Weird Three Kingdoms

Chapter 3452: A Rival

On the river, the Jiangdong Army, contrary to its usual practice, gave up its central position. On the surface, it seemed that they were afraid of the Sichuan Army's artillery, but in fact, they were setting a death trap.

The appearance of cannon on warships was undoubtedly a huge, even epoch-making change.

However, most new things are relatively weak in the initial stages and cannot really play a decisive role.

In history, cold weapons coexisted with hot weapons for a long time. It was not until gunpowder weapons finally matured that cold weapons were relegated to the second line.

It's the second line, not disappearing.

Therefore, relying on artillery can frighten the Jiangdong Army and destroy their ships, but relying solely on artillery, or directly killing Zhou Yu with one shot, ending the battle...

That also requires the blessing of the god of luck.

Artillery is not omnipotent. Generals who think that artillery can decide everything will often end up in failure.

In history, Napoleon also believed that artillery could decide everything during the Battle of Waterloo.

Unfortunately, the twelve-pound cannon that was so favored by Napoleon did not play a crucial role at the critical moment.

If Zhuge Liang put all his chips on artillery, then it would be equivalent to limiting all the cards in his hand to artillery. Once the artillery fails to work, the entire hand will be invalid.

This is like a regicide knife in the hands of a thief. Once it is taken away, it's basically GG.

Zhuge Liang was obviously not so stupid. He had a more flexible strategy and did not need to take risky moves. Even for Xu Huang and Zhuge Liang, only by defeating the Jiangdong Army with an upright army could they truly cultivate the momentum of the Sichuan-Shu navy. Otherwise, no matter how many ships and soldiers they had, they could not leave the rivers of Sichuan-Shu and could not dominate the big rivers or even the world!
On the other side, Gan Ning's pursuit was intercepted by the Jiangdong army.

At the beginning, Gan Ning enjoyed the chase very much.

As he was chasing, Gan Ning suddenly felt something was wrong. He looked up and saw that the mountain ahead was high and steep, with dense trees. It seemed that some light flashed in the shadows of the forest...

Gan Ning's heart skipped a beat. He looked carefully, but again saw nothing.

What's in the woods?
Gan Ning couldn't help but slow down for two steps and then start to think about it.

Although it is possible that it was some rock or the reflection of some water droplets, it is more likely to be a knife or a gun!
"The sword and the gun are reflecting light!"

Gan Ning reacted quickly and shouted, "There's an ambush! There's an ambush ahead!"

Gan Ning's voice echoed in the mountains, but there was a certain delay from the time it was transmitted to the time it was heard by the soldiers and then for them to realize what the problem was. In addition, Gan Ning's shouts were also heard by the ambushing Jiangdong army.

"They found us!" 』

"Don't panic!"

"We've found it, get ready to attack!"

"Arrows, arrows are ready!"

"Stones! Throw the stones down!"

Arrows and falling rocks whizzed down the mountain, causing chaos in Gan Ning's troops.

Because Gan Ning's troops were in the process of pursuit, their formation was very long and did not have a proper array. When they were ambushed by the Jiangdong army, they could not even think of counterattacking on the spot and were quickly defeated.

However, the disadvantage of this formation also brought some advantages. This advantage was also brought by Gan Ning's early discovery of the ambush of the Jiangdong Army. Because Gan Ning's team was stretched out in the mountain road, when it was attacked by the Jiangdong Army, only the front part, that is, the part closest to Zhou Tai, was lost, while Gan Ning's part in the middle and some soldiers in the back were not attacked by the Jiangdong Army.

Of course, if Gan Ning had failed to discover the ambush of the Jiangdong army in advance, the result would certainly have been different.

This is always the case in war.

No one is completely sure.

The previous moment, Gan Ning was excitedly leading his men to chase and kill Zhou Tai, and the next moment, his own soldiers ran into an ambush circle of the Jiangdong army.

Seeing this, although Gan Ning was unwilling, he had to stop chasing Zhou Tai and withdraw his troops.

On the other side, Zhou Tai was in a state of panic. He looked at the military school sent by Zhou Yu, and felt angry, but he didn't dare to show it. "Commander-in-chief... Commander-in-chief, do you have any instructions?"

