The beginning of the Three Kingdoms Cheng Yuanzhi

Chapter 249: Counterattack from Sun Quan

From Xiangyang to Wuling for more than 500 miles, boats and wheels changed along the way. It took Liu Bei more than ten days to arrive at the field and meet Liu Qi.

Fortunately, although they ran slowly on the road, no one was chasing them, and the expected northern army did not come.

This made Liu Bei secretly glad.

When the winter of the 13th year of Jian'an was approaching, the 47-year-old Liu Bei finally had a county again after more than 20 years of struggle, and was promoted from the county magistrate of Xinye to the prefect of Wuling.

Liu Qi stepped aside due to physical reasons, and Liu Bei took over the prefect of Wuling.

The territory is big, and there are more soldiers and horses; with Xichuan on the back and Jiaozhou on the south, the situation of being able to advance and retreat makes Liu Bei very happy.

Although the "Longzhong Pair" has been discounted and Jingzhou has only occupied Wuling, Liu Bei should be happy at this time, and his career has ushered in the dawn. Next, he can follow in the footsteps of his ancestor Liu Bang and go Fight for the world.

However, before Liu Bei was happy, some bad news came: Liu Cong led 20 Jingzhou troops to surrender to the court, and the Northern Army had taken control of Xiangyang.

In addition, Huang Zu, the prefect of Jiangxia, Han Xuan, the prefect of Changsha, Zhao Fan, the prefect of Guiyang, and Liu Du, the prefect of Lingling, all surrendered.

As a result, most of Jingzhou's territory fell into the hands of the Northern Army.On Liu Bei's side, there are only more than 5000 people in the headquarters and Liu Qi's more than 2 navy.

It is worthy of 3 horses.

Immediately afterwards, [-] Jingzhou navy troops lined up along the river, and their soldiers pointed directly at Wuling.

Liu Bei had to divide his troops into two groups, the navy deployed defenses along the river, and the infantry guarded the city.

Surrounded on the east and north sides, bordering Sun Quan in Jiaozhou on the south, and Yizhou on the west, the situation in Wuling County is already precarious.

In this case, Liu Bei also hurriedly asked the surrounding forces for help.Send envoys to Yizhou and Jiaozhou respectively, hoping that Liu Zhang and Sun Quan will take action to share some pressure.

At the time when Jingzhou was in full swing, Sun Quan of Jiaozhou had conquered the entire Jiaozhou after nearly three years of war, and the scholars who had occupied Jiaozhou for more than 20 years were also wiped out by Zhou Yu.

The local emperor Shi Xie died of hatred.

Shi Xie's ancestors were from Shandong, and they moved to Jiaozhou at the end of the Western Han Dynasty. After nearly 200 years of development, the Shi family has gradually become a local wealthy family.

During the reign of Emperor Huan Liu Zhi of the Han Dynasty (147-168), Shici served as the prefect of Rinan County.Shici paid great attention to the education of his sons, so his eldest son Shixie studied in Luoyang in his early years.

Later, Shi Xie made up for "Shang Shulang" by promoting Xiaolian, "promoting talents and eliminating witch orders".

In the fourth year of Zhongping (187), Shi Xie was promoted to the prefect of Jiaozhi.

At that time, the Han Dynasty was troubled internally and externally, and the wars continued, and its control over the border states and counties declined sharply. At the same time, turmoil occurred in Jiaozhou, and Zhu Fu, the governor, was killed.

Since the imperial court was in an eventful period and had no time for others, Shi Xie took the opportunity to occupy Jiaozhou and made his three younger brothers serve as prefects of Hepu, Jiuzhen, and Nanhai respectively, and became the local emperors of Jiaozhou.

After Liu Xie ascended the throne, the imperial court sent Zhang Jin to Jiaozhou as governor, but was also killed by Shi Xie.

This move triggered a scramble for Jiaozhou.Liu Biao also appointed Lai Gong as governor of Jiaozhou, and Wu Ju as prefect of Cangwu, but they were both expelled by Shi Xie and could not take office.

