Chapter 196 Pros and Cons
When the army arrived at Shiting and Wanxian, Li Yuanhui discussed the strategy of attacking Jingzhou with his staff and generals, and they all suggested that Li Yuanhui should not send troops.

There are many reasons. The guard Xiao Shizhi's opinion is that although the Jingzhou army has retreated, its vitality is intact and it still has hundreds of thousands of troops, while Jianghuai only has tens of thousands of troops.

Although they are elite troops, their number is insufficient to take the initiative in attacking Jingzhou.

Even if we can capture the city, Jianghuai’s current savings will not be enough to digest it.

This savings includes not only food, but also talents.

Li Qinglian's opinion was no different from Xiao Shizhi's, but the reason was that Jianghuai had no geographical advantage in attacking Jingzhou upstream, so if they had to fight, they would attack Jiangdong on the other side.

Moreover, it is already April, spring ploughing is about to begin, and winter wheat will be harvested in May. It is definitely not appropriate to advance now.

After hearing the inclinations and ideas of these staff members and generals, Li Yuanhui, as a boss who was very obedient to advice, immediately gave up the idea of ​​entering Jingzhou.

However, a few generals felt that they should press on to pursue the victory, and at least inflict severe damage on the Western Wei in Jingzhou before withdrawing their troops.

But after carefully studying the terrain and battle plans with his staff and cavalry generals, they all rejected them.

There are nothing but mountains and water between Jingzhou and Jianghuai, which is not suitable for long-distance raids by cavalry.

Afterwards, Li Yuanhui wrote a letter back to Cao Xuan.

The content of the letter was roughly: I will not participate in your fight with the Eastern Wei, that is your two families' business. I, Li, am not well-educated and have only heard that 'there is no two suns in the sky, and there is no two rulers in a country'. Now you two Weis are coexisting, and I have never seen such a thing in the history books I have read.
It's blatant instigation and sarcasm.

However, what Li Yuanhui did was a bit unnecessary. There was no need to sow discord between the two families now, as the feud would be unresolved.

After Cao Yuanjing of the Eastern Wei heard that the Western Wei had invaded Yuzhang County, he soon received a request for help from Yuzhang prefect Murong Jing.

Shen Shangfa, the general of the Eastern Wei Dynasty stationed in Poyang, led an army of tens of thousands of soldiers and sailors to rescue Chaisang from Poyang Lake.

But it was blocked by the Western Wei navy.

The two armies fought several naval battles, with both sides winning and losing. Shen Shangfa saw that he could not support Chaisang by water, so he had to go ashore and lead more than 10,000 elite soldiers through the valley between the western foot of Mount Lu and Mufu Mountain.

However, they were blocked by the troops led by Han Xiu and Qi Quan, two generals of the Western Wei Dynasty. The Western Wei army occupied the key roads in the valley and held the enemy. Murong Jing led his army to join forces with Shen Shangfa and then launched a strong attack. They attacked six times in a day, but all failed.

They had no choice but to retreat to Haihun for repairs.

Cao Yuanjing was furious and immediately wanted to lead his army to attack Yuzhang.

"Cao Xuan, you bastard, just after sending me a letter to discuss attacking Jianghuai, you turned around and attacked Yuzhang. Is this to take advantage of the fact that there is no one in Jiangdong? I will lead my army to defeat this bastard!"

Although Yuzhang County was only nominally under the jurisdiction of the Eastern Wei, it was still under its rule. Cao Xuan first agreed to jointly attack Jianghuai with the Eastern Wei, temporarily putting aside the dispute over the legitimacy of the Wei Dynasty, but then he turned around and attacked Yuzhang County.

Cao Yuanjing was still a little scared and did not launch an attack rashly. He just deployed his troops south of the Yangtze River and waited for the opportunity to strike.

If he had listened to Cao Xuan's words and attacked Jianghuai with all his strength, Cao Xuan would definitely launch a surprise attack on Jiangdong.

It would be strange if Cao Yuanjing was not furious when they raided Yuzhang without finding an opportunity.

"If Your Majesty leads the army away, what will you do if the Yan army attacks?"

Zhang Hongping's question made Cao Yuanjing's anger disappear immediately, but even if he was half angry, he still wanted to fight with the Western Wei. "Although Jianghuai and I belong to two different countries, we have no hatred. However, the Western thief Cao Xuan is the mortal enemy of the Eastern Wei. There can only be one Great Wei in the world!"

