Chapter 119: Troops March Into Yizhou

"This boat is too small!" Gan Gui wiped the Eight Ox Crossbow carefully, with an inexplicable desire in his eyes.

When the crossbow was fired just now, Gan Gui could feel the tilt of the hull even in the cabin.

After returning to the deck after docking again, he saw shallow cracks on the base of the Eight Ox Crossbow.

"This is a trial." Guan Yu was still shirtless, just like the people Gan Gui saw most often making a living on the water.

In Gan Gui's opinion, General Guan was a fierce general in the world. When he was in Jiangdong, the old man also said that Guan Yu was as fierce as him.

But such a general who rushed into the battle and seized the will of the army and cut off the flag is now going to deal with the navy?

But now it seems that there is a chance! This General Guan was polite and respectful to the sailors and ate and lived with the sailors on the ship. He also asked for advice on the navy training with a humble attitude every time, which made Gan Gui flattered.

Now there are such new ships, simply...

"In the future, General Guan can rely on this navy to dominate Jiangdong."

This is the only thought in Gan Gui's mind.

Looking at Guan Yu who was carefully checking and evaluating the condition of the hull, Gan Gui couldn't help but offer his own suggestions:

"General Guan, this ship is too small."

Gan Gui stretched out his hands and compared:

"If this ship is as big as Sun Hou's, such a round water wheel on the ship will not hinder the oars and sails."

"And several crossbows can be placed on each side of the ship. When fighting with enemy ships, these crossbows can shoot at the sampan ferry, wouldn't it be that both the people and the boat are destroyed?"

"And..."

Gan Gui excitedly told the story, and Guan Yu listened carefully. In Gan Gui's idea, the big ship uses sails with the wind, and has round water wheels and oars against the wind. When fighting, the crossbows are fired at the same time, which can be called an invincible giant ship.

"And if the crossbow arrows of the repeating crossbow are modified," Guan Yu drew inferences from one example:

"Attach a hemp rope to the end of the crossbow arrows, and wedge the crossbow arrows into the enemy ships. Then, wouldn't the warriors be able to drag the enemy ships closer to board?"

"But there is a problem now." Guan Yu looked up and thought: "Now the shipbuilders in Jiangling City have no way to build giant ships."

Gan Gui was delighted: "I am willing to go to Jiangdong!"

...

Just when Guan Yu was looking at his warships and thinking about how to improve them.

To the west of Jingzhou, a team was already winding along the Yiling Road.

Pang Tong, riding on horseback, looked at the steep mountains and his face turned pale.

And looking at his lord walking on foot in front of him, Pang Tong's face was full of gratitude.

As if sensing Pang Tong's gaze, Liu Bei turned around and said with a relaxed smile:

"Shi Yuan is waiting for good news in Linju, why do you insist on following me?"

Pang Tong shook his head and whispered: "That Li Yi doesn't recognize the lord, but only recognizes me. If the lord comes in person without Tong, how can he succeed?"

That's right, Liu Bei stopped persuading him and just looked ahead.

There were jagged rocks ahead and the gorge was rugged. Liu Bei was distracted for a moment. He thought that he would set up more than 50 camps here ten years later and then achieve the name of Lu Xun?

"Lord, Zigui is ten miles ahead." Huo Jun came back from the front to inform.

"Rest on the spot." Liu Bei ordered.

It was February, winter, but fortunately, with the coal powder and the grain powder distributed by Kong Ming, Liu Bei and his party were not in trouble.

Liu Bei's army of 3,000 men was sent out this time, and everyone was equipped with leg wraps. This thing had been verified before. Simply tying it can indeed increase the marching speed, which also made a group of generals marvel. They tried their best to equip their troops with leg wraps.

After a simple rest, Liu Bei divided his troops.

He led a thousand men with Pang Tong, while Chen Dao, Huo Jun, Feng Xi and Zhang Nan led two thousand men to slowly march behind to support.

