I did it all for the Han Dynasty!

Chapter 294 Zhou Gongjin, who couldn't fight

Yuan Tan, on the opposite bank, also sensed Zhou Yu's thoughts.

At first, Yuan Tan was somewhat frightened when he heard that Liu Miao had sent Zhou Yu into Guanzhong.

He had stayed in Nanjing for a period of time when he was "visiting relatives," so he had some understanding of the situation in Jiangdong.

Among the five generals of Jiangdong with miscellaneous titles—Zhou Yu, Sun Ce, Lu Kang, Zhang Zhao, and Taishi Ci—Zhou Yu is widely recognized as the most capable.

Now that Zhou Yu and Taishi Ci are both in Guanzhong, Yuan Tan is under considerable pressure.

However, upon learning that Zhou Yu had only brought 5,000 troops to support him, Yuan Tan was immediately free of any worries about his rear.

Even if Zhou Yu was a brilliant strategist, and even if Taishi Ci could fight a hundred men, what could these five thousand soldiers possibly do?
After Zhou Yu burned down the ferry crossings at Puban and other locations, Yuan Tan became even more certain—

"Zhou Gongjin, you are afraid of our army's strength!"

"Burning the ferry crossing will certainly prevent us from crossing the river directly from the east bank, but it also proves that Zhou Yu is currently powerless to compete with our army and has little ambition!"

"What we need to do is to take Guanzhong in one fell swoop and not give Zhou Yu a chance to put up a last-ditch resistance!"

The art of war states: "He who harnesses the momentum of battle, when fighting, is like rolling logs or stones. The nature of logs and stones is such that they remain still when at rest, move when in danger, stop when square, and roll when round. Therefore, the momentum of a skilled warrior is like rolling a round stone down a thousand-foot mountain—that is the power of momentum."

Those skilled at utilizing situational awareness command their armies as easily as turning logs or stones. Logs and stones are such that they remain stationary on stable, flat ground, but roll on steep, precipitous slopes. Therefore, the situation created by a skilled commander should be like a round stone rolling down a towering mountain—unbreakable!
Since Zhou Yu has already backed down, it proves that he has become fearful! What Yuan Tan needs to do is to amplify this fear in Zhou Yu's heart, so that he eventually causes Zhou Yu to collapse like a landslide!

Yuan Tan had once led troops to conquer Qingzhou on his own, and he was quite confident in his military strategy.

Even though he suffered a defeat in Qingzhou and was invited by Liu Miao to Jiangdong to "visit relatives," Yuan Tan always believed that it was not a fault of his own in battle!
After all, who would have thought that Jiangdong would have ships capable of long-distance voyages?

Moreover, who could have imagined that Xu You would actually choose to interfere in military affairs for a little money, thus triggering the incident between Lü Bu and Zang Ba?
My defeat to Liu Miao last time was purely accidental!
In this direct confrontation, Yuan Tan is confident that he can defeat Zhou Yu and prove himself!

When Gao Gan, the governor of Bingzhou, heard that Yuan Tan intended to attack Guanzhong directly from Longmen Ferry, he specifically came to Yuan Tan to offer his advice.

"Young Master, since boats cannot pass now, why not wait until Ma Teng and Han Sui's reinforcements appear near Chang'an, and then attack from both sides to defeat Zhou Yu!"

The high-ranking officials' approach, though slow, is undoubtedly much more reliable.

However, Yuan Tan rejected the suggestion without hesitation.

"Zhou Gongjin has only five thousand soldiers, while we have thirty thousand troops in Hedong. What is there to fear?"

"Moreover, Zhou Gongjin burned down the ferry crossing, which is clearly out of fear of our army's strength. If we cannot take advantage of this opportunity to launch a continuous attack and let the enemy adapt to the war, then we will be the ones who fall into a disadvantageous position!"

In addition, Yuan Tan had another reason that he did not say aloud.

Yuan Tan always kept in mind what Guo Tu had said to him that day.

