Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 993 Risk crossing the river
Lu Meng looked up at the top of his head. The sails were swollen by the night wind, like the belly of a pregnant woman who was pregnant in ten months. They made huffing noises from time to time, leading the warship to cut through the waves and move forward at high speed on the water.

It was a dark and windy night tonight. The moonlight was obscured by thick clouds, making it pitch black on the river and making it difficult to distinguish the direction.

In order to travel secretly, the fleet allowed the night to cover their movements and could not light lights, so they could only sail in the dark. This undoubtedly made the already dangerous voyage even more dangerous.

The helmsman of the fleet can only control the direction of the ship's bow by relying on the power fed back by the water flow during steering. This is extremely demanding. If he makes a slight mistake, he will deviate from the course and hit the reef bank in the channel, causing the ship to be destroyed and people killed.

Therefore, the vast majority of the more than a thousand elite soldiers in the dozen or so ships dispatched by Lu Meng are Lu Meng's most trusted private soldiers, and they are also almost all the trump cards and accumulation of the Lu Meng family.

This time Lu Meng's bet was very big. He had already issued a military order to Sun Quan, promising that he would succeed in crossing the river to seize the city, otherwise he would raise his head to see him!

This behavior was so risky that the few people who knew the inside story, including Cheng Pu, advised him to think carefully about whether this move was too radical. What if it was an enemy trap?
But after Lu Meng thought about it, he felt that the chance of success in this trip was still very high.

Because they have completely understood Mi Fang's psychology, the other party now has a handle, but they absolutely do not have the courage to face the calls of Liu Bei's subordinates for accountability after the incident is revealed.

Because in Lu Meng's view, Mi Zhu and Mi Fang were not worthy of their position. In terms of qualifications, they could not compare with old people like Sun Qian and Jian Yong. In terms of relatives, they could not compare with Guan Yu and Zhang Fei. In terms of power behind them, they could not compare with officials from Jingzhou and Yuzhou noble families. However, their positions were Being higher than everyone else, how can you convince everyone?
Therefore, when Mi Fang resells grain, the Mi family is not necessarily unlucky, but there is a high possibility that Mi Fang will be held accountable alone, so he can only run away.

It is unlikely that Mi Fang will directly join Cao Cao. There are many talented people there, and there is no lack of him as a down-and-out businessman with mediocre abilities. Moreover, the Baqiu where Mi Fang is hiding is too far away from Cao Cao's territory, so there is no way to hook up with Cao Cao.

Thinking of this, Lu Meng was very grateful to Sun Quan for his kindness. A scholar would die for his confidant. What's more, his persuasion to surrender to Lu Meng this time was extremely secretive. His confidants and spies were in direct contact with Mi Fang throughout the process, and Baqiu had no other influence. Entering, Mi Fang is unlikely to have the time and spare time to make these arrangements.

Although Liu Bei was doubtful about this, since there was no war on Yuan Xi's side, it would be good to temporarily make peace with Jiang Dong and have one less enemy. So Liu Bei agreed to turn the war into friendship with Jiang Dong on the premise that Yuan Xi and Jiang Dong really stopped fighting. This was also Why did Guan Yu, who was dispatching troops at Baqiu Jiangling, return to Xiangyang to resist Cao's army?

Although Liu Bei should have guessed that Dong would never give up with Yuan Xi, at least for now Liu Bei needed to free up his hands to deal with Cao Cao, so the two sides signed a truce agreement without much sincerity in it.

But in any case, Jiangdong and Liu Bei are now in a state of truce, and are even negotiating for a possible alliance in the future. Liu Bei has indeed relaxed his vigilance and mobilized a lot of troops from the Jiangling area to assist Xiangyang.

So this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity was created by Lu Meng. Jiangdong's army raided Lukou tonight, breaking the contract and catching the Lukou defenders by surprise.

When Lu Meng and Cheng Pu attacked Xiakou, they discovered this weakness early because Mi Fang was reselling food and weapons, and Lu Meng's men were secretly involved. This was a trap set for Mi Fang!
So Lu Meng saw that the time was ripe and sent two letters in succession, using irrefutable evidence to sway Mi Fang. Then Mi Fang finally replied and agreed to offer the city to Jiangdong!
After receiving the letter, although Lu Meng was extremely happy, he still maintained a high degree of vigilance. He analyzed the letter word for word and finally determined that the possibility of Mi Fang sincerely seeking refuge was very high!
As for whether Mi Fang would ambush him in turn, Lu Meng could not completely rule out this possibility, but he thought the possibility should be very small.

And if everything goes well, Baqiu will have already surrendered to Lu Meng and fallen into the hands of Jiangdong!
In this way, Jiangdong can seize the city between Lukou and Baqiu without any blood, and completely open up the road into the hinterland of Jingzhou. It is a prosperous land with thousands of miles of fertile fields and fertile fields. Moreover, he can capture as much as he can before Cao Cao. It all depends on your ability!

But it is different for Jiangdong. Baqiu guarded by Mi Fang is between Jiangling and Xiakou. Its position is extremely critical. It is the gateway from Jiangxia to Nanjun. As long as it is dedicated to Jiangdong, it will be a great contribution!

Killing himself would not make up for Mi Fang's sin. After all, Lu Meng's official position was not high in Jiangdong. The reason why he was able to take charge of the front army with Cheng Pu was mostly because of Sun Quan's appreciation.

Next, Cheng Pu will attack Lukou with all his strength. As long as he can defeat it, he can move up the river to Baqiu.

