king of Chu and a vassal, with a high position and a great reputation, and can be called the head of the clan. And his actions of building a large academic palace and nurturing bachelors have become famous all over the world, even Guan Ning of Liaodong has heard about it
.Therefore, Liu Biao often regarded himself as a member of the imperial family, and secretly made arrangements for the emperor's chariots and chariots, which seemed to be disloyal. However, after this defeat, Liu Biao looked away.
After watching the boat, the two of them took a car back to the city. On the way, Liu Biao said to Chen Chong simply: "In just two months, I have lost thousands of miles of land and abandoned the people of the state. How shameful! Why do you want to do this to the country? Your Majesty gave me the title of foreign vassal. Now,
Thinking about it, I feel ashamed. Ting Jian, I am willing to take the title of Wang Zun and work for the imperial court, what do you think?"
Because it was too abrupt, Chen Chong initially thought that Liu Biao was worried about his future prosperity, so he politely tried to test it and immediately stated that the court had no intention of withdrawing the vassal. It was only after Liu Biao repeatedly begged that Chen Chong understood his true intention. Chen Chong felt quite emotional for a while and sighed at Liu Biao.
Said: "Jing Shenggong does not admire glitz, which is really admirable. After Jia Yue passed away from illness the year before last, the position of Taifu has been vacant. If Jing Shenggong does not give up, he can temporarily hold the position." The position of Taifu is the same as that of the three princes, although there is no
Practical, but extremely noble, Chen Chong treated Liu Biao like this, which can be said to be reciprocating love.
However, these were all chores to deal with the aftermath. The top priority now was how to deal with the enemy troops in Xiangyang. Therefore, after returning to Fancheng, he immediately compared the map and carefully studied the situation in Jingxiang with Liu Biao, Pang Tong and others.
The geographical situation of the Jingxiang area is: Mianshui and Hanshui come from Hanzhong from west to east. After entering the Nanyang Basin, they are now the junction area of Henan and Hubei. They gather many tributaries flowing from the north, such as Danshui, Mishui, Xianshui, etc.
Wait, so we changed the route south to the Yangtze River. The confluence of many rivers above is the important town of Xiangyang and Fancheng. Fancheng is in the north of Mianyang, and Xiangyang is in the south of Mianshui. They are opposite each other across the river, controlling the choke point of water and land transportation between the north and the south. Mianshui flows from Xiangyang
Go south, pass by Jingling, Hubei Zhongxiang, and turn southeast until it joins the Yangtze River at the junction of Xiling and E County in present-day Wuhan. At Jingling, ignore the Mianshui going east and go directly to the southwest, passing Changlin.
Directly to Jiangling City, which was the capital of the Chu Kingdom in Ying 800 years ago.
Xiangyang is now controlled by the combined forces of Liu, Fan, and Sun Ce, but south of Liqiu, the territory controlled by the two armies is clearly divided. The Shu infantry shuttled back and forth between Dangyang, Yiling, and Jiangling, trying to establish a foothold in the Jianghan Plain.
The Shu people were in order, and the Wu army that followed was rushing to Xiyang, Anlu, Pingchun and other places, aiming to seize the dangerous fortresses of Tongbai Mountain and Dabie Mountain in the north.
Obviously, the two armies had a secret agreement in advance, using the Han River as the dividing line in the north of Jingzhou, so that Shu would occupy the southern county and Wu would occupy Jiangxia. As for the division of power in the south of Jingzhou, there is no information to speak of. Kuai Liang, a farewell commander in Jingzhou, guessed that,
There is a high probability that the Xiang River will be used as the boundary, with Shu taking western Hunan and Wu taking eastern Hunan.
Comparing the strength of the enemy and ourselves, the navy behind the Wu-Shu Alliance is the best in the world. However, the Nanfu army brought by Chen Chong only numbered 20,000, and there was no one to accompany them. It was impossible to break through the Han River and regain the lost territory.
.At this point, no matter whether the court is willing to admit it or not, it can no longer save the overall situation in Jingzhou. The only thing that can be done now is to try to save the remaining troops in Jingnan.
Chen Chong asked Liu Biao: "Jing Shenggong, how many naval forces are left in Jingnan?"
Liu Biao nodded slightly, and then replied slowly: "I am in Quanling, Changsha. Each of us has two hundred troops, which can carry ten thousand troops. And Liu Hu and Han Xi in the mansion are going to gather at these two places."
Soldiers. Calculating the time, it should have arrived. However, if the news of Xiangyang reaches Jingnan, the morale of the army will be shaken, the hometown will be lost, and the road will be blocked. I don’t know how many people will still be willing to return north." p>
Chen Chong leaned back slightly. The situation in the secret passage was very bad, which was very different from what I thought. However, his expression remained unchanged and he still said in a deep voice: "This is the reason why our army is here! If the morale of the army is shaken, the envoy must know how to deal with it."
In the interests of the country, if traffic is cut off, we must try to build a road. The so-called world is all Han land. If I give up here, won't I make the two thieves arrogant and make the common people of Hannan feel heartbroken?"
Speaking of this, he asked the people accompanying him: "I want to send an envoy to Jingnan to settle the Liu and Han army, and lead the way back to the north. Who among you is willing to go?"
He asked "Who is willing to go", but everyone saw that he was looking at Deng Zhi, which showed that he already had the best candidate in mind. Deng Zhi was born in the Deng family of Xinye, Nanyang, after the famous general Deng Yu, when Liu Biao entered Jingzhou.
, had also traveled between Jiangling and Xiangyang, so he was at least familiar with Jingzhou's waterways. In addition, he had a strong temperament and did not show off his spirit, so he was indeed the best candidate for the mission. Deng Zhi was also prepared in his heart, and immediately stepped forward when he saw this.
He cupped his hands and said: "Students must fulfill their mission."
Chen Chong said hello a few times, and then told Deng Zhi: "After you find Liu Hu and Han Xi, persuade them to join forces, and then go north to Linxiang or Yiyang to stick to the area, and then contact me, as long as I am here
With a large army to contain us, there must be a way out." After that, he wrote another handwritten silk letter, appointing Deng Zhi as the executive in the name of the imperial court, granting him full power to handle all matters in Jingnan, and at the end it was stamped "Sili Xiaowei".
Seal and the Seal of the King of Chu.
Deng Zhi led seven or eight people to leave Fancheng that night. He planned to disguise himself as a businessman, enter Jiangxia from Xianshui River, bypass Xiangyang via Caiyang, then take a boat into Hanshui River, and then go straight to Jingnan.
Chen Chong, who stayed in Fancheng, began to confront the Wu and Shu armies in Xiangyang. Some people suggested that Chen Chong should use his old relationship with Sun Ce to send envoys to Xiangyang to intercede, and maybe he could divide the two armies.
Chen Chong thought otherwise and sighed: "If Bo Fu had attacked Chu alone, he might still have some friendship, but since he joined forces with Liu Fan, he considered the two palaces as treason, and we can no longer rely on human relationships."
After thinking about it for a moment, he thought hesitantly: "Ke Bofu and Liu Fan conspired together, just like tigers and wolves sharing the same bed. One of them will die. For the sake of Wentai, I'd better remind him and see if he can