My father Liu Xuande

Chapter 445 Advancing in Shaxian
Kuai Yue remained silent for a moment, then resolutely said, "Let's retreat to Jiangling first!"

"Jiangling!?"

Liu Pan asked in surprise and doubt: "Shouldn't we head east?"

In Liu Pan's view, if the troops were to withdraw, the best option would be to go north to the Yangtze River and then east to join forces with Huang Zu and Cai Mao. In this way, the Jingzhou army, both land and naval, would number as many as 120,000 to 130,000, giving them the strength to fight or make peace.

If we withdraw our troops to Jiangling, Nanjun is west of Dongting Lake. Going there would be of no help to Huang Zu and Cai Mao.

"Cai Degui took most of the navy with him, what are we going there for?"

Kuai Yue looked at Liu Pan as if he were looking at a fool: "If our army wins, we might as well turn back to Linxiang instead. If our army loses, are we going to go there because we don't have enough prisoners of war from Yangzhou?"

Liu Pan was stunned. Although he found Kuai Yue's words unpleasant, he couldn't think of any rebuttal, and he even secretly felt that what the other party said made sense.

**
After leaving the main tent, Cai Mao acted swiftly, genuinely intending to rescue Huang Zu.

Cai Mao was different from Zhang Yun; his abilities and virtues far surpassed those of the latter.

Of course, Cai Mao was not entirely selfless. The main reason he was so anxious was not because of public interest, but because he was outside Linxiang City.

If Cai Mao were in Xiangyang at this time, although he would also come to Huang Zu's rescue, he would definitely not be as anxious as he is now.

Although Huang Zu had not yet been defeated, Cai Mao knew that the road back to Xiangyang had been cut off.

Since Huang Zu had already retreated to Shaxian, it meant that the area outside Xiakou was now under the control of the Yangzhou navy.

The passage into the Han River (Xia River) was now closed to both sides.

The Yangzhou army could not enter the Han River despite the presence of Xiakou City, and the Jingzhou army could not return to the Han River before defeating the Yangzhou navy.

This undoubtedly means that if Cai Mao and the Xiangyang navy still want to return to Xiangyang, they must defeat the Yangzhou navy.

Cai Mao knew in his heart that he was not rescuing Huang Zu at all, but that Huang Zu was taking the blame for him.

Once Huang Zu is defeated, Cai Mao will be the first to suffer the consequences. The Yangzhou army will absolutely not send its main force north to Xiangyang until they have either defeated him or forced him into the city's naval camp.

This is why Cai Mao was so eager to gather troops and rush north to aid Huang.

Kuai Yue was aware of this, which is why he forced Cai Mao to leave behind a portion of his naval forces.

Soon, Cai Mao selected his troops, and then, disregarding the fact that it was past noon, he led his men to set sail down the Xiang River and head north towards the Yangtze River.

Cai Mao's concerns were quite valid. He hurried back to the Yangtze River in just two and a half days and then spent another three days arriving at Zhouling. There, he ran into Huang Zu's retreating fleet.

It turned out that while Zhou Yu was besieging Xiakou, Liu Feng, with Gan Ning as the vanguard, Ling Cao as the second vanguard, Zhou Tai as the commander-in-chief, and Dong Xi as the deputy commander, led the navy to press towards Shaxian.

Although there is a distance of seventy or eighty miles between Shaxian and Xiakou, they actually belong to the same county, namely Shaxian County.

At this time, Xiakou was just a fortified city, and it was not built by Huang Zu, but was a fortified city built during the reign of Emperor Ling of the Eastern Han Dynasty.

Huang Zu moved the prefectural seat of Jiangxia to Shaxian, while he himself resided in Shaxian County and Xiakou City.

Unlike Xiakou City, Shaxian City, although it also had a large number of naval camps for ships to dock and resupply, was not a fortified city, but a typical Yangtze River port.

Xiakou City was easy to defend and difficult to attack because the city was strong and controlled key points, while Shaxian County was easy to defend and difficult to attack because of its geographical advantages.

Shaxian County is not only close to the Yangtze River, but also the mouth of a river later known as the Jinshui River.

At that time, the river was called Tu River, so Shaxian County was also called Tukou.

At this time, the Tu River was quite large, large enough to accommodate large ships, which meant that Huang Zu could ambush his fleet in the Tu River.

On the vast river, it is difficult to hide ships. The Tu River gives Huang Zu more tactical options, which shows how much of an advantage Huang Zu's side has in this section of the river from Shaxian to Xiakou.

The battlefield on the Shaxian River was an area favorable to Huang Zu's decisive battle.

This is also why Huang Zu abandoned Xiakou City and retreated to Shaxian County.

But when the Yangzhou army pressed forward, Huang Zu hesitated.

"My lord, this humble general is willing to be the vanguard!"

