According to the original plan, the water attack had failed, and it was time for Zhou Buyi to consider withdrawing his troops. However, given that this time was different from the previous times, the Han army had all climbed onto the wall, so it was very close to success. If there was a little improvement, it would be possible to break the city. Therefore, many generals had no intention of withdrawing their troops and advised Zhou Buji to try again.
Zhou Buji himself was very hesitant. The first attack on the city failed, and he actually lost the opportunity. After all, the Wu people must have taken precautions in the future, and they would not have the same unexpected effect as the first time. However, the Wu people originally only defended the east and south sides of Stone City. If they needed to deploy defenses on both sides of the river, the Wu people's originally weak troops would inevitably be scattered. This also increased the hope of breaking the city. However, if they wanted to break the city in a short time, they still needed to impossible. But if he just retreats, will he be worthy of the great trust the emperor placed in him before he left? After much struggle, Zhou Buyi decided to attack the city.
It was already December of the fifth year in Long'an, and the weather became increasingly obscure. During the attack and defense of Bagong Mountain, there was already considerable fog in Huainan. However, after the deep winter in Jiangdong, the clouds and fog became even thicker and could no longer be described as deep. When we first arrived at the south bank, it had snowed for several days, and the fog in the mountains had still subsided, but after the winter rain finally ended. The thick fog was like a vast ocean wave, completely submerging both sides of the river. When people are in it, they can only see within five steps, and everything else is in the vast white waves, as if they are no longer human beings, but fish living in the fog. There is no sun showing up in the sky, and not even its faint outline can be seen. Even late at night, the fog seems to have dispersed, but if you look closely at the bonfire in the night, you will find that there is also a layer of thin veil on it.
At this time, most of the Han soldiers had put on winter clothes, but because they had lived near the water for a long time, they still felt moisture seeping through every gap in their clothes and straight into their bones. Stopping the horse at a high place, he couldn't help but tremble. The heat from the people and horses quickly blended into the gray surroundings. Zhongshan, a land known as a land of royal aura, has almost disappeared after two months of war. The Wu people had previously built strong walls and cleared the country, cutting down most of the trees on the mountain. After the Han army arrived, they cut down the remaining trees in order to build forts and engineering equipment. The lush forests of Zhongshan in the past are now devastated, leaving only endless sagebrush. At night, the moisture from the river comes up, chilling the bones. From time to time, mountain beasts hiss in the tombs, and a flock of homeless crows hover in the sky. This made the Han army officers and soldiers miss their hometown in Jiangbei even more, and their hearts were filled with desolation.
In the early morning of Renyin's day, thick fog still enveloped Dajiang and Zhongshan. Huang Quan, who was stationed in Niuzhuji, inspected the military camp as usual, but unexpectedly received a report from a scout, saying that a large number of ships, no less than three hundred in number, were found thirty miles upstream, as well as several large ships. It seems that there are still a large number of troops traveling north of the river and flowing down the river.
This is the Jiangling Navy from Jingzhou, and the commander of this navy is General Huwei and the Governor of Jiangling, Zhou Yu. Zhou Yu was standing on his flagship at this time, trying to observe the enemy's situation on the south bank. But the heavy fog disappointed him. The river was rough and the ships were rising and falling, but the thick fog did not affect him at all.
Zhuge Jin beside him looked worried. He said to Zhou Yu: "Gong Jin, the fog is so heavy right now that you can't even see the flags and drums between the ships. I'm afraid it won't be convenient for a water battle! Should we wait and see for a while until the fog subsides?" Bo, will we engage in battle with the enemy again?"
However, Zhou Yu did not hesitate for a moment. Although he could not observe the enemy's situation with his own eyes, he was even more determined and immediately refused: "Ziyu, this is a strategy that has been agreed upon. There must be no hesitation. From Jiangling to this point, our army is three thousand miles away. After traveling a hundred miles, it has been almost a month now. This also means that Boyan has been guarding Jiangling for one month, and my lord has been guarding Jianye for one month, and both are in danger. It can be seen that the overall situation of life and death is in the hands of you and me. You can’t back down from the battle!”
It turned out that in order to lead his army south for rescue, Zhou Yu mobilized almost all the troops in Jingzhou. Within this month, Zhou Yu could be said to have searched the mountains and seas, exhausting the villagers. He took away all the soldiers from Jiangling and Xiakou, as well as the guards from Changsha and Lingling. There were less than 10,000 people left in Jingbei to help Lu Xun defend the city. Even so, Zhou Yu only had more than 60,000 troops under his command, which was still far behind the Han army. But Zhou Yu could no longer care about much. As he said, if he lost this battle, Sun Wu would be destroyed in the first battle and there would be no room for recovery. He had no way out.
Zhuge Jin naturally knew this truth, but he was still worried and continued to ask: "But the enemy army far outnumbers me. How can we cooperate with each other when attacking under heavy fog? If you are not careful, you and I will be buried in the river." Got it!"
Zhou Yu smiled calmly and said: "It's hard for our army to cooperate, and it's even harder for the enemy's army to cooperate! Don't forget, our army is all good men born in the river. When it comes to adapting to the situation, can the enemy's army be as safe as me? Let alone me." I heard that Deng Shuyi is in the enemy camp. I know that for him, it would be a helpless move for him to take refuge. And now that Liu Xie is far away from Jiangnan, he must want to return! As long as our army can gain the upper hand for a while, he will definitely bring order to the chaos!"
