Chapter 698: Troops Enter Chaisang
Jingzhou, Xiakou.
This most important town in Jiangxia has changed hands again with the arrival of Xiang Chong's army. However, Xiang Chong was not happy about this, but frowned.
The reason was that when his army arrived at Xiakou, they found that this important military town had become a siege. The Dongwu navy that was originally deployed here had long disappeared.
"Report to the general, we sent people to arrange scouts everywhere, and found no trace of the Wu army. Even in Yunmengze, we sent people to check, but there was still no Wu army."
Just when Xiang Chong frowned, the scout came back to report to Xiang Chong. This report also made Xiang Chong sure that Dongwu had no intention of ambush.
"What about General Luo? Did he find anything in Chibi?" Xiang Chong frowned and asked.
"General Luo sent someone to convey a message saying that the Wu army that confronted him had also disappeared." Luo Xian's messenger on the side immediately replied and added specifically.
"General Luo's guess is that the prime minister put too much pressure on Jiangdong. The Wu army had to withdraw its main force and go back to defend Moling."
"So General Luo urged the army to continue moving forward, and the main force of the navy tried to approach Chaisang as much as possible, echoing the prime minister's offensive."
"Is that so?" Xiang Chong hesitated and still felt a little timid about it.
After all, he was defeated by Luo Tong two years ago, which left Xiang Chong with a psychological shadow. So even though Dongwu has disappeared now, Xiang Chong is still worried whether this is Dongwu's conspiracy.
However, soon, the scouts sent to Chaisang brought back accurate news.
"What did you say? Dongwu began to block the river with chains?" After listening to the scout's report, Xiang Chong suddenly widened his eyes and asked in disbelief.
"General, that's right. Not only are they blocking the river with chains, but they are also trying to sink a lot of debris to the bottom of the water to try to stop the big ships from passing."
"Great!" The scout's report completely dispelled Xiang Chong's concerns. He couldn't help laughing and gave an order very decisively.
"Dongwu's behavior is obviously cowardly. It is very likely that the other side Chaisang has few troops left."
"In this case, we are still afraid of nothing. Pass my order to transfer all the ships that can be transferred from Jingzhou to forcefully break through Chaisang's defense line!"
Even now, Dongwu is invincible in naval battles, and they don't even need to look at the Han Navy. But now, Dongwu suddenly blocked the river in the most clumsy way, obviously its own strength is so weak that it can't confront the Han Navy head-on.
On the whole, it is very likely that the Dongwu Navy has withdrawn all to Jianye to prevent the main force of the prime minister in the north from crossing the river. And the little force left in Chaisang can't stop the Jingzhou Navy at all.
In this case, Xiang Chong couldn't just lie there all the time.
Soon, at Xiang Chong's command, a large number of ships and equipment gathered in Xiakou City. Xiang Chong, relying on the abundant manpower and material resources of Jingzhou, pressed towards Chaisang with great momentum.
While Xiang Chong was making all-out arrangements and preparing to force a breakthrough through Chaisang, Luo Xian in the south had already set off.
He was not heading to Xiakou, but to sneak across Yuzhang along the path next to Chibi. After all, as a local of Jingzhou, Luo Xian was very familiar with the local terrain.
Xiang Chong didn't say anything about this, but ordered the Jingnan troops to respond at any time, and then Xiang Chong began to mobilize the main force to attack Chaisang.
Iron locks across the river and sundries sinking into the river sounded very bluffing, but in fact they were all old-fashioned methods. For Xiang Chong, he could come up with a lot of ways to break through without even thinking about it.
However, to be on the safe side, Xiang Chong still chose the safest strategy. He collected hundreds of small boats from Jingzhou, filled them with hay and kerosene, and rushed along the river after lighting them.
Then, with the main force of the river and the sails, hundreds of small boats rushed towards the chain.
The Wu army stationed on both sides also planned to use hooks to drag the boats to the shore, but facing such a large number of ships, they were as powerless as clowns.
In less than half a day, the chain of Chaisang was broken. Even because of the huge number of redundant ships, Xiang Chong also rushed away the debris that sank into the river in Dongwu.
The Wu army had painstakingly prepared a defense line for a long time, but it was broken by the Han army in less than a day. Then Xiang Chong led the Han navy into Yangzhou with great momentum and pressed directly to the gate of Chaisang Water Fort.
When Xiang Chong's army approached Chaisang, the water fort of Dongwu suddenly roared. Dozens of warships suddenly came out in a row, and Luo Tong's general flag was hung high.
Unfortunately, Xiang Chong is not an idiot, and he will not be scared by your threats. After the initial bluffing, the strength of the Dongwu navy was clearly seen.
"There are only about 30 small boats left, not even a tower ship left?" Xiang Chong looked at the pitiful scale of Dongwu, his eyes shining.
No wonder Luo Tong was so scared, with only these few ships left, anyone would be nervous, right?
Seeing that Dongwu's navy had only these few ships left, Xiang Chong's confidence immediately rose. After a brief hesitation, Xiang Chong immediately ordered the entire army to press forward and attack Chaisang Water Fort.
Thanks to Guan Xing, the Jingzhou navy was rebuilt very early. Although the combat power is not very good, the number of ships is definitely enough. Even the big killer tower ships, the Han navy has dozens of them.
Can you lose with a flying dragon riding on your face? I, Xiang Chong, really don't believe it, okay?
So, Xiang Chong went up, but the result was shocking.
Although the Dongwu navy had only a few dozen ships left, their technical and tactical level was completely incomparable to that of the Han army. The two sides fought outside Chaisang for half an hour, and Xiang Chong found that the Han navy had already shown signs of decline...
"What's going on? They only have so few people, and they can still lose?" Xiang Chong's face darkened, feeling a little unbelievable.
On the other side, Luo Tong finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"It looks like I can still hold on." Luo Tong wiped the blood splashed on his forehead and muttered.
At this moment, Luo Tong had no cards in his hand in the true sense. All the navy were forced to return to Jianye by Sun Quan, and only a mere 5,000 people and less than 2,000 navy troops were left to defend Chaisang with him.
So Luo Tong's ability to hold on until now was even an extraordinary performance.
"If nothing unexpected happens, after repelling the Han army's navy, Chaisang can hold out for another month... Of course, the premise is that there will be no accidents." Luo Tong was calculating in his mind how long he could hold out, but the more he thought about it, the more uncertain he became.
However, misfortunes never come singly. When Luo Tong had just made some progress in the naval battle, he suddenly discovered that the Chaisang water fort was on fire!