As the Yangzhou navy drew ever closer, Huang Zu's generals volunteered to fight, with Chen Jiu even shouting that he wanted to be the vanguard.

Huang Zu held two silk scrolls in his hands, which were reinforcement documents from Xiangyang and Linxiang respectively.

Liu Biao and Kuai Yue both responded to his request for help, sending Zhang Yun and Cai Mao respectively to provide support. Both fleets consisted of 25,000 men and over 1,000 ships, and were able to arrive within half a month.

This is precisely the key reason for Huang Zu's hesitation.

Without these two documents, Huang Zu might have been determined to fight.

But now, he was wavering, pondering how to make a decision that would increase his chances of winning.

This was not because Huang Zu was cowardly, but because the Yangzhou navy was coming in with great force and had now besieged Xiakou City and was probing to advance on Shaxian City, thus seizing half of the initiative.

Huang Zu had to consider how bad the situation would be if he lost the battle.

If we retreat now, we can withdraw hundreds of miles and then meet up with Cai Mao's reinforcements.

Once the two forces successfully join forces, Huang Zu's military strength will surpass that of the Yangzhou navy.

Then, when they contact Zhang Yun, who is coming from the north, to agree on a time to attack Liu Feng, their forces will be twice that of the Yangzhou navy, and their warships will be more than four times that of the enemy, creating an excellent pincer attack.

However, with the army's morale at its peak, Huang Zu was worried that a hasty retreat might dampen the soldiers' fighting spirit.

"Dudu."

Huang Zu tapped the table twice, and the hall immediately fell silent, with all the generals' eyes focused on Huang Zu.

Huang Zu coughed lightly, cleared his throat, and said, "Cai Degui's troops are on their way to reinforce us and will arrive at Shaxian City within ten days. Zhang Yun is coming from the north and will arrive at Xiakou in twelve days at the latest. Starting a war now would be disadvantageous for us."

Huang Zu's words broke the quiet atmosphere in the hall, and the generals immediately began whispering and discussing among themselves. After waiting for a while and allowing the generals to deliberate, Huang Zu tentatively asked, "What do you all think?"

After exchanging glances, the generals in the hall bowed in unison and said, "We will follow our lord's decision."

Huang Zu breathed a sigh of relief and was very satisfied. He decided, "In that case, we shall set sail tomorrow, go upstream, and seek an opportunity to counterattack after we meet with Tong Degui."

Just as Huang Zu was about to announce the end of the meeting, Deng Long suddenly stood up, cupped his hands, and asked, "My lord, should we still divide our forces in the Tu River?"

Deng Long asked this question because Tu Shui was an excellent hiding place. If a fleet could suddenly attack the Yangzhou navy from the side during the battle, it might be possible to reverse the situation and achieve a great victory.

However, the risks are also extremely high. Once discovered by the Yangzhou navy, there would be nowhere to escape.

After all, the Tu River is only about 20 or 30 miles from the Yangtze River, so the water volume is abundant and the river is deep enough to accommodate large ships like tower ships and warships. Further in, the river naturally becomes narrower and shallower, and even warships would run aground, let alone tower ships.

Previously, when Huang Zu, Su Fei, Deng Long, and others planned the decisive battle on the Shaxian River, they decided to lay an ambush in the Tu River. Now, affected by the reinforcements, Huang Zu plans to temporarily retreat, so Su Fei naturally wants to know how to decide on the ambush in the Tu River.

Huang Zu pondered for a moment, unable to make a decision, and then wanted to hear the opinions of the audience.

Deng Long and Chen Jiu felt that Shaxian was located in a strategic pass and was likely to be the area of ​​the final battle. If they could hide a fleet there, it could have a surprising effect.

However, they also considered the possibility of being preemptively surrounded and annihilated by the Yangzhou navy, and suggested that small boats be laid in ambush in the Tu River, mainly red horses and small boats, not too many, two or three thousand people and several hundred small boats would be enough.

The opposition was mainly led by Su Fei, Chen Sheng, and Zhang Hu. They had three reasons for their opposition: first, small boats were easy to block, and second, communication was inconvenient.

Secondly, the decisive battle area is not necessarily in Shaxian, and no one can guarantee that the Yangzhou navy will not follow and pursue them.

Finally, with Zhang Yun in the Han River, already threatening the flanks and rear of the Yangzhou navy, there was no need to divide the troops further.

But in the end, Deng Long's words persuaded Huang Zu.

“My lord, Commander Zhang is fierce in appearance but cowardly in reality. He is greedy for money and afraid of death. To expect him to pull chestnuts out of the fire for us is a fool’s dream.”

Deng Long not only offered to personally lead his troops to ambush in the Tu River, but also earnestly advised Huang Zu: "If Zhang Yun hesitates and lingers during the decisive battle, then this reinforcement will be rendered useless. What should we do then?"

