My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 271 Dao Rong defeats Xu Shu with a battle of wits?
To give a more appropriate example, after hearing that Zhang Fei and Gan Ning had rushed to quell the rebellion, Xing Daorong was eager to withdraw from Jiangling and retreat to Changsha County. It was like he was walking on the horizontal side of a T-shaped road.

The Yangtze River is the horizontal stroke of the T-character, Youshui is the vertical stroke of the T-character, and Youjiangkou is the intersection of the two strokes.

If Xing Daorong saw that the intersection was blocked and turned back along the horizontal road, it would be equivalent to going upstream along the Yangtze River, passing through Yidao County and finally taking a detour by land to return. However, that road had been blocked by Dong He and Li Yan who had surrendered to Liu Bei.

If Xing Daorong saw Gan Ning standing opposite him in full armor, he would have become timid and chosen to turn right into that vertical line.

Then Xu Shu would block him not far away, Gan Ning would wait for him to turn into the alley and chase him from behind, and then Zhang Fei would come behind Xu Shu, and at that time they would be able to catch him in a trap by attacking him from three sides - this was also the plan Xu Shu had prepared for Zhang Fei.

But no one expected that Xing Daorong did not back down and directly confronted Gan Ning.

When Gan Ning heard the news, a thought flashed through his mind: Could it be that Xing Daorong is well versed in military tactics and has seen through Xu Yuanzhi's deployment?

He saw that we wanted to lure him to the east of Chanling City and attack him from three sides, so in order to survive, he would rather come straight at me?

In this way, at least he can just fight my group and doesn't have to face Yide and Yuanzhi at the same time?
Gan Ning had no idea that Xing Daorong hadn't seen through anything and was just being reckless.

This wave is truly a case of one force defeating ten skills.

……

At the same time, on the surface of the Yangtze River thirty miles downstream from Youjiangkou.

A tall and mighty general with a round head, round face and short beard, wearing fish-scale black armor and holding a big axe, was standing proudly on the bow of a fighting ship, his eyes were solemn and faintly excited, looking downstream.

He was none other than Xing Daorong, a general under Zhang Xian. He led the main forces from Changsha and Lingling counties assigned to him by Zhang Xian to retreat along the river.

Eleven days ago, he sailed out of Dongting Lake from Baqiu and headed north along the Yangtze River in an attempt to launch a surprise attack on Jiangling.

His lord Zhang Xian told him: Liu Biao had withdrawn a considerable part of the troops in Jiangling to the northern front, hoping to take back Wancheng that was lost to Zhang Xiu by taking advantage of the golden opportunity when Cao Cao withdrew the troops in Nanyang to Guandu.

Therefore, the military shortage in Jiangling City at that time was at a historical low. Liu Biao stole Cao Cao, so why couldn't Zhang Xian steal Liu Biao? If he missed this opportunity, he would lose it!

Xing Daorong was also full of confidence at the beginning. After sailing out of Dongting Lake, he marched for five or six days and arrived at Jiangling, and then began to deploy the siege. The defenders in Jiangling City really did not dare to go out for a field battle, which made Xing Daorong dream of victory and realized that Jiangling City was indeed empty.

Xing Daorong was also afraid that Liu Biao would withdraw his troops from the north and send a large number of reinforcements from Xiangyang, so he did not dare to delay too long under the city of Jiangling or spend too much time preparing heavy siege equipment.

It took him only two days to prepare enough flying ladders and battering rams, as well as a few simple ladders and battering rams, and then he decisively launched a storm on the city.

Although Liu Biao's army in Jiangling City was small, they were still determined to defend the city to the death. That was the foundation of Liu Biao's many years of operations, and the people were very loyal to him.

Xing Daorong launched an attack regardless of casualties, and both sides suffered considerable casualties, but it was obvious that the Changsha-Lingling coalition forces, as the attacking side, suffered several times more severe losses.

After two days of attacking, there was no progress. Then he heard that his retreat might have been cut off. Liu Bei had sent troops from Wuchang to help Liu Biao quell the rebellion, and Zhao Yun and Gan Ning seemed to have reached Baqiu.

Xing Daorong's troops had been running back and forth for so long, and had been attacking the fortified city for two days, suffering heavy casualties and gaining nothing, so their morale was naturally extremely low. Then Xing Daorong immediately retreated with his dejected troops, and the boats had been sailing day and night without stopping until this moment.

