Five days later, Xu Shu's three armies all arrived at the designated location and built city defenses as soon as possible.
In particular, Yiling City, guarded by Liao Hua and Fu Wei, was the first battlefield to come into contact with the Qin army.
The number of soldiers mining and transporting stones alone reached 3,000.
Under Ma Liang's mobilization, the entire Nanjun's arrows, rolling wood, armor and other city defense materials were being frantically transported to the front line.
To put it bluntly, with the supplies currently stored in the three cities of Yiling, Huya, and Yidao, even if the Qin army really has 100,000 soldiers, they can still fight against it!
After Xu Shu led his army to Huya Mountain, he immediately deployed fortifications along the river to ensure that the navy could not pose any threat.
At the same time, Zhang Nan and Feng Xi successfully recruited more than 10,000 Jingzhou prisoners and built a Nanjun navy based on the warships captured in Xiangyang.
These more than 10,000 prisoners were originally from the navy, but they were forced to the shore by Cai Mao to attack the city.
Now that we have a warship, and after a little training, we actually have the aura of an elite naval force.
Zhang Nan and Feng Xi immediately became more confident and divided their naval forces into two, deploying them in the Huya and Yidao waters respectively.
With these two layers of bayonet, the Qin navy could not sail down the river unscrupulously.
Yiling, Huya, and Yidao formed a linear defense, and with the cooperation of the two naval forces, the Qin army could almost be blocked, preventing them from advancing even an inch!
The methods Xu Shu gave Liu Zhang were far more than that!
The line from Zigui to Yiling is densely covered with mountains, jungles and weeds, and there are countless dangerous passes and important places in a strategic depth of hundreds of miles.
Xu Shu directly mobilized two thousand of the most elite soldiers to occupy all the highest points along the way, preparing to block Liu Zhang's attack.
These soldiers are all good at shooting, and the dangerous pass they occupy has many rolling stones and trees, which are enough to give the Qin army's vanguard a head-on blow!
According to Xu Shu's estimation, just walking through this section of the mountain road was enough to make Liu Zhang very anxious.
Even if he can finally break out, he will definitely be exhausted and his morale will be greatly damaged!
In the face of Yiling, Huya, Yidao and other fortified cities, they will also become helpless.
With two naval forces deployed along the Yangtze River, Liu Zhang's thoughts of a desperate sneak attack were completely cut off.
It can be said that Xu Shu is already in an invincible position before the war begins!
But can everything really go so smoothly?
For several days, the news from the direction of Yiling to Xu Shu was that no Qin troops had been found.
At this time, more than ten days had passed since Liu Zhang occupied Zigui. No matter how careful and slow the advance, the soldiers ambushing in front should have discovered Liu Zhang's army!
Xu Shu thought over and over again, but never found any other possibility of marching.
This feeling of losing control over the direction of the battlefield is a situation that all commanders hate.
Xu Shu had to repeatedly look for the omissions he had arranged.
The result was naturally that there was no clue, and there was no place for Liu Zhang to take advantage of.
While Xu Shu was confused, Yiling finally heard about the movements of the Qin army.
Gan Ning, commander of the Eastern Army Navy, personally led the navy to the vicinity of Yiling.
Xu Shu was immediately puzzled by this news.
Could it be that Liu Zhang wanted to completely abandon the infantry to fight for the city and rely entirely on the navy to survive in the river?
Half a day later, news came from Yiling again. The Ganning navy stopped near Yiling, and warships were all over the river. They seemed to be blocking the Yangtze River waterway!
Only then did Xu Shu suddenly realize that he had a thorough understanding of Liu Zhang's intentions.
They must have given up on the mountain road from Zigui to Yiling and tried to use the navy to transport the infantry to Yiling to land!
If Liu Zhang succeeds, not only will Yiling City be immediately surrounded by heavy troops, but the ambush troops deployed at dangerous passes more than a hundred miles away will be completely cut off by Liu Zhang.
Liu Zhang did not need to send troops to attack, he only needed to send troops to guard the intersection, and he could starve these ambushes to death!
It's not that Xu Shu didn't expect this situation, but he rejected it in his heart.
The infantry troops boarding the warships can be said to have no combat effectiveness. As long as they are attacked by the enemy navy, the entire army is very likely to be annihilated!
What Liu Zhang did was equivalent to not taking Liu Bei's navy seriously at all.
Treating more than 10,000 people as decoration!
This bottomless humiliation made Xu Shu very angry.
Forget it if it is Zhou Yu's Chai Sang Navy under Jiang Dong's command. Their combat power is indeed amazing.
Especially the Jiangxia Navy, which had just defeated Jingzhou's first navy in a water battle.
But who do you think you are?
Since the formation of the army, there has been no record at all!
The commander-in-chief is just a bandit leader, and the generals in the army are just a bunch of water thieves leaders!
The predecessor of the Nanjun Navy was the Xiangyang Navy, which was the regular navy of the Han Dynasty, and its strength was second only to the Jiangxia Navy.
Commander Zhang Nan and Feng Xi were both sons of aristocratic families and received good education since childhood.
To train the navy to this extent so quickly already shows the talents of the two!
Why did Liu Zhang think that a group of water thieves could securely capture the Nanjun navy?
There are really just as many subordinates as there are commander-in-chiefs, it’s so crazy!
Xu Shu was keenly aware that this might be an opportunity!
Water warfare is different from land warfare. If you don't have to fight with the opponent, it will be difficult to cause large-scale casualties.
Even if the combat power is inferior to that of the enemy, such as when Huang Zu fought against Zhou Yu, he could still retreat calmly.
If Zhang Nan and Feng Xi are allowed to fight against Gan Ning, firstly, they can review the combat effectiveness of the Nanjun Navy, and secondly, they can try to smash Liu Zhang's plan to transport troops with the navy.
If the Gan-Ning navy could be repulsed in one battle, Liu Zhang would most likely retreat immediately after being hit.
Then this war that is not conducive to Liu Beijun will end here.
After planning everything, Xu Shu immediately summoned Zhang Nan and ordered the five thousand navy led by Feng Xi to go upstream.
In fact, Feng Xi has just made arrangements near Yi Dao, and now advancing westward will make all previous efforts in vain.
But Xu Shu was the supreme commander of Nanjun, and Feng Xi was also promoted by Xu Shu. He could not dare to disobey, so he could only immediately lead the navy upstream.
In order to save time, Xu Shu personally went to the riverside water village and took the initiative to wait for Feng Xi's arrival with Zhang Nan.
The direction from Nanjun to Bajun is going upstream. If you don’t have certain common sense about navy drills, even sailing against the current will be extremely difficult.
But Feng Xi only took a few hours to bring the entire army over.
This once again proved his talent to Xu Shu in a practical way, and also made Xu Shu feel more confident.
By the river, Xu Shu directly revealed his intentions to the two of them without much foreshadowing.
"Two generals, Gan Ning is sailing across the river near Yiling, covering Liu Zhang's troop movement."
"I intend to let the two generals lead the army to fight and defeat the Ganning Navy!"
"I wonder if the two generals are confident?"
