Wang Jun's boat sailed down to Yizhou, and the King of Jinling lost his spirit sadly. Qianxun's iron chain sank to the bottom of the river, and a banner fell out of the stone.
This is "Reminiscing about the Ancients in Xisai Mountain" by Liu Yuxi from the Tang Dynasty.
In the Battle of Chibi in later generations, Yuan Xi could not be sure whether Soochow really used iron chains to block the Yangtze River estuary as mentioned in this poem.
Because the Yangtze River Estuary, which can't be seen at a glance, is at least five kilometers wide according to later data, and it is really unimaginable that a large iron chain hundreds of feet long can be made.
You know, the iron chains of this era were hammered out by blacksmiths.
At this place where the surging river meets the sea, even at night, ships of all sizes coming and going are as dotted as stars on the river. It is obvious that water transportation was extremely developed at that time.
There are too many ships at the large and small docks along the coast. Although it is already dark, people light torches and are busy loading and unloading goods all night long.
Yuan Xi suddenly realized that he had made a mistake.
Just along the Yangtze River, there is almost no place where hundreds of cavalry can land quietly without hiding their eyes!
Since ancient times, places with water systems have been places where people gather.
The reason is that in this era when only human and animal power can be used, having water resources means that it is suitable for people to live and live. Moreover, the most convenient mode of transportation in ancient times was water transportation, so it is necessary to form a suitable place for living, even a city, and surrounding areas. There must be abundant water sources.
Even roads are built along rivers to provide timely access to water, which is especially important when marching and fighting.
In wars of this era, it is actually relatively easy to predict the enemy's movements. As long as you take out a map and set up sentries along the rivers and streams, you can make an accurate guess.
A few days ago, Guo Jia predicted the route of the Montenegrin Army's retreat from Beixin City and asked Zhao Yun and Tai Shici to intercept it respectively. This was based on this method.
Of course, there are also those who do not follow common sense and march from deep mountain trails to raid, but the relative risk is that if they cannot find the water source, they will never return.
There are mostly villages and small towns next to rivers and streams, and big cities are often located next to big rivers.
Now Yuan Xi ordered the fleet to take advantage of the night to sail up the river. Seeing the constant traffic of ships on both sides of the river, he felt a headache. He also ignored another thing.
After Sun Ce fought from Jiujiang to Guangling, he could transport soldiers and supplies to Yuan Shu's army in Lujiang through the Yangtze River. Therefore, there were many more ships on both sides of the Yangtze River. With so many people and cluttered eyes, it was impossible to conceal any movements.
On the Yangtze River at this moment, his fleet of dozens of large ships is really too conspicuous.
Yuan Xi hurriedly discussed with Guo Jia, ordered all ships to lower their flags, and gradually distanced themselves to conceal the situation from others.
Guangling City in the Han Dynasty was roughly located somewhere in Yangzhou in later generations. It was surrounded by not only the Yangtze River, but also several other water systems.
The most recent of them is Hangou, which was dug by people ordered by King Wu Fu Chai. This was an important part of the Sui Dynasty in later generations when they dug the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. It starts from the Yangtze River in the south and ends at the Huaihe River north of Huai'an, also known as Huaiyang. canal.
Although Hangou has been dug for nearly a thousand years, due to the chaos at the end of the Han Dynasty, its coasts were devastated by wars and sparsely populated, so it was more convenient than traveling on the Yangtze River.
In the dark night, despite the damage to the ship, the fleet forced its way to the bank of Hangou and released the cavalry company above.
After working for most of the night, hundreds of cavalrymen finally came ashore from rivers with a radius of dozens of miles, and then disappeared into the dense forest.
Taishi Ci took the last group of cavalry off the boat. He wanted to gather these cavalry again in the dense forest, and then lurk more than ten miles outside Guangling within one day without being discovered by the enemy.
On Yuan Xi's side, he gathered the remaining six to seven hundred sergeants into five or six ships to do two things before attacking the city.
One is to send a small number of people to sneak into Guangling City during the day, and then attack at night and take the opportunity to open the city gate.
Second, the remaining people stayed at Guangling Pier to meet them and prevent people from Guangling City from escaping by water.
Yuan Xi saw Guo Jia and Tian Yu carefully discussing every detail, and wondered if things would really go so smoothly?
But his worries cannot be shown. He is the commander of an army. If he shows a lack of confidence, the morale of his soldiers will be depressed.
He thought for a while and then walked down to the cabin.
He walked down the wooden ladder. Inside the cabin on the bottom floor, Sun Li was sitting on the ground talking with the soldiers.
Most of the hundreds of soldiers looked calm, but a few looked unhappy. These were all northern soldiers, and some had obvious seasickness.
Sun Li was laughing at them, "Look at you, you are usually better than me, but you are so dizzy on a boat. Isn't it embarrassing?"
Some people laughed and cursed: "Young boy Sun, if you follow the envoy, you won't take notice of us."
Sun Li patted his chest and said proudly: "You don't have to be weird. Back then, you guys laughed at me for not getting married. Now I even have children. I don't think you have anything else to say!"
Everyone laughed loudly, "Yes, yes, Mr. Sun is very capable."
At this time, Yuan Xi came down. When everyone saw it, they quickly stood up.
"Master!"
"Your Majesty!"
Most of these soldiers are veterans of Beixin City. They have followed Yuan Xi since he first went to Beixin City until now.
Yuan Xi saw that everyone was a little reserved, and suddenly realized that he was now the lord of a state, and the distance between him and them might become farther and farther in the future.
Thinking of this, he took a few steps forward, patted the person in front on the shoulder and said, "I won't say anything else."
"I can't guarantee that you all will come back."