This is the best opportunity for Yuan Tan to prove to Yuan Shao and everyone else that he, Yuan Tan, is Yuan Shao's successor!
If Yuan Tan can win a brilliant battle, or even march directly to the gates of Xuchang, he will surely be able to use such a military achievement to persuade Yuan Shao to appoint his heir!
Attacking Guanzhong was a test for Yuan Tan!

At this point, wouldn't bringing in Ma Teng and Han Sui just add to our negative points?
Therefore, Yuan Tan still chose to launch a strong attack on Guanzhong from Longmen Ferry!

They mustered a full 20,000 troops and crossed the river from the north.

Throughout the entire operation, Yuan Jun and his men kept a close eye on Zhou Yu's movements in the direction of Hancheng.

[Attack them while they are crossing the river!]
This is a military idiom that even a three-year-old knows, and no one believed that Zhou Yu would be unaware of it.

Crossing a river is always the most vulnerable time for an army. As a famous general of Jiangdong, Zhou Yu had no reason not to launch an attack at this time.

However, to the surprise of Yuan Tan and his generals, Zhou Yu remained completely still, allowing Yuan Tan to safely transport all 20,000 troops to the west bank and complete the construction of the camp.

Even Liu Qubei, the Right Wise King of the Xiongnu who crossed the river with Yuan Tan, was somewhat surprised: "Is the enemy general opposite us actually a scholar who doesn't know how to fight?"

Yuan Tan initially had some doubts, but once the camp was set up, he felt relieved.

"After all, Zhou Yu is Liu Miao's general, and his soldiers are all from Jingzhou. There's no reason for them to fight us to the death for Guanzhong. So their fear of battle is not without reason!"

It seems to serve as a foil to Yuan Tan's "unparalleled strategic planning".

Not long after Yuan's army camp was established, Zhou Yu's soldiers rushed from Hancheng, bringing with them Zhou Yu's words of peace.

"The Commander-in-Chief said that the real battle should be fought in the Central Plains, between Yuan Shao and Cao Cao, not between us and the Eldest Prince!"

"The eldest son and General Liu are relatives. They should not be fighting each other, but should behave with the courtesy due to gentlemen. Does the eldest son not think so?"

really!

Zhou Yu, as expected, did not want to use his soldiers to fight for Cao Cao's Guanzhong!

Yuan Tan was secretly delighted, but he did not show it on his face. Instead, he calmly said to Zhou Yu's envoy, "I am only acting on my father's orders. I do not really want to be enemies with Liu Biaoji. As long as Zhou Lang agrees not to attack Hedong and Bingzhou, I will naturally be willing to withdraw my troops."

When Zhou Yu's messenger relayed Yuan Tan's reply to Zhou Yu, Zhou Yu smiled.

"Little Fox."

"Without the wisdom of an old fox, yet you insist on showing off your cleverness, you're clearly courting death!" Zhou Yu saw through Yuan Tan's pretense and immediately agreed, promising not to attack Hedong.

Yuan Tan was overjoyed to receive Zhou Yu's assurance. He then withdrew part of his troops to the east bank and ordered scouts to carefully observe the defenses of Hancheng.

"Young Master, there are over a thousand flags on the walls of Hancheng!"

"Young Master, there are only a few hundred flags on the walls of Hancheng!"

"Young Master, there are only a few flags on the walls of Hancheng, and the city gates are wide open, allowing ordinary people and merchants to enter and leave the city at will!"

Yuan Tan was overjoyed upon hearing the information he wanted to hear!
"Pass on my order: All troops, attack!"

The army, which had been making a move to cross the river and return to Hedong, suddenly pounced on Hancheng like tigers descending a mountain, catching Zhou Yu completely off guard!
Zhou Yu was no match for Yuan Tan and hastily retreated.

Yuan Tan immediately ordered Liu Qubei to lead the Xiongnu cavalry to give chase and catch up with Zhou Yu. However, just when they were about to catch up, Zhou Yu's soldiers suddenly dropped a lot of valuables, which made the Xiongnu cavalry extremely envious!

