Three Kingdoms: I am not Cao Rui

Chapter 96: No Entry
Lu Xun's fleet was huge, sailing eastward along the river from Xiling.

Now it was winter, and a fully loaded boat could travel 120 li a day. If we only counted the distance by water, the distance from Xiling to Wuchang was about 1,200 li, which would take no more than ten days.

Wuchang is the current capital of Eastern Wu. The 50,000 central troops of King Sun Quan of Wu are stationed in Wuchang and Jiangxia areas, commanded by generals of the Eastern Wu royal family and Sun Quan's trusted generals.

At this time, the available troops of Wu State were no more than 170,000 or 180,000. In addition to the 50,000 central troops, there were 50,000 troops led by generals of all sizes, and the rest were local troops from various prefectures and counties.

There is a clear difference between this and the Wei State, where the Wei State's army can be divided into three categories: the central army, the external army, and the state and county troops.

The Wu army was divided into three categories: the central army, the generals' troops, and the state and county troops.

This is already very obvious. The troops in the important border defense areas of Wei were directly managed by the imperial court and stationed at the border, while the troops in the Wu state that controlled the key water and land routes were mostly composed of the generals' troops as the backbone, supplemented by local soldiers.

In other words, after this battle, Sun Quan moved Lu Xun's defense zone to Jiangling and let Zhu Ran move to Lexiang.

Then Lu Xun's 5,000 troops would move to Lexiang with him, and all the family members, men, women, old and young, would also move to Lexiang. The same goes for Zhu Ran's 2,000 troops, who would also move to the new station with their families.

It has a rather feudal feel.

If we look at the maps drawn by later generations, we can see that the Wu State occupied Jingzhou, Yangzhou and Jiaozhou, and its territory was indeed not small, and it could even compete with the north.

But if we look at the population distribution, the actual area controlled by Dongwu becomes much more pitiful. Even Danyang, not far from Jianye, is still in turmoil every day. Not to mention those places with sparse population but still under control.

The hills, lakes and swamps are densely covered, and there is very little arable land. The Shanyue people hide in the mountains and refuse to pay taxes. How can we build a great Wu with such people?
Faced with this situation, Sun Quan, the King of Wu, naturally had a plan. That was to select a general from his own army, give him a thousand troops, and let him lead his troops and their families to move to the place where they needed to be stationed. Whether it was conscription, defense, or conquering the Shanyue, a general would be more adept at doing things with his troops as the backbone.

This is simply the Three Kingdoms version of production and construction.

A few years ago, when Cao Pi was conquering Wu with three routes, Cao Ren, who was in the middle, led his army south from Hefei to attack Ruxu. Zhu Huan had only 5,000 soldiers at the time, and Cao Ren thought the game was safe, so he ordered his general Chang Diao to take a boat to attack Zhongzhou, an island in the middle of the Ruxu River.

At that time, the families of Zhu Huan, the commander of Ruxu, lived in Ruxu Zhongzhou.

Attacking someone else's family in front of them?
Zhu Huan's troops were like being cast under a spell, bursting with rage on the spot. An army of less than 3,000 men defeated Chang Diao's 5,000 soldiers and later forced Cao Ren and his son Cao Tai to retreat.

In order to prevent the troops from escaping, the foreign troops stationed on the border of Wei State adopted a joint responsibility system that required the soldiers to take care of their families in the interior. If a soldier dared to escape, his family in the interior would be prosecuted. Sounds cruel, right?

When Sun Quan of Wu came to the side, he sent his family members directly to the edge of the defense zone! The generals and their troops were stationed in the defense zone, and the families of the troops lived next to the defense zone.

Want to run? Want to abandon the city and flee? Even if the general agrees, the troops will not agree.

It can only be said that Wei and Wu each had their own ways of dealing with the weaknesses of the military households, and neither was more merciful than the other.

Wuchang, the destination of Lu Xun's trip, is located between Jingzhou and Yangzhou. It can rescue Xiling and Jiangling from above and Ruxu and Guangling from below. Sun Quan actually deployed his army between the two places. No wonder Sun Quan wanted to build his capital here after occupying Jingzhou.

The selection of Wei’s capital was equally skillful, perhaps five times more skillful.

Cao Wei had five capitals!
Needless to say, Xuchang was one of Cao Cao's early bases. After welcoming Emperor Xianfeng to Xuchang in the early years of Jian'an, he turned Xuchang into the last capital of the Han Dynasty.

The second is Yecheng. Yecheng was originally the heartland of Yuan Shao. After Cao Cao occupied Hebei, before he was named Duke, he selected the best and most essential area in all the areas under his control as his own Dukedom of Wei. Yecheng became the capital of Wei from then on.

The third one is Luoyang. It was the capital of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and Cao Pi just kept it. Luoyang is located in the center of the country, and it is the best place to be the capital.

The fourth and fifth are Chang'an and Qiao County. These two places were promoted to capitals in the third year of Huangchu, but they were mainly used for military purposes.

Chang'an was used to guard against Yongliang, while Qiao County was used as a rear base for fighting against Wu.

Cao Rui set out from Chenliu and headed southeast. After passing through the last Jiwu County in Chenliu County, he crossed Liang State and arrived at Qiao County.

On December 19th, Cao Rui led his army to the area between Suiyang and Qiao County, and of course, they marched and camped in the wilderness.

Cao Rui grew up in Yecheng and Luoyang, so he had little experience in the military and didn't know much about army marches and camping in the wild. But after more than ten days of marching, it can be said that Cao Rui had learned almost all the military knowledge that an emperor should know.

