Chapter 378: Unparalleled Achievement [Subscribe]

Night is falling.

Cao's army marched eastward along the Yangtze River from Chibi, and the next day they entered the capital of Jiangxia and occupied the city.

Military control was implemented in the city.

But Cao Cao ordered not to offend the people.

Therefore, the atmosphere in the occupied area was tense, with soldiers filling the streets, but overall it was still relatively stable.

When Cao's army entered Jiangdong, it did not arouse much hostility among the people.

"The Wei army has entered the city. I heard that they have already reached Ai County and Yifeng area in the south."

"So fast?"

“Well, the Wei army has been fighting for years, sweeping across the nine provinces and attacking the Xianbei in the north. Thousands of foreigners have been killed by the Wei.

Apart from the navy, who in Jiangdong dares to fight against the Wei army?"

"It shouldn't be so fast. They have advanced three or four hundred miles in just two or three days. Don't they have to attack the cities along the way?"

"You are right. I thought that Cao's army would have to rely on ships to transport troops southwards in the area where the Jiangdong River system is crisscrossed, which would be very difficult.

Who knew that when Cao's army arrived, many cities along the way opened their gates and surrendered. "

"General Zhou was defeated at the Battle of Red Cliff and suffered heavy losses."

"After the defeat, I heard that many Jiangdong soldiers lost their leadership and fled in their own ways."

“The Grand Commander has issued a military order to regroup his troops and fight again.

But the news circulating in the city said that they were defeated again on the river yesterday."

"When the Great Wei enters the city, they will announce to the whole city that everything should proceed as normal, and that the war between the two armies has nothing to do with the people."

"Don't you see that the city is so quiet and there is no movement at all?"

"The Great Wei's defeat of Jiangdong may not be a bad thing for us."

"I heard that the Wei Dynasty dealt a heavy blow to the nobles and powerful families, but we are not from the noble family."

Jiangxia County is close to the front line, and the people in the city are well-informed. After nightfall, they close their doors and whisper to each other.

Cao Cao promoted his practice and listened to the movements in the city.

The sounds from half of the city were all heard.

He is currently staying in Jiangxia County, and he feels somewhat relieved to hear the feedback from the people in the city.

The people were not disgusted by the fact that Wei's army marched across the river.

This is related to the land policy that Cao Wei has been promoting for a long time and the reputation it has accumulated in the past.

There were many aristocratic families in Jiangdong, who maintained a large number of private soldiers and controlled land resources, and the old problems of the late Han Dynasty still remained.

Before the Battle of Red Cliffs, Jia Xu had spies secretly spread Cao Wei's policy of leniency to the people.

In comparison, when the Wei army really attacks, the turmoil will naturally be less.

"Your Majesty."

Some of Cao Cao's soldiers entered the study where he temporarily stayed:

"The front army sent back news that General Gan led his troops and captured the enemy general Cheng Pu who was left behind to cover the retreat. Should we kill him or keep him alive?"

Cheng Pu is a direct descendant of Jiangdong, and his status is comparable to that of Zhou Yu and Zhang Zhao.

He came from a noble family and was well-known.

In his early years, he followed Sun Jian, assisted and saved Sun Ce, and is now supporting Sun Quan.

The Cheng family, whose ancestors were all famous scholars, has deep roots in Jiangdong.

If we want the Sun family to surrender, Jiangdong will be stable in the future. The Cheng family and other Jiangdong clans have formed cliques and should be cleaned up to avoid future troubles.

Although Cao Cao loved talents, Cheng Pu was even more known as the chief tiger minister of Jiangdong.

However, considering his background, he cannot stay.

Killing Cheng Pu would force the enemy to fight to the death and never dare to surrender again.

But that was exactly what Cao Cao wanted.

What he has been pushing for is to achieve success in one fell swoop.

In the long run, harsh measures must be taken to deter and reduce the voices of opposition. Taking back Jiangdong will be conducive to long-term governance, and there will be no more troubles.

And Cao Wei's power was enough to suppress opponents.

"cut!"