Zhou Yu predicted that the Sichuan-Shu army would have an ambush, but he did not inform Zhou Tai, and even asked Zhou Tai to continue advancing, which was almost equivalent to asking Zhou Tai to step into the opponent's trap!

If Zhou Tai hadn't been feeling very bad and therefore didn't rush to the front line, he would have died in this nameless forest now!
We are all surnamed Zhou, why must we do this? !

Although the "Zhou" in Zhou Tai's name and the "Zhou" in Zhou Yu's name are written the same way, they come from different backgrounds, so Zhou Yu never thought much of Zhou Tai. However, this blatant display of the huge class nature of the upper and lower levels meant that no matter how hard Zhou Tai worked, he might not feel completely comfortable in his heart.

However, Zhou Yu's military academy obviously didn't care what Zhou Tai thought, and from a certain perspective, he had "saved" Zhou Tai's life, so Zhou Yu's direct military academy gave Zhou Tai Zhou Yu's second warrant without saying a word.

Zhou Tai smiled along, opened Zhou Yu's warrant, and then his eyes fixed.

"What...what does this mean?"

Zhou Tai's hands were trembling slightly.

Zhou Yu's military school glanced at Zhou Tai coldly, and then said in a deep voice: "Now the commander-in-chief is personally braving the arrows and stones, using his body as bait, just to win this battle. I wonder if the general has any questions?"

Zhou Tai was silent for a while, then said: "I obey your order."

Zhou Yu’s direct military academy nodded and left with his men.

Zhou Tai sat dejectedly on a rock nearby.

When guard Zhou Tai saw the military school and others under Zhou Yu's direct command leave, he came up and said, "General, did the governor punish us? We... the enemy army is so cunning that they ambushed us in advance... This can't be blamed on us!"

Zhou Tai was silent for a long time before he reached out his hand and patted his cheek, "Alright! The governor has given the order! Form the team and get ready to go!"

"Let's go?!" the guard asked, "Where to?"

Zhou Tai looked back in the direction of Jiangdong Water Fort, "Of course we should attack! We should counterattack! They definitely didn't expect us to counterattack! Everyone, head towards the enemy army!"

Yes, not only the Cavalry Army might not have expected this, but even the Jiangdong soldiers under Zhou Tai's command did not expect this!

But the military order had been issued, and they had no choice but to drag their tired bodies and set off again.

……

……

Jiangdong Water Fort, the center of the battle.

When everyone looked up, they could see the figure under the flag of the general in the central military formation.

The sunlight fell on the figure, giving him a layer of gold.

Almost all the Jiangdong soldiers would feel relieved when seeing such a scene, except the military guards around Zhou Yu, who seemed worried.

Zhou Yu's health was getting worse and worse, and he ate less and less.

Although he looks in good spirits on the surface, he is actually relying on the golden elixir to support himself most of the time.

As for the golden elixir, some people attribute it to Yanhuang and Laozi, as if Huang-Lao, furnace fire and the Book of Changes were all part of the same theme. But in fact, the Huang-Lao technique has nothing to do with external elixir, that is, the golden elixir of the Han Dynasty. The Book of Changes is even more far away from external elixir.

The reason why they are mistaken for the same is, of course, because there are many similar terms in "cultivation", and no one knows who copied who...

Alchemy is actually a by-product of China's metallurgical industry.

In the beginning, these colored minerals were just used as pigments. Over time, paintings with more or less mineral pigments appeared everywhere on Earth.

However, only a few civilizations have been able to truly turn these pigments into metals.

Because many civilizations did not have pottery making.

Without pottery making, there would be no fire, and without fire, there would be no metallurgy.

This is the path of technological advancement, and there is no room for ambiguity.

However, some civilizations, although they had no pottery industry and no historical traces of blast furnace metallurgy, were able to carve stones and even hide steel within the "stones". This is truly "magical".

