My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 255: The Battle of the Yangtze River
After listening to the advice of Xu Kun and Cheng Pu, Sun Ce decided to fight a decisive battle with Zhuge Jin and Guan Yu on water.

This decision was made at the end of April in the fifth year of Jian'an.

A few days later, as the Jiangdong army gathered and mobilized, all kinds of anomalies were seen by Zhuge Jin and Guan Yu on the north bank of the river. By the beginning of May, Zhuge Jin was sure that Sun Ce had fallen into his trap and had been seduced by him.

However, Zhuge Jin was not in a hurry to fight this decisive battle immediately. He still maintained his original state, harassing each other in scout warfare while letting Lu Yi and Zhang Duo, who led the navy on Wang Lang's side, contain Sun Ce's rear coastal area.

The enemy was exhausted and the advance dragged on for about ten days, until mid-May.

This move made Guan Yu and Chen Deng somewhat puzzled.

It was May 13th, and the garrison in Guangling County received two pieces of military intelligence from Shouchun and Xiapi, both with the same content:

Cao Cao was defeated in two small-scale battles at Yanjin and Bai Ma, but during the retreat, he also designed a plan to kill Wen Chou in the chaos, causing considerable losses to the pursuing Yuan army.

At present, Cao's army has retreated to Guandu, re-stabilized its defense line, and is once again engaged in a stalemate with the advancing Yuan army.

Zhuge Jin was certainly not surprised by this news. He also thought that Yuan Shao was too slow to fight, as it took more than two months for him to break through the Yellow River defense line and reach Guandu.

But for Guan Yu and Chen Deng, hearing that Yuan Shao had reached Guandu really shocked them. They felt that this was a sign that "Cao Cao would not be able to hold on any longer", so they were very eager to weaken Sun Ce as quickly as possible.

After hearing the news, Guan Yu and Chen Deng went to Zhuge Jin that day to discuss the matter. They said, "Cao Cao has retreated to Guandu, which is only one county away from Xudu, or at most 200 miles away. Will Yuan Shao destroy Cao Cao in one fell swoop?

If Yuan Shao destroys Cao and holds the emperor hostage, the entire north will probably be conquered. If we haven't defeated Sun Ce by then, will Yuan Shao and my brother's alliance break up? Or will Yuan Shao force my brother to surrender? We should fight Sun Ce as soon as possible!"

Zhuge Jin gently waved his folding fan, signaling them to stay calm: "Don't worry, Cao Cao's resilience is extraordinary. Although he retreated to Guandu this time, he may have considered preserving his strength and shortening the food supply route. The two armies should be able to hold out for a long time.

Although I tried to lure the enemy and engage Sun Ce in a naval battle, our current military strength is insufficient. If Sun Ce makes a desperate move, it is normal to gather another 30,000 or 40,000 naval forces. The naval forces we have drawn from Jiangnan are only more than 8,000 people, and Xuzhou can only use 5,000 or 6,000 people to go south. Together, they are at most 13,000 or 14,000, which is only one-third of the enemy's number.

War is dangerous. If we cannot find a battlefield environment that is absolutely favorable to our army, how can we guarantee victory? "

Guan Yu and Chen Deng also thought about it for a while after hearing this. Chen Deng had been in Guangling for a long time and was familiar with the surrounding geography. He had some vague ideas in his mind, but he didn't dare to confirm them, so he asked tentatively:
"I wonder where Ziyu plans to fight Sun Ce? Could it be that the battlefield is not between Guangling and Dantu?"

Zhuge Jin asked someone to bring a map and pointed at the showdown: "It seems that Yuanlong has also seen some clues. Yes, I plan to fight a decisive battle at a location further downstream, such as the river near Hailing County.

Before the decisive battle, our army first set out with fast boats at night, breaking through the defenses downstream, pretending to go back to Wuxian and other places to plunder along the coast. Then we used old-style fighting ships to cover the rear and advance slowly - if we all used new-style keel warships, the speed would be too fast and Sun Ce might not be able to catch up.

Mixing in some old-style fighting ships, deliberately slowing down the speed, can lure Sun Ce to catch up. The speed of the ship going down the river is very fast, as long as there is a time difference of one or two hours, it is enough to drag it to the river east of Hailing.

