Fighting is necessary, but it is not easy.
To put it bluntly, as long as Zhou Yu is still around, Soochow will really dare to say that its navy is invincible! ! !
If Zhang Xi wants to cross the river to attack the police, he must first find a way to deal with the threat of the Soochow navy.
We do not seek to completely defeat the Soochow Navy in a water battle, but we must at least delay it for a while until the Jiangling Army conquers the Public Security Bureau.
But the problem is that even including the 5,000 navy troops borrowed from Chen Dao, the total strength of the Jiangling navy is only 7,000 men, and the warships include two Mengchong warships and more than a hundred large and small walking boats.
It's not impossible to fight hard, but the problem is that Zhang Xi is not sure he can last too long.
Wenpin has built a water fortress in Yicheng to threaten Jiangxia and contain Zhou Yu's elite navy. But the problem is, it is Zhou Yu after all. Although Wenpin is also a veteran of water warfare, he may not be able to really contain Zhou Yu. Even Wenpin I'm not sure myself.
Therefore, Zhang Xi actually has to face not only Zhu Ran's 20,000 navy troops stationed in Lukou, but also Zhou Yu's navy troops coming to Xiakou for reinforcements.
Seven thousand naval troops can hold out for a while, but no one knows whether they can hold out until the police are captured.
In order to change this difficult situation, Zhang Xi thought about it day and night, and finally came up with a somewhat "whimsical" method.
It's just this method, it will take some time.
In this way, in mid-August, after the one-on-one meeting on the riverside broke up unhappy, for about a full month, there was no movement at all in Jiangling.
During this month, Zhu Ran, in accordance with Zhou Yu's orders, was always vigilant and sent countless navy warships to strengthen patrols along the Yangtze River, but he never saw any unusual movements by the Shu army in Jiangling.
This made Zhu Ran murmur a little.
To be honest, one month is not too long a time to prepare for a big war.
But the problem is that even if they are preparing for war, it is impossible for there to be no movement at all.
The simplest way to put it is that there must be a large-scale mobilization of troops in the water stronghold of the Shu Army on the Jiangling River. The navy must often go out to train to prepare for the upcoming war. There is no movement at all, which is really incredible.
If it were an ordinary opponent, Zhu Ran might suspect that the opponent was just talking and didn't have the guts to compete with the Soochow Navy. But that was Zhang Xi.
Zhang Xi's reputation is even more famous in Jiangdong than in Cao Wei. Who makes the general Zhou Yu the number one "Zhang Chui" in Jiangdong?
In addition, because of his sister, Sun Quan could not openly speak ill of Zhang Xi. Generally speaking, he mainly flattered him. This resulted in Zhang Xi being generally considered by the generals of Soochow to be a rival to him on the ground in Jiangdong. Zhou Yu's famous general.
Although Zhang Xi has not been found to have the ability to command water battles before, the problem is that at that level of a famous general, he has not shown the ability to command water battles, but it does not mean that he does not understand water battles.
Therefore, Zhu Ran really did not dare to be careless at all. Even if there was no movement in Jiangling for a month, Zhu Ran always maintained a high degree of vigilance.
Then, Zhu Ran received a battle report from the front line, saying that a large number of Jiangling navy troops suddenly left the water village and headed towards the police.
Zhu Ran did not dare to neglect at all. He ordered the vanguard of the army to stay and lead 5,000 soldiers. More than 80 warships took the initiative to go to war. He then led 5,000 naval troops to respond and went to the front line to supervise the battle.
There are only more than 7,000 Jiangling naval forces in total. Zhu Ran dispatched 10,000 naval forces at one time, which is really not careless.
Moreover, as the commander of the first army, Zhu Ran could not leave no backup plan and directly send 20,000 naval troops to fight. If something unexpected happened, the Shu army would not attack the public security, but would go straight to Lukou. .
Therefore, in Zhu Ran's opinion, ten thousand naval forces should be enough to deal with the Jiangling navy.
Zhu Ran felt that he could not be considered careless, but the problem was that Zhu Ran seriously lacked experience in playing against Zhang Xi, and he didn't know how far the guy in front of him could develop his imagination.
Soon, the 5,000-person vanguard navy led by Liu Lue saw the Jiangling Navy on the river, and Zhu Ran, who was behind Jingjing, could vaguely see the formation of the Jiangling Navy on the opposite side.
Zhu Ran was a little confused at the time. Could it be that Zhang Xi really didn't understand water fighting? !