After saying that, Zhou Yu stroked his temples, patted the railing in front of him, and sighed: "It's a pity that Bo Fu died early, causing me to waste my time. If it hadn't been for the chaos after his death, I would have taken advantage of the opportunity to enter Shu and divide the world with the Northern Kingdom. Why are you in this predicament?" Although he was sighing with emotion, his words still contained ambitions and ambitions, intending to swallow up the world, which made Zhuge Jin feel ashamed.
While they were talking, Qingque Xiaozhou in front reported a message, saying that the fleet at the front had arrived on the other side of Niuzhuji and would hit Liyang City in more than ten miles. Liyang was previously an important town for the Wu people in the north of the Yangtze River, but now it has become a hub for the Han army to transport grain and supplies from the south of the Yangtze River. According to military common sense, this place should be attacked first. But Zhou Yu had no interest in this at all. Instead, he summoned his troops with a solemn face and ordered the flagship to blow the bugles fiercely. Dozens of trombones roared to the sky, which suddenly resounded through the sky.
At this time, the Wu people were all manning the oars on the boat. They were obviously in the thick fog and could not see their surroundings, but they could hear the sound of the trumpet, but at this time they felt a sense of moving through the clouds and seeing the sun. The officers of each ship also quickly stood up and ordered to their subordinates: "Turn, turn! Move to the center of the river!" It turned out that this was the signal that Zhou Yu and the officers had made an appointment in advance to cross the river together.
The river from Jianye to Dantu is extremely wide, with a maximum width of more than 40 miles and a narrowest point of 30 miles. Now hundreds of ships turned together in the fog, and then filled their sails with the sound of drums, riding the westerly wind from upstream and sailing straight to the south coast. In the vast whiteness, Wu people silently calculated the distance to the south bank. Everyone widened their eyes, trying to witness the first moment when the enemy ship was revealed. But the waiting time was so long. After beating the big drum for a while, the Wu people felt tired, so the drum sound became fainter, but it did not disappear. It was like the sound of the waves on the river, making people gradually Forgotten. At this time, Wu Zizhu felt that time was short again, as if his long life had been condensed into these few moments.
Suddenly, a gust of west wind blew from the river, and the Wu people at the forefront suddenly felt a violent impact, causing them to almost stagger to the ground. After the Wu people stood firm, they suddenly discovered that the side of their ship had hit the Han ship, and they could vaguely see the Chinese flag standing in the ship. At this time, the person commanding the flagship at the front was the veteran general Cheng Pu. Upon seeing this, he immediately ordered his followers to shoot dysprosium arrows into the sky to signal that the battle with the Han army had begun.
At this time, the Han army was still dizzy in the aftermath of the collision and did not know how to react. Behind the Wu people, countless small boats were emerging from the waterway between the buildings and ships, running towards the Han navy.
These small boats came quickly from the undulating surface of the river in the middle of the river. The ones at the head were the cockroaches, which covered their bodies with cowhide, leaving only arrow holes and spear holes, like beetles floating on the water. This type of ship is extremely fast and has a hard pointed prow used for charging and ramming. Later there were the slightly larger Qingya and Qingque, both of which were also equipped with roofs made of hard wooden boards to protect against arrows. There were arrow holes and spear holes on the ships, but at this time they were not in a hurry to fight. Instead, they quickly shuttled between the Han fleets and rushed into the Han fleet line like fish.
Qingya uses his feet to climb onto the water wheel, which allows him to move forward quickly. Qingque is more narrow and long, and paddles are used on both sides to paddle the water faster, but the deck is not as thick as Qingya. Of course, there were more of them, ordinary fishing boats converted into boats, and they also followed them. Although there were many ships, the overall number was still inferior to that of the Han army. Therefore, after a brief panic, the Han people discovered that most of the enemy ships were small ships and did not dare to attack. So they gradually became more courageous, and they thought to themselves: In the heavy fog, the military formation was actually useless, and the two armies were just catching each other and fighting. Under this mentality, many Han warships each picked a Wu boat and tried to follow it with the oars, and the formation soon became scattered.
Although Huang Quan immediately reorganized the Han navy after learning the news and ordered them to line up on the ship to meet the enemy, the foggy weather was too much of a hindrance. Standing on his flagship, he could not clearly see the situation on any battlefield. He could only judge the positions and changes of the enemy and ourselves based on the sound of drums on the opposite side and the reports from his own scouts. This method is undoubtedly extremely inefficient, but there is no other way.
In this situation, what Huang Quan fears most is the enemy's use of fire attacks. Ever since Chen Chong defeated the Shu army with a fire boat in the Battle of Nan'an, he has been worried about the water war and fire attack. After all, no matter what kind of boat, it is made of wood, and it is difficult to put out the fire after it catches fire. Moreover, the raging fire will greatly destroy the psychology of the soldiers. At this time, no matter how strong the force is, it will not help. But now that the Wu people occupy the upper reaches, with the help of the west wind, if they succeed, the result will be disastrous. Therefore, before the war, he specifically told the officers of each ship not to make the formation too dense. If he really did not know the changes, he could save his strength first, get Niuzhuji out of the way, and meet the main force at Stone City.
But he completely miscalculated. Within two-quarters of an hour of the first battle, the navy from both sides fought in an unorganized and chaotic battle. No one could take advantage of the situation and leave.
