Li Su came very quickly, but after all, he gave Zhou Yu some preparation time.

Zhou Yu is also a talented general of a generation. He is calm and composed in the face of danger. Even if the enemy is killed in two hours, he still calmly analyzes and interrogates first, instead of making a decision immediately:

"How could Li Su choose this time to attack? How many soldiers did he have in total? There are 60,000 Cao's army on the north bank and 50,000 of our army on the south bank. Li Su knows all these news.

Li Su should not know the scale of our new recruits who have expanded their troops in the past three months, but he certainly dare not underestimate them. If there were no reinforcements, Li Su could not deal with the Sun Cao Alliance three months ago, and now he would not be able to deal with it."

Xu Sheng, who was personally responsible for reporting the news from the Wankou Crossing River, naturally did not dare to hide it at all: "According to what Zhu Prefect Zhu's scout saw, at least ten Li Sujun's five-tooth warships, more than twenty tower ships, sixty or seventy fighting ships, hundreds of ships, and countless boats. Judging from the size of the fleet, even riding 100,000 people was not a problem."

In the Jiangbei Defense Zone, the nominal prefect of Lujiang is still Zhu Zhi. Although Cao's army came to assist in the defense, Cao Cao did not use the internal officials appointed by Sun Quan's camp, but only established independent military command.

So far, the ones who remained in Jiangbei in Sun Quan's camp were Zhu Zhi, Zhu Ran and his son, as well as Han Dang, who had retreated the latest in the Battle of Jingzhou. The rest of Xu Sheng was only responsible for the contacts of Jiangnan and Jiangbei, while Huang Gai had completely retreated to Jiangnan and was entrusted by Zhou Yu as the deputy commander of the Wu army's naval division.

Therefore, the Wu army in Jiangbei was dominated by Zhu Zhi and Han Dang as the deputy, but in fact, because Zhu Zhi was a civil servant, Han Dang was the leader of the front line. Zhou Yu was the chief Huang Gai as the deputy, which was considered to have piled up all the old military talents in Jiangdong. The previous battles suffered too much loss, and there were really no more generals available.

(Note: Ding Feng and Xu Sheng often call each other together, but in fact Ding Feng is much younger than Xu Sheng. In history, during the Battle of Chibi, Ding Feng was just a grassroots officer, barely considered to have worked under Zhou Yu. Now in 198, Ding Feng is estimated to be around 10 years old. Similarly, Ling Tong and others cannot appear among the Twelve Tigers of Jiang Biao, who are also around 10 years old.)

Zhou Yu heard that Li Su's fleet was actually at the level of 100,000 people, and thought that even if Li Su bluffed, there would be at least 50,000 or 60,000 on the ship.

Before, Li Su's total strength was only 50,000 or 60,000 yuan, and he also considered to advance by land and water. Before arriving on the battlefield, some soldiers would advance by land by land in Jiangnan. It was impossible for Li Su to leave no one behind to defend Xiakou and Chaisang... No matter how you look at it, you can confirm that Li Su has indeed received a considerable reinforcement.

Zhou Yu touched his bare chin and pondered: "Li Su has so many troops and can march so quickly by water. This alone shows that his soldiers are not afraid of bumps, otherwise the boat would be so fast. It was rainy two days ago that the wind and waves on the river were heavy, and soldiers with poor water quality would definitely lose their combat effectiveness.

In this way, most of the reinforcements Li Su received were veterans sent by Gao Shuncheng and Xiangyang, otherwise it would be difficult to maintain such combat power. In April, I heard that Liu Bei was unable to withstand the war between the two fronts and expanded the new army.

Gao Shunzheng is known for his talent in training troops. Wancheng has a new army to garrison, and it is a matter of course to use elite veterans to attack. However, it is impossible for new recruits to form combat effectiveness so quickly.

After the Northern Line was drawn, Yuan Shao and Liu Bei were in Hanoi and Hedong. Why didn't they take advantage of Liu Bei's pulling the veterans away and turning into the attack? Yuan Shao was so sarcastic and frightened by the historical shadow of the Battle of Changping.

Since ancient times, the trend has changed. The lessons of history must be learned. However, because those who can be the master of others have counselors around them, they will definitely avoid obvious wrong lessons, so history will not be simply repeated, but will be repeated in another way.

The current situation is completely different from the end of the Warring States Period! During the Warring States Period, Qin and Zhao confronted each other. Did the Chu people do their best to fight against the Qin people at the same time? No! But now, Bo Fu personally took on arrows and stones, and even died in battle himself, fighting for Yuan Shao to fight for the two fronts of the north and south at the same time. This coward actually thought it was during Changping. Seeing Liu Bei secretly transferring the stalemate troops of the northern line to the south to deal with us first, he did not take advantage of the weak and enterprising situation on the northern line!