"I can only promise that if any of you come back and have families, I will support them for the rest of their lives."
"If you don't have any family members, I don't know what you want, so just tell me."
"I will go into battle with you then."
After everyone listened, someone said: "In the past few years, the food and salary given to me by the Young Master has never been lacking. It will not be a problem to support myself more."
Everyone took a closer look and found that this man's surname was Hu, and he was originally a hunter.
When Zhuojun was in chaos, his whole family was killed by the rebels, and he was the only one left who fled to Beixin City and later became a scout for Yuan Xi.
Lao Hu continued: "Because I had a lot of food, I got a wife and gave birth to a boy."
"My life is all given by the young master. The young master has just gotten married and has no children yet, but he can kill the enemy with us. What else can I say?"
"Don't worry, sir, no matter how many enemies there are in front of you, I, Old Hu, will cut them down one by one!"
After everyone heard this, they all shouted: "Okay!"
"Lao Hu is so happy!"
"I want to say that too!"
"I am willing to die for the Young Master!"
"I am willing to die for the Young Master!"
Seeing the excitement of the crowd, Yuan Xi nodded slightly, cupped his fists and said, "Then I'll help you all!"
He felt a little heavy in his heart. After all, after tonight, he still didn't know how many of the people in front of him would be able to come back.
In particular, there are dozens of people who need to enter the city in advance, selected by the most elite scoundrels. In order to pretend to be common people, they cannot bring weapons and armor. They can only find ways to face the heavily armed defenders on their own. If they reveal a flaw, they will
Lose your life.
Yuan Xi boarded the deck and saw the outline of a large city vaguely appearing dozens of miles away. Over there was Guangling, the goal of this trip.
He returned to the cabin and said to Zhen Mi: "Today and tomorrow, you will stay in the cabin. No matter what happens, you cannot come out."
Zhen Mi heard this and said, "Husband, are you afraid that I will be in danger?"
Yuan Xi said: "There is such a reason. The key is that this time we came to Guangling in the name of the Zhen family caravan."
"Your appearance is too outstanding. If someone sees you, it will be easy for others to guess your details. Then all our efforts will be wasted."
Zhen Mi listened and nodded quickly. She said worriedly: "I heard that your husband is going to fight in person. Please be careful."
Yuan Xi smiled and said: "Don't worry, I know it well."
In the morning light, the big ship slowly docked at Guangling Pier.
Even in Guangling, it is rare to see such a large ship. Seeing it docking, everyone exclaimed in surprise and rushed over to take a look. For a while, the pier was crowded with people and it was noisy.
The ship's gangplank was lowered, and soldiers dressed as servants were pushing carts filled with mahogany boxes and were about to push them down the gangplank. As a result, there were so many people at the pier that the road was blocked.
At this time, Tian Yu stood up with an iron sword on his shoulder. He yelled: "The Zhen family's caravan is transporting goods. Do you not want to live anymore?"
He took out his iron sword and knocked on the side of the ship, "We are all gangsters. If my master's business is ruined, I will definitely report it to the prefect and give my Zhen family an explanation!"
"But when I go out to do business, I want to be safe and harmonious. This is the bonus of meeting everyone. Please give way to avoid falling out with me!"
He asked people to take baskets of copper coins and sprinkle them on the pier. The coins fell like raindrops amidst the cheers of the crowd. When the crowd saw it, they started fighting for it. For a while, the pier became more chaotic, with stampings, shouts, and fighting.
The clamor is endless.
Yuan Xi and Guo Jia stood behind. Guo Jia smiled and said: "Guorang pretends to be a wealthy slave."
"That's fine. The louder the noise, the less likely the other party will become suspicious."
Seeing the crowd fighting over each other and the pier becoming chaotic, dozens of sergeants guarding the pier saw this and surrounded them with shouts and dispersed the crowd.
The chief commander raised his spear, pointed it at Tian Yu and shouted angrily: "How dare you make trouble here, get off here!"
After hearing this, Tian Yu sneered and jumped from the side of the ship. Amid everyone's exclamations, he fell two feet straight down and landed heavily on the pier.
He Shi Shiran walked up to the chief, clasped his fists and said: "This military master, this is the Zhen family's caravan. They have been to Guangling several times for business, and they are not here to cause trouble."
Shi Chang said angrily: "What's the Zhen family? Why haven't I heard of it?"
Tian Yu sneered and said: "Isn't it possible that the military master of the Zhen family in Jizhou doesn't know about it?"
When Na Shichang heard this, he realized that these were the four most wealthy businessmen in the world. How could he not have heard of them?
Tian Yu smiled and said: "How come you don't know these military masters, and why do you look a little embarrassed?"
He knew that these people were Sun Ce's subordinates. They had just occupied Guangling City for a month and were not familiar with the caravans from all sides, but they were being used by him in turn.
After hearing this, the chief shouted: "Now this city belongs to Mr. Yuan Shijun!"
"I want to board the ship for inspection now!"
Tian Yu heard this and sneered: "Why didn't we have this rule before?"
"Is this the way Guangling treats guests?"
"Who is the current governor of Guangling?"
After hearing this, the chief officer's face turned cold and he shouted: "Why, do you still want to file a complaint?"
After Tian Yu heard this, he laughed and said, "No, I heard that Guangling City has changed its owner. My Zhen family has prepared a small gift and wants to visit a dock."
He ordered someone to carry a box. The lid of the box was opened, and there were more than a dozen pieces of silk cloth inside.
When the commander saw him, he sneered: "You only have this little thing, and you still want to see our general?"
Tian Yu shook his finger and said, "This is for the military master."
He pointed to the dozen boxes behind him, "Those are for the prefect."