As Yang Zheng was worried, the situation of the Poyang Lake Navy was indeed not very good. There were less than 1,200 ships of all sizes and large numbers, and the total force was only more than 16,000. It also lacked practical experience. In the past years, in addition to fighting water bandits and suppressing water thieves, he had never fought a large-scale surface battle. Although the water battle training is perfectly skillful every day, it is an answer that no one knows how much training level he can play when he really fights with the Jingzhou Navy, the current water overlord, is an answer that no one knows.

Judging from the number of ships and forces alone, the Chaohu Navy, the main force of the Xuzhou Navy, was much better, with a total force of more than 30,000, and only more than 2,500 ships of all sizes. Unfortunately, the Chaohu Navy had to arrive at Poyang Lake after the fifth day of December. At the most critical moment, the Poyang Lake Navy could only fight alone. However, like the Poyang Lake Navy, the Chaohu Navy, also has the weakness of serious lack of practical experience, so even if the two main forces of the Xuzhou Navy were combined, they were still at a disadvantage in front of the Jingzhou Navy.

We cannot blame Lu Su and Jiang Qin for being incompetent. After operating in Jiangdong for five or six years, the Xuzhou Navy has not yet surpassed the Jingzhou Navy. It was Deputy Director Tao's strategic decision-making that made the Xuzhou Navy suffer, because Deputy Director Tao's strategic center has always been on the Central Plains battlefield and the Hebei battlefield. The strategic resources of the Xuzhou army's control area are naturally tilted towards the Central Plains battlefield and the Hebei battlefield. Since the Xushui War wiped out the Yuan Shu army's naval forces, the Jiangdong battlefield has not only not obtained any money and grain supply from the rear of Xuzhou. After the Second Xuchang War, the Xuzhou Navy's largest source of money and grain, Huainan County and Guangling County, also in turn, have lost a lot of blood to the Yanzhou battlefield and the Yuzhou battlefield. Under such circumstances, the Xuzhou Navy naturally finds it difficult to make great progress.

It is not a big deal for Deputy Director Tao, who is short-sighted and does not pay enough attention to the construction of surface power. Deputy Director Tao also has his own difficulties - Jiangnan in this era is too backward, with a sparse population and a barren land, and even if he tries to win it, it will not be much of avail. The money, grain and taxes obtained are difficult to support the Xuzhou army in the fight for the Central Plains, so Deputy Director Tao has no choice but to first north and then south, first take the essence of the Central Plains, and then take slowly Jiangnan as a wasteland cattle. Naturally, we cannot concentrate strategic resources on the battlefield in Jiangdong now.

In addition, the friendly relations between Xuzhou Army and Liu Qi were also an important reason why the Xuzhou Army did not pay enough attention to surface power. After taking advantage of the opportunity to completely wipe out the Yuan Shu Army Navy, the Xuzhou Navy had no decent opponent in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. He was in a honeymoon period with Liu Qi, who had control over Jiangxia, and there was no threat from the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River. He felt that Liu Qi had to rely on the support of his own army to succeed him, so he was cunning and suspicious. He was a little careless in the construction of the navy and was far from enough. As a result, he gave Liu Qi a chance to suddenly rise and suddenly turn against the Xuzhou Army.

By the way, Liu Qi suddenly decided to turn against the Xuzhou army, and the root of it was also from Deputy Director Tao's external strategy of putting interests first. Even though he had the opportunity to help Liu Qi as the throne of Jingzhou, Deputy Director Tao, who was forgetful of his interests, wanted to quickly withdraw from the battlefield in Nanyang and to create civil strife in Jingzhou in the future, Liu Qi, who did not force Liu Biao to hand over Liu Cong as a qualifier, was furious and resolutely decided to seize the opportunity to compete with the Xuzhou army for Jiangdong. Otherwise, the Xuzhou army's Jiangdong would not be in trouble so soon.

