Chapter 27 Chapter 27 The Battle of Chibi Shocked the World

Liu Bei, who was stationed in Fankou, was looking forward to the return of Zhuge Kongming, who was sent to Sun Quan as an envoy, to report the results of the negotiations.According to the mutual agreement, when the alliance is established, Kong Ming will accompany Sun Quan's fleet and come back to the Yangtze River.Cao Cao set up an army in Jiangling, far upstream from here, preparing to crusade against those who would not honor him. "The fleet is coming!" Hearing the report from the sentry, Liu Bei hurriedly asked: "From upstream, or from downstream?" "From downstream," replied the sentinel.

"Well……" A satisfied expression appeared on Liu Bei's face. The fleet coming down from the upper reaches must be Cao Jun, and the fleet going up the river from the lower reaches must be Sun Quan's fleet.Since he sent a fleet, he should express his intention to fight Cao Cao, that is to say, he agreed to form an alliance with Liu Bei. "Judging from the flags, it looks like Zhou Yu's fleet is coming." "Zhou Yu..." Liu Bei showed an unhappy expression.This is because the urgent envoy sent back by Kong Ming had reported to him: ——Zhang Zhao is the peace negotiator, and Lu Su and Zhou Yu are the anti-war faction.Among the anti-war faction, Lu Su was pro-Liu Bei, while Zhou Yu was against Liu Bei.

The vanguard fleet of Sun Quan's navy was actually led by Zhou Yu, who was against Liu Bei.In any case, Liu Bei immediately sent an envoy to Zhou Yu. ——In order to study the battle with Cao Cao's army and discuss other matters, I look forward to meeting you.Please land in Fankou and come to our camp for a meeting. He asked the messenger to convey the letter with such meaning. As a result, the envoy returned empty-handed and reported verbally: "Dudu Zhou said that due to the busy military affairs, it is inconvenient to leave the deployment. Therefore, if the general thinks it is necessary, he will ask the general to visit in person."

"This……" Liu Bei was too angry to speak.Zhou Yu is Sun Quan's retainer, and Liu Bei is preparing to form an alliance with Sun Quan on an equal footing.In terms of status, Zhou Yu was under Liu Bei, so Liu Bei naturally asked Zhou Yu to come to see him. Zhou Yu was originally an anti-Liu Bei faction.But his lord Sun Quan decided to fight Cao Cao and form an alliance with Liu Bei. As a subordinate, he naturally had to follow this decision.And Zhou Yu's original intention was: ——Hoping to fight Cao Cao alone.Liu Bei is a hero, forming an alliance with such a strategist will definitely not have good results.

This is the reason he summoned Liu Bei, and he would refuse to surrender on the grounds that he was busy with military affairs. ——If the general thinks it is necessary, please come here in person. This seemingly polite rumor is actually a very impolite wording.Its overtones are: ——I don't think it is necessary to discuss with you at all! Of course Liu Bei was aware of this. "This guy……" Although extremely annoyed, Liu Bei knew he was in a disadvantaged situation at the moment.In the past, I also bowed my head to Lu Bu, Cao Cao, Yuan Shao and others.When it's time to endure, you must endure to the end!With this in mind, Liu Bei went to visit Zhou Yu's ship.

"Mr. Cao is an experienced general. To fight against him, you must be fully prepared. Excuse me, how many generals did you lead this time?" Liu Bei asked. "About 30,000—" Zhou Yu replied. "Will this number be a little less?" "I think this is enough. I believe you are very tired after marching all the way from Fancheng. My dear friend, let's rest and watch from the sidelines how I, Zhou Yu, defeated Cao Cao." Zhou Yu is well-known as a beautiful husband, and his eloquence is not hindered, and his voice is very pleasant.But these few words sound like every word is thorny.He said "coming all the way from Fancheng" seems to be insinuating that Liu Bei "came from defeat".

"I don't need the aid of the retreating army—" Although Zhou Yu didn't say it explicitly, the words just now were indeed such a metaphor, and Liu Bei tried hard not to show his hatred, but his anger can be imagined. Sun Quan's navy led by Zhou Yu didn't seem to take Liu Bei stationed in Fankou seriously at all, and went straight up the river without stopping there for a while.Then he stopped the army at Xiakou and waited for the follow-up fleet to arrive.The commander of the follow-up fleet is Cheng Pu, the greatest elder of Soochow, and Lu Su, who is pro-Liu Bei, also follows him as a lieutenant (chief of staff) of the Zan Army.

