Three Kingdoms: I am not Cao Rui

Chapter 70 Internal Disagreement (Seeking Follow-up Reading)

At this time, the guards reported that General Pan Jun of Fenwei was visiting. Lu Xun, who was about to go to bed, got up and ordered the guards to bring Pan Jun to his bedroom.

Pan Jun came to Lu Xun's bedroom and bowed respectfully to Lu Xun who was sitting on the couch: "Your Excellency will return to Xiling tomorrow. I am here to see you off. Please do not blame me."

Lu Xun stood up and supported Pan Jun: "Chengming, we are friends, why do you have to be polite to me? Please take a seat."

Pan Jun did not act shy. Following Lu Xun's guidance, he sat on Lu Xun's couch with him.

Pan Jun is a very interesting person, and can even be regarded as a model of surrendered ministers during the Three Kingdoms period.

As the saying goes, a good bird chooses a tree to roost in, and a good minister chooses a master to serve. During the late Han Dynasty, various forces were constantly fighting, and it was common for civil officials and military generals to switch to other forces.

For example, Cao Wei. Cao Cao started his army from Chenliu and unified the entire north. He conquered and subdued countless forces of all sizes, and naturally he also had countless surrendered ministers under his command.

Precisely because there were so many surrendered ministers, Cao Wei was very tolerant towards them. It became commonplace for those who should lead troops to lead troops and those who should administer affairs to administer affairs.

Take Zhang He, whom Cao Rui was about to entrust with the important task of Guanzhong, for example. Zhang He was a typical general who surrendered from Cao's camp.

As early as the Battle of Guandu, when Cao Cao personally led 5,000 elite troops to attack Wuchao and set it on fire that night, Zhang He and Gao Lan were responsible for the fierce attack on Cao's camp.

Cao Hong was the general in charge of guarding the main camp at that time. Zhang He failed to capture the main camp of Cao's army, and he was worried when he saw the fire in Wuchao. In addition, his adviser Guo Tu framed Zhang He in order to avoid the blame, so Zhang He led his army to surrender directly to Cao Hong.

Because surrender was not unusual at the time, Zhang He did not have much psychological burden. After Cao Cao returned to the camp and heard that Zhang He had surrendered, he was very happy and praised Zhang He, saying that Zhang He's trip was "like Weizi leaving Yin and Han Xin returning to Han."

Among the non-Cao Wei generals, the "Five Elite Generals" well-known to modern people, except for Le Jin who had been under Cao Cao's command since his debut, Yu Jin first belonged to Bao Xin and then to Cao Cao, and the remaining three, Zhang He, Zhang Liao, and Xu Huang, were all surrendered generals.

Zhang Liao originally belonged to Lu Bu, Zhang He originally belonged to Yuan Shao, and Xu Huang originally belonged to Yang Feng.

Cao Wei had many surrendered ministers and generals, and Dongwu naturally had some surrendered ministers as well. Among them, Pan Jun was the best among them.

Pan Jun was from Wuling County, Jingzhou. When he was less than 30 years old, he was appointed as Jiangxia County official by Liu Biao, the governor of Jingzhou at that time. After Liu Bei became the governor of Jingzhou, he appointed Pan Jun as the governor.

In the 24th year of Jian'an, Sun Quan sent Lu Meng to attack Guan Yu from behind. After occupying Jingzhou, the civil and military officials of Jingzhou came to submit. But if they surrendered directly, how could they show Pan Jun's value? So Pan Jun claimed to be ill and stayed at home.

Pan Jun was a famous scholar in Jingzhou. He also studied under the great scholar Song Zhong from Xiangyang and was also famous under the guidance of Wang Can, one of the "Seven Sages of the Jian'an Period". How could he be the same as those ordinary officials?
At the same time, it was Lu Xun who was in charge of pacifying Jingzhou who gave advice to Sun Quan. He used Emperor Gaozu of Han and Emperor Guangwu of Han as examples, and repeatedly mentioned the importance of winning over the scholars of Jingzhou.

So Sun Quan personally went to persuade Pan Jun to surrender. Seeing Sun Quan in person, Pan Jun stopped being polite and knelt down to thank Sun Quan and reported all the military situations in Jingzhou to Sun Quan.