After talking too far, I got back to the point and found that the power gap between the Poyang Lake Navy and the Jingzhou Navy Master was huge. Yang Zheng, who was almost completely different from his biological father, was not disappointed, but went to understand the situation of the defense of the Chaisang city. What made Yang Zheng breathed a sigh of relief was that the situation of the Xuzhou army on land was much better. There were more than 12,000 defenders in the city of Xunyang on the north bank of the Yangtze River, including two thousand defenders in Xunyang, three thousand defenders in Liling, and seven thousand defenders in Chaisang. In addition, the navy forces that can fight ashore, the Xuzhou army has sufficient troops in defending the city, and is enough to deal with the Jingzhou army on land.

What made Yang Zheng most relieved was the city defense situation of Chaisang. Under the leadership of Qiao Rui, the Xuzhou Army, the city defense situation of Chaisang was almost flawless. The city was high and the trenches were well-deep, and the terrain was high and not afraid of flooding and attacking. The city was filled with wells and groundwater. There were no need to worry about the enemy cutting off the water source, and it could also prevent the enemy from siegeing the city. At the same time, there was enough food, grass, salt and salt in the city that 30,000 troops had half a year of use, and the money was used by the Jingzhou Army.

Ji learned about the situation of the Chaisang Water and Land Army, and carefully reviewed the detailed scout reports during this period. Through analysis and reasoning, he roughly grasped the situation of the enemy. Yang Zheng, who had made Qiao Rui and Jiang Qin look at each other with admiration, had calculated for a long time. Then he bowed to Qiao Rui and Jiang Qin and said, "Uncle Qiao, General Jiang, two elders, please forgive me. My nephew is still the same suggestion. We should avoid the enemy's leader. Please ask General Jiang to lead the navy to retreat to the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, meet with our Chaohu Navy to protect the water surface power, and then use our army's land advantage and the advantage of the city defense, and compete with the Jingzhou Army on land, waiting for the main force of the Lu Governor to come to help."

Qiao Rui and Jiang Qin looked obviously disappointed, and then Jiang Qin said: "Nephew, we also know that we should give priority to preserving the water surface strength, but after our Poyang Lake Navy retreats, two problems will arise. The first is that once the Jingzhou Navy blocks the Hukou, our navy, which is located downstream and still headwinds, will be even more unfavorable on the water surface battlefield. The second is what to do after the navy retreats, what to do with Xunyang in Jiangbei? What to do with Liling in the southern part of Chaisang? Could it be that the Jingzhou Army and Yuan Yaojun defeat them one by one?"

"Please rest assured, two uncles. If Xunyang and Liling can defend, they can defend, and if they cannot defend, they can give up." Yang Zheng said confidently: "With our army's current strength, we no longer have to stick to the gains and losses of one city and one place. Xunyang and Liling have given up temporarily and will be recaptured in the future. The key is the important town of Chaisang. As long as we defend Chaisang, the Jingzhou army will not want to go south to annex Yuzhang and invade our Jiangdong hinterland. With the nail west of Poyang Lake, our navy can make a comeback at any time, regain control of Poyang Lake, and drive the Jingzhou navy back to Jiangxia."

"As for the Jingzhou Navy blocking the Hukou, this is even more problematic." Yang Zheng smiled and added: "If the governor of Lu led the Chaohu Navy to come to the rescue, he would definitely be inadequate and lack of strength, which would be unfavorable to the war. Since that is the case, please ask the governor of Lu to prepare for a while. It would not be too late to join forces with the Poyang Lake Navy to save Chaisang in two or three months. In two months, the wind will be blowing in the southeast. When our navy comes to save Chaisang, the wind will be detrimental to the Jingzhou Navy. Uncle Qiao has built a city like a stunning iron, and it should also make the Jingzhou Army tired and have no intention of fighting again."

