My father-in-law Guan Yu, I persuaded Liu Bei to launch a surprise attack on Xiangyang at the beginn

Chapter 104: Is Liu Bei the reincarnation of Emperor Gaozu? Sun Quan: I was shameless twice, and in return I was abused three times?
"General Cheng, General Cheng..."

Ling Tong was so angry and grief-stricken that his face was distorted and tears streamed down his face.

The chief military general of Jiangdong and the veteran of the third generation of the Sun family died inexplicably on the way to revenge.

He died in a bizarre way, being burned to death by fire.

Humiliation!
Ling Tong gritted his teeth, not knowing how to explain to Sun Quan when he returned.

After a moment, his grief and anger were replaced by fear.

The fire spread rapidly, and in a blink of an eye the flames had reached his feet, forcing him to retreat repeatedly.

"General Ling, General Cheng can't save me. Let's quickly transfer to a boat and escape. If we don't leave now, we will be burned to death!"

The soldiers behind him pulled Ling Tong and begged him.

Ling Tong shuddered and suddenly came to his senses. After hesitating for a moment, he stomped his feet and ran away.

Everyone scrambled to get on the boat, hastily untied the ropes, and sailed away from the blazing flagship.

"Jinfan thief, if I go back this time, I will kill you with my own hands~~"

Ling Tong gritted his teeth and swore secretly.

The Jinfan thief he mentioned was Gan Ning.

During the battle of Jiangxia, his father Ling Cao was killed by Gan Ning's arrow, thus forming the hatred for his father's murder.

Sun Quan originally wanted to execute Su Fei, but only spared his life thanks to Gan Ning's efforts.

As a result, Su Fei first killed Pan Zhang and surrendered to Liu, and now used fire attack to burn Cheng Pu to death.

With all these new and old grudges piling up, Ling Tong naturally directed all his anger at Gan Ning.

Just as he was gritting his teeth, Su Fei's battleship was already chasing him from behind.

Arrows rained down from the boats, indiscriminately killing the surviving Jiangdong soldiers who had fled to the boats.

Screams rose one after another, echoing across the river.

"Paddle quickly, speed up, and shake off the pursuing enemy ship—"

Ling Tong didn't care about his grief and anger. He brandished his sword to block the arrows and screamed loudly.

The Jiangdong soldiers rowed like crazy, regardless of everything.

Sharp arrows like locusts poured down after them.

"what--"

Another scream was heard, and Ling Tong was hit by two arrows on his shoulders and back and fell to the deck.

The soldiers on both sides were horrified and surrounded him.

"Leave me alone, keep rowing, keep—"

Ling Tong screamed hoarsely despite the arrow wound and pushed the soldiers on both sides away.

The Zouge braved the rain of arrows and, after paying the price of having half of the men shot dead, they finally escaped from Liu Jun's pursuit.

Ling Tong breathed a sigh of relief and looked back tremblingly.

The river was littered with burned warships, and countless corpses of our soldiers were floating on the surface.

After a fire attack, at least 70% of the 10,000 naval forces were lost, which was a disastrous defeat.

"My Jiangdong navy is clearly invincible on the Yangtze River, so why do we repeatedly lose to Liu Bei?"

"Hateful, hateful——"

Ling Tong was enraged. He looked up to the sky and yelled three times. Then his vision went dark and he passed out.

Xiakou Water Camp.

Witnessing this spectacular fire attack, the Liu army soldiers stationed on the shore gave earth-shaking cheers.

"Military Advisor Xiao's brilliant plans and tactics are truly endless. I never thought that this iron chain across the river, combined with a fire attack, could defeat the Jiangdong bandits without a single soldier!"

"Su Fei has only just arrived, yet the Lord dares to appoint him to such an important position. The Lord's boldness in employing people is truly like the reincarnation of Emperor Gaozu..."

Wei Yan had an expression of admiration on his face, and he sighed with emotion and expressed his admiration endlessly.

Then he laughed several times, waved his hands and shouted:
"Quickly send a messenger to Bachu to report the victory to the lord!"

...

Ruxuwu.

Inside the big tent, Sun Quan, Zhou Yu and Lu Su reunited.

"I was leading my army to besiege Hefei. Why did my lord first dispatch Ling Gongji's 10,000 troops south, and then order me to withdraw the siege of Hefei and lead my entire army to retreat to Ruxu Fortress overnight?"

"My Lord, should we still attack Hefei?"

