Chapter 374: The Flames of Red Cliff Burn for Thousands of Years [Subscription Request]

Chibi is a place name on the Yangtze River.

The north bank is called Wulin, and the south bank a distance to the east is called Lukou.

To the northwest is the well-known Huarong Road.

To the northeast of Chibi is Xiakou in Jiangxia County.

Cao's army and the allied forces of Sun and Liu in Jiangdong fought in this area.

In the first battle, Jiangdong vanguard general Pan Zhang was killed on the battlefield.

The Jiangdong troops then heard the beating of war drums and the order to retreat.

The warships of Jiangdong then raised their sails, rowed with manpower, and retreated quickly.

Led by Gan Ning and Wen Pin, Cao's army pursued rapidly along the river, shooting arrows like flying and achieving a small victory.

When Cao Cao heard the news, he was also slightly surprised.

Gan Ning killed Pan Zhang as soon as the battle started.

If Pan Zhang had not died, he would have become a great general of Jiangdong and would have been hailed as one of the most powerful ministers of Jiangbiao.

Those who can serve as pioneers and leaders are mostly brave in combat.

Zhou Yu wanted to gain the upper hand, so he sent Pan Zhang.

It's a pity that I have to break it for a while before I get up.

However, at the moment, neither Gan Ning nor Pan Zhang had the fame they would later become.

Pan Zhang was just a young and brave general at the moment.

Zhou Yu sent him here with the intention of sending a surprise attack, but he died before he could accomplish anything.

"King Wei, the vanguard has sent a message asking whether our army should pursue them with all their might. General Gan has sent someone to request a fight, saying that he is confident that he can defeat the enemy in another battle and dampen the morale of Jiangdong. Please allow it, Your Majesty." The personal army came to report.

Cao Cao: "Order the front troops to pursue the enemy, and Cai Mao to lead the rear troops to provide support."

"Yes, sir." The soldiers hurried away.

Jiangdong camp.

Zhou Yu and others had just heard the battle report.

At this time, Zhou Yu and Cheng Pu, the two main generals of Jiangdong, gathered in the camp.

It is worth mentioning that Zhuge Liang was also in the tent at the invitation of Lu Su.

But it was somewhat different from history. Zhuge Liang listened to the whole process but never contributed much.

He seemed not very enthusiastic about the coalition forces fighting against Cao Wei, and could even be said to be pessimistic about it.

On the Jiangdong side, there are many generals.

In addition to the main general, there are many other famous generals such as Huang Gai, Han Dang, Zhou Tai, Jiang Qin, and Xu Sheng.

Jiangdong was defeated in the first battle. Although the losses were not great, it was a serious blow to morale.

Zhou Yu looked around at the crowd and saw that everyone was keeping their heads down and silent. He said:

"Have you heard that Cao's army announced that there are 800,000 naval and land forces stationed in the north of the Yangtze River? Are you afraid?"

"If auxiliary troops are included, Cao Wei may have 800,000 troops, but along the Yangtze River, there are no more than 150,000.

Even if Liu Biao's surrendered troops were included, there were only 200,000 of them.

Although Cao's army is larger in number than ours, we are not to be feared. Our army is well-trained and well-versed in water warfare.

This time we will fight by the river, we will surely defeat the enemy. I hope all the generals will work together and not slack off."

Lu Su also said: "You can see that the Cao Wei navy is newly formed and has only been trained for one or two years without any actual combat.

Moreover, within Cao Wei, the direct navy and the newly attached Jingzhou navy were difficult to integrate and there were problems everywhere. "

Zhou Yu and Lu Su took turns to appease the generals, and the morale of the generals was slightly boosted, and they began to discuss the deployment of defenses.

About a quarter of an hour later, the meeting ended and the generals left the tent.

Zhuge Liang also bowed, stood up and left.

There were only three or five people left in the tent, all of whom were Zhou Yu's confidants.

His handsome face frowned slightly:
"Our army is not united in spirit and strength. If we lose again, the army will lose its morale. What do you think we should do, Zijing?"

Lu Su pondered and said, "Why not take advantage of the enemy's tactics, wait for the opportunity, and use a surprising strategy to defeat the enemy."

Zhou Yu knew what Lu Su was referring to. It was a strategy that the two of them had discussed long ago.

"I have seen Zhuge Kongming, under Liu Yizhou, only listen and not say a word every time he gathers."

“Liu Xuande has been in charge of parts of Jingzhou for less than two years, and he has almost no navy.