Qiao Rui and Jiang Qin had carefully considered this suggestion from Yang Zheng, but gave up Xunyang and Liling. Using the Chaisang City to hold up the Jingzhou army and survive the extremely unfavorable winter of the wind direction for the Xuzhou Navy, this bold suggestion was a strategy that Qiao Rui and Jiang Qin had never dared to think about before - without ordering to give up the city without authorization. Once Deputy Director Tao and Lu Su were held accountable, it would be a death penalty for beheading! So after thinking for a long time, Qiao Rui and Jiang Qin still shook their heads together and said bitterly: "Nephew, although your suggestion is reasonable, it is not a trivial matter to give up the two cities without authorization. Without the orders of the lord or the governor of Lu, we dare not take risks."

"There is no responsibility at all, so you are only worthy of guarding the pass and not being the generals who stand alone." Yang Zheng muttered in his heart, and then said: "Uncle Qiao and Uncle Jiang, in the heart of the governor of Lu. Compared with the two small counties, our Poyang Lake Navy is definitely more important, because our water surface power is weaker than the Jingzhou Army. If we lose the Poyang Lake Navy again, we will be even less opponents of the Jingzhou Army on the water surface, so my nephew dares to assert that the governor of Lu will definitely agree with you to give up Xunyang and Liling and let the navy withdraw from Poyang Lake!"

"Although it makes sense, if the governor of Lu..." Qiao Rui hesitated.

"Uncle Qiao, please rest assured!" Yang Zheng gritted his teeth and said, "I am willing to issue a military order. If the lord and the governor of Lu refuse to agree with the tactics of my nephew, we must hold the responsibility of giving up Xunyang and Liling. I will bear it with all my strength and have nothing to do with you!"

"Nephew, you, a guest Cao, aren't qualified to take such a big responsibility, right?" Qiao Rui said with a wry smile: "Even if you dare to issue this military order, the lord and the governor of Lu will pursue it in the future. My uncle Jiang and I will not be implicated..."

"That's better than our navy and defenders being defeated by the enemy, right?" Yang Zheng suddenly changed his face, stood up and said loudly: "Uncle Qiao, Uncle Jiang, have you ever considered it? Eighty thousand main forces of Jingzhou came along the river, and the Governor of Lu could not come quickly to help. How can our Poyang Lake resist? The Poyang Lake navy was defeated by the enemy, and there may be hope to defend Chaisang, but what should we do with the two small cities of Xunyang and Liling? Apart from being defeated by the main forces of Jingzhou, which have absolute military strength advantages, what else can we do?"

"Don't forget that our garrisons in Chaisang are all second-line troops, and their combat effectiveness is far less than our main force on the northern line! However, the Jingzhou army has all its elite troops, and no matter how poor the combat effectiveness is, it can be equal to our second-line troops! In addition to being responsible to the lord and the governor of Lu, do you also have to be responsible to more than 10,000 navy soldiers, Xunyang and the 5,000 soldiers in Liling?! In order not to be implicated, you must watch thousands of soldiers of our army die in vain, defeated by the Jingzhou army and brutally massacred?!"

Hearing Yang Zheng's roar, Li Lang's face turned pale, for fear that Qiao Rui and Jiang Qin would be angry and frown at Yang Zheng's full force, so he quickly came up to persuade him. Yang Zheng pushed Li Lang away and roared: "Yes! Even if I make a military order, you will be implicated. This is indeed true! But I am not afraid to take responsibility, what are you afraid of? You should have heard that my father used his body to block a fatal blow for his lord in the city of Yecheng! I dare not say that my father blocked this blow for his lord, which is equivalent to saving me all his life's glory and wealth, and high officials and generous salaries!"

"You know the situation of my family. What is the wealth of a family? Even if you are rich, you dare to boast like this! But for the more than 10,000 naval soldiers in Poyang Lake, the five thousand soldiers in Liling and Xunyang, I am willing to give up these things! Why are you afraid of taking such a little bit of responsibility?! Are you a warrior on the battlefield with a strong and sharp edge on the vegetable market?! If you admit that you are no different from a woman, then you can go to Xunyang, and go there to live and die with the two thousand soldiers guarding the city! Let the lord know, let the people of Huainan know that our Yang family has good bamboo shoots and has a son who dares to act!"