As soon as Zhou Yu met him, he questioned him harshly, and his words and expression showed obvious dissatisfaction and doubt.

"Gongjin, don't get excited. My goal from the beginning was not Hefei, but Jingzhou."

Sun Quan personally stood up and walked forward, poured a bowl of tea for Zhou Yu and handed it to him.

Aiming at Jingzhou?

As soon as these four words came out, Zhou Yu's expression was shocked, and suddenly he seemed to have guessed something.

Lu Su, standing by, was completely confused and couldn't understand the hidden meaning behind the words.

Sun Quan did not explain and turned back to glance at Lu Meng.

Lü Meng coughed lightly a few times, then laid out his entire plan to Zhou and Lu.

Zhou Yu's face changed slightly. Although he had guessed what was going on, he was still surprised.

Lu Su's face turned pale with horror, he jumped up and shouted excitedly:

"My lord, Su has traveled back and forth several times to Jingzhou and Jiangdong, using all his strength to convince Liu Bei to put aside their past grudges, re-ally with Jiangdong, release General Cheng, and fight Cao Cao together!"

"How could my lord go back on his word and betray us again in the blink of an eye, tear up the alliance, and launch a surprise attack on Jingzhou?"

In a fit of rage, Lu Su openly accused Sun Quan of "betrayal."

Sun Quan frowned, looking displeased, and glanced at Lu Meng.

"Constable Lu is wrong. Since Liu Bei has signed an alliance with us, he should unconditionally release my captured soldiers and General Cheng to show his sincerity in the alliance."

"But what about Liu Bei? He's using General Cheng as a threat, forcing us to send him tens of thousands of men for nothing. Is this what allies should do?"

"So, it was Liu Bei who was unjust first. Now that you have sent troops to Jingzhou, you are simply retaliating. How can you say that you are breaking your promise?"

Lu Meng stepped forward to smooth things over for Sun Quan.

This eloquent defense left Lu Su speechless for a moment.

After holding it in for a while, Lu Su had no choice but to look at Zhou Yu:

"Gongjin, what do you think of the Lord's actions?"

He thought that Zhou Yu was a gentleman and would stand on his side this time.

After all, Sun Quan broke the alliance twice. Anyone with a little integrity would regard it as shameful, let alone the handsome Zhou Lang from Jiangdong.

Unfortunately, he didn't know that Zhou Lang at this time was no longer the Zhou Yu of the past.

The revenge for the arrow and the lameness made him put revenge first in his heart. Everything else had to give way to it.

Facing Lu Su's "help", Zhou Yu only replied expressionlessly:
"As long as the result is that we can defeat Liu Bei and capture Jingzhou, we don't need to worry too much about the process or the means."

"Zi Jing, warfare is the art of deception. You should understand this principle and not be too pedantic."

Lu Su was speechless.

He looked at Zhou Yu in disbelief, shocked that the handsome Zhou Yu, whom he had always admired, could have fallen to such a state!
Lu Su's eyes gradually changed from shock to disappointment.

However, the matter was done. Cheng Pu's surprise attack army had already set out for several days, and no matter what he said, it would be of no avail.

"Su was sent to Xiangyang twice, and he did his best to promote the alliance between Sun and Liu. However, the lord broke the alliance twice, which really put Su in an unjust position. Alas—"

After a sigh of loss and helplessness, Lu Su bowed to Sun Quan, turned around and walked out of the tent.

Looking at Lu Su's departing back, he also shook his head and sighed in disappointment:
"Zi Jing has great ambitions, but he's not good at making extraordinary plans. He's ultimately inferior to Gong Jin, and you're also far inferior to Zi Ming."

While blaming Lu Su, Sun Quan also took the opportunity to praise Zhou Yu and Lu Meng.

"Zijing has a kind nature, but is not good at adapting. My lord, please don't blame me."

Zhou Yu first excused Lu Su, then bowed and said:
"Ling Gongji's army must have passed Xiakou by now and is heading straight for Baqiu."

"My lord, speed is of the essence in war. We should march out immediately and capture Xiakou City!"

Sun Quan agreed with this and happily ordered the entire army to march out.

That night, tens of thousands of the main forces of the Jiangdong Army left Ruxu Fort and headed westward, heading straight for Jingzhou.

Two days later, the navy arrived at the river east of Fankou.

Sun Quan and his generals stood on the deck, enthusiastically discussing the tactical deployment for capturing Xiakou.

Xu Sheng and other generals already knew the truth, and they were thinking of attacking Xiakou again to avenge their previous defeat. They were all very excited and full of fighting spirit.

