The tower ship slowly approached Niuzhuji under the control of more than 30 sailors. The river water became more and more urgent, and the helmsman pushed the rudder hard. The paddles were shouting horns and rowing hard. The paddles flew over and dialed the turbulent water flow, and the white waves of water splashed everywhere, drifting with the wind, falling on his face and body. Everyone was wet. Sun Ce's cloak was stained with water and hung heavily on his body, which made him feel a little heavy.

From a distance, Niuzhuji is not high, like a bull sticking out his head to the river to drink water, occupying nearly half of the river. When he got closer, he looked up at the battle flags and figures on the turmeric, and then he felt the steepness of Niuzhuji. In winter, the water was shallow, and the rocks in the lower half of Niuzhuji were exposed, which was very different from the rock walls covered with green trees in the upper half. The entire rock wall was almost straight up and down, as high as fifty or sixty feet, and no matter how high the ladder was, it could not be reached.

Seeing the warship approaching, some arrows were shot from the rocks, most of which fell into the river, and only three or two arrows shot onto the ship, without any strength. Despite this, the warships rose and fell with the waves and stopped for a moment. Sun Ce and others were used to boarding the ship, but they didn't think there was any problem. Ma Chao, Yan Xing and others from Xiliang were very nervous. Not only did they separate their feet and stood in horse stances, their hands did not dare to let go of the railings, and they even dared not look out. The river water was too fast and they were dizzy. Ma Chao's face was whiter, and even his lips lost their blood color, which looked quite pitiful.

"General, you can't get closer." Gan Ning reminded: "If there is a falling rock on it, it is very dangerous."

Sun Ce agreed. It would be meaningless to go further. It is impossible to land from here anyway. The landing pier is on the east side of Niuzhuji, where there are mountains blocking it, the water flow is slow, and it is possible to moor boats, but there must be heavy troops there to defend, and forced attacks will lead to major casualties. In contrast, the camp of Niuzhushan is more suitable for attack.

The boat slowly drifted, the water flow gradually slowed down, and the boat was no longer so turbulent. Ma Chao and Yan Xing quietly breathed a sigh of relief and finally stood firm.

Zhou Xin's defense line was pushed to the riverside, not only erected the camp bars, but also arranged a large number of crossbowmen. Seeing Sun Ce and others approaching to reconnaissance, the crossbowmen began to shoot. Yi Cong stood in a row, raised a small steel round shield to cover the rain of arrows, and the arrows shot on the shield. Ding Ding made a sound, crisp and pleasant sound, which was very nice. Gan Ning waved his hand and directed the two warships to go around the flagship. The crossbowmen stood in a row, pulled the crossbows, and carried out suppressive shooting.

The arrows of both sides ran together and were very happy to shoot.

Sun Ce stood on the Feilu, looking at the camp by the river, smacked his lips. He told Cheng Pu that he would pretend to attack and defeat, but after looking at the camp, he felt that it would not be so troublesome. Even if he wanted to attack for a strong force, he might not be able to succeed. Zhou Xin arranged at least five or six thousand people here, half of which were crossbowmen, and less than a hundred steps offshore were the crossbowmen's position. From the docking of the warship, it was within the range of the crossbowmen. Even if the attacking side wanted to arrange crossbowmen to cover, it could not be spread out. The effect of the cover was very limited. The landing warriors could only advance in the rain of arrows, and the price they paid was definitely considerable. Even if some people rushed up, they would be difficult to shake the opponent's defense line when facing the defenders several times more than they had.

If you cannot deploy enough troops at one time and use the tactic of adding fuel, it will be a death sentence, even if there are tens of thousands of people, it will be useless.

In a word, it is easy to defend but difficult to attack. Although it is better than Niuzhuji, it is not much better.

If you really want to attack strongly, unless you let Yi Chengzhang go to the battlefield. Yi Chengzhang has special heavy armor, which can offset the power of some crossbows and force breakthroughs. But in that case, the loss will be very large. Even heavy armor cannot withstand the shooting of strong crossbows in melee Li. Sun Ce does not want to use the carefully trained Yi Chengzhang in such places.

Things have not reached that point.

"Who are you willing to fight for the first time?" Sun Ce asked the generals.

No one talked. After looking at the terrain, as long as you have some common sense, you know that it is a hard worker. It would be fine if Sun Ce really wanted to fight, but even if the price was a little higher, it would be worth it to win the first prize. But Sun Ce clearly did not plan to attack. The task of the first battle was not to win, but to cheat and defeat. No one was willing to do such a thankless job.

"Defeating a war is a technical job, which is more difficult than winning a war, and ordinary people really can't do it." Sun Ce turned around and looked at the generals with a smile. "Not only have to lose, but also have to lose like it. The loss cannot be too large. The size must be mastered to achieve the correct advantage, which tests the general's command ability."

Still no one spoke.

"It seems that I am the only one who comes here." Sun Ce patted the railing. "I am indeed more experienced in this matter."

The personal guard general Guo Teng smiled bitterly and said, "General, how can you get into battle in person? I'll do it. I'll arrange a battalion to attack, and Guard Gan cooperates with us. Except for the general's Yicong camp, which is the personal guard camp, which can take on this task, the other people are either cavalry or newly reorganized personnel, and they cannot be attacked at all."

Yang Xiu laughed "puffed" and turned his face away.

Gan Ning raised his eyebrows slightly and coughed. He was not stupid, of course he knew who Guo Ting was talking about. Except for the Qinwei Camp and Yi Cong Camp under Sun Ce, he and the 200 Xiliang Cavalrymen were newly joined. In this case, it was impossible to let the cavalry go to battle. The rest was him. He admitted the new one, and he said he could not fight, but he did not admit it.

"It is better for us to bear the water battle. I dare not say anything else, we are good at this."

Sun Ce looked at Gan Ning. "Xingba, I know you can fight, but this mission is a fraudulent defeat. Are you good at this? It's not enough to lose a lot. I still expect these people under you to be the backbone of the navy."

Gan Ning was very happy and bowed. "General, don't worry, I know what to do."

Sun Ce nodded and said nothing. Gan Ning was a newcomer and indeed needed an opportunity to show off. As the saying goes, there are people in the world, and Guo Tun and others followed him all the way. Now they are just lieutenants and commanders. Before Gan Ning made a contribution, he promised him a Fubo commander. If he really had a navy in the future, he would become a lieutenant. If he had no credit for anything, how could he convince the public? If he favored Gan Ning too much, other generals would have opinions and Gan Ning would not be able to handle himself.

After the reconnaissance, Sun Ce retreated to the camp and immediately arranged a task. Gan Ning was responsible for tentative attacks and fraudulent defeat, and maintained pressure on Niuzhuji and Niuzhu camps, guarded the river surface, cut off Zhou Xin's contact with Jiangbei, and other ships retreated, preparing to pick up Cheng Pu across the river and surround Zhou Xin's retreat.

The generals took the order and left, each preparing for their own preparations.

As night falls, the moon rises, the lights of the water and land camp are dotted, reflected in the silver-light river, like stars. Sun Ce sat on the boat, looking at Niuzhuji, which is integrated with the night in the distance, and suddenly remembered something. The poet Li Bai seemed to die here. He also wrote a poem "Wang Tianmen Mountain", and Tianmen Mountain is behind him, namely Dong Liangshan and West Liangshan.

"Dear Master, this feeling and this scene, are there any interest in writing poetry?"
Chapter completed!