At that time, because the whip was beyond his reach, Cheng Yuanzhi issued an order to Shi Xie in the name of Liu Xie: he was appointed as the Zhonglang General of Suinan and the governor of the seven counties in the state.

Therefore, Shi Xie sent people to Xudu to pay tribute every year.

After the Battle of Jiangdong, Sun Quan lost Jiangdong and led his remnants to flee to the south, so he sent Zhou Yu to attack the seven counties as a refuge.

Although Zhou Yu only led thousands of troops, he was very resourceful and good at military affairs. In the first battle, he planned to kill Shi Xie's eldest son, which shocked Jiaozhou.

In this case, Shi Xie had no choice but to gather all his forces to resist Sun Quan.

But he was not Zhou Yu's opponent, and the seven counties of Jiaozhou fell one after another.Shi Xie retreated steadily.All the way back to Rinan County.

Seeing that he could not win, Shi Xie had no choice but to seek peace. To show his sincerity, he sent his second son as a hostage to serve as an official under Sun Quan.

Although Shi Xie surrendered to Sun Quan, Sun Quan actually did not believe him.

Zhou Yu followed his plan and accepted the surrender on the surface, but secretly led an army to surprise Rinan County by taking advantage of Shixie's unpreparedness.

Shi Hui didn't expect Zhou Yu to rush to the city suddenly. He was flustered for a while, gave up resistance, and led his six brothers and all the troops to surrender.

Zhou Yu didn't show mercy, and after capturing the city, he killed them all.At this point, the Shi family that had ruled Jiaozhou for more than [-] years disappeared.

After Shi Xie was killed, Jiaozhou was completely controlled by Sun Quan.

Sun Quan was about to divide Jiaozhou into two, Jiaozhou and Guangzhou, and appointed Lu Su as the governor of Jiaozhou to appease the local people and aborigines, prepare troops and horses, and accumulate food and grass.

And Sun Quan led the governor of Guangzhou himself, and ordered Zhou Yu to train troops and prepare for the Northern Expedition.

It was at this time that Liu Bei's envoy came to Guangzhou.

After seeing the envoy, Sun Quan asked about the battle situation in Jingzhou, and quickly realized that this was a good opportunity to recover Jiangdong, so he immediately sent Zhou Yu to lead troops north to attack Yuzhang.

In October of the 13th year of Jian'an (208), [-] soldiers walked in uniform steps, shouting "Northern Expedition! Northern Expedition!" and marched to the north with great arrogance.

The heroic Zhou Yu rode his horse first, looked up at the red sun hanging in the sky, and felt full of energy for a while.

After three years of leaving Jiangdong, he finally had the opportunity to return to his hometown, and he was ashamed.

In the past three years, the scene of the Northern Army descending from the sky and sweeping across Jiangdong always lingered in his mind.

It made him unwilling to eat and couldn't sleep at night.

At the beginning, it was too embarrassing to lose.

Marching all the way in a hurry, the journey did not stop for a day.

……

Yuzhang County, Nanye City.

It was almost dusk, and sparse carriages and people were constantly coming in and out of the city gate. Several guard posts on duty stood casually at the city gate, and the defense was extremely loose.

Yuzhang County has 21 counties under its jurisdiction, with Nanchang in the middle and Nanye at the southernmost border with Guangzhou.

In a forest two miles to the east of Nanye City, Zhou Yu poked his head out quietly to observe the situation.

In this forest, apart from him, there are five thousand elite soldiers hidden in the forest.

In order not to overwhelm the enemy, the remaining 2 people were stationed a little further away.

Time passed moment by moment, the sky slowly turned dark, and the curtain of color enveloped the whole world, and a full moon rose slowly, dispelling the darkness and bringing light, making Nanye City look beautiful in the night.

"Great governor, it's so dark, it's hard to see clearly!"

The soldier looked around, rubbing his arm that had been scratched by branches, and complained.