Now look at the situation in Cao Cao's camp at Jiangling.Cao Cao was very depressed at the moment. In the past, he had won consecutive battles in every battle, but now he was facing an enemy that seemed insurmountable. It turned out that a plague was prevalent in the army. The generals fell ill one by one due to the plague.No matter how powerful Cao Cao is, he is still helpless against the epidemic. Due to the fear of the epidemic, most of the soldiers have completely lost their fighting spirit.In this situation, is there a chance to conquer Sun Quan? "Perhaps, the only way is to use political power."

Cao Cao thought so. Sun Quan has several weaknesses.Sun Quan led a consortium of rich and noble families, but the interests of these people were not the same.Take the powerful person who advocated making peace with Cao Cao as an example, there are many such people besides Zhang Zhao.Thanks to spies' reports, Cao Cao was well aware of these situations. The peace talks faction is actually the pro-Cao Cao faction.He believed that among Sun Quan's expeditionary forces who came this time, there must also be cadres who were pro-Cao Cao faction.Isn't there a way to win over these people!In view of the epidemic in the army, Cao Cao had the idea of ​​combining force and strategy to fight against Sun Quan.

Cao Cao tried his best to cover up the epidemic in order not to let the enemy know about the epidemic.He ordered that no one enter or leave the Gangneung area to prevent news from leaking. The combined forces of Sun Quan and Liu Bei, who went up the river from Xiakou, stopped the fleet at Chibi.The army called the Allied Army is actually just 2,000 Liu Bei's army plus 30,000 Sun Quan's army.Chibi is now Shitouguan, Jiayu County, Hubei Province. This place is on the south bank of the Yangtze River, and on the opposite north bank is Wulin, where Cao Jun moored his fleet. Judging from the fact that Cao Cao's formations were dominated by outposts, they seem to want to fight a protracted war.

