Chapter 313 Done! 【Please subscribe】

The soldier who reported said:

“Since General Sun was attacked and badly injured, the old lady has been crying and saying that both father and son were attacked by villains and the injuries came from the same source, which is a bad omen.

A few days ago, the old lady took her family and sailed west to the Pengze Water Temple to pray for blessings.

"Cao's army turned and headed for Pengze, and ran into the old lady's troops."

"In addition to General Sun's family, the captured people also included many of his retainers and followers."

"It has not yet been determined who the specific people are. We have to wait for follow-up news."

The General Sun the soldiers were referring to was the Little Overlord Sun Ce.

The old lady mentioned is Sun Ce's mother and one of the main decision makers of the Sun regime, Madam Wu.

Calling her "old lady" is to distinguish her from Sun Ce's wife.

The old lady was actually about 40 years old and was Sun Jian’s wife.

After Sun Jian's death, Old Lady Wu controlled many of the Eastern Wu's resources and lifeline.

At home, his appeal among the Jiangdong gentry was even greater than that of Sun Ce.

The power behind her can connect nearly a hundred great aristocratic families in Jiangdong.

Zhou Yu and Lu Su were shocked when they heard the news.

"Go and check quickly to see if the old lady has fallen into the hands of the enemy."

The soldier asked again: "Maybe Madam Qiao was also captured?"

Mrs. Joe?
Prior to this, Zhou Yu and Sun Ce had conquered Lujiang County in Jiangdong and defeated the local warlords in Wan County. When they entered the city, they saw a pair of sisters.

Sun Ce and Zhou Yu were both fascinated by her beauty, and each chose one to marry home.

The two girls' original surname was Qiao, but because it sounds the same as Qiao, the people praised them as the two beauties of Jiangdong. Somehow, they started to call them Qiao.

Da Qiao and Xiao Qiao are not only stunningly beautiful, but also sisters who are like twin lotus flowers, and their fame spread far and wide.

After that, under tremendous pressure from Cao Wei, Sun Ce and Zhou Yu wanted to expand as quickly as possible, and they launched campaigns east and west, without daring to rest for a moment.

Da Qiao and Xiao Qiao moved to the capital of Jiangdong and accepted the marriage, but had not yet fully entered the family.

As Sun Ce's wife, Da Qiao was also taken to pray for blessings by Old Lady Wu and was captured together with him.

This loss was too much for Zhou Yu to bear.

Lu Su's face also turned pale.

What the two were more worried about was not the loss of a stunning beauty, but Old Madam Wu.

If anything happened to her, it would be a huge blow to the Sun family.

In addition, Sun Ce suffered a severe blow, so one can imagine the turmoil in Jiangdong at this moment.

Zhou Yu and Lu Su sent the injured Sun Ce back because the old lady was in the rear, which was enough to stabilize the situation and there was no need to worry about any loss.

If something happens to the old lady and Sun Ce suffers a serious blow, there is no telling what will happen to the Jiangdong area that he has just conquered.

Zhou Yu stood up suddenly: "I want to go back."

Lu Su sighed and said, "Retreat, everyone go back."

The two also thought of another problem.

Cao's army rushed to the heart of Jiangdong, pretending to attack its capital first.

Then he suddenly turned around and rushed to Pengze.

The timing of Cao's army's appearance and the way of attack were obviously planned in advance.

Their purpose was to raid Pengze and capture the Sun family members who were praying for blessings.

The first target may be Old Madam Wu.

Normally, when Sun's family travels, the itinerary must be kept strictly confidential and not everyone can know about it.

Cao's army grasped the time and place so accurately.

This means that they have spies inside Jiangdong and they are in very high positions.

Perhaps Cao's army has mastered the deployment of Jiangdong's troops, and there may even be someone in the garrison to provide support.

Otherwise, how could a cavalry unit be sent into Jiangdong without making any noise?

This is an extremely serious problem, and the more you think about it, the more frightening it becomes.

Lu Su and Zhou Yu did not dare to delay any longer. They both stood up and walked out, and ordered the troops to withdraw from Jiangxia.

----

"King Wei, the troops from Jiangdong have withdrawn."

The personal troops came to report.

"It's easy to come, but it's not so easy to leave."

Cao Cao: "Pass the order down, attack Jiangdong to the death, teach them a lesson, and take the opportunity to train the navy."

