Lu Meng smiled and said, "What does the general think the real purpose of the Jingzhou army coming?"

Huang Gai pondered for a while and asked, "Zi Ming means that Gan Ning does not mean to seize Hefei?"

"They only brought 10,000 troops. Can the general think that this 10,000 troops can be captured by Hefei?"

Huang Gai understood what Lu Meng meant. The Jingzhou army was here to force him to send troops to attack Hefei and resolve the danger of Jingzhou. He nodded, "You are right. Hefei has no meaning to Jingzhou for the time being, but it is crucial to us. Although Gan Ning was here to force us to attack Hefei, I still want to take advantage of this opportunity to conquer Hefei in one fell swoop. Do they have any plans?"

"have!"

Lu Meng pointed to the map and said, "In front of Hefei is Xiaoyaojin, with three thousand garrisons. Gan Ning said that they would attack Xiaoyaojin and attract Cao's army to help. We are responsible for attacking Hefei City. This is actually giving Hefei City to us."

Huang Gai nodded, "There are only 10,000 Cao's army in Hefei, but our coalition has 30,000. It is inevitable to take down Hefei City. I want to know when to take action?"

“Just tonight!”

"night?"

Huang Gai hesitated for a moment. It was suitable for stealing the camp at night but not for siege. However, he nodded in the end, "Since that's the case, I'll send the three armies immediately and prepare to set off!"

............

Xiaoyaojin is a ferry crossing from the water to Hefei. It is a lake with a wide water surface, which is directly connected to the moat. Not only is the terrain here higher, but more importantly, the other half of Xiaoyaojin is located in Hefei City. Without attacking the city wall, you can directly enter Hefei City from Xiaoyaojin. It is a strategic location outside Hefei County.

Due to the sharpness of the Jiangdong naval army, the Cao army was particularly worried that the Jiangdong army would attack from the water surface, and the military status of Xiaoyaojin was highlighted. The Cao army's chief general Man Chong carefully deployed defenses, stationed 3,000 troops at the critical points of the Jindu, and set up a solid camp on the west bank of the Shuidang, shaking the important roads into the city.

Before sending troops, Gan Ning got detailed information from a businessman who had just come from Hefei. He knew that Xiaoyaojin was important to Hefei City. Once a fierce battle broke out in Xiaoyaojin, most of the troops in Hefei City would be attracted, which created conditions for the Jiangdong Army to capture Hefei City.

Night had already fallen, and the Han army fleet was moored on the surface of the water about ten miles away from the county town. It was quiet around and there was no one. The main hall of the head ship was brightly lit. Gan Ning was summoning more than a dozen generals under his command on the main ship to discuss the combat plan.

During the day, Gan Ning sent two scouts dressed as fishermen to enter Hefei City from Xiaoyaojin with fishing boats and drew a brief defense map. Gan Ning pointed to the map on the table and said to everyone: "The Cao army has three defense points in Xiaoyaojin. There is a large military camp on the west bank, with an estimated 2,000 people. There is a small military camp on the east bank, close to the ferry. It is said that there are ships in the military camp, which should be a patrol water village and a sentry fort. On a hill, you can see the entire Xiaoyaojin, so I am going to divide my troops into two groups in this battle."

Gan Ning pointed to the small military camp on the map and said, "The ships on the water surface cannot be seen at night. As long as we turn off the lights, the Cao army in the small military camp will attack us from behind, so we must take it down."

Speaking of this, he smiled at the deputy general Chen Shuo and said, "Can General Chen be willing to do this business?"

Chen Shuo was the former general of the Jingzhou naval army. After surrendering to Liu Jing, he had been guarding Wuchang with Li Jun and had been promoted to the lieutenant. This time, Li Jun stayed in Jiangxia, and Chen Shuo followed Gan Ning to expedition to Hefei as a deputy general.

He also bowed and smiled, "The shopkeeper Gan has given the deal, how can I refuse? I am willing to go!"

Everyone laughed, but at this time, Gan Ning stopped his smile and said to everyone with a serious expression: "This battle is related to the breaking of the confrontation between Jingzhou and whether the Northern Expedition on the Western Front can be successfully implemented. So I ask you to take over Hefei City at all costs!"

Everyone stood up and said solemnly: "Abide by the orders of humble duty!"

............

Just as the Han army fleet was mooring in Feishui, on the other side of Feishui, several Cao army cavalry were rushing from afar. These soldiers were scouts sent by Man Chong to monitor the Jiangdong Army. They found that the Jiangdong Army had any abnormal movement at noon today, so they hurried back to Hefei City to report.

At this time, the leader of the scout suddenly stopped the war horse and stared at the river. For a moment, he pointed to the river and asked his subordinates: "Do you see anything on the river?"

Several soldiers looked at it for a while and almost said in unison: "It's the fleet!"

"It's not just the fleet, but also the warship!"

The leader's scout suddenly became nervous. How could there be such a huge fleet? Who was on the ship? He didn't even think about it, leaving a scout to continue monitoring the fleet on the river, while others followed him and rushed towards Hefei City.

............

For the Cao army, Hefei is also an extremely important strategic location. It is a key fulcrum for defending the northward expansion of the Jiangdong army, and it is also a bridgehead for peeping into Jiangdong. It has been stationed for many years. During the civil strife in Jiangdong, it once reached 80,000 troops. With the stability of the situation in Jiangdong, the number of Cao army stationed gradually decreased. This time, Cao's army was expropriating Jingzhou in the south, and most of the garrison troops were removed from Hefei, leaving only 10,000 troops left in Hefei, led by general Man Chong.