"Young Master, stop talking, stop talking." Li Lang was so anxious that he was sweating profusely. He quickly grabbed Yang Zheng again and advised repeatedly: "Young Master, stop talking. This is the matter between the prefect of Qiao and General Jiang. It has nothing to do with you, nothing to do with you, stop talking, I beg you to stop talking!"

What surprised Li Lang was that after hearing Yang Zheng's roar, Qiao Rui and Jiang Qin not only showed anger, but their faces were red and red. After a long time, Qiao Rui stood up and said to Jiang Qin: "General Gong Yi, the virtuous nephew of Huaiqing is right. We cannot only consider whether we are implicated, but also consider the lives of the soldiers. Be prepared to retreat. Once you find that the enemy is sending troops, you will immediately take the navy to retreat. I gather the troops from the three cities to stay in Chaisang to defend, and buy you time for counterattack. I am the prefect of Yuzhang, the lord's wife, what is the responsibility? I will bear it alone. Also, take the virtuous nephew of Huaiqing away, and ask the governor to express his merits to the lord."

Jiang Qin was silent, and after a long time, he nodded and said, "Your next order, I will immediately ask the navy to transfer Xunyang's garrison for you, and then I will withdraw."

"My nephew is rude, please ask your two uncles to punish him." Yang Zheng quickly knelt down to Qiao Rui and Jiang Qin to apologize. Qiao Rui and Jiang Qin helped Yang Zheng up together, and said with shame that he was ashamed. Qiao Rui also said, "Nephew, you are different from your father. I dare say that your father will be glad that you have such a son."

"Uncle Xie praises me, but my nephew is ashamed." Yang Zheng quickly said modestly, "Uncle Qiao, time is in a hurry, and we don't know the time for the Jingzhou army to send troops. In addition to arranging the retreat and the transfer of the defenders as soon as possible, we must also find a way to delay the Jingzhou army's pace of going east. Otherwise, once the Jingzhou navy suddenly comes, our navy has not had time to withdraw from Poyang Lake, or the two cities have not had time to transfer back to Chaisang, that would be bad."

"It's right, but how can I delay?" Qiao Rui felt a little embarrassed.

"Uncle, don't worry, my nephew has considered a countermeasure a few days ago." Yang Zheng said quickly: "My nephew has carefully analyzed it for you. Liu Qi led the Jingzhou army to the east suddenly, with the purpose of caught us off guard. In this case, we can follow Xian Gao's strategy of saving the country and create the illusion that our army has made strict preparations, so that Liu Qi dare not advance too lightly, and buy time for our army and food transfer, and also for the transfer of time for the people."

"Shengao saves the country? Who is Xiangao?" Jiang Qin and Li Lang, who had not read many books, asked curiously.

"Xian Gao was a businessman from Zheng State during the Spring and Autumn Period." Qiao Rui, who was born in a noble family, said quickly: "Once Qin sent troops to attack Zheng State, and Zheng State was not prepared to be destroyed. Xian Gao happened to deal with the cows. In order to buy time for Zheng State, Xian Gao sent people back to the country to report the news, while pretending to be the king of Zheng State, he sent twelve fat bulls to the general of Qin State, saying that it was a labor force. As a result, the general of Qin State thought that Zheng State was ready and did not dare to advance again. Zheng State also took the opportunity to get rid of Qin State's domestic traitors hidden in the city, and made strict defenses, forcing the Qin State's army to retreat!"

"Good idea!" Jiang Qinxi said: "Brother Qiao, please write a letter to Liu Qi quickly, and give him some gifts and say that the army will be hard, which makes Liu Qi think that we are ready, so he dare not take the risk of entering lightly. Maybe he can scare him away directly."

