Conquering Myriad Worlds from the Mythical Three Kingdoms

"What? Jiangdong has fallen?"

"And we still don't know who did it?"

Emperor Wu of Jin, Sima Yan, received the news seven days later; no one expected Jiangdong to fall so quickly.

After his initial anger subsided, Sima Yan immediately calmed down and inquired.

He had stationed a large number of troops in Jiangdong, so there was no reason for it to fall so quickly.

It should be noted that after destroying Wu, in order to prevent Wu from making a comeback, he stationed a large number of troops in Jiangdong and other places.

"Has the country been completely overrun, or have their communication channels been cut off?" Sima Yan forced himself to remain calm and then inquired about the specific details.

However, the incident happened suddenly, and none of his subordinates knew anything about it.

"Send people to investigate immediately, and find out the truth at all costs!" Sima Yan roared in fury.

He never expected that after several years of peace, a group of thieves would suddenly appear.

"Your Majesty, the most urgent task is to mobilize troops to quell the rebellion. No matter where the enemy comes from, we must not allow them to occupy the natural barrier of the Yangtze River!" Yang Ku, who had been summoned by Sima Yan to discuss important military and national affairs, calmly analyzed.

"What do you mean?" Sima Yan looked at the map and sand table, pondering without speaking.

"In my opinion, Wen Yuan should be ordered to reinforce Ruxukou to stop the Jiangdong rebels from advancing north, and Du Yu should be ordered to mobilize troops from Jingzhou to quell the Jiangdong rebellion!" Yang Ku advised, pointing to the layout on the map.

Sima Yan remained silent. Yang Ku's suggestion was certainly correct, but sometimes being correct doesn't mean being right.

The rebellion came too suddenly, and Sima Yan sensed something was amiss.

After the fall of the Wu kingdom, although there were policies to appease the people, the former officials of Wu were essentially registered as ordinary citizens, and many of the Wu gentry longed for their homeland. Sima Yan was aware of this.

This was inevitable, which is why he had always ordered strict control over these former officials of Sun Wu, fearing that they might restore the kingdom.

On the other hand, after unifying the country, his suppression of his younger brother Sima You became increasingly apparent.

Sima You, who should have been an important supporter of his power, became a thorn in his side in the constant power struggles.

Some of his actions drew strong dissatisfaction from important members of the royal family and ministers, forcing him to rely on his maternal relatives to maintain power.

He recently received news about his younger brother Sima You meeting with Sun Wu in the old city.

This sudden news forced Sima Yan to be cautious about the situation.

He trusted Du Yu. Du Yu married Princess Gaolu and was considered a relative of Sima Yan. Du Yu played a significant role in the war to destroy Wu.

But according to Du Yu, the Wu Kingdom should no longer have any major threats.

Now that a rebel army has emerged and swiftly occupied various counties in Jiangdong, either Du Yu lied back then, or there is something else going on.

Upon learning that Du Yu had been training troops all these years, Sima Yan became even more uneasy.

The Sima family rose to power through rebellion, and they instinctively harbored a sense of apprehension towards any minister who had rendered meritorious service.

After all, no one understood better than Sima Yan how he came to the throne.

Seeing that Sima Yan remained silent, Yang Ku immediately understood Sima Yan's thoughts and changed the subject.

"Your Majesty, why not summon Du Yu to Luoyang and send a trusted confidant to Xiangyang to strengthen its defenses?"

Sima Yan remained silent, staring intently at the sand table, before finally speaking slowly:
"Let Ma Long replace Du Yu and quell the rebellion in Jiangdong!"

"Summon Du Yu back to the capital and appoint him as the Commandant of the Capital Region!"

"Order Wen Yuan to rush to the aid of Ruxukou!"

……

Emperor Wu of Jin's order was quickly implemented.

Du Yu was in a difficult situation, knowing that he must have been framed, but he had no idea who was behind it.

He could only leave Malone with a plan based on the situation. Fortunately, Malone was a capable general, and he was not worried about Malone acting recklessly. He only pointed out some things that needed special attention.

As for the rebellion in Jiangdong, he was completely baffled. It happened so fast that he didn't even understand what had happened.

All of this was naturally orchestrated by Jia Xu, a scheme he set up after gathering a vast amount of intelligence.

The purpose was to directly transfer Du Yu away, creating an opportunity for Sima Yi to sweep through Jiangdong and seize Jingzhou.

If we can take Jingzhou, we can immediately reclaim the territory of Sun Wu, and then it is not impossible to enter Bashu from Jingzhou.

Meanwhile, Sima Yi was besieging the county seat of Jiangdong. Sima Yan's arrangements had not been in vain, and they had indeed held them back.

