I will be the master of Xuande

Chapter 779 The Battle of National Destiny
Soon, Liu Jian's army began to take action in Yizhou.

Two generals, Zhang Ren and Yan Yan, were familiar with the situation in Yizhou. They led their elite troops towards Nanzhong to prevent Sun Ce from entering the boundaries of Nanzhong.

In other words, they are not stopping Sun Ce, but trying their best to find ways to reduce the effective strength of Sun Ce's army as much as possible.

If it were the original two people, Yan Yan and Zhang Ren, they would not pose a huge threat to Sun Ce. With Sun Ce's ability and his original military appearance, he would not be afraid of them at all, but now Sun Ce has no ability and means to deal with them. nothing.

Although Sun Ce's troops were relatively elite, this army had experienced too many defeats and its morale had dropped to its lowest point.

Second, when Sun Ce's sergeants knew that Sun Ce was going to lead them to the barren land in Nanzhong, many of them began to make small calculations.

Almost half of the soldiers were unwilling to follow Sun Ce to Nanzhong.

Most of Sun Ce's sergeants were elite sergeants who had followed his father in Jiangdong, and a large part of them were elite sergeants recruited in Yuzhou.

These soldiers are all from the Central Plains or the Yangtze River Basin.

Regardless of their original family background, their ancestors have considered themselves Han Chinese for several generations.

They were proud of their status as subjects of the Han Dynasty.

The internal affairs of the Han Dynasty were originally very chaotic, and the people suffered a lot because of more than a hundred years of land annexation.

However, no matter what, the Han Dynasty is still the most powerful country in the world. Compared with the barbarian tribes in the south or the north, the lives of the people in the Han Dynasty are many times better.

Now, Sun Ce is going to lead them away from their familiar hometown, take them to a place like southern Xinjiang where birds don't shit, and turn them into savages. Just imagine, how can these people be willing?
Soon, as Sun Ce's army was moving, the number of his troops began to decrease.

Most of the soldiers were unwilling to follow him to southern Xinjiang, so more and more soldiers escaped.

In this case, military orders alone cannot solve the problem.

Sun Ce has no prestige now.

He could only forcefully take the hesitant soldiers to continue to Nanzhong.

As time went by, the number of soldiers around him became fewer and fewer, reducing them to almost half in just five days.

It was at this time that Zhang Ren and Yan Yan's troops also arrived at his rear.

Many of Sun Ce's soldiers who were fleeing were stopped by Yan Yan and Zhang Ren.

Then Yan Yan and Zhang Ren asked them to serve as guides and led their troops to pursue Sun Ce!
After catching up with Sun Ce's army, Generals Zhang and Yan began to attack Sun Ce's army in turn. Their main purpose was to recruit Sun Ce's soldiers or kill his effective forces, but they never launched a general attack. Sun Ce continued to evacuate to the south, but they just continued to harass him from the side.

Sun Ce seemed extremely helpless in this situation. He had no way to fight against Zhang Ren and Yan Yan, or even organize a decent counterattack, so he could only flee towards the south with all his strength.

However, in the end, Sun Ce, Lu Meng, Sun Quan and others broke through the encirclement and entered the southern border.

When he approached the border of Nanzhong, Zhang Ren and Yan Yan's troops stopped pursuing him.

After Sun Ce entered Nanzhong, he began to count the soldiers in his hands.

There were only less than 600 people left.

Most of these six hundred people were injured.

Looking at the 600 people who followed him and fled to Nanzhong, Sun Ce's face showed sadness.

"I have been in the world for several years, but I didn't expect that something would happen. Even the Han people can't do it! I have to abandon my country and flee to a barbaric land to be a savage, and only a few hundred people are left with me. From now on, , where should we go?”

Sun Quan stepped forward, bowed his hands to Sun Ce and said:

"Brother, don't worry too much. We will unite with the major tribes in South Central and try to gain their trust. If we can gain their trust, when the time is right, we will unite with the major tribes in South Central to march towards Yizhou! Capture Chengdu , re-establish the foundation in Yizhou, and the Sun family will surely rise again by then!"

Although Sun Quan's words sounded nicer, they could not soothe Sun Ce's heart.

He could only nod his head and said: "It's just that we don't know about Nanzhong, and we have never interacted with these barbarians. How easy is it for me to make friends with them now?"

Sun Quan hurriedly said: "Brother, don't worry, this matter will be taken care of by me!"

"Although the younger brother is far inferior to the older brother in foreign wars! But communicating with foreigners...the younger brother thinks he is still competent."

"As for the local barbarian dialect, we may not be able to learn it for a while, but as time goes by, we will definitely be able to understand it and speak it clearly."