"My lord, commander-in-chief, there's a fleet coming up ahead, and it looks like our flag!"

Chen Wu shouted, interrupting everyone's heated discussion.

Sun Quan and his companions looked up and saw that there were forty or fifty warships coming downstream on the river upstream.

The fleet was scattered and had no formation or order, as if it had suffered a defeat and was fleeing in a panic.

Sun Quan's heart skipped a beat, and an ominous premonition came over him.

The generals on both sides immediately started talking and became nervous.

After a while, the two fleets met.

A small boat approached the flagship, and a blood-soaked general climbed onto the deck with the help of soldiers.

"My lord, my lord——"

The general knelt down at Sun Quan's feet with tears of grief and anger in his eyes.

"Ling Gongji?"

Sun Quan was horrified and held him up, shouting in a trembling voice:

"I ordered General Demou to go with you to attack the Ba army. Why are you still at Fankou, and why are you in such a state?"

Zhou Yu, Lu Meng and the others all looked at Ling Tong in shock and nervousness.

"My lord, Liu Bei was well prepared. He actually set up an iron chain to block the river at Xiakou, blocking our army's path."

"Our army didn't have time to slow down, and the enemy took advantage of the situation and launched a fire attack. Most of our 10,000-man army was lost, and almost all of them were wiped out!"

"My lord, we are defeated!"

Ling Tong burst into tears and explained the whole process in grief and anger.

There was an uproar on the flagship.

Sun Quan, who was squatting, suddenly felt weak on the ground and fell onto the deck.

Lu Meng's face was distorted with horror. He staggered back half a step, his mouth opened into an exaggerated circle, and a layer of cold sweat instantly seeped out on his forehead.

Zhou Yu also froze in place, his face as pale as paper, his expression stunned and surprised.

"Iron chains blocking the river? Fire attack?"

"What the hell is going on? The Big Eared Bandit has clearly already marched his entire army to Bachu, so why is he deploying like this in Xiakou?"

"Why, who can tell me why?"

Sun Quan struggled to get up, pushed away Chen Wu who was supporting him, and yelled at everyone almost hysterically.

Everyone was stunned and as confused as Sun Quan.

Lu Meng's eyes darted around, then suddenly opened wide, as if he had guessed something.

He was about to speak, but seeing Sun Quan's angry and excited expression, he did not dare to speak for a moment.

"My lord, it seems Liu Bei must have anticipated our attack on Jingzhou again, anticipating that we would use the pretext of transporting our families to attack Baqiu with our navy."

"That's why Liu Bei secretly set up this iron chain across the river, preventing our navy from passing through the Xiakou River area."

"This is Liu Bei's subordinate. Someone has seen through Lu Ziming's plan!"

Amidst all the shock and confusion, Gan Ning was the only one who calmed down first and figured out the mystery.

Sun Quan's body was shaken, as if struck by a thunderbolt, and a name suddenly popped up in his mind:
Xiao He!

Could it be that this person was the one who saw through Lu Meng's plan?

Zhuge Liang was in Xiangyang, and Xu Shu was assisting Zhang Fei in attacking Dangyang. Liu Bei only had Xiao He by his side. Who else could it be but him!
"Ziming's plan is flawless and unpredictable. Even if Xiao He is a master of strategists, how could he possibly figure it out?"

"And this plan of chaining the river is unprecedented. How did he come up with it?"

"I don't believe it. I don't believe that that country bumpkin could really be so clever and cunning—"

Sun Quan kept muttering and shaking his head, unwilling to accept the cruel reality.

This is the third time!

The three attacks on Xiakou were each time full of ambition and determination to win.

Every time, they suffered heavy casualties and ended in a miserable defeat!

That Xiakou City seemed to have become an insurmountable forbidden zone for his Sun family!
No matter how brilliant his plans are, no matter how many troops he sends in, the result will be the same.

Failed!

Sun Quan fell into endless confusion and couldn't figure out why this was happening.

"Mr. Ling, where is General Cheng?"

Zhou Yu regained his composure and suddenly realized something was wrong.

Sun Quan's heart trembled, and he suddenly looked up at Ling Tong.

Ling Tong's gaze turned towards Gan Ning, his face twisted with extreme anger.

"Jinfan thief, you first killed my father, and now you killed General Cheng. I will kill you—"

Ling Tong cursed angrily, suddenly drew his sword and slashed at Gan Ning like crazy.

(End of this chapter)