The killing of Cheng Pu, a famous and powerful general of Jiangdong, caused an uproar in Jiangdong.

The nobles in various places were terrified.

Four days after the Battle of Chibi, Cao Cao continued his advance eastward along the river.

Cao Wei's troops attacked Jiangdong like mercury pouring out of the ground.

Cao's army painted Zhou Yu's portrait in the controlled areas along the coast and issued a wanted notice.

Zhou Yu inexplicably became the rebel leader and called on everyone to fight him.

He fled eastwards and at this moment stopped briefly in a river bend to gather his troops and collect information from all sides.

If someone saw Zhou Yu now, they would probably be shocked.

It was completely different from his usual handsomeness and calmness.

He had removed his usual striking white cloak and armor, and had also taken off his helmet.

On the way of escape, he learned that Cao's army had sent a warrant to arrest him, saying that he was a white-faced man with a heroic and handsome appearance.

Lu Su advised him to change his appearance appropriately to make it easier to hide.

Cao Wei's spy team was developed the earliest, so they might be able to find their whereabouts and conceal their appearance to facilitate their actions.

Zhou Yu had no choice but to use a brown grease to paint his face, making him look completely different.

He was listening to the news reported by his troops:

"Cao's army crossed the river and headed south at many locations along the entire north bank."

"Ai County, Yifeng County, and Xiazhi County all opened their gates and surrendered to Cao... In three days, twelve cities surrendered to Wei one after another.

These places have obviously been infiltrated by Cao's army and have rebelled against Jiangdong."

"Our various units lost control one after another and fled."

Zhou Yu was silent.

When the outcome of the battle against Wei was still undecided, some people in Jiangdong were still waiting and watching.

But the defeat at Chibi burned not only the warships, but also the confidence of all parties in Jiangdong to fight against Cao.

The gathering of the nobles began to act on their own and their morale was low.

The failure was equally devastating to Zhou Yu.

For several days, he was chased like a stray dog.

His former conceited talents seemed to have become a joke and a synonym for overestimating one's own abilities after the defeat. Now, hearing so much unfavorable news, knowing that the people who usually followed his lead had lost control and did not listen to his orders at all, he felt extremely sad and angry.

He indeed had not expected that Jiangdong would be in such a terrible state once it suffered a defeat.

It seems that Cao Wei was right to eliminate the evils of the aristocratic families over the years.

The nobles are selfish and cannot shoulder important responsibilities.

Zhou Yu sat there, saying nothing.

The personal soldier who reported the incident said cautiously:

"Cao's army has been chasing us closely these past few days, so we were busy evacuating. We only restored contact with Jianye a little while ago.

Jianye sent a message that a troop of Cao's army appeared near Jianye and destroyed three of our Jiangdong camps..."

puff--

Before his personal soldiers finished speaking, Zhou Yu could no longer hold back his anger and sadness, and choked on blood.

He did not hate Cao Wei, but hated the Jiangdong gentry under his command.

If people can be united, they may be able to protect themselves.

But everyone is out for themselves, and everyone wants to preserve their own strength, making the situation difficult to reverse.

Zhou Yu clutched the low mat beside him tightly with his fingers and suddenly fainted.

If Jianye is attacked, the foundation of Jiangdong will be shaken.

Zhou Yu never expected that a troop of Cao's army would appear in Jianye.

After hearing this, he was shocked and angry, but there was nothing he could do.

In Jianye, Sun Quan was as anxious as Zhou Yu.

Two days ago, he heard that a troop of Cao's army was heading for Jianye, so he ordered his troops to gather.

But that afternoon, after Cao's army broke through several garrisons in Jiangdong, they suddenly disappeared.

Two days later, all the troops around Jianye gathered.

Logically speaking, Sun Quan should feel safe under the protection of the army.

But his uneasiness grew with each passing day.

The Cao army that came and went without a trace was like a sword hanging over your head.

The Battle of Red Cliff was a great defeat and the troops fled.

The Wei army marched into Jiangdong in full force.

The news came one after another, almost destroying Sun Quan's will.

