Jiangdong's main force had been transferred to the Pingxiang battlefield, taking with it a large number of Jiangdong warships. Apart from Sun Quan's Louchuan Warship, Feiyun, and Lu Xun's Doujian Warship, Wavebreaker, the remaining vessels were mainly Mengchong Warships, Maotu boats, Xiandeng boats, and Red Horse boats. Though relatively swift, they needed the support of larger ships to carry out surprise assaults.
This was tantamount to a war that would decide Eastern Wu's extinction, so Sun Quan naturally could not sit and await death in Jiangcheng. He personally took command aboard the Louchuan Warship, while Grand Viceroy Lu Xun could only direct the battle from the same vessel, having completely lost any room for independent action.
The Louchuan Warship was tall and conspicuous, and its signal flags made command over water convenient. Clad head to toe in armor, Sun Quan stood at the prow, gazing at the several hundred small boats on the river. A trace of bleak sorrow suddenly rose in his heart.
Was this all that remained of Eastern Wu's navy? He did not know whether they could hold back the "invaders." He dearly hoped the troops Lan Tian had brought were as useless as the State of Wei's navy, but at the thought of Gan Ning—the man who had once raided a camp with a hundred riders—Sun Quan's face burned hot.
Lan Tian's side had many ships, and they still had to maintain a certain formation while advancing. Yet sailing downstream did not affect their speed, and at the third quarter of the hour of Shen, they encountered the Jiangdong navy in the waters of Jianye.
Since Lan Tian knew nothing of naval warfare, he directly handed command over to Gan Ning. Determined not to issue blind commands, he watched Gan Ning's deployments and directions from beginning