Three Kingdoms: I switched to Liu Bei, why are you crying, Cao Cao?

Chapter 78: Sun and Lu are advancing on two fronts, how dare you lie about the military intelligence?

Jiujiang County, Shouchun, Yuan Shu’s army’s plan to move the capital has entered its final stage.

But now Ji Ling couldn't be happy at all.

Because during the period of capital relocation, the situation in Jiujiang County changed again.

There is no need to elaborate on Liu Bei's status in the north. The key point is that Lu Bu and Sun Ce are advancing again.

As mentioned in the previous article, Lu Bu went south mainly to plunder.

During the previous battle with Yuan Shu, they had already plundered Zhongli. After going south this time, they followed the old route and intended to go directly west to Yinling, march to Xiquyang, and attack Shouchun.

But before he reached Yinling, he was stopped by Lei Bu.

Lü Bu's army consisted of ordinary men like Xu Si and Wang Kai, who had not seen through Yuan Shu's plan.

Seeing that Lei Bu refused to fight, he suggested to Lu Bu that they bypass Yinling and take Xiquyang first!
However, upon hearing this, General Zhang Liao said that going around the city was a big taboo in military strategy. Instead of taking Xiquyang, it would be better to first take Dongcheng, which borders Guangling County in the east, to guard against enemy reinforcements!

After some thought, Lu Bu agreed with Zhang Liao's idea and ordered Zhang Liao to lead 3,000 soldiers to raid Dongcheng.

After receiving the order, Zhang Liao hid during the day and went out at night. He personally went to the east gate of the city. Seeing that the enemy's defense on the east was weak, he ordered his generals to feint an attack on the west gate.

The commander of East City, named Qi Ji, was specially sent by Yuan Shu to guard East City.

Seeing the enemy attacking the west gate, he immediately dispatched troops to reinforce.

However, Zhang Liao seized the opportunity, personally selected more than 200 people, climbed up the city wall with ropes, and seized control of the east gate in one fell swoop.

When the defending general Qi Ji saw that the city gate was broken and he was unable to defeat Zhang Liao, he had to retreat back to Shouchun.

The fall of Dongcheng announced that Yuan Shu's Jiujiang County and Guangling County were divided into two.

If the reinforcements from Guangling want to reinforce Jiujiang, they must first retake Dongcheng.

While Lu Bu took the East City, Sun Ce was also busy in the south.

Because of Qin Zhen's butterfly effect, Zhou Yu returned to Sun Ce's army ahead of schedule, and then planned a strategy for Sun Ce to advance!
In Zhou Yu's opinion, this march into Jiujiang is of great significance to Sun Ce!

This not only means that Sun Ce can break free from Yuan Shu's constraints and officially become a feudal lord, but also concerns whether Sun Ce can seize a base for advancement in Jiangbei!
Therefore, facing the situation of three parties advancing at the same time, Zhou Yu said to Sun Ce.

Currently, the two families are in the north, and the north is out of their reach.

It would be better to advance slowly towards Shouchun, first capture the southern counties of Jiujiang, use Liyang as a base, and then gain a firm foothold in Fuling, Quanjiao, Jundao and other places.

Then capture Hefei, use Hefei as a base, and finally advance north to capture Shouchun.

It has to be said that Zhou Yu's strategic vision is extremely unique.

Even though Sun Ce had not yet captured Jiangdong, he was already helping Sun Ce plan his route to the north.

The distribution of cities in Jiujiang County is also very distinctive, unlike the even distribution in other counties.

In the north, there are a large number of major cities distributed along the Huai River.

The southern part has two lakes as its source, and cities are distributed around the two lakes.

Hefei is a strategic location dividing the north and the south.

According to Zhou Yu, "The advantage of this battle is not in taking Shouchun, but in Hefei. As long as we take Hefei, we can advance to compete for the Central Plains in the future, or retreat to take Lujiang and dominate the south of the Yangtze River!"

Sun Ce naturally had no objection to the strategic concept proposed by Zhou Yu. After capturing Liyang, he successively took Fuling, Quanjiao and other places, and was attacking Jundao City!

Under the attack from these two families, even Ji Ling felt a headache.

Thinking that he had no other options, he simply called Yuan Huan to discuss the matter:
"Now that our army has all its money and food, we have nothing to worry about."