I want to say that the current situation is not only not the time of Changping, but the time of Julu! It’s just that the Julu in Xiang Yu was the coward of Song Yi who was waiting for Qin to destroy Zhao and said to be “inheriting its shortcomings”. Now we are the opposite. Yuan Shao has the cowardice of Song Yi, who sat down to Qin and then attacked Zhao. With Qin’s strength and attacking the newly created ‘Chu’, he will inevitably take action and Qin’s strength, so why should he inherit it?”

Zhou Yu's words were a little indignant as he analyzed them. It was not that he liked to take off his books, but that he was familiar with the history of military strategy and war, so he naturally brought the words in "Records of the Grand Historian Xiang Yu" and sprayed them with the words "Chu and Zhao".

Now it is not that Chu does not save Zhao and watch Qin defeat each of them, but that Zhao does not save Chu and watch Qin defeat each of them.

Because the reason is very correct, and the generals next to them are all in the Eastern Wu side, they are naturally full of righteous indignation and condemn and complain about Yuan Shao together.

At this moment, in addition to this group of military generals, there are also some civil servants in charge of diplomatic affairs, such as Zhang Hong and others.

They were originally responsible for asking Cao Cao for help and coordinating friendly forces. They would occasionally go on an envoy to Yuan Shao to inform the situation of the southern front, and asked Yuan Shao to consider and deal with it in a solidarity manner.

As for other senior civil servants who are purely dealing with internal affairs, they will not come to the front line of Hulin Port. For example, Zhang Zhao and others, they are all staying in the rear of Jianye or Wuxian to rectify military supplies and civil affairs.

At this moment, after hearing what Zhou Yu said, Zhang Hong felt that he should do his best for Jiangdong, so he said in a deliberate tone:

"Grandmaster, if our army can survive Li Su's offensive slightly, I can give up my old face and go to Hebei to ask for help again, cry out the critical situation here and point out the changes in the situation, so that he knows that it is the momentum of Julu, and there is no way to take advantage of the despair in the southeast.

However, to do this, we have to prove that Li Su really asked Liu Bei to transfer all the elite soldiers from the north, or at least the elite soldiers from Nanyang, to the southern line to support.

Now we and Cao's army have not fought a battle with Li Su, and Yuan Shao would not believe it. He only felt that in order to lure him from defense to offense on the Hebei front, we should bear more pressure from Liu Bei.

Moreover, Li Su is so deceitful. According to your analysis just now, even if Li Suzhen has 100,000 people coming from the river, who knows if these 100,000 people are just enough to scare us? What if the tens of thousands of people are all recruits that have just been recruited in the rear? Even the prisoners of war in our army who were defeated and killed three months ago and were captured by Li Su?

Sha Xian - The Battle of Chibi Our army suffered heavy losses, and 80,000 troops were left in Jingzhou. Among them, more than 20,000 were captured by surrender and slightly injured. If Li Su adapted all the prisoners of war to fight us, we would have no evidence to accuse Yuan Shao, and Yuan Shao would not believe it."

Zhou Yu directly rejected this possibility: "Impossible! Li Su would not be unaware of the strictness of a certain naval army, and was so popular among the soldiers in Jiangdong. If Li Su dared to win over our prisoners of war who had just been captured for three months, he would throw him onto the battlefield, as long as he was a self-contained army.

I am sure to immediately identify and instigate these people in the bloody battle with my prestige and kindness. Li Su shot himself in the foot and equipped a group of enemies who still care about his old master."

Zhang Hong did not refute Zhou Yu's confident words at all. He knew that Zhou Yu was indeed very kind and powerful in the army, and the morale of the army was very high. Moreover, the prisoners of war in Jiangdong were from their hometowns and their families were also there.

As long as they withstand the first wave and let them stop thinking of "follow Li Su to go back to their hometown and still be able to reunite with their families", then the probability of Zhou Yu being instigated again is still considerable-

Of course, the previous prerequisites are also clearly stated. If Zhou Yu's military performance is really weak and they can't see hope, or they feel that as long as they follow Li Su and Jiangdong will change their ownership, then those prisoners will not be easy anyway.

People's hearts are always complicated. Even if they have a homeland and an old master, those who serve in the army hope to save trouble and return to their hometown, and it is best to follow the powerful side.

As a diplomatic talent, Zhang Hong could not be too entangled with Zhou Yu on these purely military issues. He just wanted to find evidence for the sake of diplomatic interests. So he continued to think from the perspective of others, imagining that "if Yuan Shao also accepted this statement, he might still think of some reason to doubt the situation and delay the dispatch of troops."

After thinking about it again and again, Zhang Hong checked for a possibility of missing out and filling in the gaps: "Grandmaster, let's assume that you are indeed strict in the military and won the hearts of the people, so that Li Su dared not use our prisoners of war to re-enter the battlefield so quickly.

However, even so, there is still a possibility that Yuan Shao will question the authenticity of the critical situation here, that is, Li Su may have moved the veteran prisoners of war in Yuan Shao whom Liu Bei captured in Hebei last year and then moved to the battlefield in Jiangnan to fight with us.

