When Cao Cao and Yuan Shao were confronting each other at Guandu, Sun Quan took the opportunity to lead his troops to attack Guangling. However, the 100,000-strong army was frightened away by Chen Deng's strategy, and was defeated before the battle, with countless casualties.
The eighteen-year-old Sun Quan tasted failure for the first time.
After this battle, Sun Ce realized that Sun Quan had no ability to command troops, so he went to Dantu personally to reorganize his troops and prepare to march north again. However, he was unexpectedly injured by an assassin and died of his injuries.
Isn't it a pity that a rising star has fallen like this
Especially he and Taishi Ci, who were close friends and as close as brothers to Sun Ce, were heartbroken.
Only the two of them could feel this pain and irreparable regret.
Zhou Yu took a deep breath, looked up at the water birds circling the bow, and murmured: "Bofu, he has always been..."
…
In the Jiangbei stronghold, Cao Cao was receiving secret reports from Chang'an and Xuchang, and he shook his head and laughed.
Cao Hong secretly reported that Xu Huang had ulterior motives and was deliberately slacking off and not fighting. He might have already contacted Liu Qi and Guan Yu, so he wanted to investigate thoroughly as soon as possible.
Cao Cao laughed and said, "Xu Gongming is a good general of the time. He is as loyal as Yunchang and will never have second thoughts. This must be a plot by Liu Qi to sow discord. Tell Zilian not to worry about it and just defend Guanzhong together."
The other was a secret letter from Chen Jiao in Xuchang. Cao Cao handed it to Xiahou Dun beside him and said, "Zilin has made great progress since he was humiliated in Xiangyang!"
When Xiahou Dun heard that it was about his son, he quickly took it and read it. Suddenly, one of his eyes widened and he said angrily, "How dare this son secretly store food and treasure? It's outrageous!"
Xiahou Dun was always a frugal person and never amassed wealth. He also often taught his sons not to be greedy for money and sex, and that a real man should have great ambitions and make great achievements to be worthy of being a Xiahou son.
Now Xiahou Mao not only keeps concubines, but also openly amasses wealth and stores food and fodder. This matter can be a big deal or a small one.
To put it simply, Xiahou Mao loves money like his life, and to put it more seriously, it can even be said that Xiahou Dun has evil intentions!
Cao Cao waved his hand and said, "Yuan Rang, please be patient. Zilin has made great progress compared to his previous life of idleness and pleasure."
Xiahou Dun clasped his fists and said, "Since I left Xuchang, this boy has become even more unscrupulous. I was completely unaware of this matter. Please investigate it, Prime Minister."
Cao Cao laughed and said, "I know all about Zilin's ambitions! Do you know why he resells grain to make a fortune?"
Xiahou Dun's face turned pale, and he said in a deep voice: "How can a useless person have great ambitions?"
"Yuan Rang is wrong!" Cao Cao said with emotion: "Zilin admits that he is temporarily unable to lead troops, but he has the ambition of Xiao He. He earns money and raises food to support my army."
Xiahou Dun was surprised and asked, "Is this true?"
Cao Cao stroked his beard and smiled, "Yuan Rang may not know that I secretly supported him and Zi Huan to run Maolin Hall. Whether it can make money is not important, but it is a good opportunity to train the two boys. Now it seems to be quite effective."
"So that's it!" Xiahou Dun finally breathed a sigh of relief and laughed and scolded: "This stinky boy, even I was kept in the dark."
Cao Cao laughed loudly and was praising the younger generation when Cao Chun suddenly walked in quickly and reported:
"Prime Minister, something terrible has happened. Sun Quan has beheaded the envoy and hung his head by the river as a demonstration. I have appointed Zhou Yu as the Grand Commander to send troops north."
"How dare the blue-eyed man look down on me?" Cao Cao was furious and ordered, "Go to the tent!"
After a while, all the generals gathered together, and Cao Cao asked, "Have the navy of Xuanwu Lake been prepared?"
Cao Xiu stepped out and replied, "All the warships have entered the river, and the navy is ready to go, just waiting for the prime minister's order."
The Xuanwu Lake navy had been trained for more than two years by Liu Xun, the former governor of Lujiang. It had 20,000 soldiers and 800 warships, and together with the Xuzhou navy, they were all commanded by Cao Xiu.
"Very good!" Cao Cao stroked his beard and sneered, "Jiangdong relies on its strong navy. Sun Quan wants to stop us with the Yangtze River. This time, I will let him know that my northern army is good at naval warfare."
Cao Xiu clasped his fists and said, "Don't worry, Prime Minister. I will sail across the river and capture Wuhu in one day. We can also take Niuzhu by land and sea, and Shitou City will be within our grasp."
