I did it all for the Han Dynasty!

Chapter 123 The Invasion is Like Fire!

After receiving the women's clothing sent by Liu Miao, Zhou Yu looked rather helpless: "Did our lord send this?"

"Our lord instructed us to tell you, General, that it was a gift from Xu Gong."

"..."

Zhou Yu, bored, swept the women's clothes aside, revealing the map of Wu Commandery spread out on the table below.

"Does my lord think that I, Zhou Yu, am negligent? To resort to such a clumsy tactic of provocation?"

As Zhou Yu stared at the map of Wu Commandery and considered the available troops, a complete battle plan emerged in his mind.

The terrain of the entire Wu Commandery is like a hollowed-out pie.

Taihu Lake stands in the middle, regulating the surging river water flowing down from the rugged terrain to the west, turning it into irrigation canals that nourish the land to the east, making the area around Wuxian the most fertile land in the entire Jiangdong region, and even the entire south bank of the Yangtze River.

Such terrain would be considered a rare and fertile land by domestic officials, but in the eyes of a commander like Zhou Yu, it was a flat and safe place that could be taken at will.

"Ziming, Boyan, you two should write this down."

Having long been learning from Zhou Yu and becoming his scribes, Lü Meng and Lu Yi immediately stepped forward, holding brushes and wooden tablets, ready to record Zhou Yu's orders at any time.

"Order Yan Baihu and Wang Lang's troops in the south to attack northwards and threaten the south of Wu County. They must occupy the strategic location of Youquan."

"Let Jiang Qin and Huang Gai lead the navy into Taihu Lake and the surrounding waters. Do not send the warships in, as Taihu Lake is shallow and they are easy to run aground. Only use small boats to harass the area around the lake and coordinate the troops stationed in Wu County."

"Let Cheng Pu lead his troops to attack Dantu, cut off the last link between Wu County and Jiangbei, and then make preparations in place."

"Let Zhu Zhi and Han Dang lead troops to launch a fierce attack on Piling! Piling is the northern gateway to Wu County. If we can break through it, Wu County will be within our grasp! The enemy will surely be terrified!"

A swift current rushes forward, capable of carrying away stones, due to its immense power; a bird of prey, striking a sparrow, can kill it in a single blow because it has mastered the most advantageous time and space for unleashing its force, with a rapid rhythm. Therefore, a skilled general always creates a perilous and aggressive situation, launching attacks with a swift and decisive pace. A perilous situation is like a fully drawn crossbow, and a swift rhythm is like the triggering of the crossbow.

With a powerful army at his disposal and facing the strategically advantageous terrain of Wu Commandery, Zhou Yu's task was to launch an attack from all directions, making the defenders feel his overwhelming force.

After Zhou Yu finished his long and tedious explanation, neither Lü Meng nor Lu Yi put down their pens, clearly still waiting for something.

"Both of you have the potential to be great generals! I wonder how our lord managed to pick out these two gems from the crowd."

Zhou Yu praised the two men, clearly because they had grasped the basic rules of warfare.

The previous arrangement, though fierce, was actually just a slow process of tightening the crossbow strings.

While such actions may deter the enemy, they cannot lead to a quick victory.

Lu Meng and Lu Yi were waiting for the moment when Zhou Yu pulled the trigger!
"Send a letter to Sun Ben and Wu Jing, who are located in Fuchun!"

On the day of Sun Jian's burial, although Sun Ben and other former subordinates of Sun Jian agreed to join Liu Miao, only Cheng Pu and others led two thousand soldiers to join him.

The remaining two thousand remained in Fuchun to protect Lady Wu and Sun Ce's relatives.

Liu Miao's entry into Jiangdong was so significant that many people forgot about the existence of this army.

But Zhou Yu hadn't forgotten!

These two thousand elite soldiers were the final trigger that Zhou Yu pulled!

"Say it again!"

"south……"

After hearing the entire plan and confirming that every word was correct, Zhou Yu drew the new iron sword that Liu Miao had issued to him and slammed it heavily onto the map of Wu Commandery.

"In this battle, we will take Jiangdong for our lord!"

At the same time, another impatient voice was in Zhou Yu's mind—

"Bo Fu, I'm so glad to see you again!"

------

The troops in the northern part of Wu Commandery moved first.

When Cheng Pu led his troops to the city of Dantu, he immediately surrounded the city and built earthen walls around it, preventing anyone from entering or leaving. Every day, he ordered his soldiers to beat drums and gongs outside the city. Upon seeing this, the Dantu garrison commander consulted with the officials inside the city and then handed over a letter of surrender to Cheng Pu, allowing Liu Miao's army to successfully cut off the last possible connection between Wu County and Jiangbei.

Zhu Zhi and Han Dang led their troops to attack Piling, but unfortunately ran into Liu Yao's reinforcements.

The two generals launched a fierce attack day and night, but the stalemate persisted.

In particular, when the two of them saw a fierce general carrying a bow and arrow patrolling the city walls, they asked the captured soldiers of Liu Yao's army, "Who is that person?"

"Donglai Taishi Ci!"

"He's quite a capable general!"

Zhu Zhi and Han Dang were both excellent generals of their time, but no matter what they did, they could not break through Piling, which was guarded by Taishi Ci, and could only apologize to Zhou Yu.

Although Zhou Yu was surprised, he was not taken aback. He simply instructed Zhu Zhi and Han Dang to keep Taishi Ci tied down in Piling and prevent him from supporting other places.

Taihu Lake... Jiang Qin and Huang Gai led their soldiers in small boats, appearing continuously in the cities on the east bank.