It is close to the sea and is more widely affected by the tides. What I am waiting for is a high tide day. I plan to attack on May 18, which is the day with the highest tide every month. I will go downstream to the east before the tide rises, and then turn back when the tide rises. In this way, whether we go back or forth, we can benefit from the upstream.

I also sent a secret envoy to contact the Gu family of Wu County in advance. They have their own channels to contact the base of the "Pirate Island" somewhere off the coast of Haiyan County. I asked Lu Yi to lead the navy of Minzhong to ambush at the southeastern river mouth of Hailing County on the afternoon of May 18th, and meet our army. In this way, our army can have another 4,000 naval forces in the decisive battle. "

Although Chen Deng was from Guangling, he was still amazed after hearing Zhuge Jin's meticulous plan: "I have been in Guangling for decades, and I only vaguely know that the tide is higher in the middle of the month. Ziyu is a careful observer and can actually calculate that the eighteenth day of each month is the day of the highest tide. I admire you."

Some people may think that it is a bit stupid to describe an old Guangling like Chen Deng as having such a poor understanding of the tides, but this was indeed the reality at the end of the Han Dynasty.

Firstly, the people of the Han Dynasty never thought of utilizing the tides. They just regarded the tides as a kind of landscape and watched them for a while.

The naval battles in the south during this era were all fought in the Yangtze River, and no one had ever considered the impact of the tide on naval battles. Ninety-nine percent of naval battles took place on the river further upstream.

Coincidentally, the first book in history discussing the laws of ocean tides in written form was supposed to be "On Tides" written by Zhuge Jin's classmates Yan Jun and Yan Man, but Yan Jun has now been recruited by Liu Bei to do other things, and it is estimated that this book will not be written.

It is quite normal that Zhou Yu and Sun Ce did not understand the military application of sea tides. After all, even a thousand years later, when the Southern Song navy and Bayan's Mongolian navy fought in the coastal waters of Lin'an, they were still not used to the hydrology of the coast.

After Guan Yu and Chen Deng understood what Zhuge Jin relied on, they no longer questioned it and allowed Zhuge Jin to arrange the time and place of the proposed decisive battle. They then made specific tactical deployment adjustments according to the scope defined by Zhuge Jin.

……

Time quickly came to May 18th, the high tide day of the month.

Three days before, Guan Yu and Taishi Ci had the troops start to adjust to the time difference and their daily routines, sleeping from noon onwards. At midnight on the 18th, the troops had eaten and drunk their fill, and were ready to go aboard. At the beginning of the first hour of the first month, the fleet sailed out of the Hangou River estuary, entered the Yangtze River, and then sailed downstream.

About an hour and a half later, it was still dark, but because the fleet was too large, they had to light some lights to prevent chaos, and they were still discovered by Sun Ce's military patrol boats on the south bank. The Sun Ce military patrol boats used fire signals to relay the enemy attack information quickly.

Sun Ce, who was still asleep, was awakened by the noise. Without giving him time to think too much, he immediately prepared his fleet and set sail to track and keep watch.

Because the speeds of the warships in the fleet varied, and there were so many people, the attack sequence would naturally be very long. The fast warships had already traveled thirty miles, while the heavy ships had just left the port.

Sun Ce appointed Xu Kun as the commander of the vanguard fleet, Huang Gai as his deputy, and Ling Cao, Zhou Tai, and Jiang Qin as the first. He led the main force of the central army, Cheng Pu and Han Dang as his deputy, and a group of naval generals surrounded him.

Taking into account the problem that the troops might be disconnected, Sun Ce also warned Xu Kun before leaving: Don't rush too fast or too far away from the main fleet, in case Zhuge Jin and Guan Yu are plotting to pull in the Jiangdong army and defeat them one by one.

The Jiangdong army pursued in the dark for an hour or so, and the sky finally brightened. The vanguard Xu Kun soon discovered that Liu Bei's fleet was not too far away from him, and was basically still on the skyline of the river. The lookout could see the mast of the ship in front.