But even so, the morale of his soldiers was already low, but Xing Daorong himself did not care. Instead, he was holding back his anger and waiting to vent. He thought to himself that if the Jiangling defenders under Liu Biao had dared to go out of the city to fight in the field, he would have destroyed Jiangling long ago! They were just relying on the strength of the city to hide their heads like turtles.

Now Gan Ning suddenly appeared and was at least willing to fight him fairly without attacking the city. How could he miss this opportunity to vent?
It’s decided. Let’s take it out on Gan Ning!

"General, Gan Ning's fleet was spotted downstream. The size of the fleet is about 300 ships! It is comparable to our army!" The lookout roared and reported the latest enemy situation to Xing Daorong.

The existence of Gan Ning's army had been known for a long time, but it was not until the moment before the enemy engagement that Xing Daorong knew the exact number of enemy warships.

Previous light patrol boats did not dare to get too close for reconnaissance, and there was no high enough mast to provide a clear view of the overall situation, so they could not see the overall information clearly.

After hearing the true number of Gan Ning's fleet, Xing Daorong was still quite confident and scolded:

"Don't panic! Gan Ning is here to intercept us in a naval battle! Our army is a troop transport fleet. With the same number of ships, our army has at least twice as many people as Gan Ning! As long as a boarding battle starts, our army will win! All ships line up and prepare for battle!"

What Xing Daorong said made sense and stabilized the morale of the troops a little.

According to common sense, Xing Daorong's fleet is a troop transport fleet, which not only has sailors and privates, but also transported land forces, and the ship is packed with people.

Therefore, if there are the same number of ships and the ships are of similar size, the total number of Xing Daorong's troops will definitely far exceed that of Gan Ning.

With this confidence, Xing Daorong's army finally sailed the last dozen miles before the battle. As the fleets of the two armies deployed their battle formations, they collided head-on on the surface of the Yangtze River downstream of Chanling, and a bloody naval battle broke out.

Although Gan Ning was good at naval battles, the battlefield environment of this battle was really unfavorable to Gan Ning - Xing Daorong was upstream and Gan Ning was downstream. Xing Daorong's fleet was sailing downstream, and its speed was already an advantage, which was enough to offset the seaworthiness advantage brought by the ship type of the side sailing upstream.

You should know that Chanling is not far downstream from Jiangling. This section of the Yangtze River has only been out of the Three Gorges for more than 200 miles, and the water speed is still quite fast. As the saying goes, "I left Baidi in the morning among the colorful clouds, and returned to Jiangling a thousand miles in one day." The Yangtze River flows very fast from Sichuan into the gorge to Jiangling.

In this situation, Gan Ning's goal was to intercept and block the enemy and prevent them from breaking through, so he had to spread the fleet into a horizontal formation across the river. The depth of the fleet formation became very weak, with only three or four ships at each point. Once broken through, the encirclement would be leaked.

In contrast, Xing Daorong was the one who broke through. He could unite all the fleets into an iron fist and rush forward along the center of the river without worrying about the waterways in the shallow waters on the north and south banks.

As long as he could break through the center and pierce Gan Ning, he would be able to fight his way out.

"Gan Ning, you little bastard! You are so greedy that you want to keep our army completely and spread the encirclement so wide that it crosses the entire Yangtze River! Dividing troops everywhere means being weak everywhere. Watch me concentrate all my troops to break through the center and send you to see the Lord of Mount Tai!"

Xing Daorong saw that Gan Ning only had 30% of his troops left in the central army. In this case, wouldn't his own advantage in the local battlefield of the central army be five or six times as great? How could he not charge forward with such an obvious advantage?

"All troops, aim at Gan Ning's central flagship and charge straight ahead! Break through the center! Ignore the enemy ships on the north and south flanks!" Following Xing Daorong's order, the entire fleet launched a desperate charge.

……

"Xing Daorong actually chose the center army to make a desperate attempt to break through? He is quite courageous. Our army is indeed too weak to block the enemy in a horizontal formation, and they cannot defeat the enemy... Pass on my order, all the ships in the center army turn around immediately, keep a distance from Xing Daorong, and use flags to command the left and right wings to encircle the center of the river, and try to cut off the front and rear of Xing Daorong's fleet vertically!"

Gan Ning on the opposite side was also quite surprised when he saw Xing Daorong's posture and had to adjust his tactics temporarily.

