My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 254 I still miss Xiang Yu and refuse to cross Jiangdong

Faced with the attack from Xu Kun and other veteran generals, Sun Ce was certainly unwilling to deal with Zhou Yu immediately, but he could not completely ignore these requests for accountability.

The final compromise was that Sun Ce expressed that he would conduct further investigations and verifications, strengthen intelligence gathering, and confirm the authenticity of the information collected through Xu Kun's channels.

As long as the information is true, Zhou Yu's decision-making power will be taken away.

Xu Kun and Cheng Pu were also willing to take a step back; they did not want to fight for the right to lead the troops.

They just hoped that Sun Ce himself would take charge of the entire army and lead the main force of the Jiangdong Army to a decisive naval battle with Liu Bei's army at the right time. They must not miss the golden opportunity when Liu Bei's army was fighting on two fronts and the eastern front was empty of troops.

Everyone knew very well that if Liu Bei's army was free and Cao Cao was entangled by Yuan Shao for a long time, Sun Ce's army would have to face Liu Bei alone and would have no choice but to hold on and wait for changes. It would be absolutely impossible for them to launch a counterattack.

The two sides reached a tacit understanding in this way.

To be honest, neither Xu Kun nor Cheng Pu were jealous of other people's talents, but the truth was that Zhou Yu in this life had not yet established enough prestige in the Jiangdong army.

Talents also need to grow. In history, Zhou Yu was able to dominate the Battle of Chibi eight years later, which was inseparable from his experience, actual combat and learning in these eight years.

Now he had neither the opportunity to be independent and gain long-term experience, nor had he had time to build trust and win the hearts of the troops. It was only natural for a 26-year-old young man who had just lost a battle to be questioned by his elders.

……

Over the next ten days, there were constant minor frictions between Sun Ce's army and Zhuge Jin and Guan Yu, but no major battle broke out.

Sun Ce always relied on Niuzhu, Moling and Dantu to fight against Zhuge Jin, not giving the other side the opportunity to seize the field troops for a decisive battle.

While conducting high-frequency, low-intensity scout warfare and frictions, Sun Ce's intelligence gathering efforts were also fully launched, using various channels to desperately verify whether there was a battle between Liu Bei's army and Zhang Xian in Changsha, and whether the main force was being tied down.

The final result of the verification naturally proved what Xu Kun and Cheng Pu said - because this is something that would really happen, it's just that Zhuge Jin had a slight time difference, so the details must be very realistic.

Moreover, during the verification period of more than ten days, the more Sun Ce inquired, the more frightened he became, because more and more bad news began to emerge.

First, in mid-April, bad news suddenly came back from Kuaiji County in the south, saying that Wang Lang in Fujian had also learned about the war between Liu and Sun, and he raised the flag to express his firm support for Liu Bei, the genuine governor of Yangzhou, and then asked He Qi to lead troops to prepare for a counterattack on Dong'ou and Linhai, two coastal basin counties in the central part of Kuaiji County.

Although Wang Lang's troops had not actually landed yet, the news spread very quickly, and Wang Lang's army ships did occasionally appear along the coast of Kuaiji County, some even reaching the mouth of Zhejiang River, which is the Hangzhou Bay in later generations.

This caused the fake officials left in Kuaiji County by Sun Ce to be frightened several times a day, and even some timid ones began to spread the rumor that "Wang Lang's appearance in Linhai and Dong'ou might just be a feint attack, and Wang Lang's real purpose might be to go directly into Zhejiang, land in Shanyin County on the south bank of the river mouth, and directly recapture the Kuaiji County government."

Sun Ce also ordered the patrol navy in various places in Kuaiji to counterattack in time, but the problem was that his ships were sailing too slowly and could not catch up with Wang Lang's ships at all.

Wang Lang's navy would not fight to the death, but would just appear and disappear along the coast, and would flee immediately when Sun Ce's army came to chase and intercept them. The narrow and long new keel sea ship, equipped with wide flying sails, was absolutely faster than the sand ship.

And this is just the beginning.

After entering late April, Sun Ce's army's scouts and spies discovered even more critical situations.

That day was April 22nd. Xu Kun, the prefect of Danyang, received a report from his scouts. After checking it again and again and confirming that it was correct, Xu Kun went straight to the General's Mansion to report to Sun Ce in person.