In Zhu Ran's view, there was a big problem with Jiangling Navy's water battle formation arrangement.
According to Zhu Ran's observation, the enemy has two Mengchong battleships. Under normal circumstances, the two Mengchong battleships should be the core, with a top-heavy arrangement, supporting each other, and forming a water warfare group.
But now the Jiangling Navy that Zhu Ran saw had the two Mengchong battleships stay behind all the Zoukes, with countless Zuoke guards densely distributed in front of them. How could they take advantage of the impact of the Mengchong battleships? !
This must be someone who doesn't understand water warfare at all, so they can arrange their troops in such a formation.
But then, Zhu Ran was dumbfounded.
Before Liu Lue could lead the naval fleet to accelerate forward and engage in close combat with the Jiangling Navy, four dark things suddenly flew out from the two Mengchong battleships on the opposite side and hit Liu Lue directly. among the naval fleet.
After a splash of water, the remaining navy forwards were in a bit of confusion. Not to mention the formation of the forward fleet was scattered, and three cruisers on the spot could not resist the impact of the water waves and overturned.
And this was not over yet. Just when Liulue was commanding his fleet to reorganize their offensive formation, four dark things flew out from the Mengchong battleship opposite.
This time Zhu Ran finally saw clearly. They were four large rocks weighing at least fifty kilograms, which smashed directly into Liulue's naval fleet.
This time, it was even more unlucky. One of the Meng Chong warships in the Remaining Army was hit directly at the draft by a fifty kilogram stone. Although it didn't seem to be directly hit, it still hit the soldiers on the ship. They lost their balance and fell to the ground one after another.
This is not the most serious consequence. Zhu Ran, who is familiar with water warfare, knows very well that once the waterline of the warship is hit hard, as long as there is a little crack, the crack will become bigger and bigger as time goes by. In the end, the river water poured into the hull, and the Mengchong battleship may lose its combat effectiveness at any time.
This is completely a gamble. A fifty-pound stone cannot cause actual damage to the hull. But the problem is that warships these days are all made of wood. How can it not cause actual damage.
It's just a matter of the amount of damage and whether it will directly affect the combat capability of the warship.
Moreover, even if the Mengchong battleship can withstand such an impact, what about Zou Ke? !
A stone weighing fifty kilograms fell from the sky. If it hit Zou Ke directly, it would capsize the boat, or the hull would break on the spot.
No, we definitely can't let the opponent continue to smash like this. If we keep smashing like this, not many navy warships can hold on.
Not only Zhu Ran was aware of this problem, but Liu Lue, the vanguard of the Soochow Navy, was also aware of this problem.
Liu Lue was very young, only in his twenties. This was his first time serving as the vanguard of the army. Obviously, Liu Lue did not want his first vanguard battle to end in failure.
As a military general who can barely hold up his position in the middle and late stages of Soochow, although Liulue is still young, he still has some strategies, especially in water warfare. The generals of the Soochow Army are naturally not lacking in theoretical knowledge.
The enemy's big rocks were indeed smashed down very fiercely, but the problem was that the number was not enough, only four at a time. Liu Lu immediately ordered the fleet to separate in a scattered line, and try to increase the distance between the ships in a scattered line. , launch an active attack on the enemy fleet.
But Liu Lu's response made Zhu Ran behind him tremble with fear because of his lack of actual combat experience.
Yes, if you do this, you can indeed avoid the threat of stone impact to the greatest extent. But the problem is that if you attack in a scattered line, the ships will not be able to form a joint force. You are opposite, but there are nearly a hundred enemy ships. Go Ke.
What's even more terrible is that the Soochow Army is fighting against the current, and its maneuverability is inherently inferior to that of its opponent. If it still fights in a scattered line, once the troops come into close contact, it is very likely that they will fall into a local situation of using less to fight more.
Sure enough, after Liu Lue commanded the naval force to formally engage with the Jiangling Navy, the forward fell directly into passivity and was unable to form a combat advantage. When Liu Lue wanted to adjust the fleet formation and reinforce the forward force, missiles fell from time to time overhead. The large rocks seriously affected the speed of assembly and reinforcement of the Soochow fleet.
The front couldn't break into the direction laid out by the Jiangling Navy. Rocks fell from above and disrupted the reinforcement fleet at the rear. From time to time, one or two warships were directly hit and sunk. The Dongwu Navy was on the water for the first time. During the war, he fell into complete passivity.
(End of chapter)
