My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 285: Fighting in Jiangdong Again
Cao Cao, Yuan Shao, Jia Xu, Guo Tu, and Xu You, their series of complicated operations seem to be able to be summarized in a few words, but in fact they lasted for a long time. It took at least two months to complete all of this.

Cao Cao was first defeated by Ge Gongche's offensive in late September of the fifth year of Jian'an, and Zhou Yu's technical support to him occurred in early October. In mid-October, Cao Cao began to deploy countermeasures, and the battle lasted for more than 20 days, with both sides upgrading their technical means twice.

In the end, Guo Tu caused the generals in Hebei to become disloyal, and it was already early November. Xu You defected to Cao in mid-November, and then Cao Cao counterattacked.

On the other hand, after Cao Cao received the information about Zhou Yu's technology in early October, he did not immediately send an envoy back to encourage Sun Ce and Zhou Yu to hold on and hold on to the hope, because Cao Cao himself did not think he had won at that time.

He waited until the end of October, and after using two technical means to contain Yuan Shao on the battlefield, he saw that his side had recovered from the decline and bottomed out, and then he let Zhou Shan go. He was also afraid that Zhou Shan would be killed, so he sent several extra groups of envoys to infiltrate secretly, hoping to give Sun Ce and Zhou Yu confidence.

Considering that these people, like Zhou Shanlai, had to pass through Liu Bei's defense zone, it would be difficult for them to infiltrate and quite a number of them might be intercepted. Therefore, it is estimated that at least in the twelfth month of that year, the news that "Cao Cao has reversed the situation" would have a chance to reach Zhou Yu and encourage the warlords in the Wuhui area.

As for Cao Cao's complete victory over Yuan Shao...that would not happen until at least the end of November or the beginning of December.

In addition to the blockade by Liu Bei's army, the news would not reach Jiangdong until at least February of next year, which is the sixth year of Jian'an. If it was slow, it might even be March.

Therefore, even if Cao Cao defeated Yuan Shao, Sun Ce would not be able to know it until February of next year.

As long as Guan Yu and Zhuge Jin can kill Sun Ce in February next year, there is no need to worry about Sun Ce being encouraged by the news of Cao's victory.

……

Two flowers bloom, one branch each.

Let’s return to Wuhu in late October of the fifth year of Jian’an.

On October 22, Zhao Yun finally arrived in Wuhu with 25,000 reinforcements, sailing down the Yangtze River for more than 1,200 miles.

This day was also half a month after Zhuge Jin's son Zhuge Ke was one month old. Zhuge Ke was born on the seventh day of September. Zhuge Jin took care of his wife during her confinement until the tenth day of October before returning to work. Now he has just re-adapted to the work rhythm.

The army that Liu Bei's army had previously used in the Jingnan Campaign, including the reserve troops stationed in Wuchang County, had a total of 40,000 soldiers.

However, several thousand people were definitely lost in the process of pacifying Jingnan, which was considered a relatively low-intensity battle. Only the battle to kill Xing Daorong and the attack on Changsha City were large-scale bloody battles with more than a thousand deaths. Other battles either resulted in the loss of hundreds of people or were decided by direct edicts.

However, the battle of Jingnan produced many wounded and sick soldiers, and many soldiers who contracted infectious diseases during the hot summer did not recover their combat effectiveness until September and October. In addition, Jingnan still needed to be cleared and pacified by the garrison, and the newly captured prisoners could not be directly put into the hard battle. Their loyalty and military discipline were not guaranteed, and they also needed time to be trained and reorganized before they could be used.

Due to the combined effect of various factors, the final result was that Zhao Yun could only bring 25,000 people.

Similarly, Guan Yu and Zhuge Jin did not dare to use the Sun family prisoners captured in the Jiangdong Campaign to fight against the Sun family, so they could only detain them for forced labor and reform. Therefore, Guan Yu, Zhuge Jin, and Chen Deng only had about 25,000 remaining combat forces.

Together with the fresh troops brought by Zhao Yun, Liu Bei's army assembled 50,000 soldiers for the final battle against Sun Ce.

Sun Ce on the opposite side still has 30,000 soldiers.

Among them, there were about 20,000 troops in the encirclement of Moling, led by Sun Ce himself.