The central warship of Gan Ning's army quickly began to turn around, but without paddling, it slowly accelerated by relying on the speed of the water flow.

After both sides drifted downstream, it was not so easy for Xing Daorong to approach Gan Ning. Gan Ning's ship was longer and faster, so he could play Xing Daorong as he pleased.

In addition, Gan Ning's direct Jinfanying soldiers were much better at boat handling than Xing Daorong's half-baked Changsha and Lingling sailors. They could control the distance accurately and use bows and crossbows at the stern to fight the enemy.

Some large warships were equipped with catapults and crossbows, and Gan Ning had them move to the stern to fire at the pursuers behind. Other soldiers who had no shooting missions all hid in the cabins to avoid arrows.

Soon, Xing Daorong's army was shot to pieces, and the morale of the soldiers on the front army's warships became increasingly low, with casualties occurring from time to time.

Unfortunately, Xing Daorong's boat was too slow and could not catch up, so he had to let all the rowers row as hard as they could, but the effect was still not good.

After just a few cups of tea, Gan Ning's detachment, which was originally deployed on the waterways on both sides of the north and south banks, gathered towards the central army, forming two iron pincers that penetrated into the waist of Xing Daorong's navy.

The warships of Gan Ning's army fought independently, but the effect was still as good as the arm. The bows and crossbows shot at the waist of Xing Daorong's central army, just shooting the rowers in the portholes on both sides into pieces.

At one time, some of Xing Daorong's warships lost a considerable amount of power, and the gap between the front and rear armies became more serious. Gan Ning's army seized the opportunity to rush forward and cut off Xing Daorong's front and rear armies in the middle, playing a large-scale battle with a small force advantage in the local battlefield.

Gan Ning's troops released their crow beaks to grab the boarding planks, or used flying claws with hemp ropes to grab the warships of Xing Daorong's troops, and then jumped on board to engage in hand-to-hand combat.

There were many army soldiers transported on Xing Daorong's ship, but their footing on the river was a little unstable, and their hand-to-hand combat capability was slightly inferior to that of professional navy.

In addition, after two days of fruitless fighting outside the city of Jiangling and being forced to flee, their morale had already been low and their physical strength was quite exhausted.

Faced with Gan Ning's soldiers who rushed onto the ship like wolves and tigers, the soldiers from Changsha Lingling County only put up a brief resistance before the chaotic situation around them confused their judgment. They knelt down in surrender and were captured obediently.

Xing Daorong's fleet was easily cut off by Gan Ning, and the front half of the fleet was directly surrounded.

The central army of Gan Ning's army, which had originally turned back, now turned its boats around again and attacked back. The agility of the maneuver was so amazing that Xing Daorong's army was amazed.

Xing Daorong saw that the situation was not good and knew that he would not be able to break through today. Gan Ning was so flexible and maneuverable in the naval battle, and his fighting style was so fierce. How could he defeat him?
Fortunately, Xing Daorong was a very reckless man, but he could also be very quick to give up. He immediately ordered his men to break through and protect his retreat. With the desperate protection of his brothers on dozens of warships around him, Xing Daorong's flagship turned around and broke through successfully.

However, most of the main warships carrying dozens of his trusted confidants were killed or captured by Gan Ning during the fight. Xing Daorong almost broke out at the cost of the complete annihilation of his front army.

Then he was like a frightened bird, and ordered all the rear troops to turn around and sail northward upstream, trying to go through the mouth of Youjiang River and enter Youshui, and then withdraw the troops by land to avoid Gan Ning, the plague god.

Gan Ning was actually confident that he could catch up and stick to Xing Daorong.

But he knew that it would be easier to kill Xing Daorong after he entered Youjiangkou, so he was happy to see it happen. In the end, he only killed most of Xing Daorong's central army, and then he stopped while he was ahead, keeping a distance and continuing to follow and oppress.

Xing Daorong was like seeing a vicious man with a mace standing opposite the traffic light at a T-junction, but he refused to believe it and refused to turn into an alley to hide.

He insisted on crossing the road and was hit several times on the head by the villain. Then he dragged his broken body and covered his head to run into the alley.

In the alley, a black shop opened by Xu Shu was waiting for him. Hidden behind the shop was a thug named Zhang Fei who was in charge of honey traps.

(End of this chapter)