The soldiers responded loudly and went away quickly.

After Cao Cao gave the order, his eyes fell on the map of Jiangdong.

He was wondering whether to take the opportunity to expand his victory.

The strategic direction he formulated was that it would be best to fight a large-scale battle, and the reason for this was the result of many simulations.

It's a question of time and cost.

When attacking Jiangdong, the main navy of Cao's army was the navy of Jingzhou that had just surrendered.

The area east of the Yangtze River has a crisscrossing water system, so it is okay for a small group of cavalry to pass through.

The large group of cavalry couldn't even run.

Zhang Liao and his men, numbering less than a thousand men, rode their horses along the Yangtze River, finding room to gallop.

If you go deeper into the southeast of Jiangdong, you will be blocked by the water system.

Therefore, to attack Jiangdong, it is necessary to cooperate with a large number of naval forces, or even rely mainly on the navy.

However, the quality and quantity of Jingzhou's newly acquired navy were inferior to those of Jiangdong.

It would take at least one to two years to completely absorb the Jingzhou navy and improve its combat effectiveness.

Then you will attack the opponent. If you win in the early stage, the opponent will definitely switch to a full defensive position and defend.

The attacking party will have to fight a siege.

How long will it take to conquer Jiangdong if we take one city after another?

How much will the consumption be?
It will be a long and arduous tug-of-war.

Cao Cao had always avoided fighting siege battles in the past.

The reason why the Sun family was able to conquer Jiangdong in more than two years was because Old Madam Wu united many noble families and many of them surrendered to them.

Therefore, the fastest way is to fight a large-scale battle, cause the Sun family to be defeated head-on, and then sweep away the defeated troops like a whirlwind.

This is also why in every dynasty, the advantageous side has always hoped to fight a major battle.

The weaker side often chooses to evade and avoid battle.

If a major battle is lost, the fighting will, baggage system and other systems will collapse.

Throughout history, all the battles that achieved great success in one fell swoop were major battles!

Defensive detours can preserve manpower and extend the life of its power!
Fighting a large-scale battle is much more time-saving and labor-saving for the advantaged side. Some people believe that fighting a large-scale battle will cause heavy casualties. This is not true. Compared with conquering cities bit by bit, it is not only about the consumption of soldiers, but also the consumption of baggage over a long period of time.
This is the reason why unification has been the most difficult since ancient times. Local separatism and avoiding war have taken a long time.

The money and food of Cao's army were not unlimited.

This time, the troops Cao's army deployed to enter Jingzhou, including the use of Zhang Liao to attack the enemy's rear, were all small units.

It's to save consumption.

Cao’s army currently has some surplus food and supplies, but Cao Cao dares not use them.

He was on guard against the Xianbei, as well as Cao's army's entry into Liang Province. Friction between him and the countries in the Western Regions and the Qiang and Di tribes was intensifying.

If war breaks out and money and food are exhausted, problems can easily arise.

When choosing between fighting a foreign war or fighting an internal war, Cao Cao would definitely choose to defeat the foreign enemies first.

Because there is no big wave inside.

But the external situation is completely out of control.

He wanted to leave behind the remaining baggage to ensure that he would have enough food and fodder before the next harvest.

Xi Zhicai has recently been traveling around the country to conduct a census of the new wave of grain production in order to facilitate efficient distribution.

This is closely related to war.

Therefore, the purpose of this southward march is to capture Xiangyang and push the situation in an ideal direction.

Cao Cao had no plans to fight a big battle from the beginning.

Only by using the spoils seized this time can Jingzhou firmly defend Jingxiang and control the overall situation.

There is still no surplus food.

At this time, Cao Cao thought about it and decided to give up the idea of ​​escalating the war.

He thought it over and turned to look out the window: the situation here was as expected, the mission was accomplished, and it was time to return to Yecheng.

……

Koto.

Behind Zhang Liao were eight hundred soldiers and forty-eight heavy cavalry, the top elite troops of Cao's army.

Everyone was wearing heavy armor and was in enemy territory, but the entire army remained silent and not at all impetuous.

They were able to land in Jiangdong because they were smuggled in "openly" from the section of the river where Cao's camp was stationed by an insider who had long since rebelled in Jiangdong.

There was no breaking up into smaller pieces; they just crossed the river by boat.

They will also return from there.

The Jiangdong generals who were instigated to rebel will also lead their families and defect back to the Wei State, which is on the other side of the Yangtze River.