In fact, to some extent, the Golden Elixir is a product of the ancient Chinese people's desire to live as long as the heaven and earth. The effect of the Golden Elixir is basically to mobilize the body's immune system to eliminate the toxins in the Golden Elixir, that is, the potential within the body. If the potential within the body is mobilized too much and overdrawn, there will naturally be no good results.

Zhou Yu's hair had turned slightly gray and thin, and his skin was dull in color. These conditions did not match his age.

This naturally aroused the concern and worry of the guards around Zhou Yu. Under such circumstances, how could these guards of Zhou Yu, who were directly under the military academy, pay attention to other people's emotions?
Their leader, the governor of Jiangdong, has fought to the point where he has now reached this point. What else is there for others to refuse?
Zhou Yu looked up at the smoke and flames on the river and suddenly smiled, "I have a chance to fight a strong enemy and show what I have learned. This life will not be in vain!"

Zhou Yu smiled, "It's a pity that Bo Fu was not able to see this in person..."

The guards around Zhou Yu had red eyes and choked up, "Commander-in-chief..."

Perhaps others were not very clear, but the guards around Zhou Yu could clearly feel that Zhou Yu's life was like a meteor in the sky, burning hot and colorful, but it would soon fall, extinguish, and disappear...

Even a normal and healthy person would not be able to bear staying up late continuously, not to mention that Zhou Yu’s health is already very poor. It is the strong desire to win that has been supporting him these past few days.

"Everyone has to die..." Zhou Yu waved his hand and said, without looking back at the guard, "If you can enjoy yourself, why should you be afraid? Today's battle can change the world's situation! As a general, this is all I want in my life!"

……

……

The Sichuan-Shu Army's attack was still going on. On the front battlefield, tall ships stood majestically, with great momentum.

Like a huge beast ready to pounce, it stepped on the waves and looked coldly at its prey in front of it.

In front of the tower ship, the fighting ships and the assault ships were ready to go.

The scales on the armor and the sharp blades on the weapons sparkled in the sunlight.

"Kong Ming, I don't understand..." Xu Huang frowned and said, "Jiangdong wants to use fire attack, but the river flows eastward... In this way, won't they burn themselves?"

Zhuge Liang looked up at the flag on the ship.

The river breeze blows to the south.

During this season, the wind direction is mostly southward.

Whether it is going south or north, in fact, for the Sichuan Army and the Jiangdong Army, which are now on the east and west sides respectively, it has basically the same effect, and no one is more advantageous.

As for the river, it was obvious that the Jiangdong Army was at a disadvantage...

6◇9◇Book◇Bar

Zhuge Liang didn't believe that Zhou Yu couldn't even calculate this, so there must be something that they didn't notice, but would increase Jiangdong's chances of victory.

Hidden stakes?

fence?

Or was it that Zhou Yu was using a mixture of real and fake strategies, knowing that Xu Huang and Zhuge Liang would overthink things, so he was actually trying to lure the Sichuan navy to a place where the water flow changes more and basic skills would be tested?

Or...

Zhuge Liang's eyes were looking around and thinking rapidly.

……

……

On another narrow mountain path, Jiang Qin looked at the mountain stream below and couldn't help feeling a little frightened.

Although it is not a bottomless abyss, looking down from above still makes one feel a little weak in the knees.

Jiang Qin and his companions were used to looking at the river from the boat, and were not used to looking at the stream from the mountain.

There is no other choice but to choose this path.

Zhou Yu deduced that the Sichuan-Shu army must be prepared for Zhou Tai's side, so Zhou Tai was doomed to fail. He could only make a feint to attract the attention of the Sichuan-Shu army. And this kind of road where every step seems to be rolling down the mountain stream, which cannot even be called a "road", can truly play the role of surprising the enemy.

The only drawback is...

It’s not easy to walk.

Jiang Qin tried his best not to look at his feet, nor to think about how he would die if he rolled down the mountain, but the more he wanted to control himself, the more he couldn't help but think about it.

Perhaps his neck was scratched by a sharp rock, or perhaps he was hit by a huge rock and turned into a meat patty?
Of course, there is a possibility that the person will not die from the fall, but will become disabled instead.

This might be even worse than falling to death.

He couldn't help but ask himself, "Are you afraid of death?"