"Haha, that's magnificent!" Cao Cao laughed, "It's worth the two years of money and food I spent in Jizhou to train the troops."
Just as he was about to send out the troops, Xun You dissuaded him, saying, "Prime Minister, the winds and waves on the Yangtze River are strong, not comparable to Xuanwu Lake. The people of Jiangdong are used to fighting on the water, and they may not be able to defeat the enemy on the water. We should defend the shore and wait for the Wu army to arrive and defeat them, and then counterattack. This is the best strategy."
Liu Xun said: "The rats of Dongwu can only attack by surprise. If we talk about a head-on confrontation, what do my navy fear? In the past, Sun Ce deceived me and took Lujiang. I will definitely avenge that shame. What Sun Ce stole from me, I will definitely take it back from Sun Quan double."
Liu Xun had an old ties with Cao Cao. He had once been a subordinate of Yuan Shu and served as the governor of Lujiang. After Yuan Shu's death, he established his own regime between the Yangtze River and the Huai River.
Sun Ce invited him to join him in attacking the Yuzhang clan and dividing up their property. Liu Xun gladly sent troops, but Sun Ce took advantage of the situation and captured Lujiang. He had no choice but to surrender to Cao Cao and always bore a grudge against the Sun family.
Hearing that Cao Cao opened Xuanwu Lake to train the navy and abandoned the governor of Henei to train the navy for revenge, Cao Cao was worried that no one in the northern army knew how to fight on water, and Liu Xun had considerable experience between the Yangtze River and the Huai River, so he ordered him to lead the troops.
Zhang Xun was eager to take revenge, and Cao Xiu and a group of naval generals also eagerly requested a fight. A few years ago, in the great victory in Hefei, Zhang Liao defeated Sun Quan with 800 troops. With only 3,000 to 4,000 soldiers, he killed 100,000 Wu troops, causing them to abandon their armor and weapons and flee in a panic.
This precedent gave Cao's army great confidence. They all thought that the southerners were cowardly and would collapse at the first touch. Wouldn't it be easy for them to pick up merits everywhere if they went into battle against the enemy
Cao Cao saw that the army was ready, so he said with a smile: "Bi Yan'er is just sitting there, if Zhou Yu defends the south bank and doesn't come out, how can we take Jiangdong? It's a waste of money and food here, it's better to go out and fight the enemy first to test the strength of Wu's army, and then make a decision."
This was the first battle of the navy, and Cao Cao was quite looking forward to it. He ordered Liu Xun to lead the Xuanwu Lake navy to attack the Wuhu water fort. Cao Xiu led a large army to support them and personally went to a reef on the river bank to watch the battle.
When the generals arrived at the shore, they saw rippling water and, in the dim river distance, the tall black shadows of the Eastern Wu warships were moving back and forth like giant beasts.
Xun You and others all had solemn expressions, and Cao Cao also frowned secretly. He spent a huge amount of money to build warships, and transported them thousands of miles from Hebei to Huainan, but they were still half weak.
However, the arrow was on the string and had to be shot. If Liu Xun could fight against the Eastern Wu navy and continue to build ships and expand his fleet, even if he couldn't take Jingzhou, could he not cross the Yangtze River
Liu Xun sailed ahead, and just as he crossed the middle of the river, the Wu army's patrol boats had already discovered him and immediately sent a fleet to engage in battle.
The two armies met on the river. The sails were hoisted to stabilize the fleet. Liu Xun stood on the bow with a sword in hand and shouted, "I am Liu Xun! Sun Ce attacked me in Lujiang. Although I am dead, I must avenge him. I asked Sun Quan, the little boy, to die with me."
It was Han Dang who led the troops to meet the enemy. Just as he was about to sign up, he heard Liu Xun insulting Sun Ce and flew into a rage. He waved his hand, started the warship and rammed straight into Cao's army.
Liu Xun was shocked and quickly ordered his soldiers to steer the boat and move forward, preparing to surround the enemy and shoot it to death with arrows.
Han Dang took out his bow and arrow, stepped on the side of the boat, and waited for the big ship to approach quickly. Then he bent his bow and drew his arrow and shot straight at Liu Xun.
"Despicable - another sneak attack..." Liu Xun was shocked and angry. He didn't expect the other party to start fighting as soon as they said they would, without even deploying their ships.
Han Dang paid no attention to his shouting. His archery skills were second to none in the Wu army. He shot three arrows in succession. Liu Xun only dodged two arrows before being hit by one. He let out a scream and fell on his back.