The Nameless of the Common Clans

The cold river wind blew on his face. Sun Ce stood at the stern, feeling the wind blowing in his face, with excitement in his eyes. In this battle, he had to first cripple the navy of Jingzhou. In this way, the entire river surface would be completely under his control. The four counties of Jingnan, Jiangling, Jiangxia, and the navy of Jiangdong would be unimpeded. At that time, he could attack wherever he wanted. Not to mention Liu Biao, even if Lu Bu came to the river, Sun Ce had the confidence to easily defeat him.

"Youping, where are you?" Sun Ce turned his head and shouted towards the bow.

"My lord, we have already reached Shaxian. If the wind continues to blow like this, we can reach Jiangling before dawn. Why don't we..." Zhou Tai said excitedly, "How about taking Jiangling by the way?"

"If it is so easy, not to mention Jiangling, Jingzhou would have been in my pocket long ago!" Sun Ce couldn't help but laugh when he heard this. The beacon fire of the Jingzhou army can transmit messages much faster than their ships. Sun Ce has visited Jiangling City. The city is high and the walls are thick. If you want to break through Jiangling, you need at least 50,000 soldiers and horses. If Jiangling is isolated, it will take a month or even longer to break through. Now we don't have such conditions. We should take Jiangxia first and then attack Xiangyang directly.

"Besides, this east wind will hardly last until tomorrow morning. Send my military order to all ships to dock on the shore and order people to quickly put dry grass and other fire-starting things around." Sun Ce turned his head and looked at Zhou Tai.

His target was the navy of Jingzhou, so he would not run too far. Next, he would wipe out the navy of Jingzhou, and then Jiangxia would be in his pocket. But this was not the most important thing. The most important thing was that if he won this battle, Sun Ce would control the entire Yangtze River. There would be no navy in Jingzhou to resist him. Sun Ce could calmly take the four counties of southern Jingzhou, and then attack the southern county.

"Yes!" Zhou Tai did not ask much, and immediately agreed. He ordered people to start sending signals to the ships. The fleet slowly stopped near Shaxian. The soldiers began to go ashore to collect dry grass and other fire-starting things, and then Sun Ce used the fifty galleons that he had brought out to store these dry grass.

"My lord, do you want to attack with fire?" Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin came to Sun Ce and watched the soldiers pour the kerosene stored in the cabin on the dry grass in the galleons under Sun Ce's command. They probably understood Sun Ce's idea.

"Yes." Sun Ce nodded and said, "If we leave in such a grand manner, Cai Mao will definitely take the opportunity to cut off my retreat. At dawn, I will see how I can set fire to the river!"

In fact, we can directly burn Xiakou Water Village with the help of the east wind, but we can't burn much. Cai Mao is often in Jingzhou and is well versed in water warfare. Normally, even with the east wind, he can only defeat Cai Mao at most. But what Sun Ce wants is not only to defeat Cai Mao, but also to gain the hegemony of the Yangtze River and completely rule the Yangtze River. The Jiangdong Navy must be completely destroyed!

The generals were naturally excited when they heard this. They were ready to return as soon as the east wind stopped. When they came, they needed the help of the east wind, but when they went back, they didn't necessarily need the west wind. When they went back, they went downstream. It was naturally best to have wind to borrow, but even if there was no wind, the speed would not be slow if they went downstream. Of course, it would be best if there was wind. Fire could use the wind to maximize the effect of fire attack.

In order to avoid missing the opportunity to fight, the soldiers were allowed to take turns to rest in the cabin, and a special person was asked to pay attention to the wind direction. As long as the wind direction changed, they would immediately weigh anchor and return to the army, and they would be able to completely wipe out the Jingzhou navy in one fell swoop.

The east wind blew for most of the night, until the fifth watch, when a soldier in charge of watching suddenly jumped down and shouted: "My lord, the wind direction has changed!"

Sun Ce, who had not slept all night, suddenly stood up, drew his sword, and said loudly: "Weigh anchor and set sail!"

At that moment, the fleet, which had turned around, began to slowly leave the river bank, and went downstream in a mighty manner, heading straight for Xiakou.

An hour later, the sky was already bright, and from a distance, with the help of the rising sun, a large number of fleets with Jingzhou flags could be seen across the river.

Seeing this, Sun Ce's eyes lit up: "God help me!"

He didn't expect that in order to cut off his retreat, Cai Mao not only pulled out all the warships in his hands, but also used the tower ships, and even tied all the ships together with ropes.

What's more, the west wind has started to blow. Although the direction is not quite right, it is not bad. He turned his head and shouted to Zhou Tai: "Send the order, fire the boats!"

"Yes!" Zhou Tai roared, climbed into the cabin, held the flag high and waved it continuously, and the dry grass on the boats was ignited, and began to move rapidly towards the Jingzhou fleet blocking the river downstream, and the naval battle began!

Cai Mao, who was resting on the ship, was suddenly awakened: "General, something bad has happened, Sun Ce is back!"

"Huh? How come it's so fast!?" Hearing this, Cai Mao woke up instantly and got up quickly. While putting on his armor, he shouted: "No, we've been tricked. Pass my military order and withdraw to Xiakou immediately!"

