Tiger Owl

Chapter 270 Tit for tat
In this southern expedition, Cao Cao mobilized more than 2,000 warships. After he destroyed Yuan Shao, he captured a large number of warships from the Yellow River. Combined with the warships he had built in Xuchang in the past two years, his total number of warships reached 2,300. He provided 500 medium-sized warships to Sun Ben and had more than 1,800 warships for himself.

Cao Cao's warships were not on the Yangtze River in Liyang County, but were anchored in Chaohu Lake, heavily guarded.

That morning, more than 1,800 warships, fully loaded with grain and supplies, slowly left Chaohu Lake under the strict protection of 100,000 troops and sailed into Hangbu Canal, a tributary of Chaohu Lake.

Hangbu Canal is actually an ancient artificial canal that connects Dongwan River and Chaohu Lake. It is about 50 miles long. Several sections of the canal are slightly silted up due to the accumulation of time, making it difficult for large boats to pass, but they have been dredged by Cao Cao's army.

The Hangbu Canal was filled with a vast expanse of boats, stretching as far as the eye could see. On both banks were endless Cao army soldiers, clad in armor, carrying spears, blankets, rations, canteens, and other supplies. The soldiers were well-trained and marched in formation.

Cao Jun's large-scale mobilization was immediately discovered by the Western Chu scouts around Hefei. Several carrier pigeons circled in the sky a few times before flying straight towards Chaisang.

Lu Su strode into Gan Ning's office, followed by Pang Tong and Xu Shu. All three strategists had arrived. Gan Ning was taken aback and immediately realized that something big was about to happen.

"What happened?"

"Lord Chu, take a look at this!"

Lu Su handed the copy of the pigeon message to Gan Ning. Gan Ning glanced at it, immediately stood up, and went to the other side of the office. There was a huge sand table there, which included Jiangdong and Jingzhou. There was no new sand table for Jiaozhou yet. The previous sand table for Jiaozhou was too rough and inaccurate, so it was sent back to be improved and refined.

Gan Ning knew, of course, that Cao Cao's warships were all in Chaohu Lake. He had considered sending scouts to sabotage them, but Cao Cao's army was heavily guarded and they could not find an opportunity. Now, Cao Cao had finally begun to take action.

Gan Ning quickly located the Hangbu Canal on the map. Sure enough, the Hangbu Canal connected the northern part of the Dongwan River. Further north of the Dongwan River were mountainous areas where large ships could no longer navigate. However, the section connected by the Hangbu Canal was precisely the section of the river where large ships could sail.

Gan Ning suddenly remembered something. Back then, when he led his troops to Hefei to force Sun Ben to withdraw from Danyang County, he had also studied the inland waterways. Yes! It was this Hangbu Canal. He remembered it very clearly. At that time, the fleet changed course to the Yangtze River and went through Xurukou because they found that the waterway was silted up and large ships could not pass through.

Gan Ning suddenly thought of something and asked, "Did Cao Cao send troops to dredge the canals?"

Lu Su nodded and handed another copy of the message to Gan Ning. "Cao Cao sent 50,000 troops ten days ago to dredge the blocked section of the river."

Ten days ago?

Gan Ning frowned, somewhat displeased, and said, "Why are you only reporting now?"

Pang Tong stepped forward somewhat apologetically and said, "Lord Chu, it was my oversight. I am not familiar with the terrain and did not expect Cao Cao's intention to dredge the Hangbu Canal, so I did not report it in time. I just wanted to continue to observe for a few more days to understand their intentions."

Gan Ning wasn't really angry. Hundreds of intelligence reports came in from all directions every day, and this simple act of dredging the river was indeed hard to associate with Cao Cao's strategic retreat, since strategic retreats usually involved crossing the Yangtze River.

Gan Ning waved his hand, "Forget it, it won't have much of an impact. Just be more careful next time." Gan Ning didn't intend to pursue the matter. He continued to look at the sand table and then pointed with a wooden stick to a river not far from the Yangtze River, saying slowly, "This river is called Xiaozhi River. It connects the Wan River and Bei Pengli Lake. The river is not wide, but the water is very deep, and large ships can sail on it. Cao Cao's fleet must be heading to Bei Pengli Lake along this river."

