The beginning of the Three Kingdoms Cheng Yuanzhi

Chapter 218
Xu Shu came to Xuchang during the starry night. As soon as he entered the city gate, someone reported to the prime minister's residence.

Cheng Yuanzhi was overjoyed and led a group of counselors including Guo Jia, Jushou and Cheng Yu to meet him.

Xu Shu walked up to him, bowed and cupped his hands and said, "The sinner, Xu Shu, pays homage to the prime minister."

Cheng Yuanzhi stretched out his hand to support him, and said with a smile: "It's okay, it's okay, it's good that you come."

After a brief narration, he asked again: "Yuan Zhi is a wise man, and he should serve the court. Why did he stoop to serve Liu Bei?"

Xu Shudao: "When I was young, I saw injustice on the road and committed human life. I was not tolerated by the officials. I had to live in the rivers and lakes. I occasionally went to Xinye. Thanks to Liu Xuande's friendship, I helped each other a little bit. Now my mother is here, and I am pardoned by the prime minister. The previous crimes should be done like dogs and horses."

Hearing this, Cheng Yuanzhi was overjoyed, held Xu Shu's hands together and said: "Since Mr. has arrived here, you can go to the hall to meet your lord, and do your part as a son of man. It will not be too late to talk about these gossips later."

Xu Shu thanked her and was about to go to see her mother when Cheng Yuanzhi called her to stop her.

Xu Shu was startled, not knowing why.

Cheng Yuanzhi took out a handwritten letter and handed it over, "Please pass this book on to your mother."

Xu Shu took the handwritten letter and stepped back with a blank look on his face.

Cheng Yuanzhi said with a smile to everyone: "As expected by Zhong De, Xu Shu abandoned the dark and turned to the bright before the first month."

Except for Cheng Yu and Guo Jia, everyone was ignorant of the inside story, and all praised: "Prime Minister is wise!"

Guo Jia asked curiously, "I don't know what is said in the master's book?"

Cheng Yuanzhi laughed, and explained: "I heard that Xu's mother has a strong temper, and I feared that she would die, so I made a bet with her. Now that the bet has been won, even if she knew that Xu Shu was deceived by Zhong De, she would not Will use extreme methods to fight."

When everyone heard the words, they suddenly realized, and they all praised: "The prime minister's advice!"

Only Guo Jia shook his head and remained silent.

He had never met Xu's mother before, so he didn't know her temperament, but only from this few words, he felt that things would not be so simple.

But in the end he didn't say anything.

Others don't think about it so much.Immediately seized the opportunity and flattered Cheng Yuanzhi.

The horses were enjoying themselves when they suddenly saw a scouting horse rushing into the courtyard, ran up to him and cupped his hands and said, "Zhou Yu of Jiangdong attacked Wanling at night, Tai Shici beheaded Wen Chou and took the city. Now gather troops and horses in the city and organize the army." Preparing for the war, threatening to take back Wu County, is a shameful act. Zhang Yun and other generals are afraid that it will be difficult to resist, so I specially ordered the little Xingye to come and ask the prime minister."

It turned out that after the [-] Northern Army crossed the river, taking advantage of Sun Quan's unpreparedness, they captured Wu County and half of Danyang, and then divided the troops into eight groups, each taking a city and defending the area, waiting for follow-up reinforcements.

At that time, Zhao Yunshou and other generals guarded Wujun, Yan Liang guarded Dantu, Wen Chou guarded Danyang, and Zhang Liao was the prefect of Guangling, responsible for sending out follow-up troops.

Zhou Yu was very angry when he learned that the northern army was coming around the sea, but he had no choice but to divide the [-] sailors into ten groups, five of which guarded Sanjiang, and the other five patrolled along the coastline.

As a result, it became very difficult for the Northern Army to smuggle troops and horses across the river again, so they had to go around and land at Qiantang Bay in Kuaiji County.

After Sun Quan took control of Jiangdong, he didn't have the ambition of "leading Jiangdong's army to run rampant in the Central Plains" like his brother Sun Ce, but just wanted to settle down in a corner.

Perseveringly, the buttocks have not yet settled down, the Northern Army will divide the sea and divide the troops to attack from eight routes, Zhao Yun and other generals will attack Wu Jun, Qu Yi and other generals will take Kuaiji, and Yan Liangwen Chou will attack Danyang.Both Wujun and Kuaiji were lost in an instant, only half of Danyang County remained, and only one and a half of the four Jiangdong counties remained, which was in danger.

Sun Quan retreated to Yuzhang County in embarrassment. Seeing that there was no way to retreat, regardless of the opposition of Zhang Zhao, Zhang Hong and other ministers, he decided to send troops to the north to recover Jiangdong's homeland.

Zhou Yu believed that the northern army was in danger of being defeated, so he proposed strategies to avoid the real situation and make use of the weak. He first threatened to capture Lujiang and Shouchun, but actually attacked Danyang secretly, pretending to attack the east and attacking the west. Then he watched the movements of the northern army later and responded calmly.

Sun Quan thought so, so he adopted Zhou Yu's strategy and pretended to gather a navy on the east bank of the Yangtze River. Taking advantage of Wen Chou's negligence, he led his troops to attack Wanling at night. During the chaos, Wen Chou was besieged by Tai Shici and other six generals. Under the horse, Zhou Yu took the city after a fierce battle.

Zhao Yun, the prefect of Wu County, was shocked when he heard the news, and ordered his relative Wei Xingye to rush back to Xudu for help.

Knowing the details, Cheng Yuanzhi was shocked, and lost his voice: "What, Wen Chou is dead?"

