Compared with most of the soldiers who were immersed in the joy of victory, Huang Zhong was only excited for a moment before he came back to his senses and looked at the water, but his eyes showed some distress.
Fortunately, his general was an archer, so the three thousand vanguards were equipped with nearly 50,000 arrow clusters. However, in this battle alone, more than half of them were consumed...
Huang Zhong suddenly called out: "Guo Lu!"
"General?"
"We were able to encircle and annihilate the enemy this time mainly by relying on the power of bows and arrows." Staring at the corpses floating on the river, Huang Zhong ordered: "Our army lacks experience in water warfare, and bows and arrows are indispensable next. Order the entire army to mobilize
, grab these arrows quickly!”
"Go ahead!" Guo Lu's eyes widened: "Yes, the general is very thoughtful. We really need to get the arrows back as quickly as possible. We can get as many as we can."
Because most of them came from humble backgrounds, and because Wang Zheng was the kind of person who knew how to live a good life, under his orders, in the past, after the Heavenly Army fought on the ground, they would not only clean up the battlefield, but also sort out the armor, weapons, horses, and even the armor, weapons, and horses of both the enemy and ourselves.
All the arrows had to be retrieved, but this time they fought on the river and won the water battle for the first time. Most people never thought about this.
Just when Guo Lu went to deliver the order, the captains and uncles from several nearby ships also boarded the ship one after another. Someone saluted and reported: "General Huang, after this battle, although there are not many casualties,
, but four or five ships were seriously damaged, how should we deal with the aftermath?"
How can this be dealt with?
Huang Zhong also had a headache. He turned around and asked, "What do you guys have in mind?"
Someone asked: "Why don't we let the soldiers from the broken ship disperse to other ships first?"
"No!"
Upon hearing this, Huang Zhong shook his head and said: "With this victory, our army's morale has been greatly boosted. If we let these wounded soldiers disperse across the ships, wouldn't it be easy to lose this rare spirit?"
In Huang Zhong's view, what the Heavenly Army currently lacks most is not only the experience in water warfare, but also the confidence in water warfare. No matter what kind of war, there is never a true complete victory. The more enemies you kill, the more losses you will suffer.
The bigger.
Of course, in the eyes of a general, a monarch, or even ordinary people who have nothing to do with it, they sometimes only need to look at the outcome of a war, and only consider the casualties on both sides, whether the number of seizures is cost-effective, and whether they have made a profit.
But the ordinary soldiers who actually build the war will face the losses that others ignore, and even this is what they value most.
Because Pao Ze who died today might be his fellow countryman, relatives and friends, and it would remind him that maybe the person who will be "lost" in the next battle is himself?
The depression in the first half of his life made Huang Zhong spend most of his time taking the lead instead of just fighting. He could understand the feelings of his soldiers. Similarly, because he was a natural general, Huang Zhong paid attention to the sky from the moment he set off.
The military's biggest weakness is now, and it is always thinking about how to reverse this.
Now that God has fulfilled his wish and sent this battle, he will naturally want to maximize the use of this positive impact.
After hearing this, all the generals nodded, and someone asked: "What should we do if we don't disperse?"
Huang Zhong pondered for a moment and suddenly asked: "How far are we from Chengde?"
The river the Heavenly Army is currently traveling on, after passing through Shouchun and before arriving at Hefei, the largest city they passed was Chengde County.
The generals whispered among themselves for a while, and someone replied: "If we keep the original speed, we will definitely be able to reach here at noon."
"Free up a ship for the wounded soldiers to ride on," Huang Zhong waved his hand and said: "The soldiers on this ship will be assigned to other ships first. When Chengde is established, local ships will be requisitioned. There are no suitable ships. By then, Hefei has already left
It’s not too far away, so we can arrange for some people to take the overland route.”
That was all that could be done, and the generals nodded.
...
After collecting it for a while, there were not many arrows on the river. Just when Huang Zhong was about to give the order to sail again, Guo Lu looked at the broken ship and said: "General, let's go and collect the brothers who died in the battle."
Hearing this, a trace of hesitation flashed across Huang Zhong's face.
The Han people are very particular about laying waste to their graves, and logically speaking, they should do so. However, after this encounter, their marching speed was already different than planned. After all, Wang Zheng had arranged for their group to go first because he was worried about time.
If it was delayed for too long, Linhu City would not be able to hold on. Considering this, Huang Zhong naturally struggled a little.
However, when Huang Zhong also set his sights on several ships, he saw about dozens of corpses lying on the deck on each ship. At this time, the deck was already level with the water. Not only were many of these corpses incomplete, but now they were even more complete.
