Zhang Hong analyzed the general trend and cleared up the confusion, and the next problem was easy to handle.

The competition must be a battle, but it cannot be a simple battle. First of all, it is necessary to ensure that there will be no major casualties, deaths, or injuries and disabilities, and then it will be difficult to talk about cooperation with Han Sui and Ma Teng. But the sword and spear have no eyes, and when the two are equal, no one can guarantee that the proportion is just right. Especially Yan Xing and Ma Chao are both young people, maybe they want to defeat Sun Ce and become famous in one fell swoop, but they are red-eyed, who is willing to stay. Even Sun Ce himself is not sure, he is usually very calm, and he is a little crazy if he really wants to go to the battlefield.

This problem was easy to solve, and Sun Ce decided to build a batch of bladeless blades specially used for martial arts, and at the same time increase protection to avoid casualties as much as possible. Secondly, as the commander of the first army, he can't challenge anyone to fight, so many masters around him don't have to use it in vain, let them go into battle first, if Ma Chao and Yan Xing can win them, he will not be too late to fight.

In addition to the battle, Guo Jia also put forward a suggestion: since he wants to form an alliance with Han Sui and Ma Teng, he can't snub Yan Xing and Ma Chao, and treat each other politely, and let them see Nanyang's strength by the way. If he could keep them, Sun Ce would have two generals who were proficient in cavalry warfare. Even if they can't leave them, they must leave a good impression, they can't let Yang Xiu control the situation, influence their opinions, and can't be Yang Xiu's help.

Sun Ce accepted his suggestion and decided that Guo Jia would be in charge of the matter personally. Guo Jia is good at figuring out people's hearts, and can find problems from the subtleties, which is more than enough to deal with Ma Chao and Yan Xing. Guo Jia is his close confidant, and he is responsible for receiving and accompanying him, which is enough to show his friendliness. As for Yang Xiu, let him observe the people's feelings and compete with the Nanyang family.

Considering that in the near future, the imperial court may issue an edict to recruit famous generals and warriors, and there will definitely be a group of people who respond to the call of the imperial court, he sent someone to inform Zhou Yu to seize the time to report his military merits, prepare a list of soldiers who can be promoted, and be ready to fill the vacancy at any time. The legs are long on others, if anyone wants to go, he can't stop it, what he can do is to prepare in advance, so as not to affect the command and training of the team.

When he thought of the people who might leave, Sun Ce first thought of Liu Guanzhang. Liu Bei was idle by him and transferred to Yuzhou Mufu to be a soldier, he must be unhappy, with this opportunity, he will most likely leave. Liu Bei wants to leave, he can't stop him, but he has to make good use of it before leaving. He sent someone to Yuzhou to inform Liu Bei and asked him to arrange for Guan Yu and Zhang Fei to face Ma Chao and Yan Xing. Now that the edict has not been issued, Liu Bei must be happy to see it come true, and maybe he will think about taking the opportunity to return to the barracks.

Everything was arranged, and Sun Ce ordered people to prepare separately.

——

Yiling, Jingmen Mountain.

Zhou Yu stood on a protruding boulder by the river with his hands behind his back, standing in the wind, the river wind blowing the hem of his clothes, fluttering, with a thick and wet mist like an amorous girl, surrounded by him. The roaring river swirled and crashed against the boulders, stirring up bursts of foam and a thunderous roar, which was terrifying.

Zhou Yu stood still, staring at the mountains and cliffs between the two sides of the strait, muttering softly in his mouth, calm and relaxed.

Lou Gui stood on a stone not far away, anxious. He regretted it too much, he knew that Zhou Yu was so reckless, so he didn't bring him here. It's too dangerous here, the stones under Zhou Yu's feet are wet by the river, wet and slippery, and if you are not careful, you may be swallowed by the river. He is also the one who leads the troops to fight, and he feels terrified when he stands by the river, let alone standing in Zhou Yu's position.