Pengli Lake is a remnant of the ancient Yunmeng Lake, which was divided in two by the Yangtze River. The southern Pengli Lake is the predecessor of Poyang Lake, but it is larger than Poyang Lake. Chaisang County and Pengze County are located on both sides of the mouth of the southern Pengli Lake into the Yangtze River.

The northern Pengli Lake is also very large and has a fragmented terrain with many large bays, which can be transformed into a water fortress. Xunyang County is located right next to the Pengli Lake, only 20 miles away from the lake.

With all the routes clear, Cao Cao's intentions became obvious. He had indeed changed his strategy, shifting his focus to dealing with them instead of Jiangdong. In other words, he had handed Jiangdong over to Sun Ben.

Lu Su slowly said, "Cao Cao knows that if he tries to transfer via the Yangtze River, our navy will intercept and destroy him. So he has used inland waterways. Lord Chu, is it too late for us?"

Gan Ning shook his head slightly. "Cao Cao is a cautious man. Since he knows we will intercept his fleet on the Yangtze River, he cannot be unprepared. I estimate he has already dug a trap and is just waiting for our army to intercept his fleet on the north bank of the river."

Xu Shu also said, "Xunyang County began to expand last year, and they may have already considered the plan to attack Chaisang at that time."

Gan Ning walked a few steps with his hands behind his back and slowly said, "For now, let's not consider intercepting them. We need to deal with Cao Cao's troops stationed in Xunyang County and make strategic adjustments, transferring most of the troops and naval forces from Wuchang County and Changsha County back."

Xu Shu was somewhat worried, "What if Cao Cao's army suddenly attacks us from Nan Commandery?"

Pang Tong smiled and said, "There are only 120 cargo ships in Nan Commandery, anchored in Xiangyang. Not to mention that 120 cargo ships could not possibly cross the Yangtze River to launch a southern expedition, even if they wanted to, their ships could not leave the Han River. Our 6,000 naval troops and 300 warships in Queyue City have blocked the mouth of the Han River. Moreover, we have so many intelligence spies that we will know as soon as Xiahou Dun makes any move to mobilize troops. Therefore, it is impossible for Nan Commandery to do so. Military Advisor Xu, there is no need to worry."

Gan Ning agreed with Pang Tong's analysis and said with a faint smile, "This is the significance of Queyue City. As long as it exists, Cao Cao's army will be unable to attack us from Nan Commandery!"

The war machine of Western Chu also began to turn rapidly. Ding Feng of Changsha Commandery and Wei Yan of Wuchang Commandery each led their armies to gather in the direction of Chaisang, and various grains and military supplies were transported from the warehouses in Nanchang to Chaisang.

But more importantly, the Yangtze River was completely under their control. From Xiakou in the west to Wankou in the east, the entire thousand-mile stretch of the Yangtze was filled with warships of the Western Chu army. Gan Ning issued a fishing ban and a ban on passage on the Yangtze River. All civilian boats north of the river had long been moved to the south of the river. Therefore, any boat that appeared on the Yangtze River was suspected of being an enemy scout ship.

Inside Chaisang City, Wang Xiaoman led three thousand Imperial Guards to begin screening and sorting out shops that had opened after October of last year or had changed owners. Last autumn, Jichun Pharmacy sent false information to Cao Ren, which led to Cao Ren's disastrous defeat in attacking Queyue City. From then on, Jichun Pharmacy would no longer be trusted by Cao's army, and they would definitely send new spies to Chaisang.

The seventh investigation team was still responsible for the northeastern area of ​​Chaisang. Li Qun led his men to screen shops one by one, but Li Qun knew that relying solely on information from the government was far from enough. It was more likely that the shops had been transferred but not registered with the government, so he also needed to find out the situation through some informants.

That morning, one of Li Qun's informants hurriedly found him.

(End of this chapter)