Quan Cong's goal was indeed achieved.
When Quan Cong's edict of impeaching Zhu Ran was sent to Jianye, Sun Quan immediately sent an envoy to Xiakou to summon Zhu Ran back to Jianye to report on his duties. Quan Cong was confirmed as the frontline commander.
In this way, Quan Cong completely got rid of Zhu Ran's influence and took command of the Xiakou army.
As for Zhu Ran, to be honest, Sun Quan had no real intention to deal with Zhu Ran. He recalled Zhu Ran just to balance and thin the mud.
First of all, no matter what reason Zhu Ran had, the impact of his refusal to fight was indeed great. He was a veteran of Jiangxia for a long time and had high prestige in the army. Sun Quan was worried that conflicts between him and Quan Cong would lead to The morale of the frontline troops was unstable, which affected the war.
Recalling Zhu Ran is indeed a reasonable choice.
Secondly, Sun Quan also believed in Quan Cong's ability and believed that even if he recalled Zhu Ran, Quan Cong would be commanding the battle in Xiakou. With his qualifications and abilities, he would not be worse than Zhu Ran.
Therefore, Sun Quan's recall of Zhu Ran was not for questioning as Quan Cong imagined.
In fact, Sun Quan even recalled Zhu Ran with a protective purpose, trying to cover up the conflict between Zhu Ran and Quan Cong as much as possible, and reduce major issues to trivial matters.
After all, now that Soochow is facing a third-line attack, internal stability is the most important, and it cannot mess up its position.
In Xiakou, after Zhu Ran was recalled, Quan Cong finally secured his position as the coach, and then he immediately ordered the dispatch of 50,000 naval troops to Chushui Village and the Shu Han side for a showdown.
Quan Cong still believed that with the combat effectiveness of Soochow's navy, it would be easy to deal with the so-called navy of Shu Han.
Then... Quan Cong was defeated.
Quan Cong stayed in the rear for too long. He had confidence in the combat effectiveness of the Soochow navy, but he underestimated the Shu Han navy too much.
Quan Cong was still basing his reference on the strength of the Jingzhou navy under Liu Biao's account in the early years, or rather the Jingzhou navy under Guan Yu's account. He had no idea about the current Shu-Han naval coalition, from the commanding generals to the quality of the soldiers. There has been a qualitative leap.
Quan Cong underestimated the enemy too much, causing the naval forces under his command to advance rashly. Yang Di and Wang Jun seized the opportunity, lured them deeper, cut off the connection between the leading troops and the follow-up troops, and used close combat to besiege the Dongwu forward warships that underestimated the enemy. , use long-range firepower to block the response of the Soochow Navy's rear troops, and attack them separately.
In this battle, the Han navy won.
But the victory was a victory. After all, there was still a gap in the close combat effectiveness of the two sides. Even if Wang Jun and Yang Xi used their superior forces to besiege the Soochow navy forwards, they did not have the combat effectiveness and combat ability to encircle and annihilate the Soochow navy in the end. The will was beyond the imagination of Yang Xi and Wang Jun.
The Soochow Navy's close combat capability was indeed stronger than that of the Han Navy. When faced with more than three times the enemy siege, the Soochow Navy suffered almost the same battle loss ratio.
As for the will to fight, unfortunately, the general Quan Cong sent to lead the Soochow navy forward was the veteran general Ding Feng.
Ding Feng is indeed a person in history who is still able to "fight on a snowy night" even when he is nearly sixty years old. As a former army general, he personally went into battle with a sword and greatly inspired the combat morale of the besieged navy. He was forced to wait until Quan Cong and his rear army came to meet him.
As for Quan Cong, although he has been away from the front line for a long time, suffered from insufficient intelligence, and made the mistake of underestimating the enemy, his decisiveness as a famous general is still there.
When the front army was surrounded and the rear army was suppressed and attacked by long-range firepower, Quan Cong's mind was still very clear and he quickly made the decision to let the rear army move forward at the risk of casualties.
This was Quan Cong's only opportunity to respond to Ding Feng and the former army under the current battlefield situation, and Quan Cong quickly seized it.
To a certain extent, Quan Cong is confident that he can replace Zhu Ran, and it is not purely based on his own confidence.
This Jiangxia water battle ultimately resulted in tens of thousands of casualties on both sides, and each side retreated to its own water stronghold.
The number of casualties on both sides was basically one to one, but the morale of both sides was different.
This water battle was initiated by Quan Cong. He led 50,000 soldiers to attack Zhangling Water Village, but ended up retreating to Xiakou. Regardless of the purpose of the battle or the process of the battle, Quan Cong took the initiative. There is no doubt that Cong has lost the battle.
Counting Zhang Cheng's defeat in the last battle back to Xiakou, Soochow has already defeated the Soochow navy in Xiakou stronghold in two battles. It's no wonder that the morale is so high.
On the contrary, in Zhangling Water Village across the river, the morale of the Han navy was very high.