"General-" Lou Gui tried a few times, but still didn't dare to step forward, so he could only put his hands to his mouth and call out loudly.

The river wind was very strong, and Lou Gui's voice was blown away by the wind as soon as he came out, and it couldn't reach Zhou Yu's ears at all, and even if it could, it was covered up by the sound of the waves crashing on the shore. Lou Gui was so anxious that he jumped to his feet, turned around and asked people to find a guard who was proficient in water, and he was sure to pull Zhou Yu back.

Zhou Yu smiled, turned around and shook his hand, put one hand behind his back, walked over briskly, jumped up, and arrived at Lou Gui's side. He was very relaxed, but Lou Guixin almost jumped out with fright. He hugged Zhou Yu, his face turned green. "General, you're taking too much risk by doing this."

"The river is like a dragon, galloping for thousands of miles. When the wind sings, how fast. Zhou Yu smiled slightly, and walked down the mountain with his hands behind his back. How many people were lost in total? ”

"Seventeen." Lou Gui carried the hem of his clothes and followed suit. "Since Pan Hua and Beitang Yu came back, it has been much better, and the Jinfan thief seems to know their power and dare not be presumptuous."

Zhou Yu shook his head. "The leaders of Pan Hua and Beitang Yu are all the old troops of the Wuwei Commander, and their combat power is indeed outstanding, comparable to the general's righteous battalion, but they only have two hundred people, and they may not be Gan Ning's opponents. There may have been another reason for his sudden demise. ”

Lou Gui was taken aback. "The general means ......"

"Gan Ning suffered in Wu County, with nearly 100 casualties, and no less than 20 people were killed. With his character of retribution, how could he retreat after only killing seventeen people, and for his nearly 1,000 subordinates, who traveled nearly a thousand miles, what could be the ordnance of only seventeen people? ”

"Ordnance?" Lou Gui thought about it and suddenly patted his head. "How did I forget about this. General, do you mean to say that Gan Ning ambushed our army scouts in order to seize our army's armor and swords? ”

"So what do you think it is? Just to kill people to vent their anger? Then why didn't he attack the soldiers who went out to harvest firewood? ”

Lou Gui smiled dumbly and shook his head. "The general is really careful, and Gui is ashamed of himself. I should have found out about this problem a long time ago, but I haven't thought about it all along. We get it too easily, we don't know how to cherish it, sometimes we don't look for it in time when we lose it on the battlefield, we lose it when we lose it, and we can get it again at the baggage camp, but we forget that others regard it as a treasure and cheapen them in vain. ”

Zhou Yu did not pick up Lou Gui's topic. Lou Gui is a smart person, just click until you go. Lou Gui led a group to capture Yiling, and the task was completed well, but the loss was not small, and it was the highest loss in the whole army, which was higher than the loss ratio of men and horses attacking Jiangling.

"Let the news go, I want to meet Gan Ning."

Lou Gui hurriedly stopped. "General, Gan Ning is rough and easy to kill, and it is too dangerous for the general to meet him."

Zhou Yu smiled, very gentle, but did not take back his fate. Seeing this, Lou Gui raised his eyebrows, turned around and ordered. The two came down the slope. Zhou Yu got on the horse, took the reins of the horse, turned to Lou Gui and said, "Do you know that the general has been renovating the warship recently? ”

"I know a little bit about it."

"Who among our people is good at water warfare? There are only warships, and no generals who are good at water warfare will not be able to defeat the Yizhou army, so do you want to give them the warships we have worked so hard to build? ”

"But Gan Ning ......"

"Gan Ning is a river thief, if he wasn't ostracized, how could he be here?" Zhou Yu paused and lowered his voice, only Lou Gui could hear it. "Uncle Zi, the master can still teach without class, how can we, the generals who lead the army, still have these ideas, if Gan Ning can be used by me, not only to increase the number of available generals, but also to remove a giant thief for the business travelers along the way, both are perfect, why not?"

Lou Gui nodded repeatedly. "It's still the general who thinks it through."