The Cao army was not very worried about the Jiangdong army's attack on Hefei. On the one hand, the court appointed Sun Quan as Duke Wu and the Right General, which won Sun Quan over. On the other hand, it was because Jiangdong was defeated in Jiangxia the year before, and his vitality was far from recovering. Needless to say, going north, it was difficult to even quell the rebellion of Shanyue people. Cao Cao also believed that it was more inclined to watch the cranes and clams fight against him.

It was this kind of thought that made Cao Cao believe that Sun Quan would not attack Hefei. Even if he attacked, he would just give Liu Jing a face and make a gesture. Judging from the current performance of the Jiangdong Army, it is indeed the case. It has been a month since Jiangdong has been still holding his troops.

However, Man Chong was very cautious, so he sent scouts to closely monitor the movements of the Jiangdong army.

At night, Man Chong patrolled the city as usual. Not far away, teams of people were patrolling back and forth on the city. He deployed 7,000 troops in the city, and 3,000 troops in Xiaoyaojin. What Man Chong was most worried about was Xiaoyaojin in the east. There was no city wall in that area, and warships could directly drive into the city along the moat. Especially for the sharp Jiangdong Army, Xiaoyaojin's strategic position became more and more important.

Man Chong stood at the top of the city and looked towards Xiaoyaojin. In the darkness, the camp could not be seen, but a light spot in the air could be seen faintly. Man Chong knew that it was a lantern hanging on the whistle castle. When the lantern was lit, it meant that Xiaoyaojin was safe and sound.

At this moment, a soldier rushed over and reported: "Zhang Junhou is back and said that he has arrived with extremely important information!"

Zhang Junhou was the scout leader sent by Man Chong to monitor the Jiangdong Army. He had important information, so it must be that there was something wrong with the Jiangdong Army. Man Chong hurriedly ordered: "Take him up!"

Not long after, the military marquis Zhang Ji was hurriedly led by the soldiers, and he bowed and said, "See the Governor!"

"Is there anything wrong with the Jiangdong Army?" Man Chong asked.

"The Jiangdong Army was in trouble. They started packing their luggage and ready to set off from noon."

“Where are you going?”

"It should be coming to Hefei City!"

Man Chong was stunned. He thought he was packing his luggage and was about to retreat. Unexpectedly, he came to Hefei. He was still a little unbelievable and asked again: "Can you be sure? Are you coming in this direction?"

"It can be confirmed that I saw them coming out with my own eyes, and there is more important information."

"what else?"

Junhou Zhang Ji said nervously: "When Beizhi came back, he found a brigade of warships on the Feishui River, at least dozens of ships, most of which were Thousand Stone warships."

The news surprised Man Chong, and he hurriedly asked, "Where is the warship?"

"It's about ten miles away from us."

This information made Man Chong nervous. He knew that the Jiangdong Army did not have a thousand stone warship, nor did he come by on a warship, and there were not dozens of thousands stone warships in Hefei. The appearance of this fleet seemed extremely strange. What's going on? Where is the fleet?

But no matter what Man Chong thought, he never thought it would be a Jingzhou warship. After all, it was too far away, and the Jingzhou navy could not travel thousands of miles. After thinking about it, it could only be the Jiangdong army. Could it be the Jiangdong army's response ship?

Man Chong thought of the unusual movements of the Jiangdong Army again, so the appearance of this fleet could explain that it must be Sun Quan sent to reinforce Huang Gai's army, but what made Man Chong wonder was why the Jiangdong Army headed towards Hefei? Don't they want to pretend to be ready to really attack Hefei?

Man Chong's heart was in a mess and could not make up for his thoughts. At this time, Deputy General Cao Zhen rushed over. Although Cao Zhen was Cao Cao's adopted son, his qualifications and strategies were not as good as Man Chong, so Cao Cao appointed him as his deputy general.

Cao Zhen is actually the deputy commander of Cao Chun, the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry. He became Cao Chun's left and right Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, together with Cao Xiu. The reason why he appeared in Hefei was because there were a thousand tiger and leopard cavalry among the 10,000 Hefei troops, and Cao Zhen was the leader of these thousand tiger and leopard cavalry.

Cao Zhen stepped forward and asked, "Governor, what happened?"

Man Chong sighed and said, "The scout found a fleet of ships on the Feishui ten miles away, all of which were thousands of stone warships, about dozens. In addition, the Jiangdong Army left the camp and was coming to Hefei."

Cao Zhen was also surprised and hurriedly said, "Does the governor think the warship fleet is also a Jiangdong army?"

"I don't know, but I can't think of anything else. Will it be the Jingzhou navy?"

"Although the possibility is relatively low, it is not impossible. However, with dozens of warships now, the opponent's troops are far more powerful than us. Governor, Xiaoyaojin is in danger!"

Cao Zhen reminded Man Chong in one sentence that the other party was coming on a warship and would definitely enter the city through Xiaoyaojin. He leaned his head and looked towards Xiaoyaojin. He saw that the lights in the air were still there, and nothing unusual was that made him feel relieved.

At this time, Cao Zhen clasped his fists and said, "Let Bei Zhi go to guard Xiaoyaojin! Bei Zhi has also practiced water battles in Xuanwu Pond, so he can have a fight with the enemy."

Man Chong knew that he was extremely skilled in martial arts and especially his outstanding archery skills, so he nodded, "I will give you another thousand cavalry, a total of four thousand people. Be sure to guard Xiaoyaojin."

"Abide by the order!"

Cao Zhen bowed and hurried away. At this time, Man Chong turned around and ordered: "Tell me my order, all the troops will go to the city!"

The messenger rushed towards the barracks, and Man Chong also turned around to go down the city. At this time, a thought came to his mind, "Why can't it be the Jingzhou naval army? It was obviously a thousand-stone warship, and only when the Jingzhou naval army arrived could the Jiangdong army officially attack Hefei."
Chapter completed!