Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1209 Party Struggle
Sun Quan, who had been hiding and secretly taking advantage of others, would either not take action or make a big move once he did.

He heard that the battle in Jizhou had become increasingly intense and that Yuan Xi had left Jianghuai for Yanzhou, so he prepared to send all the troops of Wu and all the generals including Cheng Pu, Huang Gai, Xu Sheng, and Ding Feng to launch a fierce attack on the territories of Liu Bei and Yuan Xi.

Before the battle, he summoned all his subordinates, stood in front of the table, and shouted: "The Wei and Jin dynasties are fighting, and the battle of Jizhou will determine the ownership of the Central Plains. Now it seems that the two sides will decide the winner in a year at most!"

"Which side wins will seize the Jianghuai and Jingzhou regions. The chances left for Wu are limited!"

"No matter which side of Wei or Jin is destroyed, the other side will completely swallow it up. At that time, we will be facing an extremely powerful opponent!"

"So now the Wu Kingdom has to seize this last chance and take back as much of our territory as possible, so that we can gain the upper hand in future confrontations. Only in this way can we make it to the end!"

"So now, whether it's Liu Bei or Xiong Hu standing in front of Wu, they are our biggest enemies. Since both of them are attacking Wei at this moment, it's a good opportunity for us to take action!"

An official said, "King of Wu, didn't Wu just sign a ceasefire agreement with Jin and Hannan?"

"If I take action now, will I be criticized by the world?"

Sun Quan glared at me and roared, "These two villains teamed up to encroach on my Jiangdong territory and forced me to sign a humiliating treaty. This is a great shame for Wu. I am taking revenge now. It is just and honorable!"

"Are you saying this to mock me for being treacherous?"

The official was so frightened that his face turned pale and he quickly apologized. However, Sun Quan refused to give in and said, "When the troops are about to be dispatched, you are making absurd remarks in the court and disturbing the morale of the army. Are you a spy from the two countries?"

"Cut down the sacrificial flag!"

Immediately, guards came up and dragged the official down the hall, regardless of his pleading for mercy. After a while, guards dragged a wooden tray into the hall, which was the official's head. When all the officials present saw it, they were all secretly shocked and dared not breathe.

Sun Quan was quite satisfied with this. He slowly glanced at the scene and shouted, "I will select a day to recruit generals and soldiers. We will mobilize the entire Wu army and fight a decisive battle with the fierce tiger Liu Bei!"

All the officials bowed and obeyed his orders. After Sun Quan ordered the court to adjourn, he summoned several trusted ministers including Zhang Zhao and Yu Fan to the palace to discuss matters.

After receiving the order, Yu Fan knew that it was probably about appointing a general. The Wu State had many generals and civil servants, but the choice of strategist had not been decided since the death of Zhou Yu and the departure of Lu Su.

Now that Sun Quan had seized the opportunity to send troops, the soldiers and food supplies had been prepared, but the appointment of a military advisor had remained undecided.

Yu Fan arrived at the palace gate and walked inside with the guards. At the same time, several people came over and greeted him. He took a quick look and found that they were all on good terms with him, so he greeted them in return: "You are here too?"

These people are Gu Yong, Kan Ze, Sun Shao, and Zhuge Jin. They all have a good relationship with Yu Fan.

Yu Fan was a man with a bad temper and a sharp tongue, but at a time when people admired the integrity of celebrities, he was very popular and everyone wanted to make friends with him. Moreover, he was a native of Jiangdong, so he naturally felt like a kindred spirit to Gu Yong and Kan Ze, who were also from Jiangdong.

However, the situation of Sun Shao and Zhuge Jin was different. Sun Shao was from Beihai and Zhuge Jin was from Langya. Both of them were from the north and were alone and weak after arriving in Wu, so they made friends with the Jiangdong faction to take advantage of their power.

In this circle, Yu Fan became the link between everyone because he had no taboos. Their group also had a purpose, which was to fight against the Xuzhou faction of Zhang Zhao and Zhang Hong.

Strictly speaking, the Xuzhou faction refers to the people from Southern Xuzhou in the Guangling area. The Guangling gentry who had been massacred by Yuan Xi before belonged to Southern Xuzhou. These people formed their own faction. Although they also belonged to Jiangdong in a broad sense, because they were located north of the Yangtze River, they were still quite distinct from the gentry such as Yu Fan who were south of the Yangtze River.