Qin Wei said: "It's true, Zhao Yun has ordered all the guards in Wu County to guard the city and not go out to fight."

Cheng Yuanzhi looked around the crowd and asked, "Wanling has been lost. This place is not far from Shouchun and Wu Commanderies. It can be reached in a day on a fast horse. If Zhou Yu uses this as a base to attack from all sides, what should I do?"

Guo Jia said: "My lord, don't panic. The Jiangdong navy is powerful, but the infantry and cavalry are mediocre. Zhou Yu's plan can only be done once. Now that our army is prepared, he will never come to attack again. This plan can be powerful for a while, but Can't be the hegemony of the whole life, both sides must see the truth on the battlefield."

Cheng Yuanzhi was slightly lenient: "Jiangdong's army is weak, but it should not be underestimated. Zhou Yu is a rare Confucian general in the world. He marches vigorously and swiftly, and his clever schemes are unconstrained. Sun Quan has been in Wu for a long time and has won the hearts of the people. The situation of our army is not optimistic. needs to be remedied.”

Guo Jia nodded and said, "When more troops, horses, money and food are sent across the river, the prime minister needs to go to the town in person. However, Liu Bei in Xinye and Liu Biao in Jingzhou also need to be appeased, and we can't start a war on both fronts."

Cheng Yuanzhi thought so: "Is there a good way to be filial?"

Guo Jia pondered for a long time, and said: "Jiangdong has about 20 soldiers and horses, half of which are divided into navy and army. They are distributed in the four counties. The west defense is Jiangxia Huangzu and Changsha Wenpin; the north defense is Shouchun Yujin and Guangling Zhangliao. The number of soldiers and horses will not exceed one hundred thousand."

"You can order Zhang Liao to station troops in the north of the river, and lead troops in Guangling to respond to Yan Liang; order Yujin to station troops on the right side of the river, pretending to cross the river, and put pressure on the other side; and order Qu Yi and other generals to march to Yuzhang, pressing Sun Quan closely. ; Let Zhao Yun stabilize the existing jurisdiction, appease the people, and the Lord will raise an army across the river to fight Zhou Yu."

"Such five groups of soldiers and horses go out together. Although Sun Quan has many generals and many soldiers and horses, he is no match for four hands. My lord only marches in the right way. Within a year or two, Jiangdong will collapse."

"Furthermore, there are only two counties left in Jiangdong. How can they support 20 troops, and the consumption of military equipment, money and food is huge, so how can it last?"

"If at the same time, if we take the strategy of alienating Zhao'an from the civil and military under his command, within a year, Sun Quan will surely be captured!"

Hearing this, Cheng Yuanzhi was overjoyed, and said with a smile: "Heroes see the same thing, Fengxiao's plan coincides with mine, so we will act according to this plan."

After the discussion, Cheng Yuanzhi immediately allocated troops and horses, and ordered Zhang Liao to lead [-] troops and horses to form an array in the north of the Guangling River, corresponding with Yan Liang on the other side of the river. When he saw ships patrolling the river in the east of the river, he sent out small boats to harass them.

Order Yuban led [-] troops to line up on the west bank of the Yangtze River, pretending to cross the river, and contain the Jiangdong water army.

Let Liu Ye go to Jingzhou to appease Liu Bei and Liu Biao under the banner of the imperial court.

After all the assignments were completed, Cheng Yuanzhi was about to lead an army of [-] people to Guangling and sneak across the river to fight Zhou Yu.

Suddenly seeing Su Gai rushing in recklessly, he hurriedly said: "It's not good, Mrs. Xu is hanging on the beam!"

Cheng Yuanzhi was taken aback again, and said anxiously, "Tell me carefully! What's going on?"

Sugai organized his speech and said it in detail.

It turned out that Xu Shu went to see his eyes and wept and worshiped under the hall.His mother was shocked and said: "My son happened to Liu Xuande in Xinye, why did he come here?"

Xu Shu reported truthfully: "Because I was summoned by my mother's letter, Xingye came here."

After that, he presented his mother's handwritten letter.

Xu's mother read the handwriting and became furious. She pointed at Xu Shu's nose and cursed: "You have been wandering around the world for several years. You thought you would make progress in your studies, but you didn't expect it to be worse than before! Since you have read history books, you must know that loyalty and filial piety cannot be both, and loyalty to ministers cannot be the same." Matter two masters!"

"Liu Xuande's benevolence and righteousness are spread all over the world, and he is also a relative of the Han family. You have done it, why do you recite it? Today, based on a fake book, let alone a thorough investigation, he abandoned the master and voted for another, taking a bad name for himself. I am a fool! What kind of face do I have to meet you! You humiliated your ancestors and were born in the sky!"

This scolding made Xu Shu bow down to the ground, not daring to reply, even the handwritten letter that Cheng Yuanzhi asked him to hand over was frightened.

After Xu's mother scolded, she turned to the screen and entered the inner room.

After a while, the servant reported: "The old lady hanged herself between the beams."

Xu Shu rushed in to rescue her in a hurry, but her mother was out of breath and her soul was gone.

Xu Shu cried to the ground and couldn't stand up for a long time.

Cheng Yuanzhi almost fainted when he heard the words, stood firm and asked, "Is this really true?"

Su Gai's eyes widened, "How can there be any lies? I never lie!"

Forget it, Cheng Yuanzhi glared at him angrily, so he had no choice but to send someone to pay a visit to ask him, and then went to pay his respects in person.

Xu Shu buried his mother's coffin in the southern suburb of Xuchang and stayed in the mausoleum to watch the funeral.Whatever Cheng Yuanzhi bestows, he will not accept.

(End of this chapter)