After all, it is rare to win a battle.
In the past, when the Han Navy fought against the Soochow Navy, they usually lost more than they won, and the battle loss ratio was basically three to two, or even two to one. This time, they not only repelled the Soochow Navy's active attack, but also fought a duel. The battle loss ratio of 1 was already the most superior victory the Han Dynasty Navy had ever achieved since its establishment.
The morale of the soldiers cannot be low.
From the standpoint of Zhang Xi, Yang Xi and others, this water battle was actually something they were very happy to see.
Needless to say at the tactical level, if you win, you win. If your side's morale rises all the way, the next battle will be much easier to fight.
From a strategic level, the strategic purpose of Jingzhou is to provide assistance. It is an unexpected surprise to be able to mobilize the Soochow Navy originally stationed in Jianye, even if all the newly established Dahan River was wiped out with such a battle loss ratio. The army is also beneficial and harmless to the big man.
After all, the Han Dynasty can spend another five to ten years rebuilding the Navy. The Han Dynasty has the national strength and financial foundation, but if the Soochow Navy suffered a devastating blow, it will not be that easy to rebuild.
Therefore, if the current battle loss ratio could be maintained, Zhang Xi would not even hesitate to let Yang Duizi defeat all the Han navy.
It's a pity that Quan Cong is not a fool either.
Every soldier of Soochow Navy is very valuable and an important force in guarding Soochow's defense line. He cannot be thrown away easily.
Furthermore, Quan Cong also knew very well that the time and cost of training a navy army were simply not comparable to that of infantry. Soochow could not afford it.
For this reason, Quan Cong was very smart and conscientious, and huddled in Xiakou Village and could not come out.
If you have the ability, the navy of your Shu thieves can take the initiative to attack. Quan Cong doesn't believe it anyway, and the Shu thieves already have this strength.
In fact, with this strength, neither Zhang Xi nor Yang Xi would make such a choice.
If the naval army attacks a water stronghold with complete defensive facilities, it is basically equivalent to attacking a city with infantry. Without sufficient siege equipment and sufficient military strength, it is impossible to do so.
Furthermore, my role in Jingzhou is to support, not the main direction of attack, so there is no need to fight so hard on my own.
At this point, the Jiangxia front slowly stabilized after Quan Cong chose not to hold on.
At this time, the situation on the Huainan front was loosening.
It's not that Lu Xun couldn't stop Xu Shu. In fact, the place where the situation became loose was really not Huainan, but Xiapi County in Xuzhou, which was jointly guarded by Sun Shao and Zhuge Jin.
Sun Shao arrived at the front line with reinforcements in time, supported Zhuge Jin, guarded the junction of Xiapi County and Langya County, and blocked Wen Qin's attack.
The two sides were originally fighting back and forth and were in a stalemate with each other.
Sun Shao's ability is not bad. He was the person who guarded Shouchun and made Cao Xiu feel defeated.
Although Zhuge Jin's main talent is to manage internal affairs, he is not incapable of leading troops. His title of general is a joke when placed in the Han Dynasty, but it is not unreasonable in the administrative system of Soochow. After all, all horsemen are hussars. General, what's wrong with Zhuge Jin being a general?
It is true that Zhuge Jin alone is not Wen Qin's opponent, but with Sun Shao and him, it is not difficult to block Wen Qin's attack when the forces are equal.
But... there was an accident.
And this accident, really, it's a bit embarrassing to say it.
During a siege, Wen Qin took the initiative to attack, and Zhuge Jin and Sun Shao followed the usual practice. Zhuge Jin was responsible for holding on to the city, while Sun Shao was responsible for going out of the city to assist in the battle and burn the enemy's siege equipment.
The fight was originally going well, and Sun Shao and Zhuge Jin's cooperation had thwarted several attacks launched by Wen Qin. But this time, something unexpected happened.
Sun Shao saw that Wen Qin was in a hurry to direct the siege. The Han army's siege equipment was about to approach the city wall again. He immediately ordered three thousand soldiers and horses to go out to fight in the city, preparing to burn these siege equipment.
But just after he left the city, not only was he busy repelling the Shu army guarding the siege equipment, but a cavalry unit consisting of only a dozen people suddenly appeared on his flank.
To be honest, Sun Shao really didn't care about this cavalry unit. He brought three thousand soldiers and horses out of the city, but the opponent only had a dozen cavalry. That number was not as large as the number of cavalry among Sun Shao's personal guards.
Even when the cavalry team entered the scene, Sun Shao didn't see them and thought they were a Shu thieves scout cavalry team that accidentally broke into the battlefield.
Then. Well, the three thousand soldiers led by Sun Shao were killed by this cavalry team with only a dozen people.
And not once, but three times.
In fact, if Sun Shao hadn't run quickly when he saw an opportunity, he might have been blamed for this battle today.
There is no other reason. The leader of this cavalry team is a boy who is only seventeen years old.
And this young man’s name is Wenyang.
(End of chapter)