Zhang Hongping immediately bowed and said, "In this case, I will go to Jiangbei and ask to see Li Yangzhou. I will tell him the pros and cons and ask him to stand aside and watch for the time being."

Cao Yuanjing shook his head when he heard this. "That won't work. Mr. Zhang is my Zhang Liang, Xiao He, and Zhuge Liang. How can I let you take the risk? I'd rather go myself than let you take the risk."

Zhang Hongping said, "Your Majesty, it is said that when two countries are at war, envoys should not be killed. Li Yangzhou is not a violent person. I will not worry about my life this time. Please rest assured, Your Majesty."

The two men argued endlessly, and finally King Cao Cheng of Chu said, why not let him go to see Li Yuanhui.

Cao Yuanjing and Zhang Hongping opposed it at the same time, and finally Cao Yuanjing had no choice but to agree.

So, Zhang Hongping took a small boat and came to Wankou under the flag of "Envoy from Jiangdong". He landed at Wankou and followed a team of Yan army to Shiting where Li Yuanhui was currently.

Shiting is located at the southern foot of Dabie Mountain, between Wan County and Shu County. More than two hundred years ago, Lu Xun defeated Cao Xiu's 100,000-strong army here.

This is the famous Battle of Shiting.

Zhang Hongping came all the way to Shiting and saw that the camp of the Jianghuai Yan army was well arranged and well defended. After entering the camp, he saw that the soldiers were neat and orderly with high morale, and he couldn't help but sigh a lot.

When they arrived at the central army tent, they saw a man in brocade clothes sitting behind a desk, reviewing documents. He looked up when he heard who was coming. The young man was about seventeen or eighteen years old, with a handsome face, outstanding elegance and extraordinary bravery.

Zhang Hongping was a little surprised for a moment, then he bowed and said, "Zhang Hongping from Jiangdong, I pay my respects to Li Yangzhou."

"I have long heard that Mr. Zhang is as wise as Wu Hou, as prudent as Liang Ping, and has the talent to rule the world. He is the 'Prime Minister of Jiangdong'. Seeing him today puts my mind at ease. Please take a seat, sir."

Zhang Hongping heard this and said, "General, you are too kind. I am not very talented. There are so many outstanding people in Jiangdong. I am just so-so. I don't deserve your praise."

When Zhang Hongping took his seat, Li Yuanhui also took a closer look at him. He was very tall, probably about eight feet tall, with a majestic appearance and extraordinary bearing.

"I wonder what Mr. Zhang has to teach me by coming here today?"

Zhang Hongping smiled and said, "General, you have already built such a great foundation before you are even twenty. You are very wise and talented. I have nothing to teach you. To be honest, I have a request for you today."

Li Yuanhui saw that the other party was frank, and then smiled and said, "Mr. Zhang, please speak. Someone, bring the tea."

Zhang Hongping took a sip of tea before speaking again, "To be honest, my lord Cao Gong has deployed his troops in Wuhu. He was invited by the western bandit Cao Xuan to attack Jianghuai together and divide the three counties and dozens of cities. Who knew that this bandit was defeated by the general and invaded Yuzhang. So my lord wants to personally lead an expedition to Yuzhang to fight the western bandit Cao Xuan. I hope the general will not interfere. We are very grateful."

Li Yuanhui suddenly wanted to laugh when he heard this. Zhang Hongping was really straightforward.

"Mr. Zhang, if Cao Yuanjing attacks Cao Xuan, it will be a win for me. If you are fighting fiercely, I will take the opportunity to lead the navy out of Ruxukou and drive directly to Caishi, then Jiangdong can be conquered. If we go up the river and block the Yangtze River, we can cut off your baggage and food. If it takes too long, you will collapse. Please teach me all the pros and cons, Mr. Zhang."

What Li Yuanhui said could be explained clearly by any officer of the rank of captain or lieutenant, and he could also explain the pros and cons clearly.

But he said it so clearly, he was asking Zhang Hongping, what good will it do me if you don't let me participate in it.

Zhang Hongping said, "General, you are stationed in Jiangbei because my lord Cao Gong is in Jiangdong. If you seize Jiangdong now, and if my lord is defeated and killed, do you want to return to Luoyang and become a rich man? I heard that 'when the birds are gone, the good bows are put away. When the cunning rabbit dies, the running dog is cooked.' Don't you know the stories of Han Xin and Peng Yue?"

(End of this chapter)