North bank, Jiangling City.

This battle was fought from night to dawn, and the wars and shouts of killing gradually subsided.

When the east was white, the Qi army had already controlled all the gates including the Shuimen in Neijiangling, and killed 5,000 enemy soldiers. The rest of them fled and surrendered, and nearly 4,000 soldiers captured.

When Yuan Fang led his army to Jiangling Prefecture, the entire prefecture was empty and there was no trace of Cao Cao.

The generals everywhere reported their rewards, but they did not see Cao Cao's body. Yuan Banxiu thought that Cao Cao had indeed seen the situation was not good, so he took a boat to escape from Jiangling from Shuimen and fled to the Yangtze River to meet with his navy.

So Yuan Fang was in charge of the prefecture and appeased the newly captured Jiangling City, and sent troops to continue attacking from all sides to capture and kill Cao Cao as much as possible to prevent future troubles.

However, although Yuan Fang captured Jiangling, his naval army was still in the Xiashui waterway connecting the Han River and the Yangtze River. He did not have time to penetrate the Yangtze River and could not launch an attack on Cao Cao's naval army.

Soon, the troops chasing the riverside sent a reward, saying that Cao Cao had joined Xiahou Dun's troops and fled downstream by boat.

State Prefecture.

"As soon as Jiangling was lost, Cao Cao did not retreat to Wuling, but retreated downstream?"

After Yuan Fang heard the news, he felt regretful and a little suspicious appeared in his eagle's eyes.

Guo Jia said, "Cao Cao lost Jiangling and the situation was hopeless. He knew that it would be difficult to compete with our army with the two counties of Wuling, so he wanted to retreat downstream and join forces with Sun Ce."

The four counties in Jingnan are Wuling, Changsha, Lingling and Guiyang. These four counties are located south of the Yangtze River and have a vast area of ​​thousands of miles. In terms of area, they are only half as large as Jingzhou.

However, these four counties are vast and sparsely populated. Most of the areas have not yet been developed and their economy is relatively backward. Among the four counties, only Changsha County is slightly stronger, and the other three counties have a relatively strong economic strength as compared to Nanjun where Jiangling is located.

Moreover, when Cao Cao and Sun Ce joined forces for the first time to destroy Liu Biao and divide Jingzhou, among the four counties in Jingnan, he could only divide the poorest counties of Wuling and Lingling.

The war is not only about wisdom and force, but also about force. If Cao Cao could turn the tables with the barren Jingnan two counties, then he would be a god-fighting martial artist, so why would he be captured by Yuan Fang?

"Cao Cao, do you really want to join forces with Sun Ce to stage that scene in history..."

Yuan Fang's thoughts flew around and soon remembered the scene that had never been similar in history.

In history, Cao Cao's army went south and swept across Jingxiang. Liu Bei also chose to unite with Sun Quan, so the famous Battle of Red Cliff occurred when there was no way out.

Nowadays, Cao Cao's situation is so similar to Liu Bei, so it is not surprising that he chose the same strategy as Liu Bei.

The difference is that Cao Cao still held two counties in Jingnan, 30,000 troops and hundreds of warships, and his strength was much stronger than Liu Bei at that time.

And now Sun Ce's strength is far better than Sun Quan's strength in history.

These two people join forces to fight Yuan Fang together, and they should not be underestimated.

"Your Majesty, our army has now captured Jiangling, so there is no need to pursue Cao Cao again. It is better to stop the troops, appease Jingxiang, win the hearts of the people, train the navy, and then raise troops to advance east after Jingzhou is stabilized and digested."

Fa Zheng proposed to Yuan Fang to quit the army and rest.

Yuan Fang had to admit that Fazheng's proposal was actually quite reasonable.

In history, Cao Cao was so arrogant that he was arrogant and arrogant that he was not waiting for the rest of his soldiers to settle down and firmly sit in Jingxiang. He advanced eastward.

As a result, due to insufficient preparations, he was defeated by the Sun and Liu coalition forces in the Battle of Chibi.

Yuan Fang is familiar with history, so he certainly knows that Fa Zheng's proposal is actually the safest way.

However, Yuan Fang had no time to rest. He had to pacify the south as quickly as possible, so as to withdraw his body and fight the threat from the north with all his might.

He had a vague premonition that the threat was even beyond Cao and Sun.

"I can't wait for that long. I have decided to do it. The army will rest in Jiangling for half a month, then advance eastward along the Yangtze River and attack Chibi directly."

Yuan Fang made a decision to use military force with the emperor's majesty and a bit "intentional" to do his best.

Fa Zheng and other advisers saw that Yuan Fang was so determined and knew that the saint's intention was irreversible, so they stopped persuading him and only thought about the strategy of advancing eastward for Yuan Fang.

At present, Yuan Jian called the army and stationed all the troops on the Jiangling line for a temporary rest and took all the resources from the Jiangling Cuban to reward the soldiers.

At the same time, Yuan Fang issued an urgent edict in Yizhou, and ordered Zhuge Liang to quickly launch the warships built by Yizhou and go downstream to Jiangling to meet.

The richest county in Jingzhou is nothing more than Nanjun. The political center of Jingzhou, Xiangyang, and the economic center of Jingzhou, are located at the two ends of Nanjun, one north and one south, controlling the two water systems of Han River and the Yangtze River, echoing north and south.

Liu Biao and Cao Cao have been in Jingzhou for more than ten years. Jiangling was the place where they gathered military funds. There were countless food, grass and weapons in it. After Cao Cao's defeat, all the supplies in Jiangling City fell into the hands of Yuan Fang.

However, these piles of materials have now become rewards for Yuan Fang to reward his soldiers, just to support the war.