Wei has an insider in Jiangdong, and deliberately exposing it will make the people of Jiangdong panic and suspicious.

There are many noble families in Jiangdong. Even if the Sun family knows that there are problems within the family, it will be difficult to investigate thoroughly, which will further increase internal friction.

Zhang Liao glanced at the people he had captured.

A small number of Jiangdong civil and military officials.

There are more than 80 relatives of the Sun family, including men, women, young and old.

There is a high probability that Old Madam Wu is among them, but Zhang Liao is not sure which one.

Before being caught, these people hastily changed into the clothes of ordinary servants in an attempt to confuse others.

Zhang Liao didn't have time to screen and identify.

The troops of Jiangdong were chasing after them but did not dare to get close.

The reason was that Zhang Liao had just pushed out two hostages and cut off their ears.

The pursuing soldiers from Jiangdong were horrified, fearing that some important person might be hurt, so they dared not pursue any further. They watched Zhang Liao and the eight hundred soldiers leisurely approach the bank of the Yangtze River.

Waiting here is a powerful Jiangdong noble who was instigated by Cao's army to rebel.

The other person’s surname was Xu, and he was a deputy general stationed in the section of the Yangtze River east of Pengze.

"Xu Chou, how dare you sentence me, Sun!"

Zhang Liao came to meet the rebellious generals.

Some of the captured Sun family members were filled with anger and recognized the identities of the people who had been instigated to rebel.

Xu Chou smiled and said, "Everyone will have to return to Wei sooner or later, I'm just going there first.

Didn’t your Sun family also seize Jiangdong from other families? Jiangdong didn’t originally belong to the Sun family, so how could you say you defected?”

There were more than ten medium and large ships parked on the shore. They made three trips back and forth, and sent all the people and horses to the other side.

On the other side of the Yangtze River is where Cao's army is.

At present, Jiangdong can protect itself thanks to its natural advantages, but it is unable to attack the north.

When Xu Chou arrived on the other side, he immediately said to Zhang Liao, "General Zhang, among the people you arrested is Madam Wu, whom I have seen from afar before.

And that stunning beauty must be the famous Da Qiao in Jiangdong.

Among the generals who supported them were members of the Cheng clan of Jiangdong and the main branch of the Lu clan.

Zhang Liao looked back and saw a woman in her forties, dressed in ordinary clothes, who was trying hard to hide her graceful demeanor.

She deliberately changed into a servant's attire to conceal her identity.

Zhang Liao then reported to Cao Cao that he had confirmed the identity of Old Lady Wu.

Cao Cao replied to Zhang Liao: "You lead your men back to Yecheng directly, I will follow you."

Zhang Liao immediately received the order and returned north to Yecheng.

In Jingzhou, Jiangdong withdrew its troops, Liu Bei entered Changsha for the first time, and Cao Cao was preparing to annex Hanzhong and recruit Zhang Lu.

After that, Hanzhong’s threat to Yizhou will greatly increase.

Historically, it was Liu Zhang who was persuaded by Fa Zheng and others to invite Liu Bei to enter Yizhou to help.

In fact, Fa Zheng and others would turn around and join Liu Bei, letting him rule Yizhou, and then the situation of the Three Kingdoms would be initially formed.

In early February, Cao Cao left Cai Mao and Gan Ning in Jingzhou to train the navy.

Cao Ren was still in charge of the troops to garrison Nanyang, and he and Xiangyang relied on each other.

Cheng Yu and Dong Zhao have been sent westwards to Hanzhong to persuade Zhang Lu to surrender.

Given Zhang Lu's current situation, if he gets external support, he can threaten Liu Zhang of Yizhou.

He was more than happy to receive Cao Cao's support, but his biggest concern was that he was unwilling to give up his status as the King of Hanzhong.

Cheng Yu and Dong Zhao went to discuss this matter with him.

February.

Cao Cao set out to return to Yuzhou. When passing through Yanzhou, he inspected the spring plowing and farming, then crossed the Yellow River and returned to Yecheng.

On the way, Cao Cao and Ling Jin had contact twice.

The three Taoists entered the tomb under the Yellow River for more than a month, and none of them came out.

Before Cao Cao had time to pay attention to the matter of the Yellow River Tomb, he returned to Yecheng and immediately brought all the captured people from Jiangdong over.

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