Most of it was soaked in blood mixed with river water, and it looked miserable. After being silent for a long time, he nodded.
"Okay." He said slowly: "But these broken boats have entered the water very deep, and I'm afraid they can't bear any more weight. You are divided into three groups, with ten people in each group to recover the bodies of the fallen brothers."
"Here!"
Naturally, it was impossible to put hundreds of corpses on the boat. They could only choose a place to dock. The entire fleet stopped, and then gradually transported them to the shore in batches. It was busy again, and the night was getting darker.
The half-circle moon has risen to the zenith and will be completed.
Since it had been delayed for so long, Huang Zhong thought too much, and then personally led a group of generals ashore, and even dug a hole to bury the corpses. By the time they regrouped and set off, the sky had begun to light up.
Standing on the bow of the boat, munching on dry food and looking up at the clear sky, Huang Zhong felt a sense of embarrassment.
In fact, this was not only his first real water battle, but also his first time commanding so many men and horses. Even though he had read a lot of military books in the first half of his life, what he learned on paper was ultimately shallow. For Huang Zhong,
This night of giving orders in a short period of time, it seemed that being charged into battle by myself was even more exhausting.
And it's not just exhaustion.
The sudden appearance of the enemy caused Huang Zhong to have a lot of doubts. Since Sun Cejun was ambushing here, it meant that the other party knew about the arrival of the Xuzhou Army in advance and knew their marching path this time!
But how did the other party know?
The current position of our army is more than 600 miles away from the city of Hefei, and it has not entered the territory of Lujiang River?
The doubts don't stop at this point. Thinking of this, Huang Zhong raised his head and looked around. Water battles and land battles are naturally very different, but there are some things in common. For example, the water surface of this section of the river is wide. From the perspective of the art of war,
Let’s face it, it’s not a suitable place to set up an ambush at all!
It can be said that from the beginning, as long as their troops did not enter the opponent's ambush circle, they could advance and retreat, and they could arrange their formations calmly. No matter how elite Sun Ce's army or Danyang's soldiers were, they could only launch attacks from the water.
Without the advantage of terrain, it can be said that it was already at a disadvantage from the beginning.
The more he thought about it, the weirder he felt. While Huang Zhong had people use flags to notify several other generals to come to discuss together, he also asked Guo Lu to pay attention to the surroundings and not be careless. After all, if Sun Cejun knew the news of their reinforcements, he would probably lose the number of his troops.
You will also know that if there is really an ambush, there will never be only 2,000 people.
After all the generals arrived, Huang Zhong raised his doubts. For a moment, everyone looked solemn, and some couldn't help but said: "How did Sun Cejun know the news about our army in advance?"
"Presumably Yuan Shu's side leaked the news, or..."
Having said this, Huang Zhong paused, but stopped talking.
Naturally, he still had a guess in his mind. When Fenggao was attacked by Yuan Tan's army last time, it was said that the lord suspected that there was something wrong in Xiapi City. It was said that Mi Fang's Benming Division was also arranged to investigate, but no results have been announced yet.
Naturally, he did not want to say more at this time, lest he shake the morale of the army.
"No matter what, I have sent a small team to return the same way to inform the lord." Huang Zhong said: "The lord has made his own decision. We only need to consider how to reach Linhu as soon as possible. There is no need to think too much about other things."
The generals repeatedly agreed, and just as they were about to continue discussing why Sun Cejun set up an ambush here, they heard a sudden commotion outside.
Huang Zhong frowned slightly and led the generals out of the cabin. At this time, he saw that many soldiers had gathered on the bow of the ship. He didn't know what he saw.
"What happened?" Huang Zhong asked loudly as he strode forward.
At this time, Guo Lu and other soldiers were also crowded among the soldiers. Hearing Huang Zhong's voice, he turned his head and pointed: "General, look at the sudden appearance of several earth slopes in front, which seems to be building embankments?"
Looking along Guo Lu's fingertips, Huang Zhong suddenly stared at him with surprise on his face.
But I saw on both sides of the river not far ahead, there were two river embankments made of stones and soil extending from the bank to the center of the river. They were very roughly built, only more than ten feet long on both sides, and there were seven or eight of them.
It is ten feet empty, and there is no obstacle to sailing. However, the earth color is very new, and it can be seen that it was newly built recently.
In these days of war and chaos, even large tracts of fertile land have become wasteland. How can both the government and the people still have the mind to do water conservancy projects? Huang Zhong immediately realized that this river embankment was probably made by Sun Cejun!