What's more important is that Fierce Tigers and Liu Beijun should not be able to guess what's happening on their side!
The reason for this is that although Jiangdong gathered a large army near Wankou, he kept sending people to negotiate with Jihu and Liu Bei. At the same time, Lu Su, who promoted Shouchun to Liu Bei, had already negotiated terms with Jihu.

Lu Meng was the number one minister in this battle, so he took charge personally. After all, there were many variables in this kind of thing, and only by being present in person could accidents be avoided to the greatest extent.

And although he took the risk, Lu Meng believed that he had already gained the upper hand, because at this time Liu Beijun did not know about Mi Fang's betrayal, nor did he know about Jiangdong's raid on Xiakou to break the agreement. When he entered Baqiu, he took advantage of the opportunity to seize Jiangling. Liu Bei's army's rear area in Nanjun was completely cut off.

In this way, Cao Cao and the south and north of the Yangtze River attack together to destroy Liu Bei and Liu Biao, and then they can carve up Jingzhou. Then they can attack the fierce tiger together and complete Zhou Yu's plan to divide the world into two!
Thinking of this, Lu Meng was extremely excited. He calculated that the fleet had traveled dozens of miles in the dark and was far away from the coastal battlefield. He immediately ordered the fleet to stop, replaced it with the Mi family caravan sail logo, and then hung a lantern on the bow. Set sail at full speed. Lu Meng even had the tokens and road guides of the Mi family's caravan in his hands, which were signed by Mi Fang personally. Lu Meng had secretly used them in the upstream waterway before, and he was looking for Guan Yu's navy. As expected, the other party did not see any flaws, which proved that these were all It's all true, and this is where Lu Meng's confidence lies.

As the leading ship hung up a string of lanterns, the dark channel was illuminated, and the ship's speed accelerated again. The following ships immediately followed the lead ship and accelerated, like a string of dexterous and ferocious swimming fish, pounced in the direction of Baqiu.

At this time, at the turn of summer and autumn, the east wind was strong at night, and the fleet was traveling very fast. After a night of rapid sailing, the fleet had sailed nearly a hundred miles, and saw that there were still more than fifty miles ahead, and it was at the foot of Baqiu City!
As the sky grew brighter, ships began to sail out of the piers along the river, but most of them were scattered small boats. They were the first batch to leave the port. As a result, when they sailed out of the river, the sailors saw a long list of oncoming boats. I couldn't help but be startled by the big ship. Who was so powerful that he could sail at night?

But when they saw the bow mark, they hurriedly avoided the shipping route. The Mi family caravan was now traveling across the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River, and no one would mess with them without the foresight.

Lu Meng stood on the bow of the ship and ordered the fleet to slow down, otherwise it would only be suspicious if the speed was too fast.

He knew that he still had to pass one level before reaching Baqiu.

Patrolling the river navy.

This section of the waterway is patrolled by Guan Yu Shuijun, and when they see a large fleet, they will definitely come up for search and questioning.

He does have the route certificate, but if the other party enters the cabin to inspect the cargo, he may discover the heavily armed soldiers hidden on the ship, and the matter may be exposed.

Lu Meng also responded to this. As long as the number of Guan Yu's navy was not that large, he would suddenly attack, kill all the navy on the ship, and then rush to Baqiu as quickly as possible.

This move is indeed risky. If the opponent has too many people and Lu Meng sees that there is nothing he can do, he can also retreat while fighting and escape downstream, but that plan will fail. Lu Meng does not intend to do this unless it is a last resort.

Because even if he escapes, Liu Bei's army and Guan Yu's navy along the river will join forces to block him. When the time comes, this fleet will become a turtle in the urn and will still be wiped out. In this case, it is better to go all out, live towards death, and move forward indomitably. !

What's more important is that Lu Meng risked almost everything for this plan. If it comes back in vain, he may never have such a good opportunity again in his life!

The risk is huge, and the reward is equally rich. As long as Baqiu is occupied, Guan Yu's navy can be blocked at Baqiu Pier. As long as it is blocked for two days, Cheng Pu's navy, which has finished the Lukou attack, will be able to come over and take over Guan Yu's navy in this section of the waterway. All the navy troops are wiped out!
As the fleet continued to deepen, there were more and more ships along the river. Finally, several warships bearing the flag of Guan Yu Navy appeared in front of the fleet.

When the other party saw Lü Meng's fleet approaching, they sent out a signal and at the same time turned the bow and moved towards the lead ship where Lü Meng was.

Lu Meng suppressed the expression on his face and waited for the opponent's ship to gradually approach. He saw a general wearing light leather armor standing on the bow of the ship.

When Lu Meng saw that it was leather armor, he knew that this general had a high status. Although leather armor was light, it was easily damaged and troublesome to maintain, so it was expensive and not everyone could wear it.

There are several guards behind the general, all carrying short knives. This knife is one foot shorter than the ordinary ring-headed sword, and the blade is one inch wider. It is not as good as the normal ring-headed sword when used in infantry combat, but it can be used on warships. A narrow and cramped place has its own unique advantages.

The two ships gradually slowed down and approached. The general saw that Lu Meng was dressed in white and looked like a scholar from Jiangdong. He held his hands to him across the side of the ship with a look of calmness on his face. He also saw the logo of the Mi family's fleet. He let go of his vigilance and said, "Are you from the Mi clan?"

"I have been patrolling the river here for more than a year. You look quite unfamiliar. Is this your first time patrolling this route?"

Lu Meng thought, knowing that if he mishandled the situation, it would immediately lead to a chaotic battle with blood splashing in the river.

(End of this chapter)