After all, as a person in charge of the military power of Jingzhou, Cai Mao quickly understood Sun Ce's plan. The other party's attack on Jiangling was fake. It was to lead him out of the Xiakou water fort and destroy his navy on the river. This was what Sun Ce really wanted to do.

Cai Mao knew very well that if they really fought, he might not be Sun Ce's opponent, so he had to return to the water fort immediately.

However, Cai Mao ordered the navy's ships to be tied together with ropes. Those ropes were soaked in oil and had a tough texture. Even if he wanted to cut them, it would be difficult to cut so many ships at once.

Just as Cai Mao was anxiously ordering the ships to be disconnected and withdrawn to the water stronghold, a general suddenly pointed at the river and shouted, "General, look!"

Cai Mao subconsciously looked in the direction of Sun Ce's navy upon hearing this, and saw dozens of smoking boats breaking away from Sun Ce's fleet and rushing towards this side at a very fast speed.

Cai Mao didn't react for a while. These dozens of boats could probably carry less than a hundred soldiers. What could these people do?

But soon, the fire on the dozens of smoking boats gradually became clear.

Cai Mao's face changed, and the faces of the Jingzhou navy on each ship also changed.

"Quick, cut the ropes, avoid those fire ships, and retreat!" The next moment, Cai Mao roared madly.

In fact, he didn't need to say it, even the soldiers who didn't understand naval warfare knew what to do at this time. Once those fire ships approached, these Jingzhou warships would probably be burned to ashes.

But it was too late. The Jingxiang navy watched helplessly as the unmanned boats with thick flames rushed into the ship formation. In order to cut off the Jiangdong navy, the distance between the ships was quite close. At this time, it was this decision that ruined the retreat of the Jingxiang navy.

"Bang~"

The boats hit the warship lying across the river fiercely. The penetrating spikes pierced the ship's plank with the help of speed and were firmly fixed to the warship. The fire on the ship quickly ignited the warship with the help of the wind. The navy on the warship kept splashing water on it or slapping it with clothes to put out the fire.

But at this time, the ships were all made of wood. Not only were they not fireproof, but they were quite flammable. Once a fire broke out, it was difficult to extinguish. The fire spread quickly. Seeing that there was no hope of putting out the fire, many soldiers jumped off the ship to escape.

But it is winter now. Even if the water of the Yangtze River is not frozen, the water temperature is definitely not high. Even if you can survive after jumping down, you will probably suffer from a disease or even freeze to death.

Many boats rushed into the fleet through the gaps between the warships. With the wind gradually getting stronger, the fire began to spread rapidly to the entire fleet.

Cai Mao's building ship finally broke free from the shackles of the ropes, and his building ship was at the rear. Under Cai Mao's command, it went downstream and broke away from the fleet. When he looked back, he saw that most of the fleet had been engulfed in flames. Countless Jingzhou soldiers jumped into the water to survive. Only a small number of warships broke away from the fleet and headed towards Xiakou. The entire river was covered with flames, which looked quite spectacular under the morning sun.

But Cai Mao really had no intention of appreciating this spectacular scene, and he couldn't appreciate it. The Jingzhou navy was mostly lost in just one battle, and the price paid by the enemy was only dozens of boats.

The fire was getting bigger and bigger, but it also blocked Sun Ce's pursuit. This was probably a blessing in disguise, right?

Cai Mao could only comfort himself now and command the troops to gather the escaping fleet and quickly retreat to Xiakou. If he lost this battle, Sun Ce would definitely seize Jiangxia. He had to defend Xiakou, otherwise his prestige in Jingzhou would be greatly reduced.

Even if he lost, he couldn't lose too thoroughly, so that when he returned, he would still have some confidence to suppress those who were dissatisfied with him, such as Liu Bei.

Although the fire stopped Sun Ce, it failed to stop Zhou Yu. When Cai Mao hurried back to Xiakou, he saw a Jiangdong navy coming from downstream and breaking into Xiakou before him. Xiakou's resistance was not too fierce. The fire on the river not only burned the ships of the Jingzhou navy, but also burned the morale of the Jingzhou army. The fire stood on the river bank and was in full view. At this time, a Jiangdong navy suddenly rushed out. With the few soldiers in Xiakou and low morale, how could they stop the attack of the Jiangdong navy with high morale? At the same time, there were three warships and dozens of boats approaching this side.

"Retreat~" Cai Mao looked at this scene and had no intention of fighting. He immediately ordered the remaining ships to withdraw and ordered the archers to shoot arrows at the opponent to suppress the opponent's ships from approaching.

"Cai Mao, if you don't surrender now, when will you surrender?" Just as Cai Mao was withdrawing from the vicinity of Xiakou, Sun Ce had already led his fleet to bypass the fire and surround this side.

Looking at the Jiangdong warships that were quickly surrounding him from all directions, Cai Mao's hand holding the sword was shaking. At this moment, he knew that he was finished.

Silently raised the sword, crossed his neck, hesitated for a moment, and finally did not make up his mind, and was stopped by his subordinates...