"Sir, can you think of a strategy to defeat the enemy?"

However, Yuan Huan was quite straightforward. He shook his head upon hearing this and said:
"General, discussing strategies to defeat the enemy right now is just idle talk and a hindrance to our work!"

"Our army is already short of soldiers and horses, and we are already failing in defense, so how can we talk about taking the initiative to attack?"

His meaning was very straightforward. We don't have enough soldiers now, and it's difficult to defend me. How can you ask me to defeat the enemy?
Seeing that his proposal was rejected by Yuan Huan, Ji Ling did not get angry, but directly asked:
"Then sir, what is your strategy for holding on?"

This question just hit the spot for Yuan Huan. He was a man of great intelligence. Although he was not good at plotting and scheming, he could see through the enemy's strategy. He said directly to Ji Ling:
"The enemy is coming from three directions. Liu Bei and Lu Bu each have tens of thousands of troops. Although we are near Shouchun, our army can hold on!"

"Only Sun Ce is in the south, with 20,000 soldiers and horses, and the Yangtze River at his back. If we allow him to gain a foothold, our army will be unable to expel him in the future."

"And now Sun Ce has crossed the river from Liyang and is not heading north. This shows that his heart is on the south bank and he must want to take Hefei and other places."

"So we might as well send more troops to Hefei first to stop him from thinking about it, and then send spies south to spread rumors that Liu Biao and Liu Yao's former subordinates want to jointly attack Danyang, then Sun Ce will have to go!"

"If Sun Ce leaves, Liu and Lu will not be a threat anymore, and our army can hold on!"

Ji Ling heard this and thought that it made sense. He still had 30,000 soldiers and horses. As long as Sun Ce did not go north, Liu Bei and Lu Bu would not pose a threat to him.

But after thinking for a while, he complained to Yuan Huan again:
"But now our army has been divided to defend against the two families. Where else can we send reinforcements to Hefei?"

He only has so many soldiers and horses. He has sent out more than 13,000 of them, and there are still more than 10,000 left in the city. He cannot use such a small number of soldiers and horses to reinforce Hefei.

Similarly, although Liu Xun of Lujiang had troops, they were too far away to guard against Sun Ce's westward advance into Lujiang, and he had no troops to send.

But he had obviously considered this matter before, so he said to Ji Ling:
"General, you can mobilize Qin Yi's troops in Lu'an. He still has 7,000 troops outside to guard against bandits."

"Now that we are facing external enemies, we can ignore some minor rebellions for now and focus on the external enemies."

"There are now 2,000 soldiers and horses in Hefei, plus Qin Yi's 7,000 troops, which is enough to make it difficult for Sun Ce to capture it."

Qin Yi was also a former general under Yuan Shu. He was originally from Nanyang. After Yuan Shu lost Nanyang, he appointed Qin Yi as a colonel.

Also, because of the crisscrossing water veins of Lujiang and Jiujiang, there were many bandits and rebellions. Chen Ce had tens of thousands of people in the northern part of Lujiang, and Zheng Bao, Xu Gan, Zhang Duo and others occupied Chaohu and other places.

In order to prevent the two gangs from joining forces, Yuan Shu asked Qin Yi to lead 7,000 soldiers to garrison in Lu'an County between the two lakes. Ji Ling frowned when he heard that Yuan Huan wanted to mobilize Qin Yi. The thieves like Chen Ce were not small thieves, and it was not a good idea to mobilize the garrison troops easily.

But he thought that if Hefei could not be defended, Lu'an would fall into the hands of the enemy sooner or later.

Instead of hesitating, it is better to stabilize Sun Ce first!
After thinking for a while, Ji Ling agreed with Yuan Huan's suggestion and hurriedly issued orders to mobilize troops.

But he didn't expect that as soon as the messenger who mobilized the troops left, he saw a soldier coming to report:
"General, disaster has struck! Our army led by Chen Lan and Chang Nu has been defeated by Liu Bei!"

"Now Dangtu, Xiacai and other places have fallen into the hands of the enemy!"

Upon hearing the news, Ji Ling was struck by lightning. Yuan Huan was also stunned on the spot, saying in disbelief:

"Both Chen Lan and Chang Nu were defeated by Liu Bei? Is this true?"