Camping in the wild is naturally quite different from staying in the city. Xu Chu's 1,000 knights followed the emperor to camp in the middle camp, and Cao Hong's 1,000 knights were stationed in the east, west, south, and north camps.

As for patrolling, standing guard, going out for reconnaissance, etc., these are common things that the army should do, and Cao Rui also feels quite new about them.

At night, Cao Rui walked out of the tent and patrolled the camp with Xu Chu and Cao Hong. Bonfires were lit everywhere in the camp, and patrol teams of soldiers were constantly marching back and forth.

Xu Chu looked at Cao Rui and asked, "Your Majesty, the winter nights are cold and the dew is heavier than usual. Your Majesty should go to the tent to rest. I am here to patrol the camp." Cao Rui smiled and said, "General Xu, are you worried about my health?"

Xu Chu hesitated for a moment and said, "I am worried about Your Majesty. This is Your Majesty's first march. How can Your Majesty have the energy to accompany me on patrol after riding eighty miles a day?"

Cao Rui smiled and shook his head: "The first march may not be too hard to bear. I started practicing swordsmanship and archery when I was ten years old. It has been more than ten years now. A little march is nothing."

"Look at the two secretaries, Liu Fang and Sun Zi, who are both over fifty years old. They ride horses during the day and are still processing documents in the account book."

"Do you think that I am pampered and my body can't bear it?"

Xu Chu thought for a moment and said, "I know that when Your Majesty was in the palace, you exercised every day. Swimming in the summer and practicing sword in the autumn. After Xiahou Xian returned to the camp, he told me that he was increasingly unable to defeat Your Majesty."

"Winning or losing in swordplay is one thing. Xiahou Xian actually gave in to me on purpose. I know that." Cao Rui kicked a stone on the side of the road and said, "Once we are on the battlefield, which enemy will give in to me?"

Xu Chu said, "Your Majesty, you are joking. The Wei army has hundreds of thousands of soldiers. How can you let your Majesty face the enemy directly?"

Cao Rui replied: "Although this is true, having sword skills and horsemanship is one thing, and whether or not to use them is another. As a descendant of Emperor Wu, I still need to learn martial arts."

Cao Cao was indeed good at fighting. In addition to being a commander, he was also an excellent general.

Hundreds of years later, Li Shimin once complained about Cao Cao: "He has more wisdom than a general, but less talent than a general." Cao Wei faced many military crises, and all of them were solved by Cao Cao himself.

Xu Chu thought for a moment and said, "Since Your Majesty wants to have a martial arts competition, it would be fine if you could patrol the camp with me."

Cao Hong, who was also following behind him, said, "According to the distance, we will reach Qiao County by noon tomorrow. Your Majesty, would you like to rest in Qiao County for a few days?"

Cao Rui put one hand on his waist and the other on the hilt of his sword, and walked forward while saying, "General Wei, do you think I should rest?"

Cao Hong gradually got used to the emperor's way of speaking: "Your Majesty, why don't you take a day off?"

Cao Rui shook his head slightly: "We set out from Luoyang on December 10th, and arrived in Chenliu on the 14th to rest for a day. Now it has been another five days before we arrive at Qiao County."

"We are marching eighty miles a day. If we continue at this speed, it will take another six days to reach Shouchun. If we rest in Qiao County, I am afraid we will be too late."

Cao Hong asked curiously, "What's too late? If we rest for a day or two, we will arrive in Shouchun on the 27th or 28th, which means there are still a few days left until the end of the year."

Cao Rui said, "We have to fight for these few days. I have already decided with the Grand Marshal and the General that we will mobilize the troops on the first day of the first month after the Heavenly Sacrifice in Shouchun."

Cao Hong continued to ask: "The general should have arrived in Qiao County by now, right?"

Cao Rui nodded and said, "The general will lead an army of 45,000 and will set out from Luoyang on December 3, seven days earlier than us. The general should arrive in Shouchun tomorrow evening or the day after tomorrow at the latest."

Cao Hong stroked his beard and said, "So, we are the only army that hasn't arrived yet?"

Cao Rui said, "There are still two armies that have not arrived yet, the governor of Dongguan, Hu Zhi, and the governor of Langya, Sun Li. They have a long way to go, so they will probably arrive two days later than us."

Cao Hong thought for a moment and asked, "Can we gather all the troops in Shouchun before the first day of the first lunar month?"

Cao Rui said: "I have roughly calculated that there are about 150,000 soldiers."

"Needless to say, the 50,000 central troops, Qingzhou, Xuzhou, Yanzhou, and Yuzhou have drawn 40,000 soldiers from the prefectures and counties, plus the remaining 70,000 border troops excluding those deployed in Hefei and Guangling, it's almost 150,000."

Although Cao Hong was rough and uncultured, he could still figure out the math: "This is 160,000, right? Where did the other 10,000 go?"

Cao Rui showed a helpless expression: "The remaining 10,000 people will be led by Jia Kui, 4,000 will be stationed in Wancheng, and 6,000 will be used to open up the road."

Cao Hong was puzzled: "Jia Kui is also a provincial governor, how could he do such a vanguard job?"

Cao Rui said, "Who else could it be? Of course, the Grand Marshal asked him to do it. Doesn't General Wei know that the Grand Marshal and Jia Kui have been feuding for a long time?"

Cao Hong rarely led his generals: "I knew that, but I didn't expect the Grand Marshal to arrange it this way."

There is one more chapter before twelve o'clock

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(End of this chapter)