On the south bank of the Yangtze River, Cao Wu rode a little red horse and galloped on the river embankment.
Xiao Qiao was left in the village by him, and she would continue westward with Hua Tuo in Hua Tuo's little carriage.
Cao Wu, on the other hand, had to rush to inform Cao Ying of the news of the plague.
In addition, he also did one thing.
That is to unite the strength of the villagers, led by Yang Laosan, and go to the nearby village to inform the news of the arrival of the soldiers, so that the villagers can unite to resist the soldiers.
This was not only because Cao Wu wanted to destroy the other party's plan, but also for the villagers to save themselves. With Cao Wu and dozens of people scattered in front of him, Yang Laosan was so excited that he agreed on the spot and organized the villagers to walk towards the nearby village.
As Cao Wu walked, he thought about the specific situation on the battlefield.
According to the news he heard when he came out of Chaisang, the current battlefield should have been divided into three parts.
In the far east, Cheng Pu's 50,000-strong army attacked Hefei. Yangzhou governor Wen Hui and Biejia Jiang Ji had 10,000 defenders in Hefei. Reinforcements from Zhang Xi's troops were still on the way. In addition to Cao Ren, the famous city defender whom he personally appointed, the four generals will defend Hefei to the death.
In the middle is the Xiakou war zone. Zhao Yan's Seventh Army attacks along the Han River. They need to conquer Shiyang, Miokou, and Anlu in the north. All three cities must be captured before they can advance to Xiakou without any worries.
Cao Cao's West Route Army consisted of more than 800,000 men, facing Zhou Yu's main force. With so many people, the marching speed is much slower than that of Zhao Yanbu. According to Cao Wu's estimation, they should still be on the road now.
According to the original plan, as long as the most important West Route Army won, the Battle of Chibi would also be won. Who would have thought that he would discover the opponent's new method.
"Biological and chemical weapons, such a vicious strategy, I wonder if it was the work of Liu Bei or Sun Quan."
Cao Wu licked his chapped lips, and the little red horse ran very fast.
He didn't know if he could notify Cao Cao before the plague spread to Cao's camp. Now he could only hope that Ah Shi could withstand the pressure and fight against this wave of plague.
As he was walking, he suddenly reined in the horse, and the little red horse ran happily and let out a squeal of dissatisfaction.
Cao Wu stared blankly at the river.
Three flat boats are going up the river, and there are countless fast boats going beside the flat boats.
From a distance, Cao Wu couldn't see clearly what was written on the flag on the boat. He could only roughly see the characters "Jiangxia Prefect Zhou".
"Zhou Yu's main force..."
He traveled west along the Yangtze River for so long that he finally caught up with this army.
The river is wide, and Zhou Yu's troops sailing on the river will not care about a figure on the south bank. He can check the situation of Zhou Yu's main force unscrupulously.
He estimated the number of people disembarking from the ship and couldn't help but be surprised: "There are more than expected! There must be 20,000 people. Could it be..."
He quickly understood that Zhou Yu had obtained Liu Bei's naval forces, and the two naval forces had merged into one.
In fact, many people don't have an accurate idea of how many people there are. You only need to consider a concert that can seat tens of thousands of people to get a rough idea.
Twenty thousand people sounds like a lot, but when they are scattered across various ships, it's not that many.
Zhou Yu's fleet was obviously marching on the water, but it maintained the shape of an arrow. There was a front team, a middle team, and a rear team in a neat formation.
The large group surrounded by the Chinese army was probably Liu Bei's navy. Although they were also in neat formation, they were obviously not as good as Zhou Yu's own army.
Cao Wu had also seen a naval force, but he had never seen such an organized force. He was startled by this scene, feeling like he was looking at a modern aircraft carrier fleet.
He quickly dismounted, drew the curve of the Yangtze River from memory, and used his ability to do the test questions during the public examination to quickly calculate Zhou Yu's traveling speed.
"It's so fast. I don't know if Da Qiao can hold the boat at this speed."
For a moment, Cao Wu thought of the woman wearing armor. Get on your horse and continue westward. Since Zhou Yu was sailing against the current, his speed was far slower than Cao Wu's horse. The little red horse quickly left the fleet behind.
But he soon discovered that the river in front of him had a "U"-shaped bend, and inside the bend was a mountain forest. The mountain forest blocked his view, and the upstream and downstream could not see each other.
This special terrain immediately aroused his vigilance and he frowned.
…
On the big ship, Zhou Yu sat on the bow with a feather fan and silk scarf, and kept saying instructions. Every time he said a word, a herald would send out a flag, and the surrounding ships would watch the flag and adjust the sails and speed of the ship.