Outside Zigui City, Li Yi was already waiting here.

"I didn't expect that Zhou Gongjin would be so short-lived."

Li Yi sighed. He had clearly planned it before. When he heard that Zhou Gongjin was gathering troops in Chaisang, Li Yi had already thought about how big a house to buy in Jiangdong!

As a result, things changed unexpectedly fast.

Li Yi didn't know that Zhou Gongjin died of a sudden illness until November last year. Whether Jiangdong could continue to attack Yizhou became a matter of debate.

Fortunately, along with Zhou Gongjin's death, Pang Tong's secret letter was also sent.

This man claimed to be Zhou Gongjin's close follower, and he was entrusted by Zhou Gongjin before his death to surrender to Li Yi, hoping to attack Liu Bei with Jiangdong.

Li Yi did not comment on this. Since the credit for offering Yizhou was gone, he had to have some credit for surrendering to Jiangdong.

But he had also heard of the names of Guan Yu and Zhang Fei under Liu Bei's command. If Jiangdong was powerful, he, Li Yi, would not mind stepping on Liu Bei to gain credit.

If Jiangdong itself had been frustrated... I would tie up Pang Tong and send him to Chengdu, and I think I could get a lot of benefits.

Therefore, Li Yi was happy to see Pang Tong's arrival.

"General, they are here!" Some sharp-eyed people had already seen the group of people, led by a scholar riding a white horse.

When the group of people came out of the gorge, Li Yi was also shocked by their solemn military appearance.

But there were only a thousand people, and there was a strong city and two thousand defenders behind him, so what was there to be afraid of?

"General Li, we have a guest from afar. Why don't you invite me in to chat in such a cold weather?" Pang Tong shouted.

Li Yi hesitated for a moment and said vaguely: "You wrote to me before saying that you had a letter..."

Then Li Yi saw Pang Gongcao riding his horse a few dozen steps forward and took out a letter from his bosom:

"Here is the letter, you can take a look!"

Li Yi hesitated for a moment, but seeing that there was only an old soldier beside Pang Gongcao, he also rode out and went forward to see what conditions Sun Hou had prepared for him?

When approaching, Pang Tong's impatient expression, which did not seem to be fake, dispelled Li Yi's last worry, and he leaned forward to take the letter.

Jiangdong's mansions, fertile fields, and beautiful women may all be in this letter!

And at this moment, the old soldier beside Pang Tong raised his head, with a pair of heroic eyes that were unwilling to be inferior to others!

The unsheathed long sword was as bright as white silk in the slightly dim sky. Li Yi subconsciously covered his throat. He could feel his strength and his dream deposited in Jiangdong, all flowing out along his throat and through his fingers.

Soldiers from both sides watched as the old soldier bent down and cut off Li Yi's head, then climbed onto Li Yi's mount, raised the head and shouted:

"I am the great Han Emperor Liu, this thief Li Yi wants to betray his master for glory, if you don't surrender, do you want to rebel against Han?!"

The soldiers brought by Liu Bei shouted at the same time:

"Betray the master for glory!"

Then a thousand people stepped forward at the same time and continued to shout:

"Want to rebel against Han!"

At the same time, teams of soldiers in the gorge behind them lined up and stepped together, shouting in unison:

"Betray the master for glory, want to rebel against Han!"

At this time, the soldiers outside Zigui City had been shaken, looking at each other:

We have become traitors?

Across the way is the well-known benevolent Emperor Liu?

The silent soldiers did not hesitate for too long, and as someone took the lead in throwing down their weapons, soon Li Yi led more than a thousand soldiers out of the city and surrendered.

For the people of Zigui, their daily lives did not change much.

In the morning, they saw General Li leading his army out of Zigui City, but in the evening, it was not General Li Yi who returned to Zigui City.

The faces, accents, and inquiring eyes of these soldiers towards Zigui City made the old people quickly understand:

This is an army from outside, it should be from Jingzhou!