The rear Wuxian, Qiantang, and Shanyin had a total of more than 10,000 people, but the quality of the troops in Wuxian and other places was slightly worse, and some were garrison troops mobilized later. Zhu Zhi guarded Wuxian, Zhou Yu guarded Qiantang, and Cheng Pu guarded Shanyin, and each of them had some deputy generals assigned to them.

Sun Ce also left several of his brothers, such as Sun Quan, and his son Sun Shao, in Qiantang, and entrusted them to Zhou Yu for protection. Because that place was close to Sun's hometown, Yuhang County, Zhou Yu also concentrated a small number of new sea vessels captured in previous naval battles there.

The final decisive battle was 50,000 to 30,000, with Liu Bei's army having the upper hand. This was also a rare opportunity for Liu Bei's camp to fight such a powerful battle.

……

"Zilong! How are you? You must have had a hard time on the journey. Come into the city and rest soon."

"Yes, Sun Ce has been under siege for four months already. We can let the troops recover their strength and gather their energy. It won't be too late to fight again next month! It's only seven or eight days anyway."

At the Wuhu dock, after Guan Yu and Zhuge Jin met Zhao Yun, they immediately exchanged a few words of greeting without any regard for status, and then talked about their respective experiences in the past six months.

Although the generals of the two battlefields of Jingnan and Wuhui have been communicating through letters for the past six months, it is not as thorough and detailed as face-to-face communication. The ancients valued words like gold, and many details are not suitable for writing in letters.

Zhao Yun returned the greetings and also asked about the situation of Zhuge Jin's son.

Zhuge Jin didn't want to show off, so he said casually: "Come to my house as a guest in a few days, and you will see it."

Zhao Yun said frankly, "I missed the full moon banquet, Ziyu must make up for it. My wife also contributed to your child. I heard from her that your sister-in-law often asked her for advice." Zhuge Jin punched Zhao Yun on the shoulder and scolded him with a smile, "Nonsense, it's the sister-in-law's job to teach her sister-in-law. What does it have to do with you! Zilong, you are getting more and more shameless!"

Others who saw this action did not take it seriously, knowing that neither side had any ill intentions.

After all, it was the brother-in-law who was joking with his brother-in-law, so it was only right for him to be punched by his brother-in-law. Besides, Zhuge Jin was just a scholar, and his punches were not very strong. With Zhao Yun's physique, he would be fine even if he punched him a hundred times.

Guan Yu was also stroking his beard and smiling. After Zhuge Jin and Zhao Yun finished joking, he went over to chat with Zhao Yun and asked about the recent situation of Liu Bei and Zhang Fei.

Upon learning that Zhang Fei was in charge of the northern defense line of Wuling and Changsha counties and was on guard against Liu Biao, Guan Yu became a little worried, thinking that Zhang Fei was not good at naval battles.

Zhao Yun quickly reassured Guan Yu: "Don't worry, Yunchang! Yide is no longer the same as before. I also know that Yunchang is thinking about the fact that the lord entrusted Xuzhou to Yide.

But now Liu Biao is old and has no ambition, how can he be compared to Lu Bu in the past! By the way, the lord also let Kong Ming take charge of the military affairs of the five counties of Jingzhou, and be fully responsible for the internal affairs. In Changsha, there is Yuan Zhi to help, and Wuling also has other surrendered generals and surrendered civil officials to assist. Yide is more than enough to take charge of the defense of Jingnan! "

Zhuge Jin was also quite pleased when he heard Zhao Yun mention his second brother.

He remembered that after Zhuge Liang made his debut in history, he was "appointed to a position when an army was defeated and given a mission in times of danger". It was not until the Battle of Chibi that he got his first official position, which was to help Liu Bei be in charge of the troops, horses, money and food in the four counties of southern Jing.

This position was also very important for Liu Bei in history, because Liu Bei only had a small territory at that time, so it was equivalent to handing over all the internal affairs of his entire territory to Zhuge Liang.

In this life, Zhuge Liang is younger and less experienced, and when he joined Liu Bei's camp, he was not the absolute number one strategist. After all, there was also Zhuge Jin himself.