"I'll write a letter now."

Qiao Rui hurried to get the brush, but Yang Zheng took the lead and said while lifting the pen, "Uncle Qiao, you may not be afraid of Liu Qi with your tiger skin. You can only use the reputation of the Governor Lu. Please give me a handwritten man from the Governor Lu, or a letter written by the Governor Lu."

"What are you doing?" Qiao Rui asked in surprise.

"Of course, it is to imitate the handwriting of Governor Lu and give Liu Qi a letter in his reputation as Governor." Yang Zheng said without blinking his eyes: "Don't worry, if the Governor is held accountable, my nephew will bear it alone."

Qiao Rui and Jiang Qin looked at each other again, and once again questioned in their hearts, "Is this kid Yang Lao Tan's biological son?"

……………………

For Qiao Rui's team and Poyang Lake Navy, the letters forged by Yang Zheng were simply a life-saving letter. Because they were against the wind and against the current, the envoys sent by Qiao Rui and Jiang Qin from Chaisang had just arrived on the river twenty places west of Qichun and hit the fleet of the vanguard of the Jingzhou Army Ganning team. The envoys of Chaisang did not dare to be negligent, so they quickly paid homage to Ganning to present a letter of Lusu, as well as a whole ship of fine wine and cattle and sheep. As a result, Ganning, who was less than half a day away from Chaisang, was shocked when he saw the letter, fearing that the two main forces of the Xuzhou Navy had already joined forces in Poyang Lake to prepare for the battle. He went east alone and was outnumbered. He quickly ordered the stop advancing and sent people to report to Liu Qi.

Like Gan Ning, after seeing the handwritten letter from Lu Su to him, Liu Qi was also shocked. In order not to lose his strength in the army, Liu Qi had to immediately order Gan Ning not to underestimate the enemy and advance rashly. While leading the main force to Qichun to meet with the Gan Ning team, he rushed to send a large number of scout boats to the south to reconnaise the movements of the Xuzhou Navy. In response, Kuai Yue, the important minister of Jingzhou who served as Liu Qi's military advisor, also suspected that the Xuzhou army was playing the trick of rewarding the army at a high speed, he did not dare to take it lightly. He did not instigate Liu Qi to go south at full speed, but just waited for the echo of the scout's reconnaissance.

In this way, Yang Zheng's letter was equivalent to buying more than one day of valuable time for the Xuzhou army - it was easy for Jingzhou scouts to go east to reconnaissance. It was not easy to go back to report the news against the current and counter-aircraft. The Xuzhou army also took advantage of this precious time to transfer all the defenders, food, grass and military supplies of Xunyang and Liling cities back to Chaisang City as much as possible. The people in the two small cities also had time opportunities for evacuation and transfer. The Poyang Lake Navy led by Jiang Qin left some troops to help defend the city. He was able to calmly withdraw from Poyang Lake and retreat downstream at full speed to meet with the main force of Chaohu Lake, avoiding the misfortune of being defeated by the Jingzhou Navy.

When the Poyang Lake Navy retreated, although Qiao Rui and Jiang Qin both asked Yang Zheng to leave with the navy, Yang Zheng refused to leave and insisted on staying in Chaisang to help Qiao Rui defend the city. No one advised him. Qiao Rui and Jiang Qin were reluctant to do so, and admired Yang Zheng's ambition, so they agreed to stay in Chaisang. Li Lang was very anxious. He quickly found an opportunity to persuade Yang Zheng: "Young Master, you have made enough credits, why should you stay in Chaisang and be surrounded by the enemy? What should you do if there is any mistake in Chaisang's city?"

