There is another river in the Yangtze River that leads directly to Chaohu Lake, which is adjacent to Hefei. Sun Quan and Zhou Yu led their navy to enter Chaohu Lake from the Yuxi River under Chaohu Lake.
Taking the water route obviously saves time and food than the land route, which is one of the reasons why Sun Quan chose to attack Hefei.
In history, Sun Quan and Cao Cao fought at Yuxi River many times.
It was in this area that Zhu Huan, the general of Eastern Wu, defeated Cao Ren's tens of thousands of troops with 5,000 soldiers; and Ding Feng defeated 70,000 Wei troops with 3,000 light troops.
Even though Cao Cao had an absolutely superior military strength, he could only confront Sun Quan at Ruxukou for many months. In the end, he left a famous saying that will last forever, "Having a son should be like Sun Zhongmou."
Moreover, the advantage of the Jiangdong navy that controls the river is not only limited to fighting on the water. They also fight on land most of the time and have advantages.
The advantage brought by the naval force is that it can travel along the river without obstruction, and can intercept the enemy's rear route at will or withdraw to the ship at will, and run away after fighting. This is what we call amphibious operations.
Therefore, in history, Sun Quan had left Xuzhou Guangling alone for many years and attacked Hefei instead, hoping to use this advantage to seize Hefei first.
As long as Hefei is captured, Jiangdong can use Hefei to control Cao Wei's incoming army from the west, while another part of the army can go north from Jianye to attack Guangling County and go straight to Xuzhou.
However, no matter whether it was the Hefei or Guangling army, Sun Quan always failed in defeat... In the end, he even gave him a nickname, "Sun Shiwan".
...
Coming out of Wuxian County, Han Dang led the small number of Jiangdong's troops and headed straight for Moling.
Moling is located on the bank of the Qinhuai River. The terrain is gentle, slightly lower in the east and higher in the west. It has an excellent geographical location. Wuhu Port is also close to Moling, and they can directly deploy warships on the Yangtze River from there.
That's right, Han Dang did not intend to follow Zhang Zhao's arrangement and defend the city.
In the hearts of him and most of the navy soldiers, there was a bit of contempt for the so-called navy in the north.
Cao Jun's navy suddenly appeared at the mouth of the Yangtze River. Maybe it was water secretly brought down from Guangling County. If so, how big of a battle could it be?
How can a bunch of landlubbers become water masters? Can they be as good as people like them who have been immersed in water since they were young? Don't sink to the bottom like weights as soon as you fall into the water. That's not a joke.
Lose one's big teeth.
They are just Jiangdong athletes, but everyone can roll around in the water flexibly; whether they are jumping gangs or diving into the water to dig through the bottom of a boat, they are all outstanding.
Even if Cao Jun's warship is very large, as long as the bottom of the ship is pierced, it will still sink to the bottom of the water.
Although Han Dang now only has eight thousand defenders, he is still full of confidence.
He led these soldiers straight to the water stronghold, vowing to let the so-called Cao Jun Navy have a good look at what a real navy is!
There are eight thousand naval forces, riding various kinds of boats and ships, and there are hundreds of them in total.
After entering the waters of the Yangtze River, hundreds of warships sailed on the water of the Yangtze River in the night, which looked very spectacular.
The river breeze caressed the faces of the navy soldiers, and under the deep night there seemed to be unknown beasts lurking ahead.
Just as Jiangdong Navy was quietly moving forward, Han Dang suddenly frowned and felt an indescribable sense of crisis in his heart!
Suddenly, Han Dang raised his hands and shouted loudly, "Stop!"
Although Han Dang's order came very suddenly, Jiangdong Navy has good qualities.
"Stop moving forward!!"
The orders were passed on layer by layer, and hundreds of warships stopped in place almost without any panic.
After the fleet stopped, Han Dang shouted to the guards behind him: "Torches!"
The guard understood and immediately took a torch and handed it to Han Dang.
Han Dang held the torch, took a few steps back, then sprinted and threw the torch far ahead!
"Huh!" Han Dang threw nearly a hundred steps with one hand. He was worthy of being a warrior with extraordinary physical strength and good at shooting hard with a bow.
The torch drew a beautiful arc, illuminating a small area of the world a hundred steps away...
Then,
From the brief light of the fire, Han Dang and Jiangdong's soldiers seemed to see a ferocious and terrifying giant beast!
That startling glance made Han Dang and others take a breath!
Finally, some Jiangdong soldiers couldn't help but screamed: "What... is that in front!!!"
Just as all Jiangdong soldiers were gasping and guessing, a gentle but majestic voice suddenly sounded from the dark river ahead, "Light the fire!"
"ignition!!!"
As the order to light the fire was given, countless flames suddenly lit up in front.
After the fire appeared, there was a numbing sound, "呲呲呲!!!"
After three breaths, the heaven and earth were shaken!
"boom!!"
"Boom! Boom!"
"Boom boom boom!!"
Countless roars that were about to burst the eardrums sounded!
Han Dang's whole body immediately stood up with chills. He jumped forward without hesitation and fell down on the deck.
Facts have proved that the intuition of a battlefield veteran like Han Dang is indeed very accurate. Those Jiangdong soldiers who were stunned and did not know how to react suddenly faced a devastating blow!
After Han Dang lay down, he reluctantly turned his head and looked back.
When he looked behind him, he happened to see a personal guard holding a torch being knocked away by a black shadow!
The soldier knocked several comrades away along the way, and finally hit the cabin of the ship and his whole body was almost torn apart.
Another soldier was directly hit by a cannonball, and his body was broken into two parts in an instant. He didn't even have time to scream and flew in two directions.
Blood splattered and limbs flew everywhere!
After just one round of shooting at close range, dozens of Jiangdong Army's ships were punched with several holes.
They were originally small boats. After being penetrated through the bottom of the boat, these boats quickly sank completely.
"Bastard!" Han Dang's eyes were splitting when he saw it, but he was horrified. "What kind of weapon is this? Why is it so loud and powerful?"
"ignition!"
"fire!"
Before Han Dang could figure out the reason, the second round of shelling came again!
Han Dang's battleship was at the forefront of the fleet, and it had just received a few shells. It was just because his ship was larger that it sank so quickly...
The enemy's second round of attack orders sounded, and Han Dang no longer dared to stay on the boat. He immediately jumped from the boat into the water, and with such force, he plunged more than ten meters away.
After swimming for a long distance, Han Dang finally looked at the fleet attacking him.
In the light of the fire, there were huge sailing ships several meters high and with strange shapes.
According to Han Dang's estimation, each of these warships can carry at least one thousand to two thousand people, and the largest ship in front can even carry three thousand people!
The huge warship parked quietly on the river, its sails already furled.
But on both sides of the battleship, there are densely packed and countless oars sticking out. They are sliding slowly and powerfully at this moment to keep the hull and the river bank relatively stationary.
Han Dang finally came to his senses, and he couldn't help but murmured: "Could these be the warships of Cao Jun's navy?"