These people are also veterans, with certain elite potential, and their morale is stable, not as easy as new recruits to panic. It is absolutely possible that Gao Shun will take a little rectification for a month or two to fight a tough battle on the battlefield."

"Use captured Yuan Shao's troops as the new army to quickly enter the battle?" Zhou Yu was stunned, because he had never thought about this possibility at all, and he had never thought about refuting it. But this matter was too ridiculous. He had thought about it temporarily without thinking about it, and within a few seconds he discovered the problem.

Zhou Yu: "Mr. Zhang has been worried too much! People in northern China are not accustomed to water wars and are not accustomed to the local environment. They are prone to diseases when they go to Jiangnan. What's more, people in northern China are not resistant to heat and are more prone to plague epidemics."

Zhang Hong: "Maybe Li Su came to Meiyu in advance to fight us because the northerners were not resistant to heat. After all, these days are not as hot as half a month later, although the plum rain can't last long.

Governor, I hope you understand that it is not that I want to make things difficult for you, but that if we expect to wait for foreign aid, Yuan Shao will definitely make things difficult for us. We have to imagine all the difficulties that Yuan Shao has made so that we can be prepared for any trouble.

Especially Yuan Shao is good at making plans and has too many advisers under his command. Every time, no matter which faction has a clear view, he seems to have sufficient arguments. In the end, he is indecisive and has to be careful.

Judging from my previous experience as my first lord, I can even guess that even if our evidence is sufficient, I will tell Yuan Shao that this time was not during Changping, but during Julu, Yuan Shao would not believe it!

The success rate is higher, unless it is Cao Cao's people talking to us. Only then will Yuan Shao consider that Cao Cao's position is neutral, not for his own privateness, but for the overall interests of our Kanto Alliance, can he have the opportunity to persuade Yuan Shao to turn defense into offense and bear the main pressure of Liu Bei!"

Zhou Yu was silent for a while and sighed to the sky: "The plum rain didn't last long, and I didn't expect Li Su to attack our army, so I actually set up multiple water camps in the rear.

When Li Su came in a fierce manner, he could have temporarily contracted and exchanged the depth of the Yangtze River for time. As long as he restrained it slightly, he would slowly retreat without losing his troops. He would delay Li Su for ten days and half a month, and retreat from Hulin's entire division to Wuhu, Ruxukou and even Liyang, which is possible.

Water war is not like land war, there is no danger to defend, and the camp is not worth the money. The key is to concentrate the entire division, preserve the troops, find opportunities to find a single enemy army, and defeat each one. In just ten days and half a month, the plum rain will end and the heat will be completely entered. Moreover, the windy days from the sea will become more and more, and all kinds of weather will be beneficial to our Southern Army.

Even the defects of Li Su's Five-Tooth Battleship have been closed and I have some experience in the past few months - this ship is even more unstable than a tower ship, and has several huge hammers hanging high, with a heavy head and light feet, so it will inevitably be easier for the tower ship to capsize in the strong wind and thunder than a tower ship.

Unfortunately, although I had such a plan, in order to prove to Cao Cao and Yuan Shao that Li Su's army was not weak in water battles. It was definitely not just Yuan Shao's prisoners of war and new recruits. It was really a draw of elite troops in Nanyang. Liu Bei's camp was really sure that Ju Su had no courage to attack on the northern front - so we have to use the blood and lives of some Jiangdong warriors to prove that Li Su had received reinforcements from Liu Bei's elite troops! It was really a coward."

The final decision is obvious: in purely military perspective, Zhou Yu should not attack, so he should defend and delay time and give up part of the water village space to exchange time.

But war has always been a continuation of politics. For diplomacy, he had to let the troops behind the rear squad to prove the strength of the enemy and get strong reinforcements. Of course, he could also take advantage of this delay to better cover the orderly retreat of friendly forces. The loss of material abandonment during the retreat was reduced, but this could only be considered as a stop loss consideration for waste utilization.

Moreover, in this battle, some of the Cao army's generals will be dragged together to fight. Let the Cao army generals see and experience it with their own eyes, so that Cao Cao can join the ranks of persuading Yuan Shao: In the beginning, Liu Bei is really because of you being cowardly, and gradually transferred the main force to the south! There is absolutely no falsehood!

I don’t know if there are thousands of people who will be killed, injured or captured, or more, so that I can use a bloody lesson to pass on this truth to Yuan Shao to ensure that Yuan Shao believes it.

I hope that Yuan Shao's intelligence work can be more powerful and personally detect this. In the best case, Xu You, who is the second most trusted person in Yuan Shao, will "discover" the truth - just like Xu You in history, intercepted Cao's intelligence during the Battle of Red Cliff and found that Cao's army had run out of food.

This time, Xu You also discovered that "Guan Yu and Zhuge Liang were just bluffing because of Ju Su's cowardice. The real strategic reserve team was transferred to the southern line to support Li Su."
Chapter completed!