"Uncle Li. Don't worry." Yang Zheng said confidently: "Liu Qi has nothing to do to break through the city of Chaisang. Although his army is huge, there are countless problems inside. I have some ways to deal with him. My father brought out Liu Qi, a student, and although he brought an unexpected enemy to the lord, he also laid a stepping stone for me! This time, I said that I would climb up on Liu Qi's stepping stone, so that everyone in the world knew that in addition to corrupt officials, my Yang family also produced capable ministers and generals!"

Li Lang couldn't persuade him hard, so he had to accept his fate and stayed with Yang Zheng in Chaisang City and was surrounded by the enemy. At the same time, Li Lang had to sigh in his heart, "Young Master, you can not learn anything about Master, but his fear of death and oil on his feet, you have to learn a little, so as not to implicate me."

Relying on Yang Zheng's Xiangao rewarding strategy, the Poyang Lake Navy of Xuzhou Army finally avoided the enemy's edge by luck. Before encountering the enemy's main force, he withdrew from Poyang Lake and moved to the smooth Yangtze River channel, which gave the Jingzhou Army almost no chance to defeat the Xuzhou Navy. After Liu Qi found out that he was deceived, he was furious and immediately ordered the entire army to go south. On the afternoon of November 30, he arrived at the foot of Chaisang City, landed on the afternoon of November 30, and prepared to attack Chaisang City. At the same time, Yuan Yin and Liu Xun's team, who were also found to be deceived, also headed north together, and met with the main force of an ally Jingzhou. The coalition forces exceeded 110,000, and surrounded Chaisang City!

That night, the 110,000 Liu Yuan coalition forces completely surrounded the city of Chaisang. The flags covered the mountains and rivers, and the fire drums shook the world. The momentum was unparalleled. Seeing such a might, even if there were more than 15,000 Xuzhou defenders in Chaisang City, and Qiao Rui personally presided over the construction of Chaisang's strong city to defend, the defenders were inevitably frightened and panicked. Even Qiao Rui felt a little worried and asked Yang Zheng next to him: "Nephew, how about it? The enemy's voice is so loud, but I regret not retreating early with your Uncle Jiang?"

"Uncle, don't worry, I never regret what I do." Yang Zheng's expression was still extremely calm, and he pointed to the enemy's bonfire all over the mountains and said with a smile: "It's not that my nephew is arrogant. Although the enemy is powerful, it is just a piece of loose sand in the eyes of my nephew! If my uncle dares to listen to my nephew's strategy with confidence, he may not have to wait for the main force of Governor Lu to come to help. With my power as a Chaisang, the enemy can return in vain!"

"You can rest assured, please feel free to say what you have in the future. My uncle will follow his advice." Qiao Rui's answer surprised Yang Zheng very much, and then Qiao Rui also smiled and said, "Nephew, Governor Lu just used a carrier pigeon to send us an emergency order. Do you know what the order is?"

"I don't know." Yang Zheng said a lie.

"It's exactly the same as your enemy's strategy, it's not bad at all!" Qiao Rui said with a smile: "Governor Lu ordered that if the Jingzhou navy was confirmed to attack Chaisang, immediately give up Xunyang and Liling, gather troops to defend Chaisang, and the Poyang Lake navy went east to meet with the main force to avoid the enemy's edge!"

Yang Zheng smiled modestly, then smiled and said, "Uncle, my nephew has a ruthless request. When the enemy attacks the city, if you have the opportunity to capture prisoners, please arrest a few more for my nephew."

"What are you doing to capture prisoners?" Qiao Rui asked curiously.

"Of course it's useful." Yang Zheng replied: "My father was very proud of Liu Qi, an outstanding student, and repeated the three points that Liu Qi had pointed out to me more than once. I found that among the three points that my father gave to Liu Qi, there was one more critical thing missing, which would be a huge psychological weakness for Liu Qi. So this time I must firmly grasp Liu Qi's psychological weakness, let him suffer a lot, and also charge a tuition for my father."

"Oh, what are Liu Qi's psychological weaknesses?" Qiao Rui asked even more curiously.
Chapter completed!