They can just contain Cao's army from the side, and they don't expect Yizhou to put in much effort. "

At present, Guan Yu is leading his troops on the south bank of the Yangtze River, waiting for the opportunity to send troops to contain Cao's army.

"Someone, call the Fengshi over here." Zhou Yu said.

The so-called wind-eavesdroppers are a group of people who live along the Yangtze River all year round and can observe wind signals.

Combining their own practices, they were able to discern the changes in the celestial phenomena on both sides of the Yangtze River, and every time they saw something, it came true.

These were the extraordinary people recruited when Sun Ce was in power.

The tradition of Tingfengshi has been passed down along the Yangtze River for hundreds of years, dating back to the Spring and Autumn Period.

They had helped Sun Ce in his campaigns and made many contributions.

Several eavesdroppers came to the big tent and discussed with Zhou Yu and Lu Su the strategy to deal with Cao's army.

In the following months, the two armies clashed many times, with both sides winning and losing.

By mid-January, strong winds were howling on the Yangtze River.

Both Zhou Yu and Lu Su felt that the time had come to defeat Cao.

Huang Gai, the general of Jiangdong, also discovered through several days of observation that the northern soldiers were not used to riding in boats.

Cao Ying connected the ships together so that the soldiers could move on the ships as if they were walking on flat ground.

Huang Gai then came to see Zhou Yu and said, "General, now our troops have gathered from all over Jiangdong.

But we are still outnumbered by the enemy and it is difficult to hold out for long.

If the confrontation continues, Cao's army will control the upper reaches and our army will fight upstream, which will be very disadvantageous.

From my observation, I found that Cao's army connected the warships together, which made the hulls heavy and difficult to turn.

Or maybe we can use fire attack to defeat Cao’s army.”

"I suggest that you select a dozen or so Mongolian warships, load them with dry reeds and firewood, pour oil on the inside, and wrap them with curtains. Then prepare a small boat in advance and tie it to the stern.

Then I pretended to surrender, agreed on a date, and approached Cao Wei's ships with my ships under the pretext of bringing food and fodder to serve."

"Once the fire is lit, the small boats will follow the wind and break through the waves like a crossbow, rushing over at an incredible speed. Cao's army's many large ships are connected together, clumsy and difficult to move, and a fire will burn them all clean."

Before Huang Gai came, he had already thought of the overall strategy and talked about the plan in great detail.

His face was excited yet a little ferocious:
"Don't even mention Cao Wei's boast of having 800,000 troops. Even if they had a million troops, they would be burned to ashes in the face of the fire."

When Huang Gai came in, Zhou Yu, Lu Su, Cheng Pu, and the leader of the Tingfengshi, Wu Quan, were discussing in the camp.

Huang Gai offered a plan, and Zhou Yu smiled and said, "General Huang's strategy is exactly what I want.

I have been fighting with Cao Wei for several days, with both sides winning and losing, in order to delay their momentum."

Huang Gai then realized that Zhou Yu's early engagement with Cao's army was a tactical move after the defeat in the first battle, and he was deliberately slowing down the offensive.

Wait for Cao's army to connect the ships with iron chains.

Jiangdong was also more fully prepared, so they were able to defeat the enemy in one battle.

Huang Gai said in admiration: "The Grand Commander has always been a master in commanding troops and has achieved many remarkable feats.

I was still wondering why the battle with Cao's army was so normal this time. It turns out that the commander-in-chief had other considerations. "

Zhou Yu turned around and invited Huang Gai to discuss and improve their strategy.

When Huang Gai stepped forward, he saw that Zhou Yu had marked several strategic locations on the map. His detailed considerations were so surprising that he couldn't help but admire him even more.

"Wu Quan has the ability to listen to the wind. He predicts that the wind will turn to the southeast in half a decade, which will be the time to defeat Cao and collapse Wei."

Zhou Yu and Lu Su's ideas coincided with Huang Gai's suggestions.

They planned to have Huang Gai send someone to deliver a letter to Cao Cao first, falsely claiming surrender.

Cao Wei is now very powerful, so it is normal for some people to surrender.

As early as the Guandu period, Xu You surrendered to Cao Wei in the face of battle.

It should be easy to gain Cao Cao's trust by using the strategy of feigning surrender.

Zhou Yu and Huang Gai planned to pretend to surrender by bringing baggage with them, so they brought a dozen Mengchong warships loaded with firewood, grass, and oil, disguised them with red curtains, and tied running boats behind the ships.