After nightfall, he sat in his seat with red eyes. The palace was brightly lit, and below him were rows of civil and military officials:
"Haven't you found the Cao army yet?"

Lu Meng, 21 years old this year, stood at the bottom of the hall with a heroic face and said:

"The Cao army appeared in Wujin, so it was obvious that they came from the sea."

Sun Quan: "Ziming, are you saying that after they attacked several camps around Jianye, they returned to the water?"

"Exactly. This is the only way to avoid our detection and leave no trace."

One official was puzzled and asked, "If they had returned to the water, why did they come here to attack?
"You destroyed several of our Jiangdong camps, deliberately exposed your tracks, and then hid yourself. Isn't that inconsistent?"

Lu Meng: "They want to expose their tracks on purpose, so that we can gather our troops. Then they can defeat our army and defeat the people around Jianye in one go. It will be the fastest!"

Everyone in Jiangdong gasped.

Did Cao Wei really intend to allow them to gather troops and then severely injure and defeat them?
If it had happened a few days earlier, the officials of Jiangdong would never have believed that Cao Wei dared to treat them like this.

But at this moment, the defeat at Chibi and the chaos and misery in various parts of Jiangdong had already caused the morale of the people in Jiangdong to be low, and no one felt that they were being despised by Cao Wei anymore.

“What is the situation in various places?”

"In the past few days, Cao's army has occupied the entire Jiangxia County and is advancing towards Lujiang County to the east."

Sun Quan took a deep breath and was about to speak when a soldier came in and said, "General, someone shot a letter from outside the city."

Sun Ce, Sun Quan neither became emperor nor king.

The civil and military officials under his command have always been called generals.

Interestingly, the title of general that was inherited from Sun Ce was conferred by Cao Cao.

Sun Quan: "Who sent the letter?"

"King Wei!"

"Show it to me."

He had his own personal attendant check the letter, make sure there was no danger, and then hand it to Sun Quan.

Sun Quan lowered his head and looked.

But I saw the handwriting on the letter was bold and powerful, and it was so strong that it could be seen through the back of the paper:
“…For hundreds of years, our majestic Chinese land, with its vast mountains and rivers, has been repeatedly coveted by foreign races.

A few years ago, the country was in turmoil, with refugees everywhere. Foreigners took advantage of the situation to bully us, raided our borders, killed our people, and occupied our land.

Jiangdong is in decline now. Zhongmou, if you think of the people and your mother, you can bring the chaos to an end sooner. If you surrender, millions of innocent people will be freed from the suffering of war.

If Jiangdong can return to Wei peacefully at an early date, history will be rewritten.

This is a great achievement and all the people celebrate.

History will record your reunification with Jiangdong as your leader. We Han people will also concentrate our strength to defeat the enemy outside, strangle the barbarians in all directions, and enhance our national prestige.

The nomadic invasion outside the Great Wall that has caused so much suffering to the people will be spared, and your name, Sun Zhongmou, will still be remembered thousands of years later.

Is that so? "

There are some things Cao Cao didn't say in the letter.

But he had thought more than once if he could rebuild a unified country at the end of the Han Dynasty.

Cao Cao will certainly become the third ruler of a dynasty to achieve great unification after the First Emperor and Emperor Gaozu of Han, and establish unprecedented achievements.

What’s more important is that the chaotic times will end ahead of time, and history will undergo tremendous changes at this moment.

Then could the 273-year-long division and chaos that followed the Wei and Jin dynasties have been avoided?
How many people will benefit from the early arrival of prosperity?

After reading Cao Cao's letter, Sun Quan sat in his seat in a daze.

That same evening, Cao Cao returned to the ship and continued his journey eastward.

He took up his pen and drew a circle in Jianye.

He estimated that his letter might have a profound impact on Sun Quan.

But it was not enough to make it surrender immediately.

If you want to take back Jiangdong as soon as possible, you must give it the final and most fatal blow.

And that blow will come tonight.

Tomorrow, there will be a brand new Jiangdong and a brand new world!

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(End of this chapter)