Next to him, there were only two generals, Lu Meng, who was thirty years old, and Lu Xun, who was twenty-five years old. Their eyes were burning, and they looked at Zhou Yu's command with envy.
After a while, Zhou Yu stopped directing, looked at the two men and said: "There is a bend in the Yangtze River channel ahead. The upstream and downstream cannot see each other. What should you do if you encounter this situation?"
Lu Meng said without thinking: "Of course the Clippers are in front. If we rush over directly, we will have the best view."
Zhou Yu was noncommittal. Lu Xun thought for a moment and said, "We should send out the sentries and conduct reconnaissance on the shore and in the water at the same time. When the situation is found out, we can then turn around!"
Zhou Yu nodded and added: "I have already sent scouts out. The two of you must remember that if you send troops to conduct reconnaissance, be sure not to reveal your presence. Once the other party discovers your traces, your first-mover advantage will be gone."
Lu Meng's face turned red with embarrassment, Lu Xun nodded frequently, and both of them felt educated.
At this time, a messenger came to report: "Report to the Commander-in-Chief of the Left, there is a horseman on the bank, he is suspected to be a spy from the opposite side. He runs very fast and we can't deal with it."
Zhou Yu waved his hand, indicating that he didn't need to worry about him.
Another messenger came to report: "Report to the Commander-in-Chief of the Left, there is very likely a local army on the other side of the river bend!"
Zhou Yu waved his hand: "We will investigate again and report again!"
Then he turned to Lu and Lu and said, "If the opponent has a large army and we are discovered by the opposing scouts, we can also use the method of discovery, but the result will be much weaker."
The two-person pronoun is yes, so prepare to learn it carefully.
After a while, another messenger came to report: "Reporting to the Commander-in-Chief of the Left, it has been found that there are many ships at the bend of the river, and they are going down the river. They will meet our army soon!"
When the news was confirmed, the three people on the bow stood up at the same time. Lu Meng said excitedly: "Whose flag is it? How many people are there?"
Lu Xun glanced at him, and Lu Meng realized that he shouldn't ask before Zhou Yu could, so he quickly took a step back.
Zhou Yu didn't take it seriously at all, and motioned for Xiao Bing to continue talking.
The messenger said: "Looking at the flag, it seems to be Xia Houyuan's troops. Looking at the number of ships, it should be 30,000!"
"Thirty thousand people..."
Lu Xun and Lu Meng frowned at the same time.
But Zhou Yu laughed loudly and said: "You've come just in time, let's have a small test of our army's knives and kill the opponent's arrogance!"
After saying that, he called the various commanders and continued to give orders. Flags of various colors were constantly flying on the flagship of the building ship, and the surrounding ships changed their formations according to the flag language.
After some changes, one team was left behind, it was Liu Bei's navy.
Pang Tong stood on the bow of the ship, watching the changes in Zhou Yu's navy with a look of admiration on his face.
"Zhou Gongjin is truly a genius."
Two Liu Bei generals, Chen Dao and Yuan Lin, were dissatisfied with Zhou Yu at first, but along the way, they both discovered the gap between their troops and Zhou Yu's troops.
Their naval forces are well-trained, but they don't have so many changes.
They are like an army moved to the water. They can only shoot arrows, pick up ships, and join gangs. However, Zhou Yu's men obviously have more combat effectiveness.
Chen Dao held up the spear and sighed: "I'm afraid I won't be able to use my martial arts skills on the water."
…
Cao Wu galloped on his horse and quickly passed the corner, his brows suddenly furrowed even deeper.
I saw countless boats, big and small, going down the river.
At this speed, when their fleet turns the corner, they will meet Zhou Yu's main force.
"What kind of general's fleet is this? It doesn't even have a scout!"
Cao Wu pulled the reins and looked around anxiously, and finally found a piece of hay.
He dismounted and took out a flint, struck sparks, and with a "hoo" sound, the grass immediately caught fire.
"Fortunately, it's winter, so the grass will catch on."
Cao Wu breathed a sigh of relief and led his horse back.
The fire was very fierce. After a while, more and more grass was on fire, forming a raging fire with billowing smoke.
In this way, as long as the ships on the river are not blind, they should be able to see that there is a fire here.
…
Xia Houyuan stood on his boat, extremely anxious.
At this moment, he suddenly saw a fire burning on the shore in front of him. He was suddenly shocked and shouted quickly: "Notify all teams to reduce the sails! Prepare to meet the enemy!"
His order was quickly passed down, and the entire fleet was slowing down.
From top to bottom, 30,000 people were prepared to meet the enemy, but no enemy was seen.
Just when everyone thought that the coach had made a mistake, the forward of their fleet had already turned the bend of the river.
They were greeted by arrows like locusts.
Caught off guard, the outpost battle of the Battle of Chibi began.