Unexpectedly, he was finally authorized to take charge of the government affairs of the five counties of Jingzhou eight years ahead of schedule. This can be regarded as historical inertia.

Of course, Liu Bei now has territories in three states, so his position is not too transcendent as he is in charge of the occupied part of a state's internal affairs.

Zhuge Jin quickly realized that this was the first time Liu Bei had formally adjusted the state-level internal affairs authority of his camp after the Yidaizhao incident broke out. As he no longer had to listen to the Xudu court's canonization of official positions, such situations would become more and more common.

Now that the work in Jingzhou has been assigned, there should also be some action in Yangzhou and Xuzhou's respective halves, right?
Zhao Yun also noticed that Zhuge Jin was lost in thought, and immediately told him the truth while riding his horse:

"I forgot to mention something important just now. The Lord has asked me to bring a letter to you, asking Ziyu to take charge of the Yangzhou Mufu and take charge of the internal affairs of all the counties in Yangzhou. When we defeat Sun Ce in the future, this appointment will also include the newly occupied three counties of Wuhui.

He also asked Zi Zhong and Yuan Long to assist in the internal affairs of the counties of Xuzhou, but because Zi Zhong often needed to manage cross-sea contacts with Yuan Tan and Liaodong, Yuan Long would take over when he was away. He also said that after defeating Sun Ce, Yun Chang would go north to lead the defense of the entire Xuzhou, and I would return to Hefei to lead the defense of Yangzhou and Huainan, and Yi De would lead the defense of Jingzhou.

I will take a closer look at the appointment document after I return to the city. I can’t explain it clearly on the way here.”

After hearing this, Guan Yu and Zhuge Jin did not find this result unexpected.

Liu Bei now controls Jing, Yang, and Xu, but only half of each of the three states. If Sun Ce is eliminated, Yangzhou can be taken first, and the southern part of Yangzhou will become the rear base, without any worries.

For this reason, Liu Bei did not think it was necessary to keep a top general in charge of the defense of the Jiangnan part of Yangzhou. As long as Zhuge Jin was in charge of the internal affairs, Zhao Yun was stationed in Jiangbei and was responsible for the Huainan part of Yangzhou.

In this way, Guan, Zhang and Zhao were each responsible for the military affairs of a state, the Zhuge brothers were responsible for the internal affairs of a state, and Mi Zhu and Chen Deng were responsible for the internal affairs of Xuzhou. The three states all had a top leader from military to political affairs. These seven people will definitely be the first echelon of the power structure of Liu Bei's camp in the future.

In fact, Xuzhou only occupied two and a half counties, the smallest of the three states controlled by Liu Bei's camp. Chen Deng was originally the governor of Guangling, and actually managed Guangling. Mi Zhu was originally the governor of Donghai, managing half of Donghai County and the entire Xiapi County occupied by Liu Bei. When Mi Zhu was going on a long journey, he asked Chen Deng to take charge of it.

Of course, there must be people under Liu Bei's command who are more capable than Chen Deng, especially Mi Zhu.

However, Lu Su and Pang Tong were only deputy county-level officials before. After all, they had too few opportunities to make contributions and came relatively late, so they were still not as good as the elders. After the Battle of Yangzhou was completely over and Sun Ce was defeated, if Lu Su could make some contributions, he would probably be able to climb to the county level. Xu Shu was only at the county level before, and was promoted to deputy county level after the Battle of Jingnan.

It was already very difficult for these three people to catch up with Chen Deng. It would take a long time. After all, Chen Deng himself was quite capable. He even helped Liu Bei take back Xia Pi County in this life. He just died early in history.

As for catching up with Mi Zhu, the chance is slightly greater. In this life, Liu Bei did not suffer the utter defeat of his entire army in Guangling and Haixi, and needed Mi Zhu to give him his sister, servants, and 100 million yuan to start over. Mi Zhu's contribution is also much smaller than that of the same period in history. He is now just a "relative of the Yuan family with some ability and contribution". With Mi Zhu's ability, he can only contribute more to economic construction in the future.

Everyone has a bright future.

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PS: Sorry, the transition chapter requires some personnel arrangements and inventory, which is a bit of a running account. After all, the map has just been changed back to Jiangdong, and many deployments need to be explained again.

(End of this chapter)