Not to mention the Xiongnu cavalry, even Liu Qubei couldn't resist being tempted after seeing so much wealth.

Instead of restraining his soldiers, he himself joined in the scramble for loot!

After all, there was no unified reward system in Xiongnu customs. In each battle, whoever seized the spoils got to keep them!
With a large amount of wealth causing the delay, the Xiongnu cavalry ultimately failed to catch up with Zhou Yu, which greatly angered Yuan Tan, who knew what had happened!

"That's Zhou Yu! Liu Miao's most trusted general! He was the greatest contributor to Liu Miao's conquest of Jiangdong and Jingzhou! He alone is more valuable than 100,000 taels of gold, and yet you only know how to covet some wealth?"

Now that Liu Qubei has gained control of Hedong and acquired wealth, he no longer tolerates Yuan Tan.

"My deployment of troops is merely to assist the eldest son! If they don't like us, they can simply drive us to Hedong! Why bother making these sarcastic remarks here?"

Seeing that the Southern Xiongnu were becoming increasingly disobedient, Yuan Tan suddenly regretted ceding Hedong to the Xiongnu so early.

The best way to tame a wolf is to let it be half-starved and half-full; there's no reason to feed it to its fill in one bite.

However, considering that they had defeated Zhou Yu, Yuan Tan did not criticize Liu Qubei too harshly. Instead, after resting for a while, he continued south!

Yuan's army attacked like fire, successively capturing Heyang and Chengcheng, and soon reached Linjin, a key military town in western Guanzhong and the seat of Fengyi County!
Upon arriving at the city of Linjin, Yuan Tan burst into laughter!
"Why is the eldest young master laughing?"

"I laugh at Zhou Yu for his elaborate schemes, all of which have been in vain!"

"He burned down the ferry crossing because he didn't want our army to get close to Linjin!"

"But now, aren't we standing perfectly fine right here beneath the walls of Linjin City? Hahahaha!"

The generals around him also burst into laughter, and some even said, "Jiangdong is nothing but a barbaric land, how can it produce outstanding people?"

"..."

Yuan Tan's laughter stopped abruptly, and he looked at the other person with a hint of resentment.

While others were unaware of the prosperity of Jinling, he was!

If Jiangdong is considered a barbaric land, then what is the Central Plains?
Yuan Tan then realized a painful truth.

He was happy to have defeated Zhou Yu because he knew that Zhou Yu was ridiculously strong!

But the generals around him were only confined to the Central Plains, and they had no idea of ​​Zhou Yu's reputation.

In particular, the inherent arrogance of the Hebei people towards the southerners led the generals to believe that defeating Zhou Yu was not a significant achievement...

“Playing the lute to a cow.”

Yuan Tan said something inexplicable to the generals, and at this time, Zhou Yu's messenger came out of Linjin City again to rebuke Yuan Tan for breaking his promise!

Yuan Tan replied casually—

"A soldier never tires of deceit!"

"Zhou Yu is a famous general, surely he knows this principle?"

"..."

In Linjin City.

Zhou Yu remained calm and composed, showing no sign of the dejection that came from being defeated by Yuan Shao's scheme.

Upon hearing Yuan Tan's reply, Zhou Yu's lips curled into a slight smile.

"In that case, Yuan Tan can't blame me."

"After all...all's fair in war!"

　Regarding the issue of typos, I'd like to address this with all readers. Although I proofread every chapter after writing and use the built-in error correction function of my word processing software, typos still occasionally appear, for which I sincerely apologize. Additionally, there's a change at Qidian.com. Previously, as long as readers pointed out typos, the author could correct them regardless of how far back in time the chapters were. However, this function has now been disabled. This means that even the author cannot modify earlier content; they can only edit chapters published in the last few days. Therefore, if you find typos in a new chapter, the author will correct them immediately to ensure a good reading experience. However, once the time limit has passed, even after correction, the typos cannot be corrected, for which I am truly sorry.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)