"You can't fight a long-term war..." Zhou Yu stared at the opposite bank from the Red Cliff, shaking his head. In the long-term war of resistance, both sides will gradually consume troops due to partial operations.In other words, it is the side with the larger number of soldiers who takes advantage.In terms of the number of soldiers, Cao Cao has an overwhelming advantage. In fact, Cao Cao assumed the posture of fighting a long-term war because he was afraid of a long-term war.Because the soldiers were discouraged by the epidemic, Cao Cao wanted to fight quickly.He is old, treacherous and cunning, but he deliberately puts on the posture of fighting a long-term war to cover up the weakness of his army. "It's terrible! No matter how provocative, the other party won't call... What's the best way?" Zhou Yu said dumbfounded. "Send dozens of ships loaded with oiled firewood and withered grass to rush into the limelight of Cao Cao's fleet, and then set fire to the ships. Isn't this a good idea?" Ministry general Huang Gai said. "That's a good strategy, but..." Zhou Yu stared blankly at Huang Gai's face.Huang Gai was a general who was born and died among thousands of troops. He knew more about how to fight than anyone else.As soon as dozens of fireboats approached, they would definitely be attacked by Cao Jun and wiped out on the river. How could such a veteran Huang Gai come up with such a strategy that was tantamount to sending him to death? "The ship was sunk before it approached—is the general thinking about this?" Huang Gai said. "Isn't that obvious?" "There is a way to approach the opponent without being attacked..." "what way?" "Pretend to surrender, first express your sincerity to Cao Cao with a secret letter. In this way, when the ship passes by, won't the other party not attack?" "It is indeed a clever plan..." "I am a member of General Zhang Zhao. This is a well-known fact. If you use my name to express your surrender, Cao Cao will believe it, right?" "This... I heard that Cao Cao is a very suspicious person!" "Anyway, let's try and talk. We can't fight a long war!" Therefore, Huang Gai wrote a "Letter of Begging for Surrender" to Cao Cao.He belonged to the Zhang Zhao faction that advocated peace—this is well known.It is not impossible for such a person to surrender quietly. — Your Excellency the Prime Minister. Huang Gai called Cao Cao this way in this "Letter of Begging for Surrender".Cao Cao became prime minister in this year.The written content is as follows: ... Soochow now only uses the soldiers of the six counties in Jiangdong and Shanyue (South) to try to confront the Central Plains army of millions led by Your Excellency the Prime Minister. It goes without saying how foolish this is.I and General Zhang Zhao, whom I respect, strongly advocated making peace with His Excellency the Prime Minister, but the argument was rejected by Lu Su, Zhou Yu and other idiots, so I had no choice but to go out here according to the decision of the meeting.But after thinking about it repeatedly, I always feel that I don't want to be implicated by Lu, Zhou and other ignorant people and die here.Therefore, I have decided to surrender to the prime minister tomorrow with my thirty warships and warships.Please accept the surrender at that time, without any gratitude. It is unimaginable that such an extraordinary figure as Cao Cao would accept a false surrender.If it was him normally, he would probably be skeptical, but because of the epidemic and eager to find a quick solution, he actually believed Huang Gai's words with a ratio of 80% real to 20% false. "Is there any firewood or hay on board? Tell the sentinel to look carefully." He is extremely alert, after all, he did not forget to remind his subordinates. But Huang Gai hid the firewood and withered grass very skillfully. A warship is a leather-armored warship, and a warship is a ship with wooden fences on board. The "Book of Beggars and Surrender" stated that the surrendered ships were marked by the erection of blue flags and blue curtains.The firewood and dead grass are hidden under this veil. Cao Cao's battle plan is as follows: ——When Sun Quan's navy learns that Huang Gai has surrendered to the enemy, he will definitely be shaken. At that time, he will launch a general attack and wipe them out... Sure enough, Huang Gai led dozens of ships and sailed away from Sun Quan's navy.These fleets sailed quietly towards the east end where Cao Jun was located. The wind blows from the east. "They headed for the limelight..." When Cao Cao showed a surprised expression, Huang Gai's fleet was already approaching the eastern end of Cao Cao's fleet.Cao Cao finally realized it at this time. "Surrender! They are swindling! This is Huang Gai's trick! Hurry up! Everyone get into battle positions!" Cao Cao shouted loudly. But it was too late. After Huang Gai set fire to the several ships that came, he let them rush towards Cao Cao's fleet.The "fire attack fleet" was burned into a ball of flames, and there were almost no one on board. At the last moment, several helmsmen jumped into the water one after another and returned from swimming. Suddenly, it turned into a sea of ​​flames. The allied forces of Sun Quan and Liu Bei, who were waiting in Chibi, attacked immediately when they saw this. Black smoke filled half the sky. "It's like a giant dragon lurking in the water, soaring up into the sky." Zhuge Kong Mingdao looking at the Red Cliff Headquarters with his hand shaded. "This looks very much like you." Liu Bei said. "Hahaha!" Kong Ming laughed.Before becoming an official, he was always called "Mr. Wolong" or "Fulong".That is a dragon that hides in the water when the season is not yet met. As long as the time and people are met, the dragon will always rise from the clouds and fly into the sky. "Will Cao Cao's navy be completely destroyed?" Liu Bei said.The ships of Cao Cao's fleet were connected by iron chains at the bow and stern to form water fortresses. However, when attacked by fire, such a fleet is of course easy to burn. "It was quite windy. There was no doubt that we would win." "However, what will happen to the war after landing? Cao Cao's Qingzhou soldiers are invincible in the land battle..." "Mr. Cao will probably flee without a fight, right? It should be like this." Zhuge Kongming said in a confident tone. "Why? Our battle plan this time is to burn the enemy's fleet, wait for it to land and attack it hard, and then return to Chibi immediately..." The commander-in-chief Zhou Yu was also afraid of Cao Cao's large number of troops and the strength of land battles, so he avoided land battles as much as possible-this was the policy of this operation. Cao Cao had reasons why he had to escape. "What's the reason?" "A serious epidemic is spreading in the army. Cao Cao's plan is to retreat immediately after giving us a blow. Now that he has been hit hard by us, of course he needs to retreat even more!" It turned out that the spies sent by Zhuge Kongming broke through Cao Cao's intelligence blockade and had already known this. "Why didn't you tell me about the epidemic!?" "If you say that, won't the morale of our army be weakened? Our soldiers are fighting like that because they don't know the enemy has this weakness." The sea of ​​fire in Urin is spreading, red flames and black smoke engulf everything, cheers are carried by the wind. "We have won. But Chibi's victory is a thing of the past. I hope the Lord is looking at the red flames while thinking about the future..." Kong Ming said. "Thinking about the future?" "Yes. The plan for one-third of the world is only about to start now. The foundation for the plan for one-third is already in place..." The flames on the other side exploded with huge sparks.