Wei Xiaobao's Three Kingdoms Adventure

Chapter 129 This war has just begun

Hard work pays off. After inquiring in Lujiang for many days, Zhuge Liang finally got news about Liu Ye.

Liu Bei and Liu Ye were both relatives of the royal family. Liu Bei made a special trip from Xia Pi to Lujiang and finally persuaded Liu Ye to come out of retirement.

After Liu Ye joined Liu Bei's camp, he learned that Zhuge Liang and Wei Xiaobao intended to use Li Tong in Runan to tie down Jiangxia's military forces, so he volunteered to go to Runan to persuade Li Tong to send troops.

Zhuge Liang ordered Wei Xiaobao to accompany Liu Ye to Runan.

When Wei Xiaobao passed through Runan on his way to Shouchun, Li Tong hosted a banquet for Wei Xiaobao.

Now when the two met again, Wei Xiaobao went straight to the point and told Li Tong about Huang Zu and Gan Ning leading troops to occupy Ruxukou and Wanjiang Port, and encouraged Li Tong to take advantage of Jiangxia's emptiness to attack.

Li Tong was afraid of being blamed by Cao Cao, so he did not dare to act rashly.

Liu Ye advised, "The Prime Minister and Yuan Shao are stationed at Guandu. If the situation persists for too long, they will surely run out of food. When that happens, the rear will be burdened with procuring food, and the general will be unable to respond quickly. Jiangxia currently has ample food and fodder, but insufficient manpower. If we launch a surprise attack from Runan, seize the food and fodder, and then quickly withdraw, even if Huang Zu and Gan Ning learn of the situation and return to defend, they won't have time to respond. General, you're taking a small risk and making preparations for a rainy day. How can the Prime Minister blame you?"

After analyzing the pros and cons, Li Tong decided to send troops to launch a surprise attack on Jiangxia.

When Wei Xiaobao and Liu Ye returned to Lujiang, Li Tong had already succeeded in their surprise attack. Huang Zu and Gan Ning hurried back to defend, but not only did they fail to stop Li Tong, they were also stabbed in the butt by the navy sent by Zhuge Liang.

The first battle after Liu Bei's camp formed the navy was an easy victory, which greatly boosted the morale of the navy. Guan Yu, who led the navy, also accumulated a lot of experience in water warfare.

After the port crisis was resolved, Zhuge Liang ordered Guan Yu to deploy troops at Wanjiang Port and train the navy day and night, but with little success.

Zhuge Liang knew that the navy's previous victory was due, firstly, to a surprise attack, and secondly, to Huang Zu and Gan Ning's unwillingness to fight. If the Jiangxia navy rested and attacked again, they would still be powerless.

The navy became the biggest weakness of Liu Bei's camp.

Just at this time, news came from Jiangdong that Sun Ce had been assassinated.

The Lu family was once a powerful force in Lujiang, with Lu Kang serving as its governor. When Sun Ce, still a subordinate of Yuan Shu, led his troops to attack Lujiang, Lu Kang died of illness, and the city fell. Believing Yuan Shu would honor his promise and hand Lujiang over to him, Sun Ce expelled the Lu family from Lujiang, even killing many of them.

Now that Sun Ce has occupied the six counties of Jiangdong, the Lu family lives in fear and hatred all day long.

After Lujiang was occupied by Liu Bei, the Lu family blamed Sun Ce for their displacement and homelessness.

In order to quell the Shanyue Rebellion and counterattack Lujiang, Sun Ce used aggressive military tactics, which also caused other families to have great dissatisfaction with him.

Therefore, under the leadership of the Lu family, the Gu, Zhu, Zhang and other small families responded one after another, secretly supporting Sun Quan, who was close to the Jiangdong forces, to come to power, which eventually led to the killing of Sun Ce.

Yang Hong also took the opportunity to win over Lu Fan, and the two returned to Lujiang.

After Lü Fan arrived, Zhuge Liang ordered him to supervise the construction of warships while intensifying the training of the navy.

Half a year later, Zhuge Liang reviewed the navy and found that the situation had indeed improved a lot, so he decided to cross the river to attack Sun Quan.

Sun Quan also used half a year to ease the relationship with the four major families of Gu, Lu, Zhu and Zhang and other small families, and gained a firm foothold in Jiangdong.