"My lord! There are unusual movements of Guan Yu's navy in Chuxian and Guangling! My lord, do you still remember that more than a month ago, when Gongjin first attacked Guangling, Chen Deng got the news in advance and blocked the gate of the Hangou Canal with a temporary dam, preventing Gongjin from setting fire to the canal.

But the day before yesterday, Chen Deng organized the laborers to completely dismantle and dredge the dam outside the canal gate, and the Han Canal has been reopened! I heard that there are warships heading south from Xia Pi and Huai Yin, and in Chu County, Guan Yu's troops who were hiding in the Chushui Water Fort also began to mobilize, transferring hundreds of warships from Chushui to the Han Canal at night! "

Upon hearing this, Sun Ce did not react to what the enemy wanted to do for a moment, so he did not express his opinion immediately, but asked Xu Kun to explain in more detail.

Looking at Sun Ce's performance, Xu Kun knew that he had not fully understood, so he quickly asked someone to bring a map and pointed at it to illustrate.

Cheng Pu and Zhou Yu were also there at the time. They reacted faster than Sun Ce. As soon as Xu Kun brought the map, Zhou Yu was the first to wake up:

"Lord Xu, are you saying that Zhuge Jin and Guan Yu want to move the navy downstream? They think that hiding in the Chu River will make it easy for us to be spotted by the navy in Moling and Dantu?" Xu Kun had done his homework and of course had preconceived ideas, so he nodded as a matter of course and pointed to the map and said, "Yes, I think Guan Yu must think that the Chu River is shallow and narrow, and the water fort is not strong, not as strong as the water fort in Guangling Hangou, and there are many berths in the river.

The enemy had previously stored all their warships in Chushui, but that was because the gates of the Han Canal were damaged and they could not use the deep canal waterway, so they had to go to Chushui. Now that Chen Deng had repaired the gates, warships could be moored for dozens of miles along the canal, and there were berths everywhere. Zhuge Jin then assembled all the navy warships to the battlefield further downstream.

More importantly, I have learned some new enemy information in the past few days! There are many rumors among the people that Wang Lang’s army’s harassment along the coast of Kuaiji has been noticed by Zhuge Jin, and Wang Lang’s ships have already detoured to Guangling to dock and contact Zhuge Jin.

Zhuge Jin and Guan Yu may want to bypass Moling, Dantu and other places where heavy troops are gathered, go down the river, go to Wuxian, Kuaiji and other places, and harass us from behind! Although our army still has 50,000 soldiers, most of them are gathered in Danyang, and the rear is relatively empty. If Zhuge Jin uses the advantage of fast ships to harass and destroy all the places along the river and the coast, how should our army respond?

The mouth of the Chushui River is more than 80 miles upstream of the mouth of the Hangou River. When the enemy was stationed in Chushui, once they set out, our army still had one night to respond. We could let the navy of Dantu block the river and kill them. After they were transferred, if they wanted to set out at night in the future to sabotage and wreak havoc in our rear, by the time our army discovered it, the enemy ships had already reached below Hailing. How could we stop them?
Moreover, Chen Deng repaired the locks of the Hang Canal. Their small boats below the size of their warships could even go through the canal into the Huai River, and then sail south along the coastline from Haixi County, threatening our Wuhui coast.

By then, our navy will be at a disadvantage in speed and will be exhausted. If we concentrate our forces to defend Danyang, the enemy will take a detour to harass Wuhui. If we heavily defend Wuhui, the enemy will detour to destroy various places along the river in Danyang. In the end, I am afraid we will be defeated one by one by the enemy!"

After hearing this analysis, Sun Ce's expression became completely serious.

But he still felt that the change came too abruptly: If Zhuge Jin could do this to gain a strategic advantage, why didn't he do it from the beginning? Why did it take until today? If he couldn't explain why, then it meant there was another conspiracy behind it!

Sun Ce's IQ is not very high, but he feels that this problem must be thought through clearly before making a decision.

After thinking for a while, he decided to let his subordinates give the answer: "Gongjin, I think what my cousin said makes sense, but I don't understand why Zhuge Jin didn't do this at the beginning? If he did this at the beginning, would it be disadvantageous to the enemy?"

Zhou Yu's mind was still quick after all. He thought about it for a while, stroking his beard and pondering: "Zhuge Jin didn't do this at the beginning, probably because the troops around Guangling were indeed weak in the first few days, and Chen Deng had to block the canal to prevent me from destroying it. But not long after, Taishi Ci went south, and the troops around Guangling were not so insufficient.