"Report! General, we can see a large fleet of enemy ships downstream. They seem to be fighting ships! They should be slower than us!"

When Xu Kun heard the news, he was immediately caught in a dilemma, although the degree was not serious.

He then humbly asked Huang Gai, "General Huang, our vanguard is mostly composed of warships, which are shorter than the battleships and not conducive to fighting, but their speed is faster than the enemy's. Should we catch up with them and buy time for Bo Fu?"

Could this be a trap set by the enemy, to lure our speedboats into charging first, and then defeat them one by one?"

Huang Gai was one of the most intelligent veterans in Sun Ce's army. After all, he also made a certain contribution to the feigned surrender plan during the Battle of Red Cliffs. Huang Gai thought for a moment and reminded:

"That's a possibility, but it's not necessarily limited to that. I heard that most of Wang Lang's fast seagoing ships were also provided by Liu Bei. Liu Bei had enough ships to give to Wang Lang, so how could his own navy not have enough new ships?
I heard that Liu Bei started building ships at Guangling County's Guang Shipyard the year Yuan Shu proclaimed himself emperor, which is more than three years. After such a long time of investing in shipbuilding, he still needs to use old-fashioned warships now? Is it because there are not enough new ships? Or did he deliberately leave some slow ships as bait? "

Xu Kun stroked his beard. He didn't care about Huang Gai's last worry. "That may not be the case. I know that Liu Bei's army has been building warships for three years, but they may not mobilize so many navy troops on weekdays. Moreover, Liu Bei is fighting with Zhang Xian in Jingzhou now, which will also occupy a large number of navy troops and ships.

This time, Zhuge Jin was fighting a decisive battle with us, and he also sought the garrisons of Donghai and Xiapi to come south to help. These two counties were only recovered by Liu Bei last year, and the local area was already in the north of the Huai River, and originally there were not many naval forces.

These new troops also need warships, so it is not surprising that the old ships are used. Who says that warships can't fight naval battles? They just sail slower, but their combat power is not inferior! "

Xu Kun always believed that the biggest advantage of Liu Bei’s army’s new ships was their speed, but when it came to a head-on collision, the old warships had no disadvantages.

This was also verified by Zhou Yu's troops during the water battle in central Fujian last year. At that time, Zhou Yu's biggest problem was that he could not catch up with the flexible and erratic enemy, but as long as he caught up, he could still defeat him.

Huang Gai saw that Xu Kun denied his extra worries and felt that there was some truth in it, so he did not insist.

Xu Kun finally made up his mind and led the fleet to speed up slightly. On the premise of keeping a distance from the enemy ships in front, he made outflanking movements to harass and delay them, but he was not allowed to get close to them for close combat.

Once they discovered that the enemy had a tendency to turn back and fight to the death, they would immediately withdraw and wait for Sun Ce's main force to catch up for a decisive battle.

In addition, if you discover that other enemy fleets of fast ships have appeared and your vanguard may be outnumbered, you must decisively turn around and retreat, and not fall into the enemy's trap of outnumbering the enemy.

Xu Kun estimated the distance between himself and the enemy, as well as the distance between himself and Sun Ce's main fleet of tower ships in the rear, and believed that he could ensure his safe advance.

The fleet had been chasing the enemy since morning until noon, and was finally close to safe engagement distance. Xu Kun looked at the sky and asked his subordinates where they were.

Huang Gai looked at the surrounding scenery on both sides of the river and said with experience: "The north bank here is just past Hailing County, and the south bank should be Piling. The river narrows slightly here, and the trumpet-shaped mouth of the Yangtze River is in front, and it will suddenly become extremely wide."

It turns out that Hailing County is Taizhou in later generations, and Piling County is between Changzhou and Wuxi in later generations.

The battlefield where Xu Kun's fleet pursued was probably the surface of the Yangtze River between Jingjiang County along the river of Taizhou City and Jiangyin County along the river of Wuxi City in later generations. This place has been regarded as a key point of river defense since ancient times.

During the Han Dynasty, this was already the location of the Yangtze River's trumpet-shaped mouth. Further downstream, the Yangtze River Bay would suddenly widen and gradually connect with the sea.

(End of this chapter)