Apart from Xu Huang's successful swindle of the city, all others failed without exception.

Therefore, Sima Yi had no choice but to cut off Jiangdong's connection with the outside world and then launch a strong attack on the major counties.

For him, the initial initiative is very important.

"Zhongda, do you have any good ideas? We can't break through!" Xu Huang walked in from outside, angrily gulped down a mouthful of water, and complained helplessly to Sima Yi.

After several days of fighting, the resistance within the city was exceptionally fierce. Although there were no particularly fierce generals, the general defending the city was a capable commander. Fighting on home soil, the city was united in purpose and determined not to surrender.

Xu Huang threatened to massacre the city if they didn't surrender, but this had no effect and even backfired.

Enraged, Xu Huang personally led his troops to storm the city, only to be ambushed by nearly a hundred elite archers and crossbowmen, who rained down arrows upon him.

Xu Huang was so angry that his liver ached, but he had no good way to deal with the defenders on the city wall.

To ensure speed, Sima Yi ordered his army to break into smaller units and use a combination of feints and real attacks to besiege the entire Jiangdong region.

Xu Huang only had a group of puppet soldiers, which made it impossible for him to break through. After suffering a loss once, Xu Huang could only curse loudly from below the city, but he did not act rashly.

You should know that in order to prevent internal energy from leaving the body, these guards directly coated the arrows with poison. The poison was so potent that even those with internal energy leaving their bodies would faint from the poison.

Unfortunately, Xu Huang had broken through the barrier and was no longer restricted from having his internal energy leave his body, so he was not afraid at all.

But Xu Huang alone couldn't overcome the clouds and open up a new situation.

The city is filled with a large amount of cloud energy. Once the thick cloud energy is released, even if Xu Huang or Lü Bu came, they would only be able to fight a conventional siege battle.

"Zhongda, is there any way? If this drags on, we're afraid we'll suffer losses!" Xu Huang asked Sima Yi for a plan.

"We underestimated the city's defenses!" Sima Yi shook his head. The military defenses of Jiangdong were definitely arranged by a master.

It was impregnable, not as easy as they had initially imagined.

Especially since they only had puppet soldiers and new recruits at their disposal, and Sima Yi didn't want to waste his precious elite troops on the siege, there was a real stalemate for a while.

"Then what do we do? If we can't break through after a long siege, the puppet soldiers are fine, but the morale of the new recruits will probably collapse!" Xu Huang rubbed his forehead.

To be honest, it had been a long time since he had fought a siege battle, and Xu Huang had forgotten when he had last been so constipated.

The expected hacking and slashing didn't happen at all, and the enemy wasn't scared away by their siege.

At this rate, let alone three days, they might not be able to take down the city in front of them, not even in three months.

"Wait a moment, and Hou Tu's army will soon pave the way. Then, we can naturally march straight in!" Sima Yi didn't have any good ideas for a head-on siege. In order to save time, they traveled light and did not bring heavy siege equipment, which was also to conceal their identities.

Before taking complete control of Jiangdong, Sima Yi did not intend to openly declare his intentions.

Fortunately, they had Houtu Legion.

Hou Tu's army paved their way through the cities that Xu Huang had tricked them into giving them, originally intending to connect the cities into one as quickly as possible. Unexpectedly, their sieges proved to be of great use.

"Gongming, you must remember, we must not massacre the city!"

Sima Yi gave Xu Huang a very serious warning.

"I was just threatening them. I know very well that the Emperor forbids slaughter!" Xu Huang explained.

He didn't intend to actually massacre the city; he just wanted to intimidate the defenders and make them give up. However, he didn't expect them to resist to the end, which left Xu Huang feeling helpless.

"Report, Marshal, Hou Tu's army has arrived thirty miles away from our army!" a messenger reported.

"Send someone to inform them to temporarily abandon road construction and come to their aid immediately!" Sima Yi decisively ordered. They could not delay and had to take these counties as soon as possible.

Sima Yi had other methods, but they were all time-consuming. Sending Hou Tu's army directly was the simplest option.

As a civil engineering and infrastructure legion, the Hou Tu Legion naturally has an absolute advantage in siege warfare.

Whether it's causing an earthquake that collapses city walls or digging tunnels, they are first-rate experts.

"So, our mission is to send the army into the city?" Ji Jian turned to look at Xu Huang and asked.

"That's right, as long as you get me in, you don't need to worry about the rest!" Xu Huang rubbed his hands excitedly, he couldn't wait to twist the head off that bastard on the city wall.