A few days later, news came from the downstream that Cao Cao had indeed gathered his last troops and retreated to the front line of Chibi to form an alliance with Sun Ce who was advancing to Jiangxi, and released a rumor that he wanted to go upstream and compete for Jiangling.

Cao Sun's alliance was already under Yuan Fang's expectations, and there was nothing to be surprised about.

In a blink of an eye, half a month passed, and nearly 300 large and small warships sent by Zhuge Liang from Yizhou also arrived in Jiangling.

With these hundreds of warships, plus the warships seized from Cao Cao's Xiangyang Navy, Yuan Fang happened to arm a naval army of more than 30,000.

At the end of autumn of the year, Yuan Dan commanded 30,000 navy troops and more than 600 warships, and opened the road to the Yangtze River.

Yuan Fang commanded more than 200,000 infantry and cavalry, walked along the north bank on land, and the water and land army went east along the river and land, rushing to the Red Cliff in a mighty manner.

The army went downstream and unobstructed. After the army seized the important city of Baqiu without bloodshed, Yuan Fang's troops advanced to the front line of Chibi.

At this time, the 60,000 Caosun coalition forces had already built a solid water camp that lasted for several miles on the line of Chibi on the south bank, looking like they were waiting for their hard work.

Yuan Fang did not underestimate this Cao-Sun coalition army, and did not rush to launch an attack. The army built a flood-drought camp on the Wulin line on the opposite bank of Chibi, forming a confrontation with the Cao-Sun coalition army on the south bank.

...

Wulin, Qi army camp, and imperial camp.

"Red Cliff, Cao Cao and Sun Ce, why did they choose the place where they fought against me to fight in Chibi?"

Yuan Fang stared at the map, thought about it, and pondered the interests.

The importance of Jingzhou lies in Xiangyang, Jiangling and Xiakou. The two cities have been obtained by Yuan Fang. Logically speaking, the Cao-Sun coalition army should retreat to Xiakou and fight against Xiakou City, but why did they go against the current and choose the decisive battle in Chibi?

Moreover, Cao Cao in history also fought a decisive battle with Zhou Yu at Chibi.

Although history has been turned upside down by Yuan Fang, the location of the decisive battle in Chibi is surprisingly consistent, which makes Yuan Fang feel that there must be something unusual about the place of Chibi.

"In fact, the reason why Sun Ce chose the decisive battle site at Chibi was helpless because he wanted to keep Lukou." Lu Meng, the navy commander behind him, suddenly said.

Lukou?

Yuan Fang's eyes moved east of Chibi and moved to another inconspicuous place.

Lu Meng then stepped forward and gestured, "At the Lukou area, land and water flow into the Yangtze River. You can go upstream along the water and land river, and you can pass through the Mufu Mountain on the south bank. After walking for a while, you can go straight to Chaisang. If you are in a hurry with cavalry, it will only take a few days, so Sun Ce had to choose Chibi to block our army."

Lu Meng's words caused a slight turmoil in Yuan Fang's heart, his eyes narrowed, and he suddenly realized.

"It turns out that there is still a road where Chaisang can be copied by land. If Sun Ce retreated to Chaisang, my infantry and cavalry would not go through the Yangtze River, but would take Chaisang directly by land, threatening his rear. Well, no wonder."

Chibi is located west of Lukou and the south bank of the Yangtze River. It is named after Chibi Mountain.

The Chibi Mountain is very steep, just enough to stop Yuan Fang's army from advancing along the south bank, and serve as a natural barrier for the enemy.

In this way, Sun Ce and the others forced Yuan Fang to choose to fight with them on the river and open up the Yangtze River channel so that he could continue to advance eastward.

"Zi Ming, it seems that I did not cultivate you for nothing back then. I chose you as the navy commander. I really chose."

Yuan Fang general Lu Meng praised him, but then asked happily: "Then I want to ask, Ziming, how likely do you have to win, and you can defeat Sun Cao's navy for me."

Lu Meng fell silent.

After pondering for a while, Lu Mengfang bowed and said, "I dare not deceive Your Majesty. Sun Ce and Zhou Yu are all the best players in the water battle. The generals under their command are almost all good at water battles. As for Cao Cao, there are also good people like Wen Pin. Moreover, the Cao-Sun coalition army is mainly naval army, and its number is twice that of ours. So in this case, I can only say that I will do my best to fight to the death for Your Majesty."

Although Lu Meng did not say it clearly, his meaning was already very clear. He had the determination to fight to the death, but he was not sure of winning.

Indeed, the navy in Jiangdong was too strong. On land, Yuan Fang could ravage them at will, but once he got into the water, he might not be sure whoever abused him.

After pondering for a while, Yuan Fang's eyes moved and he brushed his hands and said, "Go and bring that Cao Ang to me."

A moment later, the curtain was lifted up, and Cao Ang, who had not recovered from his injuries, was escorted up.

In the imperial tent, Yuan Fang sat high above, and the warriors on the left and right horses stood firmly.

Cao Ang raised his chest and looked in, looking at Yuan Fang with his head raised, neither humble nor arrogant, without any fear.

"Cao Ang, you have become my prisoner now. If you don't kneel down when you see me, aren't you afraid that I will kill you?" Yuan Fangyingmu stared at him and asked.

Cao Ang still showed no fear and resolutely said: "The success and defeated the enemy, I was captured by you, and I was ready to die. Yuan Fang, you don't need to say more, just do it."

Cao Ang is also a man who is not afraid of death. Unlike those prisoners killed by Yuan Fang, who either beg for mercy or are righteous and disdainful of Yuan Fang.

Cao Ang said "The king succeeds and the enemy defeats the enemy", which is considered generous.
Chapter completed!