On November 13, 277 AD, the naval forces of Han and Wu launched a decisive battle in the Xiling waters. Han won and Wu lost. The left general of Eastern Wu and the governor of Jingzhou Zhang Zheng died in the battle. Lu Kang's two sons were captured and refused to surrender. Zhang Zun was not vague and cut him directly.

Among the 120 main battleships of the Eastern Wu navy that went to fight, nearly 100 warships were sunk, burned or disintegrated. Most of the nearly 10,000 small ships of all kinds were also damaged. Among the 40,000 sailors, more than 6,000 were killed, more than 10,000 were missing, and more than 10,000 surrendered or captured.

"Report to the former general and Hengjiang. After his subordinates waited for inventory and interrogation, Wu Gou had about twenty fighting ships slipped away last night. Should he send ships to chase him?"

"No need, this little force will not do anything. Instead, it will help us transmit the fear of defeat to Wu Gou downstream. Well, has our army's war losses been counted?"

"The inventory has been basically completed. Yesterday's battle, our army lost more than 1,200 suicide fire ships and 180 Nie Zheng ships. 725 people were killed and more than 2,300 people were missing. More than 2,500 people were injured and unable to go into battle for the time being."

"Yes." Hearing this report, Zhang Zun and Wang Jun nodded to say that they were acceptable.

"Shizhi, what should our army do next?"

"What does the former general mean?"

"Send an envoy to Xiling to persuade the surrender. If the enemy general does not surrender, he will split a group of troops to siege him. The main force of our army should continue to go down the river and meet with the troops in Zhennan."

"The former general's proposal is extremely clever, and the last general thinks so too."

"Hahahaha, then let's arrange this."

...

During the battle with the evening yesterday afternoon, Seizuki, Goyoshi and others saw it clearly on the Xiling City Tower. However, although it could be seen clearly, as infantry commanders, they were powerless to do anything to the defeat of their own naval forces.

"Zizhan, the navy has been defeated now, what should we do?"

"What does Brother Shi Ze (Wu Yan) want?"

"The Han army is powerful. After losing the naval army, the 20,000 infantry in Xiling City could not leave the city and fight with it in the field. So there are only two choices that can be made. First, defend Xiling City. In this way, our contribution to the battle situation is to delay 30,000 to 50,000 Han troops, that's all. Second, we leave the city overnight to evacuate. If we can successfully arrive in Jiangling, we should be able to play a greater role than trapping the lonely city. But if we are not careful, we may have been wiped out before we even reached Jiangling."

"Brother Shize's words are reasonable. But in the eyes of my brother, I'm afraid we can't leave the city anymore."

Sure enough, just when the sky was just dawn, the officer on duty outside the city had already come to report: "The Han army has already besieged the city, and at the same time, one person asked to enter the city outside the city."

"Hmph, this is here to persuade you to surrender? Zizhan, if you accept your majesty for your brother, you can have the wealth and honor of today. Therefore, I will never surrender. What will Zizhan do to do?"

I really want to surrender. It seems that Wu State can't stand it this time. But what can I do if you are so strong? But it doesn't matter. If you don't surrender at this time, you will just surrender in a few months. The difference is not big.

"A great scholar, brother, Cheng Ju, as a minister of the Great Wu, will of course fight for His Majesty to the end. Since we can't get out, then we will stick to this Xiling City and restrain tens of thousands of enemy troops for the country. In this way, we will do our duty as a minister."

"Hahahaha, Zhennan is really powerful. Then that's it. Our army came all the way after the Xiling Water War, and happened to rest for a day or two."

"Well, the former general, according to the pre-captured confession of the prisoner, Wu Gou also had a naval army, which was deployed near Jianye before the war. It's just that confusing why this naval army has not arrived in Jiangling yet?"

"It's okay. After the Battle of Xiling, our Han navy completely established confidence in the Wugou navy. Even if Wugou's Yangzhou navy came, it would not be difficult to annihilate it."

Speaking of which, Sun Hao had responded to Zhang Zheng's request very quickly. However, it had been twenty days since Sun Hao ordered the Yangzhou naval army to set off. Not to mention Xiling, even Jiangling, there was no trace of the enemy. This is really strange.

Actually, it's not surprising at all.

After the Kuaiji family was forced to transfer their property to Huainan, in addition to the Sun family's royal family, the four most prominent figures in Gu Lu, Zhu, Zhang and Wu County were the most prominent in the entire south bank of the Yangtze River.

The Lu family has been guarding Jingzhou for a long time, so its private soldiers and other hard power is mainly in the direction of Jingzhou. In Yangzhou, the Gu family is in charge of the power.

And the Gu family... they hold two salt mines in Yizhou and have obtained the Fuxingshe cargo agency rights in Yangzhou... So...

The aristocratic families are all fence-bearers! When the strength gap between the two sides is too large, even though Ji Han’s many policies make the Jiangdong aristocratic families not so happy, obeying the swords of the strong is one of the instincts for the aristocratic families to survive.

Therefore, after setting off from Jianye, this Yangzhou navy, which had more than 20,000 people, took more than 20 days to arrive in Xunyang.
Chapter completed!