Chaos of the Three Kingdoms Summons

Chapter 2232: Zhou Zhao's hesitation, Ren Gui left the Yangtze River

On the other hand, Wu Zixu was very clear-headed and decisively agreed to Zhu Di's request to mobilize troops.

To defend the Yangtze River, one must defend the Huai River. If he cannot control Huainan, even if his navy stops Qi Jiguang, he will not be able to defend the Yangtze River!

What Wu Zixu sent out was Liu Rengui, one of the two deputy commanders of the joint navy, and the Qingzhou navy led by him.

At the beginning, when the news that Liu Bei and Di Qing in Xuzhou had fought and both suffered heavy losses spread, Liu Rengui, who was still on the Yangtze River at that time, was actually no longer calm.

Even at that time, he had already thought about leading his troops to fight back.

After all, although the two forces currently have the same interests, their own interests will ultimately take priority.

Fortunately, Liu Bei and his advisers still had a good view of the overall situation. They knew that even if this navy returned to the Central Plains battlefield, their role would be very limited, and they might not even be as powerful as half the number of infantry.

This army can only exert its greatest effect if it is deployed on the battlefield of the Yangtze River.

Therefore, Liu Bei sent someone a letter in time, asking Liu Rengui to stay safely on the battlefield of the Yangtze River.

This time, a force was to be dispatched to assist the garrison in guarding the Huainan area, and Liu Rengui was the one who volunteered.

After entering Huainan, they would be sure to enter the Central Plains at any time.

In comparison, Zhao Yanhui was much more at a loss at this time.

Even now, the Xuzhou navy can no longer find their target direction.

At the beginning, Zhao Yanhui was not the commander-in-chief of the Xuzhou navy, but only the deputy commander-in-chief. The position of commander-in-chief actually belonged to Zhou Yu.

If he had a choice, Zhao Kuangyin would not have given such a position to Zhou Yu, who lacked control ability. After all, Zhao Kuangyin's subordinates still lacked a certain amount of high-quality naval talents.

A general like Zhao Yu, although also a naval general, may be fine as a charge general, but if he is the commander of an army, it would be a bit difficult for him as he is slightly lacking in ability.

This was the last resort, so they had to let Zhou Yu take over.

Although Zhou Yu's position as the commander-in-chief of the navy was confirmed, the position of deputy commander was given to General Zhao Yanhui as a check and balance on Zhou Yu.

During the Central Plains War, Zhao Kuangyin, out of distrust of Zhou Yu, joined forces with Zhu Yuanzhang and promoted Zhou Yu in name only but demoted him in reality, making him the chief military advisor of the coalition forces, a position that sounded powerful but actually had no power, and letting Zhao Yanhui take the position of commander of the navy.

In history, Zhao Yanhui was one of the six founding generals of the Northern Song Dynasty who supported Zhao Kuangyin to ascend the throne. He was also one of the six great meritorious officials appointed by Zhao Kuangyin to support him.

However, despite this, compared with the other six heroes, he and Zhang Guanghan, who was also one of the six heroes, were not Zhao Kuangyin's confidants. Although they supported Zhao Kuangyin in the Chenqiaoyi mutiny, he was not at ease with them, because within less than half a year, he dismissed their military power and replaced them with his "righteous brother" Han Chongyun and his confidant Luo Yanhuan.

However, in this life, his relationship with Zhao Kuangyin was obviously closer, because both of them had the surname Zhao, they were implanted into the same family, and the relationship between the two lineages was very close.

It was also because of this that Zhao Yanhui was entrusted with important tasks by Zhao Kuangyin.

Zhao Kuangyin arranged him to be the deputy admiral of the navy. In addition to making him the key to check and balance Zhou Yu, he also wanted him to learn some naval warfare tactics from Zhou Yu.

However, although Zhou Yu did not hide his knowledge, he certainly would not take the initiative to teach anything. How much Zhao Yanhui could learn on his own depends on his own ability and is his own business!
Therefore, although he had learned a lot of naval warfare tactics, it was still far from enough to rival the world's top naval generals. However, he could at least be considered a qualified naval general.

However, Zhao Yanhui can be said to be a qualified general, but that’s all. When encountering some major events, he can’t make up his mind on his own!

The death of Zhao Kuangyin was such a big thing that he didn't know what to do! He could only use the war to numb himself. Only when he was fighting could he temporarily forget these troublesome things!
In comparison, although Zhou Yu was much more capable in all aspects, the deaths of Sun Quan and Sun Bin also made him feel empty in his heart, and he didn't even know what to do next.

Compared with them, Liu Rengui's goal was very clear.

The Jianghuai region is not only related to the stability of the southern region, but also after taking control of it, it can bring certain pressure to the Central Plains. Only in this way can it help Liu Bei, who is now in a difficult situation.

Therefore, Liu Rengui and Wu Zixu hit it off immediately and decisively withdrew from the Yangtze River Joint Navy temporarily and led his Qingzhou Navy to prepare to enter the Huaihe River Basin.

Wu Zixu was a very comprehensive person with strong all-round talents. Because of this, he would not think about problems purely from a military perspective like other famous generals. Therefore, he was able to guess some of Liu Rengui's thoughts.

It is precisely because of this that, compared to the Xuzhou navy which is now at a loss, Liu Rengui's Qingzhou navy is indeed more suitable for this combat mission. Due to their own position, there is no need to worry that they will not do their best.

Of course, comparing the combat effectiveness of the Xuzhou Navy and the Qingzhou Navy, Wu Zixu was obviously more confident in the Qingzhou Navy.

After all, the Qingzhou Navy was established a long time ago and is one of the earliest navies. Although for various reasons, it is definitely inferior to the Yangtze River Navy, which has a natural advantage. In this regard, the Qingzhou Navy and the Jin Army Navy are the same.

However, it cannot be compared with the Xuzhou Navy, which took less than half the time to form than the Qingzhou Navy.

Moreover, compared with the Xuzhou Navy, which lacked generals, the Qingzhou Navy was obviously full of talents. During this period, in order to enable the Xuzhou Navy to exert sufficient combat effectiveness, Wu Zixu transferred several generals from his Yangtze River Navy and Liu Rengui's Qingzhou Navy to assist.

The Qingzhou Navy is comparable to their Yangtze River Navy in terms of generals.

Only such a powerful naval force can provide sufficient support to the battlefield in the Jianghuai region.

As for navies like the Xuzhou Navy, Wu Zixu would rather keep them by his side and watch them to prevent any mistakes!