As long as he got close to Cao Wei's ships, Huang Gai would light some firewood.

The burning fleet sailed with the wind and rushed towards Cao's camp.

By the time Cao Wei reacted, it was too late.

Burn all of Cao's warships. When the smoke and fire are thick, covering the sky and the sun, all of Cao Wei's army will be burned to ashes.

Given Zhou Yu and others' understanding of the Yangtze River and naval warfare, this strategy has a very high chance of success.

This is what happened in history, and we won a great victory over Cao Wei.

After Zhou Yu made a plan, he began to act according to it.

In the days that followed, Cao Wei and Jiangdong troops fought several times and won every time.

The commander of the troops in Jiangdong was Huang Gai.

He was defeated in a series of battles, so Zhou Yu ordered Huang Gai to be severely punished.

At Cao's camp, news soon reached them that Huang Gai had been punished for several days in a row and had been ordered by Zhou Yu to eat ten military sticks. He was humiliated and filled with anger.

At the end of January, Huang Gai sent a secret envoy to Cao's camp with a secret message, asking for his surrender.

Huang Gai's handwritten letter of surrender was delivered to Cao Cao overnight.

"The same people, the same place and the same situation, naturally led to the same strategy, which is really funny."

"Zhou Yu beats Huang Gai."

Cao Cao's laughter could be heard outside the palace.

Dian Wei and Xu Chu turned their heads at the door and looked inside the hall.

Dian Wei was holding a wooden barrel in his hand, which was full of meat buns.

He ate them one by one, enjoying the delicious taste, and asked in a hurry, "What makes the king so happy?"

"I don't know, why don't you go ask." Xu Chu encouraged.

Cao Cao wrote a reply letter personally, saying that he agreed to accept Huang Gai's surrender and agreed on the time for the surrender.

The news was secretly delivered to Huang Gai the next day.

Jiangdong camp.

Huang Gai laughed and said, "Cao Mengde and I have exchanged secret letters, and it has been agreed that in three days, he will raise a fire as a signal and meet me on the river to surrender.

I propose to take advantage of the situation and lead the troops to the south bank to destroy Jiangdong."

"Cao Cao believed it and wrote back, saying that he had the same idea and praised me for my brilliant advice."

"This time, let's see if he can survive!"

Zhou Yu stood up from behind the low seat and walked back and forth a few steps:
"Cao Cao is a traitor to the country. He stole our country and we must defeat him this time. But before the victory or defeat is known, we must not be careless and must be more careful."

At this moment, a soldier came in from outside the tent and said, "Report, Commander-in-Chief, Cao's army has delivered a letter written by the King of Wei."

Zhou Yu took it, read it quickly, sneered, and threw the letter aside:
"Cao Mengde actually wanted to persuade me to surrender."

Lu Su picked up the letter and read it.

The letter was written by Cao Cao, asking Zhou Yu to lead the Jiangdong troops to surrender. He only gave Zhou Yu one chance, otherwise the entire Jiangdong army would be defeated.

Zhou Yu held the hilt of the sword at his waist with one hand: "Just want to see who will take whose life. Come, act according to the plan, and defeat Cao Wei on the river in three days!"

Three days flew by.

That night, the stars and the moon were dim, the river was surging, and the cold wind was howling.

Cao Wei's ships did not light any lights.

Cao Cao personally boarded the command ship and set out from the north bank, followed by hundreds of ships behind him, which were connected to each other with iron chains and moved towards the south bank with astonishing momentum.

When they reached the center of the river, Cao's army fired a signal fire.

On the opposite side, Huang Gai, who had been waiting for a long time, sneered and led more than ten small boats, riding the river wind and quickly approaching Cao Cao.

Cao Cao stood at the bow, one hand behind his back, squinting his eyes as he watched Huang Gai's troops approaching.

At this moment, history seems to overlap.

It was here that a fire in Jiangdong burned down Cao Cao's hope of unifying the world in history.

On the opposite side, seeing the two armies advancing, Huang Gai's body was shaking with excitement, and he ordered the fire to be set.

boom!
Kerosene had been poured on the boat and ignited in the wind. In an instant, the flames burned the sky and illuminated the river.

More than ten small boats rushed towards Cao Cao's ship, along with Cao Wei's many large ships connected together.

Cao Cao said: "Kill Huang Gai, land on the south bank, and destroy Jiangdong. Kill without mercy!"

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(End of this chapter)