Zhou Yu stood in the dark, put his hands behind his back, and observed carefully for a long time. He kept a confident expression on his handsome and fair cheeks, and said slowly:

"Don't worry! Those who achieve major events should be calm and guard against arrogance and impetuosity."

After observing from a high position for a while, Zhou Yu found that although there were many defenders in Nanye City, the defenses of the four gates were not consistent.

Especially the north gate, as far as the eye can see, there are flaws everywhere.

The soldiers guard laxly, and the gates of the city are not closed at night...

Such a heaven-sent opportunity, as long as the soldiers move fast enough, they can quickly approach the north gate and rush into the city before the enemy finds out.

Thinking of this, Zhou Yu called out: "Old General Cheng, General Huang!"

Cheng Pu and Huang Gai approached, and the former asked aloud, "Captain, when shall we do it?"

Zhou Yu said in a deep voice: "Don't rush, the soldiers are exhausted after walking for days, and they need to recharge their batteries for a while, and capture the city in the middle of the night."

Cheng Pu glanced at Nanye City in the night and asked: "Where to attack from?"

"North Gate."

"North Gate?" Cheng Pu and Huang Gai asked together.

"Not bad!"

Zhou Yu nodded: "Because the south gate faces Jiaozhou, it has the strictest defense and the largest number of defenders, and the city gate is closed, so it is not easy to rush in; the north gate has fewer soldiers, and the defense is the most lax. Attack at the door, a battle is guaranteed!"

"High regards, Commander!"

Cheng Pu and Huang Gai gave their thumbs up together. They are both rough people who have never read a book and don't know the art of war. Therefore, the Confucian generals like Zhou Yu are the ones they admire the most in their hearts.

There is a good plan in the chest, armored soldiers in the belly, and the opportunity to contain the universe in the heart, and the ambition to swallow the world.

If it were the two of them who led the army, they would definitely simply go straight to the south gate, and would never first observe which gate was easier to break through.

In the middle of the night, suddenly there was a rush of horseshoes, and they rushed out of the city. The sound spread far and wide in the silent night, which shocked the hearts of the people in the woods.

Cheng Pu and Huang Gai stood up abruptly, gripped their weapons tightly, and yelled in a low voice: "Boys, cheer up and prepare to fight. Jiangdong will be recovered today!"

"Two old generals, don't be busy!"

Zhou Yu quickly stopped the two of them, "It's only one more day, wait a minute."

Cheng Pu and Huang Gai had already climbed on their horses. Hearing this, they got off their horses and asked, "Captain, it's not too late. If it's later, if the city gate is closed, wouldn't it be a missed opportunity?"

Zhou Yu smiled slightly and said, "Not busy, I missed tonight, and tomorrow night."

Cheng Pu and Huang Gai looked at each other and said in unison: "Great Du Gao!"

Originally, after losing Jiangdong, both of them looked down on Zhou Yu quite a bit, thinking that as a loyal minister of Tuogu and the governor of Jiangdong, he was helpless against the Northern Army.

But in the Battle of Jiaozhou, Zhou Yu proved himself with a devastating record, and it also made the two realize: it wasn't that Zhou Lang was not good, but that the Northern Army was indeed unstoppable.

20 soldiers and horses are coming across the sea. How can we stop them from attacking with all their strength?

To be honest, it was a miracle that Sun Quan was able to rush out of Wujun City and save his life.

You know, at that time, there was not a single general in Wujun City, and there were only three thousand soldiers, and they were all guards—that is, guards of honor, not soldiers who were killed on the battlefield.

But Sun Quan was stunned by these people and rushed out of Wu County with his family.

Looking back now, both of them feel very unreal.

At the very beginning, everyone had an illusion that the reason why Sun Quan was able to escape from Wu County with his family was not due to his good luck.

Instead, the Northern Army didn't want to catch him at all!
Zhou Yu also had such doubts.

However, he already vaguely had an answer in his heart, and he still needed to verify one or two things.to draw the final conclusion.

(End of this chapter)