From this point of view, Pan Jun and Lu Xun had quite a connection. Because Pan Jun had been working in Jiangxia for a long time since he started his official career and was very familiar with the affairs of Jiangxia, Lu Xun often interacted with Pan Jun, a famous scholar.

After a while, it is normal for the two to become friends.

As an aside, the two sons of Pan Jun's teacher Song Zhong and his friend Wang Can died in the same year that Guan Yu lost Jingzhou, in the "Wei Feng Case" in Yecheng that Cao Pi was responsible for. Pan Jun visited Lu Xun tonight, on the one hand to see him off, after all, they were officials in the same dynasty, and when Lu Xun left tomorrow, King Sun Quan of Wu would definitely be there, and the two of them would have a hard time talking about anything.

On the other hand, Pan Jun also had some guesses about what Sun Quan said in Xiakouwu during the day.

Pan Jun said bluntly: "My Lord, what do you think of what the king said today? Does the king intend to attack Cao Wei?"

Lu Xun glanced at Pan Jun. Pan Jun was currently leading 5,000 troops stationed at Xiakou, and was part of Sun Quan's central army. Sun Quan was about to attack Wancheng, and Pan Jun's troops would have to join the battle sooner or later, so it was no big deal to inform Pan Jun.

Lu Xun said, "That's right. Your Majesty's plan for this military campaign is very ambitious. If you use a large army, your troops will definitely participate in the battle."

Pan Jun was silent for a moment, then slowly asked: "I dare not ask about the specifics, I just want to ask, should we send troops to Jingzhou or Yangzhou?"

Lu Xun said: "It is Yangzhou."

Upon hearing this, Pan Jun shook his head and let out a long sigh.

Pan Jun was from Jingzhou and had served in Jingzhou for a long time. If he had to use troops, he would naturally want to use them in Jingzhou. If he could capture Xiangyang and use Xiangyang, Jiangling and the Han River as support to consolidate Jingzhou, wouldn't that be much better than attacking Cao Wei on the plains of Huainan?
Have you forgotten Hefei, which you couldn’t capture every time?

When it comes to the choice between attack and defense, most of the generals of the Eastern Wu prefer defense.

But just as there were differences within Cao Wei over the struggle for power, differences over attack and defense, and differences over the use of troops in Jingzhou, Yangzhou, and Yongliang, there were also differences within Eastern Wu over the use of troops in Jingzhou and Yangzhou.

As early as the fifth year of Jian'an, twenty-six years ago, Lu Su presented the so-called "strategy on the couch" to Sun Quan, guiding the strategic direction of Soochow.

What Lu Su meant was that instead of attacking Xuzhou from the north with the land of Jiangdong, it would be better to go up the Yangtze River, occupy the entire Jingzhou, and then "reach the end of the Yangtze River", and use the Han River and the Yangtze River as support to achieve a three-way balance of power.

Lu Su did indeed plan and act in this way. In fact, attacking Jingzhou, located in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, rather than Xu Yang's territory, was also a more realistic option for Dongwu.

But something embarrassing happened. Lu Meng, who succeeded Lu Su, also intended to do the same thing and took the capture of Jingzhou as a priority. However, when Guan Yu attacked Xiangfan in the north, he led his troops to launch a surprise attack, destroying the good situation of the alliance.

It would have been fine if Lü Meng had been able to occupy the entire territory of Jingzhou after attacking Guan Yu. The key point was that Lü Meng and the Eastern Wu did not have the spare energy to occupy Xiangyang for a long time, and instead lost Xiangyang to Cao Wei.

This resulted in the loss of the ally, the loss of half of Jingzhou, the doubling of the battle line, and the sharp increase in defensive pressure.

It is no wonder that Sun Quan wanted to send troops to Yangzhou since Jingzhou could not be taken. But for Lu Xun, the governor of Jingzhou, and Pan Jun, the general who was born in Jingzhou, sending troops to Jingzhou and taking Xiangyang was the top priority!
What would happen if we took Yangzhou? Could we take Hefei and Shouchun?
It can only be said that whether it is the State of Wei or the State of Wu, if they want to use military force abroad, they will encounter many obstacles and internal differences of one kind or another.

No one is much more relaxed than anyone else, it all depends on who can come to the fore.

……

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(End of this chapter)