If they encountered a small town, they would lead their troops to attack it directly, open the treasury, and distribute the spoils to the surrounding people.

If they encounter a city with a large population, they will deliberately avoid it and only go to the farms outside the city. After conquering the city, they will distribute the grain to the surrounding people as usual.

After several visits, each time Jiang Qin and Huang Gai hadn't even reached the shore, they would see the people on the bank waving at them, saying, "General! Here! Here! I'll lead the way! I know a farm! It has lots of grain!"

For a time, wealthy families around Wu County lived in fear.

However, whenever Wu County sent out a large army to encircle and suppress them, Jiang Qin and Huang Gai were always able to retreat into Taihu Lake, leaving the defending army empty-handed.

Several times when they were almost overtaken by the garrison, fishermen from the surrounding area volunteered to cover them, which made Huang Gai unable to help but smash the hull of the boat: "That's great! That's really great! I've fought all my life, and those people treat us like we're plague gods. When have I ever seen such a scene?"

Jiang Qin bid farewell to the soldiers who were still waving to them from the shore: "There will definitely be more and more battles like this in the future!"

south.

Yan Baihu and Wang Lang joined forces.

Wang Lang possessed an otherworldly air; even clad in armor, he exuded the "dignified and upright air of a scholar" that the boatman had previously described.

Upon seeing Yan Baihu, Wang Lang sized him up.

Yan Baihu thought Wang Lang was looking down on him, and immediately questioned angrily: "Does the prefect disdain to associate with a bandit like me?"

Wang Lang then countered Yan Baihu's question: "Do you still consider yourself a bandit?"

As early as when Liu Miao married Yan Baihu's daughter, he had already given Yan Baihu a "formal position" as a Colonel of the Horizontal Fields.

Therefore, when Wang Lang questioned Yan Baihu, Yan Baihu was at a loss and his momentum weakened.

“I never mentioned your background as Yan Baihu, the hero, the bandit, but you brought it up yourself. It’s obvious that you often despise yourself because of your origins, which is why you misunderstand that others also despise you.”

"Little do you know, if others despise you, why would Liu Yangzhou, as a descendant of the Prince of Langya and a member of the Han imperial family, marry your daughter and appoint you as the Commandant of Hengye? If I despise you, why would I be here today to join you in attacking Liu Yao and his men?"

Wang Lang's words filled Yan Baihu with both shame and joy.

"I had long heard of Wang Jingxing's reputation for being highly talented, erudite, strict, and generous. Meeting him today, I can see that his reputation is well-deserved."

Having been subdued, Yan Baihu willingly submitted to Wang Lang and obeyed his commands. Wang Lang did not disappoint Yan Baihu, and soon defeated him with a single blow.

Upon hearing that Youquan had been defeated, Xu Gong was greatly alarmed. Ignoring the advice of Liu Yao and Zhang Yun, he insisted on leading the last garrison of Wu County to the south to try to stop Wang Lang and Yan Baihu.

Upon receiving the military intelligence, Sun Ben and Wu Jing of Fuchun were immediately ordered to advance directly into Wu County!
At this time, the military forces of Wu Commandery were mostly concentrated in Piling in the north and Youquan in the south, which meant that Sun Ben and Wu Jing encountered virtually no resistance along the way.

As they approached Wu County, Jiang Qin and Huang Gai also came ashore from Taihu Lake and joined the two men.

Sun Ben and Wu Jing were also extremely happy to see Huang Gai.

"Gongfu! I never expected to meet you here!"

"Yes!"

Huang Gai was quite moved.

When everyone parted ways, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say they were like stray dogs.

But now, they command a large army and have advanced all the way to the heart of Jiangdong!

"It was indeed the right decision to pledge allegiance to Prefect Liu."

Sun Ben's last shred of resentment towards Liu Miao vanished.

Now that Liu Miao has become the ruler of Jiangdong, and his power even surpasses that of Sun Jian at his peak, does he still lack the ability to protect the Sun family?
Moreover, Cheng Pu, Huang Gai, and others currently hold significant military power under Liu Miao's command, so there is no possibility that Liu Miao would take away their military power out of fear of them.

If Sun Ben had insisted on going to Huainan to join Yuan Shu, he would probably have really ruined Cheng Pu and the others.

"Boyang!"

Huang Gai pointed further, pointing to the undefended Wu County not far away—

"The credit for this battle belongs to you!"

"You weren't there when we attacked Danyang, and you didn't receive any reward. I can't steal the credit this time when we capture Wu County, otherwise the old general would be furious if he knew!"

Sun Ben was immediately moved: "Okay!"

"Now, I will take this city for Lord Liu!"

Sun Ben and Wu Jing led their troops in a fierce attack on Wu County.

Although there were only a little over two thousand soldiers, they were all elite troops. In addition, the garrison in Wu County was small and their morale was low due to the previous events. They successfully captured the city in just three days!
After taking out the heart of Wu County, Sun Ben immediately ordered his soldiers to spread the news to the surrounding counties, and most places were pacified after the message was sent!

When Xu Gong, who was in the south, heard that Wu County had been captured, he immediately beat his chest and stamped his feet. He wanted to escape to the east by sea, but was caught up and killed by Yan Baihu's younger brother, Yan Yu!

At this point, the only place still putting up a last stand in Wu Commandery was Piling, which was defended by Taishi Ci!
From the time Zhou Yu issued the military order to the time this victory was achieved, it took less than a month in total!
Xu Zhao's so-called "two-year resistance against Liu Miao" has undoubtedly become a complete laughing stock!
　There will be another chapter at midnight; this chapter is to make up for last night's.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)