Outsiders are coming to attack?

But the people of Zigui soon gave up this idea: If they are coming, how can they not rob?

There are also people from Dongzhou who have fled to Zigui City. There is a Mr. Li who fled from Yanzhou to Yuzhou, and then from Yuzhou to Jingzhou. When he arrived in Jingzhou, he heard that Cao thieves were coming, so he simply bought a boat and went upstream to settle down in Zigui.

In Mr. Li's indifferent tone, the people of Zigui had an intuitive understanding that thieves come like combs and soldiers come like combs.

Allowing soldiers to plunder the city, abduct women, collect garrisons, and massacre the city, each of these terms can make the people of Zigui pale.

But today's soldiers are different. Although there is undisguised greed in their eyes when they look at the people, the fear in their eyes is even greater when they look at the generals leading the army in front.

Chen Dao in front listened to the orders of his lord.

"Please ask Shu Zhi to bring his personal soldiers to maintain the public order in the city. Those who disturb the people will be executed immediately. Since you receive 500 monthly wages, you must abide by military regulations and laws."

Chen Dao accepted the order.

"Please ask the military advisor to issue a notice of the situation, print it on a carved plate, and post it in the city to inform the situation."

Pang Tong also accepted the order.

Liu Bei pondered for a moment and continued to order:

"Please also ask Shu Zhi to send another personal soldier to lock up Li Yi's mansion, count the remaining wealth, and give the servants and servants in the mansion money to return home and dismiss them. As for Li Yi's relatives, they will be locked up for the time being."

"My lord is kind." Pang Tong praised.

Seeing Chen Dao taking orders to do it, Liu Bei sighed:

"Thanks to Shi Yuan's talent, Zigui was able to be taken without hurting the people."

Pang Tong did not dare to take credit, but just sighed: "It is also thanks to the detailed information left by Gong Yan before."

No one mentioned Li Yi's light curtain, but after Kong Ming and Jiang Wan carefully filtered the information, they basically found this doubt.

In the Hanzhong War, when the Xiangshui Alliance was formed, Zigui Wu County was still in the hands of the lord. Why didn't General Yunchang go to Zigui when he was defeated, but retreated to the direction of Shangyong?

Even if it was because of Liu Feng Mengda in Fangling Shangyong, if he could pass Linju and enter Yiling Road at that time, such an easy-to-defend and difficult-to-attack terrain could also be used to escape.

Then there is only one possibility: with the so-called white-clothed crossing of the river, Zigui Wu County all rebelled, and judging from the means by which the lord appeased the people after entering Yizhou, it has always been Li Yi who has been guarding this place.

Li Yi originally followed Zhao Wei to rebel against Liu Zhang. After Zhao Wei was defeated, Li Yi turned against Zhao Wei and returned to Liu Zhang. However, this was a temporary measure. Like Pang Xi, as he gradually gained power, he no longer took Liu Zhang seriously.

The arrival of Pang Tong filled in the last link: the water near Yiling was turbulent and there were many reefs, so the navy could not be used. But why did Zhou Yu still have the confidence to attack Yizhou?

It was probably because of Li Yi's help.

Pang, Zhuge, and Jiang speculated that there should be a plan to persuade Li Yi to surrender when the white-clothed crossing of the river was carried out.

In this way, it makes sense why Lu Xun, a Jiangdong man, could advance and retreat in moderation in the Battle of Yiling: most likely with the help of the surrendered general Li Yi.

In this case, Pang Tong took the initiative to volunteer to make this risky plan:

In the name of Zhou Yu's dying entrustment, he asked Li Yi to meet him and kill the traitor with one knife. Zigui was leaderless, how could it resist?

Liu Bei thought it was too risky, but Pang Tong insisted.

Fortunately, the final result can be said to be very smooth. Zigui was taken without bloodshed, and the army was able to move westward!