It's just... they haven't reached Jiujiang yet, what's the purpose?
The next moment, an idea flashed in his mind and he blurted out: "That's it!"
Huang Zhong completely understood.
It turns out that from the beginning, the enemy's target was not their vanguard, but the entire heavenly army that crossed the water from Xuzhou!
The river they are on can be said to be the only way from Shouchun to Hefei, and most of the river sections are extremely open, more than two miles wide, but only the front section is relatively narrow, even less than
One mile, if Sun Cejun built two river embankments here in advance and then set up camp on these embankments, what would be the result?
The Heavenly Army is not good at water warfare, and its only advantage is that it will not suffer losses in boarding battles and long-range battles. If Sun Ce's army is allowed to build a river embankment, it will be equivalent to forming an iron gate. Maybe they can't make it airtight.
There will definitely be a gap of tens of feet, but it is enough to offset the numerical advantage of the Heavenly Army. Because of this width, if the fleet wants to rush across the river embankment, it will not only face long-range attacks from the enemy, but also only two or three
The ships pass through the level in parallel, and since then, the enemy has completely taken advantage of the terrain!
Even two thousand people can completely stop the group of people led by Wang Zheng. Even if Huang Zhong's vanguard is excluded, most of the other two thousand people behind are second-level soldiers from the Tianzhu Camp and the First Division of the Tianjun.
But it is useless on the water!
If another ambush is sent to block their retreat, it may even be possible to completely annihilate them!
However, such a big project, for a force of 5,000 men and horses, is actually a bit fussy. However, people like Huang Zhong who know the combat power of the Tianzhu Camp feel that although this plan takes a long time, it is extremely targeted at the Tianzhu Army!
As for Sun Ce...it is said that he stayed in Kaiyang for a long time as an envoy and frequently visited the military camp. He is a young general and a knowledgeable person. I am afraid he also knows a lot about the combat power of the heavenly army.
Is it deep?
If so, it is extremely reasonable for him to use this strategy!
That’s right! That must be the case!
At this time, Huang Zhong felt even more fortunate...
If Wang Zheng, who is not the head coach of the three armed forces, is worried that Linhu will not last long...
If Chen Jiao hadn't offered his advice and sent out a pioneer...
According to the original plan, it would have taken several days for the royal army, loaded with baggage, equipment and soldiers, to arrive here!
The enemy's fortification will probably be completed by then!
At that time, there are only two choices before Wang Zheng and Tianjun...
Either you have to bravely go through the barrier, or you can only retreat first, or change the river route or take the land route...
If it was the former, even if the Heavenly Army was so brave and brave, it would still be very difficult for them to break through the barrier on the river. Even if they could make it through, how much fighting power would they still have if they reached the gates of Linhu City?
And if it is the latter, the time spent will only increase exponentially... Linhu will not be able to hold on for that day!
Even according to Huang Zhong's idea, if he were Sun Ce, he would probably prefer Wang Zheng to choose the former option. After all, for a powerful enemy who has a grudge against Wang Zheng, compared to a mere Linhu City, if he can defeat the Tianzhu Camp, it will be defeated.
, is a great event worth celebrating, right?
After figuring all this out, another doubt in Huang Zhong's mind was solved, which made him feel a little better.
It's very simple. If Sun Cejun really set up an ambush for their vanguard, then it can't be the leak from Yuan Shu, it can only be an internal problem within his own family!
Because this was decided just now by Wang Zheng at the military meeting before his departure!
Huang Zhong even suspected that someone on the fleet they set out on was Sun Cejun's internal agent!
Now that the enemy's plot has been figured out, it turns out that there is a greater possibility of problems on Yuan Shu's side.
Thinking of this, Huang Zhong looked back at the enemy corpses floating on the river behind him, his brows slowly furrowed, forming the character "Sichuan", and he sighed: "The little overlord Sun Ce...hey, he is a character!"
"How long does it take to reach Hefei?" He turned and asked the generals behind him.
"General, although it took some time, I heard from some old Xuzhou sailors that the current wind direction is very favorable. If there are no accidents, we can arrive tomorrow evening!"
"Da Shan." Huang Zhong nodded: "That means there are still more than ten hours at most."
"My general orders me to expand the number of people on the pathfinding sentry ship from four to twelve. They will be divided into three groups of four. Each ship will be half a mile apart. If there is anything unusual, report it immediately!"
Everyone immediately understood that Huang Zhong was worried that there was a second level of ambush behind Sun Ce's army, so they immediately agreed.