Zhang Zhao and Zhang Hong were known as the Two Zhangs. They were highly valued by Sun Quan and surpassed other officials. They were the most powerful force among the officials of the Wu State. The situation became like this because Sun Quan adopted the same method as Yuan Shao and Cao, that is, using foreign gentry to suppress local gentry, so as to prevent the local gentry from getting out of control and becoming too powerful to be controlled.

This method commonly used by lords would naturally arouse some resistance from Yu Fan and others in secret, so they colluded with each other to fight against Zhang Zhao and others.

They were not stupid, but they saw very clearly that the situation of secret fighting among the ministers and being dispersed but not chaotic was exactly what Sun Quan wanted. Otherwise, even if they were given more courage, they would not do such a thing blatantly.

As a lord, the situation that he most hopes to see is that his subordinates are all loyal to him, but they fight openly and secretly because of discord among themselves and cannot form a unified interest group.

It would be the most terrifying thing if one day the subordinates stopped fighting and were in harmony all day long. This would mean that a backbone with extremely high prestige had emerged among them. And since this person could subdue the ministers, does it also mean that one day he would be able to lead the ministers and drive the lord out of office?
Therefore, it has been the way of being a monarch for thousands of years for the lord to instigate his subordinates to fight with each other, and no one can avoid it. Yu Fan and others all knew this, so they openly opposed Zhang Zhao and Zhang Hong all the time, thinking it was a way to protect themselves.

The focus of this struggle was the dispute over who would be appointed as the military advisor and the commander-in-chief.

When the army is mobilized, it is impossible to be without a military advisor. Cheng Pu, Huang Gai and others are brave but lack strategic planning. If there is no one of Zhou Yu's caliber in charge, the outcome may be even worse than the previous Battle of Chaohu.

As a result, the Jiangdong faction and the Xuzhou faction both nominated suitable candidates for their own side. The Jiangdong faction nominated Zhuge Jin, while the Xuzhou faction nominated Lu Ji.

This scene is quite absurd, because Zhuge Jin is from Langya, Xuzhou, while Lu Ji is a pure Jiangdong person, which means that each side is supporting the other side. This tacit understanding contains many unspoken rules and considerations, which can be said to be the result of the private confrontation and compromise between the two factions, and there are also inexplicable entanglements in it.

Zhuge Jin is Zhuge Liang's elder brother. When Cao Cao massacred Xuzhou, the two fled. He stayed in Jiangdong, while Zhuge Liang went to Jingzhou, and thus embarked on different paths.

Although Lu Ji is younger than Lu Xun, he has a higher seniority and is the current head of the Lu family. He is also the candidate put forward by the Xuzhou faction as the military advisor.

Judging from age and experience alone, Lu Ji is only sixteen or seventeen years old, while Zhuge Jin is several years older and has many achievements in leading troops in battles, so he is obviously more qualified than Lu Ji.

But on the other hand, both of them actually had big problems, because Zhuge Liang and Lu Xun were the two most famous military strategists under Xionghu, and Zhuge Liang and Lu Ji were relatives of them, so they were also subject to a lot of doubts and criticisms.

But the State of Wu searched high and low but could not find anyone more suitable than these two. Otherwise, who would treat the lives of the Jiangdong army as a joke?

But both factions also knew that compared with Zhou Yu and others before, Lu Ji and Zhuge Jin were too young and their prestige in the army was seriously insufficient. Wasn’t it a bit too hasty for Sun Quan to suddenly decide to send troops this time?
Yu Fan and the others walked in while talking. Seeing everyone's doubts, Yu Fan sneered and said, "Your Majesty, you did nothing wrong in this regard. If you delay any further, you will have no chance at all!"

"Five thousand large coins were minted a few days ago and a lot of them were distributed as salaries. Have you received some of them?"

"But within three months, this money has become like scrap metal, not even worth the previous fifty coins!"

"I heard that recently several officials' salaries were all 1,500 yuan, but their families were so poor that they couldn't even afford to eat, and their children starved to death, so they finally ran away to the State of Jin?"

Gu Yong's face changed when he heard this, and he quickly whispered, "Zhong Xiang, where is this place? Watch your words!"

Yu Fan also knew that he had said something wrong, so he smacked his lips and said angrily, "If this continues, I will be out of food. I heard that Wu Jing and his people have been doing very well after joining the Jin State. I know his ability, isn't it just that he has a big leg to lean on!"

"The Wu family is really ruthless. They offered a woman to the Sun family and the Yuan family one after another, but her status kept rising. I am really impressed."