Even though Liu Bei had promoted him, when he heard the news, he couldn't help but call out Liu Bei's name.

There is no other reason, it’s just that the news is too explosive.

According to their intelligence, Liu Bei's total military force was at most a little over 10,000.

The combined forces of Chen Lan and Chang Nu numbered as many as eight thousand men!
And, more importantly, Liu Bei’s army was fighting a siege, while they were fighting a defense!
Even if they lined up on the city wall for Liu Bei to chop them down, they wouldn't be defeated so quickly!
Yuan Huan's questioning also made Ji Ling react. He stared at the soldier and said:
"How dare you lie about military intelligence?"

The soldier had come to report the news, but he was so frightened that these two people would do this that his legs and feet became weak, and he fell to his knees with a thud and said:

"General, please understand me. How dare I lie about military intelligence?"

"If you don't believe me, General Chen Lan is outside the city right now. You can call him over for questioning!"

When Ji Ling heard that Chen Lan had already arrived outside the city, his eyes almost burst into flames, and he said angrily:

"Chen Lan, you lost the city, and you still dare to come back?"

"Come here, come with me to the outskirts of the city to get Chen Lan, and then come into the city to see me!"

After he said this, his attendants rushed out quickly.

Yuan Huan paced back and forth with his hands behind his back, unable to figure out where the problem lay.

At the same time, Chen Lan was waiting outside the city. Although she was riding on a horse, she felt a little uneasy.

He also knew that he had made a big mistake and would most likely be punished.

But he couldn't figure out how Ji Ling would react.

While I was waiting anxiously, I suddenly saw the city gate burst open and a group of people came out. The first one said sternly:

"Where is Chen Lan?"

Chen Lan didn't see Ji Ling and thought he was gone, so she stepped forward and said:
"I will be right here!"

But as soon as he said this, the man shouted coldly:

"Come here, take him into the city and hand him over to the general for questioning!"

Without waiting for Chen Lan to resist, several soldiers stepped forward, pulled Chen Lan off his horse, and tied him up and took him into the city.

Seeing this, Chen Lan knew that Ji Ling was probably going to behead him.

So he cried out his injustice all the way to the county government, and without waiting for Ji Ling to ask him any questions, he shouted:

"General, I am innocent, I am innocent!"

At this time, Ji Ling was sitting in the hall. When he heard this, he stared in astonishment and shouted:
"You came here after losing your city and land, and I have not yet judged your crime. What injustice have you incurred?"

Chen Lan was also a flexible person, and upon hearing this, she burst into tears:

"I know I have failed the general's trust. The general must punish me!"

"But the loss of the city this time was not my fault. If you kill me for this, you are wronging me. I will feel resentful even if I become a ghost!"

When Ji Ling heard this, he was furious. He thought this person was extremely unreasonable. He lost the city and still tried to make excuses. He became angrier and angrier, and shouted:

"It's up to you. I'll kill you first. If you have a grudge, just turn into a ghost and come find me!"

Chen Lan never expected that her reaction would provoke Ji Ling's murderous intent. She immediately cried and begged for mercy.

Yuan Huan still couldn't bear it, so he stepped forward and advised Ji Ling:

"Now that we are facing a powerful enemy, it would be disadvantageous to the army if we kill the family members first."

"Even if he says there is injustice, you may as well listen to it. If there is injustice, deal with it as appropriate. If there is no injustice, then question him!"

"If His Majesty knows about this later, it will be difficult for him to blame the general!"

Seeing Yuan Huan mention Yuan Shu, Ji Ling finally spoke up:
"Well, since you have advised me, I will spare his life!"

As he spoke, he looked at Chen Lan with contempt:

"What grievance have you made? Tell me first. If you are talking nonsense, I will not show any mercy!"

Seeing that she was able to survive, Chen Lan thanked him repeatedly and also thanked Yuan Huan. Then she knelt on the ground and cried:
"General, I was defeated in this battle, not because I underestimated the enemy and advanced rashly, but because the enemy's men were too smart!"

Hearing this, Ji Ling couldn't help but look at Yuan Huan.

Are the enemy's men too wise?

What a joke!
Since Liu Bei lost Xuzhou, he has not had any wise men!
ps: I was dazzled when writing the last chapter, and wrote Xiacai City as Shangcai City. I have changed it in the chapter

(End of this chapter)