Zhuge Liang analyzed the battle situation and decided to attack Qujiang Port first, then defeat Wujun, Kuaiji, and Danyang by land battle, and then take Yuzhang and Luling after resting.

Sun Quan ordered his naval commander, Zhou Tai, to guard Qujiang River. He engaged the naval forces led by Guan Yu and Lü Fan in several battles, with both sides winning and losing. Zhuge Liang, anticipating the strength of Sun Quan's navy, also arranged for Zhao Yun and Zhang Liao to land at Juzhang Port and launch a surprise attack on Wujun.

Wujun was previously occupied by Yan Baihu, the leader of the Shanyue people. Even after it was pacified by Sun Ce, some remaining forces still caused chaos.

When Zhao Yun and Zhang Liao attacked Wujun, they followed Zhuge Liang's strategy and first instigated the remnants of the Shanyue people in Wujun to rebel, and then took advantage of the chaos to attack Wujun.

After successfully attacking Wujun, Zhao Yun and Zhang Liao looted the military supplies and abandoned the city and headed straight for Qujiang Port. Together with Guan Yu and Lu Fan, they attacked from the front and back, eventually forcing Zhou Tai to flee to Danyang.

Yu Fan, the prefect of Kuaiji, was originally a subordinate of the former prefect Wang Lang. When Sun Ce attacked Kuaiji, he tried to persuade Wang Lang to surrender but failed. After Wang Lang was defeated and captured, he took the initiative to surrender to Sun Ce and became the prefect of Kuaiji.

Now that Sun Ce was dead, and the armies of Guan Yu, Zhao Yun, and Zhang Liao were at the gates of the city again, Yu Fan decisively gave up resistance and offered the city in surrender.

Sun Quan did not expect that Sun Ce had lost half of his territory in just half a year, and Danyang was also in danger, so he hurriedly moved the capital from Wanling to Jianye to avoid war.

After the victory at Qujiang Port, Lu Fan led his troops back to Wanjiang Port for rest and recuperation.

When Guan Yu, Zhao Yun and Zhang Liao led their troops to march towards Danyang, Zhuge Liang and Lu Fan also led the navy to attack Fangling Port, forming an encirclement of Danyang.

Cheng Pu, Huang Gai and other veteran generals were training in Chaisang, Luling County at this time, preparing to counterattack Lujiang in order to resolve the crisis in Danyang. However, they did not expect that Sun Quan's ministers tried their best to persuade Sun Quan to surrender.

Sun Quan had just taken power and had no one to rely on, so he had no choice but to abandon the city and flee to Chaisang.

Wei Xiaobao received battle reports from the front in Lujiang City. Either the enemy fled without fighting or the enemy surrendered the city, which made Wei Xiaobao think that it would be easy to capture Jiangdong within a year.

However, after Zhuge Liang and others returned to Lujiang, Wei Xiaobao realized that the real battle had not yet begun.

At this time, the generals in Chaisang included Cheng Pu, Han Dang, Huang Gai, Zhou Tai and others, and another one was Zhou Yu.

Zhuge Liang had always known that Zhou Yu was resourceful and his navy was invincible, so he sent Lu Fan to give it a try, but he was indeed defeated by Zhou Yu.

Zhou Yu launched a series of fire attacks, burning a large number of warships in the Wanjiang Port, forcing Zhuge Liang to take a defensive stance.

Not long after, Zhuge Liang moved the navy to Ruxukou in the north and ordered Zhao Yun to lead the archers to garrison the Wanjiang Port, thus avoiding the result of the navy being completely wiped out by Zhou Yu.

As a result, Zhuge Liang's offensive weakened, giving Sun Quan and Zhou Yu a chance to catch their breath.

After the two sides gained strength and lost strength, they did not fight again for half a year.

News came from the north that Cao Cao had launched a surprise attack on Wuchao, where Yuan Shao had stationed his troops. This caused Yuan Shao's morale to plummet and he retreated back to the north bank of the river.

Cao Cao followed the advice of Guo Jia and others, took the opportunity to cross the river and pursue, captured Ye City, and drove Yuan Shao out of Jizhou.

It was the dead of winter, the river was frozen, and food and grass from the south could not be transported to Yecheng, so Cao Cao stopped fighting and rested his troops.

Zhuge Liang and Liu Bei both understood that there was not much time left for their side to develop.

How to defeat the navy of Cheng Pu and Zhou Yu became a big problem that troubled Zhuge Liang.

(End of this chapter)