"I heard that the man's life and death are in doubt. Your Majesty, is it unfilial to beat the King of Jin now..."

The people around were almost going crazy. Kan Ze rushed over to cover Yu Fan's mouth and shouted in a low voice: "Zhong Xiang, if you want to die, we won't stop you. Don't drag us into this!"

When everyone was in chaos, a few people came over there. When everyone saw them, they were Zhang Zhao, Zhang Hong, Yan Jun and Lu Ji.

When several people from the Jiangdong faction saw each other, they went over to meet each other, but Yu Fan exchanged glances with Lu Ji without showing any expression. Few people knew that the two of them had a very close personal relationship, even far closer than most people from the Jiangdong faction!
When the Jiangdong faction saw Yan Jun, they secretly thought that it was a good thing that Yan Jun was afraid of death and turned down the position of commander-in-chief, otherwise the position of military advisor would have fallen on him.

Yan Jun was from Pengcheng, Xuzhou. He was proficient in poetry, calligraphy, and rituals, and was also familiar with military books. On the recommendation of Zhang Zhao, he became a cavalry commander. He performed quite well in the battles against the Shanyue and Liu Bei's army. He was originally the most popular candidate for military advisor. Even Sun Quan agreed with him and was ready to appoint him as a general on a certain day.

However, Yan Jun refused the offer, saying that he was far inferior to Zhuge Liang and Lu Xun of Jin, or Pang Tong and Xu Shu of Liu Bei in terms of strategy, and that if he became a military advisor, it would only lead to the defeat of Wu.

Sun Quan was also helpless about this. Yan Jun himself lacked confidence, and there was no point in forcing him to be a military advisor. That was why he had decided to invite the two factions to the palace to discuss the matter today.

Sun Quan's intention in the palace today was very clear. The Wu Kingdom has already staked everything on one throw. Neither of your two factions can stay out of it. You must decide on a military advisor. If we lose the battle in the future, you will all be held responsible!
The two factions were well aware of this, and they entered Sun Quan's inner hall with bitter faces and started a heated debate on the matter.

A few days later, the State of Wu assembled 100,000 troops and advanced in several directions by land and sea, and at the same time penetrated into several counties in the Yangtze and Huaihe River regions. In a short period of time, the war spread to a front line of thousands of miles.

This time, the Wu State had been patient for a long time, so naturally its attack was more aggressive. Hannan and Changsha were in danger, more than half of Jiangxia was lost, and even Gan Ning, who was defending the Yangtze River, suffered a great loss due to being caught off guard and was forced to retreat towards the direction of Rushu River.

In particular, the strategic depth of Hannan Kingdom was too shallow, and it was soon pressed close to the capital by Wu Kingdom. When Xu Shu, who was stationed in Changsha, learned about it, he knew that it was too late to notify Liu Bei and Guan Yu to return for help, so he urgently ordered Zhang Fei, who had pacified the Nanman, to move eastward to block the Wu army.

Huang Zu of Jiangxia was more unlucky. When the State of Wu invaded Jiangxia, he was patrolling on the river. As a result, he encountered a sudden attack from the Wu warships. The two sides fought a fierce battle. Huang Zu was shot by an arrow and retreated with the wound. He died a few days later due to his injuries. His son Huang She temporarily took over as the prefect of Jiangxia.

After Gan Ning retreated to the Rushu River, he temporarily blocked the advance of the Wu navy. However, Jiangxia to the west had already been invaded by the Wu army. Thinking that he could not hold on alone, he appealed to Shouchun for help. When Yuan Yin, who was in charge of Shouchun, learned of this, he urgently sent Liu Ye to reinforce Gan Ning and informed Yuan Xi who was in Yuzhou at the same time.

When Yuan Xi received the letter, he was leading his men all the way to the border of Yanzhou with an unstoppable force and was about to break through Cao Cao's defense line. When he heard the news, he felt as sick as if he had eaten a fly.

He knew that Sun Quan would not give up, but the other party had seized the opportunity too well. Sun Quan might not be good at fighting, but he had a good vision. This made Yuan Xi feel like he was losing sight of one thing while focusing on another.

He summoned Lu Xun and others and said, "Lord Xuande is in Jingzhou fighting Xudu, I'm afraid he can't take care of himself. Jiangxia is also in danger, and Shouchun is in trouble."

"Do you think we should send people back to reinforce Xingba?"

(End of this chapter)