Huang Zu was eventually persuaded by Deng Long. After some discussion, they decided to appoint Chen Sheng as the commander-in-chief, and to divide the troops into three thousand men and six hundred red horses and small boats, hiding them in the Tu River in the hope of achieving a miraculous effect in the future.

The next morning, Huang Zu's fleet set sail, heading upstream along the Yangtze River, and retreated towards Zhouling County.

Unlike Xiakou City, Shaxian was now an empty city.

The grain, military equipment, and other supplies stored in the treasury of Shaxian City had already been added to the fleet, and another batch had been rushed onto the ships in the past few days, but there were still quite a few supplies left.

Before leaving, Huang Zu decided to burn them all, but he was worried that the Yangzhou navy would discover them, so he sent the main fleet first, and after they were withdrawn, the rearguard fleet would send people to do it.

As it turned out, Huang Zu's concerns were not unfounded. As soon as the rearguard of the Jiangxia Navy began burning supplies, the smoke from the fire rose so high that ships on the river more than ten miles away could see it clearly.

Gan Ning, playing as a striker, made a quick and decisive decision.

While sending messengers to relay military intelligence to the rear, he led his troops like arrows released from a bow towards Shaxian. Although they were moving against the current, the speed of the boats could still reach more than fifteen miles per hour, far surpassing the speed of marching on land.

In just half an hour, Gan Ning had already reached the river outside Shaxian City.

At this time, the Jiangxia navy, which was left to cover the rear, set fire to the warehouse area at the dock outside the city, burning various supplies.

Upon seeing this, Gan Ning immediately divided his troops into three parts, with one hundred boats dispersed on the river and organized into ten groups to clear out the scattered breakout boats of the Jiangxia navy.

Another main force of 2,000 men and 200 warships rushed directly into the port and attacked the Jiangxia navy.

The last group of a thousand men boarded the ship at the dock, their aim being to defeat the Jiangxia soldiers, salvage supplies, and capture the city of Shaxian.

This arrangement clearly shows how big Gan Ning's appetite is; he made no choice whatsoever.

Clearly, Gan Ning chose to have it all.

The Jiangxia navy, numbering only two thousand men, saw Gan Ning charging aggressively towards them. Having long since lost their will to fight, the Jiangxia navy reacted immediately. They urgently summoned their comrades on shore to board their ships, and then, with red horses as the vanguard and supported by smaller boats, they charged directly out of the harbor.

The ships of both sides engaged in fierce fighting at the port's entrance and exit.

Shaxian was originally a river port city, with one side completely facing the Yangtze River. The entire port was open, which meant that the Jiangxia Navy could leave Shaxian Port from any angle.

However, the Jiangxia navy was eager to leave and headed directly west.

Gan Ning's troops came from the east, naturally creating another passage to the west that couldn't be blocked in time.

Even so, Gan Ning's troops were able to flank the Jiangxia navy. Arrows flew back and forth, and although most were blocked by shields, many unlucky soldiers were still hit and screamed in agony.

Gan Mao changed tactics repeatedly, trying to block the passage.

However, because the Jiangxia navy reacted quickly, they only managed to flake off a small portion of the enemy fleet. Moreover, although the Jiangxia navy was eager to escape and lacked fighting spirit, its strength was still considerable, and it inflicted significant casualties on Gan Ning's forces during the boarding action.

In the end, Gan Ning's troops won a minor victory, sinking and seizing eleven ships of the Jiangxia navy, killing more than sixty people, and suffering more than forty casualties themselves.

Unlike the navy commanded by Gan Mao, the troops that followed Gan Ning ashore were very successful.

There were no more Jiangxia naval soldiers on the shore, and the local officials in Shaxian City organized hundreds of able-bodied men to go out of the city to help put out the fire. In addition, the Jiangxia naval soldiers were somewhat soft-hearted when they set the fire, so as a result, more than 60% of the remaining military equipment, food, tools and other supplies were salvaged.

All of this is thanks to Gan Ning's bravery. If he hadn't acted decisively as soon as he saw the thick smoke and landed on the beach immediately, such a brilliant victory would not have been possible.

At the same time, without Huang Zu's support, Shaxian City naturally dared not resist and surrendered the city without hesitation.

Gan Ning led his troops to put out the fire and salvage as much supplies as possible. He then entered Shaxian City and occupied it. By the time Ling Cao arrived, the battle was completely over, and he only saw Gan Ning's arrogant and smug face.

Gan Ning's message was relayed back to Xiakou.

Today, Liu Feng and his fleet of ships are stationed in various locations, including Echeng, Zhucheng, Xisai, and Xiakou.

However, this Xiakou is not Xiakou City, but the opposite bank of Xiakou City.

(End of this chapter)