"Leave these matters of communication with foreigners to me."

Sun Ce sighed: "That's fine, I'll leave it to you!"...

After defeating Sun Ce's troops, Zhang Ren and Yan Yan immediately sent people back to Chengdu to report the matter to Liu Jian.

Liu Jian appointed officials at all levels in Yizhou, and at the same time placed his direct descendants in major counties as county guards to take charge of local affairs. Then he began to prepare for the eastward expedition to launch an attack on Jingzhou.

Before the Eastern Expedition, he issued military orders to Zhao Yun, Guan Yu and others, asking them to prepare for war with Yuan Shao and Cao Cao.

This time no matter what, we must go to Jingzhou first and then Jiangdong to unify China.

Liu Jian's campaign against Jingzhou this time was extremely powerful.

He mobilized the strongest troops from all over the Han Dynasty, gathered at various military points, and launched a general attack on Jingzhou.

Moreover, he reported the matter to the court, informing Emperor Liu Xie that this was a battle that determined the fate of the country.

Please Liu Xie, support yourself no matter what.

Liu Jian did this mainly for the people of the world to see. How could Liu Xie not support him?

The emperor knew very well the significance of Liu Jian's move, so he issued an edict in the name of the imperial court and spread it throughout the country, launching a battle for national destiny and unifying the world.

The Han Dynasty began to concentrate its forces and prepare for this unification battle.

This move showed Liu Jian's determination to unify the world, and also showed the court's attitude towards Yuan Shao, Cao Cao and others.

It can be considered an ultimatum.

Liu Jian also wrote a letter to inform Liu Bei in Xuzhou, asking Liu Bei to start preparing to attack coastal ports across Jiangdong.

After Yuan Shao learned about Liu Jian's actions, he immediately began to send people to Jiangdong to discuss with Cao Cao, hoping that Cao Cao could join forces with him to start a war with Liu Jian.

Yuan Shao told Cao Cao that if he could win this battle, Jingzhou and Jiangdong would have ten years to develop stably.

After Cao Cao received Yuan Shao's letter, he immediately fell into deep thought. He also knew that for him, the war with the north had reached a critical juncture.

Liu Jian mobilized the strength of the whole country to fight against himself and Yuan Shao. If he could defeat Liu Jian and block his offensive... then his power and Yuan Shao's power would be able to get a lot of breathing time.

But the key issue now is that he has been beaten so hard by Guan Yu that he can no longer hold his head up.

The land of Jianghuai is about to become undefendable.

After all, the cavalry army system in the north is extremely sound. On the plains of Jianghuai, it is impossible for him to defeat Guan Yu.

Cao Cao can now only withdraw his troops to Jiangdong and cede the Jianghuai land to Guan Yu and Liu Bei.

It's just that the area around Shouchun has been his territory for many years. Now that it has been handed over to Guan Yu, Cao Cao is really unwilling to accept it.

However, fighting Guan Yu's army on the three-thirds of the land in Jiujiang County, Shouchun, it is clear that no matter how powerful Cao Cao's military methods are, he can win ten battles with one force.

It is a hard fact that northern soldiers were extremely capable in fighting on the plains.

They have large-scale cavalry and the most elite infantry and armor, which Cao Cao's southern soldiers cannot match in any case.

After several discussions and discussions, Cao Cao finally made a decision that no one expected.

That is to abandon Jiujiang, withdraw troops and horses to the east of the Yangtze River, and use the powerful navy to deal with the northern soldiers along the Yangtze River's natural moat.

Many people were opposed to Cao Cao's decision, especially some local officials from Jiujiang County. They were all from prominent local families and had been suppressed by Cao Cao before. In fact, they were dissatisfied with Cao Cao, but under Cao Cao's guidance, Under the iron-fist policy, they had to give in. Now seeing that Cao Cao was about to send troops to withdraw to Jiangdong, their feelings were very contradictory and complicated.

They not only wanted Cao Cao to get out, but they also didn't want Liu Jian to come here to rule them.

Although they don't know how to choose between these two people, it is still extremely disadvantageous for them to ask Cao Cao to withdraw his troops to Jiangdong immediately.

Because once Liu Jian's army stationed in Jianghuai, to them, they would not be heroes, but surrendered ministers.

When the time comes, how their family will let Liu Jian deal with it will all depend on Liu Jian's mood.

In the hearts of these noble clansmen, Yuan Shao is the most suitable person to rule them.

But it is a pity that Yuan Shao is in Jingzhou now and cannot protect himself. It is impossible for him to come to Jianghuai.

(End of this chapter)