Don't be afraid that they are all lies.

Can you win and achieve victory by dying terribly?

But Jiang Qin didn't expect that even in such a remote mountain road, there would be a cavalry outpost!
"Have they discovered it?"

When Jiang Qin received the report from the soldiers, he asked anxiously.

Jiang Dongbing said, "I don't know, but it seems that there is nothing abnormal about them..."

When Jiang Qin learned that there were hussars, he was somewhat worried, but he quickly calmed down.

When we meet on a narrow road, how can we win?

Only risk your life!

Now that we have come this far, how can we go back?
"Now we have only one chance!"

"Whether they find out or not, we must rush over!"

"After rushing out, head straight to the Sichuan Army's water stronghold!"

"I will take the lead! Anyone who retreats at this time will be killed immediately!"

After hearing the orders one after another, Jiang Qin became calmer.

Moreover, Jiang Qin did not bring too many people, which allowed Jiang Qin to command almost every soldier in Jiangdong.

If the number of people is too large, it will be a disadvantage. After all, if there are thousands of people, once they are blocked on such a narrow path, let alone command, even moving will be a problem. Maybe only a few casualties, or even less than 10% casualties, may lead to chaos, congestion, and trampling on each other, and thus be defeated by the small Sichuan Army.

There are fewer people and less noise!

Even if the Sichuan Army had sentries here, there wouldn't be too many people, and even if the other side discovered their arrival and sounded the alarm, what would happen? He only needed to launch a surprise attack before the Sichuan Army fully reacted and set fire to the Sichuan Army's water stronghold, and he would succeed!
……

……

"Shoot, shoot!"

"Arrows, go get some more arrows!"

The soldiers in Zhou Yu's navy shouted loudly, busy and running around.

Arrows whizzed in the air, crossing each other.

The Jiangdong army's ships fought and retreated.

The Sichuan-Shu Army's fleet followed behind.

Zhou Yu stood on the ship in the middle of the formation and watched quietly.

By now, both sides have almost no cards left...

The rest are all trump cards.

Zhou Yu's trump card is his familiarity with the river water.

This river is the cornerstone of his fame!

But it also became a lifelong shackle for him.

Zhou Yu's entire life revolved around this river, upstream, downstream, east of the river, and north of the river. Even the grand strategy formulated by Zhou Yu was still unfolding and extending along this river.

Success is due to the river, failure is due to...

Impossible to lose!

Zhou Yu persisted.

He not only had to fight against the Sichuan Army, but also had to fight against his own illness.

The movements of the Sichuan navy were both within Zhou Yu's expectations and somewhat unexpected.

The Sichuan navy did attack Zhou Yu's center formation, but they spread out their ranks very wide, as if preparing to press forward little by little and eventually win, rather than relying on a surprise attack on the center formation to kill the general and seize the flag to win.

"Sichuan Army, do you trust your soldiers so much?"

Zhou Yu pondered.

It is not easy to implement this tactic well.

Because on the battlefield, the lower-level soldiers often cannot get the overall information in time, so once the local area is in a difficult battle, they will begin to waver and doubt, wondering if this part of them has been abandoned...

This requires the soldiers to have enough trust in their superiors!

Zhou Yu had been in Jiangdong for so many years, but apart from the troops that Zhou Yu could directly command, he could not say that he could gain the trust of all the other Jiangdong soldiers...

Because many of the other Jiangdong troops are private soldiers of other generals!
Even if the soldiers in these troops were willing to believe Zhou Yu, the generals would not be happy!
To other generals, this was like their own wife having an affair...

However, it is okay for the Sichuan Army to respond in this way.

Because the river water flows downwards, they will eventually step into the trap in the river!

Not all water flows in rivers are smooth, there are also turbulent flows!

Although Zhou Yu did not know the definition and theory of turbulence, he was familiar with the river and knew that backflow would occur in a certain area of ​​the river!
Only when the ships enter this area can they feel the difference. The speed of the front ship slows down due to the influence of the water flow, while the speed of the rear ship remains the same. The only result is that the Sichuan Army will be tangled and gathered into a ball in a certain area!
And this is the best time to attack!