"How about that earthen slope?" Ji Jian asked Xu Huang, after surveying the height of the city wall.

"What earthen slope?" Xu Huang asked with a puzzled look.

Then, Hou Tu's army refreshed Sima Yi and Xu Huang's understanding of infrastructure.

In just half a day, Houtu's army forcibly created an earthen mound that reached all the way to the city wall.

Moreover, the slope is extremely flat, to the point that even cavalry could charge up it.

"Seal off all four city gates! Xu Gongming, lead your personal guards and charge in! Don't let them escape!"

Sima Yi was the first to react, and roared as he gave Xu Huang orders.

"Here!"

With convenient access, there was no need to worry about casualties among the elite troops.

Xu Huang led his main force straight in. Without the protection of the city walls, the soldiers on the walls were no match for Xu Huang's ferocious troops.

Xu Huang captured the city walls almost effortlessly, and a large number of puppet soldiers flooded into the city, causing the entire city's defenses to fall.

"Hahaha, kill!"

Xu Huang laughed loudly and charged into the city, heading straight towards the city center.

First, control the central area and capture the officials in the city.

"What's going on? Why are there sounds of rioting in the city?"

The officer, awakened from his sleep, hurriedly inquired of the messenger who had come to deliver the order.

"General, something terrible has happened! The enemy has entered the city, and the brothers can't hold them off. You must retreat now!" The messenger quickly relayed everything he knew.

Just as the messenger was speaking, the officer heard the distant voices saying "Surrender and you will not be killed." He broke out in a cold sweat and instantly understood the situation.

"Quickly muster the troops, all guards, come with me!"

The officer roared and charged outside, sword in hand.

"Enemy general, prepare to die!" The officers defending the city, along with their personal guards, charged towards Xu Huang.

Xu Huang, who was heading straight for the city center, paused for a moment when he saw the enemy general charging towards him, and then sneered.

I was just worried about not being able to find you, but I didn't expect you to show up on your own.

Do you really think your grandfather Xu Huang's axe was made of clay?
"When you get to the underworld, don't forget to tell me your grandfather's name: Xu Huang, Xu Gongming!"

Xu Huang swung his great axe, unleashing all the anger he had accumulated over the past few days, and fiercely slashed at the enemy general charging towards him.

All resistance was utterly crushed; the unparalleled force overwhelmed everything and dealt a severe blow to the morale of the Jin army.

Seeing the enemy general killed by his single strike, Xu Huang finally felt a sense of relief, releasing all the pent-up frustration of the past few days.

Without their commander, the remaining guards collapsed and were quickly killed by Xu Huang's personal guards.

"General! Do you intend to take the enemy general's head?" a guard asked.

"Forget it, this guy was a brave general after all. Let's find a place to burn him!" Xu Huang waved his hand and said.

If Sima Yi hadn't ordered him to kill the enemy general, he really wouldn't have wanted to kill him like that. The other party had managed to hold him off for so long, which showed his ability, and he even wanted to try to persuade him to surrender.

However, since we've already killed them, we shouldn't harm them further; we should just burn them to the ground.

The shouts of battle grew fainter and fainter until the entire city returned to silence, except for a few places where flames were still burning.

When Sima Yi entered the city, he immediately summoned clouds and rain to extinguish the fire.

A city fell completely into Sima Yi's hands.

The practice of confiscating property and dividing it into fiefs was something that Sima Yi, Xu Huang, and others were quite familiar with.

Doing it is like going back to your old job, so it's naturally quite easy.

To put it bluntly, the treatment during the Jin Dynasty was only slightly better than that during the Three Kingdoms period; it was simply a case of choosing the best among the worst.

Compared to the welfare benefits offered by Xinghan, Sima Yi used a carrot-and-stick approach, and the hearts of the people in the entire Jiangdong region were rapidly turning towards him.

Sima Yi didn't advocate any sense of righteousness; in the Jin Dynasty, he himself lacked that credibility.

However, the oath at Luoshui damaged the Sima family's reputation among aristocratic families, but for ordinary people, it was no different from anything else.

Therefore, Sima Yi chose a pragmatic approach.

Sima Yi spent a month initially winning over the people of Jiangdong.

Many welfare benefits had not yet been implemented due to the short timeframe. What Sima Yi did was simply to open the granaries and distribute grain.

However, because of Xinghan's blood transfusion, Sima Yi also provided daily necessities such as salt, sugar, and ironware.

The benefits were immediately apparent, with various low-priced daily necessities reaching every household.

The people, who had initially been resistant, instantly submitted to Sima Yi's command.

The tangible benefits are laid out before all the people; there is simply no room for them to refuse. (End of Chapter)