Later, he repaired the canal, which might take a long time, and he had to wait and see, so it was delayed until today. Before that, Zhuge Jin could not do so.

On the other hand, transferring all the navy from Chushui to Hangou would be harmful to the enemy, that is, there would be a lack of navy defense in the upper reaches. If our army switched from defense to offense, and used the main force of the navy to go up the river and destroy the coasts of Chuxian, Liyang, and Wuhu, the enemy would not be able to rescue them in time. Didn't Emperor Xiaowu say that? If the enemy can go there, we can go there too.

Now Zhuge Jin is not worried about this. Perhaps there is a possibility... that is, in the upstream direction, did Liu Bei win a great victory over Zhang Xian? So much so that Liu Bei no longer needs to keep too many troops in Jingnan, and has already sent other troops to Wuhu? Even if Guan Yu's troops are transferred, the upstream will soon be no longer empty?"

Zhou Yu's words made Xu Kun and Cheng Pu agree deeply. This was indeed the most plausible explanation.

Sun Ce was forced by this sense of crisis and decided to give it a try: "We must not wait until Liu Bei withdraws his hand! Zhang Xian is incompetent and will not be able to hold out for long. I have made up my mind and cannot give Guan Yu and Wang Lang a chance to join forces!
As long as Guan Yu dares to lead his navy back to the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and try to infiltrate Wuxian and Shanyin, I will close the door and fight the dog, and mobilize the navy of Jiangdong to fight Guan Yu and Zhuge Jin! Otherwise, when Liu Bei and Guan Yu join forces, I will have no chance to fight even if I want to! "

Zhou Yu was shocked by Sun Ce's words and actions, and instinctively reminded him: "Bofu, don't be reckless! Even if we miss the opportunity today and cannot fight Liu Bei in the future, we can at least hold on and wait for changes! If the main force fails, we won't even be able to wait for changes!

And Zhuge Jin might have some tricks up his sleeve! If he really wanted to join Wang Lang and harass our coastal areas, why didn't he just go through the Han Canal, bypass the Huai River, and go south along the Haixi coast? How could we intercept him then?

Zhuge Jin insisted on taking the Yangtze River, giving us a chance to intercept him. Maybe he wanted us to intercept him!"

Xu Kun and Cheng Pu, who were standing by, agreed with the second half of Zhou Yu's words, but not the first half. Xu Kun responded by saying:
"Hold on and wait for change. What change can we wait for? Sit back and wait for death, which is better than attacking them?"

Zhou Yu: "Before Gongsun Zan died, he said he would hold on and wait for changes, but unfortunately he didn't stick to it in the end and chose to contact Zhang Yan and try to counterattack! If Gongsun Zan could live another year, he could hold on until the war between Yuan and Cao started, and Yuan Shao would not have the energy to deal with him with all his strength, so he would have waited until changes happened!

Although I am not sure what this change is, if Liu Bei only needs to deal with our family, then it goes without saying that the enemy is strong and we are weak. If we have to take the risk of fighting, it is naturally... unpredictable.

If the decisive battle between Yuan and Cao in Henan is decided in the future, and Cao Cao can defeat Yuan Shao, that will be the biggest change. At that time, as long as we are still struggling, Cao Cao will definitely not watch us perish. He will definitely attack Liu Bei from behind and launch a full-scale attack along the thousand-mile Huai River!

We, like Gongsun Zan, are all vassal states living in a remote corner of the world. For us, we can only hope that the neighboring vassal states will be restrained by other vassal states."

Unfortunately, Zhou Yu's words had no effect at all.

When Sun Ce heard that Zhou Yu was actually counting on Cao Cao to defeat Yuan Shao, he felt that this was too slim.

"A real man lives between heaven and earth, how can he rely on others for life and death! If I have to rely on Cao Cao to defeat Yuan Shao in order to survive, I might as well try my best on my own! Gongjin, I know you are a little discouraged after the defeat, and you are also seeking stability, but I can't do that.

When Xiang Yu died, he was only in his thirties, and he still refused to cross the Yangtze River to wait for Liu Bang to die of old age. How could I expect anyone else to destroy Liu Bei!
"Pass on my order, gather all the navy at Dantu stronghold, and keep a close eye on Guan Yu! If he dares to send the navy gathered in Han Canal out and try to go downstream, attack him with all your forces! I will fight him to the death on the Yangtze River!"

(End of this chapter)