CHAPTER 1465: CHAPTER 1413: ZHOU YU’S SCHEMES

"After enduring for so long, finally, we can unleash our plans." Guo Jia handed Chen Xi’s secret message to Guan Yu with a face full of excitement, having been suppressed by Zhou Yu recently, Guo Jia was filled with resentment.

It should be known that the boundary line between Liu Bei and Sun Ce was initially drawn by Fa Zheng with the Huai River as the division; north of the Huai River belonged to Liu Bei, south belonged to Sun Ce. Yet now, due to the lack of naval assistance on their side, Zhou Yu easily blocked the Huai River.

This is simply intolerable, though Guo Jia admits he cannot perform well in naval battles and gets seasick on board, he absolutely cannot tolerate being attacked in this manner.

This is just the Huai River, although this section is relatively wide, it’s no more than five li across, yet now Zhou Yu has blocked them here, pressing them down hard. Guo Jia is filled with resentment.

"Zichuan has arrived!" Guan Yu’s mood brightened a bit; though he is confident he won’t lose any land, having Chen Xi by his side to hold off Cao Cao allows him to freely attack and capture territory.

"Send orders to Inspector Chen in Xuzhou, asking him to be ready to provide assistance." After confirming the news, Guan Yu immediately instructed his chief secretary to draft an official document.

Before Chen Xi reached the Yuzhou frontline, and with Liu Bei’s army reinforcements already appearing, it wasn’t just Cao Cao and Sun Ce’s side reacting, but Liu Bei’s border regions also responded.

"Gongjin, are you still drinking tea?" Sun Ce felt like he was about to grow mushrooms, ever since Wen Pin was transferred over, he fought Guan Yu again, still, no match for Guan Yu, but afterwards Sun Ce was as excited as ever, yet Zhou Yu only gave him one chance.

"The clear tea produced by Chen Zichuan is quite good." Zhou Yu said calmly, completely ignoring Sun Ce’s crazy expression, anyway, Sun Ce had said he wished for a fight which had already been fulfilled; before Sun Ce could explode, he could still hold him down.

Sun Ce reached out to drag a cushion from afar, then sat opposite Zhou Yu, "I say, Gongjin, isn’t it boring for you living like this every day? How about we deal with Guan Yu?"

"You can’t defeat Guan Yu." Zhou Yu squinted his eyes slightly, left hand holding the base of the cup, right hand holding the side of the cup, not even looking at Sun Ce.

"I didn’t say I can defeat Guan Yu either!" Sun Ce said with a sour face, if anyone else said this, they’d surely get punched.

Zhou Yu slowly placed the teacup on the table, both fingers pressing his temples, suddenly feeling a communication barrier with Sun Ce again. It seems activating the spiritual talent on others indeed leads to communication disorders with Sun Ce.

"Come, let’s consider this, you see, Guan Yu’s personality, to put it nicely, is confident, but frankly, it’s very arrogant. You see, we’ve been bothering him, yet he’s been staying in the camp recently, right?" Zhou Yu looked at Sun Ce with calm expression.

Sun Ce thought for a moment, and then nodded repeatedly like a chick pecking rice, indicating that Guan Yu indeed behaves this way.

After Sun Ce’s acknowledgment, Zhou Yu continued, "Look at Guo Jia, haven’t you noticed it’s difficult to gain an advantage over him?"

"Yes, I think we’ve only killed over a hundred of his people at most, right?" Sun Ce looked up at the tent top, and thinking for a moment, smiled mischievously, "It feels like you’re constantly suppressing him, but that’s normal, in my impression, except for once being disadvantaged by Fa Zheng, you’ve never suffered a loss."

"That incident with Fa Zheng was an accident; eventually, I will pay it back." Zhou Yu glanced at Sun Ce, slowly tilted his head, "After all, you’ve observed accurately, although we’ve rarely gained much, the other side has been constantly losing."

"Guo Jia, after all, is a wise strategist under Liu Xuande, not to mention other aspects, his mind and ability surpass others; but as a human, it’s impossible for anyone to willingly continue taking losses, so the other side will inevitably contemplate retaliating for their losses." Zhou Yu said with a calm face.

"Don’t understand!" Sun Ce shook his head, indicating he completely doesn’t see how it’s relevant.

"The point is, even if you don’t go seeking Guan Yu, after gaining resources, he’ll be encouraged by Guo Jia to find you." Zhou Yu sighed, as soon as he said that, he noticed a sudden enlightenment in Sun Ce’s eyes.

"Gongjin, you could’ve said that earlier!" Sun Ce patted Zhou Yu’s left shoulder with excitement, "Alright, I’ll start preparing myself to face Guan Yu from today onwards."

After patting Zhou Yu’s shoulder, Sun Ce grabbed his long spear from the side and ran outside the tent, leaving the military affairs to Zhou Yu as usual.

"Oh..." Zhou Yu helplessly watched Sun Ce’s retreating figure, then took several prepared sheets from beneath the scrolls, quickly wrote them, and ordered them to be sent to Huaiyin, instructing Li Yan stationed there to prepare for decisive action.

[Logically speaking, it’s been so long since I took action, yet Gan Ning hasn’t arrived, has the opponent seen through my intentions?] Zhou Yu tap-tapped the table with thought.

But soon, Zhou Yu denied this possibility, not that Zhou Yu underestimated Liu Bei’s civil officials and generals, but in this matter, seeing through or not hardly makes a difference, Gan Ning could not simply not act because of it.

[Given the current situation, there are only two possibilities: one is Gan Ning not defending the Huai River at all, and the other is Gan Ning being Guo Jia’s reserved countermeasure, yet to be unleashed.] Zhou Yu quietly contemplated all possibilities.

Speaking of the Huai River battle, it isn’t fundamentally important to Zhou Yu; claiming it’s to suppress Liu Bei’s speed at defeating Yuan Shu, preventing full focus northward, but fundamentally, Zhou Yu’s real intentions in the Huai River battle aren’t focused on this.

Whether it’s using offense instead of defense to create strategic pressure on Cao Cao, forming an alliance; or positioning at Huaiyin with Li Yan in command, strategizing against Gan Ning; or designing Jiaozhou to confuse soldier rebellion, providing Pang Tong and Jiang Qin with a chance to pacify Jiaozhou, it’s far more important for Sun Ce than the current Huai River battle against Guan Yu.

It’s fair to say Zhou Yu’s attention isn’t placed on Guan Yu in North Huai River, as Zhou Yu’s forces seemingly strong, yet his troops aren’t actually as numerous as Guan Yu’s.

Through Zhou Yu’s Navy’s significant advantage and being in a constant strategic offensive, while the camps are separated by the Huai River, Zhou Yu deploys three thousand troops each time; until now, the estimation of Zhou Yu’s total troops can only be roughly guessed from the opposing camp.

Though Guo Jia has speculated the limited number of Zhou Yu’s forces, it holds little significance, regardless of troop count; as long as they’re on the Huai River, they’re inherently limited.

Regardless of Guo Jia’s own resourceful nature; given early intentions to outsmart Zhou Yu, he’d consider troop count estimation to prioritize crossing the Huai River!